Thursday 2 February 2012

Losing Control

A couple of days ago, the Kona solids I ordered for the For the Love of Solids swap arrived.  My partner and I have quite similar tastes.  She likes sludgy type greens and so I ordered some peridot, artichoke, sea foam and olive and threw in a couple of blues (delft and teal) for some contrast. 


 My partner isn`t very chatty on flikr and I`m unsure whether she approves of my colour palette.  I know from her mosaic that she wants something improv.pieced and so I tried my hand at some curved piecing. I loved this, and thanks to Diane for her great video, which I have put at the bottom of this post.


Here`s a peek at another go at improv.piecing.  This was much more difficult for me and I`m not feeling the love with this one. It was difficult to let go. There`s an amazing amount of talent in this swap and I am feeling a little unworthy. I`ll stick it up on flikr and see what the reaction is. I do find some of the comments a little blunt on flikr.  I`m not talking necessarily about anything I`ve put up but I wish people would remember that if something isn`t to their taste, they can either not comment or do so tactfully.

 Okay, I`m off my soap box now.  Yesterday, I spent several hours tidying a spare room full of boxes, which hadn`t been touched since we moved last summer. It took hours of course because I sat amongst the boxes looking at old photos and wading through loads of loose papers and I found the complete set of my high school reports.  I thought I would leave you with this one for Dress Design (a C- means below average).  I was 12 years old.


Annabella`s progress has been rather slow so far but I hope as she gains experience and confidence in using the sewing machine, her progress will improve.
I hope `Warty Wordell`, as we affectionately referred to her, is proud that I did indeed make some progress in using the sewing machine, although I imagine she may indeed be in the great sewing room in the sky.

Here`s Diane`s video.








21 comments:

Archie The Wonder Dog said...

You did dress design at school? How wonderful! Love your solids improv piecing!

www.randomthoughtsdoordi.com said...

At least you did well in other classes in school. But hey, look at you now. You are an amazing sewist and your improv looks great. I hope I am not one of the meanies on Flickr. So far my partner has not commented...:-(

Jennifer Mathis of Ellison Lane said...

Oh I LOVE that you found that school form and posted it. :) You've come quilt a long way since you were 12!
I bet your partner will love anything you create- and your improv piecing looks wonderful!

dutchcomfort said...

You have no reason to feel insecure, you are so talented! You’ve pieced some lovely improv solid pieces.

I guess the Modern Christmas Table-runner swap was an exception in members participating and leaving comments which made us all feel good. In spite of that I stepped back from all the big swaps because I really prefer the private ones.

Little Island Quilting said...

I must dig out my 'needlework' school reports. When it came time to taking the 'O' Le Le I got an UNGRADED!!!!

Little Island Quilting said...

I meant 'O' Level...not Le Le whatever that is!

Pat Merkle said...

Oh my gosh, I LOVE your improv. curved piecing. Just LOVE it! Did I mention I LOVE it! :)

Susan said...

Your curved piece is stunning! And I love the colour palette! I'm glad your teacher's comment didn't deter you!

Richard Healey said...

I think you deserve a A now. And even if some one thrashes your work. Always keep your glass half full. Instead of getting down always use it to improve. As for my 2 cents I find the wavy block amazing I love it.

http//richardquilts.blogspot.com

linda said...

it is all looking gorgeous the curved pieces are lovely well done !!

Ellie said...

It's always interesting to read old school reports isn't it?
Dress designing - that must have been a wee bit interesting.

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

OOhh I have a Dress 'O' Level! You can tell, from all the clothes I don't make!
Can't wait to see the full improv'.

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

I love your curves and the video was really interesting. I was told not to do sewing too! I just couldn't get the point of sewing lines on pieces of paper :)

Sheila said...

Love the report.
Your curved piecing is brilliant and so is the other piece, the use of solids do make it look so modern.

Debbie said...

Love your curved FTLOS piece! And I agree with you about flickr comments - sometimes, I think YIKES! Even though I put up a mosaic & say fav colors, really I'm just thrilled someone is making something just for me! ;-)

leanne said...

love your curved pieces and thanks for the video - I'll send you a separate email about that - love your improv and don't worry about negative comments - those people obviously didn't have mothers who said if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything !! and I love your report - I'm sure "warty" would be very proud of you now !!

Katy Cameron said...

Love your improv work, especially the waves, but I like the other one too. I'm hoping my fabrics will have arrived when I get back home on Sunday, so I can pick them up from the sorting office on Monday. My partner has thus far been silent, so I'm going with majority rule lol

As for your report, at least yours didn't contain the immortal words 'Could do better if she tried' that appeared in every single report I had all the way through high school. Now perhaps if they'd twigged that I was dyslexic and helped me, things might have been different, but at least at uni they were helpful!

Sarah said...

Your improv piecing looks brilliant! I must be particularly insensitive or hard skinned as I hadnt spotted any sucky comments like that. Plenty of direct "not for me" but its just one of those swaps where people do that. Hope you dont get any unpleasant comments, your work is lovely!

Helen in Switzerland said...

Gorgeous colours Annabella! I can't wait to see what you end up with!

Catherine said...

your curved sewing looks amazing! I agree with the flickr comments: if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it!!

barbara woods said...

your teacher really had that one right. so many people think they know everything and don't