The Quiltfolk Solution (for Creative Inertia)

Yesterday, I (Teri) wrote about my "creative inertia"—my lack of energy to stitch new works. (I'm blaming our move.) However, I alluded to the solution to my "problem," if it really is one. When life finally settled enough so that I could sit down in my garden and enjoy my new issue of Quiltfolk, I found myself itching to get stitching.  

I never know when I'll get my proverbial whack on the head, providing that burst of energy to get moving. (Pun intended—relocation is not what I am referencing here!) My surge of creative energy has been jolted by the inspiring stories in Issue 02 of Quiltfolk, a Keepsake Quarterly magazine. If you have missed this publication, find one and read it. Soon. You won't be sorry!

One of my goals in life is to visit all 50 states. Ideally, that would mean placing my feet on the land. But in the last few months, I feel as though I have been to both Oregon and Iowa, neither of which I've actually visited. Issue 01 took me to Oregon, (see the post Quiltfolk,) and the current issue's destination is Iowa. I feel that I have gotten to know a number of people who live in the communities: quilt folk, like me. 

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I once read a book set in the Amana Colonies, of which I knew nothing but what I learned as I read the story. The first stop in the Iowa issue is Amana, where I was fascinated to learn more. Being in the midst of a great deal of life change, I could well identify with the changes that this community has experienced, and I garnered some insight for my move to a new home. Jon Childers, the Executive Director of the Amana Heritage Museum, stated that Amana continues to have a strong sense of community and a devout faith in God, but that they have "moved ahead without the thought of what we we leaving behind. ...the idea of Amana is changing. Through it all, though, there is this unbroken thread that goes through time." (p. 25) Change is inevitable in life, but Amana has embraced it; I think that their common thread is strong enough to serve me during our time of change, as well.

Sue Kluber is my kind of quilter: she "spins a yarn out of every quilt she creates." (p. 42-3)

The next visit was in Winterset, in Madison County, Iowa—birthplace of John Wayne, and home of the Bridges of Madison County, Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine, and the Iowa Quilt Museum. Here, we meet Marianne Fons, a giant in the quilt world, who tells us of her new career ventures. Editor Michael McCormick observes that "Marianne is a walking example of what can be done right now, in the present, when we are able to discipline our minds to take one challenge, or one opportunity, at a time," and he challenges us to consider adopting her mindset for ourselves. (p. 59) Again, inspiration for Kara and me as we learn how to become a "global entity."

Marianne with her daughters

In Cedar Rapids, we learn about Nolting Longarms manufactured just outside the city, and we meet a mother-daughter partnership, owners of a quilt shop and fabric design studio. Their business is unique and fascinating; it includes a "make-it-yourself" showroom, where creativity is encouraged and explored. Stephanie Brandenburg, the daughter of the duo, shared some insight that really resonated with me; she stated: "As an artist, you worry 'Am I good enough? ...' Eventually, I just learned to trust my gut. ... You can listen to all the experts, but you have to trust yourself." Wise words, indeed. It made me wonder if my creative inertia isn't sometimes caused by doubt in myself; I forget to "trust my gut."

This is a mere taste of the goodness of this issue. I don't want to give it all away! I just love reading the stories of these quilters and their work. I read Issue 01 sitting by my Christmas tree and Issue 02 sitting in my garden. When the next publication is released, I'll be in my new home, happily stitching in my new "writing and stitching chair"!

So, after reading all of these stories about quilts and quilters, I can't wait to get back to my stitching. Kara and I are heading off on one last road trip before she departs for Germany. As you read this, we will be in Virginia, visiting the Virginia Quilt Museum and as many quilt shops and antique stores as we can find. (And maybe a winery...) 

And we will stitch. 

To subscribe to Quiltfolk, go to quiltfolk.com and use coupon code SHOP1051 to receive $10 off the subscription price.

The Energy of Creativity

Creativity can be hard work.

