Creativity

I haven't always considered myself a creative person.  Even now, I feel pretty uncomfortable saying I'm a creative person.  It's kind of ridiculous.  But, I am!

I've been thinking about creativity quite a bit lately.  I blamecredit my friend Anne from Play Crafts.  Earlier this year, she started creating a quilt design every day, as a personal challenge to herself.  Soon after, she started the Quilt Design a Day group on Facebook and it has since grown into a thriving creative community.

One of my two QDAD designs

In August, Anne did a webinar for the Modern Quilt Guild.  Unfortunately, you can only view it if you are a MQG member, but if you are a MQG member, I highly highly recommend you watch it (find it here).  It's all about discovering and developing your creativity.  In her talk, Anne pulled together a number of creativity related threads that I haven't seen connected in quite the same way before.

The things I took away from Anne's talk were:

• you ARE creative (even if you think you're not)
• the way to become more creative is by doing something creative regularly
• regularity is important because:
• it gives you room to fail (today's creative endeavour doesn't have to be perfect - there's always tomorrow to try again)
• it's hard to deny that you're creative if you're doing something creative every day
• there's no perfect time to start being creative, so you might as well start now
• working with constraints can help you overcome the difficulties of a blank canvas, and push you to be more creative
• there's nothing wrong with doing things that have been done before - just make sure you put your own spin on it
• community is important - you'll get great ideas from others in your community, and more importantly, it makes things fun!

These are some of the things I had read or watched before I watched Anne's talk, and I think elements of all of them appear in her talk at some point - Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk on Your Elusive Creative Genius, Phil Hansen's TED talk on Embrace the Shake, Austin Kleon's Steal Like An Artist talk and the book Steal Like an Artist, Brick by Brick by Stephen McCranie (Anne introduced me to this one), and this comic by The Oatmeal (quite sweary, in case that kind of thing offends you).

I haven't been a regular Quilt Design a Day participant, but back in July I took on my own creative challenge, and made a quilt-as-you-go block every day for the whole month.  At the end of July, it was kind of a relief not to have to make more blocks, but after a week or two I started missing the process.  At that stage I started joining the blocks together, and I finished the quilt (you can see it here) a couple of weeks ago.  I'm really pleased with my finished quilt, not so much for aesthetic reasons (although I'm pretty happy with it from that perspective as well), but because it represents a certain amount of commitment to the process of making a quilt, and a month's worth of memories, in quilt form.

My #blockadayjuly quilt

However, my #blockadayjuly quilt was just a warm up to the main event, to see whether I thought I had the stickability for a bigger undertaking - making a block every single day for a year.  Since I enjoyed making a block every day in July, I've decided to take on the larger challenge, starting next week on my 29th birthday.  Since this quilt will be made over the course of my 30th year, I'm calling it the Year 30 quilt.  Of course, this is not an original idea (you can read about my inspiration here), but I'm putting my own spin on it.

I've been thinking about how to get the most creative benefit out of the year long challenge, and specifically how to incorporate some of those key points from Anne's talk into the process.

The other one of my QDAD designs

Obviously, I've got regularity down!  I am going to stick with my original plan of making a block every single day.  That regularity is important, and for me, this is also the kind of project I don't want to get "behind" on.  A small block every day is manageable.  Having to catch up on a week's worth of missed blocks every weekend is not (or it doesn't sound fun, anyway).

Giving myself room to fail has proved a little bit trickier.  I thought about not including every single block I make in my final quilt, or putting some on the back, but I decided against those ideas.  Instead, I'm going to use the same concept that allows me to accept imperfection in my other quilts, and that is the idea that my quilts are a record of my skill level at the point in time at which I make them.  It means that I strive to do my best work, but accept that my quilts won't be perfect, and look forward to the time when I will have improved enough to look back on my current work and see how much better I've got.  In this way, I'm hoping that my Year 30 quilt will show a progression between the first block and the last block.

