Fabric Flowers

Being out of town, and away from my sewing machine doesn’t mean that I’m away from creativity and fabric!

Every year for Thanksgiving, I go to Daytona Beach for a week.  I fly down – with hubby, sometimes with kids, and this year with friends – and have a solid week of not being home, not having my stash and not having several sewing machines.  It’s my time every year to go low tech with my fabric art work. 

There’s an added challenge to this endevour - I travel light.  I don’t check bags and that means two things:  I don’t have a lot of space and I can’t bring large, sharp objects.  This means my projects have to be small – both in starting materials and in finished product – and have to use items that I can take onto the plane.  I don’t bring much of the projects with me.  I rely upon local shops.  I also take books along on my vacation and when I finish one, I drop it in the library at our resort.  This means that my projects get the space taken up by one to three books.

Two years ago, I brought along one of my jewelry plieers (small, short nose) and stopped at a bead shop.  I made several nice necklaces that I still wear to this day.  Last year, I decided to knit Christmas stockings for my daughter and her significant other.  I bought yarn, needles and a $2 scissor at a local craft store.  I figured that the needles could come back on the plane (they did), but was unsure about the scissors.  That why I bought cheap and I left it in the room when we left.

The stockings that I made were nothing spectacular.  I could have made much better with fabric, the sewing machine and the embroidery machine.  However, that was not my goal.  The goal was to create something out of love for my daughter; something made over time, with my own hands, and demonstrative of my love and care for her.

This Year:

A few days before I left, I went to one of my block of the month groups.  This particular group is a good one and shows new products and patterns for the quilt shop.  That sort of show and tell is a good move for the shop and it worked on me.  One of their new things was patterns for large fabric flowers.  I bought one – an orchid – and decided to make a bunch of them on the trip.  I figured that they will be very nice decorating tote bags and purses, in addition to being very nice gifts on their own. 

The pattern pieces are circles of fabric.  I cut out enough for 18 flowers before leaving home and packaged them up.  I also packed thread, needles, a small scissors (ginghers stork) and pins.  The resort we stay in is a fully equipped condo.  I always have an iron and an ironing board – two tools that I also needed for making the flowers. 

I needed a couple other things, but didn’t have them on hand.  Our first day in town included a visit to the craft section of a local walmart.  I bought a mini glue gun, glue sticks, a sheet of felt, beads and stuffing.  Ok, I did have beads at home but I forgot those and the stuffing.  Stuffing was a bit of a quandary in the store.  The smallest choice in the craft section was a bag of fiber fill the size of a small pillow.  I only needed tiny bits of it for the center of the flowers and certainly didn’t want to bring back that large bag.  After a little thought, I went to the Health and Beauty section and bought a small package of cotton balls.

So, here’s the end product!

How many I’ve completed so far:

Front view of one of the flowers:

Back view of another.  The pin back is another little touch – this will make them good as small gifts for people as brooches.

Mariner's Compass

I don't feel much like writing tonight, so I'm going to fill in with pictures.....

A couple of weeks ago, I took a class at Bear Patch Quilting on the Mariner’s Compass pattern.  I promised pictures and updates – so here goes.

Following my promise to myself to start using more stash, I bought nothing for the class; only grabbed some complimentary fabrics that I already had.  Since the class, I decided to make a full sized quilt using Mariner’s Compass blocks, but not to make the blocks the same – not even the same size.

The class taught me some tips and tricks for this semi-complicated style of blocks.  Then, I have a Carol Doak collection of Mariner’s Compass blocks in a program on my computer.  It allows me to print any of them in any size I want.  I’ve designed a quilt with 26 Mariner’s compass blocks.  The range in diameter from 4 inches (the finished circle part) to 20 inches.  The original block made in class was 12 inches – finished to and 18 inch square with the border around the circle.

Here are the pictures of my progress so far:

The original block from class:

Some more blocks that will finish to 18 inches square like the original:  

With few exceptions, the blocks will have appliquéd center circles like the original.  I have not yet gotten those centers done.  That’s a project to do someday while watching a movie.

A very large block – this will finish to 28 inches square.  It will be the largest block.  I’m not putting it in the center of the however;  there will be no symmetry to the quilt.

