FMQ Friday - Stitch for Fun, Not Perfection

It's Friday and this stressful week is almost over! One major thing making me smile today is seeing Duchess Reigns up on the wall in my dining room. I pinned her up last night right before eating dinner.

I can't really explain the mix of emotions this quilt brings up. I'm overwhelmed by all that's left to do, intimidated by the scope of this project, excited to see her making progress, and even slightly frustrated because after all the work of design and quilting so far, I can still see clearly the places that challenged me. For the first 10 minutes I looked at her, all I saw were the flaws and how much work was left to do.

But then Josh made me feel a million times better by saying "That is hands down, your absolute best quilt ever. I don't think you need to do a thing to it. It's perfect."

Lol. This quilt isn't even halfway finished and my sweet man is totally happy with it? Nice!

I know I'm my worst critic. I know if anyone needs to let me off the hook, it's me. The original Duchess was the same way - a superb challenge and stretch of skill and design. But was she perfect? Absolutely NOT!

So I'm going to leave this up for awhile so I can sort through these emotions. When I take her off the wall, all I want to feel is excitement and enthusiasm for tackling the next step.

Speaking of getting my attitude straight, today I spent some time quilting Express Your Love and found myself dealing with a steady stream of fabric issues.

Puffy batting + dense filler quilting = pleats

Can you spot it? To hide it I usually intentionally tuck the fabric and densely stitch over it so it looks like a pieced seam or odd mark on the fabric. As I posted on facebook today, this is visible from about 4 inches away, but if you step back 4 feet, you can't see it at all.

But I can't deny this makes me upset. Yes, I was trying something new with this batting so I need to forgive the fact that issues are going to happen. Trying something new and experimenting is always a challenge, and challenges can be a fun way to stretch myself, or they can just be a pain in my butt. It's all about perspective!

I think I'll take some time in the next week to audition some new battings. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but this experience is definitely reinforcing a lesson I already knew - Don't Guess, TEST!

How do you know what a batting will do when you stitch the snot out of it? Test it and see Leah!

Alright, I've done enough yelling at myself today. I'm going to get back on my machine and drop my funky attitude and just have FUN. That is the whole point, right?!

So what are you up to on this beautiful Friday afternoon? I hope it's something fun!

Simple rules for the FMQ Friday link up:

1. Link up with a post that features something about Free Motion Quilting (FMQ).
2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here, or you can just post the FMQF button in your sidebar.
3. Comment on at least a few of the other FMQF links. Share your love of free motion quilting and make this weekly link up a fun way to connect.

Let's go quilt,

Leah

Mindless Entertainment

It's Wednesday and time to check what's on the sewing machine...but...uggh...nothing good is happening there.

I'm not burning out, I'm just brain dead and uninspired. It's partly this busy time of the year when every day I turn around I have another birthday party or end of school party or meeting to attend with James. I swear for pre-kindgergarten we sure have a lot of end of year activities!

So what's a creative girl to do when her brain has left the building, her house is a wreck, and her heart just not into quilting?

Pick up needlepoint.

Yes, this is what I mean by mindless entertainment, and my apologies if that has utterly offended you. Painted, preplanned, needlepoint is about as mentally challenging as tic-tac-toe.

All the colors are planned. All the spaces just need to be filled with that color thread. You don't need to think! You just need to grab a needle, pick the right color, and keep some scissors handy.

What's nice about working on this little gingerbread ornament is I'm able to keep half my mind focused on quilt designs or a Craftsy class I'm watching while the other half of my brain is just remembering to stitch brown thread in brown squares, pink thread in pink squares, blue thread over blue squares.

It's tedious, yes, but it's also mindlessly entertaining in a way I seriously need right now. I'm overworked and overstimulated. I need a break, but if I stop stitching entirely I usually just end up picking my nails because my fingers get restless.

Am I happy right now? I'm too busy to answer that accurately, but this time of the year will pass very soon. In less than 2 weeks James will be out of school, we will go on vacation, and the slow routine of summer will begin. I can't wait!

Let's go stitch!

Leah

31. Learn how to Quilt Connecting Ocean Currents

My apologies for falling off the face of the earth since Friday! I've been quilting like crazy, designing like there's no tomorrow, and trying to stay on top of everything, which generally means I've been dropping the ball left and right. What is it about this month?! It's like my brain has gone on vacation and forgotten to give my body a leave of absence notice!

Despite my lack of mental togetherness (see, I can't even write today!) I did manage to dig my sewing machine out from under 3 projects and pull Express Your Love back off the wall and stitch a super cool design within her hair that I'm calling Connecting Ocean Currents.

All my brain can manage to say is "ooooo....pretty...." I'm really at a loss for words. Far better on video:

Click Here if the video is acting weirder than me

I used this design in the goddess hair, but really it could work just as nice in her body, breath, or the background. The key is setting your foundation first, then echoing and connecting to create the swirly texture. As I said before it's oooo....pretty.....that pretty much sums it up!

