Improv Piecing

 I have been doing a bit of improvisational piecing to improve my skills. Improv usually means that there is no pattern and no ruler to cut the seams. The look is supposed to have more character and not look so perfect that it could have been made by a computer.

I decided to use black and white plain fabric only. I have also started off with simple seams and will gradually work up to more complicated piecing. I am making the blocks 6 1/2", because I don't want to go through metres of fabric and I don't want them to take a long time to make. I haven't done much piecing since my early patchwork days when I made traditional quilts and loved star patterns.

Here are the first ones that I made.

I was admiring them on my design wall one day, when I remembered Nancy Crow's critique of my work. She said that all my lines were the same width! Here I am 3 years later still making the same mistakes.

I tried a couple more blocks and tried the vary the size of the lines.

These blocks are only 6" square but I do think that they look more interesting.

I saw an article in a magazine about improv piecing and tried one of the suggestions. I place an 8" square of black and white fabric on top of each other and sliced them up.

After flipping every second colour I sewed them together. I cut a curve into them and re-pieced them. Here are the results.

Isn't it amazing how 2 blocks that started off the same can look so different? No doubt I could come up with many more configurations.

I am enjoying my little practices or experiments, particularly as they do not take very long to make. I'll try and make one a week and see how I end up.

In the spirit of learning more about improv piecing I have signed up to an on-line Zoom class with Carole Lyles Shaw on Saturday. I have never heard of her before but the class was offered by Quilt NSW and I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity.

There will be no actual pattern but she will be concentrating on teaching us improv curved piecing, how lucky that it came at the right time for me.

I decided to keep it simple and have chosen black and white fabrics with some red. 

Stay tuned to find out how I go. I did that live one hour class with Claire Benn last month but this a full day live class! It could be interesting? The teacher Carole lives in the USA, it probably means that she will be up all night! I hope that she is a night owl.

Bye for now,

Linda

Another Class with Nancy Crow!

Two and a half years ago, I did two weeks of advanced design classes with Nancy Crow in New Zealand. I was way out of my depth, I had never used plain fabrics before, I hadn't done any piecing for over 10 years, my fabrics were all the wrong values and it was an advanced, serious design class in work that I didn't do. I am much more comfortable with applique than piecing.

You can read my post about the classes with Nancy Crow in 2017.

I have been invited to attend two weeks of classes at Nancy Crow's barn in Ohio in 2022 and I said yes! Nancy only accepts advanced students, no new ones anymore. Of course, these classes will only go ahead if this virus is under control and international travel is allowed.

Why am I doing this! I am doing it because I know what I am getting myself into now, I enjoy working with plain fabrics and feel more comfortable with contemporary design. I don't know any person who teaches advanced design and will tell you honestly why your work is good or bad and why.

The other reason is that the two weeks with Nancy Crow were the most challenging but one of the best times of my life.

Even though it's two years away, I have started collecting fabrics, whenever I see them on special.

When the fabrics arrive in the post (no patchwork shops are open) I wash them and label them with their Kona cotton name and what value they are.

Look how gorgeous these fabrics look when they are in value order.

Value order

I have the Kona cotton chart with all the fabrics, so I know all the names.

My friend in Adelaide, Julie Haddrick who is also doing the classes, sent me a copy of the Circular Abstractions book, which is hard to get, so I can be further inspired.

Well, it's two years away and anything could happen in that time but it's something to look forward to.

Bye for now,

 Linda

Windows

The final challenge for the Waverley Art Quilters was Windows. I had lots of ideas of the various ways to depict windows but as usual time was against me.
I was doing the workshop with Maria Shell and started piecing some little squares that looked just like windows to me. You can see my blog post about it here.

Here is a photo of my starting point.

After I made a few components, I tried to make a composition out of them.

Well, that wasn't working very well! At last I just pieced them together in rows and I was much happier.

Windows by Linda Steele

Speaking of Maria Shell, after she finished teaching in Australia, she went over to New Zealand to teach at their Symposium. While she was there, she visited a quilt exhibition that featured one of my quilts. You can read her post here. I didn't get over to see the exhibition so it was lovely for me to see the photos.

