Why take a break from Social Media??

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This year, I have felt like I’m in some kind of funk.  I have been lacking motivation and ideas. I get in front of my sewing machine, sew a couple of lines and then take a break. As the year progressed, I noticed the time spent on social media (especially Instagram) increased and by the beginning of June it was at least 2 hours a day. The constant visual stimuli of Instagram, and watching what others were producing (which felt like over productivity) was feeding the inadequacy I was feeling. I was feeling anxiety about not making progress around my own work.

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With my birthday being around the corner, I decided to take a break from social media for the month of June. My hopes were to take time to find me again. My goals for this month were:

  • Take some me time
  • Take an Instagram break
  • Work on my book for 1 hour each day
  • Spend a minimum of 1 hour sewing every day

Everyone was so supportive about taking a break. I lost only 2 followers on Instagram after the announcement. Those that might be wondering about how it all turned out, I got some mixed results. The biggest lesson I learnt was I need to expand it to all electronic use, unless I need to use it to accomplish the tasks I sent forth. Why? Well, you might all of a sudden binge watch all episodes of House and Dawsons Creek. 😉

Some of the positives, I was more present and more focused. I found I was more open to some design inspiration and did collect more of my book thoughts. I got some quilt this done but not as much as I would have liked (due to the binge watching).

Being Present

I did manage to add a new cubby to my solid fabric storage and its all stored based on color card order.

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I was more present in my life. I visited Saxapahaw, NC for my birthday …

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…and my little one graduated elementary school. So proud of him, as he was awarded the technology award for his track and grade.
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Quilt Design

I did find that my mind is more open, so designs came fast and hang around in my head until I got them down on paper. I found my expressing some of my feelings in some of these. Captions are provided to explain some of the inspiration.

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Crack of Light – inspired by hope of light that shines through when times are dark.

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Pressure – pressure on an object causes it to give, become divided or split.

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Road markings inspired by temporary lines that were drawn due to road closures.

Grate

Inspired by a image of a vintage tractor grate.

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Playing with lines, inspired by volume sound bars.

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What my minimalist Log Cabin design would look like.

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Improvisation lines and frames inspired by ladders steps

Quilts

 

I did make some progress on a few quilts. I have multiple projects in different stages.

I worked on some binding projects. Two of which are book quilt finishes.
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…finished a couple of quilt tops.

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Coliseum Quilt – A book project

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Correlation Matrix – work on my 100 days of colored angles.

… worked on some straight line quilting for my rotating spokes book project.

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…and finished of one quilt that was shipped off to a magazine. It should be published in November, when I will have a big reveal.

So, all in all pretty productive. I will definitely be considering another one this year. I am thinking that it should be something I do at least once every six months.

Have you tried a social media break? What worked and what didn’t work?

Phased Circles {Pattern Release}

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Phased Circles is a very special quilt for me. It was the first quilt that truly identifies who I am. It really made me realize quilting is something I want to do, its something I love.

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It was designed from a doodle and plays with color and volume. I recently had a great time teaching the block at Cary Quilting Company. It was so great what other people could do with the pattern using their fabric choices.

Now, it can be your turn. The digital pattern for Phased Circles is now available for purchase, in both my Payhip shop and on Craftsy.

I would love to see what you make, so tag me on Instagram (@ml_wilkie) and use the hashtag #phasedcirclesquilt.

B is for Blue

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While I have been somewhat absent from my blog and Facebook the last month, it does not mean things have not been happening over here. One of the projects I had the pleasure to work on was “B is for Blue” quilt and write-up a pattern for Curated Quilts Minimalistic Edition.

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Photo Credit: Curated Quilts

I love minimalism and have been inspired by the works of Josef Albers, Ellsworth Kelly, Donald Judd and Carmen Herrera. Minimalism is not as easy as folks think. Yes, making the quilts are quick but designing requires a lot of editing and eliminating elements, and quilting needs to be added to complement the minimal aspects as well.

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For “B is for Blue” I was inspired by a photo I had taken of an old typeset shop. They had these typeset furnishings to store the blocks. As I played with the inspiration elements, I saw the core outlines of the shelving units and the gaps between them. Through eliminating some of the lines from the shelves and the blocks this is the design I came up with.

The color palette for this quilt was a challenge for me as these blues are just not my usual combination. I usually go for a navy or a bright darker blue. Living in Cary NC, it feels very University of NC inspired while I prefer the blue of Duke University. It was fun to see how the palette worked together.

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Quilting was added, currently just the vertical lines at approximately 1.5 to 2″ width but I plan to add some horizontal lines to the quilt as well. These lines will pull out the idea of a typeset tray.

Lastly, I used a Tula Pink light blue stripe print from the Elizabeth line. I felt that the stripe broke up the blue and added interest to the quilt.

Details

Name : B is for Blue
Design: Design by myself
Fabric: Kona Cotton (Torch, Stratosphere, Sky, Prairie Sky)
Binding: Tula Pink, Elizabeth, Tent Stripe in Sky
Dimensions:  60 x 60″
Quilted: Straight Lines ~ 2 inches apart (domestic sewing machine)

If you are interested in submitting work and participating in curated quilts, take a look at their submission guidelines page. They have a great mini quilt challenge each quarter that you can take part in.