Thursday, March 31, 2011

In Memory of a Dear Friend

Today I'm taking a break from quilting to dedicate this entry to the memory of a friend. A year ago today, my friend Mark commit suicide. I didn't find out until the morning of April 1, and I thought it was an April Fools joke (albeit a joke in extremely poor taste, but every year someone thinks it's funny to make people think they died). I'm sad to say that it was all too real. The last week has been emotionally difficult for all of his friends; his birthday was a few days ago, and now it's the one year mark of his death.

So today I have decided that I refuse to be sad. It's only quarter after 9 and it's proving more difficult than I thought it would be. On Facebook, since his birthday, I keep seeing all of these just awfully sad posts about him. I don't want to be sad anymore. He wouldn't have wanted any of us to feel that way for any length of time. So I'm doing my best not to.

Instead of diving back into mourning the absence of him from our lives, I thinkit's better to celebrate him instead. What all of his friends knew, and what many of the students at WOU knew, is that Mark was a phenomenal artist. I mean, really...this guy was immensely talented. His work was simply amazing. his work is still posted all over his Myspace and Facebook and because of that, I'm posting a few of them here.

He is no longer with us, but his art lives on.







Yes. His work is phenomenal. Second from last is my absolute favorite.

Anyway. I just wish he fully understood how many lives he touched and how many people he affected before deciding live wasn't worth living. He left a tremendous void in the lives of his family and friends - I know I will never meet another person like him in my life...he truly was a unique and rare person in so many ways. I will never forget the moment we had sitting on Chadwick's couch in the middle of his party, talking about the meaning of life and the essence of people; his words continue to resonate with me, and when people talk about the "little things" that make the biggest impact, that was one of those moments for me. I feel blessed to have known him. Rest in Peace, Mark.

Please, if you are struggling, it is completely okay to reach out and ask for help; the people that love you (there are more than you know) will help pick you up and dust you off. If you think a friend is having a hard time, make sure they know without a shadow of a doubt that you are there for them regardless.  Even if they show no signs of pain, just ask if everything is all right. Listen to them, love them and comfort them; they may not want to talk, but even the simple gesture of asking them what's wrong and letting them know you're there makes a world of difference. There is no weakness in asking for help, and no one will judge you for it.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temorary problem: If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please, please, please reach out and get help

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!

I want this quilt. Or I want to make this quilt. I have a feeling there is no pattern, so copying it would be wrongity wrong. But...this is the coolest thing ever!!

Oh, and heads up, if you're not a Halloween lover, then perhaps this link isn't for you. But if you love Halloween, and more specifically, ZOMBIES...then click away!

Sweet Zombie Quilt!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Sunbonnet Sue Saga, Part II

This has become a MONSTER! Had I known what a huge project this would become...yeah, I still would have taken it on. I'm just being dramatic (what else is new?). I decided to halt production on my Sues in order to organize the project because quite frankly, I was getting overwhelmed by all the hundreds of pieces and fabrics flying around.

So I let my OCD side come out and play! for those of you that know me, you know I have my "Aw, screw it" side and my "Sheldon Cooper" side. I was trying to loosen up and let this quilt be serendipitous but it started to get to me in a big, big way. So I stopped trying to go against my nature and I started organizing. I cut out all my fusible pieces for each Sue, and each Sue got her own plastic sandwich baggie to live in; all the pieces are in the bag and the bag is labelled as to which Sue it is (Wales, France, Tahiti whatever). Whew. Feeling much calmer now!

So after getting that done I decided I would work on a couple new ones...this bring the count to 9 I think. Only 40 more to go! *groan*

One day I will have for real, normal lights in my house and I will have a for real camera...but until then please excuse the crappy lighting. It skews all of the colors! The background is actually really a light, cool toned gray.

Atlantis. Ariel with a seahorse! :D

Mexico. Something tells me in rural Mexico they don't carry cactuses like that.

Saudi Arabia. I was happy to get this one spot on with the clothing! That red plaid was a difficult find. Hooray for Mom's stash :D


Even still, I am finding that rooting through my 2 huge bins of scraps is giving me more headaches than making this whole thing easier, so I think I'm going to get even MORE meticulous and sort out my scraps into categories so I can actually find a skin tone or floral or whatever when I need it. You wouldn't believe how long I spend rooting around those bins for the mermaid's Ariel's tail only to find it had fallen out of the bin without me noticing. Dang it! Then I'm thinking I'll just fuse and cut everything out for each Sue and then assemble them all at once, assembly line style. That organization style worked well when I did the Bigfork Bay Wolf and Lion patterns, so I think following the same principle here will do just fine. Next time (if there is a next time...yeesh) I think I will forego the serendipity and just stick to over-organizing. Hey, whatever works, right?

