Free Improv Class!

 Apparently, I haven't been busy enough. I say that because I decided to host a free improv class on my website. My plan is to use the class to build a set of smaller classes. This means that "free" students will serve as my guinea pigs, so to speak. I'm going to ask for feedback in the hopes that I can improve the smaller classes before offering them online at a cost.

I'm finally back with you all to tell you about the class because I know what a dedicated group you all are, and I trust your opinions. Of course, I understand that not everyone is going to be able or willing to participate, but I hope some of you will try.

Quilt top: Marilyn's Dress, 2023

My plan for the class is to teach different concepts that I have put together while working on several quilts. It seems that while I am always trying to come up with something new, I also have some tried-and-true ideas that I lean on when I'm stuck, or I just want to get something (anything!) done. 

Citrus Sherbert 2023

If you're interested, go to my website marymarcotte.com and click on the tab Improv BoM 2024.  hope you'll join me! If so, I'll see you in January. 

Let me know what you think,

Mary

Two 'Challenge Met' Quilt Tops for AHIQ

I've been such a slacker about getting the latest projects up here on the AHIQ blog. Trying to fix that! First up is the latest improv. finish, Improv. HST Medallion. It wasn't started as a response any specific prompt here, but all along, the Playing With Scale challenge has been whispering in the back of my head.

Improv. HST Medallion 

Most every border added seemed to lend itself well to a 'larger' scale of the initial piecing. I even drew the look in a rough doodle right after the centerpiece made itself known. What if? Then the tulip applique jumped on and I had to let the whole thing marinate for awhile just 'in case' I was overlooking the obvious. Hmm..  Maybe not. I've been intrigued by this style of quilt for a very long time. So many antique lovelies to get inspiration from, though the best generally have much, much smaller piecing throughout.

Positive Thinking

Also, I wanted to get my version of the Positive Thinking challenge posted here where it all began. Most of the AHIQ followers have already seen this over on the very wordy post. This is another one of those quilts that I just don't think would have ever happened if not for the very challenges presented here at AHIQ. That's not a stretch at all to say this! These prompts have to have a start you know! And a theme! It was a lovely journey getting to this particular finish and I am happy, thrilled, and even a bit moved with how personal and unique this turned out to be. Who would have thunk it? 

The way I see it now

Thanks to everyone who took the time to post suggestions in response to my previous post; it's helpful to see all the different options you came up with.  I have been pondering this QAL a lot and, although I don't have a fully-fledged answer to my tulip dilemma, I do have  clearer sense of how I need to think about the whole project.

I realise that it makes much more sense to me if I think of Ann's monthly posts as a series of prompts rather than sets of instructions.  Thus, month 1 was 'make string blocks' and month 2 is 'make tulips'.  I could choose to ignore a prompt and veer off in another direction if I wanted to, but if I want tulips then I should get over the questions of technique.  I am mostly a piecer, so I want to piece tulips.  I am improvisational by inclination, so I'm going to have a go at improvising them. 

What I know for certain is that if this doesn't work, it will just be a step on the way to something that does.  Sitting here scratching my head for too long, on the other hand, won't get me anywhere,

Hourglass challenge update

 I started this quilt in a Sherry Lynn Wood workshop back in November. Since it was a two day workshop, I brought home only the beginnings of something. 

See me pondering what that something was? Let's just say I was not impressed. And things didn't look better when I got home. All I could think was that I had the bare bones of something.

In January I challenged the Cotton Quilters' Guild to bring a difficult unfinished project to the next meeting. At that time we would each present the project and tell the group what our challenge was. 

In March we were to bring the project to show. The beauty of the idea was that everyone got to choose her own piece and decide for herself what she would try to accomplish. 

At some point I combined that challenge with the AHIQ hourglass challenge. It really began morphing at that point, and I decided to try a Chinese Coins setting. AHIQ might save me a second time, right?

And this, dear friends is where we are now. So onto the longarm it goes. Hopefully this week.

I have no idea

I have no idea where this is going. It was supposed to be a quick little quilt made with scraps just to give me something to do while I was between "real" projects. Sometimes I just can't get going. I resolve that problem with a new project. Every time. I resolve to work on finishing something. Anything. But the new project just happens.

I guess the Red as a Neutral just isn't out of my system, because when I went to the scrap cupboard, they somehow followed me to the worktable. Anyway, there were some large chunks of scrap fabric in both bins, so win! I tried mixing it up a little and put some pieces on the design board. No, that was not working.

