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Forms of Lent

This year for the season of Lent, I’m choosing to fast from the inclination to always be doing something useful (even when sewing), and feasting into moments of being creative just because God created me to create. Last year my daughter Kelsey and I created space for creativity and sewed a new 12″ quilt each week, see Kelsey’s Twelves and my Lenten Twelves.  This year more family members are joining in, with photography and 3D modeling in the mix.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I might do when Lent started on Ash Wednesday. However, I’m really trying to create just for fun. So, I pulled a set of fabrics I liked from my collection of hand dyed and printed fabrics. I needed more low volume fabrics and fabrics with bigger patterns, so I mixed up dye and started in. The fabric on the right with the subtle khaki brush pattern is from the first set of printing.

  
Second layer of flour resist dyeing is on the printing table right now, can’t wait to see them tomorrow!
  
The design wall has seen multiple layouts in progress …..
I’m hoping to play with design scale, layering, and color removal. The yellow circle and subtle circle on the burgundy are from color removal. I’m working on removing more color from the burgundy. 
I decided to work with 16″ squares this time; not sure how many I’ll finish, but I’m having fun with the printing, sewing, and overprinting. I’m thinking that next I might play with layers of resist on pieced squares.

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fifteens

After finishing the Lenten twelves series of 12″ quilts, I decided I wanted to switch up the palette and work a little bigger, so I’m trying 15″ squares. Going bold, here is the fabric stack!

15s fabric stack
I’ve been printing fabric and these fabrics include the new set of colors I’ve been focussing on, golds, turquoise, steel blues, burgundy, burnt sienna, with pops of purple for fun.
Spring 2015 fabric printing
Moving to the design wall, I began to try out combinations but the process slowed down considerably!

 Here is the first I decided to start quilting, auditioning thread for the free-motion quilting I’m hoping to do. Then the weather got nice, and I have not been doing much sewing (but my beans are 6′ tall and flowering!).

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lenten twelves finished

My lenten twelves quilts are finished! Quilts 5 and 7 were on the design board waiting for quilting. Over the last week I was able to find the creative space to finish the quilting.

Lenten twelves 5 has been hanging on the design wall forever. It ended up a little busy, a little crazy with stitching, but I finally feel as if the composition is working, so I’m stopping!

lenten twelves #5

 Lenten twelves 7 was fun – I went back to stitching patterns I have used before, and I’m loving the golden grass that is emerging from the box. Reminds me of the daffodil shoots that are starting to peek out of the ground.

lenten twelves #7 
lenten twelves #7 and #5

lenten twelves 2015

I have been blessed by this challenge that my daughter Kelsey shared with me (see lenten twelves on lovely and enough). The voices of doubt can get a little loud, but I powered through with a sense of fun and delight.

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lenten twelves #6

The seam ripper is still my friend – I had extensive stitching on the pale border of this quilt, and the shadows it cast just weren’t what I was envisioning. I’m liking this simpler version better. The pop of gold reminds me of the winter aconite blooms that are peeking out right now in Michigan, a sign of hope for growth and warmer weather. The warm colors are emerging from the whites and grays of winter.

Lenten twelves 5 is still on the design board along with 6 and two more. These will finish off the 12″ squares from my base fabric. I’ve been enjoying this challenge, trying samples of stitching and other techniques that I’ve been wanting to try. Not every one is perfect, but I’m working on my art and that is what counts!

Lenten Twelves: My daughter Kelsey and I challenged each other to create 12″ quilts each week in Lent to feast into creativity (and fast from those voices of doubt). My first four quilts are posted as lenten twelves 1, lenten twelves 2, and lenten twelves 3, and lenten twelves 4.You can see Kelsey’s lenten twelves 1, lenten twelves 2, lenten twelves 3, lenten twelves 4, and lenten twelves 5 on her blog at Lovely & Enough or on Instagram with #lententwelves.
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Lenten twelves under construction

The Lenten twelve quilts for the last couple of weeks are in progress. I’ve been amazing myself at how the first four weeks of designs came together, but #5 has been a challenge.  I’ve been reflecting on how growing into a healthy sense of self and purpose takes constant work, and maybe this quilt reflects this back at me. A little messy. A little busy. Slowly emerging towards what it can be.

 

Lenten twelves #6 is also on the design board. The thread colors are going to be fun and I can’t wait to put the quilt sandwich together and get going on it!

Lenten Twelves: My daughter Kelsey and I challenged each other to create 12″ quilts each week in Lent to feast into creativity (and fast from those voices of doubt). My first four quilts are posted as lenten twelves 1, lenten twelves 2, and lenten twelves 3, and lenten twelves 4.You can see Kelsey’s lenten twelves 1, lenten twelves 2, lenten twelves 3, lenten twelves 4, and lenten twelves 5 on her blog at Lovely & Enough or on Instagram with #lententwelves.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. 
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lenten twelves #4

The challenge of having a vision in your head and trying to make it visible can sometimes be rough! I had this image in my head of a quilt with subtle colors, but then using thread in the composition to add pops of color to the tree bark…the idea of dormancy, but life always at the surface waiting to burst out.

lenten twelves 4

Subtle quilt, check. Thread with pops of color – yikes! I started with the black, great! Add green, ok. Add light teal, boring but almost impossible to seam rip out. Add pink, coral, turquoise, purple, all nice, but not quite where I was headed in my minds eye. Note to self – START with brighter colors.

thread play

plus hand quilting for fun!

