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My Dandelion Quilt - Flower Appliqués

10/26/2021

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I decide I want to finish this quilt top by the end of the month, so I can get it to the long-armer ASAP.  Winter is coming, and I want to have a sunshiney summer bedspread to cheer me through the drear.  I have two more appliqués to do: the dandelion bloom and the side-view with sepals. 
But first, my Dandelion Quilt posts so far:
Design
Sky and Wishies
Pieced Dandelions
Delectable Mountains Block (1)
Bear Paw
Barrister's Block
Delectable Mountains Block (2)
Appliqué Leaves

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My Dandelion Quilt - Appliqué Leaves

10/17/2021

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The last of my piecing being done, it's time for (blessedly math-free) appliqué!  (The last time I did any significant appliqué was when I made the fish dress!  That dress has long since gone to the thrift store... swim free, little fishies!) 

This time I'm inspired to try Hawaiian appliqué, which is designed by folding the fabric and then cutting it to get symmetrical designs.  Both the  appliqué and quilting are traditionally done by hand, and the quilting is usually echo-quilting, like the lines of a topographical map or the ripples of waves around an island.  ​Whether the appliqués are representational or abstract depends on the designer.  I am going for identifiable dandelion leaves and flowers.  Today I'll show the leaves.  
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Delectable Mountains Block - I still suck at math

9/27/2021

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Picture

My Dandelion Quilt posts so far:

Design
Sky and Wishies
Pieced Dandelions
Delectable Mountains Block
Bear Paw
Barrister's Block

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My Dandelion Quilt - Barrister's Block

9/26/2021

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I am working on the bottom of my Dandelion Quilt, and feel like I'm "in the weeds" both figurally and figuratively!  But first, here are the Dandelion Quilt posts so far:
Design
Sky and Wishies
Pieced Dandelions
Delectable Mountains Block (math) *
Bear Paw
Today, I'm working on the very bottom row of the quilt: the Barrister's Blocks! 
Picture
"Whatcha doin'? Procrastinating? Can I help? Here, I'll sit on your work; now you can't do anything!"
* Observant readers will notice that the Delectable Mountains Block is not yet sewn, so expect another post about that soon.  

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The Joys of Having Mended

9/13/2021

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In Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park, Fanny's sailor brother visits while on shore leave and regales the family with the rigors of life at sea.  Henry Crawford, a wealthy loafer, reflects as he listens...
He longed to have been at sea, and seen and done and suffered as much. His heart was warmed, his fancy fired, and he felt the highest respect for a lad who, before he was twenty, had gone through such bodily hardships and given such proofs of mind. The glory of heroism, of usefulness, of exertion, of endurance, made his own habits of selfish indulgence appear in shameful contrast; and he wished he had been a William Price, distinguishing himself and working his way to fortune and consequence with so much self-respect and happy ardour, instead of what he was!
He toys with these fantasies for a few minutes, before someone mentions hunting, and he finds is "as well to be a man of fortune"! 

Per Austen's delicate genius, she tucks deeper meaning into the syntax of her sentences than the nouns or verbs: savor the careful past-perfects in this paragraph.  Henry Crawford doesn't actually want to experience privations or work hard or prove his mettle; he wants to "have done" so!  In the past.  He doesn't want to build character, he wants to be on the other side of that building project, looking back with self-congratulation at what a fine man he's made of himself. 

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Acid Trip Quilt - Cubist Yin-Yang

9/10/2021

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I was originally calling this quilt "Pick-Up Sticks/Acid Trip", but as I work on it, my pick-up sticks inspiration is fading, while the acid trip associations are getting stronger. 
Picture
playing with color-blocking
Incidentally, I have never dropped acid, but I've talked to people who have, and been told the feeling is like a mix of synesthesia, emotional vastness, and that strange hallucinatory feeling of being very tired and jet-lagged and hungry, while listening to On The Floor at the Boutique rather loud... which I have experienced.  I was so happy and floaty, and certain noises made my heart jump and my brain twist, and the beat-drop was like jumping off a high diving board and never hitting water.  It was a very cool feeling.  But I wonder: why drop acid if you can feel awesome just by running yourself ragged and exposing yourself to funky sounds...? My method doesn't fry the brain or get you sent to prison (although the risk of being taken advantage of while you're out-of-it is about equal). 
Anyway, I'm calling it the Acid Trip quilt, now.  Here are the posts, so far:
1. String Piecing (Pick-up Sticks/Acid Trip)
2. Pick-up Sticks/Acid Trip coming along

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Fun Updates

9/8/2021

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In no particular order, nor any particular relevance to this blog...

