Creative Uses for Decorative Stitches

Karen Linduska
AAQS Publishing; $24.95

Have you figured out what to do with all the stitches on your sewing machine? I know I never did, and I’ve had a sewing machine for more than 40 years. In this book, Karen Linduska teaches you how to create 40 flowers, stems, leaves, bushes, and ferns from those stitches. She also covers a variety of grids, shapes and fillers. Once she’s taught you all these stitch creations, she offers you nine projects to reinforce what you’ve learned. This will get your creative juices going next time you sit down at your machine.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Colorful Quilts for Playful Kids: 14 Colorful Projects with Dozens of Playful Designs to Mix & Match

by Jane Pittman
Landauer Books; $24.95

Quilters love making quilts for others and having kids, or grandkids, in your life inspires many quilts. For author Janet Pittman, her two granddaughters inspired her to take a fresh look at kids’ quilt patterns. This collection of quilts and projects starts with a focuses on getting the kids you love involved in your hobby, whether that’s helping choose the colors of the quilts, play with blocks or help embellish their own quilt. The book features six main themes, each with a quilt and something extra, such as a pillow or bag. For example, “Construction Zone” features a quilt with appliqué construction vehicles and a tote bag with the dump truck. Janet also shares her “be creative” ideas for embellishing or adding something extra to the project.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

You may know that I offer a 30-day coaching program periodically. Our current “When it Absolutely, Positively Has to Be Done in 30 Days” program started a week ago. I love this format. Everyone has a specific project and works each day towards its accomplishment. This week on our Monday intention call, we discussed accountability and how that makes the difference for the participants. They each announce a weekly commitment. Knowing they have to report on their progress on Friday helps to hold them accountable. What systems do you have to hold yourself accountable? Here are some ideas:

1. Create a buddy system with a good business friend. You have to be picky about the friend you choose. She, or he, needs to be committed to help you with your business as much as you are and vice versa.

2. Start your own small mastermind group. This would be adding more to your buddy system, maybe 3-6 people. Again, choose the participants wisely. It’s not your “bee,” it’s your business team.

3. Join a formal coaching group.

Regardless of which format you choose, you need to set parameters for the accountability. Will you check in with each other every day? That works for some people. This can be a quick five-minute chat each morning to ask, “Did you get done what you said you would do? What will you do today to get you closer to your goal?” It could be a weekly phone chat with daily emails that let you track your commitments. It could be a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly in-person meeting to share your successes and challenges and refocus your goals.

Here are a couple of good quotes on accountability:

“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.”  Sir Josiah Stamp

“Thinking well is wise; planning well, wiser; doing well wisest and best of all.”
Persian Proverb

Please share your thoughts below.

Cultivating Your Creative Life     
Alena Hennessy
Quarry Books; $24.99

Ending one year and starting another is often a time for reflection. Here’s another book I think you’ll find valuable, particularly if you are trying to create a new direction. Designed by an artist and healing arts practitioner, the book’s focus is on self-inquiry, dreaming and creating. It includes exercises, space for writing your reflections or drawing. You can either use the book or jump over to your own journal and use that. She also incorporates yoga, breathing, nature and herbs to help you live a more balanced life as you work towards your goals.
Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

I love to read license plates and decipher the message from the words. Here’s the plate I saw on Saturday.

GVTHANX. Give thanks. It’s a simple message, only how many of us do this on a regular basis? I remember learning about “Thank yous” as a child. Who else remembers Captain Kangaroo and the magic words?

You can also find books that focus on this. A favorite is Thank You Power: Making the Science of Gratitude Work for You by Deborah Norville. A new one that’s now on my Christmas list is Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott.

I know we’re more aware of this concept during the holidays, and it’s a good habit to practice all year round. When you take the time to focus on what you are grateful for, you’ll find more happiness in your life. You’ll also begin to see more of what you are grateful for show up in your life. You’ll find yourself more resilient and even less stressful. Positivity all around!

Here are three tips for adding a gratitude practice to your life:

1. Keep a gratitude journal. At the end of each day write down three things that you were grateful for during the day. They don’t have to be big. One can be as simple as watching the sunrise or the laugh you got when your dog chased his tail. Periodically go back and read what you’ve written.

2. Set aside a few minutes every morning to hold a silent gratitude session. Think about what you are grateful for. Think about those people you are grateful for.

3. As you go through your day, look for times you can say Thank You and do so. These can be little gestures. It makes a difference to you and the other person.

