I love adding pictures to this blog, so of course I had to include something interesting to see. This is my daughter's first completed quilt top. Let me clarify: this is a doll-sized quilt top sewn by her with little to no help from me. I am so proud of her! She had some frustrations along the way, but she stuck with it. I did all the rotary cutting for her, but the piecing and sewing was done by her. This is an adorable flannel rail fence quilt in blue (my girl's favorite color) and green. We have the backing fabric chosen and ready to layer. Of course, the completion of this little quilt is on hold until after the craft bazaar for which we are preparing right now...I'll get back to that in a bit. Yesterday was the second installment of the quilt club at my local quilt store where we learn new techniques or review new ways of doing old things. At the end of these meetings, there is a "show and tell" opportunity where you can bring in something you've recently finished or have in process and show to the group to earn a raffle ticket. There is then a drawing of the raffle tickets to win a small prize such as a charm pack or pattern. My daughter wanted to go the meeting with me so she could show her quilt top and possibly win the prize. Of course, the older ladies all loved her sweet little quilt and she felt very validated despite NOT winning the raffle prize. I was a proud momma again. My girl is trying to build her quilter's "stash" so she asked me if she could buy a fat quarter, and since there was a pattern that was shown during the meeting that I had wanted to purchase, I told her okay. When we checked out, the funniest thing happened. The quilt store has a $1000 fat quarter club in which their computer keeps track of your purchases and when you reach $1000, you receive a tote bag and become a member of the fat quarter club enabling you to get a free fat quarter every time you visit the store carrying your bag. Our purchase took us $.07 over $1000! The other $990 was apparently spent ten years ago, but yesterdays $10 purchase threw me over the edge! This was precisely what I've been talking about. In four years of quilting back then, I had spent $990 in THAT store! That's not even to mention what I had spent in OTHER quilt stores and at the big box craft stores. My daughter was thrilled since this now got her a second fat quarter for her stash, but I was stunned! First, here I am with my little online quilt shop selling fabric and I'm earning my way into a freebie club in a large quilt store on purchases I had made ten years ago. That seemed so ironic to me. Secondly, I was speechless at how much I had been buying then. It just brought me back to the difference in my mentality now from that time. While creating quilts is my true passion, it's now the other areas of creativity that drive me. Designing my own patterns and dyeing my own fabric, preparing kits to make quilting more "user friendly" for the busy lifestyle we all maintain these days and teaching new quilters to love this art as much as I do. I got a big dose of this same reality later last night as I was going through brand new quilt books, patterns and tools I had purchased and never used. They will be getting sold off in my shop and at the craft bazaar-they are brand new and unused. There are books and guides to show how to make all sorts of complicated quilt designs and it dawned on me that those designs no longer appeal to me. Maybe it's my old age, maybe it's my hurried lifestyle, but this girl likes things simple now both in life and in quilts. I also realized that I've never once followed a pattern. I had found one pattern for a table runner that I had made, but the pattern had been more of an inspiration than a guide since I deviated completed and had come up with my own thing. I guess I had been coloring outside the lines all along. This self discovery was liberating. A creative girl had always been trying to come out--I had just buried her in classes, patterns and fabric. That girl is buried no longer though. The craft bazaar that my daughter and I are selling in is scheduled for two weeks from yesterday. I am cutting fabric to make table runner and lap quilt kits--both of which are my own design (my new design software is a huge help in this process), ideas and patterns. My daughter even decided she wanted to make some money, so with me as the silent investor, she bought materials to make handmade headbands to sell. They are adorable and I honestly believe they will be a huge hit. She amazes me more everyday. In the next 13 days, I will be cutting and sewing like a mad woman so I don't know how much blogging will happen but I'll try to keep the updates coming as I can in this quilter's journey.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Quilty Irony
I love adding pictures to this blog, so of course I had to include something interesting to see. This is my daughter's first completed quilt top. Let me clarify: this is a doll-sized quilt top sewn by her with little to no help from me. I am so proud of her! She had some frustrations along the way, but she stuck with it. I did all the rotary cutting for her, but the piecing and sewing was done by her. This is an adorable flannel rail fence quilt in blue (my girl's favorite color) and green. We have the backing fabric chosen and ready to layer. Of course, the completion of this little quilt is on hold until after the craft bazaar for which we are preparing right now...I'll get back to that in a bit. Yesterday was the second installment of the quilt club at my local quilt store where we learn new techniques or review new ways of doing old things. At the end of these meetings, there is a "show and tell" opportunity where you can bring in something you've recently finished or have in process and show to the group to earn a raffle ticket. There is then a drawing of the raffle tickets to win a small prize such as a charm pack or pattern. My daughter wanted to go the meeting with me so she could show her quilt top and possibly win the prize. Of course, the older ladies all loved her sweet little quilt and she felt very validated despite NOT winning the raffle prize. I was a proud momma again. My girl is trying to build her quilter's "stash" so she asked me if she could buy a fat quarter, and since there was a pattern that was shown during the meeting that I had wanted to purchase, I told her okay. When we checked out, the funniest thing happened. The quilt store has a $1000 fat quarter club in which their computer keeps track of your purchases and when you reach $1000, you receive a tote bag and become a member of the fat quarter club enabling you to get a free fat quarter every time you visit the store carrying your bag. Our purchase took us $.07 over $1000! The other $990 was apparently spent ten years ago, but yesterdays $10 purchase threw me over the edge! This was precisely what I've been talking about. In four years of quilting back then, I had spent $990 in THAT store! That's not even to mention what I had spent in OTHER quilt stores and at the big box craft stores. My daughter was thrilled since this now got her a second fat quarter for her stash, but I was stunned! First, here I am with my little online quilt shop selling fabric and I'm earning my way into a freebie club in a large quilt store on purchases I had made ten years ago. That seemed so ironic to me. Secondly, I was speechless at how much I had been buying then. It just brought me back to the difference in my mentality now from that time. While creating quilts is my true passion, it's now the other areas of creativity that drive me. Designing my own patterns and dyeing my own fabric, preparing kits to make quilting more "user friendly" for the busy lifestyle we all maintain these days and teaching new quilters to love this art as much as I do. I got a big dose of this same reality later last night as I was going through brand new quilt books, patterns and tools I had purchased and never used. They will be getting sold off in my shop and at the craft bazaar-they are brand new and unused. There are books and guides to show how to make all sorts of complicated quilt designs and it dawned on me that those designs no longer appeal to me. Maybe it's my old age, maybe it's my hurried lifestyle, but this girl likes things simple now both in life and in quilts. I also realized that I've never once followed a pattern. I had found one pattern for a table runner that I had made, but the pattern had been more of an inspiration than a guide since I deviated completed and had come up with my own thing. I guess I had been coloring outside the lines all along. This self discovery was liberating. A creative girl had always been trying to come out--I had just buried her in classes, patterns and fabric. That girl is buried no longer though. The craft bazaar that my daughter and I are selling in is scheduled for two weeks from yesterday. I am cutting fabric to make table runner and lap quilt kits--both of which are my own design (my new design software is a huge help in this process), ideas and patterns. My daughter even decided she wanted to make some money, so with me as the silent investor, she bought materials to make handmade headbands to sell. They are adorable and I honestly believe they will be a huge hit. She amazes me more everyday. In the next 13 days, I will be cutting and sewing like a mad woman so I don't know how much blogging will happen but I'll try to keep the updates coming as I can in this quilter's journey.
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