Can anyone say crunch? How does time fly by so fast that before you even know it it's September and you only have 16 days to get product ready for a Harvest Festival that when you signed up in June seemed like ages away and here it is. I have to figure out how to make something everyday to take to festival and work on standing orders. Then I begin to wonder if I need to be doing festivals when I can't seem to keep up with the orders that I have?
Now, don't get me wrong, no complaining at all just saying it's a bit tricky to figure out the details of running your own business. It's just amazing how many details there are that you never even think about when you have your Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney moment and decide to start a business. Like them you haven't got a pot to really piss in but hey, it's magic right and in the end it always works and they always had a big barn to use.
So the extra bedroom becomes the studio you get yourself some plastic drawers some tubs and a few boxes and start collecting fabrics and trinkets and you begin to look like a small shop. You start working on creating an online presence and try and keep up with all the new fandango gismos and gadgets that make you a business never forgetting that you are the whole kit and kaboodle so you best be working it out. A big drawer for all the receipts you collect, a sign for Visa and Mastercard welcomed here, and a paypal account and you are off and running. You check your wardrobe twice to make sure you can look the part when you go out to meet the public because that old dress you wear most days is for behind the scenes only. Yup it's a wild ride most days so throwing in a festival well that just adds to the fun right? Right. Bit by bit it all comes together after late nights and warmed up coffee.
But never fear, when the music swells and the curtain rises it's all there and the people cheer and the dream comes true. Now, if I just had a stage manager to clean up after me in the studio.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Figuring It All Out, A Part of the Process
Ok, so I love to work with Day of the Dead fabrics. I like to fussy cut the skeletons out and then frame then and build blocks around them, this I know. Then when I start to put the quilt together I realize that maybe there's something to be said for a pattern. You cut 16 blocks 2 by 2 of one color then 8 blocks 4 by 4 of another color and so on and so on. Then you follow instructions and poof you have a quilt. Well, mine don't quite work that way.
First all the fussy cut blocks are different sizes even from the same fabrics. Skeletons come in all sizes you know... then there's the variety of skeletons and sugar skulls. Wouldn't want just one type what fun would that be? Then you have to decide what shade of colors you are going to use there are lots of blues and don't even get me started on red.
After all that you start building a row and the first one goes together pretty nice and easy. You add this and take away that and all in the entire first row is together. Then you start the second row and you realize that you don't want to put the same skeletons next to each other or one on the other and you don't want colors touching the same color and well you add a bit here and a bit there and you get the second row finished of sorts but then it's not as long as the first and you have to figure in where to add or sometimes take away. I'm tired just thinking about it.
Now if I had a pattern I could just cut and sew but the pattern is created as I go and let me tell you sometimes an inch can be a tough bird to find. I can't add a half and inch to the edges not cool so I reconfigure and it finally comes together and you line it up and move one.
Today I sewed the top layer to a quilt three times upside down because I was just having issues. Mostly with my eyesight I think anyway it finally came together and I have a quilt to start the quilting on tomorrow. You'd just think that after all these quilts I'd have a tried and true system down but no each one is it's own creation and I just have to let that be.
I really love the way the blocks start to come together and how I try and work in lots of different styles of fabrics and colors. By the end of the quilt, my pile of color pieces is much smaller, some fabrics I have had to say farewell my friend. You were a great one and I will miss you. After all fabrics go out of print too. Then it makes me hungry to go looking for new ones to add to the next.
So all in all the pattern I follow is to follow my bliss as I make a quilt and let the colors fall where they may. Not a bad way to spend a day if I do say so myself. Now, where is that ruler I had one yesterday....
First all the fussy cut blocks are different sizes even from the same fabrics. Skeletons come in all sizes you know... then there's the variety of skeletons and sugar skulls. Wouldn't want just one type what fun would that be? Then you have to decide what shade of colors you are going to use there are lots of blues and don't even get me started on red.
After all that you start building a row and the first one goes together pretty nice and easy. You add this and take away that and all in the entire first row is together. Then you start the second row and you realize that you don't want to put the same skeletons next to each other or one on the other and you don't want colors touching the same color and well you add a bit here and a bit there and you get the second row finished of sorts but then it's not as long as the first and you have to figure in where to add or sometimes take away. I'm tired just thinking about it.