Moving is hard. Packing up 25 years of your life (and your children's lives) is difficult. Deciding what to keep, what to sell or give away, and what to throw away is really challenging. It all takes energy—physical, mental, and emotional. Sometimes, it feels like there is just no energy left to be creative. 

My husband and I (Teri) have just moved into a furnished rental home while we await the completion our new home's construction. Our last few weeks have been fraught with sorting and filling boxes, including the overwhelming task of determining what of my studio can go into storage for three months, and what I might need. A daunting assignment! 

After packing nine huge bins, it looks like nothing had been accomplished in my studio.
How did I determine what of my stash to store and what to keep? My first thought was to keep it all with me,
but common sense prevailed, (for which my husband is grateful!) and ultimately,
I pulled what I thought I'd need for my Academy project and stored the rest.

The added fact that Kara is moving to Germany in a month fills us with an urgency to plan, design, and gather materials for future classes, such as the Academy of Appliqué, where we will again be teaching in 2018. We are cherishing our face-to-face work time while we have it! And of course, there are the emotions we feel each time we are together, thinking about the future with a mixture of excitement and melancholy; as we plan and chat and laugh, the sense that tears are brimming just beneath the surface is felt by us both. Venturing toward an unknown adventure can be downright exhausting, even if it is exciting!

Choosing furniture, granite, cabinets, flooring, and paint colors
 consume my creativity energy.

Not always a neat, tidy area, but this chair logged
many words and stitches over the years.

It would seem logical that my passion, needlework, would be a respite from the frenzy of moving activity. Alas, I often find myself thinking about the flowers I want to stitch and how I want to create them, but I've found it an effort to go beyond the thoughts. I miss my writing and stitching chair, that place where I am most comfortable creating. I feel an enormous sense of inertia, wanting desperately to get my mind and fingers moving, (not just our household goods!) but struggling to start actively creating. Why is it so hard?!

  

This smaller version of my great-grandparents' home
fills me with nostalgia.

We've been in our charming 1920 temporary home for about a week now, and I finally am feeling settled enough to realize that all the thinking I've been doing is a critical part of the creative process. Creativity is not just the act of cranking out work; the reflection and planning that goes on long before the activity of creating is just as important. Sometimes more. So as I walk through our garden—the flowers above were the first blooms—or the park, I'm looking for inspiration everywhere, using the energy I have left to THINK creatively. I know that eventually, creation will follow.

Even the backyard garden is reminiscent of my great-grandparents' garden,
except that I miss the portulaca lining the walk.  (See A Walk in the Garden.)

A walk through Baker Park in Frederick, Maryland: creative inspiration abounds!

              

This past week, I finally had a chance to sit down and read my new issue of Quiltfolk, the quarterly publication that I wrote about in December. (Click here to read that post.) I eagerly anticipated its arrival for weeks, but when it was finally delivered, packing duties took precedence. At last, I had time to relax and peruse this issue, sitting in our lovely backyard garden. It did not disappoint. But more about that tomorrow, when I'll tell you about about my "trip" to Iowa. For now, I will just say that perhaps my garden reading chair might become my new temporary writing and stitching chair!

What about you? Have you ever faced a slump or period of creative inertia? How did you recover?

A possible candidate for my new writing and stitching chair 😀

A Visit with Katja Marek

As I (Kara) mentioned last week in the Windy City Wrap Up, the quilting world is made up of all types of quilters, and each one of us can be inspired by many different things. What inspires one quilter might not appeal to the next, but one type of quilt-making that is inspiring many quilters today is English paper piecing. While not a new method, it is currently experiencing a resurgence in popularity.

A very popular English paper piecing pattern is one created by Katja Marek to accompany her book, The New Hexagon. Katja was kind enough to offer this pattern as an online quilt-along for quilters who had bought her book. I had the privilege of meeting Katja at Quilt Festival Chicago while I was marveling at the exhibit featuring her New Hexagon Millefiore quilt pattern. The exhibit was called The Hexagon Revolution and was sponsored by our friends at Paper Pieces.  It was one of the most popular exhibits at the festival!

