Day 33 of The 100 Day Project

 Time flies with The 100 Day Project. It's already a third of the way to the 100th day.

Textile Collage #1, The 100 Day Project 2023.

Project 1: 100 Days of Textile Collage and Stitch

I've just about finished six pages of textile collages for a stitch book. So, I'm averaging about 5 days for each page. With each composition, the basic stitches at the commencement give way to more complexity and depth in a collage as each day passes.

First day (left) and Fifth day (right) of a textile and stitch collage.

Depending on the time available each day (or how tired I am after work), a few or several stitches are added to a composition. As one would expect, I tend to make more progress on weekends.

These are close-up photos of the collages so far.

Textile Collage #2, The 100 Day Project 2023.

Textile Collage #3, The 100 Day Project 2023.

The collages definitely got more dimensional after pulling and using bits from old knitting swatches and novelty yarn leftovers.

Textile Collage #4, The 100 Day Project 2023.

Textile Collage #5, The 100 Day Project 2023.

Textile Collage #6, The 100 Day Project 2023.

Project 2: 100 Days of Hand Lettering

My second project is 100 Days of Hand Lettering. I'm working through the exercises in "Love your [imperfect] Letters" with Willa Wanders.

Sometimes pages are filled with drills of strokes, letters, or alphabets. Finding pangrams made practicing more interesting.

Practicing hand lettering using pangrams.

Then I started lettering excerpts from travel brochures and magazines. Quotes and phrases give the lettering more meaning. 

Phrases from a Threads magazine article.

This exercise explores "faux calligraphy" by adding extra weight to the down strokes of a letter.

Hand lettering practice.

On occasion, I'll hand letter a quote in my new Junk Journal.

Hand lettering in my Junk Journal.

The hand lettering workshop has been very thorough and insightful. We've covered roman letterforms, creating a signature alphabet, serifs, faux calligraphy, script lettering and other lettering concepts.

I am enjoying both of my 100 Days Projects for 2023. The 100 Day Project is a good motivator to learn something new through a daily practice. 

This quote that sums it up.

Motivation gets you started...
Habit keeps you going.

National Quilting Day 2023

Happy National Quilting Day!

As in the past few years, I hung a quilt outside today for National Quilting Day as prescribed by the Quilt Alliance organization. This is a vintage feed sack quilt that definitely employs a "make do" attitude.

Vintage feed sack quilt hanging outside for National Quilting Day, 2023.

A few other favorite quilts hanging inside are:

"What to Put in the Soup" that won Best of Show at A Mountain Quiltfest in 2004. If you know my husband, you'll recognize the subject of this quilt.

"What to put in the soup?" 2003

"Guitar Strings Improv" was featured in "The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters" by Sherri Lynn Wood.

"Guitar Strings Improv" 2014

Exhibits at the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY

From the Kaffe: 85 and Fabulous exhibit.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of visiting the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY. 

The current exhibits include Kaffe: 85 and Fabulous with selected quilts from Kaffe Fasset's longtime career in textiles;. 

To Fill a Field, an exhibit of contemporary quilts by Canadian artist Justin Ming Yong;

A stunning exhibit of the large-scale floral quilts of Velda Newman called Larger than Life; 

And an international collaborative exhibit of quilts from Chili Quilting and textile artists from southeast Ohio (TSAO) called Flora, Fauna and Landscape/Paisaje.

Woodlawn and Pope-Leighey House presentation focuses on community care

Today, I attended an online presentation, Craft as an Embodied Care Practice that was sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation at the Woodlawn and Pope-Leighey House. The presentation was a panel discussion about the intersection of craft, care and community, and about community art projects that show how crafting can nurture well-being and healing for individuals and communities. The talk was in conjunction with the Woodlawn Needlework Show, Craft as Comfort: Joy in Needlework. 

Craft as an Embodied Care Practice presentation.

It's been a weekend of textiles, needle arts and crafts.

