Making Moons

January 9, 2017 Vivien Wise

This project developed when I had an idea to embed a sphere in a quilt and wanted to see if I could do it -- the outcome being a representation of the lunar cycle made with a muslin background on one side and hand-dyed indigo background on the other

Below are some shots from the process of making:

Thank you Union Brewing for having the perfect sized glass for tracing circles!

My first sphere test

Inside the sphere

Topo Studies // Project Planning

January 3, 2017 Vivien Wise

Have you ever started a project without planning the whole thing out? Sometimes you just want to get started on the making part and stop thinking too much about it. Well I've done that with this project and I don't know that it's making it any easier for me...

5 little topographical studies made with muslin and batting and now I am coming up with a plan for them to be a cohesive piece. Here we go!

Baltimore Heritage Quilt Guild

December 14, 2016 Vivien Wise

Last night I finished my CCBC Beginning Quilting class. I love teaching this class! The students started with no quilting knowledge and walk away having learned a handful of classic quilt squares as well as a hot pad, sewn completely by hand. For the last class we went to the Baltimore Heritage Quilt Guild meeting. It just so happened that it was their holiday party! Everyone there was so welcoming and kind -- we were greeted with a welcome sign, given small gifts and invited to participate in their annual bingo game. I won a round of bingo and met a woman who recognized me from my Open Studios at the International Quilt Festival

If you're interested in taking a class at CCBC, check out what I'm teaching in Spring 2017

Beginning Sewing 37185 | 1/28 - 2/25 Saturdays 10am-1pm | Parkville Senior HS

Quilting 37172 | 1/30 - 3/6 Mondays 6:30-9:30pm | CCBC Owings Mills

Natural Dyes 37155 | 4/19-5/3 Wednesdays 6:15-9:15pm | Parkville Senior HS

Creative Crochet 37066 | 2/8-2/22 Wednesdays 6:30-9pm | Towson HS

Knitting Continuing 37144 | 3/6-4/3 Mondays 7-9pm | Perry Hall HS

Crocheted Rag Rugs 37062 | 3/8-3/22 Wednesdays | 7-9:30pm | Towson HS

Check out the BHQG Quilt Expo coming to Baltimore in March! — Check out the BHQG Quilt Expo coming to Baltimore in March!

Market prep

November 23, 2016 Vivien Wise

Craft Fair season is here! I'm making my usual reusable sandwich wraps and snack packs, which you can find on my Etsy here. I started making the sandwich wraps and snack packs because I made them for myself and loved them so much, I had to make them available to everyone. I have almost eliminated plastic bags from my kitchen and it is so liberating! They are made from fabric remnants, usually linen, cotton, or silk and lined with vinyl. The sandwich wraps folds around a sandwich and can accommodate just about any size sandwich you can concoct. I've even carried pizza in mine! The snack packs come in 2 sizes so that you can bring trail mix, candy, cookies, chips, pretzels, baby carrots, or any snack you can think of

I will also have a few odds and ends -- a few other home and hand-knit items. I'm working on a second hand-knit entrelac headband at the moment and have tote bags, aprons, and some dish cloths ready for market

Here are the events I will be vending at in/around Baltimore:

Stoneleigh Winter Craft Fair | Saturday Dec 3 10am-2pm

MICA Art Market | Wed Dec 7 - Sat Dec 10

Rocket to Venus Pop Shop | Sat Dec 17 12-6pm

International Quilt Festival 2016

November 22, 2016 Vivien Wise

This past weekend I experienced my first Quilt Festival in Houston, TX. The festival has hundreds of classes, an enormous exhibition of all types of quilts, and more vendors than you can imagine. I spent 3 days helping Amalia Morusiewicz (Fun from A to Z) with her lectures, giving 5 Open Studios presentations on Knit and Crochet, working the festival, and spending all other spare moments wandering.

Below are my Open Studios presentations --

Rag Rugs : I went over how to crochet a rag rug -- from making fabric yarn to working in the round and troubleshooting on how to keep your rug as flat as possible. All of this knowledge is based on what my mother and grandmother have taught me.

Dish Cloths : I brought a handful of different patterns -- some of my crocheted favorites from Petals to Picots as well as a simple knit seed stitch (a tutorial can be found on the Craftsy site, the company that sponsored Open Studios!)

Granny Squares : Granny Squares are a classic way to crochet a blanket! As with quilting, there are many traditional patterns but also some newer modern ones. This pattern is a personal favorite from Nitty Bits. We went over the general method for making Granny Squares as well as how to join yarn and change colors simply.

Experimental Crochet : My focus in Experimental Crochet was on working three dimensionally with crochet. The main reason I really love crochet is that you can build, grow and play as you work. There doesn't have to be a huge amount of planning and it allows for a little bit more inventiveness. I used my fabric yarn from the Rag Rug presentation to build and play as I went, making some sort of blobular sculpture in the end.

Drop Spindle : For this presentation, I showed how to hand spin yarn with a drop spindle. I had two different sized drop spindles, went over the various types and how they're used and also showed a couple different fibers and how they spin differently. I did some troubleshooting with a few visitors who knew how to spin but for most it was a new skill and they excited to see it in action!

I had a blast teaching all of them! Visitors wandered through and stayed as long as they pleased.