Here are some of the smallest blocks that will be in the quilt.  These will be squared to 8 inches.

Coupons, Quilting, Photography and Geeks

Intro

The post today is going to be a convoluted story of different hobbies, different types of people and how they all get connected.  It’s a great study in how the most diverse types of people can actually meet somewhere in the middle.

First of all, there are many types of quilters in this world.  I got into quilting because of two traits of mine.  The first is that I am a creative person.  I consider myself an artist – even though I cannot draw in the traditional sense.  I need paper (or a computer program) that gives me a grid and allows me to draw geometric things.  That’s actually the second trait – my love of things geometric.

My second trait – the geometrical side of my personality – stems from my very rational mind.  Yes, it really sounds like trait one and trait two are polar opposites.  Artistic flow tends to be chaotic and Logical flow… well…isn’t…

I love Art.  Of all forms.  I cannot say, however, if I love Art more than I love technology.  Give me some bits and bytes and I’m in heaven.  I can work all day long in front of a computer and then come home and surf for hours.  While I still read many books, I read on line, connect with friends, plan things, you name it. 

I connect with people who are also “geeks”.  While I cannot develop (program), I understand those who do.  I speak in databases and processing speeds.  In fact, although several of my best friends are also artists in the traditional sense (Cathy, Brandie:  I’m speaking to you), the majority of the people I connect best with work in IT fields.  With few exceptions, IT industry people are not considered to be art aficionados or those who appreciate traditionally non technological fields such as quilting.

Geek Aspect/Hobby – Photography

Photography is another medium (not primary and not minor, but medium) hobby of mine.  This is where the geek takes a bit of a lead.  In 1995, when digital cameras first hit the mainstream market at an affordable price, I bought one.  I had always been interested in photography, but there was too much uncertainty when taking pictures (will they turn out?  Did I do that right?) and not much instantaneous gratification, so I had not invested much time and effort.  The digital camera changed that; I could see right away if the picture was good, and I could take many more without having to change or develop film.  I could also crop and manipulate the photos.

I always stored my pictures on my home computer (with multiple backup copies) but I also printed them into albums.  A few years ago, I purchased space on an online storage (Photobucket.com) site that allowed me to do greater sharing and use of my photos.  In true geek style, I paid for the better site that allowed for more pictures, larger files, and more tools for online albums, etc.  In fact, one of my daughters went through the site and create a calendar for me with family pictures.  It was the best Christmas present.

I’ve taken many pictures of my quilts and I use them to illustrate this blog, for displaying in trade offers (I trade for other products; I don’t sell them), entries to contests, etc.  Quilts are hard to display well for pictures, so I use a lot of cropping and filtering tools.  This is where a digital camera comes in very handy!

It also seems like many other geeks – developers, Systems analysts, DBAs – that I know also have an interest in digital photography. 

Frugal Aspect/Hobby – couponing

When I was a young and very poor, I got into extreme couponing.  I don’t have the time for that now; somewhere along the line, my hourly wage went up enough that clipping, collecting and exchanging hundreds of coupons each week no longer passed the CBA (cost benefit analysis).  However, I’m still very conscious of the price of items, annoyed with inflation, and appreciate a good deal when I find it.  I discovered the new trend of Groupon, Living Social, Crowd Cut and other sites that present a hot deal/deals each day.

One of these deals that I bought was for Vistaprint.  As previously mentioned, one of my favorite presents ever was a photo calendar.  My youngest daughter put it together with pictures from my online storage site.  I decided to do the same this year (including making another for myself!).  The coupon from Vistaprint covered several calendars, but left me with about $4-5 dollars.  It wasn’t enough for another calendar, but it was enough for a small spiral bound photo book with a dozen-twenty photos.

Hmmm…

Quilt pictures?

Sure….. that works

I looked through my online photos, selected around a dozen that were fairly decent pictures and threw together a little book. 

