Lastly, I'll be typing more notes on method and reason for the way I quilt in the following week.
As ever, stay hungry and curious.
N. A. Jones |
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A friend asked for Grace today, so I put a few things aside to get this finished. It is one of my simpler patterns that came about while sorting scraps and learning the pitfalls of not using interfacing. Meanwhile, I have yet to consider measurements for a queen or king sized quilt using this pattern as the core block. Worry not, if you are interested, it is in the works. As for charity quilting this is on the same page that is developing under the Centrifuge heading. Take a look in Studio Notes. It is the second file posted.
Lastly, I'll be typing more notes on method and reason for the way I quilt in the following week. As ever, stay hungry and curious. Bits of sunlight are cascading through the window, but the shadows still tell me it is dark outside. I was groggy about a half hour ago. Now I'm plainly in denial of Wednesday. I'm holding onto the rain and muggy air from this past weekend as an excuse not to work. I'm lost and my limbs are stiff. Hoping for a more flexible attitude comes next. Meanwhile I am waiting a few more hours before starting. I am convinced that the drone of the sewing machine would wake everybody in the neighborhood before their appointed hour to rise. In the least, I don't want to be yelled at.
I finished up more strip cutting yesterday along with the muslin supports. As I mentioned in a previous post, I hope to have the pieces done in a week's time. Today is the beginning of the last leg to build the top. Surprisingly this did not take as long as I thought it would. The last projection is budgeted for quilting to start come October. Despite my seeming enthusiasm I am almost fed up with the schedule I have been keeping for the past month. I've been splitting my time between sewing and writing to the point it is mechanical when I sit down to work. I think that my spark of creativity is gone and its shell turned inside out. To me that means the work has to rejuvenate if not being put aside for a time I can revisit it without animosity. My current work is at a precarious point where being near finished is a resolve of giving up. Maybe the problem is exhaustion. Maybe the problem is I have worked the hell out of the quilt's simple design. Maybe the problem is a dark encompassing ennui. I am hoping my attitude has nothing to do with a fomenting depression. Seven to nine days is a reasonable target to be patient and work through the problem. I cringed at the thought of building blocks for two months. Today the matter is minding a reserve of energy wisely to get through to the end of the day. I feel the same about writing Murderer's Row as I do about the quilting. For now, I've lost my sights and targeted goals. I feel as if I do not know what I am writing about any more. Getting lost in the writing must be where I am at. I know for a fact I am going to have to weed chapters out eventually; if but for one reason and one reason only, the chapters do not support the characters or keep pace through the story line. Even with that insight, I know I am better for writing something everyday. So, a fond good morning to you and yours. Enjoy the day. As ever, stay hungry and curious. Lunch has escaped me and I need to look into dinner. My blood sugar is low and I am craving ice cream, go figure. I do not have much to say today as I am in gogo mode. i have a list of things to do from taking measurements and more stitching before the evening arrives. Sketching too seems to be hovering over my library books and I am thirsty. I pushed it a little too far yesterday by an hour or so. Nothing bad happened and I am not complaining. I am just learning to love another task without finishing the previous. Sometimes that is how a rejuvenate when sucked dry of drive. That is also the time I turn to books. There is a design I glanced at on white leather that spoke of a pattern for a wedding quilt in my mind. Come to find out the pattern is a record keeping of war. That stopped me in my tracks, but I still have the drive to do it. So the sketches start again tonight to transfer every little mark of the photograph into my sketch book.
