Start Early… Sew All Day!

I’ve always been a night owl, from my college days all through my professional life as a software developer. Software developers are notoriously nocturnal, but even more so if you are also a working mom. When else are you going to get any work done if not when the kiddos are sleeping? This is especially true for any sewing or quilting projects you have. It’s hard to sew when kids need dinner, homework needs helping, and all of the other tasks that keep a household running need doing.

For years, I’d endured well-meaning but obviously flawed harangues about the merits of “getting up early”, notably from the Goddess of Domestic Endeavors herself, Martha Stewart. She’s famously said on many occasions that mornings are her most productive time of day. How could this possibly be true?

Enter my new husband, a farm boy. As they say, you can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy. I was horrified after meeting my online crush in person to find out he was… a morning person. No matter the season, he is up at 5 am with coffee in hand, ready to take on the day. For years I resisted his pernicious ways. It wasn’t until I left Corporate America (when they tell you when to work…) that I discovered the true merits of getting up early to…. (gasp)… work!

I started getting up early to work frankly, because I was now self-employed and my work suddenly seemed important. Moreover, I wanted to do it! There has never been a greater motivator than working for yourself. I’m still not crazy enough to get up at 5, but I can easily get in at least five hours before noon and I’ve never felt more productive. Dishes and laundry and bills can wait for the late afternoon doldrums. If I ever give myself any time off from work, I might even start working on a new quilt!

Have a Good Day… Quilting!

You love quilting, but you don’t have the luxury of being able to quilt all day long. You need to work a productive day job in order to finance your hobby, as well as pay all those other pesky bills. What is a dedicated quilter to do?

I used to scratch my itch for quilting while at work by going to a local quilt shop at lunch. This was just enough of a break from the mundane – as well as a good dopamine reward for the ol’ brain – to get me through a rough day. But then, that quilt shop closed. There were no other quilt shops that were close enough to squeeze into the lunch break. Things were getting tough, drastic measures had to be taken.

The holiday gift giving season was fast approaching and I had a deer panel that I was planning on making into a wall hanging. It was relatively simple; I just had to cut the panel out then sew on some nice contrasting fabric for a border, and finally a simple sleeve on the back for hanging. I technically could do that and get it done on time. Alas, that project seemed so lame. I knew I could do better.

I could spice the panel quilt up a bit by adding a border of half square triangles in contrasting fabrics instead of plain single fabric sashing. Since I was already doing all of that, why not sneak in two pairs of cute pinwheels in the corners and a second border with a nice leaf fabric print in order to make the wall hanging into a bigger quilt? Before I knew it, I had a full-blown lap quilt in the making, but I was running out of time to finish it. Fortunately, it was winter and a credible time for a sudden seasonal illness! I ended up calling in sick for the best full day of uninterrupted quilting in years.

I returned to work the next day in much better spirits with my creativity itch scratched and ready to face the challenges of the day. On my lunch break, I brought that finished quilt to the post office and sent it on its way. The recipient loved the deer lap quilt and later remarked that it was so beloved in her house that family members would actually fight over who got to snuggle under it. The next time you are feeling overwhelmed and under-appreciated at work, take a quilting mental health day!

How to Quilt… for Free!

A new sewing project for me typically starts at the local quilt shop, but with the cost of high-quality quilting cottons reaching $12-13 per yard, lately I’ve been shifting my focus to more of a “make do” approach.

The concept of “making do” is not a new one. During the Great Depression, from 1930-1940, quilt making became a popular and affordable way to keep warm. Sewing enthusiasts made quilts from scraps of old clothing, grain sacks and other materials. During this time, a popular flour company, the Kansas Wheat Company, even started printing floral designs on their flour sacks so that the fabric could be reused for quilts and even clothing.

During World War II, from 1939-1945, wartime shortages and rationing made obtaining new fabric difficult. “Make do and mend” became a popular mantra. Once again, the citizenry was called upon to repair and reuse textiles, including for the making of quilts.

I am fortunate to not have lived during such difficult times, and I am blessed with a fairly impressive stash at this point in my quilting career. I have found that I can find just about anything I need in those sacred bins. If I can’t find what I was originally thinking of, I can always find something else that would still be a great fit. Many times, it’s more fun to work with the challenge of finding something that fits. Technically, the fabric is not “Free” as I paid for it at some point, but the price I paid was likely far cheaper than the going rates. As I now like to say, “It’s free to me!”.