Social Aspect/Hobby - Friday Night Dinners

Today the calendars and the book came in the mail, and tonight we had dinner with our friends.  This is a regular Friday night occurrence.  It’s a casual get together and it’s a rotating group of 3-20 and today was an unusual group.  It was hubby and I, a single friend and two other couples.  Another friend of ours came, and brought SEVEN other people with him.  I’d met two-three of them at another large dinner, but the rest were newcomers to my world. This friend is a DBA (Data Base Administrator) and most of his group (if not all) were IT crowd people.  On my “side” were a quilting friend, a college friend who is a talented seamstress, craftsman of different sorts and a novice (soon to be expert) quilter who works in IT, and the rest – while not quilt people in their own rights – hang around with those of us who are. 

The Quilt Photo Book

I showed the book to my two quilter friends and they admired the quilts.  We talked a little about them.  The next to look at the book were the others from my group.  They looked at them for more the pictures; not being quilters they were less understanding of the quilt techniques.

Now here’s where it gets pretty cool.

One of the guys who I hadn’t met before was into photography.  He’s an IT person.  I whipped out my book and showed him the photos.  I believe that his concentration – at least at first – was on the technique on the photos and he started giving me tips (very appreciated) on how I could edit the photos to enhance the unique lighting problems with that type of photo/subject matter.

Then we got started on how I design the quilts – my use of graph paper, a techie program called Visio (a flowchart/design type of program versus actual quilt programs) and bits and pieces far more related to computers than old fashioned quilting.  The conversation went on for quite a while, with several people commenting and asking questions about the pictures, the quilts and the techniques.

I’m used to a lot of non quilters giving looks of contempt about and not understanding the degree of skill needed for quilting.  There are many people who regard quilting as “cheesy” and/or “homemade” and that quilters are little old ladies who make simple “blankets”.  Tonight, I didn’t get that attitude at all; no, what I got was admiration and interest for the digital photography, the use of the photo book, the techniques for my quilting and the actual quilts themselves.

Conclusion

It was really an interesting discussion and an interesting evening.

Notes:

·         I used Vistaprint for this particular book

·         I use Photobucket for my photos;  you can browse my site from here

·         I printed out calendars and this photo book in the 4 x 6 size

A Tale of Three Quilt Shops

(And of three classes)

I’m going to start with the disappointing experience first, but the other two are not in any sort of judgmental order.

Fat Quarter Quilting in Coon Rapids

While visiting Fat Quarter for the first time during the Harvest Sampler Quilt Shop Hop, I signed up for a paper piecing block of the month and two Friday evenings of open sewing.  I really enjoy blocks of the month programs and although I can sew at home on Friday evenings, I’m trying to make new friends and be more social.

The block of the month program had already started (just one month), but since I really like paper piecing, I thought I’d sign up and learn some new tricks.  The other BOMs that I am doing are all very social and new shop items – fabrics, books, tools – are always demoed.  I expected the same of this one.

The first sewing Friday evening was one week after the Shop Hop.  I went to work with my sewing machine and projects tucked into my trunk, left early and headed to the shop.  I am a contractor and working an overtime job, so leaving work early means giving up billable hours.  This was hobby, and socialization, so giving up pay didn’t matter as much.

I walked into the shop and it was empty except for the person working….. hmmm….

“I’m here for the sewing evening”

She got a look of panic on her face and started apologizing.  She grabbed a discount card and punched it all out while telling me that they’d cancelled it but had forgotten to call me.

Disappointing, but these things happen, right?

Three weeks later, just this past Monday, was the second meeting of the BOM.  I went in with my block done, and once again the store was a dead zone.  I was only about five minutes early.  I asked about the BOM and was directed to the back room where one woman – the instructor – was already there.  Two more people arrived shortly after. 

The instructor was new; she’d just taken over for someone else.  She had not done the blocks – either Month One, or the Month Two being introduced.  She had, however, done block three… ??  But she didn’t show it.  She and the shop steward conferred, dug out the box for the BOM and even had to make up another packet for me. 

Hello???  There were THREE people there and you didn’t have enough pre-made packets?

There was then awkward conversation for about 15 minutes, and then the class was over.  It lasted that long because I asked a few questions and tried to draw it out longer…. To no avail.  There were no demos, no show and tell, no hints, nothing.

I left thinking I would go back the next month, but not again if it was just as bad.

