Pam Holland Designs and Productions

At times it's a very lonely place to be.

 

I've been working in my own elemental direction for years now.

At times it can be a really  lonely space.

No one  at home has any comprehension of what I do, what needs to be done, or even how to do it. I mean the family understands and is very proud of what I represent, but there  was no one close to me in this field in my circle.

My Assistant, Miss Lisa in the US  has it all and understands the industry. She is a wonderful support and is my Wonder Woman. However, I now have a PA here at home who is a whiz, she knows the industry, loves working in Textile Art and will become my right hand lady. Its  lifting a huge weight off my shoulders.

Miss Roz Thank you.

Preparing my classes for France, Italy and beyond in the coming weeks has been made so much easier. I can actually relax a little before I leave. Checking and double checking is so much easier with four hands and 2 pairs of eyes rather than just mine.

 

I have an exhibition in Adelaide at AMQF  as soon as i arrive home on the 1st of October and I decided that rather than just pop the quilts up for folk to admire I would rather add descriptions and images of just how the quilt came to be.

This label above is just one of them.

Where does the inspiration come from?

How did you draw it out?

How did you put it into a quilt? etc. I hope it is interesting to the viewers.

The Alphabet has been framed and I think it will be a unique exhibition. 

I've taken some of the illustrations off the fabric and out into the frame.

 

Meetings over, I now have a comprehensive a list of things that need attention.

One  is to re-invent the blogs and web page. I will have separate blogs for personal things, travel and the Bayeux Discipline

I have a new writing format called  'Scrivener' on the computer so hopefully my lectures, book and casual writing will improve a little, well to be honest I mean more structured.

All in all It's been a really busy week with a lot of work going on in the background to achieve goals. A great deal of planning and a little time off for relaxation.

The frivolous stuff......

My new glasses have arrived and I'm very excited about them, they fit like a glove and I feel so comfortable in them.

 

 

I have the house to myself this evening and its a luxury in a funny sort of way.

 

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Bayeux Discipline

How do you make time to create?

Time to create?

I'm often asked the question, "how do you find the time to create"?

I have time, we all do.

An hour waiting for a plane.... eating a meal on my own, on a bus, on a plane, .......at the moment, I'm packed ready to leave the hotel and I have 3/4 of an hour.... a luxury of time and it made me think that most of my spare time is spent creating.

Now I have my Ipad, I am even more productive. !!!!!

For instance, I have an entire art gallery with 40.000 pictures in it... It's called Art Authority and as an App it takes me on a journey to the best galleries in the world...

I also have the entire works and history of  Leonardo Da Vinci

Using my spare time being creative is not new, I've done it since I was a child. I think we all did when we were young.

If you have 15 minutes, what would you do. A little stitching, take up pen and paper and write your thoughts down or maybe even draw a little.

I always have a pencil, eraser and journal in my bag... and now I can draw in the Ipad (not as well as with pen and paper) but I can do different things. I write notes to myself and send it by email and sometimes I've added the notes to the blog.

This morning I woke at 5.00 and I've been editing film, writing and catching up on business from home.

I could have slept, I could have watched TV, but creating something special is much more interesting...

 

My trip to Sydney.

Chicago.

Not able to do my challenge blocks on the road, I have to rely on illustration...

Now that I'm home, I scanned this image.... (not terribly successfully I might add, the scanner doesn't like the bulk of the sketch book)

Should I send it to Spoon flower and have it printed on fabric...?

Should I color it...?

I could quilt the drawn lines.

Maybe I could just take some elements from the drawing.

Any one have a suggestion, the brain isn't working too well tonight.?

This one not quite finished yet.

It is taken from the images I saw on the rocks in St George.

How to quilt this quilt.

The maker of this quilt asked my advice on how to quilt it....

It's taken me a while to get back to it, it was hard to do on the road... but here it is and I thought you may be interested...

This is just a suggestion and probably how I would quilt the project., but sometimes I don't know just how I would finish it until I work on it... hence the suggestions.

