the cutting bug

So, I am following in Becky’s footsteps.  You see, she's been a cutting fiend of late, to be able to quickly have things to sew once gardening season and recital time approach.

  I am not on the time crunches that she is in the same ways, necessarily.  I am space-constrained, and experimenting by cutting a few things at once while I can get to my fabrics and my patterns, and then I switch space around to be able to get to notions and set up the iron and my machine. 

Last Saturday started the cutting bug… I still blame Whipstitch.  And owe that place sooooo much gratitude with my blame.  2 hours of quilt cutting.
 And then a quick top…

And then a couple hours later a skirt…

And then earlier this week some bias tape…

And the next night, 2 bags…
Aren't they all pretty sitting there lined up?  Just some rectangles, facings, and linings and I'll have myself a weekend.

Cutting has happened lots, y’all.  Here’s to hoping some good sewing follows. 

Ah, but first…

Midterms.  Which I’m doing now.  

Ira Glass says it best.

Something we all should know:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” 
― Ira Glass 


Here's to fighting through it.  
One garment, one necklace, one recipe... one whatever at a time.  

Update!

Productive creature that I am, I updated the queue with projects for the coming season and links back to completed things.  Babysitting nights are good for planning these things, and Google Tasks holds a running little idea list from which I am able to choose things for the queue, and remember things from the queue on a regular basis.  

Some of them will link to projects which only need pictures that have been completed in the near past, and will be posted in the near future, and others will be awaiting stitching after my workspace date over at Whipstitch.  Some are reminders from this time last year, and I'm okay with that too... Especially since many of those are refashions of precious things I can't seem to bring myself to part with.  

As Gwen says all the time... 

I'll get to it, it's in the Queue...

Hanger trick

It might be time to revisit the lovely Wardrobe Wednesdays series, friends…

I am planning for Spring, and have done a much better job these days of wearing more of what I have due to a tip found on Pinterest… One I have mentioned before, which has countless names and just happens to be awesome and work:  The hanger trick.  

It's been called many things, and given many time parameters, but it's a fun little challenge and you can see what you wear and what you don't simply by looking at which way more hangers are facing.  
I'm about a month into it because I didn't flip things around in my closet until I had settled in from being home from Europe, but I have already notices that I wear more things, and that before the deadline I have set(1 year, not 6 months, because I don't flip my closet seasonally), I am more ready to give up some things I know I won't wear, because I can see a difference between the things left to be turned around and the things that have already been turned around.  It's a lovely trick to keep only the things you love and wear and fit the body you have now.  
Awesome, right?

A Whipstitch Sort of Morning

Y’all, have you been in here? Have you seen this awesome playground for us fabric fiends? Oh, it’s fabulous, friends…  So great.  Whipstitch’s brick-and-mortar store is about 20 minutes from where I live in town, and they do much more than sell you fabric.  The bright, open space is home to a little workshop with space to set up machines at the back and 2 lovely big cutting tables.  With rotary mats.  And get this… when they aren’t in use for the classes, they are open to be used by the general community. 
Great lighting, an awesome atmosphere that buzzes with friendliness and creativity, and a great staff full of ladies who love to talk shop, and just... Talk.  I walk in there and it’s like a magic idea switch just… flips.  I decide to make a quilt, or I start picturing how great that would look as a dress… 

A while back, I had an evening with friends in which I begun to cut that quilt out, and besides giving myself a new scar (rotary cutter user operator error… I learned my lesson!) I can’t say I accomplished much...  I cut maybe 3 pieces of fabrics into strips that will eventually become squares.  See?
 Maybe I wrote about it.  I was pretty proud of those strips and how much I managed to get done.

But yesterday, with a big cutting table at my disposal and a few hours to knock it out I went from folds of fabric to strips. And then from strips to squares.  So.  Great.  It goes so much faster when you’re not stopping to move everything when you cut every strip.  In 2 hours and change, I got SO.  MUCH.  DONE.  I cut all of the remaining fabric into pretty little strips, which make me want to set up my rotary stuff on my coffee table so that everything can be pretty little squares so we can play 9-patch... It's gonna happen.

hello...

