Overcommitted?

 It has happened a number of times that people have told me how much they admire how I manage 'to do all these things'. It might be the legacy of a philosopher father who did a lot of thinking and writing about achievement/accomplishment/performance, who knows. I do know that I do achieve many things. Yet there is always this nagging feeling that there are so many other things I wanted to do or have done as well, and that did not get finished. 

And I know that I have a tendency to plan too many things. When I started nursing I had not really planned to cut back on the amount of time I spend quilting, I had only quit the fabric dyeing business. When I realized I would not be able to maintain the same amount of quilting production as before I had a hard time getting myself to adjust my quilting plans. And I still have not mananged to take a realistic approach with regard to what I want to do in terms of quilting. For example, I signed up for the expensive SAQA online conference which just happened. And have not listened to a single of the lectures. I wanted to make two quilts to enter in Wide Horizons and one to enter in EPM's "Ocean" contest, and I managed to make only one for WH (which I also doubled as an entry for Brno Patchwork Meeting), and then decided to enter the Ocean piece in WH as well. The plan for the second piece for WH is still there, but right now I don't know when I can begin on that one.

I wanted to enter a piece for the German Guild's challenge using the misprinted pins for last year's Patchworktage, and I had a great idea. And it would have been a small quilt only as the measurements are really manageable 15x30 cm, I believe. 

The left pin is the misprint, the right one has the correct orientation of the logo.

 

I had almost a whole year to complete the quilt. The pins are still on my wall and the quilt will never be made as the deadline for entry has passed by now.

But I have finally started to work on my contribution for the EQA challenge 'Imagine a Bird', and that may actually get finished. (Of course, I am the lucky one who collects all the contributions before they are being taken to the first exhibition venue, so I can put in the last finishing touches the night before I leave, and nobody would know...)

Life is very complicated right now and will continue to be so for a while, yet I made certain today that I got at least a few minutes of creative time in today. I do want to complete that bird!

Of course, taking a four day trip to Brno, Czech Republic, last weekend, to hang, steward and return a 20 Perspectives show at the Brno Patchwork Meeting didn't help to make spare time for stitching. But on the other hand it was a bit of a reprieve from all the things going on in real family life these days. We presented two of the collections, Nature and Monochrome.

Outside wall and entrance to the 20 Perspectives gallery

Ildiko performed a bit of open heart surgery before
the opening of the show to remove a couple of hanging threads

With my two pieces in these two collections, and my entry to the Zero Waste challenge and my piece in the German Guild's Tradition bis Moderne I had a total of four quilts in the show.

Entangled in Yellow, 24 x 32"

I'll follow the Sun, 24 x 24"

Mellowed Yellow, 150 x 160 cm

Seeing Red, 90 x 130 cm

When I arrived I was greeted with the question whether I had brought my quilt for the competition with me as it had not yet arrived... Imagine my surprise, as I had shipped the parcel in the middle of March. Fortunately they found it, but perhaps it was really only put up at that point, because I thought it was not hanging rather advantageously. But I was glad I got to take it home when I returned! Now waiting to hear whether it got into Wide Horizons or not.

A Quilt in Australia

Several years ago I sent a quilt to an Australian exhibition, the first time I know of that a quilt of mine was shown ‘down under’. That was Shapes 27: Reflections on the Nine Patch, where I was experimenting with reflector fabric, some shiny fabric I had once been given by a friend, and loose end in the quilting.

Shapes 27: Reflections on the Nine Patch, 90 x 90 cm

 

When light falls onto the quilt in certain angles,
other Nine Patch shapes become visible as well.

Glitzy fabric in the dark, reflector fabric, and loose end in the quilting

It might be possible that one of the SAQA shows I was in was shown in Australia? I’m afraid I am not good at keeping track of where my quilts are going when they are touring the venues without me…

This weekend, however, my quilt “Between Portals” is (at the point of writing already: was) being shown at the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne, as part of the group exhibition by 20 Perspectives, “Doors, Windows and Portals”. 

 

Julie Haddrick secured the opportunity to show there for the group, Anne Bellas and Phyllis Cullen traveled as clandestine quilt transporters, and the three of them are rocking the show.

Phyllis Cullen (left), Anne Bellas (middle), Julie Haddrick (right)

 

View into the exhibition hall

Unfortunately, they have reported that lighting in the halls is not very conducive to taking good pictures, 

In this picture, my quilt is hidden behind the perpendicular little angle

 

so if you want to have a good look at all the pieces shown, please take a look at the group’s website, especially the gallery for this specific exhibition: https://www.20perspectives.com/new-gallery-images

Café Leisure, sort of.

 Having moved north, bi-weekly, my type of leisure activities after work has changed a lot. 

