Pinterest

Thanks to Kelsey of Kelsey Creates, I got a Pinterest invite!!! I've been having TONS of fun browsing all the inspiring images over there! Pinterest is absolutely chalked full of art and just dripping with good taste and creativity. I have 5 invitations and I'd love to be able to give them to my readers who are interested (and don't happen to be part of Pinterest already). Leave me a comment or an email if you're interested in an invite!!

As far as my creating life goes, I've  been quite busy! I'm currently working on two quilts (still in the piecing phase), but I'm only going to do little peeks because these have a somewhat secret destination they'll be headed for upon completion. 'Hope to be able to say more about that soon!

I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend. Last week my baby boy turned 1 and my dad turned 71!!! We had fun :)

Happy Mother's Day (yesterday)

Happy Mother's Day (belatedly) to all the wonderful mamas out there! It truly is the most amazing, life-changing job there is. I was blessed to spend yesterday not only with the 4 little cuties that have made me a mom, but with my own sweet mom as well! It was a beautiful day. 

You may be thinking "deja vu" here - but I loved Anna's 241 Tote Bag pattern so much that I decided to make one for my mom as well!

This is a special gift because I used some vintage linens that my mom had given me some time ago for the outer center panel and for the lining. The outer side panels are Kona solid in Buttercup. I'm pleased with how the bag turned out and although my mom ususally prefers bigger bags (maybe I'll make her a Birdie Sling for her next gift?), she really liked this 241 Tote - especially the color palette... and she liked seeing her pillow cases again :)

I hope your Mother's Day was as lovely as mine was!

Fabric Tuesday #34

I'll start out by saying that I am having a fabulous time getting to know my new machine! It's been great trying out all the new features that I didn't have on my Brother (which I still love and feel is a fantastic machine - espeically for starting out!! The most user-friendly machine I've seen!).

I'm linking up to Quiltstory's Fabric Tuesday again this week :)

Here's what I've been working on - just finished up yesterday: a sleek 241 tote bag!

I used this wonderful pattern by Anna over at Noodlehead. I love her blog - very inspirational! She's got some wonderful patterns for sale and several nice tutorials as well. I first saw this pattern over on Heather's blog. It's another wonderful one to check out if you haven't already.

More about the bag: I used Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane (that I won a few months ago from this blog) for the exterior center panel and the lining of the bag. The exterior side panels are Kona solid in Taragon (love this color!) and the pockets and strap are some really nice natural linen I found on sale a while back. I love the texture the linen adds! I added an interior pocket in the Taragon, too. I personalized the bag with a small detail - a tag on the strap with one of the sweet stitches on my new machine ("love").

I really enjoyed making this bag and the pattern was great - very easy to follow instructions and great photos. I would recommend it highly. The only change I made to the pattern was that I made the strap a little bit longer - I'm long-waisted (and short-legged... *boo*hiss*), so I cut the strap 30".

Happy Fabric Tuesday :)

!!!

Well, meet my Mother's Day, Christmas, birthday, and anniversary present for the next 7 years or so. I actually got an incredible deal on this machine. To make a VERY long story short: I got this virtually brand new (20 hrs. of sewing on it) Janome Horizon 7700 for almost $1000 less than the price I was quoted for a new machine by my local Janome dealer. I know what you're thinking: "But, but, but what about the free lessons? What about the service? What about the warranty? Why would someone sell a machine with only 20 hours of sewing on it - must be a lemon!"

Here's the long and short of it: this was an "impulse buy" of sorts by the original owner. She bought the machine to put on a quilting frame to make art quilts. After the purchase, she talked with the lady she's buying the frame from who told her that this machine was absolutely not the right one to put on a frame - she needed a non-computerized, straight-stitch only machine. She was going to trade it in for said straight-stitch machine, but the dealer she bought the Horizon from didn't carry machines like that. SO - she decided to find a buyer for it. ME! 

I did my homework before buying this machine. I called the company and the dealer she bought the machine from. I scoured the internet for reviews and red flags. I ran numbers. I found out that, although the company warranty doesn't technically transfer to me as the second owner, the dealer she used would, in fact, teach me how to use the machine (for free) and perform any needed service and repairs (just like they would have for a first owner). Fantastic news!

So that's the somewhat short version of how I ended up with this AWESOME sewing machine. I can't wait to see what this baby can do :)

Fabric Tuesday

I'm sharing my latest little project here and linking to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday link party (thus, the new button on my sidebar)! 

I made this little guy to practice once with Heather Bailey's adorable Ellie and Olphie pattern before I sew up those big brother and big sister gifts I talked about here. I'm pleased with how he turned out - this pattern is truly darling! I didn't add any embelishments to him since he is going to live on my husband's desk at work - I wanted him to be rather low-key. As low-key as you can be when you're a cutie little argyle elephant!!

Here he is inspecting some drawing mark-ups

 And double-checking that project log

My husband is so sweet for appreciating my creations enough to house one on his work desk! What a guy.

Happy Fabric Tuesday!

"Modern" vs. "Traditional"... Hm.

For those readers who are primarily interested in seeing pictures and descriptions of what I've recently made, I must apologize in advance for this post. It will (probably) not include any of that.

