Introducing my Exit Strategy

In the spirit of anticipation, celebration and learning, I am starting a new project.

EXIT STRATEGY →

In less than 3 years and 2 months, I will be 60! People are generally not eager to grow older, but I believe that the perks of age and wisdom more than make up for the laugh lines and grey hair (which I've had for over 15 years anyway!)

60 will begin the next phase of my life - Fibre Artist!

So, how am I going to get ready for the fibre artist phase of my life without living in the future? Well, pretty much the same way that I've approached most things.

• Learn
• Have a flexible plan
• Keep expectations low and gratitude high

I hope that you'll join me on my journey. Let me tell you about my very flexible plan.

Amy's Creative Side

It started with the blocks that I made while participating in the One Week Improv Challenge with Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side. The challenge was by subscribed email and through Instagram at  #improvwithamy.

As with most challenges, I followed at my own speed. I did manage to make the first five days of seven days (see the post in Related links). At some point after the challenge, I made a few more blocks. 

Block 1 - joining strips

Block 3 - playing with triangles

Of course, the next decision is....what to do with those blocks?

The first time I thought about Exit Strategy

A few months later, in late spring, I felt especially tired and needed something besides rest to help me stay positive. What's better than a new plan, a new project to help my spirit soar with anticipation, celebration and learning? 

The name, Exit Strategy, came very quickly but the rest took me a while to figure out. It's so easy to get caught up with grandiose plans but more than anything, I want this to be realistic and doable.

These are the notebooks that I keep with me to jot down ideas. The idea for Exit Strategy was slowly percolating.

3 notebooks that I keep around

The next step of this plan came about when I bought a gently used version of the book, Exploring Textile Arts in June at Quilt Canada. The book was published in 2002 by the Editors of Creative Publishing. There is a more recent version, but this one is fine for my purposes.

I've been very inspired by some of the techniques in the book. That's when the rest of the flexible plan started falling into place.

 The flexible plan

• Try out new techniques
• Use the improv blocks as background
• Blog and reflect on what I've learned
• Repeat
• Time frame: very flexible....3 years and 2 months 😊

Using 8 inch blocks as background makes these projects less intimidating. It's about learning, playing, taking chances and trying new things. I'm hoping that I'll be able to put some of the blocks together as they are completed....or not. That's also part of the very flexible plan.

You may have seen the first block that I posted about, without specifically saying what Exit Strategy was. If you didn't see it, the post is below in Related links.

A Felting Miss-Adventure,
part of the Exit Strategy project

I've been hard at work practicing my embroidery stitches and learning new techniques. Here is a sneak preview of my design wall. I will be posting about these techniques in the next few weeks.

A sneak peek at my design wall - things are progressing

I created a page for Exit Strategy, and as I progress, I'll add links to the related posts. I hope that you'll follow me in my journey.

What I learned

• I've been thinking about this for a very long time, ever since I discovered what I wanted to be when I grow up 😊
• I used to say that I wanted to be a full time artist when I retired, but then I thought about it....I'm going to be retired. This should be fun, not just another job! So now I'm keeping the full time out of the description. I'm hoping to play full time but as far as art making goes, I'll do what I want, when I want, and then, if I feel like it, I'll find opportunities to show my work and accept the deadlines that go with them.

Related links

• Improv Challenge, February 10, 2019
• Exploring Textile Arts, Editors of Creative Publishing
• A Felting Miss-Adventure, August 25, 2019
• Exit Strategy project page

Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many great linky parties. Let's go see what's happening in blog land! I'm linking up with Muv at Free Motion Mavericks, Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap!, Off The Wall Friday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday, Midweek Makers, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Peacock Party, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Put Your Foot Down,

Playing with colour and Learning QAL Goal

Welcome to the December Learning QAL Goal Setting Link-Up

I'm trying to learn from experience, therefore my goal for December is less ambitious - besides, with Christmas in a few weeks, who knows how things will go :-)

December's Goal

In November, I was able to work on two wholecloth quilts using different batting. In December, I want to keep FMQ (free motion quilting) Wholecloth 2, the one that was made with the cotton-wool batting. I'm going to experiment with colour and texture to put some pizzazz into that piece.

