Evolution

I’m headed to, or returning from, depending on when I actually am able to hit the publish button over there, the portfolio show of the graphic design program from which I graduated just 4 months ago. It’s hard to believe that I went through that whirlwind so recently, but I’m looking forward to going as an alumna rather than a student or goodness be, a fuzzy-headed blank-staring hoping-for-a-job exhausted participant. I don’t miss those days one bit, although I am grateful for them, somehow.

I didn’t really understand the pull of recent grads to come to the show until now. It drove me a little insane during my show, because, um, are they looking to hire? Who knows, I suppose, but it really did seem more like a reunion/networking event for quite a few attendees rather than an employee seeking one. But, I’m on the other side now, and am allowed to get a drink and eat the hors d’oeurvres, and take business cards without feeling guilty, and chat with the faculty that I only see these days on facebook, and look upon those tired vacant faces of people who have likely been up most of the night and assembling self promos an hour before the show, and look upon their work and see what I’m up against, as I’m still searching for employment. And also to know that I don’t have to do that part again. This part that I’m in right now is really equally difficult, just in a completely different way.

Golf Week Logo

A bit ago I finished a logo design for the magazine, which is introducing a new event this year called Golf Week. It’s much like Restaurant Week, an event featuring local eateries with discounts and such to incite people to go support the local businesses, only in this case, for golf courses in the area. It is meant to be held during a time in the season that maybe courses aren’t quite as busy as the height of the season, fall and spring. So we decided on a fall version and a spring version of the logo.

Concept 1

Concept 2

Concept 3

Concept 4

Concept 5

I ended up with a number of different concepts that I really liked, involving golf tees and clubs. I really loved elements of all of these, but ultimately, the shield icon won out, and I’m glad. This was a super fun project. I really like working on logos, the process of brainstorming and sketching, and then creating them digitally is really gratifying to me. And it feels good to share this here. Sometimes I forget to talk about graphic design, even though it’s big piece of my life.

This is later than I’d hoped, and I can’t think of a title

I don’t have much to show for this weekend other than a pile of clean unfolded laundry. I sewed my butt off, but none of it is photographed. The yellow squares are all bordered, though, and just need to be sewn together to finish the quilt top. And I totally can’t wait!

Other than that, it was movies and coffee and rain all weekend. We’ve used our new moka pot more in the week that we’ve owned it than I ever would have expected. And there was an adventure at the farmer’s market in a thunderstorm. We could have stayed home, I suppose, but what’s the fun in that?

Yesterday I drove out to Spring Green after work for a little chatting with a designery friend of mine. And she gave me plants! And wine! And fun giggly times on her handmade bench! And design eye candy and talking about future projects. It was super fun. And I totally should have taken more pictures, but I was all caught up and didn’t, so, next time!

Translated

“Metti i funghi in ammollo in acqua tiepida per 20 minuti. Prima della cottur risciacquali con acqua corrente. Una volta rinvenuti i funghi possono essere usati per qualsiasi ricetta. Sono ideali per un sugo, un risotto, in umido con la carne ecc. L’acqua opportunamente filtrata potra essere utilizzata nella cottura del piatto.”

I learned enough Italian while in Italy to have understood most of that, but there were some fuzzy parts.

Google translate says:

Put the mushrooms to soak in warm water for 20 minutes. Rinse before cooking with tap water. Once found the mushrooms can be used for any recipe. Are ideal for a sauce, a risotto, stew with meat, etc. The filtered water can suitably be used in baking dish.

Were they ever lost?

Morning

Attempt #3 at getting up before sunrise to take photos at the lake. Attempt #1 turned was cold and snowy, and quite gusty, attempt #2 was too late, the sun was already way up. But attempt #3 was legendary. We rose early enough, the lake was calm, the loons were still out, and the colors were spectacular.

Squares

Motivation struck again this weekend. Remember those yellow quilt blocks that I was working on so excitedly last summer, and which then sort of dropped off the face of the earth? Well, I got them out on Sunday, thinking maybe I’d just make them into a lap quilt, something smaller scale than I was originally planning, but it seemed more doable. I finished a square that was halfway done, and when I laid them out, realized that I just had too many squares for a lap quilt, or so I deemed. But maybe if I made 4 more then I would have enough for a big quilt.

So I made 4 more.

