September 6, 2016

Happy Hour

Posted by Teri Lucas Terificreations under Aurifil, Superior Threads, Teri Lucas | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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But before I get to the happy hour bit. I did a bit of a tidy up in my sewing room yesterday. Oh my goodness was I ever over due for that! A while back someone gave me thread stands for both Superior and Aurifil. These very useful stands were sitting in the middle of my sewing room floor taking up valuable floor space, making moving around challenging.

thread stand one

Until now the thread has lived in drawers, and that’s been okay.

thread stand two

The drawers have functioned okay, however having them free for other things like cones, patterns, and notions is such a good thing. Being able to see my thread is such a fun thing because thread. Now you may notice that there is a lot of non-Aurifil thread on this stand, and you would be correct, this is because most of the Aurifil that I have is in cones. There is more thread in one other place, as soon as I can get that situated I’ll share the space. I’m adding one more table to that space in the next couple of weeks. My sweetie has suggested a set up that just might make this space more functional, and will allow me to take better shots for the magazine and for me.
The fun thing is that I brought a project out that I haven’t worked on in a while. The quilt was started for a friends book and I pulled it because quite frankly it wasn’t going well. I hated to do do it as I didn’t want to let said friend down, however it was necessary. I will make some changes as I go, and do my best to mask the areas I’m not particularly happy with. The person who will end up with the quilt will love it.

So speaking of the magazine Tracy Mooney and I had our first GenQ Happy Hour last week!

We’re planning another Wednesday night and hope to be able to add our Editor-in-Chief Melissa Thompson Maher to the video as well. Timing wise it should be 9:30 eastern, 8:30 central, 7:30 mountain time. Watch our fb page for details.

Have a fabulous quilting day!

Teri

 

September 1, 2016

Living Well

Posted by Teri Lucas Terificreations under machine quilting, quilt, quilt desgin | Tags: , , , , , |
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I started writing this post before the Generation Q edit meeting Wednesday, with a day full of meetings, trying to figure out new technology, answer emails, and get information for an article writing this post just didn’t happen.

Tracy Mooney and I launched the very first Generation Q Magazine Happy Hour live on facebook. This was the bit of technology we were trying to figure out. We’re planning a Happy Hour next Wednesday at 9:30 eastern, hopefully we’ll get our Editor in Chief Melissa to join us. Trying to figure out how things work can be a little bit trying at times. Okay make that a lot a bit and we’ll get this figured out!

Let Your Light Shine is finished. A friend asked if this quilt made me happy. Yes. Yes this quilt makes me happy. Finishing a quilt that I’m in love with is a feat in and of itself. I do have favorite quilts, and it’s usually the one in my hand. This one makes me happy because it’s my first complete quilt in a very long time. Between commuting/working 13 hours a day, and magazine work there has been very little time for quilting of any kind. The days I’m off there is magazine work to do. Or I’m just so tired that stitching is the last thing on my mind. And we all know that stitching while you’re tired makes for mistake making.If a picture is worth a thousand words, a quilt is worth oh so many more. From the fabric chosen, to the hours stitching, The words on the quilt. The feathers, straight lines, thread weight. The significance of the candle.

Let’s start there, with the candle, it is lit essentially for Yvonne. But more than that it is lit for all of those in my life who have influenced my quilting in some way. This quilt then becomes a prayer of gratitude for them. The list is long, and beautiful. The list of people includes some who have been a bit of a challenge, who have helped me learn to be patient with others, and myself. For those who are still teaching me to be patient with others and myself. The candle will remain lit always, so this is a constant prayer.

This is also an ode to risk. I took a risk in starting and sharing this quilt. It will leave for California later today, it will hang at Alden Lane with so many other quilts in Tribute to a risk taker, a free spirit, someone who embraced red as a neutral. But it’s also an ode to those who are taking risks now. Like Pokey Bolton, taking a huge risk to start Crafting a Life, she has no idea if this will be successful but she’s starting Art Barn with hopes, dreams, and as far as I’m concerned she’s already successful with it. Because the Barn is open.

twilight finished 1This quilt also acknowledges something near and dear to me. As you know I can state the obvious with clarity – I am a machine quilter. But more than that I am more specifically a machine quilter who loves to work in whole cloth in a free-spirited way. Quilts start with an idea and develop from there. I can see a clear beginning for this with Twilight in the Bronx, and the ideas keep pouring into my brain living just below the surface. Last night as Tracy and I chatted I had an idea for a quilt with a stripe that might just take shape sometime very soon.

So as I go forward I can see shaping classes around ideas, your ideas, how you see life, how you want to quilt. Classes to acknowledge who you are as a quilter. Because quilting is a journey (here’s another quilt) wherein we get to spend time with each other, and influence each other.