As promised I have got the first installment of notes for mixed fibers quilting. I am starting with the supply list and a few tutorials under the heading of Studio Notes beneath the Centrifuge Tab. The second batch of notes I hope to have done in a week or two. Typing and editing take up most of the time. I would rather have the curious have an easy read. Back to the charm entry tonight. I miss calculated my blocks completely. All I need is a week and a half before construction. I have wiggle room 'till December though. Basically I'm just plain hyper. As ever, stay hungry and curious. Doc told me a several years ago I would get arthritis earlier than most people would. The calcium deposit he showed me on my spine made me shiver. It would wear down in time came was the last comment before I was ushered out of the office. The pain in my wrists, elbow, and shoulder this summer triggered the memory I just mentioned. I am panicking and worrying as my arms and hands are my bread and butter these days. Without them, I cannot create or maintain any level of happiness. The fears I generate in paranoia from working my passions tend to foment in my gut at least once a month. I do not know how to quell them, so I just ride it out. I hope that I will remember to do the medical research on arthritis to be prepared before anything can really cause problems. Meanwhile I may need to check in with an ophthalmologist appointment. I need more light than usual these days. The halogen lamps I was using refuse to work with the environmental light bulbs. I am out $12.00 for four and have to go for the expensive brand. Since both lamps went kaput, I have been working with 40 watts and sunlight from open curtains. The casting light still is not enough to help with precision work by hand. Ah, yes. My eyes. Losing them is another fear I dabble in danger with every pass of the lawn mower on the lawn that I make. The grass clippings and dust fly as far as the crown on my head and rest in the hollow beneath my eyes. No doubt without the real world sensory input, my inner world will develop rapidly. Then it will be writing I take refuge in regularly.
So, here I am at the end of the day, tired and rambunctious. Still the work gets overwhelming and I try to sneak in another half hour after sundown. Friend admonishes me and I finish cleaning the room up. If I do not set regular hours and keep them, I will be working all day and exhaustion will be the beginning of a hospital stay. What keeps me awake is the image of a doll in my mind. The design just bridged from part human to purely animal. I will pursue both. FYI: I am doing o.k. Emotional management for me is tantamount. I am so sensitive that it can change my work that quickly. Usually, when inspired I pursue the spark with a vengeance to get in down in concrete terms for others as well as myself to understand. I do not think I am a moody person, but like Texas weather, I can change in about an hour. So, I keep a sketch book and journal close by to capture the moments, landscape, and stars that make me vibrate on a different level. It is like the day I sat outside to watch the sun go down. At dusk I saw nothing but shadows and suddenly cringed at one that came up to me and hovered in front of my chest. That was over 20 years ago. It took me that long to figure out s was a hummingbird. At least I think so. It was that dark. I finally wrote the memory down and learned much about how I used to see then versus now when I look to engage nature. For me, learning to see is the beginning of becoming an artist. Eventually deconstruction comes next to learn how to build image constructs. I used to resent myself when I could not capture the complete muse on page in time. I do not fret about it as much anymore. I have learned to log weather, day, time, and place to trigger the memory when I return to those pages. My intellect filters it, but sometimes, just sometimes I remember the emotion and the drive. It is a pain in the ass sometimes when my mind will not stop working after I have gone to bed. (Thus, me being at the computer writing you right now. ) I get up, turn on the light and scour the room for my sketch book or journal. I sketch till it is down and write till my hands hurt. Then it is back to sleep. However, ten minutes later, I see something else in my mind’s eye and I repeat every motion for several hours. Ah, yes, no rest whatsoever. One night friend told me to let it go and try to get some sleep. I tried it. Sleep did not come those initial nights. I argued with visions till dawn. The catch is I had learned long ago that the best hours for writing and art are the transient hours of dusk and dawn. You subconscious is limber and the veil is broken through several times over. That is the juicy stuff. That is where Odilon Redon found Orpheus and Marc Chagall his goats. Notes copious to take as these moments are sheer and ephemeral. Sometimes they don’t come back and that is what I am afraid of. I do not think there is an ultimate vision. Not that seeing Christ’s face, in the middle of a dark night, does not quell more than midnight’s hunger. If I have a vision, there must be a reason and way to impart it to the public. Yes, little me, the quiet scribe in the back of the temple. I am learning those notions and emotions slowly with awareness in tow. I promised I would not cut myself off from feeling and the work I create. I fear it would be dry and clinical. I fear it would be stiff and difficult to manage. I fear it would lack depth and meaning. I don’t believe I am a draftsman, despite all the drawing I do. My work and I dwell as much in the other realms like mythology like a photograph is to a newspaper. Translating into visual language has always been a dominant bother. Codifying my own symbols and signs seem a recurrent demand when I work. Hmm. Those chickens yesterday were I relief. No commitment and no money changed hands. My reputation is not on the chopping block. Trips like that are worth the gas and time. I can’t help but remember Georgia O’Keefe walking off site and crawling under the car to get her and the paintings out of the burning sun. Thank God my truck has air conditioning. Lunch at Sonic today. A good view of the corner and more birds drawn as well. Slowing down a bit. Must retire. As ever, stay hungry and curious. I can't sleep. I want to write. I want to write but not get hammered by grammar, spelling, and casting a mood on paper. The air in my room is canned, but extremely refreshing. Between that and cold tap water I'm holding my own for a few hours at a time in the pale moon light. Three tablespoons of tuna fish salad are sitting in a lidded Tupperware dish. I'm waiting until hunger hits and the pains in my abdomen subside. Still I have a nerve or two to tell you about my day. The details may remain mundane, but getting out of the house is always a joy, especially when I do not have to drive.
