Kicking off 2018
I have learned that resolutions are not a good idea for me when it’s the dead of winter. I will reflect and make a few intentions, but this year’s plan is to stay focused on the work I started in 2017 and continue some of the practices that served me so well last year. I do, however, have some awesome projects that are helping me kick off 2018 with forward momentum.
Here is some fun I had with improv curves at the end of the year.
One thing that I’m hoping to do is to share more about my quilting practice and creative process. My friend Kim Soper, who writes and posts at Leland Ave Studios, made a fantastic platform for this and plans to feature a whole year of creative conversations with quilters. I’m honored to be the first Q&A, and the interview is live today. I hope you check it out.
In the studio, I am working on some new quilts for my boys, whose quilts were literally the second and third I ever made. They are now too small and falling apart (they were made before I learned sturdy binding or practiced proper seam allowances). I’m having fun mixing the animal patterns they requested (hedgehogs and llamas and dragons, oh my!) with a little improv for a personal touch from me. (Dragons are a paper-pieced pattern from Kristy at Quiet Play.)
I’m also helping to embroider blocks made by student artists with the Social Justice Sewing Academy. This group talks to kids about activism and social justice issues, then they make quilt blocks by gluing fabric down. The blocks are shipped to sewists like yours truly, who secure them down with needle and thread. SJSA is having a gallery show in San Francisco this weekend, so if you’re local, check it out.
I got to work on this gorgeous Frida Kahlo block for a Women of Social Justice quilt and one about poverty.
Happy New Year! I hope you move into 2018 with purpose and beauty.
I was so delighted to see you were the first person Kim interviewed, Melanie. I admire you, your work, and the honesty you share about your process. May we all have a peaceful 2018.
Oh your work is gorgeous. I like all of your projects. Your boys are going to love the improv quilt. I like how you are making what the boys want and also adding your own style to this quilt. The No More Poverty block is a treasure.
I don’t make new year resolutions either. All year long I set goals, adjust what I have to, see what is working and what isn’t. I change what I have to when I have to.