Bye for now,
Linda

Rhythms 3 Returned

My quilt called Rhythms 3 has returned from the New Zealand exhibition; it's always nice when a quilt returns home.

As well as the quilt I received a copy of the catalogue that was available to buy at the show.

The book contains a photo and a write up of everyone in the exhibition as well as full size photos of the quilts.

Here is the page about me.

The exhibition was for students of Nancy Crow, I did two weeks of classes with Nancy earlier this year and you can read all about it here.

The quilt was a very different style for me and while I enjoyed making it and quilting it, I am not sure if I am passionate about making any more of them. Contemporary quilts are certainly not mainstream. It was interesting that I got quite a few comments on Facebook from people saying how much they loved my quilt in New Zealand but they were talking about my Life in the Reef quilt not my contemporary one.

Nancy Crow is coming back to do two more weeks of classes in advanced design in 2019. She will only accept pupils who have done classes with her before. If you come to the class you must come with 50 small quilt tops showing some original designs. That is a lot of work! One every week for a year and everyone knows how quickly a year goes and how busy it gets. I'd be preparing for a year and would hardly have time for any other sewing!

I must decide by early next year because there is a waiting list for the classes.

Decisions, decisions

Bye for now,
Linda

New Zealand Quilt Symposium Exhibitions 2017

The New Zealand Quilt Symposium in Christchurch begins on Thursday 5th October and runs until Tuesday the 10th. Not only are there the most wonderful classes by many local and international tutors there are a number of quilt exhibitions as well.

I have two quilts in the Piano exhibition space which is 156 Armagh Street, Christchurch.

My Quilt Life on the Reef is in the A Matter of Time Exhibition.

Life on the Reef by Linda Steele

There is also another exhibition at the same venue called Passion and Perspective by students of Nancy Crow. I did two weeks of classes with Nancy Crow in January this year.

We were asked to make a quilt using what we learnt with Nancy. Nancy recommended that I use brighter colours, not use a ruler to cut pieces and to design by intuition and improvisation by not planning ahead.

The quilt I made for the exhibition is called Rhythms 3.

Rhythms 3 by Linda Steele

It's certainly a different style of quilt for me and I can tell you that I went through quite a few attempts before I made this quilt. My other ideas weren't working until finally I remembered what Nancy taught me. Don't plan ahead! So I put up one piece of fabric and then put another next to it and so on until I had a quilt on the design wall.

I can't say I love the quilt but I quite enjoyed the process when I got into it. I would like to try again with some other coloured fabric.

I really enjoyed quilting it though. The plain colours really show the different stitches.

I really wish that I could see the exhibition so I could see what the other quilts look like. Hopefully people will post some photos on line. I wonder what Nancy Crow would think of my quilt?  She would probably say that it's a beginning and to keep trying.

I've since found out that there is a lovely colour catalogue of the exhibition called Passion and Proportion and it is only $25. I'll look forward to receiving my copy.

Bye for now,
Linda

Busy Life

For some reason the middle of the year is always super busy. I have two quilt deadlines coming up. I have to make an improv quilt for a Nancy Crow exhibition and I also want to make a quilt for the next AQIPP exhibition. AQIPP stands for Australian Quilts in Public Places and it runs every two years. This year the theme is reflections.

I've started working on the improv quilt first and I feel really out of my comfort zone. The idea is to have no pattern or sketch and just put up fabric and let the quilt tell you what needs to happen next. Very scary. Its an abstract contemporary and I doubt whether it will become my thing but at least I am having a go!

Here's how I have started.

Who knows how it will end up!

I have also been doing a photography course. In the second lesson we were learning about using Aperture Priority mode and I took this photo for my homework. The teacher is a tough critic but thankfully he approved of this one.

I am also doing yet another Photoshop course which has a lot of homework and I am doing a yoga class once a week. I know that I take on too much but I am keen to learn and improve as much as I can.

I am still President of Waverley Patchworkers, which is wonderful and a privilege but it is also a responsibility.

Speaking of Waverley Patchworkers, we have our Quilt In on Saturday June 17th and all visitors and friends are welcome for a day of sewing, fun and chatting.

As well as being busy with my quilting I still have time for my dear little grandchildren.

Dear little Savannah is two and a half now, where did that time go? Here she is all dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast for Book Week.