Remaking the Bristol Top—third Make Nine finish for 2023

I love a good re-make! One of my Make Nine 2023 prompts is "Make it Again" and I've used the Bristol Top pattern [from The Sewing Workshop] to make my fifth version of this knit top.

The Bristol Top: Make Nine 2023 Make it Again prompt.

For Bristol #5, I used two knits from Art Gallery Fabrics—a solid and a print. The Bristol has several options for mixing and matching fabric prints and/or solids—yoke, cuffs, bottom bands, collar band. This version has a contrasting yoke.

Imparting happiness with hand stitching

The Bristol pattern instructions call for top stitching at the seam where the yoke meets the bodice. Influenced by a recent presentation on Bojagi by Youngmin Lee, I decided to hand stitch this with a variegated cotton sashiko thread in a similar color palette. The hand stitching of bojagi is not only a design element, says Youngmin, but a way to impart wishes for happiness into the piece and to the recipient or wearer. With that in mind, my plan is to topstitch wishes of happiness into this new Bristol top. 

Bristol Top with a cotton sashiko thread for hand stitching.

The many benefits of Re-makes

The last time I made the Bristol, I made two at once! One has long sleeves (as the pattern indicates) and the other is a pattern hack for a short sleeve version.

Long sleeve and short sleeve versions of the Bristol Top.

Shortly after these two, I was thinking about zero waste so I made another long sleeve Bristol with leftover knit fabrics from other garments. 

Bristol Top made with leftover fabrics from other knit garments.

The first Bristol was a Make Nine project in 2020. 

My first Bristol Top, 2020.

Reasons I like re-makes?

• The more you make, the quicker and easier they go!
• The pattern is already fitted and modified to your body and style. It's one less BIG step in the garment-making process.
• You have your notes about the pattern to resolve the quirky/confusing parts, clarify any instructions, and the tips and shortcuts you've discovered along the way. (Yes, write these things right on the pattern pieces or the instruction sheets!)
• Different fabrics/colors/prints make every version different. (Besides, you don't wear all of them at the same time anyway, right?)
• Reusing a pattern is a wise investment in money, resources and time.
• If it feels good, do it again!

Completed Bristol top #5.

This is my third Make Nine finish for 2023. Full steam ahead!

Day 12 of the 100 Day Project: Textile Collage

For those participating in The 100 Day Project, we're 12 days into it. I'm doing two Projects: 100 Days of Textile Collage and 100 Days of Hand Lettering. 

Second page composition. 100 Days of Textile Collage, 2023.

100 Days of Textile Collage project parameters

My 2023 plan for The 100 Days Project: Textile Collages is to 

• use fabric scraps and various threads to create small textile collages. 
• I prepared 20 fabric squares, 9" x 9" each, from yarn-dyed cotton quilting fabrics [by Diamond Textiles]. 
• Each composition will be worked for 5 days, adding layers, details and stitch. 
• The small collages will ultimately be made into a textile book/journal using a slot and tab bookbinding technique.

Modifying the process

I've completed two pages of stitched textile collages and am working on the third. After the first collage declared its completion after Day 4, I abandoned the 5-day time allotment. 

Lesson learned: Making art takes as long as it takes. 

If a textile collage is finished in 4 days... or 3 days... or in a day... I move on to the next. If I must cut more fabric squares, I can do that.

Textile collage, Days 1 - 4. 100 Days of Textile Collage, 2023.

The materials needed for this 100 Day Project are minimal and portable. I like this.

Textile collage tools and materials.

Last year's stitching project was a self-contained daily exercise. Working on a composition over several days allows for more detail, more thinking, and more time for the fine tuning and details, if needed.

Intuitive stitching

This is the third collage, currently in progress. Sometimes the fabric inspires the stitching. Sometimes the stitching defines a design or shape.

Using paper templates to define contours with stitches.

No predetermined plan. Just intuitive stitching.