I may, however, rethink that after Chapter Three in this saga.

Tonight was the next Friday sewing night that I’d signed up for.  Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me…. To avoid that, I looked at the website – Yup, still on the calendar.  I packed up my car last night, and once again planned to leave work early.

Hmmm, what if?  So, I called the store.  Remember, the event is STILL on their online calendar.

Nope, she had no idea what I was talking about.  Apparently, there’s some bus tour tomorrow and the Friday event was once again cancelled….

I’m signed up for it….

No one called me….

AAARRRGHH…. That is no way to run a business. 

Bear Patch Quilt Shop in White Bear

I took a Mariner’s compass class there that spanned over two weeks.  Janelle was the instructor.  Note:  she showed a bunch of samples at the beginning AND has a quilt hanging in the shop; she does excellent work.  I wrote about this class in a previous posting.   Yes, I know I promised pictures.  The block is packed up, in the trunk of my car, from the Friday night sewing that I did NOT go to…. I’ll unpack tomorrow.

Janell was knowledgeable, thoughtful and skilled.  I really enjoyed the class partially because of her and partially because of the group. 

People talked to me, we shared tips and tricks, as well as kid stories and complaints about husbands.

I like to use a tweezers for removing paper when paper piecing.  I’m largely self taught and just started doing that.  Sometimes NOT reading something in a book or being instructed on technique teaches you some things that are off label solutions.  I shared my tweezers with the woman next to me and she really like the tip!

Later in the evening, while I was packing up, the same woman returned my hand needle to me.  Apparently she or someone else through her, had borrowed it while I was looking through the store.  She also said that they’d borrowed my tweezers again.

On the surface, this seems a little like taking without asking, and that I should be bothered…

Oh no, quite the contrary…..

This was me being accepted by the group!

The stuff was in the open, and it wasn’t like they were using up anything – this was tools.  I love to share!  I love being valued!  This was great; I wasn’t the awkward new girl (woman) sitting off to the side.  I was one of the group and they felt comfortable using my things.  I’m sure they would have asked had I been at my seat.

Where was I though?  I was tromping through the store looking at things.  And buying….

I’m taking classes to use up stash.  In one of my BOMs, I’ve sworn to ONLY use existing fabric (see this post), but there I am buying more?!?

Bear Patch has a TON of the Stonehenge fabrics.  I really, really want to make something with it.  I saw a class (hang on, I’ll mention it in the next section) that called for 24 fat quarters.  So, I bought them.  Now I have to take the other class.

I’m hesitant in buying anything else at Fat Quarter Quilting (even though I have that punched out discount card) because I really don’t like supporting a business that doesn’t seem to value me.  I apparently didn’t have that same feeling at Bear Patch….

Calla Lily Quilt Shop in Blaine

The class that I bought the 24 fat quarters for is a curved piecing class at Calla Lily.  I posted about them last week and their Professional Tote class. 

I had been going back and forth in my mind about taking the curved piecing class.  It’s something I want to do – think outside my geometric, straight lines, box – but its two Wednesday evenings and means taking off from work at a decent time which can be difficult.  However, I’ve put nearly $75 into some awesome fabrics – I have to do it!

I called to the shop and got Kathy.  I asked if there was still room, and mentioned that I’d been there the weekend before for the Professional Tote class.  She stumbled a moment on my name, but REMEMBERED who I was!!

Oh, that just thrilled me. 

That shows that the business values their customers.

Conclusion

I’m looking for more classes at Bear Patch and Calla Lily.  I’m valued at them.  Fat Quarter… jury is still out, but it’s looking pretty bad.

The Professional Tote

For background:  I'm refereing to this pattern.

I consider myself an advanced quilter.  However,  a lot of that is because I do my own patterns and I’m great at things that are organized and geometric.  Where I fail is clothing, bags, etc.  I’ll give myself a little bit of break though – directions in patterns (especially bags) – can be poorly written.  Also in my defense – that opinion is shared amongst many quilters.  I remember a retreat with my group in which a particular bag was done by many and cursed by all; it was group effort to wade through the printed pattern and achieve a result that resembled the sample seen in a shop.