Menagerie
by Melinda Smith, quilted by Sue Rowles
Glebe, New South Wales, Australia 

Katja graciously agreed to be the subject of a blog post and answered a few questions for us about the surprising popularity of her New Hexagon movement. Interspersed between the questions will be some of the beautiful quilts from the exhibit, made with the New Hexagon Millefiore Quilt-Along pattern or "Millie" as the quilt is affectionately known.

How did you become a quilter and when?

I've been a sewer as long as I remember. My mom was a tailor by trade and in order to stay home with my sister and I, took in sewing and alterations at home. We visited with my mom in the sewing room. I don't remember ever being taught to sew, I simply did. I sewed clothing (including many pieces of my wardrobe) and quilted items over the years, but it was not until I moved to Kamloops in 1988 and joined the quilt guild, that I learned that much of what I had been sewing over the years was called quilting.

My Millie
by Roberta (Robynn) Van Horne
Evansville, Indiana, USA

Carnival Hexagons
by Kim McLean, quilted by Kay Fernihough
Lindfield, New South Wales, Australia

What inspired you to begin the New Hexagon Millefiore quilt project?

As part of my publisher Martingale's direction to their authors, they indicated that they expect their authors to help promote their books. When the publication of my book was approaching. I received part of my Kaffe Fasset Collective shipment for my shop. One of the fabrics was called Millefiore. I fell in love with the fabric when I was shown it by the sales rep, and when I received it, I looked up the word "Millefiore" that I found on the selvedge. I found out that Millefiore was Italian for "thousand flowers" and that it refers to a glass caning technique where canes (thin rods) of glass are fused together in floral-like units, which are then crosscut, fused together into kaleidoscope designs, and embedded in clear glass to make paperweights, vases, etc. I am also a huge fan of any type of colored glass and immediately decided I wanted to replicate this effect in fabric, specifically using the blocks from my book about to be published. I decided that in order to thank quilters who had purchased my book, I would give them something else they could do with the blocks from my book by launching my FREE online quilt-along, The New Hexagon-Millefiore Quilt-Along.

Thoroughly Modern Millie
by Sharon Camping,
Robin Sutherlin, Marilyn Brisendine, Ann Seitz, Trina Camping
quilted by Gina Siembieda
Los Angeles, California, USA

Millie on a Whim
by Amy Varner
Kansas City, Missouri, USA

How has The New Hexagon-Millefiore Quilt-Along exceeded your expectations?

From the moment I announced it's launch, I had daily sign-ups and just after posting my first rosette, I received multiple requests to start a Facebook sharing group. I thought this would be a difficult task, but learned it was easy. I set up a group that night and by the next day had the first 364 members. Members joined daily and now we have over 12,000 members in that first group. I now have a second Facebook group: Katja Marek's Quilt With Me for all things after the Millie, such as my 2nd and 3rd quilt alongs: Blocks on the Go, for Quilts on the Grow and Perpetually Hexie.

The New Hexagon Millefiore
by Sue Hicks and Telene Jeffreys
Barberton, Mpumalanga, South Africa

What advice do you have for quilters just beginning this project?

English paper piecing is pretty straight forward; jumping in is the best way to start. It's a really great technique for traveling or for anyone on the go with kids at sports games or snowbirds. Glue is what made it doable for me, more than the traditional thread basting. I approached each rosette individually, knowing that I wanted a riot of color with each rosette being distinct from the ones next to it, like an English country garden.

Millefiore Quilt Along
by Karen Vosen,
quilted by Shawna Crawford
Havre, Montana, USA

Indian Summer Glow
by Yolande Ankersmit, quilted by Anne Kipping
Deventer, Overijssel, Netherlands

How did the exhibit at the Quilt Festival Chicago happen?