I'd like to thank Rachel (who's blog is Stitched in Color) for inspiring this spin-off post from her brilliant (and dare I say brave) post about things we all normally wouldn't say. It can be found here. It is very worth the read as are the comments, if you are so inclined. Rachel shared some real honesty about sewing/quilting trends, fabric lines, patterns, and the like - and then invited her readers to do the same in their comments... AND THE FLOOD GATES WERE OPENED! Okay, a little exaggeration there, but truly - these sewists and quilters have had a ton of real, meaningful thoughts they've been tight-lipped about and Rachel's post seems like it's been just the nudge we all needed to spill our guts!

I my comment, I shared 2 thoughts. One was about my desire for the quilting bloggers out there to share info. about their sewing machines... I mentioned this because it's not something I would probably ever ask in a comment on one of the blogs I follow, but you better believe I'm scouring all the photos of their studios for glimpses of the machine(s) they use!!!

The other issue I mentioned in my comment on Rachel's post was the discouragement I feel as  new quilter when I read posts about the "fresh, modern" style of quilting vs. the traditional (read: "unoriginal", "boring", "lame") style of quilting. On more than one occasion, I've read a post in a blog or photo comments on Flickr that have left me feeling none too hopeful about my own emerging quilting style and abilities. When folks out there write that using quilt kits and fabric collections rather than designing original patterns and selecting your own fabric is, well... "uncool", I have to admit it's discouraging. Perhaps they're not talking about beginning quilters... perhaps they're calling for established quilters out there to stretch their artistic selves... that's all fine and good, but for those of us who are not exactly savvy or experienced in this art form yet, it does little more than discourage.

Bottom line, here's how I see it - I look to quilting blogs for inspiration. Period. I'm not here just  for tutorials (though I appreciate them ever so much) or free fabric (not that I don't enter giveaways) - I follow blogs and peruse Flickr to see quilts and sewn items that are beautiful, that capture my interest, and that get my own creative juices flowing. I think the reason that I get discouraged by the types of postings I mentioned above is because the quilts that inspire me the most are what I would call "modern". The style is something I aspire to. When I read that using a collection of fabric or someone else's pattern to make a quilt is not REALLY "modern", it is discouraging because it removes me that much further from the style I aspire to. For example, at this point, I would never dream of joining a "modern quilt guild" even though I would love to... I feel that my quilting isn't "modern enough" due to the fact that I use "unoriginal" ideas to create my quilts. Another facet of this issue that puts me off greatly is that it reminds me a lot of 6th grade. I was almost a cool kid in 6th grade. I liked the cool kids' style. I talked to them. I asked my mom to buy the same jeans, black t-shirts, and button-up flannels that they wore (give me a break - it was the early 90's). If you put us all side-by-side you might mistake me for one of them. BUT - I wasn't.

REALLY??!?! Do we as adults need to recreate the adolescent angst we went through in childhood? In our creative community of all places? "Well, you call your style modern, but I don't think what you think is modern is really modern" That's clique talk... and it puts me off.
Here is a quote from the comments on Rachel's post that illustrates perfectly some of the thoughts and feelings out there which make me feel... well... bad, less-than, non-original, and totally unmotivated to create things which I would like to call 'modern':

"It's probably because I'm in art school and studying graphic design so I see what "modern design" looks like right now. There are quilt designs out there claiming to be modern but obviously, it's not. It's either too complicated, too messy, the fabric choices are incorrect...whatever. Before you call yourself a modern designer, you need to know what that even means!!!"

Here are a couple more quotes from the comments on Rachel's post that show me that I'm not alone in my feelings about this "Modern?" issue:

"Hey, sistas, put your big girl panties on and stop trying to 'prove' if modern quilts or traditional quilts are better. Who cares?"

"I hate that even though quilters are supposed to be open and welcoming to all, everything seems so clique-ish. I would love to participate in swaps, but you have to have participated in swaps before you can join a swap...really? "

Interesting quotes, huh?

I'd love to hear feedback from you! Do I just need an attitude adjustment?!?

WIP Wednesday

Well, this is my first stab at a WIP (work(s)-in-progess) Wednesday post (see new button on my sidebar)! Fun!

Here is my newest WIP:

You may recognize a pinwheel in this layout from this post - IT'S A BOY :)

The layout has turned into this...

 I scattered the pinwheels (Lily and Will by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda) in with some Kona solids and backed the quilt with a yummy snuggle flannel in a sweet baby blue

 These technically aren't a WIP yet (because I haven't started them), but these adorable elephants (Effie &Ollie pattern by Heather Bailey) will be going to the new big brother and big sister of the new baby - I've found from experience that gifts REALLY help ease the blow of the new addition to the family for the new siblings :)

Other current WIPs include: a Kate Spain 12 Days of Christmas quilt from a kit (for a client) and a scrappy quilt I am finishing to send to Quilts for Japan (just have to bind and ship).

Projects on the horizon: a quilt for my little guy's 1ST BIRTHDAY next month!! Where has the year gone?! I'm planning to use this adorable Hooty Hoot collection by Riley Blake:

Happy Wednesday!!!