Saturday, October 22, 2011
It's almost that time of year, again...
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Paul Carr offers a potentially convincing argument for return to blogging...
Thnks Fr Th Mmrs: The Rise Of Microblogging, The Death Of Posterity
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/22/thnks-fr-th-mmrs/
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/22/thnks-fr-th-mmrs/
Monday, February 7, 2011
Looking for more
I'm getting those feelings again about killing my blog. This happens from time to time. I've killed at least 3 previous blogs. I'm trying to resist the urge, but I'm also not very interested in writing long posts right now.
So... if you are looking for updates from me, try my Twitter stream, or my Posterous stream. Both are way easier to post to with photos and brief updates for my "fans" (aka: friends and family). Both also have RSS feeds for those that prefer to read via Google Reader or some other aggregation application (personally, I am really digging Flipbook right now...).
So... if you are looking for updates from me, try my Twitter stream, or my Posterous stream. Both are way easier to post to with photos and brief updates for my "fans" (aka: friends and family). Both also have RSS feeds for those that prefer to read via Google Reader or some other aggregation application (personally, I am really digging Flipbook right now...).
Monday, January 31, 2011
Fabric personalities
Since my brain is filled with thoughts about my quilting project, I think I will post some more about quilting.
My sister completely shocked me today by deciding that she likes one of the two "girl" quilts I'm making, but not the one I thought she'd like. This prompted me to ponder how you can grow up in the same house as someone and have them as your primary playmate for 16 yrs, plus or minus, and still not really know them all that well. Or at least not understand their taste in baby stuff.
Probably less interesting, but more relevant to this post, is the subject of fabric. I mentioned in my last (horribly written and riddled with iPad related typos) post that I like to pick "hip" and "modern" fabrics rather than "traditional" fabrics. What I mean by "traditional" is the kind of fabric you would imagine finding in a quilt. For me, my imagination conjures up tiny flower prints and other things that scream "kitschy bed and breakfast." I prefer bolder, geometric prints.
As I was searching my mother in law's stash of fabric for what will end up being "Charlie's quilt," I came across a lot of "traditional" fabrics. They look great in my mother in law's quilts, but they were not what I was looking for in a baby quilt. She was helping me and knew I was not finding what I wanted. I explained to her my theory that fabrics have personalities. The "base" fabric I was trying to match to had a personality and even if the colors in another fabric technically matched, if the personality of the fabric didn't match then it wasn't going to work for me.
My "base" fabric was sage green with sweet, cute little farm animals (sheeps, pigs, horses, ducks) printed on it. I was trying to pick out colors from the animals to make the hourglass blocks. After pulling stack after stack of fabric from her sewing closet, I ended up with three plaid/gingham prints (in brown, green, and pink) and two solids with little, barely visible stars printed on them (in white and yellow). Both of those patterns had personalities that matched my little farm animal fabric. You can see what I mean here.
However, I had two other "base" fabrics that were screaming for something bolder and more geometric. To match those I had to make a trip to my local JoAnn Fabrics. You can see what I ended up with here and here. Those pictures don't show a close up of the blocks, but you can still see what I mean about personalities. And you can see the difference between these two quilts and the one my sister picked out for my God-child. They have some very similar colors, all three use brown and green, for example. But can you see how the pink gingham would never have worked with the monkeys? Or how the brown plaid would have been totally wrong with the little ducks and frogs?
Maybe it's just me, but I swear that these fabrics have personalities. For me the most fun part of quilting is picking out the fabric for the project. It's also why I'll never hoard fabric. Each project needs to match the personality of the recipient and starts with an "inspiration" print. Then each fabric in the project needs to match the personality of the "inspiration" print. That's my favorite part... besides seeing it all come together.
My sister completely shocked me today by deciding that she likes one of the two "girl" quilts I'm making, but not the one I thought she'd like. This prompted me to ponder how you can grow up in the same house as someone and have them as your primary playmate for 16 yrs, plus or minus, and still not really know them all that well. Or at least not understand their taste in baby stuff.
Probably less interesting, but more relevant to this post, is the subject of fabric. I mentioned in my last (horribly written and riddled with iPad related typos) post that I like to pick "hip" and "modern" fabrics rather than "traditional" fabrics. What I mean by "traditional" is the kind of fabric you would imagine finding in a quilt. For me, my imagination conjures up tiny flower prints and other things that scream "kitschy bed and breakfast." I prefer bolder, geometric prints.
As I was searching my mother in law's stash of fabric for what will end up being "Charlie's quilt," I came across a lot of "traditional" fabrics. They look great in my mother in law's quilts, but they were not what I was looking for in a baby quilt. She was helping me and knew I was not finding what I wanted. I explained to her my theory that fabrics have personalities. The "base" fabric I was trying to match to had a personality and even if the colors in another fabric technically matched, if the personality of the fabric didn't match then it wasn't going to work for me.
