YouTube, Blogging, Stitching & Life

YouTube, Blogging, Stitching & Life

Things have been busy around here. I had the idea to start a YouTube channel over a year ago. My thought was to go through Sue Spargo’s Creative Stitching book and demonstrate every stitch (but for left-handed stitchers) featured in her book, one stitch a week. I discussed my idea with Anna Bates, my friend over at Quilt Roadies, who encouraged me to go for it. But I knew I couldn’t do anything until I’d gotten Sue’s okay. Not only was she okay with my idea, but we then discussed launching YouTube channels together, each doing the same stitch on the same day, linking our channels to each other’s, and we even filmed a couple of episodes at her store in Ohio.

In Tucson where my YouTube idea first took root!

But life has a funny way of inserting itself into the best laid plans. Things happened, we had to delay the launch and then finally, last week, Sue told me to go ahead with my channel without her. For those of you who do not know Sue Spargo, she is one of the most hardworking, dedicated and talented artists I know. She has an extremely successful business, both brick and mortar, as well as online site over at Sue Spargo.com. She teaches all over the world, has a wildly popular Block of the Month club – this year she is doing TWO, one for those who desire something a little simpler and not quite as time consuming, and another, which features more advanced stitching. All of this is to say – everything she does, she does incredibly well.

Whew! Okay. So…

Last week I took a deep breath and took the plunge. I launched my YouTube channel. I knew it was going to be a fairly steep learning curve, but I hadn’t taken into account just how steep! I had to teach myself how to edit video on iMovie. Then I learned all about banner art and thumbnails, which required downloading a couple different apps (that I also then had to learn how to use.) I read all about how best to monetize your channel once you’ve reached 1,000 subscribers and a ton of watched hours. I then had to read about monetizing your blog, because if one is already monetized, it makes monetizing the other a lot easier. I watched hours and hours of YouTuber’s videos and finally my husband, Richard, who for years owned and ran a very successful ad agency, and I sat down and brainstormed. He came up with “On the Other Hand” for my channel, which is just so brilliant. Love that, and him. He also helped me design my YouTube banner. It looks pretty good, right?

My YouTube Banner

Finally, I began taping and, I’ll admit, feeling kind of old, because, while I would be far more comfortable keeping the camera zoomed in on the stitching, I also get that people want to see the person behind the hands. Looking at yourself during the editing process is a lesson in humility. Most of the up and coming YouTubers out there are young and beautiful and most definitely not almost sixty years old. Did I just say that? Yup. I did. I’ll be sixty in another six months. Pretty much clinging to these final months while still in my fifties. As in seriously white knuckling it… But it’s all relative. I know, twenty years from now, I’ll look back and think – Wow! I was so young.

Photo of hands stitching a Pekinese Stitch is far more preferable than a photo of myself

So yes, it’s ALL relative.

So that’s what I’ve been doing for the past week or so.

I now have three videos on my Channel: Ariane Zurcher – On the Other Hand. The first is how to needle turn appliqué left handed.

My first YouTube Video on my new channel – Ariane Zurcher – On the Other Hand

The second video is how to whipstitch

Notice the thumbnail here? I’m getting better!

And the last one, uploaded Tuesday evening, is how to stitch the Pekinese Stitch.

The Pekinese Stitch (I had to delete the first one and redo the music as it had copyright issues! Learning… lots of learning…

All the videos are directed at left handed stitchers, because we left handers have to bush whack our way through most tutorials, figuring it out on our own. I have, in the past, come up with some very creative looking hand stitching that in no way resemble stitches in any embroidery book known to mankind. Yelp!

I also give tips on how to thread a needle, thimbles, which needles to use for which stitches, how to make a quilter’s knot and, as time goes on, I’ll discuss all kinds of other things as well. In my Pekinese Stitch Tutorial Merlin, our mischievous kitty, even makes an appearance, wreaking havoc with my attempts to stitch and teach! So watch and stitch along with me. Don’t forget to give a thumbs up, and subscribe because I’ll be posting at least once a week, and not just content for left handers, but for anyone who loves art, design, stitching and life! Hopefully there will be some laughter in there too. Laughter is good.

Yup, that’s me…
YouTube, Blogging, Stitching & Life

The Perfect Zippered & Lined Bag

I love a good zippered pouch. Preferably one that I can take on an airplane, large enough for a tablet or small sketch book, a needle roll, small pair of scissors, and project, but not so large that it becomes cumbersome. I began looking around at what is already out there and found many lovely bags, but finally decided to design my own. It measures 12″ x 12″, has a slightly curved top with a tassel for the zipper pull.

Ariane Zurcher Designs© Zippered, Lined Pouch

Years ago my husband and I came upon this beautiful African Rhino and decided we had to have him. This became my inspiration for the design on the front of my bag.

