quiltology...

Breaking up is never easy to do.  But knowing when to say when to a patchwork project that’s going nowhere is a skill I’m trying to cultivate.

I’ve always felt compelled to finish no matter that I didn’t like what I was working on.  To me the very idea of abandoning good fabric is somehow—wrong.  It certainly wasn’t the fabrics’ fault that I failed to use it well.  I need to—as Tim Gunn might say—make it work.  Put it to good use.  I need to save it!

Back in February Chicago Tribune cultural critic Julia Keller wrote a column about quitting a book that just didn’t engage her—and apparently hit a nerve—because readers responded with over 150 emails describing their own sense of guilt, shame and sense of failure over quitting before getting to the end.

She wrote…”We turn off TV shows without a second thought. We walk out of movies on a whim. Concerts and plays? Sometimes, we don't even wait for intermission. But abandoning a book feels different. It feels shabby and small-minded and short-sighted. Like a character flaw.”

Wow—that hit home.  Bad movie—stop, eject and return to Netflix.  Bad TV show—like this week’s Master Chef’s conversation about sucking the flesh out of a goat—click and over to HGTV because you just never know when you’ll want to install new tile in the bathroom! 

But quitting a quilt top? 

Yikes—that’s really hard. 

Of course I could rationalize this and say—I’m just taking some time off.  I’ll come back to it when I have some perspective.  Absence may make the heart grow fonder.  It’s not the quilt—it’s me.

But who am I kidding here?  When it’s not working, it’s time to move on. 

And that’s what I just did this week with my Denyse Schmidt project.  I bit the proverbial bullet, cut new fabric from the bolt and started another top with a new pattern.  Making the decision to end it was tough—and I can’t say it takes the sting out of feeling like I failed those poor little fabrics.  But I am committed to moving on.  I’ve got the strip sets sewn and I’m planning to cut the pieces out this weekend.  Construction starts next week. 

Stay tuned…ccc

Mother’s Day is Sunday and the shop will be closed so that we can all spend time with our families.  Enjoy the day!

If you’re one of those people who wait until the last minute to pick up a gift for the mom(s) in your life, I have an idea for you.  Quick—go to the closest bookstore and get a copy of my friend Amy Dickinson’s book The Mighty Queens of Freeville—just out in paperback!   

Amy writes the Ask Amy advice column for the Chicago Tribune and is a frequent guest on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.  Her motto in life is “I make the mistakes so you don’t have to.” 

This book is a memoir that women can really relate to.  Its Amy’s personal journey through marriage, motherhood, divorce, single motherhood, bad dates, bad jobs and the trials and tribulations associated with overcoming her self described “dorkitude.”  Throughout it all, Amy is supported by the network of women in her life—the mighty queens of Freeville New York—a greek chorus of family and friends who offer up plenty of free advice, wit, wisdom and the occasional casserole. 

When life goes to pieces some of us sew it back together into patchwork.  My friend Amy writes it out into stories that are funny, touching and hopeful all rolled into one. In fact you might want to buy an extra copy for yourself!

(I mean it—go buy this book for your mom.  You don’t want to be one of those people standing in the check out line at Dominick’s on Sunday morning with an overpriced bouquet of wimpy wilted flowers, do you?)

Check out Amy online at http://www.themightyqueensoffreeville.com/

See you soon…ccc

How many software engineers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None.  It’s a hardware problem.

Yep, I had a hardware problem.  After lots of angst and anxiety over my old laptop (including crashes, computer viruses and slow mo downloading,) I finally bit the proverbial bullet, whipped out the old visa card and bought myself a new little netbook.   

She’s a svelte little thing weighing in at a mere 2 pounds.  Sure the screen is smaller than my 17” big boy laptop, but you know what they say, it’s not the size that matters but how you use it.

Okay, double entendres aside—I bought the weighty big screen laptop because I was suffering from the delusion that I would design patchwork patterns on it.  In theory this sounds like a good idea, but the fact is I can’t get past my incredibly low tech process of doodling out designs on graph paper, eyeballing color and cutting fabric pieces into different sizes in order to SEE the scale of it all. 

I realize there are folks out there taking digital photos of their fabrics, scanning them into their computers and plugging the images into patchwork patterns.  (You know who you are!) But I have to say, WHY?  It just seems like lots of busy work to me.  Of course I’ve been known to piece entire quilt tops and then decide I just don’t like…say a specific fabric, or the order of fabrics, or the size of the blocks.  So, I take it all apart and edit.  That too may seem like unnecessary busy work to some, but to me it’s all part of the process.

So now that I have my new little netbook set up, files restored and a gazillion passwords re-entered and saved, I can return to the world of cutting, piecing, and yes—ripping and editing. 

My current WIPs—three wedding quilts, two baby quilts, a store sample (or two) and if there’s time—maybe something for me.

Happy sewing everybody….

ccc



If you’ve opened your browser, read the morning paper or turned on the radio or TV this morning, then you know—it’s Earth Day!  The world is going green my friends.  So in the spirit of the day, I thought I’d log on with yet one more recycling idea. 

Some of us have been buying and collecting fabric for years—you know who you are—and now find ourselves with way more than we can ever use.  We also know that fabric ages out—so the stuff we just had to have ten years ago may not be the same fabric we want to incorporate in current projects.  The solution—recycle it—and return it to the fabric universe. 

The Salvation Army (downtown on Union Street) has a fabric compacter.  They crush it down, bundle it up and sell it off to manufacturers who then weave it into new stuff.  You get a donation and they get product they can resell to support their efforts.  The world is less cluttered and we get to buy more fabric.  Sounds like a win-win to me.

(If Union Street is a little out of the way for you, drop your donations at any of their locations and it will find its way to the compactor.)

Happy sewing everybody…



I bet you’re tired of logging on and seeing my vacation pic.  I don’t blame you—I’m a bit over it too.  So it’s back in the blogging saddle for me.

Vaca and taxes derailed me a bit here but I’ve been playing catch up with more to come tonight.

The spring/summer class schedule is now posted. 

In May Susan Holton is teaching a 3-week Intro to Garment Sewing class.

Many of you know Susan.  She works two days a week in the shop and teaches in the fashion design program at the Illinois Institute of Art.   Susan is a strong sewer—and better yet—an excellent communicator who knows how to break down complex information for those of you new to the garment making process—which is a bit more involved than the pillow/purse project classes.

If you have some sewing experience under your belt and want to learn the basics of making clothes—this class is for you.  We’re using a lounge pants pattern that comes in adult or children’s sizes so you can sew for yourself or someone on your list of “sew-worthy” receiptants.    

And then coming up in June, Mary Anderson will join us to teach a class using Denyse Schmidt’s Single Girl pattern.  Mary made the shop sample quilt with some really cute 1930s fabrics.  Our long arm quilter Sally has it now and we're hoping it comes back in the next next week or so.  Mary will add the binding and we'll take pics to show you.  Stay tuned.