It is time to settle in and read some quilting books and magazines!
Ok, ok, I know you are thinking: “Tierney, it is not Winter or a blustery Fall day, no one wants to get a cup of tea and settle in with a book in a cozy chair with a quilt and read.” Alright, so you don’t have to sit inside, you can sit outside, with your iced tea and your sunblock. Inside or outside, I happen to have a recommendation for a publication that I think my fellow quilters will enjoy: Missouri Star Quilt Company’s publication Block.
A couple of months ago I was at a quilt retreat with my “quilt sisters” in the Vancouver, WA area, called Sew N Go: sewNgo Retreat. The retreat owner and host, Nancy, had a collection of these wonderful publications strewn around our retreat workroom area (aka the “Quilting Sweatshop” where quilters sew all day and night and pay to do so!).
Many of the retreat attendees were like: “where did you get these awesome books?”
A month after that I came across an online article on NPR’s website about the Missouri Start Quilt Company: “One Family Revitalizes A Small Town With, Yes Quilts“. After reading the article after looking through a couple issues of their quarterly publication Block while at the retreat, I knew I wanted to give my business to this organization.
As a belated birthday treat to myself, I bought all the past issues of the Block publication as well as a year subscription for future issues.
I have browsed the issues, and plan to really settle down into some serious “quilt publication bonding” when it gets more like hot tea weather!
Waiting on the shelf
Awesome publication!
The cozy reading spot
Sitting my my cozy chair with a quilt on my lap, while drinking tea and reading quilting books and publications is definitely something I am looking forward to this fall and winter.
Yesterday I received an amazing gift: finding out how much a simple handmade gift means to a recipient.
Many years ago (maybe 8 or 9), I made a flannel 12″ x 12″ quilt square into a quilted hot pad and gave it to my friend Cindy as a little hostess gift the first time I went to her house. Years later I had completely forgot about this little flannel quilted hot pad gift.
Last evening I visited her new home in the country, which is a scaled down version of her previous home in the city. She showed me the quilted square I had given her so many years ago. It turns out she has used it as a hot pad for her tea pot for many years, it has been washed countless times, and many friends and family over the years have said: “Wow, where did you get that?”
The best thingI found out last night: when she was scaling back her possessions to move to her new house, the hot pad I made her was at the top of the list of things she was definitely taking. It appears to be one of her favorite possessions.
Wow, I could feel the tears well up in my eyes, I was so deeply touched. Something I made, likely very quickly, to bring as a little thank you gift to someone’s house, turns out to be a constantly used and treasured gift.
Well..in that moment..my friend gave me an incredible GIFT.
Little square for Cindy – washed many times and loved for many years…
POSTSCRIPT: For more thoughts on the rewards of crafting and giving handmade gifts from the heart, see my post Love Wears it Out.
I love sunflowers and years ago (maybe 10) I bought some sunflower fabric I found on sale. I never used this fabric and it ended up in the back of my stash, forgotten.
A couple of months ago I was purging the fabric that I no longer loved to donate to a charity thrift store (see blog post The Fabric Purge!) and came across the sunflower fabric again. I do not have a photo of the original fabric, but 10 years later, looking at it I thought “what was I thinking?!?!?”
It was…well…quite ugly fabric. Little sunflower images with a very cheesy looking patterns and other images surrounding the sunflowers. No wonder it had been on sale 10 years ago!
A quilter friend of mine suggested a Challenge: Don’t get rid of the fabric – cut out the sunflowers and use them as centers in a log cabin style quilt. She offered to give me some coordinating fabric that she was purging from her stash!
I took on the challenge and made the quilt! I just gave to my long-arm quilter the 88″ x 66″ quilt top made with just the sunflower sections of the ugly fabric and coordinating fabric from a friend’s stash! I set the 9.5″ by 9.5″ inch blocks in a Moda paper bag colored fabric. I cannot wait to see what it looks like quilted!
Continuing my series of posts on sources of Creative Inspiration…
HOW ORGANIZING MY SCRAPS GOT ME INSPIRED
Sounds like a testimonial, right?