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Hats vs. Bonnets

8/2/2021

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DEFINITION OF BONNET

When talking about womenswear, a bonnet is a woman's head-dress which has a brim of some kind and which ties under the chin.  The tying under the chin may be the original distinctive element, since its etymology shows it "akin to Old Saxon gibund bundle, Old English bindan to bind".  It is stiffer and more structured than a coif, which often ties on but is a close-fitting and entirely soft garment.  It's different from a hat, which can have a brim, and may tie under the chin, but has an entirely different attitude.

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Menstruation and Cloth Menstrual Pads

7/19/2021

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Menstruation has been a taboo subject in various times and places.  In the US in the 1950's, you might buy your menstrual pads from a pharmacist, in hushed tones, and bring them home in discreet bags.  You might call your period "a visit from Aunt Flo".  Thankfully, in 21st Century America, it's not as taboo of a subject... nowadays, they advertise pads on television.  But despite the fact that people talk about it, sometimes they still talk nonsense.


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Paralyzing Procrastination

7/14/2021

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If procrastination were an Olympic event, I could represent my country... eventually... aw, heck, I wouldn't get around to it.  In school, like many smart kids, I discovered that I could rush my homework at the last minute and still get decent grades, so there was little need to budget time for study.  As an adult, my lack of discipline around time has greater consequences.  I try to combat procrastination by various means.  For instance, I say I need a deadline.  Without a  deadline, I won't finish.  But in practice, a deadline only works if it's imposed by another; if I have a deadline from someone else, it activates my dread of disappointing people, but my self-imposed deadlines have no teeth.  Still, that's not a good solution; do I really want to be motivated by dread and obligation? 

In the last several years, when sewing for paying clients, I kept repeating the same miserable cycle: I'd get a project with a deadline; I'd be excited about the possibilities and make plans to do something really cool; I'd get intimidated by my own perfectionism, so I'd fail to start; I'd fail to do anything else, either, because I felt guilty to work on things that were not my assigned project; I'd talk badly to myself in frustration; finally the deadline would near and I'd rush to finish, feeling a surge of creativity and pleasure in creation, but falling short of my perfect vision because of lack of time; I'd deliver the project and feel freed to do other things again. 

In the winter of 2020-2021, it got really bad, as I had a perfect storm of other issues and winter depression as well.  There was a jacket that might have taken me two weeks to make if I'd budgeted a few evenings here and there, but instead too nearly six months of angsting and procrastinating.  I was happy with the jacket, but at my wits end with my own maladaptive behavior! 

Then one day I saw a video put out by Cathy Hay, a historical costumer and researcher whom I follow.  She said something that may have opened a door in my head:
There's a transition you go through when you switch from having a project to having a finished thing.  And that's because you change role... from Maker to Owner of a thing.  You switch, when it's finished, from being the maker of the thing to the person who's judging the finished thing.  So when you're afraid of finishing, it's really the Maker in you who is afraid of the Owner, the judge, that is gonna look at the finished thing and judge it.

And the Maker needs to talk to the owner and say “I'm okay with this, however it turns out. I don't really care what the owner thinks, because the maker had fun making it.”
I've since practiced telling my maker-self what my owner self will think, even before the thing is done, so I can finish.  I'll say things like "I'm going to love having this blanket", or "I will use the heck out of this, and be charmed by its quirks" or "It'll be nice to hear others admire this, and only I will know about this mistake... it'll be my little secret."  My future self trying to earn the trust of my present one.  I think it's helping. 
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    Karen Roy

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