So, I’m off to influence quilters at the day job.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

 

August 30, 2016

Do you solo?

Posted by Teri Lucas Terificreations under friends, quilt, quilt shows, Sew Batik | Tags: |
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Melissa Kanovsky, Friend extrordinaire and Ad Manager for Generation Q Magazine wrote a fun blog post. Head on over HERE to check it out.

I love going to quilt shows with friends.

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Lisa Calle OCQ event

 

 

 

 

 

 

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People are cool and I enjoy spending time with them. Every now and again it’s good to go alone. Because meeting new friends is the best.

So what’s your most fun quilt show experience?

 

Teri

 

 

August 17, 2016

Fixed

Posted by Teri Lucas Terificreations under bernina, quilt, quilting, Teri Lucas | Tags: , , , , , |
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20160806_105310_resizedWell, it looks like there is a little bit of a problem here. One might say it’s twisted. Just so you know, this isn’t my machine. I do know who it belongs to, however I will protect identity to protect the innocent. These things happen, not often mind you, but they do happen.

I sent this photo to the tech to see what his thoughts were. He told me to go ahead and fix it, telling me what I needed. So I got the right tools, took the right steps, turned the foot in the direction it’s supposed to go.

I used the needle (not pictured here) to help line up in the correct position. Whew. I did it. I’ve wanted to go to learn to be a BERNINA tech for a long time. While this is far from step one, being able to send the machine home that day with the customer was deeply rewarding. She should go home and do her stitching to her hearts content.

Last week my sweetie and I went to the NJ State Fair in Augusta. It’d been a couple of years since we were there last. Still a great fair! We usually go on the weekends so the low crowds was, at first a little bit disconcerting. Because people. On our way there it rained, heavily. So it’s possible a lot of people simply stayed home. The fair is a true county fair type with animals to see, quilts hanging. 4-H kids presenting their crafted items. Oh the kids did a great job! Sewing is alive and well. Kids are getting interested and they’re doing good work.

There was no lack of quilts, over 100 hanging over head. No one here has the opportunity to touch the quilts. Nope. No one. 20160810_135715

There are some seriously amazing quilters out there. Making quilts. Having a good time.20160810_135746

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Everyone needs a baseball quilt. It is one of our national past times after all. Baseball is good. As a matter of fact I believe that, as I write, the Yankee’s are playing ball.

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And then we saw the plants. Holy wow! Plants are awesome. This one looks like feathers kind of like Ferret Capri’s. They are long and thin and look more like a bird feather.

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As swirling oh my! I love swirling like this.20160810_154702

Who can go wrong with froufy. Everyone needs some kind of froufy in their life. When you find froufy hold onto it and enjoy the moment. Of course we left the plant behind. My sweetie already has plants everywhere in the house. And they are growing like weeds. But they’re not weeds. They’re plants.
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I just love the dolor of the leaves on this one. I have no idea any more what it’s called. “I’ll remember!” I think. “Who can forget” I think. And now look at me. Can not remember what this plant is called, other than pretty.
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And this one made me squee! I mean look at the color and the shape, and texture and oh my! I love it. Yes, it like the others, stayed behind. And someday I might get it for my sweetie. But honestly we have no more room for plants. Although I’m sure he could find room if he chose to.20160810_154918

And then the moon. I love the moon. So here ya go. The moon.

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Gratuitous Moon Photo – Eclipse

Happy Quilting!

Teri

 

August 13, 2016

Did you ever?

Posted by Teri Lucas Terificreations under bernina, classes, Generation Q Magazine, lectures/trunk shows, machine quilting, quilt, quilting, Teri Lucas | Tags: , , , , , |
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Wonder what the heck? I do.

a day in the city 042So, I’m not sure if you know that the City Quilter is closing in October (as of yet there is no final date). Dale and Cathy are ready to retire. While it’s hard to see another quilt shop close, leaving a huge hole in the NY Quilting Landscape, I’m happy for them, and wish them well.

For any of my customers who have purchased a BERNINA machine since I started working there last October I am going to set up an email address for you to contact me with questions. If there is a need for private instruction I’ll be available for private lessons. There will be a fee and I’ll let you know that in an email.

So I’ll be looking for work again. That means spiffing up the resume and applying. Spiffing up the resume is as easy for me as writing my own bio. I believe I have a quilt for that entitled Bang! Head! Here! I’m hoping to find some time in the next month or so to apply to teach at quilt shows. I think I may have mentioned a time or two that I love to teach. As a result it’s time to look at the Lectures & Workshops page, while this has been on “the list” for a while now is a great time to focus in on that. Oh those, like the handouts, always seem to need tweaking. And I’ll be adding a class, and as a result titling another one differently.