“At first my life was empty of direction and meaning and then I organized my fabric scraps and suddenly everything was much much much better!” – Anonymous Scrap Hoarder
Not exactly. However organizing my fabric scraps last evening did inspire my creativity!
I love fabric scraps and I have quite a collection. I have several blog posts about my love of scraps. My fabric scraps were getting out of control and were in two fairly large boxes. I enjoy the “hunt” for the right fabric scraps when creating a scrappy quilt, but found I grew irritated with not being able to easily find the colors I want.
So I decided to organize my fabric scraps in two ways, to give me flexibility of how I create with fabric scraps:
By color
All thrown in a box (random)
This new system allows me to create fabric scrap pieces (quilts, pillows, wallhanging, table runners, etc.) based on my “creative mood”. I might want to work on a piece that it focused on oranges, yellows and reds; or I might want to work on a piece that is very scrappy and more random. Now I have two options!
I am interested in working on some pieces in the future that are more monochromatic but with fabric of different patterns and textures in the same general color. Having fabric scraps organized by color will make this design process easier.
As I was organizing my fabric scraps I got very excited as ideas for new pieces ran wildly through my head!
I am fortunate to live in Central Oregon where there are many talented and nationally known quilters/quilting book authors who inspire me, such as Jean Wells Keenan owner of the The Stitchin’ Post and founder of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. Last night I got to meet Quilting Greatness from outside of Central Oregon at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 40th Anniversary Ruby Celebration.
First, I got to see in person the Quilters of Gee’s Bend from Gees Bend Alabama who are descendants/children of the original Gees Bend Quilters (whose quilts were featured on the USPS Stamp Collection as well exhibited in museums such as the Whitney Museum of American Art). In addition to being interviewed on stage by Jean Wells Keenan and telling their stories, they also performed several Southern Gospel tunes.
I also had the chance to chat individually with two dynamic and engaging famous quilters: Fabric designer, teacher, and quilting book author Tula Pink (I am a huge fan of her books) and Rob Appell of Man Sewing (I watch his instructional craft videos and read his blog all the time, so fun to meet him in person!). Additionally, I got to briefly interact with the famous machine quilter Angela Walters – I have a couple of her wonderful books that make accessible to regular machine quilters like me cool modern quilting patterns and techniques and it was great to meet her in person.
This week I started a new schedule for my health care job (the job that keeps the lights on) – I work Tuesdays to Fridays and have Mondays off from work. Mondays are now a day to focus on tierneycreates – making handmade items for my tierneycreates Etsy shop and working on art quilts for The Wardrobe Meets the Wall.
In my previous post, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Crafters, I discuss my crafting goals in the context of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey’s habit #1 is “Be Proactive”. On my first Monday off in my new work schedule, motivated by revisiting Covey’s 7 Habits, I was actually PROACTIVE!
As I stated in my previous post: “Those projects will not just start or finish themselves, Tierney!” Today I worked on 24 new miniature kimonos for my Etsy shop. Miniature kimonos were the first items (besides my vintage Barbie collection) that I offered on the tierneycreates Etsy shop when I first opened it in late 2013. They ended up being more popular than I anticipated and I am adding a new batch. I may stop making them after this batch as I would like to focus on other small items for the shop.
I experimented with some new colors and combinations I have not tried before. I will finish them up with their own unique decorative button and possibly a tassel (if the tassel works with the button and color combination.
A new batch of miniature kimonos in progress, July 2015
It felt good to be proactive and get a new load of kimonos started, even if it was tedious and tiring at times. I am still working towards to achieving my 2015 goal of having 100 items on the tierneycreates Etsy shop and the only way to achieve that is to be proactive and make stuff!
Before becoming a blogger, I did not follow many blogs. Now I find myself following many interesting blogs, including one by a fellow quilter/crafter knitNkwilt. Thanks to one of her recent posts I was introduced to a wonderful website Play Crafts and their free online tool Palette Builder 2.1!
In my post Creative Inspiration: Nature, I discuss how the colors in a photo from Red Rock Canyon State Park inspired an abstract art quilt I created. I manually determined what colors were in the photo and matched them to fabric in my stash. Play Craft’s tool Palette Builder 2.1identifies the key colors in a photograph for you automatically and for free!