So I cut some pieces, trying to tone it down a little with larger pieces of neutral (left), making these rectangles cut on the diagonal and pieced together. No, not really working. I tried to make them into windmills (right). Still not a plan. But now I have a mission. I just don't know what that might be.
I'll keep you posted, both here and on my blog.

Roads, Trees and Trails

Hi everyone, my mind mapping, map challenge notebook is getting thick. I've had sooo many ideas with this challenge and my fair share of what I think of as failures!

I love the work of @gahoulie on Istagram. She is free spirited and obviously sews like a fiend. And she is known for wearing pinafore everywhere! Go check her out.

Honestly, folks, I am spending a bit of time posting photos as I go and love the 'fast' part of IS. So if you are on Instagram, please pop over to @carlithequilter to see what I'm up to outside of this blog.

So my journey in the Map Challenge has been up and down and now its going green again. As you can see I have too much brand new fabric

OK, now that is better! Sunny day apposed to cloudy days above.

After much deliberation and discussion with my hubby who is a Certified Arborist for Oakstead.ca who loves this idea of trees as a mapping challenge in textile. We began to think in terms of seasonal changes which doesn't really change on a map, but in the physical landscape, seasons change everything.

On another note, the late wedding presents have finally  been done and delivered. Thanks Mom for taking them with you when you visited!

So onto my seasonal color fabric pick for next time!

Happy Quilting!

Roads Among the Trees

I have been stumped and the muse left me and so I was reading Audrey's last post about her process of grouping fabrics together, writing a wee note of scribble to keep the idea in with the fabrics chosen and I took a turn in the path.

Yes sirrie, it was a turn towards trying to determine how to express my love of trees and their ultimate sacrifice they make for our fresh air.

They do all the work and we continue to burn fossil fuels and not walk when we really should. Well you all know that climate change is not just coming at us, its really here! They do all the work for us and we drive our cars continuously. I like the title of Sew Slowly because after all, that is what we all should be doing. But I digress!

This piece appeal has left me, escaped me and to where, who knows?

So I picked up my big girl panties and made another attempt at this challenge! What I really see is a landscape of trees and roads. In my mind, this so surreal and complete and piecing is what my instincts are telling me to do.

I'm also taking a turn toward a new destination on my Klassen's Forest Fire Quilt. 

I had all the blocks sewn together, only to realize that my budget doesn't have squeaky room for a professional machine quilting job and my back is not up to the full on machine quilting it myself.

So par for the course, I have cut all 20 blocks up into 16 inch blocks and will proceed with QAYG method of completion. I can work in my sewing room until it gets bigger and it will be done on my dime.

Now, that these blocks are ready for hand or machine quilting, they will be done individually!

The whole stack of them are waiting to be sandwiched.

And after moving this past year I discovered I have a pile of fat quarters from Cloud 9 Organic Fabric and so these will be the backing for the blocks. This is only one fabric of several different ones that will form a cohesive pattern on the back, making their Forest Fire Quilt reversible.

@carlithequilter is my handle over at Instagram.

Trails In The Woods

As a child I loved pretending I was a maiden living in the woods. I built my very own fort on the ground in a small circle that had about 6 - 8 small saplings growing. I cut down smaller saplings to wind them in between the growing trees to make my fort. Later on, as I grew more, the shape of sapling fort took on a semi roof and the ground inside the circle of trees became trodden with so much activity the grass didn't grow anymore. It was my escape to my own queendom in the woods of rural B.C.

Rural living means knowing the important trails you've found that lead to yummy things to eat. Its very important to know where food is at certain times of the year. With trails trodden so many times that even the animals start to use them, its exciting to imagine who you'll meet on the trail.

Maps of these locations are made in your memories, First People know well their trails to trap lines, good fishing spots, to the meadows where moose will be or the mountains where sheep will be. 

I have a very good book to share called "One Thousand White Women" by Jim Fergus. A true story of an peace agreement between USA Government at the time and the bargain they made with with the Cheyenne Nation for peace and one thousand white women to become brides Cheyenne warriors, traded for their finest horses.

Food and water is paramount to survival in the woods. 

This post and challenge has become something of a true walk down memory lane, maps for me until I met my husband, were memories in my mind on trails to walk to town or walk to a good fishing spot. What the trail looked like to my friends who lived miles away, but a path was trodden between our homes. Quilts are like too, they remain, get used, loved and become threadbare.But we continue to use them.

This facination with trails may have begun when my Mother instilled in me a fear of roads where bad men could be. Over the past 30 years, Highway 16 has seen the mysterious disappearance of dozens of Indigenous women. I am sadden to understand that the same roads my Mother warned me about are these roads where not only Indigenous women, but also men and white women have dissappered. Mother knew there was something bad happening on that road and that was 50 years ago.