Ten Years is Not a Long Time for a Quilt

If you think that passing ten years without starting that quilt sounds like a lot, let me assure you it is not. That time will go by quicker than you think. Some twenty-seven years ago, I bought some coordinating Daisy Kingdom fabrics from a big box store. I was going to make a dress with a matching apron and bloomers for my then toddler. The fabric was adorable – it was tan with navy plaids and little zoo animals sprinkled about. I already had the pattern, and I’d already made the same outfit with watermelon themed fabrics, so how hard could it be to make a second with different fabrics? Harder than you would think. I never started the second dress with the cute plaid zoo fabrics.

My daughter quickly outgrew that dress pattern and the fabric seemed to “baby-ish” for her once she was 3 or 4. So, I just put it into my stash for later. Years passed. Then, fortune shined on the cute fabric as a work friend was having a baby, hooray! The fabric had lots of neutrals so it would have been cute for any baby. I set to work making a log cabin baby quilt using my favorite Eleanor Burns book from her wonderful Quilt in a Day series. I got all the strips cut and made all the blocks in a matter of a few days, then I lost momentum. The friend moved away, and we lost touch. I never finished the quilt. The couple even had another baby, and I still didn’t finish the quilt.

Additional years passed (it had been over ten years since I bought the original fabric) and now it was I who was pregnant again. I could just finish the quilt for my own baby! Alas, as every quilter knows, when there is an exciting new quilting occasion, we can’t help but go buy something new. I had my eye on this adorable print of babies sleeping on cows with the words Moon Beams and Sweet Dreams on little banners. I’d used the same fabric for a quilt for my best friend’s baby just a couple years ago and it was still in print. So, the poor little plaid zoo quilt still didn’t get finished.

It’s been twenty-seven years now and I still have the blocks and already cut borders in my stash. They just need to be sewn together, backed, quilted and bound… not too much work, but where am I going to find the motivation with so many other quilting distractions all around me? My son is now 16 and he always talks about “when [he’s] a Dad”, so maybe the little plaid zoon quilt will have a future as a grand-baby quilt. What’s another ten years or more anyway?

That’s Not Really a Lot of Fabric

My comic strip By the Yard® is about a quilt-loving girl and her model-train-building hubby. Other than the fact we are not actually married, much of my comic is based on real life. Back when we first met some nine years ago, I was designing sewing patterns. Although I did have a previous long-running comic strip, it was at that time on hiatus. I took Train Guy with me to the fabric shop to get some fabric for the backs of some holiday pillows I was working on. At that time, good quality quilting fabric was $10 or more dollars per yard. I was trying to figure out the smallest amount of fabric I could buy in order to do the job. I was going to buy 2 yards. He was standing there with me in the cutting line, goading me to “buy at least 4 yards”. When I declined, he upped the ante and suggested I buy the rest of the bolt. This exchange was the basis for the very first By the Yard® comic.

The very first By the Yard® comic!

I’m not sure if he understood how expensive fabric was at the time, but now that he does, he still encourages me to buy way more fabric than I need. Apparently, as a hobbyist himself (he builds model trains), he says it really frustrates him when he runs out of a needed supply. Thus, the encouragement to always buy more. I now have far too much fabric and a very small number of finished quilts to show for it. My endless quests for new fabric have resulted in more fabric that I don’t really need, but the happy side effect is inspiration for many more fun By the Yard® comics.

Finish that Quilt

UFOs. We all have them. Those Un-Finished Objects that we quilters have in great abundance. We start a project, get well into it and then get distracted by something shiny. That poor quilt that was once the sole object of our affection is now on the bottom of the “to do” pile. Who knows when it will get done.

I feel compelled to brag that just last week I finished a project that was 23 years old. That’s right, the big two-three. I can’t tell you how many times I cleaned my sewing space, took it out, looked at it admiringly, only to fold it back up and put it in the “finish you later” pile.

This time, something was different. It just felt like it was time. Oddly, once I got back down to it, it took me less than one hour to finish. This really calls into question my previous posts about what to do with UFOs. Recently, I’ve been a strong advocate of “if you can’t finish it, then repurpose it or give it away…. give the poor thing a chance!”. Finishing a 23-year-old project really makes me think that it’s OK to keep an unfinished project for, well…. at least two decades!

