Work and Working

Part of me has shifted into a different mode of working. I have all this space now to unpack ideas into...and a huge 2.2mt square table that I can walk around on all 4 sides certainly helps too. My old studio was so small and I annoyed my partner as my work spilled into every other room in the house.

I know I don't talk much about my 'work'...for some of us, its just what we do, putting it into words is another thing all together. For me it is about process. There often isn't much ruled order to the process but its a process none the less. Being a graphic designer I have a methodical way of working but it is different every time. A client asked me the other day how I got so ordered and I had to have a laugh to myself...if only they knew how much chaos there really was getting to the solution of the brief. 

A quilt will often come to me in pretty bad shape. I love to pick up the ones that others leave behind. I love the not perfect and un-pretty ones. Because somewhere in there will be a little bit of gold that will stand out and thats all I need. I spend a lot of time unpicking. I find it relaxing. Others find it maddening. But pulling something apart knowing how great it will become is kind of exciting. I like knowing i'm saving it as each little scrap can be great if its given the right setting to be in. I like to sit out the front of the studio on the old chairs in the sun. A cup of coffee and a bit of a break to unpick a block or two.

This weeks unpicker

Nearly there...1880s blocks with god awful sashing

Here is a page from my working 'diary' part scribble and part scrawled notes. I love the Moleskeine graph exercise books, i'm fussy, I don't like the hard cover fancy ones, always too nice to scrawl into. A dear friend gives me some every year for my birthday/xmas present, I give her Vera scarves I find on my travels to the USA. It's becoming a nice tradition as we grow older.

Some ideas

I love simple shapes, give me a one patch postage stamp quilt and i'm in awe, often a nine patch is all you need. Add a triangle to the square and you are in business. I don't like to get too complicated. I like the scraps to do the talking.

Playing, planning, a work in progress of 1920s cottons