Now if I had a pattern I could just cut and sew but the pattern is created as I go and let me tell you sometimes an inch can be a tough bird to find. I can't add a half and inch to the edges not cool so I reconfigure and it finally comes together and you line it up and move one.
Today I sewed the top layer to a quilt three times upside down because I was just having issues. Mostly with my eyesight I think anyway it finally came together and I have a quilt to start the quilting on tomorrow. You'd just think that after all these quilts I'd have a tried and true system down but no each one is it's own creation and I just have to let that be.
I really love the way the blocks start to come together and how I try and work in lots of different styles of fabrics and colors. By the end of the quilt, my pile of color pieces is much smaller, some fabrics I have had to say farewell my friend. You were a great one and I will miss you. After all fabrics go out of print too. Then it makes me hungry to go looking for new ones to add to the next.
So all in all the pattern I follow is to follow my bliss as I make a quilt and let the colors fall where they may. Not a bad way to spend a day if I do say so myself. Now, where is that ruler I had one yesterday....
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Sourdough Starter Quilters Style
As I sit and sew often late into the night, I let my mind wander about and sometimes it comes to rest in amazing places. Tonight I was thinking how I wish I had some of my grandmother’s sourdough starter. Not because I really like sourdough but because I just think it would be incredible to have something that had been passed down from my grandmother to my mother and then to me. I would of course share with my children and the idea that it would be carried on is incredible.
Then I realize I do have a sourdough starter of sorts. My grandmother’s mother’s mothers were seamstresses. As far back as the story was told to me the women in my family have sewn. My Great Grandmother had a stack of quilts in her home all hand made that would have warmed the entire family for generations if her home hadn't tragically burned down taking them with it. I even had a Great Aunt that was the best tailor in her small town.
In fact, both my Grandmothers sewed. My father’s mother made us quilts when we were young of puppies and kittens in baskets and we used them until they were shreds. My Grandmother use to let me play with her button tin for hours and when she passed I felt blessed that I was given that old tin full of old buttons. She never threw a button away and it still smells like the memories of her home.
My mothers mother sewed all the clothes she and her sister wore when they were growing up and my mother spent hours making my sister and I summer sets of tops and shorts that we would wear out before the summer was over. My first formal was a dress my mother made for me to wear for my first official band concert and I thought was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen.
So you see, my starter was given to me from a long line of women who created with their hands and hearts. They shared their skills and passions with their daughters and their daughters shared with today and us I am the living starter that began generations ago. One of my own daughters wanted to learn how to sew years ago and I began teaching her as well but she became busy with those crazy growing years but recently she started sewing and creating again in her very own style and I am struck with awe…we have passed on our ancestral starter and it is alive and well.
Then, as I looked at my workspace and the quilt that I am working on when all this started, I realize it too is a sourdough starter. I have been saving bits and pieces ever since I started quilting and I just keep adding new as I continue to create and design quilts. I see a small piece of fabric from a quilt I made last year and my heart soars and I am thrilled and as I start to close my eyes for just a moment, I can almost see them all here smiling and watching me and they are all alive and well in my sewing.
Then I realize I do have a sourdough starter of sorts. My grandmother’s mother’s mothers were seamstresses. As far back as the story was told to me the women in my family have sewn. My Great Grandmother had a stack of quilts in her home all hand made that would have warmed the entire family for generations if her home hadn't tragically burned down taking them with it. I even had a Great Aunt that was the best tailor in her small town.
In fact, both my Grandmothers sewed. My father’s mother made us quilts when we were young of puppies and kittens in baskets and we used them until they were shreds. My Grandmother use to let me play with her button tin for hours and when she passed I felt blessed that I was given that old tin full of old buttons. She never threw a button away and it still smells like the memories of her home.
My mothers mother sewed all the clothes she and her sister wore when they were growing up and my mother spent hours making my sister and I summer sets of tops and shorts that we would wear out before the summer was over. My first formal was a dress my mother made for me to wear for my first official band concert and I thought was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen.