Here's what I've done so far:

Adding colour to the wholecloth quilt

I couldn't wait to start playing with the butterfly. I accentuated the yellow and then added some purple.

Colouring the butterfly

 This little fellow came out well.

FMQ bird with Kimono silk thread

Progress to date

I've coloured some of the leaves. It's going to be a challenge figure out how to quilt them differently.

I got sucked into the vortex of Black Friday week sales. Resistance was futile - till I ran out of money :-) However, I did get a great little video to help me along with the FMQ of this project.

In the Quilting Arts 1709 episode on Free-Motion Stitching, Susan Brubaker Knapp interviews Nancy McNally who is doing FMQ on a longarm. The equipment may be bigger, but the principles are the same. Nancy McNally's quilting is really incredible and I did learn a couple of things that should help me figure out how to quilt this piece.

One Monthly Goal (OMG)

I haven't been participating in the OMG lately because I had too many things on the go. I do want to add something since I've been playing around with a fun art quilt based on Elizabethan and Jacobean gardens and embroidery. I found a fantastic book and of course just had to make something!

It will mostly be appliqué with embellishment. I just fell in love with the style of their work and can't wait to get started. So far, I've found most of my fabric for the  appliqué. This project will probably take a few months to complete, but I really want some incentive to start it. I'll let you know more about the project and its progress in the next few weeks.

What I learned

• I've been FMQ with # 100 Kimono silk thread. I didn't know if I would have to switch to something thicker, but so far the silk thread is doing great. It's such a pleasure to work with :-)
• The hardest thing about going back to add colour is trying to keep the lines from getting too thick. Just quilting over the line makes it darker, but often I also want to make it slightly thicker. Sometimes they get pretty thick and lopsided because I've wondered too far off the original line. I'm hoping that practice will help.
• The most important thing, as far as I'm concerned, is knowing when to stop. Today, I FMQ for two hours, and it was probably 15 minutes too much. It's hard to stop because I just want to finish what I'm doing, but being tired can will lead to trouble!
• I've watched the Quilting Arts video a few times. I tend to pause it and write notes or take pictures with the Snipping Tool for reference. It was well worth purchasing, especially on sale.
• I'm predicting that I'm going to like working on this project a lot!!!

Related Links

• Wholecloth Quilt 2 and Goal Sum Up, November 26, 2017
• Quilting Arts video 1709 - Free-Motion Stitching purchased from the Quilting Company

Linking Parties: I will be participating in many link-ups. Join in the fun and see what the fuss is about! OMG - December Link-up, Free Motion Mavericks, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Midweek Makers # 100, Let's Bee Social, MOP Monday, Design Wall Monday, Main Crush Monday, Monday Making, Linky Tuesday, 

I hope that you'll be able to join us on our learning journey. It would be great if you can link up. It doesn't have to be anything complicated. Probably anything that you're working on right now has a few lessons to teach you, so why not share it with us?

An InLinkz Link-up

Learning QAL - November Goal Setting Link-up

Welcome to the fourth month of the Learning QAL.

I hope you'll join me on my learning adventure - and make it yours!

The rules are easy - post what you would like to learn this month (it doesn't have to be complicated!) and link-up your post. At the end of the month we will have a Learning Sum Up and share our learning. You don't even have to finish the project as long as you post about what you learned. There is even a prize for a lucky person who has linked up to both the Goal Setting and Sum Up!

There must be something you have to make soon that involves learning something new! So please join in the fun.

In October, Mel of Mel's Quilting Blog wanted to try out Terial Magic and see if she should use it to make a T-shirt Quilt. She used the stabilizer on a t-shirt and made a pillow - and learned that yes, she liked the product and would use it for a whole quilt. I've never heard of Terial Magic until now. Sounds like a great alternative to ironing stabilizer. Thanks Mel for sharing your learning. You are the winner of a $20 certificate from Connecting Thread! Congrats!

