Month: May 2017

A Collector of Quilt-Making Techniques

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Books, Classes, Techniques / 2 Comments

I realized recently that I am a collector of quilt making and other fabric art techniques.  I probably go overboard in this. I buy online classes, watch free videos, take classes at quilt shows, buy books, and ask questions of my fellow quilters when I see a technique I can’t seem to figure out.  Most of my quilty friends are really happy to answer my questions, and, since I have more than sixty years of sewing experience (Wow!), I usually understand exactly what they do when they answer my questions.

Sew this is quite a blessing to me considering the way I make wall art quilts.  I first get inspired by an idea; I spend some time designing the idea using my computer mostly; and then I have to figure out how in the world am I going to make that?!

That’s when the techniques I have “collected” come into play.  True, I have come up with some techniques of my own (which I will be sharing in my three books series on Art Quilt Basics), and I have taken techniques and adapted them for my own way of working.  But I am truly grateful to my friends and teachers who have helped me get to this point whether I have taken their classes in person, online, or watched videos and answered questions.  Here are a few on my list that I think you all would really enjoy (I collected these over a few years when they were on sale).

CRAFTSY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IQUILT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you watch for sales, you can get these online classes at a good price.  I watch them through while I do hand work or some such.  Then come back and do the projects the second time through.  Sometimes, I don’t get to the projects, but I do often reference certain techniques in these classes when I need a refresher or practice just part of the projects.  And I have instructions readily available when I need them.

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If you are in the area, catch part one of my quilt exhibit at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, Maryland.  I have 8 quilts there at this time.  In mid July, part two of my quilt exhibit will be throughout the store and have more of my quilts although some of the part one quilts will not be there at that time.

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I am currently preparing to teach a class myself on sit-down quilting at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, Maryland on Saturday June 10th.  I believe the class is full.  As soon as I get through the class, I am going to start making a new show quilt, or maybe start making two show quilts, since I really like to have two projects going on at once to switch between them when I need a break from one of them.  I like to have them at different stages, so I will start one and get it down the road a piece and then start the other one.  In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I love to make show quilts more than anything.  I haven’t yet decided which two I am going to make yet, though.

Sew Happy everyone!  What great classes have you taken and from whom?  Did you take them in person or online or both?

 

Five Years as a Full Time Fabric Artist: Stash Changes

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Fabrics, Food for Thought, My micro-business, Studio maintenance, Threads / 4 Comments

I’ve been making art quilts now on a serious basis for about 10 years and full time for five! 

It surprised me when I realized that.  While thinking about that and looking at my bulging and dripping over stash storage, I realize that my quilt needs have changed as I developed my styles over the past ten years.

So how has it changed?

I have enormously increased my thread stash over the years, and recently I jaw-droppingly won Superior Threads giveaway of 30 cones of all 30 colors of their new Microquilter 100 weight.  This is a thread I will use a lot and recognized when they introduced it that if it was as good as I expected that I would want a lot of it.  What a nice thing!  Thanks Superior! So I bought  new cone holder to accommodate that.  I store my smaller spools in the plastic drawers where I used to store more fabric.  I would have a hard time adding much thread into my stash now.  I am thankful for this stash and expect to use most of it over the next few years. I use a lot of thread in my wall art quilts.

I had originally stocked in a lot of Oriental fabric prints, story prints, and landscape prints in the strong reds, browns, and blues I really love.

I have increased those fabrics that are either solid or read solid, and I also have large quantity of blacks and whites, and I even have a lot of prepared for dye fabrics.  Truly, I could use bolts of blacks, whites, and solid dark blues.  I recently used up a bolt of black and had to buy some more.

I still love landscape fabrics, and have lots of plans for those.

I originally told myself I would never paint a quilt.  Sew how has it happened that paints, inks, and other fabric markers have grown into a big stash…not huge, but big?  He he he he.

Then there are crystals, beads, and sequins, which I use mostly on space and ancient manuscript quilts with a crystal or two on some of my others.  These are small and take little space, but I use them up rapidly when I make one deep space quilt.  I don’t buy a lot ahead because it is so expensive.  I do watch for big sales in bulk though.

I can’t seem to keep enough stabilizers and battings in stock, since I use them a lot and mostly buy them as I need them, so those spaces are about the same.

I plan on a little stash busting by making a quilt for my bed and maybe a couple of lap quilts for my home and a charity quilt or two from the parts of the stash I no longer anticipate using in professional art quilts.

I will be reducing my stashes throughout this year.  The last time I did this was about five years ago when I retired and started full time, and it held up well, but is once again in need of some attention.

I refuse to let myself add more storage, because I have plenty to keep enough fabrics, threads, and paints to last me the rest of my life! I must reduce what I have to make it all fit again and make room for the few things I need for specific projects that aren’t already there.  This will be an ongoing effort for the next several months, I think…maybe longer.

Sew I am well stocked for quilting and sewing, though I could use more cotton-silk Radiance and a few more neutrals.

With apologies to those of you who are interested, I will be late in my promise for part two of our stylized landscape project next steps.  I have to work through the background to get  pictures and maybe even videos and that is taking longer than I anticipated.  Nevertheless, I will get part two done in this month.

Sew how has your stash changed since you started this activity?  Do you need to reduce or add or both?  I would love to hear from you about this.