Below is a photo I took while in Morrison, Colorado near the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater:
Here is the photo after running it through Palette Builder:
Palette Builder has identified the palette for a piece based on the photo. You could use this palette to create a painting or to design a textile based piece inspired by this photo! Palette Builder appears to be connected with Moda Fabrics (one of my favorite quilt fabric manufacturers) and lists the specific Moda fabric that corresponds to the color identified in the photo.
If I were working on a piece based on this photo, and say using batiks, I would add in additional tones and shades of the colors suggested to include a forest green color for the foliage and perhaps another shade of brick red. However this tool gives you a great place to start on your palette – for free!
I am looking forward to using this tool in designing a future textile piece based on a photo that inspires me creatively!
Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s blog on the Schnauzer Snips page for her latest adventures in managing humans
I HAVE NO PLANS TO EVER OWN OR TO WORK AT A QUILT SHOP
My recent adventures in trying to sell fabric on my tierneycreates Etsy shop has made me realize I never want to own or work at a quilt shop. People who own and/or work at quilt shops are magical and I am more in awe of them than I was before my fabric selling adventure.
Let’s begin with the background that led to this revelation:
I had heard from other Etsy sellers that the more items you had listed in your Etsy shop, the more visitors you would get to your Etsy shop’s page. My original plan for the tierneycreates Etsy shop was to primarily sell my handmade items and to offer some vintage items (vintage Barbies, etc.) from my personal collection. However due to a pesky thing called a full-time health care industry job (which I appreciate keeps the lights on) I have not been able to make as many handmade items for my shop as I like. Plus I want to make useful, well-crafted, items and not try and mass produce anything. After all there is a reason why people go to Etsy for handmade items.
So how do I add more items to my Etsy shop so I can attract more visitors to my shop?
It was my tierneycreates byline that got me thinking: “a fusion of textile and smiles“. I could sell textiles! I surveyed other Etsy shops that sold fabric and thought – I could do that – I could sell fabric on my shop. One major concern popped up: I have small house with limited storage – where would I store bolts of fabric? Another concern: What if no one likes the fabric I carry in my Etsy shop and then I am stuck with all this fabric?
Then I had an idea – I would purchase only bolts of fabric that I would like to use in projects. So if I was stuck with a bolt of fabric that did not sell well, then I could use it in textile projects. I would be very selective only stocking unique fabrics, while increasing the number of items offered in my Etsy shop.
Well that was the plan…
“FAT QUARTERS” DID ME IN
I found a collection of fabric I wanted to offer in my Etsy shop – Peppered Cottons by Pepper Cory. Peppered Cottons are a twist on cotton solids and are like solids with spice! They are considered “shot cotton” as the threads in the warp (lengthwise threads) and the weft (side to side threads) are woven in different colors. This creates to an iridescent or chambray look and the fabric takes on takes on different colors depending on the angle that you are viewing the fabric.
In addition to fabric by yard, I thought it would be cool to try and create fat quarter collections to offer on the shop. If you are not a quilter, a “fat quarter” is a pre-cut section of fabric measuring 18″ x 22″. It is created by cutting 1/2 a yard of fabric along the lengthwise grain (quilting fabric is usually 44″ wide) and then cutting it in in half widthwise. Fat quarters are sold to quilters in coordinating sets of 4 or more fabrics and are a great way to sample a fabric collection.
For many years one of my favorite things to buy at quilt shops were fat quarters. I had watched quilt shop staff cut fat quarter sets. I know how to cut fabric with a rotary cutter, I know how to measure, I thought I could take on cutting fat quarter sets no problem.
Cutting fat quarters nearly broke me. It was not easily learning to accurately cut fat quarters and it took a long time to make up four sets of 6 fats quarters. I wasted some fabric in fat quarter cutting disasters. Finally I got the hang of it and became accurate but it was so much work. I realize I would never want to own a quilt shop or work at a quilt shop and cut fabric.