As many of you know, I re-found hand stitching through Sue Spargo. I fell in love with the way she used traditional embroidery stitches, but used all kinds of different threads, to add another dimension to wool appliqué. I responded to the “folk art” style of her designs, but also to the layering she employs in her work. Using wool as her base, she then might layer another piece of wool, which is then layered with a smaller piece of silk velvet, cotton print, linen, cork, ribbon, beading, whatever best accents her design – the options are endless! That was five years ago…

Today, I’m honored to call Sue my friend. She gives me endless encouragement, suggestions, helpful tips, and is one of the kindest, most generous souls I’ve ever met. She also happens to be one of the hardest working women I know, is a smart business woman and runs a thriving brick and mortar store as well as online business at suespargo.com, all while teaching year round all over the country and world. If you haven’t taken a class with Sue, you are in for a treat. Sue is patient, helpful, encourages everyone to put their own personal touches onto their pieces, is incredibly talented, oozes creativity and did I mention how kind she is? Kind. Just incredibly kind.

So when I decided to design my own zippered pouch I immediately sent it off to Sue to get her okay. After all I’m using her techniques, her wools, her threads and never want to take credit for any of that. She, of course, being Sue, told me she loved it and so here it is, ready for others to make if they choose.

The Embellished Top

If you want to make this pouch yourself, you can purchase the pattern, templates and detailed instructions, including tons of step by step photographs to help you, as well as a list of materials you will need from my Etsy Site. I even added instructions for us lefties out there, so that our zipper will be on the opposite side! All the wool, fabric, and threads you need to make this pouch are on Sue Spargo’s website except maybe the zipper. It’s a one-stop shopping experience. And who doesn’t want a zippered, fully lined pouch!? Also – if you don’t want to make the wool Rhino top, you can use the pattern templates to make the whole thing out of cotton fabric or bark cloth or canvas or linen or whatever you like!

The Back of the Zippered Pouch

When I was designing my pouch, I first made it using all cotton fabrics and added Soft and Stable to the whole thing to give it more oomph. I swear that’s the technical word…

Zippered Pouch using all cotton fabric

I also re-designed the curve so it was gentler, with the added plus being it is easier to sew in the zipper, and I added fabric tabs to the ends of the zipper, which gives it a nice, clean finish.

Zipper Tab Close Up

Tell me what you think. Post your finished bag on Instagram and tag me and/or on Facebook. Don’t forget to tag me so I can applaud your efforts.

Here’s to stitching together!

YouTube, Blogging, Stitching & Life

Quilting Arts & A Rooster

A couple years ago I was featured in Quilting Arts Magazine – the Year of the Rooster!  

The piece I submitted, entitled Regal Rooster, was made of wool, cotton and silk velvet (that I dyed myself) using a variety of threads, but predominantly Eleganza Perle Cotton from Sue Spargo.  She has the most luscious perle cotton threads in sizes 8, 5 and 3 as well as just about anything else one could want.

I designed the rooster with one of my sister’s roosters in mind.  Though I must admit her roosters are mean, nasty, brutish fellows and can only be appreciated from afar.  As in – where are my binoculars?  (Sorry Sis.)  However my rooster is kind and regal and very colorful. Here’s his head, since that’s the first to go…  Oh stop it.  Seriously, in my experience roosters in real life tend to be vicious creatures, but my fictitious guy is lovely.  I swear.

To all the rooster lovers in the world, I apologize in advance for my biased characterization of them. I’m sure there are some really nice roosters out there, I’ve just never met them…

Regal Rooster

And here he is in all his colorful glory. I used Sue Spargo’s techniques of layering beginning with a wool base and then adding fabrics: cotton, velvet and silk ribbon before applying the wool Rooster body. Hand stitching using various threads and stitches came next and then I machine quilted the whole thing!

See the random seed stitches in the lower right corner? That’s where I inadvertently burned the silk ribbon with too hot an iron. I can tell you this now because no one noticed and why not admit to these tiny mishaps that inevitably occur in life?! They say we learn from our mistakes, and I’m hoping that’s actually true as a singed silk ribbon makes for a very unhappy stitcher, however stitching and gorgeous threads can cover up just about anything.

YouTube, Blogging, Stitching & Life

3 Quilts & the Journey Continues

I think about art all the time: the process, the way life impacts it…  Wondering about how other people will see it, whether they will approve, like or dislike it, is the biggest buzz kill to creativity that I know of.  But, I find, silencing those worries often difficult.  The best steps I know to do is to dive in head first, and just go for it.

This last year has been one of exploration, diving in head first and going for it.  If any of you are on Instagram, I post my works in progress almost daily.  Below are three projects I finished this past year.  I have four more in the works, but nowhere near completion.

This first is titled:  Wandering Through the Past and was inspired by the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico where I went for one of Sue Spargo’s fabulous workshops put on by Madeline Island School of the Arts. As I wandered through the museum much of the work felt oddly familiar. I remembered that my grandparents had honeymooned in Santa Fe & much of the furniture in their Colorado home came from that part of the world. As I designed this quilt, I began adding things from my childhood spent in Northern California with parents who collected modern & primitive art. Wandering Through the Past was thus born using wool, cotton, velvet & silk, & embellished with a wide variety of threads and stitches.