I added some hand quilting to add texture and a bit of color. In the end, I’m enjoying lenten twelves 4, but I would fix the composition and thread colors for a more dynamic quilt. The snow is almost gone in Michigan, but it is still cold, and only a few winter aconite and snow drops are peeking out.

lenten twelves 1-4

Above are my first four lenten quilt reflections. My lenten twelves one, lenten twelves 2, and lenten twelves 3 posts show the first three quilts in more detail. And lenten five is on my design board!

My daughter Kelsey and I are quilting 12″ quilts each week in Lent to feast into creativity (and fasting from those voices of doubt). You can see Kelsey’s lenten twelves 1, lenten twelves 2, lenten twelves 3, and lenten twelves 4 on her blog at Lovely & Enough or on Instagram with #lententwelves.

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lenten twelves #3

Emerging as I sew Lenten twelves is the concept of thread playing with dye design. Turns out the seam ripper is my best friend! Sometimes the stitching takes several tries, and I’ve just decided to seam rip out what I don’t like and try again. And, if it doesn’t feel done, simply keep sewing.

This week I enjoyed drawing out seed imagery from the fabric composition. Lent for me is a time of identifying habits that are less than healthy, and fasting from those habits and into life, abundant Spirit-filled life that affirms who I am.

Growing into good habits takes nurturing, nurturing the obvious and the obscured.

Lenten twelves #3
auditioning thread

lenten twelves 1, 3, & 2

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lenten twelves #2

Any time you try to build a habit you find out things about yourself. This week I realized that I take a long time to decide on free motion quilting. For me, this part of the practice needs practice. So, I’m going to leave myself extra space for making decisions about free motion quilting.

Here is lenten twelves #2, part of feasting into creativity weekly as a habit and reflection for Lent. A simple composition of my hand dyed and printed fabrics, with quite a bit of free motion quilting. (truly, I’m still not sure I was done, but just needed to stop!) I was imagining hibernation, bare branches, snow, yet with snippets of life peeking out.

We had freezing rain today. This meant after the rain had finally stopped I slid around trying to find enough light for photos. Yeah Michigan!

ice covered snow and branches!

free motion quilting

journey into creativity

This quilt is part of a challenge for Lent. My daughter and I are feasting into a habit of creativity (without those negative voices). Its great to have a partner keeping me going when I can’t decide how to quilt something. She’s been great and even my mom weighed in via text on their long trek home from Florida. You can find Kelsey’s lenten twelves: 2 at her blog Lovely and Enough. Also, Kelsey has dragged me into instagram for the first time. Find our lenten twelves using #lententwelves.

Looking forward to seeing what might emerge – and simply enjoying the process.

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another finish

 For some reason I’m on a finish-it kick. Here’s the latest, a baby sized quilt that is gender-neutral. The top has been sitting in my studio for months and months after Kelsey and I decided to imitate a similar quilt from Hopewell Workshop with the stripes and diagonal. We made up a quilt in stripes and then cut it on the diagonal and each took half. First dilemma, somehow my half didn’t quite work with the gray I had – it didn’t balance, so I changed up the stripes to add the citron you see. Then, I had a lovely gold Lotta fabric for the back, but it didn’t quite match the front so I couldn’t make myself finish it. Finally my mom was over and bought some of this lovely plus Cotton and Steel fabric for herself and we realized it was a great match. One quick trip to Pink Castle (I love having them in Ann Arbor) and it was ready to go. Still can’t quite decide if I love it, but its done and heading for the washing machine to soften it up. Yeah!

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lenten twelves #1

One of my goals for myself has been to enjoy my creative side as a gift from God that I should use well. In the season of Lent sometimes Christians talk about fasting from and feasting into. This Lent I’m feasting into creativity, hopefully with one 12″ Lenten reflection quilt every week. My daughter Kelsey is feasting into this same discipline of being creative within a 12″ square. You can see her first lenten twelve here. I picked my palette of fabrics and here is my first reflection.
lenten twelves #1

free motion quilting

stack for 12″ quilts in lent
lenten twelves #1
We are still buried in snow in Michigan, but I braved the 10 degree weather (windchill -6) to shoot this photo. The sunshine was sparkling off the snow.

Note: I don’t have a theme in mind for my Lenten Twelves, partially so I actually create something every week, instead of letting the negative voices in my head stop me! That being said, I decided to use as backgrounds a piece of fabric that I dyed with my mom several years back … it starts in the gentle grays and browns (above), but shades into deeper browns and reds. The base fabric has a winter feel, but this week’s reflection to me has a sense of renewal, hints of a seed, the cycle of growth, and almost the sense of a nest. One of the wonderful things about life is that we are never to old to change and grow. (Growth seems to go in cycles, and I’m finding myself in a spot right now where I am realizing just how much I have learned and grown. God has placed me in a spot where I am uniquely gifted to contribute, and I’m not only thankful but also finding the courage to use my growth.)