Friday, March 18, 2011

Quilting Basics 101: So many needles, so many types and sizes...so what?

Anyone who has ever had the joy of sewing away on a their sewing machine knows that when things are good, they're great and when they're not, well, things are downright weird. I have 2 machines with 2 VERY different temperaments, and when they misbehave I always seem to sit there scratching my head (and definitely not swearing at it...nope...not I...) and wondering where it all went wrong.

So this time I want to take a minute to focus on our machines - what they need, what they want, and what to do when they decide to take their ball and go home. There are LOTS of blogs out there with varying opinions and information on what I'm going to talk about, so I recommend doing a search and reading up on their information too. I'll post some links along the way (they'll be the ones in green and underlined), and they are the places where I supplemented my information. I think for the first time, I'll focus on choosing a needle...because even though it sounds like a "so what?" kind of thing, it really is relatively important!


Yes, the Needle You Use Matters!
Up until recently, I thought that a needle was a needle was a needle was a needle. I didn't get why they would need to sell anything but Sharps - I mean, excluding the Twin Needles, they all look dang near the same, so big whoop, right? Wrong! The needle you choose does matter. Using the incorrect needle for the job can mar your fabric, snap your thread, cause tension issues and wreak general havoc. Okay, so that last part is an exaggeration, but it sounds good, doesn't it?

Okay, so first things first. When I started buying needles I had no flippin' clue what the numbers on the front of the needle pack meant. 80? 90? 12? 14? What the heck is that even supposed to mean? Well, like the gauge on wire, that number refers to the size of the needle (thickness). Normally the pack will say something like 90/14 or 80/12 (okay, so I may have those numbers reversed...but for the sake of example...). All that is, is the Metric measurement/the King's System measurement (for my U.S. readers, the King's System is what we use). It doesn't matter which you go by, just so long as you understand what it means. For my overseas readers, the 70/80/90 is for you; for my U.S. readers, the 10/12/14 is for you. It's also worthwhile to know that the smaller your needle size, the smaller the eye of the needle will be. That's something to keep it mind.

So why the different sizes? It all has to do with the task at hand. Are you planning to stitch on something sheer, or something heavy like canvas? The thicker your fabric, the thicker your needle will want to be. Large needles will mar fine fabrics, and small needles may burr or break in thick fabrics. Sew, Mama, Sew laid it out the best...I can't say it better, so I won't!:
  • Delicate Fabrics: When sewing with fabrics such as silk, chiffon, voile, fine lace or organza a fine “size 9″ needle would usually be the best choice.
  • Lightweight Fabrics: When using lighter weight fabrics such as synthetic sheers, batiste, taffeta or velvet would a “size 11″ needle would be the normal choice.
  • Medium Weight Fabrics: When sewing with slightly heavier weight fabrics such as gingham, poplin, linen, muslin, chambray, wool crepe, flannel, knits, jersey, wool, wool suiting, or stretch fabrics a “size 14″ needle is generally best.
  • Medium-Heavy Fabrics: Sewing with fabrics such as gabardine, heavy suiting or tweed would require a “size 16″ needle.
  • Heavy Fabrics: When using heavy weight fabrics such as denim, ticking, upholstery or canvas a “size 18″ needle is the most suitable.
 So you know the needle size you need, but what kind of needle should you use? There are so many brands and types out there, so how do you know? Well, everyone has the brand they prefer, which they figure out through trial and error. I'm a Schmetz girl, and I absolutely do not like Klasse needles. But that's just me! You either all ready have your brand of choice, or you'll find it so no worries there. As far as type goes...there are several to choose from and each are suited for certain tasks. These are the most common, though there are many more:

