Is Christmas over yet?

"Recycled" Christmas fabric bag.

The back of the bag.

Three days 'til Christmas and I've given up on several projects and added several others. It's gonna be a caffeine fueled holiday. This little scrap bag made using the selvages and scrap ends of the Christmas fabric I've been working with was made for our office gift exchange (the theme was recycling). It was a lot of fun to make and so I made another similar bag with the Yuletide Magic fabric for my mother (she doesn't read the blog so I'm safe writing about :). I'll post pictures after Christmas. Of course, I had to order some more Yuletide Magic fabric for myself. It should get here next week sometime. I wonder if I'll still be in a Christmas fabric kind of mood? I also completed a flannel raggy quilt for my coworker Sara's new baby girl, and a number of fabric bowls. This one was for another coworker who was the "Holiday Cheer Meister"for the office. Thanks Holly! I hadn't planned on making the baby quilt, but as I was looking for Christmas flannel in my closet I came across this kit, probably fifteen years old or so and it said, "pick me, pick me!" so I went with it. I'd write more, but I have to pack for our trip to Fort Yukon tomorrow. The big question: should I take my sewing machine and etc.? I have some knitting plans, which travel better, but I have so many sewing projects to complete and I'm not sure I can pull an all-nighter to get them done before I leave. We'll see. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Christmas fabric bowl.

Flannel raggy baby quilt

"Make what moves you" and "Post-project letdown"

Santa and his sleigh. Many of the panels and fabrics
include the words to "The Night Before Christmas"
which works well with our decorating theme.

As I was stressing with my mother this weekend over all the projects I had to get done she commented that most of them were projects that I didn't need to do, most especially the wall-hangings I was making to hang in our hall at work. She had a point and I thought about it quite a bit before realizing that I really wanted to do those wall-hangings! But why? They weren't intended as gifts and I certainly didn't need the extra projects. I just really like working with holiday fabrics during the holidays. I love the "Yuletide Magic" line and don't want it to be sitting around waiting for "someday". I really wanted to complete those little quilts in a way that I didn't want to complete the other "necessary" projects on my list. So, I did complete them and had a great time doing so. It is more productive to make what moves me than to create the "perfect" gift for someone. I do love creating something special with a recipient in mind, but I also tend to stress over it, and Christmas, when there are so many people to make things for, is not a time to be stressing over multiple special projects for special someones. I predict a lot of people will be getting holiday themed gifts this year.

Snowman, tree, and kids in a sled.

Quilted squares sewn onto
coordinated ribbon for a
 festive look.

Using my new found knowledge of self I continued to work on my unnecessary projects. After last weekend where I realized the Christmas wall-hanging I was making was a bit too big for a wall-hanging I decided to cut up another panel to make multiple smaller wall-hangings. I made one of the larger Santa and his reindeer panels (saving the other and enough of the coordinating fabric for later), six of the smaller panels, and then took the snowflake star panels and made little hangings using a coordinating plaid ribbon. I was up until 1 am Monday morning finishing them and the bindings are definitely a bit wonky, but acceptable for what they are. They are now hanging in our hall at the office, complimenting our "Santa's Stable" decorating theme.

Santa, sleigh, and reindeer.

The always helpful Ziggy.

Which brings me to my post-project letdown. I always experience it. As soon as a project done I lose the elevated mood I felt while working on it. This bothers me. I definitely need to work on understanding that part of myself and getting the lift to last more than a few minutes (literally, I'm down within minutes of completing a project - it's very odd). On the the next project!

I love Christmas...even if it makes me crazy

Not a wall hanging

Just a brief insanity update. This weekend I finished the top of what was supposed to be a Christmas wall hanging and obviously has morphed into a Christmas throw. The fabric is "Yuletide Magic" by Benartex and I love it. I bought it this summer in Anchorage and didn't think anyone here had it. I finally found a bit by accident at Material Girls. They even had the panel so I got one to cut up and make individual wall hangings out of the blocks. Not sure what I'll do with the large quilt. Me? Mom?

I've also begun an extravaganza of Christmas bowls. I got these three finished over the weekend and some others started. The basic idea comes from Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Bowls by Linda Johansen. I'm getting to use that bolt of Timtex I've had hanging around for several years. I searched all over town for some Sewer's Aid to help with my metalic threads and came up empty. Am I the only person who has trouble with metalics? Of course, I have some somewhere in the house, I just don't know where exactly. Biggest problem (aside from the Sewer's Aid search): choosing the fabric and thread combinations. Just sew already! I also ended up spending a lot of time working with Lynneva on her element project which took away from my productivity. Damn you Manny Manganese! For those wondering if I used my "snow day" to work on these, the answer is, sadly, no. Today was a bust in the creativity department.

