more thoughts on a low-volume quilt

Quiltcon Member Challenge 2024 - due October

Be thin! Be quiet! Efface yourself into the background! Support the efforts of others in your life! "We Are White Lady Genteel (a.k.a. 'low volume')"

And then a counter sub: "I Know My Own Worth" Brassy! Bold! Forward! Confident! Perhaps with a dark background and bright colours?

I'd never get it finished before October.

Pictured: the Gothic Summer Sampler, which took a very standard pattern and simply did it in black and scarlet.

on assistance and helping [Australia On Fire]

There's been a lovely upswelling of assistance from crafters (from everyone, really) as the Australian Fires of 2020 continue burning.

However, a few hard truths.

1. Any 'practical supplies' that you make are taking people away from the fire frontage to deal with the excess.

Multiple organisations have already indicated that they're running out of space to deal with all this stuff, and a lot of it isn't practical anyway. It's frequently not helping if they haven't specifically asked for it.

2. What people are providing is not necessarily what is needed.

Apparently, well-meaning knitters have crafted thousands of woollen paw-gloves...which aren't able to be used by the cute and cuddly koalas, partly because the fibre they're made from is not always suitable to put on raw wounds of paws, but also because koalas actually need their claws to be able to climb trees. So far too many of the gloves are going to landfill, having only satisfied the well-meaning people who made them.

3. Even Donating to the RFS could be shorting them in future years.

Basically, the RFS is an Australian Government department. As such, it's supported by the Australian taxpayers through their income, land, and sales taxes. Donating to the RFS, while letting people feel good about what they've given, actually allows the government to renege on their budgetary allocations.

Say that the RFS is allocated $100m a year for their budget. But through the generosity of the public due to Fire Season, they are given $20m in donations. They don't end up with $120m in budget; they end up with $80m from the government and $20m in donations.

And then in the 2021 budgets, the government says, "well, you did okay with $80m budget last year, so we're not going to increase that, you'll just have to get the rest from donations again."

so what do you do?

The RFS has asked for donations to Red Cross. (For the record, the Red Cross has been handing out $5K packages to families in Byron Bay whose buildings/properties are burned down, to keep them afloat; and that's going to be just the start of it.)

The Animal Rescue Craft Guild has today asked people to stop sewing while they take stock.

Various crafting groups have said that if you want to help, go about crafting what you usually craft, making what you usually do, and when you're done, sell it and donate the money. There are quilting groups that are not just donating their quilts but raffling them, and donating the money raffled to the relevant charity for the fires.

(One of the groups is my quilting group - the Sydney Mod Squad. We have five quilts that are up for raffle, from the last five years of entering quilts at the show. If you're interested in joining the raffle, then keep an eye on the @SydModSquad instagram account. I'm not sure if there's options for international shipping, but definitely in Australia.)

Yes, money is such a filthy, terrible, impersonal thing to give when what you want to think is that the mitten you personally knitted is sitting snugly on the paw of a poor burned koala, or the wrap you made is curled around a baby possum whose mother died in the fire. It makes you feel good, right?

And yet charity is not for us. I mean, it is. It broadens our minds, broadens our hearts, makes us look beyond our immediate circle of 'self and family and friends' to the possibilities that might yet strike at us: there but for the grace of God go I.

But the effects of charity - the people/organisations who we want to help - are sometimes best served by giving money, and, moreover, giving it somewhere that may not feel 'right' but which is nevertheless the better option than the one that does.

Do I Know My Own Worth? Where The Rubber Hits The Road

So, you know about Hunter's Design Studio's We Are $ew Worth It theme, right? Or perhaps you know the concept of We Are $ew Worth It better for Molli Sparkles' post about No Value Does Not Equal Free, where he talks about the cost of making a quilt and does a very handy little spreadsheet to calculate it.

The rubber has just hit the road for me. A friend has offered to buy The Promises Of Spring since I mentioned in another blogpost that I was wondering what to do with it:


So, what is this quilt worth?

As noted in the post by Hunter's Design studio, this is an entirely different value to what I can get for it. I can do some rough maths to work out a value for the quilt, probably using Molli's template. However, the sale of the quilt poses a question about how I value myself - which, frankly, is the more challenging question. Numbers are easy; self-worth is difficult.

The question I have is how to approach this. Do I put out a spreadsheet laying out the price of the effort I put in (approximated because I didn't bother to record how long it took)? Do I just give her a number and wait for agreement or disagreement? Do I say "this is how much it cost me to make, this is what I'm happy to sell it for"? The friend is buying it for her daughter, and if she's not rolling in it, she's not destitute either.

I'm more than happy to gift a large portion of it - I've given quilts before and not said how much they cost; I've indicated how much quilts cost in casual conversation, but I've never had to have the conversation about how much my quilts are WORTH. And it's one thing to know that my 'hobby work' should be valued as much as my 'office work' (for which I am paid in easy excess of $50/hr) - certainly my 'hobby work' has brought considerably more pleasure to myself and others than my 'office work' tends to - and yet another to actually sit down and value my efforts.