I'll be searching this month for a few ideas as prizes for participating. They will be listed in the November Sum Up and the winner will choose the prize she wants! Each prize will be roughly a $20 value - so get that post written and join in!

Four improv quilt blocks made with different batting

October Learning Goal

My October learning goal was to try 4 types of batting to learn the difference in how they handled when quilted.

Since I didn't get a chance to bind and wash them by the Sum Up, there wasn't much to say except that the silk batting was very thin and the cotton-wool batting had more loft that the regular cotton and bamboo-cotton batting.

I also had a chance to try out some new improv blocks and practice my free motion quilting (FMQ). I would say that the experiment was a success, but wasn't finished.

In the next few days, I will write a post on the washed and finished blocks. Look out for it!

November Learning Goal

This month, I will continue the batting experiment.

As I did in October, here are the four different batting I will be using:

• Tender Touch bamboo-cotton (50%-50%) with scrim
• Warm 100 Cotton  with 100% cotton scrim
• Hobbs Tuscany Collection cotton-wool (80%-20%) batting with resin bonded
• Hobbs Tuscany Collection silk and fine polyester (90%-10%) with resin bonded

The time, I will be comparing the batting to see how they handle different threads as I do some free motion quilting (FMQ). I have a lovely collection of silk threads as well as cotton and metallic threads that I can't wait to use!

FMQ from the back

For the first three, I will be using a technique that I learned from Cindy Needham in her Craftsy course, Machine Quilting Wholecloth Quilts. It's called Large Print Wholecloth Quilt. Essentially it involves FMQ using the backing fabric as a template to create a wholecloth quilt in the front, on a solid fabric.

Here is the wholecloth quilt that I originally created, using this wild fabric as a template on the back.

For more details, see Free Motion Quilting Madness in the Related Links below.

Large Print Wholecloth Quilt

I'll be using these prints to create wholecloth quilts. The solid fabric behind the print will end up being the front of the quilt.

A whimsical birds and leaves fabric with a blue solid

A bird on a tree branch with a blue solid

A wild plant as the template on an off-white solid

For my last piece, I will be FMQ this fabric that I hand-dyed this summer (as my August Learning Goal).

FMQ on hand-dyed fabric

What I learned:

• One month isn't very long for learning something new. I like that I can keep learning based on the initial idea of using different batting for various projects.
• I suspect that I may be overly ambitious this month - on the other hand, when I get started, the FMQ goes fairly quickly. I guess we'll see 😊
• No matter how much I actually get done, there is guaranteed to be learning involved!!!

Related Links:

• Mel's October learning at Mel's Quilting Blog
• Connecting Threads
• October Learning Goal, October 1, 2017
• October Sum Up, October 25, 2017
• Free Motion Quilting Madness, March 16, 2015
• Machine Quilting Wholecloth Quilts with Cindy Needham at Craftsy
• Results of Learning to Dye Fabric, August 28, 2017

Linking Parties: I will be linking this post to many great linking parties. Check them out and see what others are doing! Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, Linky Tuesday, Design Wall Monday, Main Crush Monday, Quilter's Monday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished or Not Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, MOP Monday, Monday Making,

An InLinkz Link-up

Learning QAL - October Goal Setting Link-up

Welcome to the third month of the Learning QAL. I've been learning a lot of things, from dyeing my own fabric to focusing on some free motion quilting (FMQ).

Two eager participants, Em and Mel have joined in the fun. In August Em made a small collage and sewed it into a useful coupon caddy and in September she worked with crumb fabrics and made a great looking zipper pouch.

In September, Mel successfully tried her hand at organic quilting. Everyone learned a lot - from technical details to learning what they liked and didn't like. Thanks so much Em and Mel for participating and learning.

So in the order of posting their September finish, the giveaway goes to Mel of Mel's Quilting Blog - for her organic quilting! She gets up to $20 towards a book (ebook or printed) to learn more stuff! Congrats!!!