Jack is nine months old already, she such a good, placid boy.

I've had the good news that my quilts have been accepted for the Sydney Quilt Show, so they are ready to be posted off.

So life is non-stop busy but I am lucky to be able to have such a wonderful life.

Bye for now,
Linda

Dyeing Clear Colours

When I did my two weeks of classes with Nancy Crow at the beginning of the year she said that my colours were too greyed and I needed some clear colours. After being with other women and their clear colours for two weeks I must admit that I started to like the clear colours.

I had been meaning to dye some fabrics ever since I got back home but life was busy and I didn't get around to it. Last week we had a burst of beautiful warm weather and I had a couple of free days so I finally got out all my dyeing supplies.

I have the book by Linda Johansen called Fabric Dyers Dictionary and she mentions the names of clear and muted procion dyes.

 I had to order a couple of the colours from the USA because they weren't readily available in Australia not that I could find anyway. The book is fabulous with lots and lots of colour recipes. I was going to use Linda Johansen's method of dyeing but in the end I used the Elizabeth Barton method that I have used before and had already written the step by step notes for it.

With Elizabeth Barton's method you make up the dyes and store them in squeeze bottles, because they have no soda ash added to them the dyes can last for a few months stored in a fridge.

I dyed one metre lengths for the first time, I have only dyed fat quarters before and it was a lot more dye and a lot more work especially as I was dyeing four values of 6 different colours.

I let the fabrics batch in the sun outside because dyes love the warmth.

How naive I was; I thought I would quickly dye the fabrics in the morning. It took me all day! I always underestimate how long things will take.

I was exhausted. I rinsed them a couple of times and then let the fabrics soak in buckets of water overnight. That always speeds up and lessens the amount of rinsing time.

It took another day to rinse, wash, dry and iron the fabrics. I used 4 values of 6 colours and so I ended up with 24 metres of fabric. It's a lot of fabric, no wonder I was tired. It is much easier to buy that much fabric, but it would still take quite a while to wash and iron 24 metres.

Here are the results,

Fuchsia and Kelly Green

Deep Orange and Turquoise

Lemon Yellow and Grape

You use so much water and there is so much cleaning up and you have to be so careful not to splash dye everywhere, I was complaining to myself and saying that I will never dye fabrics again.

The results are always so satisfying though. I still have left over dyes and seeing as they are already mixed I might just over-dye the fabrics that I have just dyed.

Nancy Crow always over-dyes; she says the colour is richer and creamier. I'd never heard of anyone doing that before but I was reading a book on colour and art quilts the other night and she also said that she always over-dyes.

Even though I said that I would never dye again, I will cut the metre lengths in half and over-dye one half in the same colour and the other half with a different colour. I am interested to see the results and seeing as the colour is already mixed it won't be such a big job.

I will never dye so much fabric in one go again either. I have only kept 8 containers and that is all I will dye in any session. Maybe if I keep the process more manageable and fun and it won't be so exhausting.

There are a couple of sunny days forecast next week.

Bye for now,
Linda

Two weeks with Nancy Crow

I spent the first two weeks of 2017 in New Zealand doing master classes on design and composition with American teacher Nancy Crow. It was the most wonderful two weeks of sewing, taking in new information and concentration that it took me the next two weeks to recover.

Below is a photo of me with my Australian classmates and Nancy.

Julie, Me (Linda), Nancy Crow and Wendy

There were 18 students from New Zealand and Australia and we stayed on site at the beautiful Silverstream Retreat. It was a short walk to our classroom and the dining room where we had all our delicious meals. We were certainly well fed.

Classes with Nancy Crow were all that I had heard they would be and more. It is not often that you get a chance to study with such a passionate and dedicated teacher who teaches classical art concepts in quilt design.

The first week the class was called Improvisations- Let's Experiment part 2. Many people in the class had done Nancy's classes before but for us new students it was a huge learning curve.

The class was supposed to start at 9am but Nancy was always there at 8.30 putting notes up for us to copy into our books. Pages and pages of notes about what our focus should be and definitions of colour and design and assorted exercises we had to do. We had to write quickly as well because those notes would only stay up for a half an hour.