Mom's been hammering the gardening thing since before the first rain storm in April. She asked me if i wanted to go for a ride earlier this afternoon. Me? I'm in my jamjams sewing the next pass of blocks for the Show Chair Challenge. Thank God I calculated wrong on that. I just might have my blocks done by the second week in September. Anyway, as usual, I digress. I replied to her I'd love to go. But where to. We traveled to the other end of the county to pick up sheep poop for the garden. The ride took over an hour, but I took advantage of everything I could see from grain silos and sky to transformers and horses. I sketched most of the trip, but focused only on a handful of road detritus. When I comb through my journals from previous trips and events, I'll have a cache of imagery to use. Speaking of which, the crown glory of the whole trip where four hens and a rooster that pecked at the dirt when we got to the farm. I stood by the truck, leaning in to get a good sight line of the chickens. Eggs are $4.00/dz by the way. I'm hyped to say the least about the sketches. They reminded me of the imagery in a painting I was going to use for making into a tarot card. Copyright issues have plague me for years about this. Finally seeing a live rooster to draw made the difference. I'm getting over my creative block. I just might draw/paint out that deck myself instead relying on collage. Friend pinned me on the topic before I realized to work the issue into paintings in wither/both gouache or oil. All the photographs and on site sketching I've done since 2004 is looking like viable material to explore in abstraction. When I had the epiphany I was startled at how many birds I have studied live or copied from books. It was once a frivolous fascination, so i thought. I need to take my whims more seriously. Forgive my starts and long distant unrealized finishes. I still have another pass to make at Hubris before the year is out. That series will not be done anytime soon, so I'll try to lay off the pressure I give myself these days. The running list is about to start another page and I am knocking out some of the new challenges before they are spoken. Keeping a list and marking items out helps me to feel accomplished and not a regular loiterer in my studio. Getting a handle on long term projects is what I am learning as well. Pacing, encouragement, and creating minor deadlines helps as well. So, I am making it out of my milieu a little at a time. Last hope is that I finished the project lists and budgets through until December. If I stick to it, life will be good. Yawning won't stop. Time for me to try to retire again. As ever, stay hungry and curious. It is awkward to post after being gone for so long. My obligations began to outweigh the time I had available. I am excited to get these things down in word right now.
Since the beginning of August I have been exhausted and my arms ache. So you can guess that work has been put aside to push towards healing. I can say I have ignored that tendency on and off for about two weeks. Since putting in for Materials Hard & Soft I went back to piecing. What has yielded is this: I decided to participate in the show chair's theme competition for 2017 at the Dallas Quilt Show. It is basically ground hog day in my studio space. i did the same thing last year starting Operator - Water Drinking- Field Spy late in the game. I'm working my design about three hours a day right now and walking a way with pains in both shoulders. Going through the pain is worth the challenge though; Untitled Quilt #1 for 2018 I pulled out of boxes and bins, I have no sketch and am going on impulse, it is the details that will make me or break me until I am ready for another year; I pulled a cardinal sin and bought fabric for my welsh High Crosses for 2018, I have started the needleturn applique on the first block, several sketches in place and no screaming or crying this far. The second bit to note is I finished writing Book 1 of Murderer's Row. I am busy typing my handwritten manuscript through to Chapter 30. I plan on starting in on Book Two in a couple of weeks. I let writer's group in on Chapter 27 and an earlier chapter. After I read for ten minutes, praise and encouragement followed. I got some of the best compliments I have ever had. After editing comes crafting an I am looking forward to completing a written work as art. The third bit, is I am taking on charity work that will run through this site. It is mainly quilting notes and patterns to be used for free. I heard through the grapevine there is a need. Since six years ago, I discovered that quilting seemed to be a wealthy woman's sport. I have been duckin' and dodgin' ever since to work without the high cost. Besides, when I got tired of traditional approaches, I had to make my own way designing patterns and collecting fabrics. So, I am working on a quick draft of notes and three patterns right now. I am hoping to have those four documents done in a week or two. Know that I am working and may be posting in sections just to get something into working hands. Eventually I hope to publish along with other patterns. That endeavor will cost. Taking a break before reading. As ever, stay hungry and curious. Yeah!