I WILL STICK TO HANDMADE ITEMS
I am pleased with the carefully curated fabrics I am offering on my Etsy shop, but once they are sold out I am not going to sell anymore fabric by the yard or cut my own fat quarter collections. I may continue to occasionally offer a cool pre-cut “jelly rolls” (collection of 40 – 2 1/2 inch strips used to make quick quilts) in my shop but my days of trying to be a miniature quilt fabric shop are limited!
Check out Sassy the highly opinionated miniature schnauzer’s blog on the page Schnauzer Snips for her latest thoughts and adventures.
This is the last of my series of posts on the 4-day quilting retreat I attended last weekend. In my post Getting Ready to “Retreat” I shared photos of the projects I was bringing to the quilting retreat to work on during the retreat.
So one would expect that they would see on my Design Wall a work in progress (or near completion) that I worked on during the retreat – right?
Nope.
What is on my Design Wall is what should not be on my design wall: a quilt I started at the retreat because someone else was working on it and I liked it! This is how new UFOs (unfinished objects) are born!
My Quilt Sister Barb was working on a pattern called Right on Target by A Quilter’s Dream (2013) at the retreat. It involved taking 2 1/2 inch strips from say a pre-cut jelly roll and making a quilt by essentially making one giant log cabin square-in-a-square block. I happened to have a Hoffman Bali Pop on me (a set of 40 pre-cut 2 1/2 inch coordinated batik fabric strips) which was perfect for this pattern. Next thing you know, I had abandoned what I was working on for the afternoon at the retreat and borrowed her pattern and started making the same quilt!
“Right on Target” quilt made by my Quilt Sister Barb at the Retreat
What is on my Design Wall now
Bali Pop of 2 1/2 inch strips pulled apart for quilt
Of course this only reinforces what I discussed in my post Creative Inspiration: What Others are Working On! I know I am not the only quilter to do this – there is something so engaging when you see a quilt in progress that is very appealing and the pattern is very easy!
What became of the projects that I brought to the retreat? Well the two UFOs in boxes (in the photos in the Getting Ready to “Retreat” post) I did not even touch (I guess I brought them as decoration for my assigned work table). Instead I worked on a log jam project (refer to my numerous posts on Log Jamming), started a new project as mentioned above, went on a quilt store shop hop, ate way too much naughty food, and in general goofed off and visited with quilt friends. My kind of retreat weekend!
Just returned from a 4-day quilt retreat with my quilt sisters and I will blog more about that later. I am still unpacking and sorting out the damage from our mini quilt “shop hop” during our retreat.
I wanted to share this gem that the woman who ran the quilting retreat gave the attendees (a free handout from Ben Franklin Crafts):
10 Good Reasons for Buying Fabric
It insulates the closet where it is kept.
It is less expensive and more fun than psychiatric care.
A sudden increase in the boll weevil population might wipe out the cotton crop for the next 10 years.
I’m participating in a contest – the one who dies with most fabric wins!
Because I’m worth it!
It’s not immoral, illegal or fattening. It calms the nerves, gratifies the soul, and makes me feel good!
Buy it now, before your husband retires and goes with you on all your shopping expeditions.
It helps keep the economy going. It is our patriotic duty to protect the jobs of textile mill workers, and quilt shop staff with cute babies and grandchildren.
It keeps the dust off those previously empty spaces like the dining room table or the living room floor
It keeps without refrigeration, you don’t have to cook it to enjoy it, you never have to feed it, burp it, change it, wipe its nose, or walk it!
– Ben Franklin Crafts
New fabric purchases from the quilting retreat weekend…perhaps there are others…still sorting out…
Last Tuesday evening I took the Log Jam Class at the Stitchin’ Post quilt shop, this time with the actual instructor, Jackie. Jackie is the Queen of the Log Jam (and a wonderful and fun instructor) and I picked up a couple tips I missed when my friends and I made our own class up earlier this year (when our instructor had to cancel so my friends taught me how to “log jam” as discussed in the post What’s on the Design Wall: “Log Jamming” ).
