Collaboration in Isolation: A New Road Map

This is Kris with a short explanation of how the Pixeladies are creating a new road map to help us collaborate in isolation. Let me tell you, it ain’t that easy, but we are not complaining. All of our families are safe and healthy. And, although we have several family members (on both sides!) in the health professions, they are all fine. So how is this collaboration gonna work?

We’re Zooming!

Are you old enough to remember watching the cartoon TV show, the Jetsons, when you were little? The family had these cool TVs that came down from the ceiling when they wanted to talk to one another, and wham! they could see the other person on the TV while they were talking. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! Flash forward to 2020, and here Deb and I are, talking to each other (we’re on the right in the image below) on our computer monitors via the Zoom video conferencing program. The best part is that we can share our computer screens. In this photo, Deb has loaded up our latest project, a portrait of the civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, so that we can discuss how to quilt the piece. I think that in general this is the hardest part of our collaboration, but in isolation it’s quite easy. (The hardest part is actually creating the collage. We haven’t figured that one out yet.)

We’re Texting!

So now we have our assignments. We’ve plotted out how we will proceed with the quilting by drawing quilting lines in Photoshop. Deb is gonna quilt the face and body, then I will do the background. It’s no company secret that Deb is a waaay better quilter than I am, so she tends to do the free-motion stuff. I tend to do the straight stitching, what we fondly call tatami mat stitching. I love the meditative nature of that type of stitching. And, let’s face it, I haven’t yet graduated to putting the feed dogs down. For you non-sewists out there, that’s like taking the training wheels off your bicycle. Here’s Deb texting me an image of her “practice” session for my approval. I say 👍.

What’s Next?

We don’t expect our shelter-in-place order to be lifted anytime soon, so when Deb is finished with her assignment, she’ll get it ready to transfer to me. I’ll take a much-needed Sunday drive and pick it up from her porch! I’ve also asked her to throw in some cotton fabric for me. I have made a few masks for my family, but truth be told, the studio (and all the fabric, threads, and notions) are at Deb’s house. I have had to make do with a length of blue cotton I had brought home for a reason that now eludes me and the leftover Hawaiian print from making tablecloths for my mother-in-law’s outdoor tables. If I want to make any more masks – and not drive myself crazy with just these two fabrics – I’ll need a fabric infusion. I’m pretty sure the sewists among you understand what I mean. And what will I be wearing to pick up my assignment? Why, Deb’s bespoke mah jjong mask, of course! Does she know me or what?!? Stay safe, everyone.