The real reason I don't get anything done

Ziggy "helps"

Nested trays

No, not Ziggy, but he sure looks cute. I had hoped to title this post "an orgy of creativity". Unfortunately, the only orgy to be found this weekend was an orgy of pies. Not quite the same thing. So what is the real reason I don't get anything done? I don't prioritize my projects over other activities. The to-do list for this weekend included cooking for Thanksgiving, entertaining for Thanksgiving, cleaning house, decorating, helping Lynneva with homework project, cleaning the quilt room, and then getting to my projects: completing a dress for Jeanetta, start knitting a shawl for a Christmas present, start a holiday jacket for myself, and make some proto-type trays as possible Christmas gifts. By Sunday I realized that I could continue to slog through my household chore items or ignore the mess and make something. I chose the nested trays.

The trays un-nested

I love using fabric to create everyday usable items. I plan on using these trays to organize my jewelry collection. I can't seem to put anything away in a jewelry box so maybe trays laid out on my dresser will help (currently I just have piles on the dresser). I hope other people will also find these useful and cute. For this trio I used fabric from a Moda Layer Cake of "Terrain" by Kate Spain purchased this summer at Blue Ribbon and a couple of solids I had laying around. Because the Moda fabric squares were precut to 10" that was the max size I could make so the smaller ones were scaled down by 1" each. I would like to try some larger sizes.

Corner detail

My machine is very quiet after its tune-up and I look forward to sewing more this week as I continue to prioritize projects over non-essentials such as laundry and dishes. If I begin to look raggedy at work you will know why.

Two finished projects and some well-earned TLC for my Bernina

Watershed logo "Sunrise" and Watershed
logo with beads. And Prince.

My Bernina has needed a trip to the shop for a while now, but first I needed to finish these small wall-hangings for Jeanetta's 8th grade silent auction fundraiser this weekend. They are planning a trip this spring to Barrow which should be super fun and interesting. I'm hoping to go with them myself as the North Slope is one area of the state I've never been to.

Our favorite style.

I had hoped to get several of these finished, but other projects like last week's Troth quilt got in the way. I used Steam-a-seam 2 light to create the silhouettes and then satin stitched around them.  The original logo has black lines representing northern lights (I think) and I created them with hanging beads in the quilt on the right (in the picture with both quilts). Jeanetta and I prefer the quilt on the left which uses a stained-glass style and I would like to make more of that technique representing the seasons. I also have plans for a larger version. Someday. It is a very nice logo and lends itself well to the silhouette and stained-glass styles.

Now that these are finished I was able to drop the machine off at Material Girls for a tune-up. It shouldn't be gone long, but in the meantime I will be starting some knitting projects. 'Tis the season for making gifts and I have a very long list!

Quilting on a deadline. With pets.

The good thing about quilting with a deadline is that I get the project done - none of that getting derailed when my craft isn't quite measuring up to my artistic vision. The bad thing about quilting with a deadline is that I don't have a chance to fully explore either my craft or my artistic vision - the quilt must be completed on time! This quilt was one of those projects that I love, but didn't quite "get it right" in my eyes. It also challenged the relationship between craft and tranquility, but tranquility mostly won.

The wall-hanging is of troth, or Indian Potato (Hedysarum alpinum), a powerful symbol at our campus of culture, tradition, strength, and continuity taken from the words of traditional chief Peter John of Minto when he spoke about Troth Yeddha', Indian Potato Hill, the traditional Lower Tanana Athabascan name of the hill that the University of Alaska Fairbanks now occupies, and the importance of education to Alaska Natives. It was made to give to a retiring colleague whose leadership has been instrumental in the growth of our campus, the expansion of education for rural and Alaska Native students, and the elevation of Alaska Native knowledge and interests within the university education system.