Since my October learning goal involves batting from Connecting Threads, the giveaway for October participants will be a $20 (US) gift certificate from Connecting Threads. If you want, you can buy your own batting to test (or anything else to help you learn!)

My October Learning Goal

A week ago Connecting Threads had a sale on batting. I've always wanted to quilt with different types of batting but I always quilt with the same 100% cotton and as thin as possible, usually a Warm and Natural. I love it since it's not too hot and very versatile. I can use it for lap quilts to wall hangings and placemats. But there is so many other types of batting available that it would be nice to try them out and see the difference.

I also know that if I don't compare them at the same time, I might not even notice the difference. So my learning goal for October is to practice some FMQ using different types of batting. I bought 2 types of Hobbs Tuscany batting, one is a silk and the other is a cotton wool blend. I may pick up something locally to add to the mix.

I'm not sure what I'll be quilting, but since I want this all done by the end of the month, it will have to be fairly simple.

Another September Learning QAL Finish  - Anna's Black & White wall hanging

I finished FMQ Anna's wall hanging a couple of days ago. I was all set to do a quick post about it yesterday since it was also my September OMG (One Monthly Goal) whose deadline was yesterday. As you can see it didn't make it - I couldn't see any of the FMQ details in the pictures, so there was no point in a post. :-(

Anna's Black & White wall hanging

As I mentioned in my last post about this project (see Related Links), FMQ with white thread on a white-on-white fabric was nearly impossible. I couldn't see what I had done or where I was going. As I was complaining to my daughter, I was inspired - I realised that I could quilt it from the back! Since the thread in the bobbin was the same as the top and my tension was good, there were no issues.

FMQ from the back - much easier!

Here are some details of the FMQ from the front. These are all techniques taught by Christina Cameli in Wild Quilting on Craftsy. She does much more echoing than I did - I just kept forgetting!

Details of the FMQ 

More details of the FMQ 

By the way, this is Anna, my niece. She came over a couple of weeks ago to have her t-shirt shortened. Lucky for her I had just done the same thing for my daughter a few months back, so I knew what I was doing :-) I don't usually work with knits but it turns out that my Jag (my sewing machine) does that very well!

Anna in her t-shirt

Growing Up QAL

Here is block 9 of the Growing Up QAL with Alida. We made our own bias tape.

Block 9 of Growing Up QAL

What I learned

• I learned a lot from Christina Cameli's Wild Quilting course but I really want to practice quilting less densely. I seem to quilt densely naturally but it's just too hard on the eyes and let's face it, it's never ending!
• I am really glad that I quilted the Black & White wall hanging from the back. It was so much easier to do.
• Making my own bias tape wasn't difficult, I just didn't like having to iron it down. Between the hot iron and my uncooperative fingers, it was a bit of a challenge.
• As I was making the block, I was really proud of the fact that my three blocks turned out to be the same size as the larger block (remember, I am accuracy challenged!) Then I got careless and sewed the wrong side to the right side. That's what happens when I'm mentally congratulating myself and not paying attention to what I'm doing. 

Related Links

• Connecting Threads batting
• Posts related to Anna's Black & White wall hanging
• Learning QAL - September Sum Up, September 25, 2017
• Lots of projects, September 12, 2017
• Learning QAL - September Goal Setting, August 31, 2017
• Christina Cameli's Wild Quilting course on Craftsy

Project Details




Anna's Black & White wall hanging
12½" x 21"
Materials: cotton
Techniques: improvisational piecing, FMQ





Linking Parties: I will be linking this post to the Growing Up QAL as well as other great linking parties. Check out what quilters around the world are doing! Oh Scrap! Can I get a Whoop Whoop? Finished or Not Friday, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Midweek Makers, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks,

An InLinkz Link-up

Lots of projects!

After the hectic pace of the end of August and the new Learning QAL Goal Setting post, I needed a break. I've been slowly working on many projects - mostly those with deadlines as well as the required procrastination project.

