Spoonflower, sit down. We need to talk.

Well, I just ordered my very first bit of yardage off of Spoonflower. For those of you that don't know, Spoonflower is a site that allows you to design and sell your own fabric. You have many options as to fabric type, from cotton and voile to upholstery and sateen. The cool thing about it, is since these are individuals designiong their own fabrics, you can find literally just about anything on there. I mean, one time I found baboons with bared teeth. I was psyched.

But the other day John and I were talking and he was asking me about quilting stuff. He commented on how cool it would be to have a firefighting themed fabric and so I showed him that, uh yeah of course that's out there! I showed him Spoonflower and how many different types of appealing-to-dudes stuff there is out there and we stumbled across some Coast Guard fabrics on there.

It's called "Semper Paratus", which is the Coast Guard motto (much like "Semper Fidelis" is to the Marine Corps) and well...it's ships and boats and Coastie paraphenalia. He thought it was pretty cool, so without him (at the time) knowing it, I bought a yard of it. 

Now. Before I say a single word, this is NOT a criticism of the designer, Bowsprite whatsoever. She actually has nothing to do with my complaint - her work is absolutely WONDERFUL and she's a sweetheart to boot. No, no, this is a critique of Spoonflower.

I don't know if you can see in the picture, which if you clicked on the link at the beginning anyway it's pretty irrelevent....but the prices are 100% outrageous. For quilting quality cotton (Kona, in this case) it is a heart-stopping $18 per yard. No brick and mortar quilt store, or even fabric manufacturer could get away with retailing Kona cotton for that price. I understand, to an extent, their need to meet overhead in this relatively small scale bolt-by-bolt operation but really? $18 per yard?! After shipping, this single yard cut cost $21 and change. If this wasn't needed for somebody else, trust me, I wouldn't have bought it at all. I feel like that price point is taking advantage of the fact that a customer needsthat print and can't get it anywhere else - sort of following the captive audience rationale of selling bottled water at the fair for $4 per bottle. I have NO problem buying something like that for John, in that regard, cost isn't an issue - I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. But the issue I have is one on principle - no quilt store would do that to their customers, and so the fact that Spoonflower does it unabashedly gives me some real heartburn as a quilt store employee and as a customer.

I had the fabric mailed to his house as a surprise so he'd be the first to see it, and so yesterdayhe brought it to me so I could match some fabrics to it for him. I was absolutely STUNNED when I saw that not only is the color in the picture majorly skewed (it's very muted in actuality, and it's less a red and more an orange in the boats) But the print is outlined and begins nearly 1.5" from the INSIDE of the selvedge. That is nearly a 2" waste on each selvedge end, making a ~44" WOF piece a ~40" usable piece. For $18 per yard, that is really quite unacceptable. Just imagine if I had chosen this fabric in Sateen, which retails at $27/yard? A 4" waste at that cost is absolutely ridiculous.

So. While their fabrics are adorable and their designers just out of this world talented, Spoonflower is not what it's cracked up to be. Again, this is not the fault of the vendors or the designers, it is the fault of the company itself. The high cost and the cheating of usuable space makes it completely not worth it unless it is a piece of fabric that is utterly imperative for you to have, in which case, expect to get the captive audience treatment.

That being said...I can't wait to get my other projects finished so I can start on this one.

Fascinating Color Theory Link

Color Theory seems to be the name of the game lately. On Monday I taught the Color Theory class at The Cotton Patch, and man I wish I would have seen this before the class!

This website talks about gender biases to color, and how men and women see color differently. A very interesting read!

Finished a Quilt in an Afternoon? Victory!

Today was a pretty productive day! I managed to get a quilt done from this magazine. It's simple and a great way to showcase large prints.

This is their color way:

  I like it, but I was wanting a little more contrast, and looking to work with colors I don't typically (even though I love them!): Purples, pinks and teal.

This is the focus fabric I chose. It's hard to tell, but the background is actually a dark plum.

 Here's how it turned out. I'm pretty pleased! It's out of my usual red-orange-violet color way, but it looks pretty decent. And the quilt is way larger than I thought it would be. It'll be a nice throw, especially with a neat quilting edge-to-edge pattern

Man, having a social life really cuts into my quilting time :P

Hello again! Yes, I'm back. I know it's been a while but I'm sure my readers can forgive me, right? Lately I've had an upswing in the ol' social life, and wouldn't you know it, that tends to cut into the quilting time just a wee bit. That being said, my roommate just moved out and headed back to the east coast. It's a real bummer, but I suppose it was pretty inevitable. So for close to the past month she's had a friend from VA here to visit and they took a road trip, and had to get all packed and leave. She just left on Wednesday. Plus, on a brighter note, my time is also getting tied up by a new guy in my life, which isn't a bad thing at all! He's a smart, sweet, good looking guy who fire fights and appreciates quilts. I think I'll keep him :-)

So on a related note, what have I been working on? Well, a few weeks ago my boyfriend was asking (knowing I'm an avid quilter) where he can buy a cheap bed quilt. I was waiting for him to just ask me to make one so I told him a few places and told him, "...but you know you're dating a quilter, right?" I finally was just like, "do you want me to just make you one?" We all know what the answer to that question was! I asked him what he wanted, and bless his heart he told me to pick something I liked and he'd be happy with whatever I made. But you know how it is when you make a quilt for someone; you don't think about what you want, you think about what you think they'd want, which is exactly what I did. Granted, I've been looking for an excuse to use the focus fabric I chose for months now, so I was happy I could finally use it somewhere. It's not been without its frustrations in terms of assembly (oh holy crap!) but I'm really pleased wht the colors....it's just a matter of getting them distributed well which has been, to this point, easier said than done.