It won't be easy. But maybe it's time.

Must Make List for 2015

Inspired by GnomeAngel's Must Make List of 2015! Because if you aim for nothing, you'll hit it every time!

So here's aiming high. I'd like to make at least one regular-sized quilt per month, and at least three scrap quilts during the year. I want backings for all my current quilt tops so I can at least get them quilted and made up. And I want to clear all my ongoing WIPs from the board.

We may succeed, we may fail. Either way, at least with a plan, I have a hope of getting things done. Maybe. :)

Forthwith, the program for 2015.

JANUARY
All the quilt backings ever:


Theoretically, these should not be difficult.

Theoretically. *sigh*

Baby Quilt Commission
A friend has commissioned me to make a baby quilt for a friend of hers. It'll just be basic squares, and I might try some fancy FMQ patterns on my domestic machine.

Greens and white. The baby room is cool as a cucumber green with white furniture. I'll send you a pick tomorrow. I would like the quilt to match the room but still stand out. Solid colour patches. Although a single repeated pattern patch throughout looks cool.

FEBRUARY
Swarm
I've been planning and planning and planning to get this done (complete with pattern) for the Make Modern Magazine, but first there was Work Project Of Doom, then there was The Renovations, then Moving House, and finally Christmas.

I'll try to finish it at the Sydney Modern Quilt Group's sewing day on 8th Feb!

Scrap Quilt: Log Cabin
I think I'm going to go with a basic scrappy log cabin. I have a bunch of 'black and white' 2.5" squares that were gifted to me which will be perfect for the centres, and I can work colours in around them - hopefully colour and value combinations that will look good! I may have to cut a few more 1.5" and 2" strips from the stash, though!

MARCH
Rainbow Mini Swap #rainbowminiswap
This mini swap must be mailed off by the 30th March, so this needs doing!

Instagram Mini Swap Oz #igminioz
This mini swap must be mailed off by 10th April, so the sooner the better! (I have a solid idea for this, I just have to get it done. IRON THE HSTs, SEL! DOOO EEET!!!)

One or both of mini swaps will be made with scraps. But they will be beautiful, I promise!

Valley of the Kings
A gift for a friend that is a couple of years late. *sigh*

APRIL
Red Letter Day
I need to make another Red Letter Day quilt - to match King Of Bling:

Sister B2 wants King Of Bling, and if I'm going to gift one, I might as well gift both! I'll do it with the dark background again, but different focus fabrics. A little more class-y, a little less bling-y, though!

The last time I gave my sisters quilts was for their 21st birthday...and they received the quilts when they were 28! This time, I shall be a little faster with the quilting. Really.

The Sydney Modern Quilt Group's sewing day on the first Sunday in April should be ideal for this!

Rainbow Snowflakes Quilt
Something I started putting together back in September/October last year and which I haven't finished. The prospect of Y-seams is terrifying me!


MAY
Imagine Greater
This is "the Heather Ross quilt" that I've had in mind for a while - kind of a scrap quilt, only the 'scraps' are my Heather Ross Mendocino leftovers from the mermaids quilt I made. This one will probably be in a log cabin style - a center block with a fantasy creature in the middle, and then strips around and around and around.

JUNE
Magic Stars
Aneela Hoey's Magic Stars pattern in Kate Spains Cuzco collection. Perfection.

JULY
Starry Starry Night


Foundation Paper Piecing Stars. Advantage: the next range of C+S solids should be out, and hopefully the dark blue matches with the backgrounds of the other paper-pieced stars.

Although I still have to work out how to get the star 'angles' with a decent contrast.

AUGUST
Swell
Another Camille Roskelley quilt that I have the layer cake all cut and ready to go, but not actually done.

SEPTEMBER
Framed
Let's just make this the Camille Roskelley section of the year, shall we? Like 'Swell', I have some layer cakes that I cut up for this pattern a while back and haven't done anything more.

So let's do this thing!

OCTOBER
Scrap Quilt: Rainbow Selvages
This one:


I have a lot of coloured selvages already gathered and bagged, but I need to add a whole heap more from the current scrap sorting. And actually do this thing.

NOVEMBER
Scrap Quilt: Oh, Crumbs!
All year, I'll have been sewing together "crumbs" of fabric in colour blocks. And now comes the time to put them together in a single quilt!

DECEMBER
classic batik log cabin
I have ridiculous amounts of batiks lying around. Like the 'crumbs' blocks, I should have been sewing these between projects all year.

ALL YEAR

The projects that will be worked on all year long.

Aussie Handmade Birthday Club
I signed up for this in July last year, and have some lovely lovely presents from the women of AHBC Party #3. It's a good opportunity to stretch my sewing skills to accessories and suchlike - I've mostly made bags and zippered pouches so far. We'll see if anything more complicated comes along.

Aviatrix Medallion
Penny Poppleton would like me to get mine done by the time the 2015 Sydney Quilt Show rolls around. I'm kinda doubtful that I'll have the time to do so, but...we'll see.

