Thread trance

When in doubt, stare at the pretty thread. I'm so glad I got this thead holder recently. Not sure what took me so long as it was darn near dirt cheap. It makes post-project cleanup so much easier while serving up some nice eye candy to boot. My sewing nook is in the corner of my dining room so I've gotta keep it under control as much as possible and can use any little organizational tool to assist me.

Well, the UPS delivery came and I finally got my Essex linen! I can't wait to make stuff with it. I'm hoping that having a lot of backing yardage on-hand will make it a lot easier to finish projects. As it is I spend way too much time contemplating over what to back my quilts with so it will be nice to have a staple neutral to speed up the process.

Okay, I'm gonna go stare at my thread to hopefully inspire my next project...

Patience is a virtue?

Don't you hate waiting for fabric to arrive?? I ordered some Essex linen at the beginning of the week that I plan on backing my next quilt with and apparently it has to like, physically travel to my house or something. Geez. I confess, I do most of my fabric shopping online. I do try and buy at local quilt shops when possible but most of the time I'm looking for something specific and am much more likely to be successful finding it online. But then, it's the waiting game... Well, at least it forces me to be a more well-rounded healthy person and persue other interests in the meantime, right?



Like gardening. Okay, I know it doesn't look like much now, but picture this bleak, barren field alive with color and overflowing with gigantic specimens of fruits of all sorts...that's at least what we hope it looks like come midsummer. The main squeeze and I spent a large portion of the day tending to our garden plot. We're prepping for what will be our first full season! It's a community garden and this year will be the first full spring and summer we've had for growing. We've already planted potatoes and onions but we'll have to wait until after the last frost to get the tomatoes and other good stuff in.

Morbid inspiration

What inspires you? Sometimes I find it in unexpected places. This design is an image I created based on the central design on the carved gravestone of a woman who lived during the nineteenth century. Sound morbid? I fell in love with it because of its simple, symmetrical and folksy qualities. I made a rubbing of the image and digitized it. My experience with the process began in a beautiful historic cemetery in Florida many years ago. I have this cool friend that has introduced me to many crafty endeavors over the years and one time she and I explored a cemetery in Pensacola. It was such an adventure looking at all the tombstones dating to the eighteenth century. Ever the prepared crafter, she had with her a kit that consisted of thin translucent paper and a large hockey puck-like crayon... for making gravestone rubbings.

To make a rubbing, you place the paper over the area of relief you're interested in and solidly color the entire area with the crayon. The result is an image of the "negative space" on the gravestone. Pretty cool. (Some cemeteries don't allow you to do this because it can be potentially destructive to very old stones.) I highly recommend perusing old cemeteries if you've never done so, even if it's just to look at gravestones or photograph them. It's so interesting to see temporal trends in terms of design -- and even epitaph trends, through time. Like most material things, gravestones are products of fashion too.

Flash forward to recently in Virginia when I found this beautiful gravestone, hidden away in the corner of the cemetery, a weathered hidden treasure. I made a rubbing and came home and scanned it. I used Photoshop to trace over the scanned outline and ended up using it as a template for a lenoleum block for printing. These are fun to make and you can print on various surfaces. I've printed them on fabric and card stock, to use as greeting cards. Here's the print block (the rubber block is pink and the ink color I used is blue).

Wanna make one of your own using any design of your choice (morbid or not)?

• Trace or pencil your design onto the rubber or linoleum surface (find these at Michael's and other arts and craft supply stores). In my case, I printed out my photoshopped image and put a piece of graphite paper in between it and the rubber and then traced over my design, transferring it to the rubber.
• Use wood and lino cutting tools (also at Michael's) to scrape out the design.
• Now, ink it up and print!
  
  I need to figure out how to incorporate this design into a quilt somehow.

Pyromania

How do you tell if you have real silk or a sneaky fake? According to a lot of sources on the trusty internet, you burn it! I got such a good deal on some [alleged] silk I bought on a recent fabric-buying extravaganza that I was a little suspicious of its authenticity. I'm happy to report that what you see here is apparently evidence of the real thing. Here's what you should see if you try holding a flame to it:

• The fabric should not continue to burn after the flame is removed. (check)
• The ash should be black and crispy. Black clumps should crumble easily. (check)
• The burning silk should smell like burning hair. (eww, check!)

Gotta love the scientific method. Now I just have to clean up the mess.

The quilt I ended up making with the silk is a wholecloth one. I wanted to keep the design simple to show off the lustrous fabric. I used a cotton sateen sheet for the back (the mess you see here is me cutting up a fitted sheet!). And I gotta say, this quilt has mad drape! So soft too.

And there you have it. Just listed the [bonafide] silk quilt in my etsy shop!

Color play

Aah, the muse. He helps get my creative flow going (or at least thinking about it). Bugs Bunny is donning a scrap leftover from the wall hanging I'm still working on. I'm still not totally happy with the overall color of the quilt.

One of the most challenging (and interesting) things to me about quilting is working with color. Some people seem to do it beautifully and effortlessly. One of my favorite quilters that creates fabulous studies in color is Victoria Gertenbach of The Silly BooDilly. If you haven't seen her work before you should definitely check it out. She's got this color thing figured out.

Since I like to experiment when I quilt I often try new things that I'm not entirely sure about but wait until I'm finished to make a final judgment. Sometimes I feel like I have a nice and unexpected color play and other times not so much. There's been a time or two when I didn't like particular colors together the first time I saw them and then I actually really liked them down the road. Go figure.

It's all about experimentation, right?

Quilt labels!

I finally put labels on all my quilts. I bought them on etsy (I know, i've gotta stop mentioning etsy). You just email the seller your design and she prints them on 100% cotton. Before this, I've always just embroidered my initials and the year. I've tried to be good over the years and add that to each of the quilts I've sold or given as gifts but many of them just got away before I had a chance to put them on. You know how it is when you're under pressure like finishing a quilt for a baby shower -- I feel successful if I just get it done on time!

Anywhoo, I gotta say I like these new labels. In addition to 'Harvest Crafts', I just have care instructions and my etsy shop url. I may end up adding the year in pen to it. Or maybe I just need to order more. Hmm...

Improper holiday observance

Okay, so I already admitted I have a little fabric problem. Today I went to this cool new fabric store in Charlottesville (UFab) that mostly sells upholstery and big yardage (note foreshadowing). I could have easily spent a couple hours in there perusing all the stuff they have in stock. And they have a basement with remnants. Don't even get me started on the basement. For the most part I behaved myself BUT I fell in love with this adorable screen-printed bird fabric --and like any good addict I bought a yard of it without having specific plans for it. It's mid-weight cotton and almost has a linen look to it. I'm sure I'll think of something to make with it (note rationalization). It reminds me of all that cute merimekko fabric I've been seeing everywhere but can't seem to get my hands on. Aaah, if only Charlottesville had an Ikea.

So that was part of how I spent the holiday. Now I just need to figure out what to make with the fabric I bought (I also got some silk I want to try and incorporate into a quilt). Hope you had a good Presidents' Day too!