4. If you think of someone and the difference they’ve made in your life, take time to call or write and let them know.

Here’s one of my favorite quote about gratitude:

Practicing gratitude will make a significance difference in your life. Please share your thoughts below.

Have you started thinking about your plans for 2013? I know it’s mid-November, and we still have more than 45 days left this year. You still have enough time left to make an impact on your results for 2012. I like to do some looking back at the year, seeing where I am currently, and some looking ahead. Of course, I still have to be engaged in the tasks I have at hand if I want to finish the year in a good place.

One of the recommendations I made to my private clients in the past couple of weeks was to start planning 2013 now. Many of them had plans for the first quarter, maybe as far as May and Spring Quilt Market. Most also had big picture ideas, only they didn’t really know where the projects fit in. That’s why I like using a very, very large calendar of the entire year. You can get one like this from an office supply store. It’s erasable and has really big spaces for writing.

If you want to be more creative, here’s another idea. A couple of years ago, one of my clients covered cork boards with batik fabric to complement her office. She then printed off letter-size sheets of each calendar month from a calendar program on her computer. Here are the boards before she added the calendars. The beauty of this system is she can take down each month as it ends, move the calendars and then add another for the next year. The system is a perpetual 12-month calendar.

And, if your studio space is limited, go ahead and print out the individual calendar pages and keep them in a binder where you can take them out and look at the whole year at one time. The idea is that you can get this bigger look at your year.

I’m sure you have goals that you want to accomplish next year. Here are some steps to take to put them onto the calendar.

1. Block time to work on your calendar planning. If your goals are important, it’s important to have time to plan when you’ll accomplish them.

2. You might want to create some kind of color coding system that works for you. For example, if your activity involves travel away from the studio, you might want to mark that in red.

3. Start by adding the commitments you already have, the teaching gigs, the shows, etc.

4. Go back and look at the big goals that don’t have dates, for example, the book you want to write.  Then look at the calendar and plan backwards. If your book is due Sept. 15, look at the steps involved and mark due dates for each. You might want to have the outline of the book done on Feb. 15, Chapter One done on March 15, quilts for Chapter Two done on April 30, etc. You are more likely to accomplish this if you assign deadlines and won’t be stressed by having to rush to get the job done. Deadlines lead to commitments.

5. Include vacation. It might be marked in blue. We all need to recharge, and if you don’t put it in the calendar, it’s likely not to happen.

6. Include planning time. I’ve read that the time spent planning pays back 10 to 1 in time executing. I’m not sure about the accuracy of that estimate; I do know it saves you lots of time.

7. Once you have a good look at your year, where are the holes in your calendar? Use this opportunity to see where you can market more to bring in income. This could be adding a new class or developing a new pattern for example.

What ideas do you have for planning next year?

Please share them below.

In the Fall issue of The Professional Quilter, Eileen Doughty profiled Christine Adams, an artist who works in fabric from Rockville, Md. Here’s an excerpt:

Even though I was the oldest of nine, and my father was often away on active military duty, my mom did not burden me with responsibility. Each of us had our tasks. Mom encouraged us to be who we were and to follow our muse. There was time for play and imagination. My mother could create beauty and peace from very little. She was my first “muse.”

In 1972, I gave a baby quilt to a friend, who often brought her baby along to her booth at craft shows. The owner of a local craft shop spotted my quilt at the booth and said that she needed to have the contact information of the person who made “that” baby quilt. Until the shop closed its doors, I created wall hangings, bed quilts, Christmas décor and much more for the owner. I suppose that was the start of my being a professional textile artist.

Teaching and mentoring are also my passions. After college I taught art, math and English at the high-school level. I got married and had six children; following my mother’s example, I sewed for them all. Also, I shared space in an art studio during this time.

When Rockville Arts Place (RAP), in Rockville, Md., opened, I was one of its seven founding members. At one point, money for arts organizations was scarce and the executive director had left, so I began to volunteer and run the office. Many people were passionate about RAP – it was not a lonely job, and I had many offers of help. The Board voted me in as Executive Director for the next five years. During that time I learned about grant writing and working with the public. I also learned how to integrate our programs with the community, public schools and summer camps. I am proud that VisArts, as it is now called, will celebrate its 25th anniversary in October. I am still involved, though in a small way.

My experience directing RAP was put to use again last year, when I co-chaired the “Sacred Threads” quilt exhibition in its spectacular Washington, D.C., metro area premier.

