Trees, Trees, and More Trees

I can post my 2nd tree quilt of the season, since my daughter and son-in-law received and opened it today! 

I wanted to do a different look for this one using the same pieced trees as in the one I posted earlier this month in These Trees are Off the Wall!










This quilt is more modern, I think, with the wide stripes, no border, and edge-to-edge machine quilting (free-handed waves done while using the Brother Dream Machine's Muvit walking foot). This was a much faster quilting technique than hooping and quilting with embroidery designs, and I think it's just as attractive, just different.  I love it.  

Most quilters run their quilting lines much closer together.  But as long as I knew I was within the spacing specifications required by the batting I used,  I decided to invoke artistic license.  I felt these wider lines were in keeping with the scale of the overall design.

I used a flannel sheet as backing for some cozy cuddling.

These Trees are Off the Wall!

You might remember the view on my design wall... the beginning sprouts of these trees I shared in October in Growing Christmas.

After each hooping, I could have the machine do a scan
so that I could place each design correctly.  I could
move, pivot, and even resize the design, as needed.

I’d wanted this gift to be wrapped around its recipient by Thanksgiving weekend to be used all through the holidays. I’m happy it’s now ready to send, though, and I had the best time making it! 

It was quilted in the hoop, and it was truly my decades-long dream to create my own designs in order to do so. The ‘snow drifts’ and some of the tree fills were free-handed on the screen, and for some, I combined and/or altered built-in shapes from the Stamp page and others in the machine's Design Center. 

Just a sampling of the fill designs I created
and saved on the machine. 

I was even able to include a personal note on one of the trees in my own handwriting, and create a cat outline, so his kitty would feel welcome to cuddle. So fun!! 


This Dream Machine 2 truly is AMAZING. And so is my tool-and technology-loving hubby for knowing how much it would help me create and talking me into it. 

Scribbling Out Ideas... Why Not?

I have a million ideas I'm waiting to sew out, but when this one popped into my head, I decided to jump in and try it. With life distractions, it took 'only' 3 days to actually get it done. But that's good for me, and, more importantly, it worked!

I thought I was done with machine embroidery, because the styles of designs didn't suit my needs, and anything original took a lot of work.  My time to create is limited, and I'd rather sew than fuss. 

A terrible photo of a beautiful (and huge) machine in the midst
of a terrible mess... or maybe we'll call it a creative flurry.

But then Hubby and I happened upon the Brother Dream Machine 2 at SewExpo last March. --An event we attended knowing I would not be buying a new machine.  But a sucker fanatic for all things related to Computer Aided Design, as he sees in his shop tools, he encouraged me to watch the demonstration... and then consider buying the machine! 



He knows that I've been yearing to design my own stitch patterns for years, and have given it a good try with previous machines, which all fell short of glowing claims. (At least did so for those of us suffering from terminal impatience.)  It just might be the machine I've awaited for years that will help me bring those stitch designs in my head into reality.

"Stamp" options.  These can be resized,
stretched or narrowed, combined, or
portions erased. Besides stamps,
other options include lines, free-hand drawing,
or scanned or imported line drawings!

I scanned the fabric pieces I'd placed on hooped, sticky stabilizer.  On-screen, I placed a few circles from the machine's built-in 'stamp' files in its "Design Center," edited stitch and size, and I got the 'scribbly ' look I was hoping for.   

This is an onscreen scan of the hooped fabric,
so I can size & place the stitching correctly.

Stitch choices.  I used 2nd from left, and
left them all the same default color.

I expected the machine to sew each circle in its entirety, one at a time, but, because I had designated them all in the same stitch style and color, it was interesting to see how the software in the machine designed its own efficient path, not recognizing or having regard for shapes in the same way I do.  I could've designated them each their own color, even if I used the same thread in the machine, if it had been important to me that it sew in separate circles.

From screen view to reality!

It's simple, but a start. My husband said, "Did you want it to look like a little kid drew it?" 
Pretty much, yes.  :-)

He doesn't quite understand my love of modern design and quilting... Yet.

Random Probably Isn't

In design, random is a look.  It might start out unplanned, but it takes some effort to look random in a way that's pleasing....pieces spread in a happenstance sort of way, without looking planned.  A piece of artwork, no matter what kind, needs balance in its composition (unless the artist is trying for the opposite), and true randomness rarely gives that result. 

The sign at Taco Bell shows a photo of a 'Spicy Crunchwrap Supreme' with a nicely spaced, 'random' smattering of jalapeno slices... A little heat spread throughout.  Yum!  In real life, Prince CuddleBunny's lunch had approximately 12 slices of pepper, randomly/carelessly thrown on.  They ended up in a pile in the space of two bites, which was not yum!  

I wanted the colorful strips around the edges to look
mixed up...randomly placed.  I tried to accomplish
this by sewing them together in random fashion.
Just pick one up and sew it on...

Art is like that.  If the pieces that draw your attention, when meant to result in a random assortment, are all piled together, that one spot is too demanding and the rest is bare. The visual weight of the piece is off.  If on the other hand, they end up close to evenly spaced or sized, the effect of randomness may be lost.  Instead, it can look liked planned spacing that 'just missed.'  In art you must, ironically, move things around, sometimes adjusting and adjusting again, to get a random, 'easy' look that works.

...but that didn't create the look I wanted. Sometimes a strip
was too bland...with like colors all in a row without the
punch of color from the orange or bolder prints, which
have more visual weight.  I had to take apart some strips and
change others around to get the scattered look that worked.

The result...random looking, but not randomly composed.

Life is like that.  I am noticing that when I approach each day in a random manner, little gets accomplished, because the balance is off. -- Too much time on one thing, or too little time on many things. Too often I have little to show for my day; not doing enough or jumping from random task to random task.  Or, I spend the day responding to a pile of hot peppers. In the end, no real progress is made that I can feel good about... and because of that, I may be creating that next pile of excessive heat.  

A person who goes through life creating success in his or her wake, may look like they don't have a care in the world...as if keeping their fingers in the pies they have is without extra thought or worry.  If someone's life or tasks appear to be without worry, I can pretty much guarantee it isn't without thought. Prioritizing, scheduling, and goal setting would all play a part.  Working efficiently, these things, which all involve thinking ahead, can help prevent extra work and crises, or those piles of spicy peppers, and also prevent the worry about missing things or not keeping up.  

I don't know if it's the mental effects of aging, that there are more things on my plate, or, perhaps, just finally growing some wisdom, but I don't think I'm doing well with multi-tasking and 'winging it.'  Today I had a choice of the bathroom hand towel or paper towels to use after my shower!  I think I'm missing some key tasks... 

I'm finding need for more structure/planned guidance in my life as I try to pare literal and figurative clutter, and prioritize my time to focus on things that are more crucial, and make time for things I want to do.  As much as I like the random look in art, I need less of it in my life.