  • Sharps: These are my default needles. I use them for most things, but really they are intended for tightly woven fabrics (like Batiks) or for fabrics that are finer in texture, like silks. The needle itself is tapered, thinner and very, very sharp so it doesn't disrupt the fabric quite as much.
  • Universal: They are what they sound like; they're good for just about everything. While not as sharp as sharps (these have an ever-so-slightly rounded point), they still are very sharp and get the job done on most fabrics. When you buy a machine, this is usually the type of needle it comes with.
  • Quilting/Betweens: These are meant for quilting your quilt sandwich. They are designed with the length of the needle being very strong to withstand having to pierce several layers of fabric and batting. Even in the larger thicknesses, the eye of the needle is fairly small.
  • Metallic: If you are using metallic or monofilament thread, these needles are Godsends! If you try and use these threads in other needles, they have a tendency to strip and break, which, spekaing for myself, sends me into a tailspin of frustration and...not...swearing at my project. The eye of the needle is a little smoother and has a very thin coating of Teflon (or something very similar to it) to help ease the thread through with minimal damage to it as it pierces the fabric.
  • Ballpoint: These needles are meant specially for knits and wovens. They do not work well with quilting cottons, fine fabrics or heavy weight fabrics. These needles have rounded points rather than sharp ones (though I still wouldn't want to step or sit on one...youch!), which means they push between the fibers rather than piercing through. It's a needle you'd use more often in garment sewing and general sewing than in quilting, though you may in quiling on occasion.
  • Jeans/Denim: This needle is a real workhorse. It is not suitable for most quilting cottons or finer fabrics; it is definitely meant for denim and canvas weight fabrics. It is very sharp and the eye is slender, to help facilitate its movement through thick fabric. It is also more resistant to breakage than most other needles.
  • Embroidery: The eyes of these needle are larger to accomodate heavier weight threads and thicker, more decorative threads. The eye is longer and the groove along the length of the needle is deeper to help protect the thicker threads. If you have an embroidery unit on your machine,or you do art quilting, this is a needle you will use fairly regularly. In general sewing and quilting, you may not use it quite as much.
As far as the life of a needle goes, really (if you're the perfect quilter in an ideal world...or just very attentive to these things) you should changeit every project to be sure that you have a fresh, sharp needle. If your needle is dull or has a burr (which can happen from it nicking the bobbin case...or more likely, from running over that pin you "never ever ever" sew over), it can cause issues ranging from breaking your thread, marring your fabric or throwing off your machine's tension. If you hear clicking or popping while you sew, if your thread keeps breaking, if your machine is skipping stitches or if your fabric is tearing where the needles enters, change your needle - it is either too dull or it has a burr in it.

If you needle is dull, burred, or if you run over a pin (which I know none of us would ever do *cough*) your needle can break. If your needle breaks, usually the thread will keep the 2 broken halves together and it's an easy fix. But sometimes, and this really bites, but the point will fly off and hit you (my insolent broken needle hit me in the forehead once, no joke) which could be bad, or it can get stuck down in the bobbin area of the machine and really screw things up. I haven't had the latter happen to me *knock on wood* but I do know that it can happen.

Anyway, if you've lasted this long, I hope this was helpful and informative!

Sources: Sew, Mama Sew and Quilt Bug

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Quick! Someone make this! (not me!)

This would be amazing if it were chocolate!!

And it's a real cake. A lady in St. Petersburg, Russia made it.
Thank you Internet! :D

Sunday, March 13, 2011

First some bragging then some blogging!

Okay. First the bragging. My friend Isabelle (one of my besties, in fact) has just started quilting. I helped her through her first one, but I made her do her second one on her own :D I knew she had the skills, it was just a matter of getting the supplies and doing it!
This is her second quilt. She did a fabulous job!!! She texted me the picture right after she finished. She was so excited, and I was excited for her!

My God. I've created a quilting monster! It's alive, it's aliiiiiiiiiive, IT'S ALIII- *cough* Congratulations to Isabelle on her newfound quilting addiction :D


Now onto the blogging. So apparently I've become the free motion, embellishment girl at the shop. I'm totally okay with that! I love the freedom that free motion gives me to let projects just evolve...and really, the embellishment is the icing on the cake!

One of my favorite embellishment items is Angelina Fiber. This stuff is COOL. It is a synthetic fiber that bonds only to itself, so it lends itself to ann kinds of neat techniques. All you need is some plain paper, some Angelina, and an iron set to your silk/wool setting.
Angelina comes in packs like so. The fibers themselves can either be straight (like above) or crimped. I prefer the crimped style, because I like the texture it has.

So what am I getting at? Last week I walk into work and there's a big ol/bag of Angelina waiting for me and at the bottom of the bag, a pattern for an Angelina covered fabric bowl. Yes, yes...I flipped out. It was cool! So I grabbed some Timtex and a few fat quarters and got to work. Do I have any photos of that process? Nope! I didn't think that far. Honestly, this was a free motion project that just kind of fell together. I didn't know how it was going to go until it hapened, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

So there's the bowl. It's a lot pinker than what the picture shows. iPhone camera + fluorescent lights...you know the drill. Anyway. Those little bags are snack packs of Angelina fibers. The cool thing about Angelina is that you can mix colors! I mixed the two above with a purple shot gold. I fused them together to make the center of the flower. Once you fuse your Angelina together, you sew the fused piece whever you want it to be on your fabric. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

So here are some more pictures that show the detail of the Angelina and the quilting:


I used a regular Gutermann cotton thread, and a cotton Sulky Blendables variegated thread in the stippling. I like the angelina to still have loose fibers, so I just really lightly stitched it down. Does that make the bowl functional? Nope. But it sure turned out neat!