I'm also planning to bring constraints into the mix.  I can't quite imagine having to decide what block to make, every day for a year, without anything to guide my decision making.  I'm planning to set myself regular week-long challenges, where all the blocks made in that week must incorporate some common element (for example, curved piecing, triangles, improv piecing, appliqué, embellishment, etc).  I might also ask other people to set challenges for me from time to time, because I'm sure they'll come up with things I'd never think of.  That said, I'm giving myself permission to do the easiest possible version of the challenge if I need to - life happens, after all.

Constraints - seem bad, actually good (from xkcd).

I'm going to change things up a bit as well.  I'd like a finished quilt that's actually usable, not 13 yards long, so I'm going to make 4 1/2" square blocks, and not quilt them as I go.  If I assemble my blocks in a 19 by 20 layout, I'll only need to make 15 extra to fill in the gaps at the end, and I'll end up with a quilt that's large, but definitely usable (about 76" by 80").

Finally, community.  If this is the kind of thing you think you'd like to do, why don't we do it together?  I'll share my weekly challenges on the blog (I probably won't do one every single week, but maybe every second week), and host a weekly link-up for people who would like to play along, so we can keep an eye on each other's progress and provide encouragement, support, and creative ideas.

Last time, when I did the block a day July challenge, a few people wanted to know what the rules were.  There are no rules!  I am setting my own rules for myself, and if you want to follow them too, you're more than welcome to.  But if you want to set your own rules for yourself, please do!  If you want to make a block every week, instead of a block every day, do it.  If you want to make a quilt following a pattern (Dear Jane or Farmer's Wife spring to mind), do that.  If you want to use a colour palette that you choose at the start, do that.  If you want to go completely random and scrappy, go for it.  All options are on the table, so you can set your own constraints.

In case you're wondering (and I know someone will ask the question if I don't say), I don't think I'll use a set colour palette, and I'll probably do the same thing I did with my #blockadayjuly quilt, which was to work from my scrap bins most of the time, and deliberately add in bits of black and white here and there to create something vaguely cohesive.  But I still have a week or so to decide, so I might change my mind!

So, what do you reckon?  Are you in?  Also, can you think of a better name for this challenge generally?  Year 30 quilt only really works for me, and I'm rubbish at thinking of challenge names - I always want to put in far too many words!

Caturday Wisdom #84

It's not the size of the sunny spot, but your devotion to it that counts. Ivy

As we're just heading into spring (finally!) I'm frequently jealous of both the cats' ability to fit into the slanted spots of sunshine that reach the floor later in the day. I am definitely feeling deprived and cannot wait until for some light and heat as summer comes on. Hopefully it won't rain all weekend!

Another tote bag

Since I made my first tote bag, I've kind of been obsessed with them.  

Soft and Stable is just the bomb for making bags that are sturdy but light.  It's really easy to work with (none of that horrible fusing that you have to do with other interfacings) and gives a very professional result.

 

This is my most recent tote bag - Lyndy from Stitchbird chose all the fabrics (main exterior fabric, contrast band, and lining) and this version will be hanging out in her shop as a sample, because Stitchbird is now stocking Soft and Stable (you can find it here, here and here).  It's rather exciting (and possibly dangerous) to have a local supplier.

I'm planning to make another tote bag for myself using this method, and if I'm in the right mood when I do so, I'll take photos and write up a little tutorial.

Linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts.

WIP Wednesday

On Friday night, I cut and stitched up this super quick quilt top.  There's someone I've been wanting to make a quilt for for a while, but I couldn't think of quite the right thing.  I've also been wanting to make an all Echino quilt for ages, and a couple of weeks ago it clicked that an Echino quilt might be just the thing for this particular recipient.

 

I choose a whole bunch of Echino fabrics from Stitchbird's extensive selection, sticking to mainly black, pink, purple, yellow and blue/aqua fabrics.  Because the Echino fabrics have such large scale prints, the chunky squares I used work well and meant that I put this quilt top together in about 3 hours.

 

I've sent this quilt away for long-arm quilting, because I'm putting minky on the back.  It's been a while since I had something long-arm quilted and I'm excited to get this one back.  With the linen blend top and a minky back, it's certainly going to be one warm and heavy quilt!

Any other Echino fans out there?  

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced:

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.