I started on Sunday morning (after a few days of thinking about what I wanted to do) with a Wednesday at 12:30 deadline. Working on such a tight deadline meant that what would normally be small setbacks became major issues. My first mistake: using tear away stabilizer for the threadwork. I hate tear away stabilizer. Such a mess. Plus, I had forgotten my tortie cat's crinkly fabric obsession (an obsession that has cost her at least three of her nine lives). Tear away stabilizer counts as crinkly fabric. I woke up Monday morning to find the piece mauled on the floor with chunks of stabilizer chewed away, a couple of holes in the fabric itself, and a number of tooth marks that didn't make it into the "hole that needs to be patched category." Amazingly, I did not panic, scream in rage, or freak out in any way. I calmly tucked it out of her reach and made plans to repair the damage with patches or trimming.

Monday night I designed the folded flowers for applique (troth is a member of the pea family), appliqued the root, and tried out some appliqued leaves as well, which I didn't like so removed. With a stash like mine it was no problem finding appropriate border fabric so I got it all put together and sandwiched for embroidery/quilting on Tuesday. The free motion machine embroidery and quilting turned out to be a nightmare! My wonderful Bernina needs servicing - I've worked it hard this month - and one of the threads I used had been wound wrong by the manufacturer. I had thread breaking, stitches skipping. I must have tried 10 different needles, cleaned and oiled the machine multiple times, re-threaded it. I finally did make it through, but for a while there I actually thought I would have to give up just because of thread problems. I actually considered running over to my mom's house at 1 am to pick up my other Bernina that I leave there for her so she doesn't have to carry one back and forth from the Lower-48.

Then Ziggy decided to get into the act. While I was putting on the beads I noticed a length of nymo thread trailing from his mouth. Thankfully he hadn't swallowed any, but he did chew it up and slobber all over it. This was after Jeanetta had discovered that he had gotten into some chocolate earlier in the evening when I was downstairs sewing. He is completely fine. Stomach of iron, apparently. I finished the piece at 3 am and got a little extra sleep by skipping my yoga practice in the morning. The final touch was a label with Chief John's quote that everyone in the office signed.

I do love this piece, but would have liked more embellishment and more balance between the root and leaves. Materials used were batiks, Cherrywood cottons, Sulky blendables thread, glass beads and dyed fresh water pearls.

Halloween Horrors! Sewing with kids

Against my better judgement, I let my 13 year old daughter convince me to help her sew her costume (and shop for the fabric and notions at JoAnn's!) on a Friday night. The Friday night before the school's Halloween carnival. Jeanetta had seen the pattern over three weeks ago, but it wasn't available in town so we had to order it. Between the delay in getting the pattern, Jeanetta getting sick for over a week, and other time commitments, we hadn't been able to start. Now, it was the night before the carnival and she just had to get that costume done. I should have said no. I'm not a good garment maker and I've definitely left the days when I could pull an all-nighter and still function the next day far behind. But, I also really want my girls to know how to sew and I know that there is always going to be a reason not to start a project. Costume sewing is very forgiving, sew no time like the present (yes, I know that is a dreadful pun).


We arrived at JoAnn's at about 5:30 pm and got out about 6:45. Not bad considering the line at the cutting counter seemed to extend out the door. We started sewing around 8. Jeanetta did about half the work, letting me do the rotary cutting and some of the more precise sewing. I know, she should learn to cut out patterns by herself, but time, and the desire to maintain all of her fingers intact, was of the essence. Fueled (in my case) by Cabernet and chocolate, we finally finished up at 1:20 am. The carnival wasn't until noon, but we had to get up early for Jeanetta's orchestra practice. Then, a hasty change in the bathroom and off to the carnival. I can't quite decide what her character is. Wednesday? Morticia? Elvira? Still, definitely a great look :) The pattern, since you can't really tell in the photo, has long princess type sleeves (Jeanetta designed the bottom of the sleeve herself), an empire waist with ties that criss-cross down and tie in front, and a fancy dress skirt attached to the bodice. There is also a pattern for a skirt or pants to go under it, but the top is large enough on her that we didn't need them.

One issue I struggled with in deciding to go ahead with this project was fairness. There was no way I could also sew the costume Lynneva wanted, especially since I would need to create the pattern myself. We managed a good costume for her, though, by re-purposing the white dress I made for her old Princess Leah costume into a ghost costume. The last minute purchase of silver hair spray was an excellent touch and she was the best "exploding box" character in the haunted house (aka the fifth grade classroom). Lynneva had thought that a ghost costume would be boring, but not anymore. Of course, we'll reprise these characters on Monday for the real Halloween.

