Hidden Threads

After a much needed summer holiday, it’s back in the saddle, or sewing chair as the case may be.  It’s fall, or close to it, and I’m itching to get into those great amber, russet and brown fabrics.  Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting magazine always does an entertaining fall issue, and this year is no exception.  Check it out.

On the finishing front, I’ve made a pact with myself to quilt and bind my fall quilts from last year and hang them.  Quilt tops are my favorite part of the quilting process, so the finishing off . . .quilt sandwich, free motion quilting, and binding are always when-you-have-time projects for me.  I like to do everything myself and sometimes my ambition exceeds my available time, so piles of tops sit until I find a way to shame myself into finishing them.  This is my year to decorate the walls with quilts, so wish me luck.

After you have explored all of the standard layouts, you still aren’t done with this block! I said that it was versatile and dramatic, but I didn’t say that it could look charming, even old fashioned.

Small Circle Drunkard’s Path Block

If you reduce the size of the quarter-circle piece in the block, you can create small spheres by combining four blocks together. A reduced block size, around four inches, looks really cute with small circles throughout. This design works well with vintage and specialty fabrics. It makes a great Christmas quilt too.

I have some templates available from my Drunkard’s Path Page. Take a look in the side bar near the bottom of the page. Happy Sewing.

One Saturday, I was standing in line at the quilt shop and struck up a conversation with a nice woman who seemed to share my taste in fabric. A number of the bolts in my cart were her favorites and visa versa. After we’d chatted for a few minutes, the conversation came around to our stashes.

She admitted to me that she hid most of her stash from her husband, secreting it away under beds and in plastic storage tubs in closets. She also admitted that she was beginning to forget which fabrics she already has, sometimes accidentally buying duplicates.

This started me thinking about my own situation. I have problems with full disclosure too. My stash has spread all over the house, and it’s outgrowing spaces that less than a year ago I’d have though were generous.

So, How Much of a Stash Is Too Much?

When I first started quilting, I lusted after the stash and scraps of other quilters, imagining an Aladdin’s cave of fabrics, notions, thread, buttons, and ribbon. It seemed to me that the more experienced quilters would always have superior quilts because of their obvious skill, and because they had so much fabric to choose from.

How can a beginner have a chance of creating anything as rich or complex as someone who has been quilting for a few decades and has drawers and drawers full of fabric at his or her fingertips?

My solution?   I spent a couple of years finding deals on fabric-by-the-yard.  Some retailers will sell odd cuts, bolt ends, and returns at bargin prices. These fabric pieces are large enough to use for piecing and appliqué, add variety to my stash, and make me feel rich – abundantly rich.  It’s true that most of them aren’t from the top mills, but they are quality 100% cotton fabrics.

After investing in this kind of variety, I moved on to more expensive fabric, opting for good manufacturers of batiks and the like, offered by online outlets that provide a discount but require a one yard minimum cut of each fabric.

Now I have an embarrassment of riches, and have started wondering when to say stop. Ever? The nice woman at the quilt shop is letting her memory be her guide. When she can’t remember what she has, it’s time to start reevaluating her stash – in her book, anyway. What about you?

As long as I can remember the fabrics in my closets and cubbyholes, can I keep hoarding? Should any of this fabric acquisition bear a relationship to my ability to use it all before I die?

You tell me. How much is too much?  Or is it ever too much if you can afford it, and it makes you happy?

Quilting is entering the green age.  If you think about it, quilting owes its existence to conservation, transformation, and the ingenuity of people who were trying to make the most of what they had.  I have a romantic notion of those beginnings, so I’m inclined to embrace the idea of going green with my quilting.

I’ve never been one to bulk up on sprays and glues.  I like all-cotton batting, and I try to conserve fabric as much as I can.  I’ll even rework or postpone patterns I like that look like they just waste too much fabric along the way. 

I’m not alone in my thinking.  Quilters and conservationists around the web are blogging about greening the way we live our quilting lives.  The links below will give you a representative sample.  Whether you admire the Amish philosophy, want to conserve by using up your stash, or would like to know more about earth friendly quilting products like soy or bamboo based fabrics and batting, there’s someone who shares your interest or point of view.

Consider the Amish

Using Your Stash to Go Green

Earth Friendly Common Sense

What About Those Organic Fabrics and Batting?

What’s Your Green?

The horizon is looking grim for those of us who covet cotton.  Energy costs are up, which is making everything more expensive, but did you realize that cotton production is down, and is destined to stay that way?

Farmers rushing to take advantage of the corn and soybean bonanza are dropping cotton as a crop, and a good portion of what’s left is going overseas.  China is a big purchaser of cotton, consuming at least 45% of the worldwide market. We have to make due with what’s left, and that will be getting more expensive as time goes by.

