Tools of the Trade

I had a wonderful rare, day to myself today. Not just an hour or two, but 9 AM to 4 PM. I spent a great deal of time this week deciding how I'd spend it, and as I'm sure you can imagine, once it started, it flew by!

After a manicure and pedicure (the world's best accessible luxury), I headed off to JoAnn fabrics. When I need a bunch of supplies, this is usually where I go. The other hobby/craft stores in my area have little to no sewing tools. I had made a list of things I'd read about (like the quilting gloves in Bari J's new book "Inspired to Sew") and I've seen the binding clips on a number of quilts-in-progress on Julie's (Jaybird Quilts) site. I have two quilts that need to be quilted and bound, so I want to be ready, right? Somehow, I always manage to come home with a bag full of stuff.

I try to spend the vast majority of my sewing dollars at either online independent stores, or local quilt shops. Alas, sometimes I need to go to the Target of sewing...and here's what today yielded.



The best purchase by far are these great baskets to hold all of the many patterns I accumulated last year. They were $5 each, and i think they look so much nicer than a plastic bin. One of my goals for 2011 is make fabric ones for my sewing room, but in the meantime, I had to clean up the mess!



The other great thing I got was a Clover mini-iron for my upcoming work on the Roses of Remembrance BOM. Everyone I speak to says you "HAVE" to have one of these to make applique easier.



Truth of the matter is, I am a total tool geek. Not to mention a magazine hoarder. I can't wait to dig into my new issue of Stitch magazine.

But here's what I'd like to know...what are YOUR favorite tools? What can't you sew without?

Fall Quilt Market 2010 - My Whirlwind Version

Last weekend I went to QuiltMarket for the second time. It was a completely different trip from my first Quiltmarket this spring in Minneapolis. Last time, I went to meet people, get the lay of the land, and experience what exactly this whole “Market” thing is about. The intention was that when I came back in the fall, to pitch my fabric line, I wouldn’t be so intimidated. Oh. Well. So much for that.

Ever since my trip in May, I’ve been working on my fabric line. I’d been compiling a book of “inspiration” long before that. I ended up with five designs in three colorways that I was happy with. Ones that I felt were strong enough to be presented. I had loads of other designs that I had started on, that were either unfinished, or “unworthy”.

I had the guide from the Minneapolis market, so I reached out to a number of companies to make appointments to show my work. After all was said and done, I had four set appointments and a few “stop bys”.

I met with the Art Directors of companies, and got some great, solid feedback. There were shortcomings in my line, which were universally pointed out by all of the companies. The positive in that, is that because the feedback was so consistent, I know exactly what I need to do to fix it. The negative part was that I had to hear “we need more than this” so many times in a row.

My path ahead is quite clear. I know exactly what I need to do. Three of the four Art Directors clearly said, make the changes and come back to me. That’s a heck of a lot better than “take this junk out of my booth and don’t ever come back here”.

One of my big goals is to blog about my sewing adventures, at a minimum of once a week. My goal for 2011 is twice a week. I hope you’ll all hold me to it.

Until then, here are the few measly pictures I took of quilt market between my appointments:

My roomie and pattern designer, fabric designer, all around sewing guru extraordinaire Bari’s amazing first booth ever



AMAZING and so Bari...loved it.

A bad blurry shot of the amazing Amy Butler’s booth, with her raincoat (I already have this pattern; I’m waiting to find just the right laminate to make it in).


And a really great quilt in Tula Pink’s booth with modern graphic alphabet letters.

Bare Feet Only - My first floor mat

This is a huge accomplishment for me. I am the Queen of unfinished projects. Or, if you like a positive spin, the Queen of started projects. This great rug I started a mere 3 weeks ago!!

I got a wonderful package of fat quarters from my super creative buddy Bari of her Art Journal line. The colors just jumped out at me and screamed "make something with us!". And I happened to have this pattern on my cutting table, because I was thinking it was an "achievable" project, and VOILA! I'm pretty sure I got the pattern from Above All Fabric. The idea of a sewn floor mat/rug just seemed SO cool to me.