Giddy with this accomplishment, I’ve gone on to finish not one but TWO more unfished projects that are each at least ten years old or more. I guess what this really says is, it’s never too late. Next up, I have some curtains that I started at least six years ago when I moved into my current house. If I can pull that off, then I feel very confident in that dress I was going to make for my son’s graduation in 2007. Fortunately, I have another son’s graduation next year in 2027. I really feel like I have a sporting chance with this one!

The Spectrum of Unfinished Projects

Quilters are notorious for having many unfinished projects, colloquially referred to as UFOs, i.e. Un-Finished Objects. This is not a concept unique to quilters… we are looking at you too, knitters and crocheters! Quilters will be in the middle of one quilt then suddenly get inspired to start another… and the old one? Gently pushed aside for “later.” But why? Here are a few thoughts:

  • OBE – Sometimes quilters get what we used to call in my days of working for the Department of Defense “OBE” – Overcome by Events. They ran out of fabric or thread, they hit a tricky part and lost enthusiasm for the project, or they just got busy with work, kids, holidays or whatever.
  • Perfectionism – To make matters worse, what often times makes good quilters is what makes distracted quilters, and that is the pursuit of perfection. If a block doesn’t come out just right, the perfectionist in us will rip it out or put it in the “time out” closet until it can start behaving properly.
  • Shiney! With so much fabric and pattern shopping available online, it is very easy to get distracted. Add on top of that, QAL’s (quilt-alongs), blogs and YouTube tutorials, that current quilt doesn’t stand a chance.
  • In the Mood – Many quilters require different projects for different moods. Strip piecing or simple blocks are for those days when something mindless and soothing is required. English paper piecing or fussy cutting are for days when the quilter is up for a challenge. A quilter’s WIPs, i.e. Works in Progress, become a kind of reflection of their current mood and level of creative energy.
  • The Final Distraction – Sometimes, a quilt doesn’t get finished because the quilter’s time on earth has sadly come to an end. This, however, doesn’t have to be the end for a beloved project. There is an organization called the Loose Ends Project (https://looseends.org/) that finishes projects in the event of the death or disability of the original creator. They match unfinished projects with appropriately skilled “finishers” so that a cherished project can finally be completed.

No matter the reason for not finishing a project, bear in mind the eternal words of Miss Scarlett, “Tomorrow is another day!”.

A Red by Any Other Name

For me, the hardest part of making a quilt is selecting the colors. The color choices dictate the feel of a quilt. Do you want something calm and soothing, or something fun and vibrant? If the quilt is to be a gift, the tastes or preferences of the intended recipient should also be considered. There are many different color schemes that you can use to select your quilt colors. Some of them are:

  • Monochromatic – Different shades and tints of one color. Various shades of one color can make a soothing baby quilt, either in traditional pinks and blues or more modern takes such as gray or other neutrals.
  • Analogous – Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel, for example: shades of blue, green, and yellow. This is a good scheme for someone who has a well-known favorite color.
  • Complementary – Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, for example, red/green or blue/orange. Complementary colors are a good scheme if you are going for a bright, vivid quilt.
  • Triadic – Three colors that are equally spaced on the color wheel. A triadic color scheme is a good way to give your quilt visual balance.
  • Focus Fabric – Not actually a color scheme but rather a technique, select a print fabric that you love as a starting point. Then pull out colors from that print to inform your companion fabrics.

As you are trying out different options, be sure to take a picture of each scheme you consider so that you can later make side-by-side comparisons.

Choosing your colors is probably the single most important decision you can make when starting a new quilt. Although it may seem daunting at first, it can also be a lot of fun!

Stop Looking or Buy Another One: The Eternal Choice

I am forever losing things. It’s probably because I’m not a very tidy person, but I like to think it’s because I’m just really busy. We all know the only surefire way to find something is to stop looking for it or buy another one. A perfect example occurred this past week.