1. The vertical lines on the  wall paper or the back ground. I would use a thread the same color as the fabric. that way you achieve texture rather than making a new line to look at.

2. I would leave the lighter fabric blank. More texture.

3. Horizontal lines on the cushion probably in the same color as the fabric or just a bit darker.... don't be too fussy... free motion the lines... straight lines look restrictive. Follow the curve of the cushion.

4. His garment is in contrast to the rest of the quilt and the lines of the shadows would look wonderful quilted, but it's important to match the thread to the fabric, just texture... not distraction. the thread on the orange would match that fabric as well... the intense quilting on the shadows add to the bulk of his garment.

5. I would quilt the lower part of the cushion following the horizontal theme. Peace, Calm is represented by horizontal quilting. I wonder what it would like in gold thread?

6. Finally the part we are all scared of, the face. outline the fabric in thread to match the fabric color or mono filament... thread. But don't add any other quilting... this retains the serenity...

Use a 70/10 microtex sharp needle...  try matching the thread in the bobbin to the thread in the top, so you have an exact picture on the back of the quilt...

I use 50 weight masterpiece.

Free motion. Feed dogs up....

Give it a go.

Kings Quilt.

This is another images sent to me from yet another student in Thailand.... 

King made this quilt and wants to know how to quilt it.... I've asked her a few questions and once I have the information I will illustrate how to quilt it.... you might all like to know the results...

I think it's a striking quilt...

I love it.

Quilting Tip.

Just at the moment I'm in the middle of quilting a very large, and intensively quilted quilt...

I seem to quilt better in the early hours of the morning, but there is one difficulty quilting  at that time.

I find that the quilt moves much more fluidly under the needle when the machine bed is warm. If I'm going to quilt at that time of the day, I need to leave the machine on all night.

I don't have a problem with that, but yesterday I  alarmed the studio when I went out in the afternoon and I was too tired to go through the alarm system just to turn the machine on last night when we got home.

I leave my machine on all day normally, I've always done that and I find that my machine is much more user friendly when it's warm than when it's cold.... there is also a difference in the free motion stitch when the machine is prepared properly.

When you go to a quilting class, ask your teacher what she or he does to their machine when they free motion quilt, you'll be really surprised at some of the answers.

So, rather than begin doing the big quilt this morning I decided to quilt the small No1. Challenge quilt.

Interestingly, the design began at 6" and has shrunk over an 1/8th inch after the quilting.

The next video

It's been a hectic couple of days, but as promised... here's the quilting video.

Page on Ideas

When I give a presentation I talk about threads and things, but it's hard for the participants to remember everything in that short time... so I've added a PDF page on the right hand side of the blog.

Can you believe it...!!!!!

Can you believe it, I finally got the banner the right size....
I had to do some fancy stuff in with the HTML because my blog is 'custom made' by me, rather than type pad format.!!!!

I've been run off my feet preparing notes and requested resumes from some exotic locations.... sometimes, I just have to pinch myself...

Is this really what a quilt teacher does?

8 days without the blog.

I feel like my throat has been cut.
Today has been just one of those days.

We left the ship at 8.30 this morning and all went well until we got to our hotel at 11.00
"Sorry, you need to wait til 3.00 to get into your rooms"....so, we sat by the pool, ate a greasy hamburger and waited and waited and waited...... finally after 5 phone calls and a little Aussie XXXXXXX 4.30 we got into our room, the reason for the delay, they were cleaning the carpet. !!!!!
So we asked to get our luggage out of storage... "10 minutes sir".... well an hour later the luggage arrived after Keith went down and picked it up himself...
Keith did the washing while I set up the internet....
1 hour, 5 phone calls explaining that we were actually in the hotel...
"No Maam, you're not registered".....
Little possums.....
Gees, I'm finally on the internet.!!!!!!!

So I have lots to share about our fabulous trip... we have a few days R&R and then we're off to Mexico!!!!!!