My "base" fabric was sage green with sweet, cute little farm animals (sheeps, pigs, horses, ducks) printed on it. I was trying to pick out colors from the animals to make the hourglass blocks. After pulling stack after stack of fabric from her sewing closet, I ended up with three plaid/gingham prints (in brown, green, and pink) and two solids with little, barely visible stars printed on them (in white and yellow). Both of those patterns had personalities that matched my little farm animal fabric. You can see what I mean here.
However, I had two other "base" fabrics that were screaming for something bolder and more geometric. To match those I had to make a trip to my local JoAnn Fabrics. You can see what I ended up with here and here. Those pictures don't show a close up of the blocks, but you can still see what I mean about personalities. And you can see the difference between these two quilts and the one my sister picked out for my God-child. They have some very similar colors, all three use brown and green, for example. But can you see how the pink gingham would never have worked with the monkeys? Or how the brown plaid would have been totally wrong with the little ducks and frogs?
Maybe it's just me, but I swear that these fabrics have personalities. For me the most fun part of quilting is picking out the fabric for the project. It's also why I'll never hoard fabric. Each project needs to match the personality of the recipient and starts with an "inspiration" print. Then each fabric in the project needs to match the personality of the "inspiration" print. That's my favorite part... besides seeing it all come together.
Rainy weekend projects
We had a rainy weekend here in the Bay Area. So, I got inspired to start on my massive "round 2" of baby quilts project. A few years ago I made 4 baby quilts for friends who were having their first babies. Side note: I am realizing that, fair or not, I am a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to gift giving. I make baby quilts for first born babies, usually for the baby shower gift. Just as baby showers are for first born babies and all the ones that come after get hand me downs, so are these baby quilt projects. For nieces and nephews, I may make one for each, but most people don't need or want a second baby quilt from me.
I learned how to make baby quilts from my mother in law. She steered me toward a pattern in one of her many quilting books and I've continued to use the same one for a total of 7 baby quilts now. Each time I modify color and pattern choices. One time I even left off the border to try to make it look more "modern" for my graphic artist friend's baby. I have pictures of all of them on Picasa here.
This year I know of 4 new babies. Two of these are due this spring. So it was time for me to get cracking on my quilting project. I haven't sewed in almost a year. All my stuff has been in storage. I had a few hurdles to get over to break my inertia on this project, and the rain inspired me to get going, even if I could think of other ways to spend the weekend.
By bedtime yesterday I had purchased, pre-washed, ironed, and cut fabric for three baby quilts. I also managed to get all the squares sewn for all 3 quilts. And I got most of the quilt to assembled for the one I think will be for my sister's baby, my soon to be God-child. The blocks pictured below are for someone at work's baby boy, due in May. The third quilt is a mystery... It's definitely a "girl" quilt, but I don't know the sex of either of the other two new babies. Plus it is uses some fabrics from my mother in law's stash which makes it look more "traditional" and sweet than the more "hip" and modern fabrics I usually choose. My mom has already chimed in that she likes that one best. :)
Wow, this is the longest post I've written on my iPad! Now it's time to get up and got run and get ready for work. Of course the weather is supposed to be sunny today.
I learned how to make baby quilts from my mother in law. She steered me toward a pattern in one of her many quilting books and I've continued to use the same one for a total of 7 baby quilts now. Each time I modify color and pattern choices. One time I even left off the border to try to make it look more "modern" for my graphic artist friend's baby. I have pictures of all of them on Picasa here.
This year I know of 4 new babies. Two of these are due this spring. So it was time for me to get cracking on my quilting project. I haven't sewed in almost a year. All my stuff has been in storage. I had a few hurdles to get over to break my inertia on this project, and the rain inspired me to get going, even if I could think of other ways to spend the weekend.
By bedtime yesterday I had purchased, pre-washed, ironed, and cut fabric for three baby quilts. I also managed to get all the squares sewn for all 3 quilts. And I got most of the quilt to assembled for the one I think will be for my sister's baby, my soon to be God-child. The blocks pictured below are for someone at work's baby boy, due in May. The third quilt is a mystery... It's definitely a "girl" quilt, but I don't know the sex of either of the other two new babies. Plus it is uses some fabrics from my mother in law's stash which makes it look more "traditional" and sweet than the more "hip" and modern fabrics I usually choose. My mom has already chimed in that she likes that one best. :)
Wow, this is the longest post I've written on my iPad! Now it's time to get up and got run and get ready for work. Of course the weather is supposed to be sunny today.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
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