The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

A failure, a finish and the future

Note: I have 2 posts today because they are on very different subjects.

You might expect me to recount my year, given that it’s New Year’s Day. It was not a “bad” year, but it certainly was a frustrating one. I have very little completed work to show for the year and this is the main reason why:

I never got a good photo of it because I didn’t think I would finish it.

I looked back and I see that I started this one in Dec, 2018. I worked all year on it and realized that it was not a viable quilt sometime in October, 2019. Almost a year of hard work and the quilt is just not retrievable. There is nothing wrong with calling this what it is: a failure. It just didn’t work.

My friend Linda Waddle looked at it with me and has a great idea for dying it. But there are underlying problems with the trapunto and the silk that would not be fixed with the dye. And there still is a ton of work to be done. On a flawed quilt. If I do revisit this quilt, it will be to start afresh with an entirely new quilt.

The fabric is a gorgeous, very light ice blue silk dupioni which does not show correctly in the photos. I LOVE my design and the concept. If time allows I would love to make another run at this. But it is on the shelf for now.

I was able to finish a piece that will hang in my guild’s show in early Feb:

I won’t show the entire piece until after the guild’s show, but here are a few snippets:

This is a hand-painted batik panel from Turtle Hand Batiks that I purchased in 2014 at the Houston show! I’ve love this piece but never had the impetus to quilt it up. When it came time to submit to my guild’s show, I realized I had nothing to show! I joined the Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild in 1999 (or 2000, not exactly sure) and I know I have had at least one piece in the show every year. I could not not show something, so I grabbed this panel and had a blast.

Turtle Hand sells Malaysian small-batch handcrafted products and their mission statement follows: Our mission is to keep Malaysian Heritage Crafts alive & thriving thus supporting and enhancing the livelihood of individual artisan producers & their communities. Their ethical trade practices honor and reward the local artists for their unique works of art and I love that!

One thing I wanted to include was trapunto. I think the trapunto greatly enhances this piece. I hope to begin teaching trapunto more often and this would be one of my show pieces. I do not intend to compete with this piece.

Most of the work was done when I was worried/sad/upset about Zoe so there are some real flaws that I just was not up to dealing with.

Washing before blocking.

It definitely needed blocking and I also had used a bit of blue marker so I needed to get all that out. I do this in my big tub and using my (clean!) feet as agitators, I swish around constantly for 10 minutes, which is surprisingly exhausting. The piece has unusual proportions being nearly 6′ tall and 19″ wide. It makes a statement!

It took almost 3 days to dry during these cool, overcast winter days. I pin every inch all around the perimeter to get it dead-on straight. I will still need to steam it a bit in places but once that process is done it should hang board straight. Whew – done in time for show! Ooops – I do need to label and sleeve. I think I’ll leave that until the last minute…

I am not up to doing a 2019 recap but in general, it was a fabulous year for teaching and travel. I have some very exciting plans for 2020 that are in  process and if they come through, it will be a dream come true! My classes in Houston this year were off-the-charts successful, my best year yet.

I am so grateful for each of you who read, who comment and support me. It means more than you know. I still get excited every time I get a comment. And my numbers continue to grow which warms my heart. My goal is to share my quilty life with you, the good and the bad, unvarnished. I hope that it is an inspiration to you and that it encourages you to go out and do your own thing on your own quilts.

So 2019 was not my strongest year. That’s okay. Three mantras I have about this quilting gig I do:
1. No one bats a thousand. No one.
2. There is room in this quilting world for us ALL to prosper, no need to get jealous or competitive. Do your thing.
3. No matter what, Onward!

2020 – bring it on!

 

 

Comments

  2. My early morning eyes saw a new border finish in the last photo?. I look forward to seeing this at the Folsom show.

    • THank you Julie – it will defintely be in the show and I am thrilled that it got done in plenty of time.

  4. I love the snippets of your new quilt. In many ways I love the “failed”quilt. Sorry that happened to you in the same year of the Zoe problem. I too made no successful show quilt in 2019 but I am excited about 2020 quilting related plans. Wishing you a blessed, happy, and successful 2020!

    • I predict that 2020 will be a bust-out year for you. YOu have worked so dog gone hard. Happy New Year! You know, I keep thinking your quilts should be in galleries, not quilt shows.

  5. Happy New Year Jenny and may your quilting and home lives be full of love, happiness and adventure.

    Sincerely, Loretta

  6. This post is so inspiring for me. I’ve been struggling with a quilt for the past several years. It is now in the quilting stage and I’m so afraid it will not match my other award winning quilts. I’ve decided I will finish it for me and not worry what others think. It is beautiful and will love it even if it’s not my best work. Thanks Jenny!

