What is the Work? - March Twenty
"What is the Work?" is an ongoing series, a daily log of studio time. What I worked on, how it went, how I felt, what I drank, what I listened to, what the weather was like. A way to mark passing days, to notice how it feels, to figure out what the work is. You can find the whole series under the tag "What is the Work?"
Today, I...
worked on cutting fabric for my March quilt, did a bunch of quilt math, and made two signal flags.
I'm really excited right now because I'm planning to make the March quilt my first EVER pdf quilt pattern!!! So, so excited. Really ever since I started quilting I have wanted to figure out how to bring other people in on the process. I love designing quilts and making quilts, but I also love sharing, teaching and collaborating, things I haven't had much opportunity to do up to this point in my textiles practice. It has always been a goal to eventually release patterns, and I feel like I now have the right quilt and enough skills to start! The March quilt is perfect because it is extremely simple, literally just the same size square sewn together again and again, but it still looks AMAZING and the pattern teaches all of the necessary skills for quilt-making.
It's a great added challenge to try to figure out how to translate my quilt design and construction process to a pattern that is accessible and exciting for beginners and skilled sewists both. Up to this point, I've been mostly working on constructing my sample quilt. I have four more blocks to sew, and then I'll move onto hand-quilting it. Today, I really started in earnest planning for my pattern-writing. I started working on all the necessary quilt math, which is actually one of my favorite parts of the process. I love sitting down with graph paper and a calculator and getting everything straight.
Yesterday, I launched a new applique pillow I've been working on for the past couple of days. I'm really happy with how it turned out and excited to work on a few more colorways. It's all stitched by hand except for the construction of the actual pillow, so it is more on the higher-end of my products as far as price goes. I loved making the first pillow and couldn't wait to make another!
am listening to Spring Awakening, an old-friend of a musical, to celebrate the first day of spring.
am drinking decaf coffee in the afternoon as a treat and motivator for flag-sewing.
am feeling like it would really do me good to take a walk every afternoon to clear my head. It's usually right around that post-lunch lull that the self-doubt starts to creep in again. A walk in the cold to go look at the unfrozen water at the channel really helps.
am reading The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits. Read it a long time ago from the library and never could get it out of my head. My own personal copy just arrived in the mail and it's wonderful to come back to it.