UFO Flip Flop

The original piece. It just washed
out against a pale background.

When is a finished project not finished? When it doesn't work for you. Of course, if you can find someone else it will work for you can always give it away, but when it is a piece you like and think has potential you really have to find a way to rescue it. The UFO I "finished" last weekend just wasn't doing it for me. It had an internal glow, but that didn't show up against the light background of my walls. Given that my wall painting plans have been pushed to the way back burner this year (thanks Laura) it needed a do over.

With the new background.

So, I created a new background for it. With my extensive stash of fabrics it was no problem to find the perfect blue batik. I then sandwiched it using the flip and turn method. I don't generally like this method, but didn't want a binding for this particular project. Once the background was turned and the opening stitched closed I quilted it with floral designs based on the original piece, first with a darker blue from Sulky Blendables, then with a shiny purple variegated, and then with the same shiny orange and purple variegated I used on the original project. It was a good chance to practice my free motion work. I attached the original piece using nylon invisible thread. Now I have a quilt I can enjoy instead of a disappointment to be stashed away in the closet corner.

Do I get to count the zombie cupcakes?

Crows feast on maggoty zombie flesh.

The costume that started it all.

This weekend marked the beginning of our family's, no, my girls' and my Halloween obsession. No doubt my husband would be just as happy to never see another pumpkin. So, we spent quite a bit of time at Jo-Ann's and Michael's on Saturday. I ended up ordering a Halloween costume pattern online because we couldn't find what Jeanetta wanted here in town. I'll be mostly winging it on Lynneva's sea monster.  I'm going as a sea witch, or sea weed, whatever fits. We got into the habit of making costumes in 2007 when I went as Rita Skeeter. The girls got such a kick out of it that we have made something every year since.

The cousins and their zombie fare.

So far we have created a small graveyard (I spent two days trying to get Ziggy to pee on a gravestone for a picture, but no luck yet) and made our first round of zombie cupcakes from the book Zombie Cupcakes by Zilly Rosen. I had my niece and nephew over and thought they would make a nice activity for the kids while I sewed downstairs. Yeah, right. Zombie cupcakes require a great deal of adult supervision. If anyone is wondering, fondant and the fondant/gum paste mix required are easy and surprisingly tasty. Italian meringue buttercream is a pain in the ass to make and tastes like whipped sugar and fat. Yuck. We'll be making a traditional buttercream or cream cheese frosting next time. Our favorites so far are the eye poppers and crows.


I did manage to complete one UFO in all the chaos. This technique comes from "Transformations: From Crafty Silk Flower to Sheer Sensation" by Peggy Holt in the Quilting Arts Fall 2006 Issue. I completed it except for the binding a year or two ago in a Quilting Arts class with Corlis Taylor. I decided to use a satin stitch instead of binding to get a more organic wavy border. This piece is low contrast, but is actually more interesting than this photo shows. I plan on doing more with this technique next weekend. Wish me luck!

When was the last time you had a flow experience? Or, has motherhood and modern life made me stupid?

I first heard about "flow" at a joint NSF/NASA conference for Tribal Colleges and Universities and other minority serving institutions. The researcher was talking about flow in the context of math learning and since the majority of students in our STEM and other programs are adult women with children I asked if they had any advice on math learning for students who had a hard time reaching flow due to having to cook dinner, supervise their children, and care for their elderly parents while trying to learn math. The presenter (and audience) just laughed, but I think this remains an important question even if we have no good answer for it.

The "flow experience" is a concept in psychology developed by Csíkszentmihályi (yeah, I just cut and pasted that name) to describe a mental state of focused motivation and immersion. The examples the conference scientist used came primarily from sports (a type of group flow): something about the Chicago Bulls and a game 7? Sports fans will know. Another example of group flow is orchestral performance. I remember well the feeling of flow when I played the french horn. The researcher proposed that flow was necessary for truly learning math. I would say that flow experiences are essential to deep learning, and deep performance, in any subject.

I haven't had a true flow experience since spring of 2010 when I was finishing my dissertation and even then I was forcing it all the way. Between my children, my family, and my work I haven't been able to focus on creativity or learn anything at any depth in a long, long time. It may be that I am experiencing the whole motherhood/career/superwoman cliche thing and need to buck up, or it may be that I'm just particularly vulnerable to distraction, but whatever the cause it is troubling. Because of the inability to find flow I tend to avoid starting things - a new project, or even a new book doesn't get started because I know my experience will be interrupted and I'd rather not suffer the pain of being torn away again. I feel like my brain can no longer engage. I used to feel like I could learn anything I put my mind to. Now I feel, quite frankly, a bit slow, a bit stupid.

