Taking Lessons

It's time for me to increase my skills in ways besides looking at You Tube and reading fabric arts books.  I bought my Baby Lock Tempo from the Ellicott City Sew-Vac and they have lessons on site.  I signed up after taking my machine in to get cleaned and serviced and to ask questions about why I was having troubles with the canvas and thread to make backpacks for a friend's church charity effort (sending school bags to children in Africa).  I learned so much just from the five minute discussion with the staff that I was convinced I needed to participate in some of their training events.  I'd looked on line trying to figure out why I was having trouble but didn't find the correct answer.  I spent more time researching this on line then the time it took me to drive to the Sew-Vac and talk to them.

So I signed up for the machine quilting beginner and intermediate sessions, each about two hours of time.

Here are my practice sessions.  The little circles are the "pebbles" and was taught in our first session. The swirling things are "Wonder Woman's Hair" but is called McTavishing.  Karen McTavish created this and it's now named after her but she called it Wonder Woman's Hair, from what our instructor said.  He said she reportedly got bored with the stippling, AKA the "wandering around" pattern.  I could see why someone would get bored with that.  I don't particularly care for it.  It seems to have no imagination.  Maybe it's just because I see it too much, and see it on quilts where there is little evidence of creativity, just following someone elses pattern as if they have no ideas of their own.

So below is more of my playing around with the McTavishing, which I think was better named Wonder Woman's Hair.

 Below is more fabric doodling from the other side of my quilted block. .

 I got bored with the McTavishing/Wonder Woman Hair and started making a sun burst but the instructor came by and apparently thought I was having trouble understanding what McTavishing looked like and how to do it.  He politely asked me if he could sit at my machine and demonstrate.  They he began patient reteaching me how to McTavish.

I get it that I need to work on my skills.  But I don't want to stay on topic for too long because I fear becoming one of those quilters who only does what they are told, who follow the rules, who don't think of quilting as art.  Or maybe they do but they like what we think of as "Annapolis Art" which to us is paintings of sailboats and beach scenes.  Not that those aren't nice.  They're real nice.  But I like what we think of as "Baltimore Art"  Edgy.  Creative.  Pushing the boundaries, breaking out across the borders.  Going rogue.

I bought machine quilting gloves.  Now I can channel Michael Jackson.  Ugh.  His musical talent evidenced genius but his predilection for little boys made me sick.  I can never get passed that.