Great basic quilts that are perfect for toying with color

I chose to do a quilt out of the City Quilts book, basically a quilt set on point with a bunch of multicolored snowball blocks with a square in the middle. They look almost like donuts, but the books says they were inspired by the Houston, TX roadways (what, empty?). I think I'll stick with the donut theme, thanks.

But his quilt is done up in rust, orange, brown, burgundy, ice blue and teal. When you see the focus fabric, it makes more sense than just listing the colors. The focus fabric is what you'll see in the setting triangles.

Here's the quilt I chose. I have to say, I do NOT like their version of it at all. I'm not partial to quilts using all solids (they're pretty, but not my thing) and I don't care for how they blocked the colors...but the best part about quilting is you can do whatever you want. To the right is my focus fabric. The picture doesn't do it justie, it's a really beautiful batik with teal and ice blue running through the rust.

Color choice part 1. The blue isn't as intense as shown here, and the focus piece is third from the bottom. After this and the following picture was taken, I realized I didn't pick enough fabric and had to go stask diving at mom's house for a few other pieces I didn't have at home.

And here are the others. At the top, of course, a firefighter has to have a wood print (duh) and then the bottom southwest print is going to be the border (which isn't called for in the book).

The beginning of what has got to be the most frustrating experince I've had yet in color placement. Ho-ly crap.

More blocks

The colors have moved around some since this was taken, but hey, progress.

Aaaaand assembly has begun, where I learned that I may have stretched the bejesus out of parts of the blocks, necessitating the use of nothing less than 30,000 pins. lol. Okaaay maybe not that many but good grief they don't want to go together cleanly.



Well, i was going to keep it's progress a secret from John so he would be totally shocked and awed when he saw it done, but I was too excited and showed him a picture anyway. He loves it so far, which makes me happy. My goal for today is to get the rest of the inside of the quilt top pieced, by which I mean all of the blocks, and then while he's away this weekend, get the borders put on and call Frances to quilt this thing for me. I want to have this thing done by Valentine's Day so I can give it to him then, but we'll see.

Anyway, after all the flooding that's been going on around here, I hope everyone has been safe and dry! 

Why so absent?

Well...honestly, Block of the Month has been dominating my time. Less blogging, more SEWING. So...I'll be back when this monster is complete, I promise!

Sharing some Blog Love

At the request of my friend Isabelle, here is a post that's all about other follow-worthy blogs! It got me to thinking...we get so enveloped in our own blogs sometimes that we forget to share the love with all the other fantastic bloggers out there. So if you're looking for other really neat quilting and craft blogs to follow, here are some great ones:

Sew Mama Sew
Craft Gossip
The Free Motion Quilting Project
Barbara Brackman's Material Culture
Fandom in Stitches
The Bitchy Stitcher
Oilcloth Addict
The Crafty Cupboard
The Happy Zombie

How do you spell "progress?" Community College.

Well, there you have it. With Bachelor's degree in hand from a state university, I am on my way to being back in school at a community college for the beginning of my Art degree. Community colleges get a lot of flack from the academic snobitorium, but I actualy rather enjoyed my time there when I went, and in some ways I got a better education than at the University (here's looking at you, admins). But after the last post-degree year, I realized a few months ago that something has been missing from my life - a pursuit of my own passion.

Sure, I love anthropology. Don't get me wrong, I'll geek out ferociously whenever something related to it is talked about on the daily. But before I was an anth major, before I was a history major, I was an art major. That is, until I allowed my own insecurity and the backbiting beasts of the art community drag me down and steal my joy. That was when I was just enough younger than I am now as to be more easily impressioned, swayed and scared by lack of encouragement or approval of my peers. Now I understand that it's a competitive field and after my experience with advising in the anth department, I am certain I can handle whatever nonsense is hucked my way.

So, I'm starting my core classes in spring term. I want to get my basics out of the way at community college, where it's a littl emore flexible and travel isn't an issue for just the basics. Once I'm through with those, off to OSU I'll go. Though, not that I have to worry about it now (one step at a time, ladies and gents), UO has a really good textile arts program. Things to consider! Regardless, needless to say I am really pumped up, really excited and ready to rock.

I'll be documenting the journey on here, because I have a very specific, quilt-minded goal in place that this art degree is going toward. So follow me down the rabbit hole and see the journey as it unfolds. Don't worry though, this won't become the "art degree" blog...it'll still be the same quilt oriented blog as before, with a few traditional art posts sandwiched between.

Until then, with the first steps taken, I'll be looking forward to getting this adventure underway.