IMG_1041With a little bit of downtime yesterday the Tutorials & Helpful Hints page got a bit of a revamp. Adding pictures breaks up the text, making it a bit more readable. I’ll be making changes to the website as I have time. There is still other work to do.

And, this is the hard part for me. I had to set my book aside for now. I wish I could convey how hard, how absolutely gutting this was to do. I could go into all the why and thought process behind this, however what matters is that when I have time I can still do this. I will say that sobbing was involved. It’s not off the table entirely, it’s just like dessert, for later. When my plate isn’t quite so full, and I can manage the work that needs to happen.

13987784_10210487788859430_1773825635_o (1)I’ve been buying fabric again over the last few weeks. Some by proxy, thanks Melissa! She visited the SewBatik booth at a quilt show (more of that trip on the GenQ blog in a few days). getting some of their new gradients. They make me giddy, the ideas are flowing and I’m happy.

Then there was a visit to Quilting Possibilities. Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! solids! did I mention solids? Looky here! Blank canvases make me all giddy. The possibilities are endless and I’m excited to get stitching and create something. I don’t know what yet but something.

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Like I tell my customers I don’t know what I’m going to do with them yet, they sure are pretty though. The one in the middle looks like some of the quilting I do. I may just take this to classes to show one more way of learning how to quilt. Oh this may be a new lecture. Oooooooooo that would be fun. Great PowerPoint presentation.

And on that note the color pencils, paper and I have a hot date.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

 

August 8, 2016

Lighting a Candle

Posted by Teri Lucas Terificreations under bernina, color, quilt, Teri Lucas, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , |
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@genqmag #genqmag

A photo posted by Teri Lucas (@terilucas) on

In the current issue of Generation Q Magazine there’s an article on the care and feeding of your sewing machine. I have to admit to getting a little excited sharing this information with people. A little care for our machines goes a really long way. So this evening when my machine started misbehaving I decided maybe, just maybe it needed a little bit of attention.

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Look away. Look away. Nothing to see here. Except lint. a lot of lint. Surprised? Eh, don’t be. A bit of brushing, a bit of oiling, and she sounds beautiful once again. Like her old self. And we went back to happily stitching.

I’ve been working on a tribute quilt for Yvonne Porcella. Its hard doing something that you know that, due to current time constraints, you won’t be able to finish in time to meet the deadline. However I’ve had to keep moving forward. I will finish in the next week or so.  I’m stitching on snow-dyed Radiance, wool batting, and slubby denim. I’m using silk, linen, and poly thread in a variety of weight and color. IMG_20160807_213205_resized

Stitching swirling feathers is fun, and familiar. One the threads is a heavy “quilter’s silk” that has a lot of presence. And that’s giving the opportunity to pop the stitching with a much finer thread, in a different color of course.

When I finish the quilt I’ll share why I’m making it, and why it’s taken on new significance.

So for now. . .

Happy Quilting,

Teri

 

 

 

August 1, 2016

Now here’s a good question for you

Posted by Teri Lucas Terificreations under fun, machine quilting, quilting | Tags: , |
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Morning Quilting“What do you do with the stitching? Are they in quilts?”
Good questions both, and answering them seems a good idea.
Some stitching is practice. Practice? Yes, I still practice. While I have a good handle on thread, batting, needles, stitching motifs, there is still more to know, more to improve. So sometimes the quilting that I share is practice. Time for me to stitch is somewhat, no a lot, limited at the moment so any time I have to practice, to keep my quilting chops is priceless. I practice for the same reason Misty Copeland practices, to warm up, to learn a dance, to keep dancing. As far as I’m concerned, with as many hours I have at the machine, if I don’t stitch I lose something of the rhythm of quilting.

And then there’s this quote from Pablo Casals, “I think I’m making progress. I see some improvement.”

So sometimes there is nothing that happens with these pieces other than giving me the necessary time to keep the skill that I have. I am keeping the skill that I have. There are moments I see improvement. There are moments I would love to toss the sewing machine through the glass of the window for an oddly satisfying break of the glass, with a crash of the sewing machine on the ground, hopefully into a bejillion and one hundred pieces. Thankfully those moments pass, the machine lives, as do I.

Sigh. Quilting

A photo posted by Teri Lucas (@terilucas) on

So this piece that I shared has a dual purpose 1) practice, and 2) color exploration. My goal with this is to finish it. I love orange, I’m enjoying how it’s playing on its color complement of blue. I’d probably be downright giddy if this were purple, however the complement is great to play with.

And I shared yesterday what I’m doing with the current stitching. You can read more about that here. And why I’m making “Let Your Light Shine” over on Pokey Bolton’s Crafting a Life.

One last thing, sometimes I just like to play, or think. Free-motion gives me the space, and joy to do both.

 

 

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