Art with Fabric Blog Hop - Fall 2017

This year's theme is Mother Earth, also known as Gaïa.

I just happen to have a lovely reproduction statue of a beautiful Pre-Columbian female figure from Colombia, South America. I'll be writing more about this beauty in a post just before my blog hop date of Wednesday, October 11, 2017. In the Related Links below you will find a link to the blog hop and its participants.

My muse for the Art with Fabric Blog Hop

I'm going to wait a little to post my progress, although I will say that this weekend I finished the background with hand-dyed fabrics, some of which I made this summer. Because of the fabrics and the theme, this is going to be a very special piece for me :-)

September Learning Quilt-A-Long

Craftsy FMQ course

My September goal for the Learning QAL is to learn and practice more free motion quilting (FMQ). I started by re-watching an old favourite Craftsy course that I hadn't really worked on yet. It's Wild Quilting with Christina Cameli. Christina is very engaging and the course looks at how to put various motifs together.

Practicing Wild Quilting

I did one practice piece so far. I've also started drawing Muv's Rudbeckia design. I have a few more sheets of paper to fill before I'm comfortable with that one.

One Monthly Goal (OMG)

My OMG for September is to make a black and white wall hanging for my niece. I used improvisational piecing. It's now ready to quilt. I know that I want to practice Wild Quilting for this piece. I've got a few ideas but haven't worked it all out yet. I'm hoping to get it done this weekend.

Procrastination Project

Making hexies is my procrastination project of choice these days. There's nothing like listening to a audio book, music or talking with my daughter in the evening as I sew hexies together. I usually design a few and then start sewing them together when I feel like it.

Four completed Hexie Flowers

Dark hexie flower ready to be sewn together

So far I have 4 hexie flowers completed, one partially sewn, 4 designed and ready to sew and 2 being designed. The ones being designed need to have a few more hexies covered in fabric - that's usually because I've chosen colours but need to go into my stash for more fabric. I've also noticed that my flowers are getting wilder as I go. This could get interesting 😊

The box at the top of the Dark hexie flower picture is where I put completed hexies ready to use for designing a flower. I've been having fun trying out different combinations for the inner and outer circles. Since I'm making a black and white wall hanging I thought that I would make a black and white hexie flower from left over fabric. Looking forward to playing with that! 

What I learned

• I'm finding it difficult to have to complete posts on time for the Learning QAL. I'm trying to keep organised with a list of the posts that I have to complete, their dates and the projects that need to be done by then. That's a lot more organisation than I like but it is helping me keep on track.
• The Learning QAL has doubled in participation in September - from 1 to 2! I hope we can keep those stats going :-)
• Since starting to English Paper Piece (EPP), I'm now seeing hexagons and potential projects everywhere! I keep thinking that I should EPP other shapes but I want to push the hexies and see what I can come up with. I have a couple of art quilt ideas with them in mind. I'm looking forward to playing with these in the next few months.

Related Links

• Art with Fabric Blog Hop - Fall 2017, hosted by Alida
• Wild Quilting with Christina Cameli from Craftsy
• September's Learning QAL Goal and One Monthly Goal

Linking Parties: I will be linking to a few linking parties. Check out what's happening!  Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, MOP Monday, Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap!, Finished or Not Friday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?,

Learning QAL - September Goal Setting

Welcome to the Learning Quilt-A-Long (QAL)

Have you thought about your learning goal for September yet? Since September is traditionally the time for returning to school, it's a good time to consider what you'd like to learn this month.

Since I have a deadline in early October (see you at the Art with Fabric Blog Hop!),  I am going to keep this month's learning simple.

September Learning Goal: To learn a few more free motion quilting (FMQ) patterns.

There are so many great resources available - on the internet, in books, magazines, courses, etc. What I will be doing this month is use a few of these to learn and practice my FMQ. Since I have to keep this post interesting with images, here is some of the FMQ that I've done so far.