So what does that have to do with my crafting and fiber arts? Without flow for me it feels like there is no art. Over the years I have gotten better at compartmentalized flow (flow with interruptions), but it never seems quite as satisfying or productive. I tend to choose projects that don't require too much creativity or concentration. What's more, I'm concerned that my children are not experiencing as much flow as I did at their age and this partly due to my inability to focus as well as the increased homework and other extra work they seem to have. Will they ever have the experience of being so totally immersed in something that breakthroughs flow through their pencil like an underground spring bubbling up through the rocks? So in tune with their fellow musicians that it feels as though they are playing as one? I guess at 11 and 13 it might be too early for me to worry about their opportunities for flow. But I'll be watching to encourage flow experiences wherever I can for them, my students, and myself.

The Sensation of Moving, While Standing Still *

It is not a good sign when you end your weekend more tired and stressed than when you started it, especially when your goal is to be more tranquil and equanimous. This was one of those weekends where I probably would have been better off resting and cleaning than quilting: resting because I always need more rest and cleaning because a messy house (the state my house is in most of the time) stresses me out.

On the surface the weekend looked like a perfect time to work on projects. My girls stayed over at their grandparents for a night, James was in the Fort for work, and I was feeling inspired by Bad Girls. I got to have some delicious Indian food, a glass of decent Cabernet, and dark chocolate. I listened to Mahler's Symphony No. 6. And, I did get something done. I did a bit of quilting on my coat and I started a couple of the Watershed School quilted logo wall-hangings.

So what's the problem? It seemed like I was going, going, going all weekend long and I don't have much to show for it. The coat is a long-term project that I expect to take a lot of time, but the wall-hangings should be very quick and I had hoped to get them completed instead of just set up. Add that to the messy house, missing a day of yoga, drudgery shopping (as opposed to the fun kind), and an upcoming week filled with a seemingly endless list of little, but necessary tasks and I feel like the treadmill of my life has taken me for a ride with no end in sight, but no change of scenery either.

* I took this title from a1989 article of the same name by Sidney Mintz. Mintz, an anthropologist and oral historian was remarking on the changes in anthropological ideas about representation that labeled him too friendly to his subject in the 1960s and not friendly enough in the 1980s. It's all in your perspective. Does that mean if I change my perspective I'll feel like I got a lot done? Probably, but this melancholy gal is going to wallow in her misery for a little while longer.

Forget writer's block, I think I have life block

Last week I realized that I was treating the development of this blog like I treat my crafting - mostly in the planning stages, rarely in progress, and even more rarely completed. So, I'm forgoing the perfectly crafted opening post in favor of just getting started. It helps that I'm fresh off my annual shopping spree at the Bad Girls of the North art show in Fairbanks. Nothing like an arts show and a little retail therapy to motivate.

I have what really amounts to an obsession with arts and handicrafts, particularly fiber arts and other wearables, but also pottery and paintings. I try not to buy things that I can make myself, even if I rarely get around to doing it. This year I bought two paintings by Dee Carpenter. This one, "Evening Glow", with the chickadee and fireweed was the girls' choice. I also bought this lovely set of wool mittens by Nancy Nolfi of PIZZAZZ Fiber Arts. I could definitely learn the techniques to make them, but that won't happen anytime soon and these were irresistible. I also bought several new pieces from one of my favorite glass bead artists, Elise Krauss of Koi Creek beadworks. This polar bear pendant will go great with the polar bear wearable art vest I'm planning to make this year (and last year, and the year before that...but this time I mean it!).

One goal for this blog is to get me going on finishing some of the 70 plus UFO projects I have (photos of many of them can be found in the gallery) and start the many projects I have rolling around in my head. I do best if I have someone around to talk to about my projects, but I don't have a chance to share in person very often so I'm hoping writing a blog will help. I will also use this blog to occasionally discuss the relationship between art, craft, and culture as that is a special interest.

This weekend I hope to paint one wall orange (not really a craft project, but a project nonetheless) and make some small wall quilts of my girls school logo using a fusible stained glass technique to sell as a fundraiser. That means my UFOs will have to wait for another time, but at least I'll be creating.