It's all interrelated
Sometimes I need to remind myself that I do actually have a plan! I was sitting on the plane the other night working through that time management book and I wrote a vision statement for Twelfth Planet Press, broke it down into goals and then objectives, under which all my projects fit. It all felt rather serious n stuff but it also showed me how everything, and I do mean everything, interrelates and has a role. Including convening Swancon 36 and volunteering for Aussiecon 4. Or I'm just good at retroactively writing things that way :)
Up till now, I probably haven't really said aloud (to more than a handful of people) what that vision statement actually is. And I guess that's why sometimes people look at me and just ask "Why?" or "WTF Why?"
About three years ago, cassiphone blogged about this book, Quilting Lessons: Notes fom the Scrap Bag of a Writer and Quilter and I ordered a copy from Amazon. It's a lovely thin hardback and a very quick engrossing read about an academic who discovered quilting whilst she had writer's block and was grieving for her mother. It's a gorgeous balance of essays about the art of quilting and also a bit academic. What I took away from it is how turning to a creative outlet can help to process or deal with other things going on in your life - that creation and artistic expression can heal the soul.
Which is kinda what I am I doing now.
But I'm also learning a bunch of stuff that I think I will be able to use over at TPP.
The monochrome tumbling blocks project is the first serious, big quilt I've ever attempted. I designed the template myself and used my stash of black and white fabrics that I've been collecting for a few years now. Normally I would get my mum to check over the colours and contrasts before I plunged in. I'm not confident on my eye for colour and texture. One of my objectives with this project was to suck it up and just give it a go, not double check anything but fly solo. See if I could learn something about how colour and texture work in fabrics - the idea with this is that you sew three diamonds together into a block - a dark, medium and light - and when you piece the blocks together, if you did it right, the whole looks 3D.
I've learned a lot so far. Each block works differently and placing them next to each other is quite fascinating. I am going to be piecing together over 200 blocks. I just laid out 150 blocks on the spare bed so that I can rearrange the individuals within the whole for a bit before I start piecing the rows. I think I'm at least going to make 15 rows by 12 columns.
What I'm hoping though is that this project will help me train my eye better for looking both at the detail and the whole of project, particularly when looking at book cover and layout.
Up till now, I probably haven't really said aloud (to more than a handful of people) what that vision statement actually is. And I guess that's why sometimes people look at me and just ask "Why?" or "WTF Why?"
About three years ago, cassiphone blogged about this book, Quilting Lessons: Notes fom the Scrap Bag of a Writer and Quilter and I ordered a copy from Amazon. It's a lovely thin hardback and a very quick engrossing read about an academic who discovered quilting whilst she had writer's block and was grieving for her mother. It's a gorgeous balance of essays about the art of quilting and also a bit academic. What I took away from it is how turning to a creative outlet can help to process or deal with other things going on in your life - that creation and artistic expression can heal the soul.
Which is kinda what I am I doing now.
But I'm also learning a bunch of stuff that I think I will be able to use over at TPP.
The monochrome tumbling blocks project is the first serious, big quilt I've ever attempted. I designed the template myself and used my stash of black and white fabrics that I've been collecting for a few years now. Normally I would get my mum to check over the colours and contrasts before I plunged in. I'm not confident on my eye for colour and texture. One of my objectives with this project was to suck it up and just give it a go, not double check anything but fly solo. See if I could learn something about how colour and texture work in fabrics - the idea with this is that you sew three diamonds together into a block - a dark, medium and light - and when you piece the blocks together, if you did it right, the whole looks 3D.
I've learned a lot so far. Each block works differently and placing them next to each other is quite fascinating. I am going to be piecing together over 200 blocks. I just laid out 150 blocks on the spare bed so that I can rearrange the individuals within the whole for a bit before I start piecing the rows. I think I'm at least going to make 15 rows by 12 columns.
What I'm hoping though is that this project will help me train my eye better for looking both at the detail and the whole of project, particularly when looking at book cover and layout.