It is done. It is official. I got my submission in for Materials Hard & Soft 2017 thanks to my brother's girlfriend. I will get notification by mail come the end of November. I am psyched and full of trepidation. It is my first juried show to enter. The Dallas Quilt Show is not juried competition, but has judges. Winning has been the least of my concerns. I just love being able to exhibit every year. It is a excellent venue and exposure for me. Last on the strategy list is the National Collage Society membership and show. I'm patient for now, but gallery submissions are a yoke on my neck as well. From this angle it seems emerging artists have a lot of ground work to do besides production in the studio. Honestly, I feel the need to get back to the business end. I have been slacking off. Meanwhile, before I leap, I'll be looking for more structure to develop around. BTW:Thanks for keeping up with me. I value your readership and encouragement. As ever, stay hungry and curious. Mass Murderer’s Block Forgive me, but I am running with rough figures on this pattern. Do the best you can and make adjustments where necessary. Trim a little here and there or feel free to add in a little fabric to make the proportions work. The fabric amounts listed are also rough, but it should be enough for you to start. I am committed to art and mixed fibers quilting, so sometimes I have to make adjustments depending on the fabric. This is the first quilt I have designed to use lengths of store bought fabric. I have little to no solids in my stash. Not to forget I am trying to stay true to the given image as much as possible. With all that said and a dollup of fortitude, good luck should you take this pattern as a challenge. I will be walking this road hopefully before the year is out. If you have any questions, contact me: [email protected] Start with for handwork: The body (yielded form makes an 84”by 84” square): 4.5 yards of white 40” wide 4.5 yards of black 40” wide 3/4 yard of dark red 40”wide 3/4 yard of red 40” wide 1 spool of grey cotton thread 1 spool of red cotton thread The body: Prepare the fabric by washing, drying until damp, and then press out with starch. Cut out one yard sections from the black and white for easier handling. From each color, cut four 2.25” wide strips at a 40” length. Cut one 9.5” wide strip at a 40” length from each color as well. Construct the first body by seaming one 2.25” white strip on either side of the black 9.5” strip. Construct the second body by seaming two black 2.25” strips with the white 9.5” strip. Cut the strip piecing into 13” squares. The yield will be six with three of each. Cut the remaining 2.25” strips into 13” lengths. Complete the strip piecing by sashing with the appropriate color (A white bordered black square and a black bordered white square). After pressing all the seams toward the darker colors, cut the sashed squares on a diagonal. Form the cross by going directly through both corners. Reform the squares by using two pieces of both types of square. In other words, after the cross quarters are cut, take the top and bottom triangles of the white square, and the side sections of a black square to reconstruct a block. First, seam the top and right blocks together on the common seam, then sew the common seam of the bottom and left blocks together. Lastly, match the center seam and sew the final piece together. Square the blocks to 12.5” by 12.5”. Construct 42 black and white blocks. Using the same approach, construct the red/red blocks the same way. The yield should be six blocks. Lastly cut one 12.5” by 12.5” black block. The body of the quilt makes a grid of 7x7 blocks. Construct a row of seven blocks by making sure you alternate colors touching on each side of the blocks. White lengths should not touch white and black lengths should not touch black. Feed in the red blocks randomly throughout the quilt. Strategically place the solid black block and resume constructing the pattern as needed. If it helps, lay out the blocks on the floor or large table to construct the pattern. This way you can easily construct the optical illusion made by the placement of color. The border: Take a charmed approach to building the border. Use scraps that are thin and rectangular to build a stack of matchsticks that end in a size that is 8.5” by 84”. I am using scraps and remnants until I run out of the following color scheme: muted yellows, greys, blacks, whites, dark oranges, browns. For this section, it does not matter if the fabrics are prints or textures. For construction, seam together several pieces, press them, and then cut the sewn section down to 8.5”. Build the length in short sections. Finally, seam them together for the