So you see, my starter was given to me from a long line of women who created with their hands and hearts. They shared their skills and passions with their daughters and their daughters shared with today and us I am the living starter that began generations ago. One of my own daughters wanted to learn how to sew years ago and I began teaching her as well but she became busy with those crazy growing years but recently she started sewing and creating again in her very own style and I am struck with awe…we have passed on our ancestral starter and it is alive and well.
Then, as I looked at my workspace and the quilt that I am working on when all this started, I realize it too is a sourdough starter. I have been saving bits and pieces ever since I started quilting and I just keep adding new as I continue to create and design quilts. I see a small piece of fabric from a quilt I made last year and my heart soars and I am thrilled and as I start to close my eyes for just a moment, I can almost see them all here smiling and watching me and they are all alive and well in my sewing.
Monday, August 8, 2011
The Art of Finding Zen
I read an article in Quilters Newsletter, by Jen Daly called, Zen and the Art of Binding. She recently had a break through in her process of binding a quilt. This use to be her least favorite part of making a quilt but she spoke of that magical place all artist know from painter to potter or like me, a little quilt maker, the zone.
Ok, she didn't say zone I did but you know what I am talking about. That place where the world disappears and you re surround by your craft and your hands and heart are engaged in the making. Your breathing is calm your mind is at peace and the pieces seem to go together like magic. Before you know it the quilt top is finished. It really is magic and you take a deep breath and begin to imagine the next steps.
So as I was reading this I was imagining my worktable right now as I work on a custom order, a Day of the Dead quilt, and had to laugh out loud. There is nothing Zenful about it. It's a pile of bits and pieces next to my machine and more on my cutting board. To the outside eye it might look more like a ragbag then a peaceful calm and soulful place, and yet it's where I find my Zen. Surrounded by color with the sounds of James Taylor or Dar Williams in the background and bright pink bubble gum walls all around me. Here in this kaleidoscope of bits and pieces, I find my Zen.
I think the whole reason I've been thinking about all of this is because I've had people express and interest in seeing my process as I make a quilt. I'm still not sure how to go about this really so I took a few photos recently and laughed when I was looking at them after having just read her article. I'm just not the follow me on u-Tube type. Half the time I'm having to unbury my scissors or rotary cutter to trim the edges of the last bit of fabric I just added, my seam ripper is usually under the table as I have a habit of knocking it off as I am looking for the scissors and somewhere in the middle of it all you might find a cold cup of coffee. Not exactly grace in motion but it is my process and this is my blog and so I shall post my process and maybe in the middle of it all I will find my zone or
Zen for sharing.
Ok, she didn't say zone I did but you know what I am talking about. That place where the world disappears and you re surround by your craft and your hands and heart are engaged in the making. Your breathing is calm your mind is at peace and the pieces seem to go together like magic. Before you know it the quilt top is finished. It really is magic and you take a deep breath and begin to imagine the next steps.
So as I was reading this I was imagining my worktable right now as I work on a custom order, a Day of the Dead quilt, and had to laugh out loud. There is nothing Zenful about it. It's a pile of bits and pieces next to my machine and more on my cutting board. To the outside eye it might look more like a ragbag then a peaceful calm and soulful place, and yet it's where I find my Zen. Surrounded by color with the sounds of James Taylor or Dar Williams in the background and bright pink bubble gum walls all around me. Here in this kaleidoscope of bits and pieces, I find my Zen.
I think the whole reason I've been thinking about all of this is because I've had people express and interest in seeing my process as I make a quilt. I'm still not sure how to go about this really so I took a few photos recently and laughed when I was looking at them after having just read her article. I'm just not the follow me on u-Tube type. Half the time I'm having to unbury my scissors or rotary cutter to trim the edges of the last bit of fabric I just added, my seam ripper is usually under the table as I have a habit of knocking it off as I am looking for the scissors and somewhere in the middle of it all you might find a cold cup of coffee. Not exactly grace in motion but it is my process and this is my blog and so I shall post my process and maybe in the middle of it all I will find my zone or
Zen for sharing.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Creative Madness
Sometimes being a creative heart can be a bit crazy. So, of course I've figured out that I need to come up with some sort of work schedule and time frame for the custom work that I am getting. Such a problem may I always have, but I can't just write stuff down and feel like it's ok, no I keep scheming and plotting some sort of work flow chart. What color should it be made out of what, fabric of course... but so what fabric?