Are Quilters on a Budget Being Priced Out of the Cotton Market?

Not to be an alarmist here, but I was kind of hoping that prices would be going down, not up.  As fabric has become more painterly, artistic, colorful and creative, it has also risen in price.  It’s getting to the point where good fabric is beyond the budget of many of us, at least for most of our projects.

This is a lament. I don’t have any ideas on how to handle the problem.  Even if you start dying your own fabric, there are costs (sometimes substantial) involved.

Diving for Fabric

My friend Emily started ‘diving for fabric’ a few years ago.  This is her term for haunting second-hand stores and garage sales for cotton garments that she can recycle.  She even uses chopped up pieces of collars and cuffs as fillers for pillows – yes she cleans them well first.

This isn’t her only source of fabric, but her system does yield some really interesting finds.  The prospect, unappealing until now, may have some merit if cotton keeps getting more expensive.

I’ve said it before: quilters are the most generous, kind people I’ve ever come across. If you quilt and want to help others, you don’t have to be a member of a guild, an award winner, or a joiner by nature. There are many organizations out there that will be grateful for your efforts, and thrilled that you want to help them help others.

Share the Gift of a Quilt With Someone in Need.

The links below are a good place to start. Let me know how it goes, or if you have a worthy charity that you want others to know about. One quilt won’t save the world, but the example of the AIDS quilt shows us that working together, our stitches can make a difference.

Make a quilt for someone who needs a helping hand, some love, or some reinforcement that the world is still a good place to live in.

If you have information about organizations set up to help with Midwest relief efforts,  please comment here and I’ll pass the word along.

Ipump
Provide quilts to children diagnosed with diabetes.

Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative
Make an art quilt to help fund Alzheimer’s research.

Project Linus
Give a quilt to a needy, sick, or traumatized child.

Warming Families
Help the homeless.

Soldier’s Angels
Help American soldiers and their families.

I had a blue day today.  The sun was shining, and the humidity was down.  It should have been a great day, but I was still blue.  It’s not like there isn’t enough to be worried about.   Gas prices are up, property values are down, and food is more expensive.  There’s flooding in the Midwest, and good people are dying entirely too young.  (I was thinking of Tim Russert.)

Okay, so I felt lousy.  What did I do?  I took out some fabric and started ‘noodling’ a quilt.  Noodling is my affectionate term for planning, plotting, and scoping out fabric for my next project, or the one after that.  It fixed me right up . . . a little anyway.  I can always count on fabric for that: instant contentedness, textile hope.

If you’ve stumbled on this blog, aren’t a quilter and have never considered quilting, just imagine, a hobby in which merely fingering the raw materials has the power to lighten your mood and give you hope.  Now that’s worth a few dollars a yard, isn’t it?

Admit it, quilting is addictive. The more you quilt, the more your style and technique improves. Eventually, artistic development leads to a desire to share, promote, and monetize your craft. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

I’ve posted a little about Etsy, the site for unique one-of-a-kind arts and crafts pieces, including quilts. You can start your own quilt and craft store as part of the site.  Sign up is free.  You can find the blog here: Etsy Quilting.  A quick link to Etsy is available in the Blogroll on the sidebar of this page.

Etsy isn’t the only place you can grow as an artist and share your unique vision with the wider community.  Art Market Blog has a list of sites that will give you a lot to consider, help you become member of a large, robust artistic community, and maybe teach you a little something about art in the digital age. Take a look at: How Artists Can Get Noticed Now for more information.

One thing you’ll find is that many of these promotional and educational sites are free or available at a nominal fee. The opportunities out there for artistic development and promotion are staggering.

If you’ve ever longed for a way to make your hobby pay for itself, make a profit, or get the respect you deserve as an artist, explore some of these sites. You’ll be surprised and pleased, and maybe you’ll discover that your vision resonates with more people than you ever expected.

Let me know how it goes.

Sara

One of the most tantalizing quilts for the advanced quilter is the multicolored beauty that appears in the intro to the DIY program Simply Quilts. The show actually did a segment on the quilt a few years ago, calling it a twisted log cabin design. I’ve watched the instructions for making that quilt block – maybe ten times, but always managed to confuse myself. I finally got some computer help from my husband when my friend, Emily, asked me to draft the block for her together with a layout that she could play with. She wanted to color in a black and white quilt rendering, making herself a map.

After I put something together for her, she started building her quilt, and offers some useful suggestions based on experience. I’ve included Emily’s tips, together with free PDF’s for the block design and layout on the following page: Twisted Log Cabin Block.

The pattern isn’t exactly like the one on television, but the directions and pattern will create the quilt above, and the layout will be very useful in drafting your own nifty design.  There is no curved piecing in this block, but it is foundation pieced.

Good luck, and let me know how it goes.