I’d heard similar things about the professional tote, and thus decided to do it in a class setting.  Please read my previous day's post for some of my trials and tribulations in getting there.

Class was today.  It started at 9:00 am and I made it only a few minutes late.  I had cut out and prepped all the pieces for TWO bags and decided to work on them simultaneously.  I sew rapidly and pick up instructions well, so I decided to try and be an over achiever.

Class was scheduled until 4:00, but we kept sewing;  the instructor – Joanne at Calla Lily Quilt shop – made the determination that no one was leaving until their bag was done.  She felt that it was unfair to teach the basics and then send people home to finish.  I was very grateful for this because the two steps that I had the most trouble with were the very last step and one about 3-4 back from the final.

Side note:  this was my first experience with Calla Lily.  The space was small, but well setup and the amenities provided.  Joanne the instructor was knowledgable and pleasant.  Kathy the owner was around during the class.  Her interaction was minimal (which is very good since she wasn't teaching), but she listened to what was going on and reacted as needed.  At one point, I mentioned that I didn't have the cord locks I needed.  Without me truly asking, she fetched the from stock and brought them to me.

I worked on both bags, and kept up (even ahead of two people working on one bag each!) until I had most of the lining assembled (the outside part was first and I did finish both those).  At that time, I decided that time was getting late and that switching colors of thread was more necessary.  I’d hit the point where there was more obvious top stitching and felt I would go quicker working on one. 

Here is my finished bag:

 A small glance at the inside.  You cannot see too well, but it is lined in orange!

Conclusion:

I highly recommend this bag to people.  I realize that it’s been around a while, and isn’t as trendy of a pattern to do as it once was, but it’s even more timely a product to have.  I’m going to start carrying this in place of a purse.  My ipad will go in the center zippered pouch.  I do, however, strongly suggest doing it with another person who's experienced in the directions; either a friend or a class setting.

Here are my tips and tricks:

·    I made all the pockets in my bags because I’d cut out all the pieces and didn’t want to waste fabric.  Honestly, if I make more, I’ll be leaving off the pleated pocket on the inside.  It’s a lot of work for what it is and I cannot see using it too much. 

·    The straps were piece from 4-inch fabric strips and also took a lot of time to press and sew.  I know a store in Minneapolis – Crafty Planet – that sells colored webbing.  I believe it is 100% cotton.  I would do that for straps if I made the bag again instead of taking the time with the fabric and stitching

·    Cord locks – really cool, but I’m going to look online for colors.  Black is all I found at the quilt shop and white at Joann’s.  Interestingly enough – the Joann’s ones were more expensive and not as nice looking (Dritz brand)

·    Rat tail cord for the side pockets – definitely go to a craft store (Joann’s) and buy in the color of your fabric.  I really liked the look compared to the black cording most people used.

·    Interfacing.  I used a stiff, bondable, thin pellon.  The sample bag that the instructor had was made with a fusible thin batting that was much more flexible.  I did not like either one better than the other.  Different look and feel to each, but neither was bad.  However, next time I’m going to use a much thinner fusible, or even skip it, for the pocket pieces.

Quilting is Social

Even an expert can learn new tricks

Ok, calling myself an expert may be a stretch, but I’m going there!  I need something to feel good about…. 

Since becoming an empty nester, and blowing up a friendship, I’ve been on a campaign to be more social.  Not an easy feat for me… I’m not your typical female, I don’t drink, don’t dance, and don’t like sports.  Hobbies – like quilting – is about it.  So, I’ve signed myself up for a variety of classes in things that sound interesting; not necessarily things I need help with.

So, imagine my surprise when I learned a better way to paper piece!  It’s actually probably the standard method, but since I’m mostly self taught, it’s not how I’ve been doing things.  So, a call out to Janell Dahms- guest instructor at Bear Patch Quilt Shop who is guiding me through the Mariner’s Compass pattern. 

Of course I’ll post pictures when I’m done.

Where I’m going to use this new skill

My entry for the MN Quilt guild challenge this year is going to be paper pieced.  I’ve posted a little bit here before (see this post - Piece seven, new challenge) about Ranae Merrill’s Spiral quilts and the center of the test piece I’ve been designing.