Do I have cute little baby quilts to represent a quilt, little dresses for custom orders and maybe little bloomers too? Yup, that's how crazy my mind goes and then I think each quilt should be a little quilt you know,mini patterns to have fun with it. Dresses can be different and so can the bloomers. Baby quilts need to be special then regular quilts in my mini world because I make different sizes and styles so I'll need quilts that match the styles I make. Baby quilts can't be represented by a Queen Size Day of the Dead for heaven sakes. Bloomers can come in calico or specialty orders like Day of the Dead or how about when someone wants them to just be like summer pants...
I know I know who has time to make this cute wall chart with all these cute quilts and dresses oh did you know they have mini buttons you can use? I found them in doll making supplies, how cute would they be on the dresses? Did I mention I make wall hangings and upscale potholders from leftover images of Day of the Dead appliquéd on them? How hard will that be to create mini potholders.... and so my mind goes on and on creating and dreaming up more and more things to add to the board.
E gads, I really just have to keep focused on making quilts and truly pray I really never have time to make mini anything and keep making full size everything for other people... maybe it's enough to dream it up and in my mind I have this cute wall board that people who see it think it's the most amazing flow chart they've ever seen and where can they get one? Wait, then I could make one and have all the little things and cute buttons and oh, there I go again... maybe today, I just need to break out the crate with Day of the Dead and start working on Jennifer’s quilt, bet she would appreciate it a lot more than a little mini quilt hanging on a wall that would represent her quilt in the future... but some day.... mini buttons are mine!
Do I have cute little baby quilts to represent a quilt, little dresses for custom orders and maybe little bloomers too? Yup, that's how crazy my mind goes and then I think each quilt should be a little quilt you know,mini patterns to have fun with it. Dresses can be different and so can the bloomers. Baby quilts need to be special then regular quilts in my mini world because I make different sizes and styles so I'll need quilts that match the styles I make. Baby quilts can't be represented by a Queen Size Day of the Dead for heaven sakes. Bloomers can come in calico or specialty orders like Day of the Dead or how about when someone wants them to just be like summer pants...
I know I know who has time to make this cute wall chart with all these cute quilts and dresses oh did you know they have mini buttons you can use? I found them in doll making supplies, how cute would they be on the dresses? Did I mention I make wall hangings and upscale potholders from leftover images of Day of the Dead appliquéd on them? How hard will that be to create mini potholders.... and so my mind goes on and on creating and dreaming up more and more things to add to the board.
E gads, I really just have to keep focused on making quilts and truly pray I really never have time to make mini anything and keep making full size everything for other people... maybe it's enough to dream it up and in my mind I have this cute wall board that people who see it think it's the most amazing flow chart they've ever seen and where can they get one? Wait, then I could make one and have all the little things and cute buttons and oh, there I go again... maybe today, I just need to break out the crate with Day of the Dead and start working on Jennifer’s quilt, bet she would appreciate it a lot more than a little mini quilt hanging on a wall that would represent her quilt in the future... but some day.... mini buttons are mine!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Time Keeps on Ticking
Wow, it's been a while since last I wrote a few thoughts from out of my head and into my computer, still not sure how this really works but it's cool and I won't question the magic.
I've been busy sewing and quilting orders and clothes and jumpers and oh my I really have made it to the Emerald City and this is a horse of a different color. My days once full of I wonder what it will be like to sew all day has gone to having orders to fill and I am sewing like mad. I've even found that I am starting to love my new quilt frame.
When I first started using it nothing went right. The frame was to close to the wall, the sewing machine wasn't sitting in the tray right, the tension was off even though I had just checked it before I got the whole thing together. Getting the back lined up and rolled and the batting and the top oh it was a long process and not a pretty picture. Cruise control for a sewing machine, are you kidding? Fast slow start stop tear out tear apart tear my hair out...
But now, now it's not so bad. It's away from the wall so I'm not bumping into it when I am trying to follow a pattern, the tension can be tricky but I seem to be smoothing it out and loading the back and batting then top, piece of cake now. Am I doing lots of fancy patterns with lots of swirls and feathers are you kidding? I've just figured out how to stipple in strips of 8 inches verse from the center out and around. I've learned to love the cruise control after all who doesn't like a little luxury now and then?