I’m in the process of sashing them together with a medium gray, and totally loving the combination. What is it with me and gray lately? They are all slightly different sizes, so I am just log cabining (can “log cabin” be a verb?) them with the sashing, and then will sew those together into a freeform grid, so that the yellow blocks “float” a bit. I was tossing around the idea of throwing in a different shade of gray for one block’s ground…until I ran out of the medium gray and they were out of it at the fabric store. So now I’m trying to decide if a darker gray ground on some of the blocks will work, and maybe a mustardy yellow for one as well, or if I will wait it out til I can get more medium gray. Or if I will rip it apart and cut them down and make a lap quilt like I planned when I embarked on this journey on Sunday. What do you think?

I’d like to quilt it with the same style of intersecting wavy lines like the white on white quilt, and I’m hoping the process won’t turn out to be overwhelming as I do it as a queen size.

Also, thank you for all of the color suggestions last week! They are all so good. Ochre and raspberry really pulled at my heartstrings. Of course, so did orange. But I’m thinking…..green. Yep.

It makes good coffee.

I love when collectors of cool stuff have garage sales. I happened upon this early season sale on Friday after work, and she had quite the impressive collection of this size espresso maker, and small one-cup makers. It makes good coffee. And now we have a coffee making collection.

I also couldn’t pass up this old school drink mixer. It reminds me of one my grandmother had.

Next?

Here is another detail photo of the white on white quilt that I finished last weekend. I realized it was hard to see in the full photo how I pieced the white areas with white and off white and some white prints, but it’s one of my favorite parts of the quilt, because it gives it this whole other level of more subtle texture.

I’m really itching to make another of these, in a different color ground. Any suggestions? I’m taking a poll. What color should the next one be?

Tapped

I ended up in a somewhat intense conversation with a coworker a few months ago about this. I use a reusable metal drinking bottle whenever possible, and her opinion was that as long as she recycled her used plastic bottles, everything was ok.

I realize that there are two sides to every issue, and that many documentaries can do a very good job of skewing a story. I don’t know if that is the case with this one, but I wholeheartedly agree with the stance taken here. Sharing this is worth my time, and I hope it is worth yours as well.

I am concerned with the levels of creepy things inside plastic, and am trying to eliminate it in my life as much as possible. I wonder at the level of health problems that I have, and society has, in relation to these creepy things. Even if much of the plastic waste gets recycled, it’s still better to reduce and reuse before recycling. Recycling should be a last resort. And it simply doesn’t make sense to me to spend money and resources to create, recycle, and ship water, something that can be had for free in so many places.

White on white

I actually took this with me up north, stitching in the car, I wanted to finish it so badly, and I finished sewing the binding on it on my grandmother’s couch on Easter morning.

I got inspired to make a white quilt from this photo, although the finished product isn’t anything like the blanket in that image. I pieced the top improvisationally, inspired by this and this. I had a rough plan of where I wanted some of the clusters of smaller pieces to be placed within the larger design, but overall, this just built itself. It was going to be all variations of white and off white, but some brighter and darker colors snuck in as I was piecing. Quite a bit of Heather Ross. Some Lush faux bois. A bit of selvedge. I wanted to back it with brown or gray herringbone wool, but I chickened out at the last minute, thinking that the wool and cotton wouldn’t wash well together, and opted for a big piece of flannel instead, pieced with a similar colored cotton and a pieced strip. I still want to try a wool back, though.

I quilted it in a couple of hours on Friday night, and it went so fast. Just improvised lines and curves from side to side, and I love it. I wish I were doing my big quilt this way, because then I wouldn’t be stuck halfway through the process, although I know I’m going to love the dense quilting on it in the end, I just need to keep on chuggin’. But, I’m quilting the next big one like this! Plus, the Gutermann poly thread that I used for this works WAY better than the 100% cotton I was using before. Even though I want to be all pioneer woman-y and make these heirloom style 100% cotton all the way, that other thread sucks. I can’t handle thread breakage every few minutes, it makes me swear and throw things. This was much better, no breaks, no throwing things.

And for the binding, after hemming and hawing for awhile trying to decide whether to bind it in white or something brighter, I opted for this Sandi Henderson print, and it’s a nice pop against the blue of the back. It’s so hard for me to imagine what a print will look like in binding form, since so much of it gets lost within the sewing.

It’s 62″ish by 62″ish, a large lap quilt. And now I need to wash it, and wait for the crinkles. And start a new one.