When I brought it into the shop, I was informed that "Oh, good! You can teach a class then." lol. Okay then! So if you're interested in maing an arty little bowl and learning to use Angelina, keep your eyes open at the shop for details!

Today when we went to E.E. Schenk's, I scored some Decolourant. What is that? Basically, it's a fabric dye that removed the base color of the fabric when it is applied, leaving only the color of the dye. This means you cna make your own custom pieces of fabric...you can dye prints on black fabric witout compromising the effect of color on the black fabric! If that doesn't do the trick, think of it like a hair dye that both bleaches and dyes your hair at the same time. Cool, huh? I'll be posting about that soon, once I figure out the technique...and I promise I'll take better pictures of the process!

Well, as usual I'm blogging into the late hours of the night, and after losing an hour of sleep (oh the pitfalls of "springing forward"...yuck.) I'm absolutely bushwhacked.

Have a good night everyone, and happy quilting!

Friday, March 11, 2011

The next time anyone claims that our Planet is a passive entity, I will slap them in the mouth.

I just saw on Facebook and CNN that an 8.9 magnitue earthquake (in other words, this is HUGE...Chile was just over 9 point mag.), with 10m tsunamis hitting the coast. The live feed is on CNN and it is terrible. While they are comending the Japanese people with their calmness and practice for these situations, it's just crazy. There are huge fires, infrastructure shut down, the Yen apparently plummeted according to CNN, not tot mention missing people from the quake and tsunamis.

This is a really serious situation. It is just an awful reminder that we live on a strong and living planet, not a passive and powerless rock. Plate tectonics is alive and well.

Keep your thoughts and prayers with the Japanese affected by this awful disaster. I imagine there will be many people hurting and displaced by this; while there are frequent earthquakes in the area, this magnitude doesn't happen ofetn anywhere. Keep your eyes open for quilt charities to send comfort quilts to the displaced. Links to follow.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Just a thought.

I want to make a Charlie Sheen quote themed quilt. I really do. His nonsense is my latest addiction. In all honesty, I'm not laughing about his mental illness - this guy needs help in a very serious way - but the words that come out his mouth...I swear...

Adorable baby sloths quote Charlie Sheen. Click it. It's funny.


I could see something like that getting turned into an embroidered wall hanging. Definitely not a mainstream pattern...

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Quilt Police! Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna when they come for you?

Okay, y'all who know me personally know I am a rant-o-holic... I have a soapbox and I'm not afraid to use it! As my brother so delicately said (as has been joked about ever since...) when I get annoyed it's "screech first, ask questions later." I don't claim to be a patient person 100% of the time :D  So what am I standing on my soapbox and screeching about this time?

The dang Quilt Police. Or, the people who think they are. Ask them; they'll tell you!

So what brought this on? Well, first of all, I was watching my DVR-ed episode of Fon's & Porter's Love of Quilting and I've more or less decided I am not the biggest fan of Miss Marianne Fons. Her information is all right, I use some of her methods and some I don't. But I find her all kinds of snooty, at least as she hosts the show. Her way is the best way. Period. Tonight she was particularly eye-roll inducing so it got me to thinking about uppity "my way is the only way" kinds of quilters. For the love of Pete, if you fall under this category...  r  e  l  a  x. There are other ways.

But then I was bouncing around the internet looking for links to share on the newsletter for the shop and I stumbled across this rather irritating little nugget on another quilter's blog, in an article in which she discussed her opinions of a local quilt show she attended:

"I have to say, a lot of the art quilts just were not doing it for me this year.  This is a little internal war I have with myself whenever I go to a quilt show.  On the one hand, I am so glad that nontraditional techniques have been embraced by the quilting establishment.  I’ve read about the controversy when Carol Bryer Fallert won at Houston with a — gasp! clutch pearls! — machine quilted quilt in 1989.  (Perhaps I should put “quilt” in quotation marks, as every right-minded member of the Quilt Police knows that only hand-quilted quilts deserve to be called quilts.  Sniff!)  Ahem.  Anyway.  I’m glad that those of us who machine quilt, use fusible web or Paintstiks, etc. can all play in the sandbox too.  Which is why I get uncomfortable when I find myself standing in front of a quilt at a show and thinking, “That’s not really a quilt.”  I don’t want to be a part of the Biddy Brigade, but at the same time, I don’t want to be so open-minded that my brain falls out." http://sarahlovesfabric.com/tag/quilt-police/