I began with total improvisational hand stitching onto a background. More trails are coming out of this start. Stay tuned!

Thank you ladies of AHIQ Improvisational group for inviting me to participating!

Best,

Improv and Metacognition -- 3

It’s been a while since our last metacognitive discussion. I finished another bipolar art quilt since then, but I'm going back to the first one for this essay.

Bipolar 3: Balance

Are you ready to talk again? First let’s review some of the discussion from last time.We talked about color, their representations and the feelings they invoke. We also talked about shapes and blocks and how we use them. Then we jumped into those parts of the quilt that are unplanned. They just sort of happen. If you made a quick jot list of your processes, take a look at that list. We’ll come back to it in a bit.

Let’s have one more conversation with that quilt from last time. Think about how that quilt started. Did you pull fabrics? Did you begin with a block that you wanted to use? Sometimes it’s a beautiful fabric that begins the work. What specific idea started this quilt?

You’ve jot listed your process already, now it’s time to determine whether that list is accurate. If necessary, make changes and think about what you usually do. Did you do anything differently on this quilt? If so, which method do you prefer? Which works better for you? Can you pinpoint why? Make notes of any responses you have to these questions and any other ideas that strike you as you think about your processes.

Bipolar 1: Creative

Take a moment to think about your other notes from the previous discussion. This time dig deeper. Think about your thinking. Ask yourself why and how. Why did you feel these emotions? How did you handle the negative ones? What do you do when you feel encouraged or happy?

Think about your space and its atmosphere. How does it affect you and your work?

• ·        Sound: Do you work in quiet? Do you have music playing? What kind—upbeat, soft, soothing, etc. Do you sing along? Do you focus better with or without sound?
• ·        Sight: What does your workspace look like? Clean, organized, creatively messy, etc. What colors surround you? What impedes your work or focus?
• ·        Smell: Do you have candles or other scents? Which are your favorites? Do you always include scents when you work?
• ·        Tactile/Logistical: Which are your favorite fabrics? Do you “pet” your fabric? How often do you clean your workspace? Does dust, clutter, etc. affect your mood? Is it difficult to move around physically? Do you have enough space to put your work down? Can you walk out and close the door or must you clean up after every session?
• ·        Taste: What foods and drinks do you generally have nearby? Coffee, tea, soda, etc. Snacks, healthy snacks, etc. How often do you stop to refuel? How convenient is refueling?
• ·        Mood: Think about your moods when you are in your studio space. Why do you feel this way? What actionable things can you do in your space to improve your mood? How will you put those to work?
• ·        Visitors: Do you allow visitors in your space? Why or why not? How do you defend/share your space?

·       Think about any other effects that are in your space. Can you increase the positive ones? Can you decrease the negative one? Make a list that you can return to at a later time when you are ready to begin this work.  

As I’ve done before, I will answer questions so that you can “see” me “think out” my answers. To make this post a little more concise, however, I will remove the parts of the paragraphs that are not applicable.

how that quilt started. What specific idea started this quilt?

I started this quilt with an idea of wanting to extract or render my thoughts about bipolar depression as a way of dealing with the feelings associated with my having the disorder. The idea came from my pondering how I was handling this complex frame of mind. It has now morphed into management skills for manic episodes. 

Why did you feel these emotions? How did you handle the negative ones? What do you do when you feel encouraged or happy?

I didn’t write what my emotions were as I worked on the quilt. I remember feeling happy with the quilt as it moved forward. I had worked out several techniques and had a plan before pulling the fabrics. I was not concerned so much with the fabrics because I knew I already had them in my stash. The techniques are relatively easy ones. My plan did not include all the techniques I used, but I tend to play and work in an improv kind of way, meaning I tend to give myself leeway to choose as I go along.

I’ve always been an expressive person with many moods. Opposing moods can occur at the same time—I am bipolar. On those manic-all-over-the-place occasions I must fight the urge to abandon everything and try to find something small to focus on. 

When I am pleased with my work, I tend to sing, dance, move more. It’s as if my mind and body work in tandem and are more fluid. Of course, the opposite occurs when I get stuck. In those negative times I walk away from the project that frustrates me. I try to work on a philanthropy project. If I can convince myself to do something for just a few minutes, I generally overcome the blah of a depressive mood. Of course, it helps to take my medicine.

I’m not going to answer the laundry list of questions about my studio. That would bore you half to death. Instead, I’ll let you get to your own answers.