The pattern is "Bare Feet Only" by Sweetwater. There were only three pieces to cut (6 of each), but that was a bit deceiving. I really had trouble making the circular trim pieces neat. They are only about 1/2 inch wide, and clearly, I flunked kindergarten, because I can't cut on a line to save my life it seems. I also found it challenging to cut the double sided interfacing for these pieces. By the time I was done my pattern piece was a mess, and I wished I had traced it and left it in the pattern. I will have a hard time if I try to use this pattern again.



I just love the little nests in this fabric, and I managed to find the most perfect pearlized teal buttons in my vintage button stash. They match the teal really well. The sewing itself for this pattern was simple, however, I had a few problems there, too.



I realized how difficult it is to zigzag stitch around a flower and make it neat and even. When I took the rug out of the sewing machine to examine my work I was surprised just how non-curved some of my sewing was. That having been said, I managed to convince myself it looked "authentic" that way. Ha ha!



I didn't have enough large pieces of the Art Journal for the back so I went to Sew Inspired and found this Art Gallery fabric that I think coordinates really well. The Art Gallery fabric has the most wonderful feel to it, but it's a bit more silky than a lot of cottons I've sewn with, and it didn't hold with the adhesive spray as well as I am accustomed to.



The result was that the back of the rug ended up having a bit too much fabric and being sort of bunchy. Overall, I am not thrilled with the workmanship on this project. I sort of see it as a prototype or a sample. I wanted to see what the whole process was like more than I wanted it to be perfect.



That having been said, I am THRILLED with my binding this time. A wonderful blog reader, Sara Strange (find her blog "Joy in Everything" here), posted a comment about my first quilt binding with a link to a Monkey See video for slip stitching. WOW!! The video made it super clear what I wasn't doing right before, and after seeing the video just once, my binding went from so-so and unattractive to just exactly what I wanted. Thank you Sara!

My daughter has already claimed this rug. She loves the colors and the "cute little birdies". I can't wait to upload these pics to Bari's flickr group. I am crazy excited to be pumping out projects at this rate.

Green Living Market Bag - by Bari J. Pattern Review

So, I am not quite meeting my goal yet, of blogging once a week. But hey! I'm posting more often than last year, and I'm actually starting to remember to take pictures of the things I make, which is a big improvement. I'm all about progress...not perfection.

My official Quilt Market roomie (*squealing with excitement*) Bari J. asked me to test another pattern for her. And FAR be it from me to say no to some fat quarters of yummy fabric and an early sneak peak of a pattern! I tested her Green Living Market Bag pattern that was one of the four in her first grouping of designer patterns.

This is how the finished pattern looks...and as a side note, this is my favorite style. The pattern is like a booklet (with pretty glossy paper) and the pattern itself is on sturdy white paper folded inside. It's also in a zip top bag. I'm sure this costs more money, but GOD does it make for longer lasting patterns, and easier storage.



The rest of the photos were taken by Rob, my photog extraordinaire. He actually puts the majority of his stuff right on Facebook...but I figured this was a shameless enough plug.




The pattern went to together really easily, and I love the ribbon to tie it together. It actually folds down into a tiny square so that you can either put it in your purse, or you can put a bunch of bags together to go to the store and not carry what looks like a tent.

My biggest challenge with the pattern was folding the pointed ends of the flat bottom up on either side. The only challenge was that the fabric was many many layers thick. So I actually used a denim needle, and sewed really slowly. It gave the bag a very polished looking exterior, instead of just the normal flat bottom.



I'm pretty sure my mom is getting this for Mother's Day, so mom, if you read this...sorry to ruin the surprise! It's a great bag to carry books, groceries, or better yet, I actually carry mine in my purse, so that when I stop in somewhere like the pharmacy, or even somewhere at the mall (*gasp*) I don't have to take a plastic bag.

Think green, and look super fashionable. Gotta love that.