Taking the class again (well taking it for real with the official instructor), got me even more addicted to log jamming. I also learned that the log jamming technique is based on an old African sewing process. I thought it was something the quilt shop had developed, I did not realize it had so much history. Log jamming is such a great way to work through your fabric scrap collection!
So far I have completed 56 – 6 1/2 inch log jam blocks and I have another 30 some in progress. Not sure when I am going to stop working on the blocks and make them into something. Maybe I will just create a huge pile of log jam blocks enough for a couple King-size quilts. But, alas, that will still not put a dent in my fabric scrap collection…
Below is a photo of the basket of coordinating scraps I use while log jamming and my current stack of blocks. My plan is to keep log jamming with this palette until I exhaust this palette of scraps (or I become exhausted from using the same palette!)
Basket of scraps for log jamming and stack of completed blocks
Before I talk about my FABRIC PURGE, I wanted to give a little follow up on my Addicted to Audiobooks post:
I had mentioned in the post that one of the disadvantages of free audiobooks from your local library is a short loan period (14 days for example). Recently I discovered that my library allows up to a 21 day audiobook loan period but you have to set up your account that way! I guess when I first set up my digital book account with my library originally I accidentally selected the 14 day hold as my default. I wish I knew this earlier as recently I was in the middle of enjoying Beyond Willpower by Alexander Loyd and my loan expired! The audiobook has other library patron holds on it so I have to wait patiently until my turn comes around again. Ultimately it is my fault for alternating between three audiobooks at once time – 21 day loans will make it even easier (maybe I can alternate between four or five audiobooks…just kidding!)
FABRIC PURGE!
Sometimes you have to let go of clutter to make space for your creativity. I had collected an unwieldy amount of fabric in my 15+ years of being a quilter. My fabric collection (aka “Stash”) includes purchased new fabric, purchased (from thrift shops and garage sales) used fabric, recycled fabrics (old jeans, manufacturing remnants), and fabric given to my by quilting friends. When I say “fabric” I mean anything from a 1/4 yard to several yards of fabric, not scraps. We won’t talk about my scrap collection at this point…
I had organized all my quilting cotton, non flannel fabrics either by color, by type (Batiks) or by collection in an old IKEA bookcase cabinet. This cabinet was REALLY STUFFED. It was so stuffed that I could not find smaller pieces that have somehow “melted” into the larger pieces. It was time to reevaluate what I really loved and needed in my collection and to let go of that which I do not really love or really need. I had taken Monday and Tuesday off from work for a little “staycation” so I had no excuse not to begin the PURGE!
The purge was kind of painful and tedious. I do not want to discourage anyone from evaluating their clutter and purging, I just want to be honest. I removed all the fabric from the bookcase cabinet and it transformed into a scary mess on the floor. In the spirit of honesty and full disclosure – I did at one point sit on the floor crying and exclaim: “Why do I have this much fabric? I do not need all this!” I had to keep self-coaching to get through the project, reminding myself how wonderful it will be to quickly find the fabric I am looking for and to get rid of what I will never use.
It took two days of sorting through fabric and refolding fabric to complete the project (by the way, I did take many breaks of course and did other things on my “staycation”). I found on Pinterest this wonderful link to instructions on how to uniformly fold your fabric using a ruler so that your fabric will stack easily together: How to Tuesday: Ruler Folding (from a lovely blog – Create Kids Couture). I organized most of the fabric by color (this time I integrated the Batiks) and some by special collection (one shelf). I purged a giant bag of fabric to give my local quilting friends (oh no I am just adding to their stash so they have to purge someday!)
The fabric purge was worth it, despite some brief emotional distress. I feel like I have made room for my creativity by eliminating clutter!
Update: I continue to work through my pre-cuts collection, actually MAKING QUILTS out of them instead of using them to just decorate my studio!
Below is a quilt, “Charming You”, that I created from two packages of charm squares (40-42 squares per package) Moda fabrics. This quilt measures 45″ x 61″ and has a cozy flannel backing. I just got it back from the long-arm quilter and it is ready to put on the Etsy shop!
Charming You (2015). Pieced by Tierney Davis Hogan, quilted by Betty Anne Guadalupe
tierneycreates 