Let's go quilt!

Leah

FMQ Friday - Practice is Never a Waste of Time

This might sound weird for all I talk about the importance of practice and its necessity for becoming good at free motion quilting, but today I finally realized with a jolt like getting smacked in the head this simple truth:

Practice is never a waste of time.

I've been busy working on a project today that I can't show you right this second. It's definitely been a challenge and earlier this week I began getting obsessed with perfection. I found myself asking "what is the PERFECT design to use here? I CAN'T make the wrong choice!"

I honestly don't know a better recipe for killing creativity. Start with an ultimatum and ratchet the stress up a notch with a demand for instant perfection!

As I sorted through my feelings on this project, I began to see how silly I was being. I grabbed a piece of paper and pencil, sat down on the couch and said "Just play. I don't care what happens, just try something."

So I sat and drew and designed. I'd printed out plenty of paper so I could mess up again and again and it not matter. I got out of my way, shut up my mind, and just let loose with any idea that popped into my now empty head.

In the end I did finish my design, but I also became aware that what I had done was far more than just sketching - it was practicing.

I was practicing picking designs. This might not seem like something we would need to practice, but it is! Just like you gain skills in picking fabrics and finding color combinations you really like, we also need to find design combinations that are pleasing too.

This step is so often left out of quilt books (quilt as desired) that even I had fallen into the idea that I should somehow "magically" know which design is perfect in any given space. Guess what?! I don't know! I need to sketch it and audition it and argue with myself and see something else and compare and contrast and finally, in the end, PICK which one I like best.

Because there is absolutely NO PERFECT DESIGN. It doesn't exist! There is this design or that one or #325 or #15 and every single one of them will work in one way or another.

Just as there are no perfect fabric choices, there are no perfect quilting design choices. There is only the task of choosing.

And to choose, you have to give yourself time to practice, to think, to weigh the designs, to sketch, to play, and yes, to make as many mistakes as possible along the way.

I think from now on I'm going to sit down and say to myself "I need to make some mistakes today." just so I don't ever fall in this trap again of seeking perfection where perfection will never, ever exist.

Perfection isn't the point, and practice is never a waste of time. Two more golden rules I hope to never forget!

Now I'm sorry I can't actually show you what I'm doing, but suffice it to say you'll see it in a few months! So what have you been up to this week?

Simple rules for the FMQ Friday link up:

1. Link up with a post that features something about Free Motion Quilting (FMQ).
2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here, or you can just post the FMQF button in your sidebar.
3. Comment on at least a few of the other FMQF links. Share your love of free motion quilting and make this weekly link up a fun way to connect.
 
Let's go make some mistakes!

Leah

Focus, Motivation, and Honoring Feelings

This month seems to be all about motivation: how to stick with a project through thick and thin and make small progress every day.

It just so happens that I picked up another great audio book on this subject: Focus: Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence. While the book can often wind around in lengthy (a.k.a boring) ways, it's certainly been eye opening to learn about the two dominate forms of motivation: promotion and prevention.

It's no surprise that I've found myself answering a lot of questions that indicate a promotion mindset. I like setting goals, I love being creative and thinking outside the box. I constantly ask "what if" and have the end result of every project in mind.

But that also means I don't always plan for how long things will take and often overestimate my ability to finish quick projects quickly. I tend to be messy and disorganized, even though I work on that issue nearly every day.

Reading this book has been illuminating because I started this month with a clear focus to work steadily on Duchess Reigns. I expected it would take the entire month to finish up the center medallion. Turns out, it only took 12 days.

Seeing this huge section finished and knowing that I'm about 1/2 way through with the quilt definitely gave me a great feeling of accomplishment. I knew this quilt would be difficult and time consuming from the beginning, but seeing this section finished is really exciting.

But...as soon as it was finished I had no desire to work on her further. I clearly have a lot left to do, but at this moment I have absolutely no desire to work on this project.

Digging into this feeling, I find that I just need a break on this project. She's big and overwhelming and I need to honor how I feel about it. I want to work on something lighter and easier for awhile.

Please understand I'm not unhappy with Duchess Reigns by any means. This isn't at all the same feeling I had with the black wholecloth version of Express Your Love. I'm not putting her away to avoid some issue. In actuality I'm going to hang her up in the dining room just so I can live with her on the wall for a bit before stitching out the next section.

Why?

From what I'm learning about motivation, part of feeling the drive to finish something for a promotion-focused person is in imagining it done. In the past I've been so focused on finishing, finishing, finishing and grinding a quilt out that I didn't enjoy the process of actually making the quilt at all. And I ended up hating the end result.