The test piece is now done!  (Ok, the top is, and its sandwiched ready for quilting – there will be another post when I decide how to quilt it.  Perhaps if I follow Janell's instructions, the paper piecing will go a bit easier on the real piece.

The pattern uses 16 triangle patterns and 8 octagon patterns from Ranae’s book.  The arrangement and fill in pieces is my own layout.  Click once on the picture to open in a new window, and then click again to make it bigger if you want to see more detail.

I’ve learned a lot in working with her patterns. 

·         Colors need to be closer together to get a color progression

·         Patterns don’t work as well in smaller bits

·         The all solid/same color for sections works well

·         Planning out and coloring in a blank is a good idea

·         Don’t decide on borders until you finish the piece

I’m actually very pleased with the top, even though I know a dozen things I want to fix before I move on to the actual piece for the contest.  It was a lot of work but I feel an incredible sense of satisfaction getting it done.  Now to decide what to do with it!  I think I’ll take some really good pictures and then trade it to a painter/artist friend.   I have way too many pieces already, and I can’t give it a good display home.    My satisfaction is getting it done!

Back to the Social stuff!

Tomorrow I am taking a class in the Professional Tote bag.  This has been another one of my “everything goes wrong and it’s like pulling teeth” quilting stories.

1 – All the classes that I found for the bag were weekdays.  I can justify taking a weekday off for a retreat, but I really can’t for a class.  No go there….

2 – My Quilting group scheduled a Saturday class/work session for the bag.  Yet!  I signed up.  We have our Saturday classes in the church.  A few days before the class, the church bumped us for a funeral… understandable.

3 – They rescheduled the class…. For when I was out of town!  No go again…..

4 – I finally found a Saturday class for the bag!  I found it less than two weeks prior to the class but there was room!

5 – Monday before the class (yes, I procrastinate), I went looking for my pattern…. Could NOT find it….

6 – Called a friend to ask if I could borrow hers.  Now, I’m HUGE on following licensing.  However, since I’ve already bought the pattern, I see now problem using someone else’s.  But…. She didn’t have it…

7 – Called friend #2.  She had it, but had NO idea where.  I called her Wednesday night (remember, I’ve told the quilt shop where I’m taking the class that I have all the prep work done….).  Thursday, she calls me back, she’s searched her house, and gone to her sister’s, found it, and made me a copy.  I ran to her place to get it, got home at 9 pm and started the cutting. 

8 – In starting the prep, I discovered that I really needed a bunch of notions and that I didn’t have enough fusible interfacing.  (At least not heavy enough)

9 – Friday:  I raced through work.  I have extra hours in early, so I convinced my boss to let me leave, with the promise that I would finish the work on Saturday/Sunday (I can dial in from home).  Left and went to Joann’s.  I really don’t like the Roseville Joann’s – long line, dirty store, etc.  However, with my 40% off one item coupon (interfacing) and a 25% off everything, my purchase went from $48 to $34.

10 – I really need to learn to read ahead, pay attention, and follow directions better.  I think I know more than I do.  I’ve made some wrong cuts, and have to use some other fabrics for pieces when I’ve run out of what I planned.  I think I have it organized well – that the makeup fabrics will blend in and look planned (i.e. on pockets, etc.).

So, let’s see what tomorrow brings.  It’s midnight, I’m still up, and due to the meds I take, probably won’t sleep for a couple hours yet.  Hubby has set the alarm for 8:15.  If I leave by 8:30 (everything is packed), I should roll into the shop for the class either right on time or just a few minutes late.  Thank goodness for GPS!

Cross your fingers that I make a friend or two tomorrow.  I could really use some.

More to come…. As always….!!

Closing quip

Having an adult daughter who shares my hobby is so fantastic!  We went to Wal-Mart tonight for a wander around, buy some staples, old married/committed people’s night out.  I found a Fisker’s rotary tool in a zebra print.  I showed Ana, and she seemed to find it as cool as I did.  At $12.97, it was certainly affordable, so I bought one for each of us.  I know she’ll use it, which just makes it so much more fun to buy!  We are quilting twins now!!! (Remember that phrase from grade school?)