A Sew Sew Day on Off the Wall Friday

 

Using start for turn under applique

Well today I said enough is enough, I'm taking some time to just quietly sew.  My studio misses me. Hmmm well if I am being truthful, I'm quite sure, it's forgotten my name.  Luckily, my boss agreeded with me and gave me some VTO (Voluntary Time Off!)  It felt genuinely decadent to go sew when I should be working.

Once I got everything plugged in, I sat down and my body just went ahhhhhhhhh.  After a week of sewing at Marc Adams at a work station that was not efficient or ergonomic, it was heaven to sit back at my own work table.  This is a good reminder of how much I owe Paul for building me a sewing machine table that actually fits me and my employer for selling me my old secretary chair for  $10.

Unfortunately, this moment of bliss was short-lived.  Once I took a good look at the mosaic art quilt I started in Timna Tarr's class, I could see it was a holy mess.  #somylife  So instead of me quietly sewing the afternoon away, I was ripping apart seams, making new little  2" applique patterns, and getting things back on track.  Four hours later, I had 3 rows together ... but they are now correct.  

I did notice that when I took my time, the process was really easy.  If I went through the steps carefully the seams all matched and it looked like it was meant to look.  With that, I decided to give the rest of the quilt a good once over looking for mistakes and correcting those too.  I mean why not?  What quilter doesn't like ripping seams apart only to sew them all back together.  once again ... #somylife.

Today, I was also reminded that I'm at the very beginning of this process....

Here is Timna's Selfie quilt...

I Woke Up Like This, Timna Tarr , 47" by 47"

Notice how not all the lines flow perfectly.  That adds interest to the quilt as well as texture and tension.  Note to self...not all lines need to be perfectly perfect.  I already have a perfect picture of Tessa.  What I'm trying to create is a new vision of the photo.

Here is a close-up of the eye......

Notice she put her name in

WoW!  I'm so glad she said to leave the face till last.  With this picture, you can really see the complexity of the different values and how they come together to give her face life.  I'm not looking forward to tackling Tessa's face but soon it will be time to put my big girl pants on and get after it! 

The good thing is that I totally understand how to add stitch texture and quilting line to it at the end.  Today though, I found out I'm much farther from that than I thought!

Now, under things I like....I'm just finishing up The Rose Code by Kate Quinn.  It's the story of three women who worked during WW II at Bletchley Park.  My husband and I both loved it.  It had enough history, drama, intrigue, and romance to keep us satisfied.  Although I read a lot of historical fiction, it's not often that I find a book that is paced just right.  This one is.  I do want to say it was a bit predictable and I didn't mind a bit.  Plus as a  bit of a spoiler, who doesn't want to dream about dating Prince Philipp before the Queen of England was old enough to marry him?!

So What Have You've Been Up to Creatively?

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