So I think taking this time to hang her up, to live with her on the wall every day when I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, will give me the time to look at every angle and to fall in love with her yet again.

Taking this break will enable me to stop feeling so pushed to finish her quickly and allow me to savor the experience. I will know it's time to take her off the wall when my pleasure at looking at her will feel diminished by her unfinished state. It's also usually around the time when Josh starts asking "When are you going to actually finish that project?!" He's very patient, but definitely prefers finished quilts hanging on the wall.

So as I roll up this quilt and move her upstairs to hang, what will I be working on in the meantime?

Of course there's never a lack for projects to work on in my sewing room, but for right now I'm feeling an intense urge to piece, to hand stitch, and to make clothes. I want to work with many different techniques and feel pushed and stretched to learn new things. I don't necessarily want to get loads of stuff done, I just want a little vacation, a little break from the intensity of Duchess Reigns.

So here's to honoring your motivation! Whatever you feel driven to do, do it. If you're feeling bogged down with a project, instead of grinding it out, ask the simple question Why? What needs to change in order for this to feel good again?

You might need a break, you might need to change a fabric color, you might just need to find a sunny spot on your deck to relax in with a different project completely. Give yourself a hug and honor your feelings and motivation. After all, you can't do what you don't want to do!

Let's go quilt,

Leah

30. Learn how to Quilt Jagged Scribble, #387

Whew! What a long weekend full of great food, big smiles, and warm hugs. I sure hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day and felt extra special on our special day!

Today I'm happy to be getting back on the machine and further along with Express Your Love. Let's learn how to fill in those motifs we learned last week with a fun new design called Jagged Scribble:

This is basically Cat Hairball filler, but with straight lines and sharp angles. It's super simple and a great way to create a flatter texture so the motif stands out and shows off that much better.

Now let's learn how to quilt it!

Click here if the video does not appear

So with the body and face filled with beautiful motifs and Jagged Scribble, where should we move next? I think we'll tackle a new design in her hair later this week!

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day

FMQ Friday - Quilting, Sewing, and New Audiobooks, Oh My!

It's been 10 days since I set the goal to work on Duchess Reigns just a bit every day and already I'm seeing huge results:

Through April I had been filled with a negative attitude that it would take WEEKS to finish that feather wing and WEEKS to fill the background and more WEEKS to finish the background.

In reality, it's just taken 10 days to bust through this rut. The center medallion is almost done! Yay!

Mostly this got bogged down because it's quilted so darn dense and it's so extremely excruciatingly BORING to quilt the same identical thing on both sides. I realize now that, while I love symmetry, I hate quilting the same thing over and over again.

So I'm keeping my brain entertained by digging into a new stash of audio books and found a truly terrible tween / witch / paranormal fiction book, Beautiful Creatures, which was just entertaining enough to keep me focused last week. There were times the plot was so ridiculous I had to stop quilting to laugh out loud at just how silly the book was.

I've also been listening to Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, a book about introverted people and how we tick. Yep, I'm definitely an extremely introverted person, which might or might not be surprising to you. It's part of the reason you'll see me in videos every week, but probably never in person. I just love being home where it's quiet and peaceful.

When I'm not working on Duchess Reigns, I've been working on a muslin for a button down shirt, following the information from two Craftsy classes:

Susan Khalje in The Couture Dress doesn't make a lot of radical changes to her muslin, but she does layout the process very clearly and really sold me on the importance of making a muslin and how all the pieces should be marked and stitched for most fitting clarity.

Lynda Maynard from Sew the Perfect Fit makes RADICAL changes to make three dresses fit three very different body types. I think I gasped out loud the first time I saw her take a pair of scissors to the muslin and cut it wide open to insert more fabric! What I love about this class is it's making me a lot more fearless about changing a pattern to make it fit better.

I've been using information from both classes because both teach garment fitting just a little differently. I like seeing the many different ways fitting works and both teacher's opinions because I know from experience that everyone sews just a bit differently and we have to find the methods that works best for us.

The garment I'm modifying is a cute button down shirt pattern I've had for years (Simplicity 6407). Before I had James the shirt fit great at a size 10 and I made many versions of it in different fabrics. After having my baby, however, certain things just never went back to the way they were before (sound familiar?) and the shirts would always gape weirdly at the buttons in the front.

It's just so nice to be fitting this shirt properly now and be able to make something that looks good. Seeing this top again feels like I'm reuniting with an old friend!

So that's all that's bouncing around my sewing room today. What have you been up to this week?

Simple rules for the FMQ Friday link up:

1. Link up with a post that features something about Free Motion Quilting (FMQ).
2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here, or you can just post the FMQF button in your sidebar.
3. Comment on at least a few of the other FMQF links. Share your love of free motion quilting and make this weekly link up a fun way to connect.


Let's go quilt,

Leah