Lisa Where The Heck Are You?

 

I’ve recently received a couple of messages of, “Lisa, where are you?” and “Lisa why haven’t you shown us any love over the past two months?”.  Firstly, I’d like to thank those individuals who sent those kind inquiries.  Secondly, has it really been two months?

   

I’M WEARING THE ADMINISTRATIVE HAT

Unfortunately, I’ve been fabric deep in completing all the boring, and daunting, administrative aspects of my business.  Nope nothing quilty, or fun has been transpiring in my studio.  I’ve been doing more pencil pushing than threading needles that’s for sure!

Now if you are a current blog follower the saga of  Oh, My Bleeding Heart. is nothing new to you. What will be new is that the saga wasn’t quite over since I last posted. And here’s why; I chose to block it again right before Houston. Why I would push my luck with this quilt I have no idea. Because once again the piece bled; did I mention that I brought this upon myself right before my trip to Europe.

Obviously time was not on my side so I couldn’t take a stab at removing the bleed (for the second time). So I stood peering down at this project with two options. One choice was to simply pull the quilt from the show, but this would prohibit me from being able to submit another design for next three years (that’s 1,095 days).  My other option was to move forward and provide Houston with what sat before me; bleed and all. Do I? Don’t I? Perhaps I’m a glutton for punishment but I chose to send “Oh My Bleeding Heart” to Texas.

 

I was in total disbelief when I received a notification that it had won an award. I’m still pinching myself trying to comprehend that this quilt found a way to speak to the judges.  Why, or how, it won I won’t know until the awards ceremony.  I’d like to think that between the name of this piece, and the bleeds that appeared, its voice resonated with those gazing over its content. Maybe this quilt symbolizes the beauty and the flaws that resides within each and every one of us. Its voice shouted “regardless of circumstances, I am worthy of being noticed and acknowledged”. Whatever the reason I’m so proud that, imperfections and all, this quilt stood out and spoke to those in its presences.

Now, if this quilt speaks to you… you can have a small piece of it.  The small quilt below will be auctioned off.   Yes, you will have the opportunity to bid on this little quilt that certainly provided a journey within my heart. This is such a bittersweet moment for me; I love this quilt so much that I might just have to bid on it myself! LOL

So Houston is just around the corner! I will be in booth #1334 this year which is right across the aisle from BERNINA!!  Will I see you there? I sure hope so!

 

May I Have Your Attention..

 

After five very long years I am pleased to announce that I have finished this quilt.

The photograph below was taken back in 2013, five very long years ago.

Cherrywood fabric, the love of my life when it comes to material. I am sure that is nothing new to my readers, and quilting friends.

This quilt has taken me on a journey of self discovery and a very difficult lesson in letting go. It will surprise no one to hear me say that I can be a little bit of a control freak and perfectionist (and that’s putting it mildly).  To further describe my character traits I am extremely hard on myself and this quilting adventure has, I pray, cured me of that personality flaw. This finished piece is far, very far, from perfect.  The list of mistakes is quite lengthy, but what I have learned and the amount I have grown as a quilter and individual is enormous.

I’m going to share a few revelations with you.

Revelation #1:  Basting and removing my quilt from the frame umpteen times will not happen again in my studio.   The result of basting my quilt and repeatedly removing it caused more than a few migraines!  Typically I go through the quilt and complete my SID and dividing lines which is enough to stabilize the quilt. However, I strayed from my “typical” routine on this project and paid the price.  Note to self, “Do Not Deviate!”

Revelation#2:  I always pre-wash my fabrics but I underestimated the TLC that hand dyed fabrics require.  This quilt quickly taught me that hand dyed material definitely needs a little “extra attention”.   If you look below you will observe a fabric bleed. This is not something any quilter wants to witness on their quilt.  Yes, I pre-washed the fabric.  No, it is NOT the fault of the dyer. Yes, it is my fault for treating Cherrywood like all my other fabric.

Now when I am working with hand dyed fabrics, I wash them in my sink with the hottest water possible and dawn dish detergent until the water is clear.  Hard lesson to learn? The word “hard” doesn’t do this lesson justice.  Thus, I have chosen to name this quilt “Oh, My Bleeding Heart”.  Rolling the dice I persevered and continue on with the quilting; hoping that a small miracle would transpire and the bleed would come out.

And it DID!  I’ve been bowing to the quilting gods above each morning. I followed Vicki Welsh’s directions.  Do yourself a favor and print off her directions and stash them in a safe spot. You might want to print off a couple of copies trust me may never know when you might need them.

Aside from the major catastrophe of the fabric bleeding, this quilt had challenges in the piecing as well.  I tend to generate designs and neglect to give much thought as to how I will execute what I have composed.  It has gotten me into a lot of trouble more than once  The most challenging aspect on this pattern was the inner pieced border…

 

 

What in the bleepity bleep was I thinking? Obviously I wasn’t!  Although it nearly killed me, I continued onward.

The question then became how in the world would I get these together?

I somehow managed to put them together, but it was less than easy.

This is, by far, my favorite quilt.  I absolutely love the design, but the true reason why it has become the love of my quilting life is due to all that I endured and discovered during the entire process.  I poured my heart into this piece for many, many years, and many, many lessons were unveiled.

I am hosting a lecture at the AQS Lancaster show in March called “Oh, My Bleeding Heart” , the subject matter is, of course, this lovely quilt.  I hope to see many of you there as I share moments of self discovery and quilting adversity during the creation of this unbelievable piece.

Do you have a quilt that challenged you till you almost gave up??

The Road Less Traveled

Nope, I am not happy; and I really am not happy to be writing this post.  Those that saw my post on Friday read about my 48 month project.  The infamous quilt that has been in the making for way too long.   After my post I was inspired to do some marking and wanted to remove them to see what the design would look like.  The result has me in tears.

Did I prewash the fabric? Of course.  Am I sick to my stomach? The thought of fabric is making me nausea.  Have I cursed myself inside and out?  A million times over.  Were tears shed? Let’s just say I do need to re-stock on tissues.

Just the other day while I was finally motivated to tackle this quilt a friend of mine imparted this thought.  She said that maybe this quilt has already provided me with its lesson; she continued by stating that maybe it’s time to let it go and give the top away which would allow me to move on.  Her words held some truth to them, as I now believe that this quilt has something unique in store for me.

 

I have learned many lessons from this quilting disaster.  Here are just a couple:

Lesson #1

Hand dyed fabric wash repeat, wash, repeat UNTIL the color catchers come out the same color they went in as.  What color is that? White!

Lesson #2

The ability to salvage this quilt remains uncertain.  But rather than allowing my feelings of regret and frustration take over which would normally have me tossing this project aside indefinitely; I have chosen to go move forward and finish what I have started.  This UFO is taking me into uncharted territory. Will it ever be show worthy? Again, only time will tell.

If you are interested in joining me on this journey, then stay tuned.  I plan on keeping my readers abreast of where this new road takes me. It will definitely include the good, the bad and the ugly.   But I have a strange feeling that this quilt will be providing me with several quilting and life lessons that I will be more than happy to share with my fellow quilters.  And in the end together we will all see where this project ends up, maybe it’s in a show, or maybe we will find it in the classroom.