Race Car design from Lori Kennedy

Re-quilting a batik runner

Practicing my feathers

Using Angela Walter's Dot-to-Dot technique

Here are a few of the resources that I will be using (the links are in the Related Links below)

• I want to learn a few of Muv's designs such as the Oak Leaf, the Rudbeckia, and the Berries and Leaves.
• Craftsy: I have a ridiculous amount of free motion courses. I have watched and learned from many of them but it's time to get serious about learning and practicing! 
• Of course I have to mention some of the renown FMQ teachers such as Leah Day, Angela Walters and Lori Kennedy. I have many books, web links and Craftsy courses by these ladies.  
• There are a few quilters that I've discovered recently such as Esther with her 365 Day Doodle challenge and Yanicka's Three Feathers pattern. 

Re-quilting a door hanging

As the month progresses, I will share with you show off my FMQ and tell you what I learned using the various resources.

I really hope that you'll join me on my journey this month. You can follow along and share some of your favourite FMQ learning resources or you can link-up your own learning project below!

One Monthly Goal (OMG) - Updated September 3, 2017

Black & white fabrics for my OMG

When I wrote this post all of these projects were rather overwhelming. Now that I've had a couple of days to start and think things through, I've decided that my OMG for September will be to create a little wall hanging in black and white for my niece. She asked for this at Christmas but I was stuck - I just had no inspiration (more about that when I finish this project). I will be combining the FMQ for this month with the OMG to create that wall hanging that will showcase some of the FMQ I've practiced and learned.

What I learned

Design It, Quilt It: Free-Form Techniques
with Cindy Needham

• It was so tough coming up with something that would be fun to learn but that could be done in smaller chunks of time and not too large and overwhelming. I really want this Learning QAL to be about the fun of learning and not the stress. I will be consciously trying to live that principle.
• Since it was tough to decide, I now have a list of the many, many things that I want to learn in the next months. It was really good to take a look at all of the resources that I have access to. There is so much out there!
• As I was adding the resources to my list, I wanted to make sure that I promote not only the obvious resources, but also the up-and-coming and not so famous ones. There are so many talented people out there who are so generous about sharing what they learn. It's so much fun to find them.
• It's often a challenge to find visuals for a blog post where I haven't really done anything yet! Oh well, I guess that's when re-using photos comes in handy :-)

Related Links

• Free Motion Quilting Design Videos - by Muv of Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing
• Craftsy
• Leah Day of the Free Motion Quilting Project
• Angela Walters of Quilting is my Therapy
• Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt
• 365 Day Doodle challenge by Esther at ipatchandquilt
• Yanicka's Three Feathers FMQ pattern at Finding Myself as an artist
• Art with Fabric Blog Hop

Links to posts of the images

Practice Makes Better

• Race car design by Lori Kennedy: Back on Track - August 20, 2016
• Re-quilting a batik runner: Projects Update - December 2, 2014
• Practicing my feathers: Too much quilting? - September 24, 2015
• Using Angela Walter's Dot-to-Dot technique: Colourful Learning Project - May 21, 2014
• Re-quilting a door hanging - September 12, 2014
• Design It, Quilt It: Free-Form Techniques with Cindy Needham:  Free Motion Quilting Madness - March 16, 2015
• Practice Makes Better, December 15, 2015

Linking Parties: I will be linking to many link-up parties. Feel free to follow along. Free Motion Mavericks, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Oh Scrap!, One Monthly Goal Setting, MOP Monday, Main Crush Monday, Monday Making, Linky Tuesday, Design Wall Monday, Midweek Maker, Let's Bee Social,

Prizes
The August prize for participation goes to Donna of quiltpaintcreate. Thanks so much for participating! I will be in touch with you about sending you Yanicka's Cougar pattern featuring her Fractured image technique.

The September prize for participating in both the September Goal Setting and Sum Up link-ups will be a $20 (US) gift certificate for a quilting book so that you can keep on learning! For those who don't want to pay shipping, it can be a e-book (they are my favourites!) I am sorting out the details and will announce the publisher in the September Sum Up post.

An InLinkz Link-up