Wandering Through the Past.JPG
Wandering Through the Past

The next one is a complete departure from the one above in that most of the fabrics were hand dyed, hand painted, using stencils, screen printing and mono printing, and is not representational.  All techniques I learned from the talented Pat Pauly in a workshop I took last April at the Pro Chem studio. It was the first time I’d ever tried my hand at improvisational piecing.  I free motion quilted it following the general shapes and paint strokes.

QuiltSubmission.JPG
Reflections

And this last one I began designing with the idea that I would use an old skirt from my mother. After a few weeks of struggle, I pulled out some of my hand dyed, Shibori, stencil printed, wax resist, silk screen & low immersion dyed fabrics. The fabric from the old skirt was pushed aside to make way for my hand dyed fabrics, which I then began piecing together with a few commercial prints. “Hope” was very bossy right from the start; demanding I use this or that fabric, slashing & piecing, reconfiguring… Mostly I just had to get out of the way & listen to its demands.

Hope.JPG
Hope
YouTube, Blogging, Stitching & Life

Designing & Quilting To Cope

After I finished the QFM – Quilt For Mom – I felt at a loss.  It’s the same feeling I experience after finishing a wonderful book.  Elated, but also sad it’s over and wondering what’s next.  I knew I wanted to design my own quilt, but am still so new to this form and didn’t want to be too ambitious.  Things were in limbo.

My life is busy, I homeschool our daughter, as well as, like and need to, spend time with my eldest and then of course there’s FH (fabulous husband) and did I mention I have my own business?  All of this means I have a full, albeit hectic, and at times, overwhelming life, and I desperately need time to design and create without worrying about how to promote it, the cost basis, manufacturing, orders, etc.  When I don’t have the time or when other things make it impossible, I feel off, am more easily stressed, saddened and even depressed by things that happen in the world and in my life.  I worry more.  I feel more sensitive, raw and fragile.  These same things don’t have as devastating an impact on me when I carve out time for my artistic pursuits.  Because of all this, I knew I had to start a new project, and given all that is happening in the world and my life right now, the sooner, the better!

Out came my sketch book.  I began doodling.  From those doodles I found a few shapes I kept coming back to and slowly a design came into focus.

This is my Ode To Matisse.

preliminary-sketch

The Sketch

After I finished the first sketch, I photocopied it several times and began mapping out the measurements.  I knew the sketch was going to be skewed and out of proportion because I wanted the quilt to end up being 80″ by 105″, which is big enough to drape down on either side of a twin sized bed or even skimpily cover a queen sized bed and long enough to allow for folding over pillows.  This will be the quilt I take with me to my retreat at Quilting by the Lake next summer where we stay in air-conditioned (last summer I was FREEZING) dorm rooms, which have twin-sized beds!

I needed to figure out how I was going to block it, in other words how I would divide it up as I envisioned several different background fabrics, all beiges.  With colored pencils I marked out my blocks, with approximate measurements and numbered the blocks.

blocking

Blocking out the Sketch

I then went to my stash and began pulling background fabrics.  After a trip to the fabric store, I decided on eight different fabrics, all beiges/cream of some kind.

background-fabrics

Placing the Background Fabrics

Next up was working out the colors for the shapes.  This process took over the floor of our bedroom for a couple days.  I wanted bright, cheerful colors, that reminded me of spring and summer and I wanted them to stay close to the colors Matisse used when he created these kinds of organic shapes.

foreground-fabrics

Deciding on Fabric for the shapes

Finally I was ready to cut out the shapes, using freezer paper first to lay them out, tweak when necessary and rearrange if needed.  This is what I came up with…  Still not convinced  the three round shapes in the lower portion of the quilt are working as well as they could. I might need to move them all the way over to the left side and take the shapes on the left and put them to the right end of that block or maybe reduce the size of the skinny large circle on the left and make the flower shape at the edge larger…

odetomatisse

Freezer Paper Matisse

Even though I have a few reservations with the design, I’m going ahead with it and will see how I feel as I go.  I’m also not sure if I will add other fabrics and hand stitching as I did with the QFM or if I’ll just appliqué and then free motion quilt this one, giving it the versatility to be thrown in a washing machine and dryer, unlike the QFM, which must be dry cleaned because of all the beading, wool, velvet and hand stitching I did.  Also I need this quilt to be finished no later than July, so I’ll see what I end up having time for.

odew-fabric

An Ode To Matisse

I’ve started on the bottom block and am almost finished appliquéing all the shapes down.  bottom-block

I would have gotten more done by now, but got a little way laid as I also signed up for a five week online class with the talented artist Elizabeth Barton at Academy of Quilting.  We are supposed to produce a  small quilt each week. Yikes!!! More on that later…