final length. Setting corners: Cut four setting corners as 8.5” by 8.5” squares. Chose a similar tone to the colors used in the border. Finishing off: Take a measurement across the middle of the body of the quilt. Write the number down. On two of the border strips, take another measurement. The measure of the border strip should match the measurement of the center across the body of the quilt. Add or cut according to the measurement for two section of the border. Now sew the borders to the body parallel to where you made the body measurement. Turn the quilt 90 degrees clockwise. Make the same measurements across the middle as you did before but stop at the seams just made. Add ½ inch to your measurement. Write the number down. Trim the border strips accordingly. Sew the setting corners to the ends of the border strips. Match the seams formed by the setting corners and sew to the body of the quilt. Quilting: I suggest keeping the quilt design simple. Either stitch in the ditch or pinstripes will play up the block placement. That might be better that destroying the inherent motion made by the design by using anything complicated. For the setting corners, with a running stitch, embroider a Jerusalem Cross through the whole quilt sandwich. An image of a Jerusalem Cross is at the bottom of this blog post. Binding: 1 yard of 40" wide fabric. (Choose a solid color that is muted to blend with the border). Wash, press, and starch the fabric before using. Cut eleven 2.25" strips. Follow the directions below for binding a quilt. For a seamless look, after attaching the binding by machine, finish of by hand stitching. Don't forget to label the quilt when you are done. (Your name, year completed, and location sewn is the minimum information needed.) How to Bind a Quilt - 6 Simple Steps - YouTube ▶ 6:57 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWh90tXr7g4 Mar 12, 2012 - Uploaded by HeirloomCreations Apply binding to a quilt in 6 easy steps. Start and end the binding using a pocket method that requires no ... How to Bind a Quilt in 6 Easy Steps - Craftsy www.craftsy.com › Blog Home › Quilting Blog Sep 30, 2014 - Starting at the pin shown in the previous photo, stitch the binding onto the front of the quilt with 1/4" seam allowance. Use a walking foot or even-feed if possible. When you get to a corner, stop stitching 1/4" away from the corner and sew off the corner. Yield: One King Sized Quilt at 100” by 100” ©N.A. Jones 2016 All Rights Reserved Do not worry. It is coming. First things first though. For the sake of my sanity, I will tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a young woman whose familiar spirits possessed her eyes and limbs. The tension in her spirit was such that her heart stilled in silence while on other days becoming violent upon interruption. She told solace in solitary activities while her family railed and rocked with prime time television during the weeknights. Her mother worried and feared for her daughter who busied herself sewing under dim light during hot summer afternoons. A mother who could not temp her daughter to chocolate desserts over a quiet litany of prayers come sundown. Remember that sometime young women become old women with grey hair trailing cheeks after tears burden the forehead to lower and the body to crouch. After turning out the light, this young woman anchored her legs beneath her tail and lay into the body of the high backed chair. Come darkness she was alert, but no one knew. Interchange upon scream and laughter, a few things that the neighborhood hid from her, and others, fell out into the open. Apparently, several died at the hands of a man that everybody knew. The survivors maintaining his secrets, kept their silence for decades. Despite the years separating everyone from the occasion, fear seized limbs and lips of the old and young even on this night. The daughter sat behind the windowpane trying not to shift her weight onto the floor. For them, she assumed, any sound would cause an alarm sending them to her front door. Shortly after finding stillness again, the impending silence ended and breathing room returned. One careful rise in the chest and she closed her eyes. Slowly hands unclenched letting the pattern notes fall to the floor. Forming in the darkness by splitting the dark green was a design that called itself not of the devil’s hands, but of a minion just the same.”Murderer’s Block” she whispered from behind the windowpane. Eyes slowly opened. Arms gathered under clipboard, paper, and pen. The light, just now, turned on. Feverish sketching and a damnation of measurements followed. Sometime we have to learn how to see without light. The shapes and forms of shadows give more information