Millefiori Madness: Passacaglia
I need to get back on this again. Cutting pieces and bagging them so the pieces for each rosette are all stored together.


Dancing Stars
From a foundation paper piecing pattern - I forget by whom, but there's no shortage of scraps for this. Right? Right?


Quilt Uberfest 2012
I started this, realised I don't like the blocks themselves, and stopped. But I still have the blocks and they need to be put together. And they need a bit of contrast colour in there - too much red and purple, needs a pop of yellow and maybe some grey.




Various Scrap Quilts
All year, I plan to sew scrap quilts together - easy designs and ideas:
- Interwoven (Crazy For Scraps: Sally Schneider)
- Monkey Business (Scrap-Basket Surprises: Kim Bracket)
- Lava Flow (Successful Scrap Quilts: Judy Turner and Margaret Rolfe)
- The Dead Simple quilt
- Modern Dis9Patch

But the first thing is to get my quilt backings done and my quilts out of the way!

2015, here we come!

the Manifesto Of Creativity

My Manifesto Of Creativity

1. I like what I like. You like what you like. They may or may not overlap. And that's okay.
2. Perfection is not required, but I personally like to take some pride in what I've done - to do it reasonably well. And then see if I can do it better. (Note Rule #1: my 'reasonably well' is unlikely to be your 'reasonably well' - see "inexact seams" in previous post. And that's okay.)
3. Take shortcuts whenever possible (and where it doesn't interfere with Rule #2). Time is one thing humanity always runs out of faster than we think we will.
4. Perfection can wait. Done is the engine of More. Get it Done. (Full text: Cult Of Done manifesto)
5. Creative endeavour is (mostly) a hobby to me. It should be enjoyable wherever possible. If a part of the process is a chore, then it's not fun anymore.


tl;dr: Everyone's different. Don't be a hater. It's more important to Do than to Be Perfect. And the Doing should at least be Enjoyable, if not outright Fun.


Small technical issue

I'm sorry if I don't respond to your comments. How on Earth does one respond to comments on Blogger? I'm used to blogs like LiveJournal which allow threading of comments, as well as emailing individual replies to the people who are being replied to. It's much more convenient for holding conversations with people who respond to your posts or your comments in posts, and allowing them to be publically viewable. Sometimes people other than the questioner are interested in the answer.

Do I have to email you all individually or something? Or do I just respond in the comments?

Usually, I'm an "ooh, what does this button do?" kind of person with technology and applications. But I have the feeling I'm looking for a functionality that doesn't exist on this platform. (Technobabble translation: "Blogger doesn't have it.")

WIP Wednesday!

The supernova quilt top is this close to being completed! Extra-long weekends are awesome for getting a move on projects!

So here's a look at the 4x4 sewn together, and the borders laid out but not sewn on.


Borders are going to be a mite tricksy, because my seams are...well...inexact. Sounds so tactful, doesn't it? "Inexact." Frankly, I reckon they'd make any of the bloggers I follow throw their hands up in horror...and they don't even have to sew them!

*coughs* So, inexact seams. Which means the distance between the starburst verticals varies between 15" and 15.5" according to the individual blocks. (I did say they were inexact!) So I'll have to do some careful pinning and probably some sewing-on-the-run to make sure the seams actually meet up where they're s'posed to.

I've only just begun contemplating the back and whether I'd like to do some piecing on the back. I have a bunch of fabric lengths from the top that should probably be used - although I'm thinking about making another postage stamp quilt with them.

The truth is that my backs are usually a plain cotton sheet, with edge-to-edge computer-patterned machining c/o Thirroul Custom Quilting. They do lovely work, and I adore the designs. Jo, who runs Thirroul Custom Quilting, has been awesome to speak with about patterns and designs, and I love looking at the quilts her other customers have brought for her to work on. Before I discovered the quilting blogosphere, her workshop was the place where I was most heartily reminded that I'm a beginner at this and have many miles to go!

I know there's a fair amount of disdain for sending quilts away to be quilted, but the truth is that the joy of quilting for me is in the design and piecing. I love the colours and fabrics, the patterns and geometry of piecing; the 'will it, or won't it' of putting it together and the problem-solving aspect of how to make it as fast and efficient a process as possible.

I've machine quilted my own quilts, and hand-quilted a couple of baby-quilts. It took forever, looked clumsy, and was a deeply unsatisfying experience.

The truth is that if I had to quilt my own quilts, it would become a chore and I wouldn't enjoy quiltmaking. And I wouldn't get the lovely works of art that computerised machine quilting produces, because I can't do that with either hands or machine myself - I don't have the time, the hands, or the equipment to create that kind of artistry.

And isn't that why we're in this hobby? To have fun and be artists - each in our own way - and incidentally to make something useful that will function for years and possibly even decades or centuries?

Or maybe that's just my humble beginner-quilter perspective on quilting?

--

Other WIPs
1. S and V's quilt binding
2. C and K's quilt binding
3. AD's Sanctuary quilt
4. My own quilt binding

...I should probably face it that the binding is never gonna get done...