 

My favorite swimming spot, this afternoon,
with a cuddly water temperature of 10 degrees C.

Formeost, of course, is my daily walk along the lake towards one of two bathing spots, and my daily swim. Relatively short, as the water temperature is on the coolish side, but the duration of my stays in the water is increasing, and I enjoy this new habit of mine so much that I can’t find the fitting words to describe the pleasure in a satisfying manner.

As I am still living in a nurse’s dorm with limited space and rather unattractive kitchen facilities I have also developed a new habit of going to a café that is part of a not-too-far-away organic food store at least once a week. Either for a piece of cake and some cappuccino, or, as today, for a bit of lunch.

Lemon tart and apple cake, both very delicious.

Vegetarian Potatoe Soup. Delicious - but I don't mind a bit of bacon in there, either.

 

The second time I went there I watched this little robin through the window 

 

(listening to birds is another pleasure I am delving into, although I must admit that my ability to recognized their different songs has not improved dramatically yet, despite my frequent referral to a bird-identifying app) 

 

Screenshot from BirdNET identification

and already then I thought this might become a potential Café Leisure for times when I am up north. Alas, they don’t have customer internet, and phone reception in the area seems to be a bit on the weak or instable side of things, which is why I haven’t actually taken the computer there and written a post on the premises. I guess I could, however, just write it there and post it later when I return to the dorm and it’s wi-fi service. Certainly the place would qualify for what I was thinking of when I first started writing posts under this label.

My room in the dorm is rather sparsely furnished, and although I did bring my small sewing machine, I have taken it out only once so far, because there is no adequate space to put it up and use it comfortably. I used it to attach flaps on my uniform tops to the back so they would not stand up and make me look ridiculous.

 

This little machine was an acquisition when the Featherweight Sewing Machine Hype was really gaining ground and I had been infected with that virus of desire, too, but didn’t want to spend that kind of money as they were being sold for. I had seen an Elna like this several years ago and developed a certain desire for one like it, but never acted upon that yearning. Amidst the Featherweight Hype, however, I remembered, searched the internet and found this one, for less than a quarter of the price that Featherweight were going for. I haven’t used it much yet, but figure that I will do more so once I move into my own apartment. Which should be soon-ish, as I have actually signed the rental agreement and am supposed to receive the keys towards the middle of the month.

When I come up north next time, I will be coming with a small van full of stuff, and then it will be more of ‘living’ rather than camping out in a dorm. I don’t think it will change my new habit of daily walks and swimming, though, nor, perhaps, the weekly stroll to the Café Leisure. But it will open up more options for being creative by having a table to put up the machine without running the danger of banging my knee on the corner of the bedding box which served as a ‘table’ yesterday.

And once I have my own wi-fi in the apartment I may certainly take the computer to the Café to write, and post later that night, for why not?

Getting Myself into Somewhat Slanted Trouble?

 

Almost a year ago I started the “Sweater Somewhat Slanted”after a pattern by Sarah C. Swett .  She now writes The Gusset on Substack  which I look forward to finding in my inbox every Tuesday. 

This slanted sweater had intrigued me right away when I first saw pictures of and posts about it, I just love the ‘slanted’ aspect of it. On first sight I immediately thought ‘should be possible to do it all slanted, not only the two large pieces front and back, shouldn’t it?’ and so far I have been thinking that I would like to try to do it that way. As I have mentioned before, I cheated myself a bit, breaking the good intention to start any major new knitting project (socks never count!) before I had finished at least two other wips by telling myself that a single slip knot as is very common in every day use does not count as casting on a knitting project. The sweater basically started itself.

Mine turned into a bit of a wildish something when deciding on yarn (only, but not with a derogatory meaning) under the way. Alternating some hand-dyed (not be my) yarn from South America which had been in my stash for a few years with hand-spun (by me) snippets from my experimental bags of spinning is certainly giving this piece a very idiosyncratic look.

 

As I was also finishing another very long-time work in progress 

 

this slanted project took it’s time growing, but lately I managed to finish the second piece and then realized that my ambition to slant the sleeves as well was blocking progress. 

To shape or not to shape the shoulder pieces,
even not slanted?

 For a little while I waited whether I would have the zeal and drive to tackle this self-inflicted challenge, meanwhile just going ahead with the shoulder rectangles and waiting for enlightenment.

 

But in the end, for now, I have decided that I will finish this (first) Slanted Sweater as suggested in Sarah’s instructions, and knit the sleeves straight, starting at the shoulders. 

I am telling myself that this is a way of getting myself fully acquainted with the structure of the sleeves which might than give me a fertile basis on which to continue my thoughts about slanting the sleeves, too. And perhaps I will then start another version of it, pulling that idea of complete slanting through. Or rather, a second sweater will start itself, because, after all, a single slip knot is not casting on.