So. Someone has acknowledged the big, rude elephant in the room. Number one, how exactly does finishing methodology determine what contitutes a quilt? Artistic technique changes over time and norms evolve. Granted, this is difficult to accept in a lot of ways for all generations involved - there's the way it was being confronted by the way it is, there's the nostalgia and stereotype existing in contrast with the reality. I get it. Heck, I studied that in depth (that was my thesis in Anthropology for goodness sake!). But for people to discredit the art and deny a quilt the title of Quilt because it wasn't done by hand is positively ludicrous. It goes back to the shift in purpose and the evolution of the art - if a craft is to survive it cannot remain static; new method come in as others fade away or simply remain (the latter being the case with handquilting...I have a blog entry about handquilting even).

Her mention of Quilt Police got me to thinking about Quilt Police in general. Every quilter knows a Quilting Police Officer. This person is usually undercover, but they may be in uniform:
Maybe something like this?

But there are the folks that, on a consistent basis, are the ones to find and point out a fault in what you're making. They're the ones to tell you you're doing it wrong on the basis that you're not doing it their way, not because you're actually doing it wrong. They're quit to criticize, and on the flip side don't take it well if someone in turn points out a mistake they made. These are the people who discourage personal preference and improvisation because "everyone knows" that there should be 20 stitches per inch on bindings (which should all be cut to 2.5") or the pattern said "this piece shall be blue."

I've only been at this in seriousness for 2 years, and I consider myself a pretty confident beginner, but jeezy chreezy! I have some pretty strong perfectionist tendencies (ask mom...I can be meticulous...which is putting it nicely lol) but if that's how quilting is supposed to be, then cuff me, take me to Quilter's Prison, lock me up and throw away the key because I think that blows! 

We're all ready our own worst critics; we don't need another person assessing our artwork or our skills and telling us it's crap. It happens way too often; ask your quilter friends or read the blogs about the dark side of the Quilt Police in the blogosphere - I think everyone has (or will have) an unpleasant encounter with an unruly Quilt Police Officer. So how do you handle it? Well, I'm not the best person to ask, honestly. I'm a little too quick tempered to handle it with grace no matter how bad I'd like to. Usually I just say, a little sharply that "Yeah well, that's how I prefer to do it/Yeah well, I'm happy with how it turned out/Yeah well, I like these colors a lot, but I guess it's an acquired taste." Probably the better why to handle it is to smile nice and big and just let them know that the beauty of quilting is that every quilter has their own unique eye and taste in color and thank God there aren't any quilt police because there's just no "right" way :D

How do we stop Quilt Police? We don't! That behavior is part of any art - the gallery snobs, the cinematic elitists, the comedy purists - the line is drawn where criticism ceases to be kind, contructive and supportive and and begins to be elitist, tactless and know-it-allish. I know I find myself letting their negativity color my view of my work, and I know others do too. No one likes to be told their work or methodology is mediocre or sub-par, especially if it's something they're happily sharing at a quilt show, like the gal was talking about in the blog quote above. But that's where we have to take it upon ourselves to remember that the beauty of quilting is that everyone has a different vision and these Quilt Police hold no sway in the satisfaction and pride we have and take in our own work. We all have our Quilt Police moments. Not everyone will like everything you, me, our friends, professional designers make and that's okay...the key is being respectful of the fact that someone put love and effort into their work and that is reason alone to be tactful and just admire the meaning behind the piece for the person who made it even if you think it's bum-ugly :-)

Friday, March 4, 2011

Just a Quickie.

This is just a quicky post. It's late and I'm tired...it's been a loooong week.

But how's that for a quickie little wall hanging? The pattern was super easy...and I'm in LOVE with the border print and I've been hunting for an excuse to use it for months.

I'm definitely TRYING to branch out. I'm an intense color girl; I like color to reach out and slap you in the eyeballs! So this time I tried to make it a little softer. Sure, there's red and orange in there, but the beige background and the striped vase kind of calm the intensity of the border print down. As always, the picture doesn't do the colors justice. Curse you phone camera + fluorescent lights! Hehe.

Otherwise, I hope y'all have a great weekend!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

*facepalm*

Today has been completely lame. I'll be happier when I can go home and just brainlessly cut out appliques, because really? Yeah. Today can be over now.