I have sold completed work as well as site-specific work. A designer for medical institutions visited my studio and placed my work in several buildings, including the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, and the Ronald MacDonald House. She would give me a size, a price range, and sometimes a color palette, and we would work from there. Other professionals such as lawyers, dentists and nursing home administrators have purchased pieces. Having exposure in a studio outside my home was a great help.
My advice is to take advantage of opportunities that interest you, even if they come at inconvenient times. We are always busy, so just do it!

Share your ideas and interests with others. One step leads to another. Seek out other artists. Join a group, or form one of your own. Share your interests, successes and experiences, both good and bad.

I learned a long time ago to own up to the fact that I am an artist. It was hard at first, because when you say you are an artist, people expect you to be a good artist. However, if you are a clerk or secretary or some other professional, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are great at what you do, it just means that is how you spend your time. I spend my time as an artist. So, when I am asked what I do, I say I am an artist; sometimes someone is interested enough to then ask to see my work, and sales happen from there.

Originally, I primarily used P & B fabrics – I call the ones in my stash my “Fun Fabrics.” For the most part, though, I buy what speaks to me. My photo imagery is self-created, and much of my dyed fabrics are also. There are wonderful dye artists out there, and I have collected pieces from many of them to incorporate into my work. Another passion is collecting vintage lace and buttons and other findings. These also find their way into my textile books, sculpture, and hangings.

My themes vary. At times I use simple geometrics and try to express a feeling, emotion or impression. Other times, the theme is what I am familiar with – the simple pleasures of the world around us. I also am taken with cultural diversity and sharing with one’s fellow man. Some of my pieces attack injustice. Many of my quilts are folk art. I frequently use quotes and vintage images.

I have a huge collection of silk ties. Sometimes a wall quilt or garment is made entirely of them. When my youngest son got married, I created the coat I wore for his wedding from his grandfather’s ties. His friends made my day by telling me I was “awesome.”

If you would like to read more of Eileen’s article on Christine Adams, it’s included in our Fall 2012 issue of The Professional Quilter and available to IAPQ members. The International Association of Professional Quilters offers resources and networking opportunities for you to create a success from your quilting business. Learn about all the benefits of IAPQ membership and join here.

Please share your thoughts on being an artist below.

You may know that I just finished our “When it Absolutely Has to Be Done in 30 Days” coaching program. Everyone in the program either completed or made great strides towards their goal during this time. In the end it wasn’t just about accomplishing the goal, it was also what we learned on the journey about the focus and discipline required to get there. During our last call, one of our participants asked, “When was the last time you treated yourself?” Do you have a good answer?

We have discussed this off and on during our 30-day program. Each week each person shared an intention of what she would accomplish that week. At the end of the week, we all shared our successes. I always asked, “How are you going to celebrate?” We had celebrations ranging from enjoying a new CD to a manicure/pedicure to quilting to a trip to the movies. I think many of the participants looked forward to learning how others were celebrating.

We often spend so much time working toward our goals that we forget to look at what we have accomplished and, even if we do, we don’t take the time to really acknowledge what we’ve done. It’s always onto the next thing on the list. Or looking at the really big “perfect” vision we have and coming up short.

So take some time this week and look at where you are in your business and where you started and acknowledge what you’ve done. Then make plans to celebrate that. And, when someone asks, “When was the last time you treated yourself?” you can answer it.

Now, I’ll ask you, “When was the last time you treated yourself?”

Please share your thoughts and celebrations below.

Czecherboard Quilts
Rose Ann Cook
Kansas City Star Quilts’ $16.95

I have to admit what hooked me was the play on words – checkerboard and Czecherboard. Rose Ann Cook, owner of Quilter’s Emporium in Stafford, Texas, created the quilts in the book to honor the stories she learned of her father’s family and its Czech history. The book includes 13 projects with checkerboard themes and accompanying stories and photos about Rose Ann’s father’s family. I enjoyed how she was able to weave the family history into each quilt. It’s an idea that anyone interested in genealogy and quilting can try.

Look for the book at your favorite book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

String Fling
Bonnie K. Hunter
Kansas City Star Quilts; $29.95

I remember making string quilts when I first learned to quilt in 1977, and they’ve been revived several times since. I think string quilts are the ultimate in scrap quilts. What’s fun about “strings,” is that they are versatile. They can be the basis for the block design, as in a log cabin, or they can be put together to create other elements, like squares or triangles, and then added to your block. Bonnie, who focuses mainly on scrap quilts, includes 13 varied, large quilts all using strings. It’s a fun collection, and you’ll learn a lot about color just by studying the photos.

Look for the book at your favorite book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.