    • Sometimes we make ourselves victims of our own success. I know how it feels, thinking why work on this one when it will not be award-worthy. Glad that you chose to go on – I hope you find abundant joy in that finish Phyllis!

  7. I grieve with you over the hours of work and admitting failure on the large trapunto project. You will find a way to benefit from the work if you continue to be objective.
    Your three mantras are spot on. I wish they could be accepted and practiced in every quilter’s life. Having experienced the negative side of some of the attitudes you refer to, I embrace this advice and look forward in 2020. May we all be reminded to Do your own thing. Encourage others. Ignore jealousy or negativity. Happy 2020!

    • Thank you for your empathy Martha, we’ve all had those moments, it just sucks though. And btw, I have to remind myself of my own matras frequently, lol!

  8. I would love to see a tutorial at some point walking us through your entire process for blocking a quilt. I know blocking is crucial for show quilts, but haven’t found a method that makes sense to me and have been afraid to try lest my quilt end up less square and more distorted after my botched blocking than it was before! It looks like you have some kind of foam squares that can be snapped together in different configurations to accommodate different size quilts. What exactly are they and where did you get them? Is there a towel or anything between the wet quilt and the foam blocks? Are there any grid lines on the foam to line up quilt edges and corners? Do you have to flip the quilt to get it dry all the way through?

    I’m sorry you struggled so much with your whole cloth. It’s not a failure, either — you’ve learned SO MUCH from that adventure and all of that learning is going to be leveraged in all of your future quilts. Artists who take the biggest risks and venture the farthest beyond their comfort zones are always the ones who make the biggest creative breakthroughs.

    I hope that “failure” doesn’t sit in time out forever, though — it’s really beautiful despite its flaws. I think your friend’s ideas involving dye sound promising, and if there are still serious problems as a quilt, perhaps you could cut out some of the good areas for a series of smaller wall hangings, or to create a wearable jacket/vest, or a bag or SOMETHING from all of the work you put in. The quilting is just gorgeous.

  9. Jenny, thank you so much for the visual on how you block your large quilts. I’ve only ever blocked small ones, so thank you. Happy New Year!

  10. I recently had a major fail, too, Jenny, though not a year’s worth of work. It’s frustrating, but the world doesn’t end, as you’ve noted. I can’t wait to see what your new classes will be!

    • I’m sorry to hear that you too had a major fail. I also know that that means you probably stretched yourself and it just did not work. I hope you learned something that will make your next quilt rock!

  11. Glad to have had your inspiring posts all year. Thank you so much. I love your “Do your thing” and indeed I will. Happy New Year to all of us.
    Susan

  12. I’ve been washing my quilts for years in a large tub. Never thought to use my feet instead of my hands. What a fabulous idea to save your back.

    • Oh that’s so funny – I never even though about it, just put it in the tub and swished. I guess subconsciously I am always on the look out for my back.

  13. I so enjoy your blog and your quilting ventures good and bad…we have a little bad so we really appreciate the good…I love to quilt it makes me feel so good inside and out….we’re having a quilt show here in Tucson AZ in February 21 through the 23..hope to see you there someday…thanks

    • Bobbie your show is legendary and I would love to be there for the show someday. Yes, quilting gives us good and bad but mainly good. We are blessed to be able to do something that warms the heart and body.

  14. Sorry about your fail, I’m sure you will rescue some or all of it at a future date. I have a ‘not working out’ quilt that is in the corner waiting for me to have enough timeout to tackle the problems I’m having with it. Thanks for the visual of your blocking, brilliant, foam tiles. I usually block on my pinnable table which makes it unusable for days. Your musings awhile ago prompted me to buy a right angle laser and it has been very handy. Wishing you only winners in 2020.

    • I do hope you have success retrieving your time out quilt. I’m glad you got some tips that help you. Funny how you (and I) literally put them in the corner as though they were a misbehaving child, lol!

    • Thank you Robyn! Can’t you just see that as a featured class at Houston – “How to wash your quilt with your feet”?!

  16. My sympathies for the surrender of a lovely dog. I once had a puppy I loved but quickly realized I could not manage. I found him an excellent home and we were both better off.

    Your comments about failure interest me. There’s a TED talk you might enjoy if you haven’t already – Sir Ken Robinson on creativity. Here’s a link in case you find time to watch
    https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

    Essentially he agrees that creativity cannot flourish if there is no room for mistakes or failure. Thanks for your thoughts

    • That is encouraging Kate! In my little head I know that failure is a necessary part of moving forward, it’s just no fun! I have bookmarked the TED. Thank you!

  17. Jenny- when you are counting achievements for the year, please do not discount the strength of your teaching. I for one student have really really appreciated the patience of your classes, and the getting us over the beginning of really quilting the art… rather than the simple straight lines. Thank you for all you achieved at my machine!!