Flower Mask and Death to the Deck

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

8 Responses

  1. Leah, I am glad you are back to just writing. I have missed that. Yes, I learn lots from your tutorial, but your "chats" are like hanging out with a friend. Don't worry too much about people's opinions, it is their problem. Do what makes you happy with whatever form of art you choose to do. Thanks for your blogging and teaching. Liz

  2. Claudia Wade says:

    Leah – I love the mask and I imagine it will be very well received. And I know what you mean about renovations. It always feels so great afterwards.

  3. Donna says:

    I love your artwork! It is original and innovative!!! Don't let the negativity in!!!

  4. QuiltShopGal says:

    I think your flower mask is beautiful art and certainly creates a joyful feeling everytime I see it. And I'm sure many others feel the same. Don't feel it is not worthy of being labeled as "art". Your deck estimates about caused me to go to the emergency room. We replaced a similar deck, a few years back. Ours was smaller, outside of a bedroom. We rarely used the deck, so I always felt the replacement was a waste of money. I like your idea of changing the window. Probably a much better decision.

    QuiltShopGal
    http://www.quiltshopgal.com

  5. I think the flower mask is AMAZING. I'm betting it would be a huge hit at Mardi Gras, not to mention the wearable art fashion show!

    My negative voices have roped and tied me for the last few months while working (or trying to work) on a landscape quilt (in between easier and safer bed quilts). Never has a landscape quilt stymied me like this, and for various reasons (not enough different fall fabrics and light tones, how and where to place shadows, with no photo for reference, how to make the water look more like water than green woodgrain, and so on and so on, ad infinitum. FINALLY I said to myself, "Hey, let's make this an experimental quilt and not even worry about whether it sells or not, and try some methods of stitching and piecing I haven't tried before." That was all it took. It's been full speed ahead since then. Sometimes I forget to be playful and just go with the flow. It always pays off when you do, and your beautiful mask proves it.

  6. swooze says:

    I tell myself I can't quilt. What if it's not good enough. On and on…

  7. Lea, I read youf post yesterday and I have never posted a comment on any blog or web site, but I feel compelled to do it now. I am 70 years young and very active but also grieving the death of mh husband of 45 years in mid 2015. I sold our home in Texas within 3 months and moved to Tn. With my daughter and her famiy, husband and 6 children. Over the years I have done just about every kind of craft imagineable. I made a quilt about 18 years ago completely by hand and never made another one. I loved to sew and but wasn't sure what I wanted to do to help fill my time. I was on YouTube about 5 months ago and saw a link to your Free Motion Quilting Project. You honestly restored some joy into my life and gave me back my creative spark. I watched your review on the Janome MC7700 and found locally very gently used for an amazing price. I love the machine and felt very confident making the purchase after watching your video. I now own 5 sewing machines, 4 Janome and 1 Brother embroidery machine. A little b I t of overkill but I want to teach my teenage granddaughters to quilt and to have their own machine. Now the point of this rambling post. I have read a lot of your writing about your internal struggles and the voices in your head. I want you to know the impact you had on and I am sure many more people that like me don't post things when we probably should. Please know I have watched many, many tutorials and if you have one listed with other quilters I always go to yours first. You have a wonderful ability to make free motion quilting look so easy and fun. I have made 5 quilt tops in as many months and I am going to quilt them myself. I am actually making them 2 sided so will have 2 completed and 1 UFO. I stopped by Hobby Lobby today and there were your huge flowers as soon as you walked in. I LOVE your mask and if I could attend the art show I would!!

    So my quilting friend please know you are more than good enough, have a beautiful spirit and are making a difference. My next quest is to come to a class of yours.
    Good luck with your Deck project. I always loved to make major changes to our home. Keeps life interesting.
    Blessings
    Darlene
    Memphis Tn

  8. Leah Day says:

    Hi Darlene! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story with me! I'm so honored to be apart of your quilting journey and so thankful to have helped you through this difficult time. I cannot imagine what the last few years have been like for you, but I know how healing and wonderful quilting is and I'm so happy to hear you have so many machines to play with and granddaughters to teach. I wish my grandmother and I had spent more time creating together so they are very lucky to have you. Please enjoy the videos and let me know if there's ever a video you'd like me to make for you!

    Cheers,

    Leah Day

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