It’s been a while.  The queue needs updating.

I need to tell you about the quilt.

I need to tell you about craft nights.

And EUROPE! … Well I need to link to the blog posts about Europe.

And that red dress.  You know, the one on the queue that’s been there for a while?

And a blue skirt that is a different plan for fabric I got knowing I wanted to use it this winter- and I used it this winter!

I have been sewing, just… not posting.  I am, however, in a season where I have been writing lot, just not about my sewing.  But, the thing that counts is I want to share these things with you, so as soon as I have pictures, I wiiiilllll!

Quilting update...

So, I decided that sewing lots of long straight lines to make my quilt was so 2011...
And I might have found a really fun, modern take on a 9-patch I really enjoy.
It is a woman's prerogative to change her mind, you know...

There are a crazy number of tutorials already out there, and if you stay tuned, you'll get one from me too!

Here's the one I'm using...
The English Geek's Disappearing Nine Patch Tutorial

She does a whole quilt this way.  I like.  And gives you some thoughts on color.  Which I also like.  A lot.  Seeing as how I have 15 fabrics at this point...

Happy Holidays were indeed such.

2 reasons I haven't posted much:
1. Finals
2. These two:  Mom and Brother.

I have been sewing, so more adventures soon!

SLM

When finals are over...

... has been a mantra for a while now.
I am currently taking a 30-minute break to stand in line at the post office to pick up mailing supplies so that I'll be able to send things to my mom and brother for Christmas, and thinking of all the things I would rather do tonight and tomorrow morning instead of writing papers and exams. Lovely how that works out, isn't it? But. I have motivation in the form of fabric goodness that really, REALLY wants to become a quilt. I picked up some cottons that work together too wonderfully for words… I'm trying to bribe myself to finish paper #1 by getting to put them all together in real life and not just in photos. And when paper #2 is submitted late tonight, I get to wash them all while I work on exam #1 and paper #3. Then it's cutting time! I'm excited to make my very first quilt top.
And a tree skirt.
Thank Heavens for the kind words of encouragement from lots of people in many spheres of my life. I wouldn't make it through without it.

Pretty presents...

I'm hoping for a China-Free Christmas.  Here's some of the progress.



Mom's gift.  Has been decided upon, and I'm soooo psyched about it, because I think she'll really enjoy it.  However, she reads so I won't write.  I'm still hoping to persuade her to spend Christmas in my home (AHEM, Mama, pleeeease say yes?) so I can see her open it.  

Jewelry Sets:

Well, much like my sewing, I get the concept out, and I get the things put together, and it’s those finishing touches like, oh, closures, and matching earrings that get put off… But it’s all there, and it’ll get knocked out pretty quickly once I sit down for a second. 

 

Quilt:

The fabrics are coming together nicely.  I'm really getting excited about it.  I bought my mat and ruler and rotary cutter 2 weeks ago on Sunday (hooray for straight lines), so real progress is a-comin'! But... I will say I really like the fabrics I have right now...  We found some in a shopping adventure and others are old shirts that were favorites and no longer fit after big weight loss... They look great with the things in the quilt, they are 100% cotton, and I can't think of a more special way to re-use them.  

And honestly,  have you ever realized how much fabric is in a single shirt?

Wow.  Sleeves themselves are huge...

At this point, I’m going with measurements, and a wing and a prayer.  So far,  I have inspiration photos from pinterest and I've made inquiries for advice from the lovely ladies at SG.   I’ll add the widths of the strips up as I go, and make it to the measurements that I’m aiming for… I’m giving some thought to the whole idea of the back, and piecing it with log cabin squares, or maybe another shape… And some pillow covers.  But my goal currently is to have the piecing all done by finals and to find a good source for batting and all… I suspect I’ll be headed back to Whipstitch for some advice.  


Now to finish work so I'm allowed to play!


Happy day, friends.