The Chicago exhibit, The Hexagon Revolution, was proposed by someone who was a fan of my work. It had already been submitted and accepted by the time I found out about it. Paper Pieces, who are producers of all my English paper piecing papers, signed on as sponsors. I immediately decided I needed to go to the show. This was the first show based on my designs and I decided I wasn't going to miss being there. It was so much fun to lead the tours at the show and to interact with everyone attending the show and the feedback was fabulous!

Katja leading a tour

Katja Marek (middle) and two exhibitors who became friends through the quilt-along

I have had Katja's book for some time now and am a member of the Facebook group, but given all the moving craziness, I haven't had a chance to try any of the 52 blocks in her book. With all the inspiration from the show, I thought I would at least make a start.

Block 9, Doris, is the center block in the first Millie rosette

I need to work a bit on my fussy cutting skill, but at least I have it started. As my father-in-law would say, "inch by inch, it's a cinch"—and that is appropriate advice for this project! The instructions were so easy to follow and I look forward to making progress on my "Millie".

My first block!

Unfortunately, my pictures did not do this exhibit justice, however, I hope you have gotten a small glimpse of the glorious colors and shapes these quilts have. As you can see from the captions, the quilt makers in this exhibit come from all around the world. Each quilt is different and offers a reflection of its maker(s). A big thanks to Katja for sharing her story with us and for sharing this amazing quilt! You can visit her website and see all the wonderful things she has to offer by clicking here. Have you caught the English paper piecing bug? We would love to hear how you got hooked and learn what inspired you.

Windy City Wrap Up

Once again, we travel to Chicago to view some of the quilts that I (Kara) couldn't fit into last week's post. The quilts I have to share with you are all over the map in regard to genre, so I was pondering how to tie this post together. It came to me that one of the "threads" that binds these quilts together is that the maker was inspired by something that pushed him or her to create the quilt. However, what inspires one quilter may not inspire the next in the same way. 

We, as quilters, come in all different shapes and sizes; we all have different likes and dislikes. That is why going to a show—such as Quilt Festival Chicago or Houston, or the AQS show in Lancaster, or even a local quilt guild show—offers something for every quilter's taste and inspiration. Here are just some of the amazing quilts (of many genres) at Quilt Festival Chicago.

Spring at the Watery Place
by Jin Dong

Old Denim Square
by Noriko Nozawa

The Ant's Square Dance
by Diane Tenney
quilted by ladies in Indonesia

Mamaw's Puzzle
by Valli Schiller

If You Give a Friend a Fat Quarter
by Madelyn Bell
quilted by Susan Corbett

Saying Goodbye
by Shelley Landon
quilted by Yong Hui Torske

Allyson's Wedding Quilt 
by Gail Battista
quilted by Erica Barrett
Design source: Jinny Beyer's Lotus quilt pattern

Hazel's Diary Quilt
by Linda Kowalski
quilted by Shelly Pagliai

Rhapsody Over Ancient Days
by Masako Sanada
(fabrics of old kimonos and futons were used) 

Faces of India
by Helen Godden and Jonathan S. Evans

Detail: Faces of India

My Emily Munroe Quilt
by Susan Calhoun
quilted by Terry Kramzar

Silk Road
by Kumiko Frydl

Larger Than Life
by Karen Amelia Brown

A Cancerous Turmoil
by Karen Capozzoli

Fracture
by Betty Busby

On the Same Page
by Linda Anderson

Kaleidoscope 1 
by Julie Schlueter

Free at Last
by Joy Palmer

Not Now, Maybe Never
by Joan Dorsay

What a variety of quilts! The fabric and thread are consistent throughout, but what the quilter has done with that fabric and thread is what makes them unique. While not all the quilts will appeal to everyone, they will to someone—and that's what gives spice to the quilting world's life. 

P.S. A shout-out to our faithful reader, Wendy Caton Reed (The Constant Quilter) and her beautiful quilt. I loved seeing your quilt again!

No Bake Appliqué, Wendy Reed; Maine, USA