parlor tricks 5/4/21 parlor tricks 5/4/21

a retrospective

quilts were bequeathed from the estate of collector Eli Leon. i’ve crossed paths with Mr. Leon’s legacy several times in the years before i started earnestly quilting myself and many times since.

endless gratitude to Effie Mae Howard and Eli Leon; and quilters Irene Bankhead, Willia Ette Graham, and Johnnie Wade – thank you.

parlor tricks 4/3/21 parlor tricks 4/3/21

quilted

*taped muslin lining to the floor to keep smooth. whip-stitched two smaller pieces of cotton batting together to make up the length needed.*

*pin basted the quilt sandwich together and captured how impossible it is to keep black fabric lint-free.*

used DMC cotton stranded embroidery floss in ecru, separated into 3 strands, with a Tulip big eye straight thin size Sashiko needle. pulled strands over beeswax before quilting to help prevent fraying and breakage.

*quilted in free-hand lines widthwise, starting from the center. i can see how my technique was affected over time as my fingertips became more tender.*

kept the muslin lining and cotton batting long at the short edges. trimmed the batting to remove bulk and folded the muslin over to create a binding, blind stitching to the twill to finish. the light table fits snuggly in the cover, so i kept the cl… — kept the muslin lining and cotton batting long at the short edges. trimmed the batting to remove bulk and folded the muslin over to create a binding, blind stitching to the twill to finish. the light table fits snuggly in the cover, so i kept the closure simple using brass sew-on snaps to secure when stowed away.

trimmed excess muslin and batting to meet the long edge of the twill and finished raw sandwich edges with blanket stitch using 3 strands of DMC ecru embroidery floss – no beeswax this time. learned how to cleanly transition threads midway through bl… — trimmed excess muslin and batting to meet the long edge of the twill and finished raw sandwich edges with blanket stitch using 3 strands of DMC ecru embroidery floss – no beeswax this time. learned how to cleanly transition threads midway through blanket stitch using *this* *tutorial from* *Upcycle DesignLab*.

the quilting turned out alright. started with tight tolerances and knotted off by the skin of my teeth. hadn’t expected as much shirring from the quilting process – my dimensions didn’t account for it. and while blanket stitch was considered as an alternative to more traditional finishing methods – bias tape/quilt binding – it turned out to be just the stitch for a narrow seam allowance.

i’m really happy with this.

*bonus: little sachet i made yesterday to hold a gift for a friend whose birthday is today (happy birthday!). pleased with this spur of the moment project.*

parlor tricks 2/23/21 parlor tricks 2/23/21

common assets

needed to scan some construction paper to use as a digital background and thought about all the times i’ve scanned materials for textures and saved the files into specific project folders — a one way ticket to a digital black hole.

hadn’t considered making a digital catch all until the other day. now i have a “common assets” folder for all the ticky-tacky pieces that get used in all sorts of different ways. so far i’ve only scanned construction paper… but it’s gonna grow!

typing that name, common assets, i couldn’t help but think of it in the context of marriage. common assets: the car, the apartment, the record collection, the cat… as icky as it makes me feel to consider describing things in order to litigate over them; i do like the sound of it: common assets. i like the way the two words look side-by side — the humps of the m’s and n in the first leading into the squiggles of s’s in the second. i think it would make a good name for a restaurant or bar. just saw that there’s a company called uncommon goods… bwah

then, i thought to myself: “where does your digital miscellanea live?” a place for videos and articles and music that i encounter and find helpful or resonate in some way, or that provide motivation or perspective. the last several days have yielded inclusions into the digital library of common assets:

on Saturday i joined a virtual discussion about the work of quilter Rosie Lee Tompkins presented by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi and Ms. Ora Clay spoke about quilting and the work of Ms. Rosie Lee Tompkins. i hadn’t familiarized myself with either speaker before attending, which has its benefits and drawbacks. i didn’t want to form any preconceived notions of what they would speak about or who they were from static representations. and for that, i’m ok with my decision to “under-prepare”. Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi was a force. there were a few things that she said during the discussion that pierced deeply and i am grateful to have been witness to her presentation. one point she emphasized was the importance of the creator’s voice in their work. Rosie Lee Tompkins left no interpretation or writings about her own work which is a loss for the diasporic quilting community. hearing Dr. Mazloomi speak to the notion of being the voice for your own work motivated me to continue doing what i’m doing.

on Sunday i watched a video suggested by the Youtubes featuring cinematographer Brad Rushing speaking about doing the work, success, and the power of listening. i wasn’t familiar with Mr. Rushing before, but looked him up after starting the video and learned that he was the cinematographer for Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ music video. wait, what?! another instance of uncanny timing having just watched ‘Framing Britney Spears’. sure, there’s no doubt something algorithmically driving this content to me — that’s life now. but what Mr. Rushing has to say about creativity still rings true.

*‘MAGDALENE’ - FKA twigs (2019) creative direction Matthew Josephs, design by Matthew Stone*

i also listened to FKA twigs’ ‘MAGDALENE’ for the first time. not unlike LA Priest’s ‘GENE’, i’d been saving this album for the “perfect time” to listen. years have gone by and i was too ashamed and nervous to listen to it. twigs’ music hits a sensitive spot, and i didn’t think i was ready to go there. but i did, and i love it. holy sh-t, like really love it. which isn’t a surprise, i enjoy her work very much. i don’t know why i do this to myself…

yesterday morning i browsed for a podcast to listen to while taking a shower, and saw the latest episode of This American Life entitled ‘Secrets’. it’s a doozy, and another uncanny arrival.

i thought, “what do we do with our common assets that are not commonly known?” everyone has secrets. what do you do when you have shared secrets? or if you are the secret?

the episode discusses embarrassment, shame, and the feeling that you should be able to handle your secrets on your own. yeah, this one was important to listen to right now. one of the statements that went straight to the marrow was this one:

“telling my story has opened up a lot for me, especially with the people i’m closest to. but telling is a beginning, not an end. it’s not a solution… it doesn’t release you from shame. to release yourself from shame, you need to understand where the shame comes from. telling alone doesn’t get you there, but it puts you in conversation with people who can help.” - Susan Burton

and this:

“i never lied, i neglected to tell the truth. that’s how secrets are made.” - Pavan Bivigou

Susan is speaking to the secrecy around eating disorders, and Pavan about keeping her sickle-cell anemia a secret. even though these are two things that i don’t have experience with, i do know what it’s like to keep a secret… and these stories were incredibly helpful to add perspective to that understanding.

last night i watched this discussion between Daniel Kaluuya and Timothée Chalamet. it’s old, i know; but i like Daniel Kaluuya’s work, and Timothée Chalamet’s even though i feel a growing gulf of disconnection from his generation. i’ve watched a few others in this series, and they can feel stuffy and forced. but this one felt so fun and energetic. it felt like both of these artists were genuinely interested and excited to be in conversation and learn from one another’s experiences.

i really appreciated what Daniel had to say about reading scripts and why he reads them: in part to better understand why he likes something so that he’s better informed as to why he says “yes” or “no” to projects. using it as a tool to know himself better.

gem dropping… so good…

that’s it for now. i am hoping that this space can be a useful library for videos and music and books and all the stuff that flies through while i’m working. i have some patches to sew a merrow border onto, so…

ok, bye bye!