What I've learned is it's a process of learning new things all the time. Not being afraid to get it wrong so you can figure out how to get it right or maybe even a bit closer to right at least. I now not only have a workflow for orders I have one with goals on it for new things I want to try and learn. I really want to learn how to make those beautiful feather designs on a quilt frame, Miter corners not only on binding but also through out a quilt. How to use embroidery thread to quilt with and maybe even some hand quilting but I'm not really worried about that one to much Sewing machines are pretty handy if you ask me...
I just want to keep open to the possibilities and the process. It wouldn't hurt if I could figure out the tension thing a little faster sometimes but for now I'll deal with the tweaking and keep a smile on my face, a pen in my hand for new ideas and things to do, and my sewing machine oiled and ready to start the next adventure. To Infinity and Beyond.
I've been busy sewing and quilting orders and clothes and jumpers and oh my I really have made it to the Emerald City and this is a horse of a different color. My days once full of I wonder what it will be like to sew all day has gone to having orders to fill and I am sewing like mad. I've even found that I am starting to love my new quilt frame.
When I first started using it nothing went right. The frame was to close to the wall, the sewing machine wasn't sitting in the tray right, the tension was off even though I had just checked it before I got the whole thing together. Getting the back lined up and rolled and the batting and the top oh it was a long process and not a pretty picture. Cruise control for a sewing machine, are you kidding? Fast slow start stop tear out tear apart tear my hair out...
But now, now it's not so bad. It's away from the wall so I'm not bumping into it when I am trying to follow a pattern, the tension can be tricky but I seem to be smoothing it out and loading the back and batting then top, piece of cake now. Am I doing lots of fancy patterns with lots of swirls and feathers are you kidding? I've just figured out how to stipple in strips of 8 inches verse from the center out and around. I've learned to love the cruise control after all who doesn't like a little luxury now and then?
What I've learned is it's a process of learning new things all the time. Not being afraid to get it wrong so you can figure out how to get it right or maybe even a bit closer to right at least. I now not only have a workflow for orders I have one with goals on it for new things I want to try and learn. I really want to learn how to make those beautiful feather designs on a quilt frame, Miter corners not only on binding but also through out a quilt. How to use embroidery thread to quilt with and maybe even some hand quilting but I'm not really worried about that one to much Sewing machines are pretty handy if you ask me...
I just want to keep open to the possibilities and the process. It wouldn't hurt if I could figure out the tension thing a little faster sometimes but for now I'll deal with the tweaking and keep a smile on my face, a pen in my hand for new ideas and things to do, and my sewing machine oiled and ready to start the next adventure. To Infinity and Beyond.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Seeing Cinderella through Rose Colored Glasses
Seems when you have a dream come true you have to remember it's not all walking on clouds or seeing everything through rose colored glasses. Those soft glowing edges that make everything seem dreamy and surreal fade and the sharp edges of reality start to appear.
Now don't get me wrong. Do I love walking into my pretty pink studio with my cup of coffee in hand and seeing my sewing machines sitting ready in anticipation, (yes I have more than one, and your point? Doesn't a mechanic have more than one wrench?) hell yes. I mean, this is my dream but the edges are very clear now.
I learned I needed to add extra light to work by because the soft edges were killing my eyes and I needed to add a bit of padding to my chair because sitting for hours in one spot can really take it's toll on the back side. I tried a back rest thing, but that didn't help at all. I don't have any little house mice or fairies to come in at night and clean up the mess from the day before, so I do have to sweep up the scraps and bits of thread or my chair doesn't roll from cutting table to sewing machine and back to ironing board. If I don't stay a bit organize I am spending way to much time looking for a bit of fabric I had the day before which took a week to get here in the first place, and it should be here somewhere for heaven sakes. Maybe I do have fairies or mice that just like to play games with me instead.
In all my dreams of starting Mama Jean's I don't think I ever saw the need for a work schedule to make sure that I can get orders done in a timely manner. I mean schedules and flow charts come on, that's for those who work 8 to 5 somewhere else. Not in dreams. In dreams things appear magically all created and perfect. Shipping must be done via the fireplace or transporter or maybe even sewing storks that deliver on your doorstep. Fabrics never have to be purchased or ordered or waited upon, and all the cutting and prepping to get it ready to sew is all done for you. Come to think of it, dream mice must be very busy.
