Monday 1 September 2014

Round the World Blog Hop

Today I'm doing the Round the World Blog Hop that seems to have been everywhere lately.  I was tagged by two lovely ladies - Kirsten from Gemini Stitches and Jess from The Elven Garden.

The idea is that I answer some questions and then tag three more bloggers to answer the same questions in a week's time.  I was thrilled to be asked to participate, and delighted to be tagged by two such talented quilters, but I have to say that finding three more people who haven't already participated kinda filled me with dread.  SO, I am breaking the rules and am not tagging anyone specific.  However, if you have a blog and you would like to answer these questions but no-one has tagged you already, consider this a tag!

If you're a new visitor from Gemini Stitches or The Elven Garden, welcome!  I'm in my late twenties and live in Wellington, New Zealand.  I've been documenting my quilting journey here for over two years now, and I am absolutely loving both quilting and blogging.  As well as working full time as a lawyer, I have started teaching some quilting classes this year, and dabble in pattern writing.  Ok, so onto the questions...

1. Why do I write/create what I do? 

Have you heard of the concept of flow?  This is a pretty detailed description of flow, but I would summarise it as what happens when you are completely absorbed by and engaged in an activity, usually to the point where you lose track of time.  I consider myself very fortunate, because I find that flow state in a couple of different places.  On a good day at work, with the right piece of work and the right circumstances, I can become completely absorbed and the time just flies by.  Occasionally I'll find it in another activity (writing non-work things, for example) - but sewing is the most reliable way for me to find flow.  My sewing days and weekends speed by.  For me, quilting seems to have the perfect balance of creativity, challenges and repetitive work that lets my mind wander.

I also love fabric - I started buying fabric before I was even a quilter.  Sometimes I wonder if most quilters are really just fabric collectors who need a reason to buy so much fabric!  I enjoy exercising the part of my brain that is concerned with colours, and shapes, and contrasts, and values, and proportions, and all those aesthetic things.  And, increasingly, I find I'm valuing the handmade, a rarity in what can be a mass-produced world.

2. How does my writing/creating process work?

In terms of writing my blog, I suspect I'm somewhere in the middle in terms of organisation.  Except during the height of summer, when it's still light enough to take daylight photos after work, I take all my photographs for the blog on the weekends.  Therefore, I usually write my blog posts for the week on Sunday night.  I tend to have a rough plan for the couple of weeks ahead, but I don't tend to write it down anywhere (unless there are really important dates to remember).  Other than that, I don't really plan ahead too much - I like to be able to blog about what I feel like blogging about at the time.  I do often think through what I will write in my blog posts before I write them, so the writing process doesn't take a lot of time.

In terms of quilting, I try to get quilting time in where I can.  I aim to have one day each weekend where I pretty much stay at home and quilt - that's where I get the most done, and since I was talking about flow above, it's nice to know that I won't be interrupted too much or be trying to squeeze sewing time around other commitments.  If I only have a short amount of time, I tend to do things I consider prep-work - perhaps making binding, cutting fabric, pressing blocks, preparing appliqué shapes, drawing the lines on squares to make HST, that kind of thing.  I almost always make quilts in an assembly line fashion - I'll cut all the fabric in one go, and then I'll do the first step of sewing (chain piecing, of course), and then I'll take everything to the ironing board and press it, and so on.  It's partly about efficiency, but it's more that I just prefer to do it that way (although I know some of my friends think it's a bit odd!).  I don't usually keep a list of things I'm working on - I figure that if they're important, I'll remember!

Ok - that's enough from me I think!  So, if you'd like to participate in the Round the World Blog Hop as well, these are the questions to answer (except you don't have to answer all of them, if you don't want):

1. What am I working on? 
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? 
3. Why do I write/create what I do? 
4. How does my writing/creating process work?  

Thanks again to Kirsten and Jess for tagging me - it was an interesting exercise for me at least to think about why I quilt and how I do things, and I know I've been finding other people's answers to these questions fascinating.

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7 comments:

Wendy @ Wendysquiltsandmore said...

Hi Adrienne. Thanks for sharing. I'm in the same boat as you - running out of people to link forward to. We'll just have to endure 7 years of bad luck together!

Angie in SoCal said...

It was nice getting to know you, Adrienne. I was in the same boat as you having no one want to be tagged. Turned out two of the people I asked were no reply blogger so they never got my invite. Good thing I checked.

Leeanne said...

Nice post!

Hettie's Mum said...

I love hearing your reflections on how you do what you do. I think I have my version of 'flow' it's very nice (at least when it goes well) to be so absorbed in the making/creating/making again process. Lovely!

Lisa in Port Hope said...

September 1 seems to be a good day to let it fizzle out :)

pennydog said...

I bought fabric before I started quilting too! I used to set fussy cuts into resin and make jewellery, long before I knew the term "fussy cut".

Kirsten said...

So nice to learn a bit more about your creativity Adrianne!