I’d just had a victorious trip to the local big box fabric and craft store. I’d been wanting to make myself a hoodie from some fabric I’d had for probably eight years (look at me, working from my stash!) and I’d narrowed the pattern choices down to two. I agonized over the choice for a long time. With patterns costing nearly $20 these days, I wasn’t going to just buy both and decide later. I chose one pattern, then days later I regretted my decision. There was no option but to return to the store and buy the other one. Imagine my delight when I discovered due to some inscrutable promotion the store was having, this new pattern was only going to cost $2.11. When the nice guy at the register rung it up, I could not believe my good fortune… my poor pattern decision making skills were only going to cost me two bucks instead of twenty! I dug around in my pocket for a couple of ones and some change and I was on my way! I didn’t even need a bag; I just bought the one thing. That store never has bags anyways, but that is a story for another day.

I got back home, still giddy from my acquisition. Not wanting to waste gas, I had made sure to do some other useful things on my trip out such as picking up groceries. It was raining cats and dogs, and I didn’t want to make a second trip back to the car, so I grabbed up everything and ran into the house. I wanted to show Train Guy my pattern that was going to lead to the World’s Coolest Hoodie, but it was immediately nowhere to be found. A soggy trip back to the car yielded nothing. How far could it have gone… I literally just walked from the car to the house. I dumped out the grocery bags, looked through all the mail (a pattern kind of looks like mail, right?). Nothing. I made dinner, fuming mad that I’d lost the pattern that was in my hand minutes ago. After dinner, I scoured the car – again. I checked the driveway, which was by then 3” deep in water. The pattern would have been ruined had it fallen on the ground. I didn’t care. I just wanted to know where it was. So, desperate, I even went through the trash. This process repeated 3 or 4 more times that evening, and again the next day. Still nothing.

I knew the only way to “find it” was to stop looking or buy another one. I could not bring myself to buy another one online for close to 20 bucks, and I knew there were no more at the store, since I had bought the last one. I had to opt for “stop looking for it”, which was harder than a little kid waiting for Christmas. A week passed as I inched closer to spending the twenty bucks just to end the agony. Finally, a routine trip to the mud room revealed a shocking discovery: There it was just sitting face up on the mudroom bench. I grabbed it, ran into the house and started grilling Train Guy: Had he found this? What was it doing on the bench, and why didn’t he say something to me?

Train Guy was nonplussed, “I saw a piece of paper with some words on it sticking out from behind the cushion”. Apparently, he just took it out, wondered what it was, didn’t know, then simply laid it down on the seat. My jubilance suppressed the urge to say, “You know I’ve been looking for this for days!”. As always, I could not help but reflect on the thought that tidy people will never know the joy of a messy person finding something thought irretrievably lost.

The Myth of Fabric Storage

I never set out to accumulate countless yards of fabric, but here we are. For a while, I was designing quilting patterns so for that I bought A LOT more fabric than any mere mortal should have. Not only does quilt pattern development require experimenting with the design, but in order to create a pattern that is likely to sell, you also need to replicate the quilt in a variety of colorways. Even more fabric! I’ve since migrated away from quilt designing because creating this comic about quilting takes up so much time, but I’m left with all those skeletons of partially completely or somewhat abandoned quilting efforts.

If Pinterest had its way, I’d build an entire wall of storage for that. I’m not saying that I haven’t sort of done that already but allow me to venture the opinion that if you aren’t using something then you shouldn’t hang on to it for an eternity in the off chance you might use it someday. Don’t throw it away but find someone else who will use it because storing something in a pretty cabinet isn’t going to increase the odds of you using it.

Fortunately for me, a family friend has just taken up quilting and, behold, she lives in an area where quilt shops are scarce. I packed up an entire USPS Large Flat Rate box for her, as much as the box could hold. I was sure to send her The Best Stuff. If I’m not going to get around to using some of my favorite fabrics, then someone else will! I also sent her a sewing machine. The 23 vintage sewing machines I still have is a story for another day.

Another friend has a particular interest in landscape quilts. Years ago, I designed a “Row by Row” block for my local quilt shop and went with a covered bridge theme, homage to my New England heritage. I bought all kinds of “rock” fabrics to get just the right look. Plus, water, wood, etc. Due to a happy conversation about all the fabric I had, I’ve re-homed another pile to someone who I know is going to use it.

I still have a long way to go, but I feel like finding people and organizations that can use this fabric is a better use of time, space and resources than creating even more storage solutions, no matter how cool they may be.