Scheduling time to eat, over rated. Doing laundry or changing the sheets, are you kidding we're in a dream. Dreams don't have dusty edges or toilets that need cleaning. Dogs aren't even in the picture so time to walk them never needs to be considered and weeding the garden or cleaning up the wood pile, isn't this were Cinderella comes in?
Ok ok, so a schedule of sorts isn't so bad. I mean I have a work schedule to finish orders for quilts so I must be doing something right or I wouldn't even have need of one. I have fabrics that have been ordered and are waiting for the quilt that they will be going into and I even have a beautiful handmade broom to make sweeping up the studio a joy and a bit magical. Raspberries are in the freezer from our own bushes, tomatoes are on the vine and even though I haven't figured out all the details of the cleaning and the dusting, all in all, things seem to be working out.
Now, I dream of two new sewing machines...(smile) tools of the trade. I long for a longarm quilting machine to put on my quilting frame instead of lugging my machine up and down the stairs each time and I long for a new fancy stitch machine for those little extras...and maybe a better chair too that doesn't require extra pillows..hum
So yes, the edges are a lot sharper and the world a bit messy, but the dream lives on and this Cinderella will keep on singing and sweeping and cleaning, after all fairy tales are just reality through rose colored glasses.
Now don't get me wrong. Do I love walking into my pretty pink studio with my cup of coffee in hand and seeing my sewing machines sitting ready in anticipation, (yes I have more than one, and your point? Doesn't a mechanic have more than one wrench?) hell yes. I mean, this is my dream but the edges are very clear now.
I learned I needed to add extra light to work by because the soft edges were killing my eyes and I needed to add a bit of padding to my chair because sitting for hours in one spot can really take it's toll on the back side. I tried a back rest thing, but that didn't help at all. I don't have any little house mice or fairies to come in at night and clean up the mess from the day before, so I do have to sweep up the scraps and bits of thread or my chair doesn't roll from cutting table to sewing machine and back to ironing board. If I don't stay a bit organize I am spending way to much time looking for a bit of fabric I had the day before which took a week to get here in the first place, and it should be here somewhere for heaven sakes. Maybe I do have fairies or mice that just like to play games with me instead.
In all my dreams of starting Mama Jean's I don't think I ever saw the need for a work schedule to make sure that I can get orders done in a timely manner. I mean schedules and flow charts come on, that's for those who work 8 to 5 somewhere else. Not in dreams. In dreams things appear magically all created and perfect. Shipping must be done via the fireplace or transporter or maybe even sewing storks that deliver on your doorstep. Fabrics never have to be purchased or ordered or waited upon, and all the cutting and prepping to get it ready to sew is all done for you. Come to think of it, dream mice must be very busy.
Scheduling time to eat, over rated. Doing laundry or changing the sheets, are you kidding we're in a dream. Dreams don't have dusty edges or toilets that need cleaning. Dogs aren't even in the picture so time to walk them never needs to be considered and weeding the garden or cleaning up the wood pile, isn't this were Cinderella comes in?
Ok ok, so a schedule of sorts isn't so bad. I mean I have a work schedule to finish orders for quilts so I must be doing something right or I wouldn't even have need of one. I have fabrics that have been ordered and are waiting for the quilt that they will be going into and I even have a beautiful handmade broom to make sweeping up the studio a joy and a bit magical. Raspberries are in the freezer from our own bushes, tomatoes are on the vine and even though I haven't figured out all the details of the cleaning and the dusting, all in all, things seem to be working out.
Now, I dream of two new sewing machines...(smile) tools of the trade. I long for a longarm quilting machine to put on my quilting frame instead of lugging my machine up and down the stairs each time and I long for a new fancy stitch machine for those little extras...and maybe a better chair too that doesn't require extra pillows..hum
So yes, the edges are a lot sharper and the world a bit messy, but the dream lives on and this Cinderella will keep on singing and sweeping and cleaning, after all fairy tales are just reality through rose colored glasses.
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