After writing down the notes we had to start designing and only had one day to design and sew our first composition.
We all had our own work station of two tables and a large cutting mat and iron and ironing board and two large design boards. Here is a photo of me at my design board on the second week.

Me at my design board

My work station

We had to cut out various size strips and shapes out of black fabric and then start pinning them up to make a composition of about 20" x 20". We had to freehand cut with no rulers and no sketches on paper either.

My first composition

After you had quickly pinned up your black fabric design onto the white design board you had to start cutting out white pieces to fit in the spaces and sew it together by the end of the day.
What a way to start the two weeks, it was such a daunting way to design and sew. I somehow got it done. This first design was supposed to be the basis of our work for the rest of the week.

The next day after writing up more notes, we had to do a design at least 4 times the size but in black and white. We had to make a pattern in black fabric first and then sew it together using black, white and grey and we had a day and a half to make it.

My design pinned to the design board.

I somehow got it done by putting my head down and getting on with it.

Here is my grey-scale composition sewn together, I don't particularly like it but the idea was that you didn't have time to think much, you had to work quickly so the design started coming from inside of you. Nancy says that you have to make a lot of duds before the good stuff starts coming out. Even so she thought my composition was strong.

Week 1 grey-scale

Then we had two days to make the design again in colour. That is where I had a problem. We had to use only black, white and only 5 values of colour. We had to sort our fabrics in light, light medium, medium, medium dark and dark. I took over a hundred yards of fabric and so many of my colours had to go back into the suitcase. We used our phone cameras on black and white to see the values and if your fabric did not sit exactly into those values it couldn't be used.

Even Nancy agreed that I didn't have much left to work with. I didn't have any colours that were in each value group. So I might have had only a medium and light green and no other values etc. It made it very difficult and I had to really work hard to make it work! It was so hard but I learnt so much about colour and value.

Colour study pinned to design wall.

The photo above is where I left it at 1.30 in the morning after going through so much trouble trying to get it where I was happy.

After not much sleep I got up the next morning and sewed it together and managed to have it done in time for the critique session on Friday afternoon.

Me with final colour study week 1

At the end of each week you had to pin up all your work and Nancy would critique it. She was always brutally honest and we learnt so much from the experience.

Week 2 was called Lines, Shapes and Figure Ground Composition part 2. We thought week one was hard but week 2 was even harder. In this class we really concentrated on value and colour.

We were given design exercises with the idea of getting ideas and finding your voice. We were supposed to complete 9 configurations with various criteria. The first one was to make a design that had a linear curve and two lines but no figures could touch each other and one figure must touch the edge.

That was the easy one; number 7 was to make a composition that had 6 lines, 3 narrow curves, 4 shapes and 3 curvilinear lines. I am not sure now if it was this design below or if this was another one. Anyway, they got really complicated and we only had a day and a half to complete them. I think I got six done before she made us go onto the next thing.

For the last exercise we had to make a composition in black and white and make it again in white and black and use flat blacks and white and glowing black and whites and then start with colour.

We made it once and then had to repeat it in the opposite values. That means if it was a dark in the first composition it had to be a light value in the next one. We had to make 6 in all and it was exhausting work but once again we learnt so much about colour.

Finally on the last Friday we had to take it in turns to set up our work for the two weeks and be critiqued. I was so tired I could hardly stand but I was still sad that it was over.

When Nancy was not advising or answering questions she was watching and analysing us as well. I actually like a person to tell you straight out what she thinks. Too many people say that things are good or OK when they really think the opposite. Nancy has strong opinions but she can back them up with years of training, teaching and experience.

Me with my two weeks work

So what did Nancy think of me? She said that I didn't complain and had a strong work ethic. She thought my compositions were strong but the widths of my lines were too similar and I have to work hard at making them different widths. She also said that my colours were too greyed and depressing and she wants me to work with clear colours. She wants me to stop doing all the work that I have done in the past and spend a year working on abstract, contemporary design to find my voice.

So that is what I am going to do, it's only a year out of my life and I was wanting a change anyway. I wonder how many duds I will make before a good one comes out?

Nancy Crow is thinking about coming back to teach in two years time and if she does I will book in again for sure. Next time I will be more prepared and hopefully will have better choice of fabric to work with.

Bye for now,
Linda