than what we can tell when the sun casts about us as well. To start is 4 yards of white fabric, 4 yards of black fabric, and 1/3 yard of red fabric. The border is a bit of a charmed approach collect what you can from scraps. The overall shape of the border pieces is a matchstick. Finishing out the border are four setting corners each embroidered with the Jerusalem Cross. I will hammer out the measurements tomorrow along with a sketch to help you construct when you are ready. I plan to construct the whole quilt by hand. It is a labor of love and challenge, more than an issue of speed and accuracy. As ever, stay hungry and curious. AKA >Geppetto< It has been about five years. I am guesstimating of course. I used to keep time by how many seasons of Masterchef I had missed. When I looked over their website and saw that I missed the children's competition, I knew I had been out of the loop for a long time. So, it has been five years without television, newspaper, or magazine. I usually catch up to world events at the doctor's office. They seem to keep a steady stream of The Nation next to the phone on the corner table. I feast on pundits and spin over two years old, but for my sake, I do not freak out. I do not lose my repose. I can stay calm and think clearly instead of motivated by mania and the news feed drama. So, I missed the hype and banter over the nominations. So, I missed the angry exchanges over Facebook. So, I became confirmed in believing my vote will not matter. Yet, the everyday considerations and sharing patience will matter. With that said, faith, charity, and hope may get me through the next eight years even more so than CNN, MSN, local channels,and Bloomberg. Sharing my skills on a simple level is where I want to start. A clever thought to The King's Ransom could be a beginning. The hard note is writing it up for publication. Friends, acquaintances, and the anonymous hoard have made the suggestion. When I get to planning I just hope to keep the read as whimsical as the crafting.
Right now I am hot with a headache. I do not want to work on a damn thing. Forgive me if I seem the perpetually productive type. The past month I've been focusing on tarot research. I let nothing get in the way of that. It brought me much joy. Meanwhile I walked away from sewing, but now I pick up thread and sharp once, twice a week. If I could explain my brain right and what it wants I might be ahead, leading self progress instead of being dragged along by it. I am tired. I am in pain. I am sorrowful. I am in a malaise that hovers in and before my eyes. I am fighting this little by little, but I seem not to be getting anywhere. Though when I look at the little victories such as cleaning the studio, organizing my writing for the day, or even feeding myself, I know I have gotten somewhere. This may be "much ado about nothing" but I am having difficulty prioritizing my work. I am pulled in six different directions from wake until sleep. I work one, then switch for the next day. With that approach I will get no where. Dare I tell you, and please forgive me, I rather write and read than work the visual angle right now. All these words will bear visual fruit one day, they always will. Every time I took up a roost at the university library while I was at graduate school, I always returned to the studio with stacks of imagery and concepts that still ebb and flow today in my work. When I bridge back into understanding and connecting indigenous, tribal, and environmental issues with my work, I know my methods will dive into a deeper well of wisdom. Connecting my passions in the beginning with what I do know will no doubt make me a stronger artist. I look forward to that moment of epiphany. Meanwhile I rant and try not to choke my wild approach to grounding my fascinations and bolstering the intellect behind the work. One day, I hope this all makes sense to me, and you. Making my own fundamentals to understanding the work, yet still bound to the ethic of making a pretty picture. Things to consider and converse over the daily battle ground of image production: Criteria #1: Art is not ugly. (True or False?) Criteria #2: To be an artist your work must make a political statement. (True or False?) Criteria #3: Contemporary Art must be relevant to a socio-political system (True or False?) Criteria #4: Craft work is insignificant low-brow art. (True or False) Criteria #5: Relevant art is produced only by wealthy white men. (True or False?) Criteria #6: Art Brut has no relevance and no significance to the canon. (True or False?) More to come. As ever, stay hungry and curious. |
N.A. JonesPicking up where I left off. Archives
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