Kirsten, who blogs at Gemini Stitches, tagged me in the Around the World Blog Hop last week. I met Kirsten, if not before, in a pillow swap. I was the recipient of that beautiful pillow that she made. The blog hop has some questions to answer.
1. What am I working on?
This weekend, and generally in the last few months, I have been working on developing some quilts that are my own design with an eye to making patterns for them. Although I have many ideas, it is remarkably difficult for me to "design" a quilt and then write a pattern for it. My goal with patterns is to add something new to the options for the pattern using quilter, not just to give them my take on something that others have done. Finding that new thing is not that easy, at least for me.
Today specifically I have been designing that block you see above and some quilts that use it to submit a project to a magazine. I put a picture of my first prototype of the block up on instagram and asked if people saw it as a modern block. I was overwhelmed to receive 87 comments and 355 likes to date. I guess People think it is modern and they like it too, and it is so nice that they took the time to let me know.
2. How does my work differ from others?
Although I am fairly certain that many of you would say that I have a clear quilting "style" I am not totally convinced that I have found it, or all aspects of it, yet. Many of my quilts fit comfortably within the current concept of modern quilting. I often refer to my approach to quilts as industrial modern and I use that term in reference to all aspects of a quilt - the design, the piecing, the choice of fabrics and substrates, the quilting and the fact that the texture from washing and drying is also a design element for me. I want my quilts to be technically well made and to be durable and usable blankets, and I also want them to evoke a feeling of an old warehouse, a comfortable pair of blue jeans, the sunbleached beach, or a winter snowstorm. Technically good, but not perfect, just a little edgy, urban, and interesting.
Besides all that, I also continue to explore far more traditional quilting designs and techniques. I see my development as a quilter as a journey, and it has barely begun.
3. Why do I write and create?
For fun. Seriously, for fun.
The process of making a useful blanket - of making a useful thing, is very rewarding for me as in my work I think and talk and write a lot but there are no "things" made at the end. So quilting - and also knitting, sewing, needlework, embroidery, weaving, spinning, and other fibre arts - fills in a big gap for me. I love creating, being creative and working with colour and design too. Quilting is a perfect way to do that and still make a useful blanket too.
Why do I write about quilting - again for fun. My blog, instagram, flickr, other social media with quilters allows me to make and stay friends with quilters around the world. I have now met a surprisingly large number of them in person too, something that would not have been possible if I had not been here, writing about quilting and participating with you all on line.
4. How does my writing/creating process work?
I almost never write a blog post for a later date. Only when there is a blogging event and I know I will be pressed for time. For example, I am writing this post minutes before it will be published, even thought I knew I had to post it today a week ago. I approach blogging like much of my other writing - I figure it out in my head and then when I sit down the words just spill out and it is done. This approach has meant writing some posts while fighting to keep my eyes open when there was a deadline, but oh well.
My creating process is also much the same. I think about something I want to make, or I am inspired by something and then I make it. I seldom do sketches first, except if I am not able to work with fabric directly like when I am on vacation. I am trying to do more sketching, but we shall see if that actually happens. I like to try new things and I am happy to make a quilt that I like several times. I am also prone to working through creative ideas in a series of quilts. I think that this approach may be part of why I don't see any one quilt as that precious - I could always make it over should it be harmed in some way, I have plenty of fabric.
Enough about me, I asked some friends and two have agreed to be tagged next. My friend Felicity, who blogs at Felicity Quilts, is a fellow Canadian who I have had the pleasure of meeting in person. She is smart, funny, creative, lovely and likes great shoes (like I do). My friend Lynz, who blogs at Domestic Light and Happiness, lives in Scotland, has been a blogging friend from the time I started blogging and I have yet to meet her in person. She is also smart, funny, creative, lovely and likes great shoes - and I did not realize I had picked such similar friends to tag until just this minute. Watch for their posts next week. The Around the World Blog Hop is meant to allow for connections to happen between bloggers and readers of blogs.
I am going back to my new design. I think that unless someone tells me that they have already given that block an official name, I am going to call it Allium - with a big thank you to Krista - Poppyprint for the reference when I was mentioning it reminded me of a dandelion. If you already know that block, please let me know. Just because I designed it surely does not mean that many others have also already done so too.
Best,
Leanne
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