Well Hello! It's been quite a while since I've blogged. We (finally) bought a house back at the end of April, closed on it at the end of May and have been moving and getting organized ever since. Work has also been absolutely insane since May... I won't bore you with the gory details, but blogging has been pretty much last on my list. Now that we're somewhat settled in, I'm starting to get back into a routine.I thought I'd ease back into blogging by joining up on the 10 Quilty Little Secrets linky party that Amy over at 13 Spools is hosting. I've really been enjoying reading everyone's, so if you haven't seen them, click on the button to go over to Amy's blog and check it out!
1) I sew over pins all the time. When I took home economics in middle school, the teacher said it was perfectly OK... I've only broken a needle maybe twice and it's certainly never flown into my eye or caused any safety issues (the thread keeps the broken tip connected). **this is my personal experience, don't sue me if you get impaled by a flying broken needle**
2) I don't really like "wonky" or "improv", I find it way more difficult to purposefully make something look crooked than to precisely piece things.
3) I don't change needles or rotary blades until I absolutely have to. Mostly because I can't find my replacements while my sewing stuff is still packed in boxes, and I'm lazy and cheap.
4) I have more WIP's and UFO's than finished projects (quilter ADD...)
5) It completely floors me when I see people practically giving their quilts away on etsy. I agree with Molli Sparkles' post (original and follow-up) about how quilters (and crafters in general) drastically undervalue themselves. I doubt I will ever actually try to sell my handmade goods because of this, and the fact that the general public expects low prices for handmade goods.
6) I don't buy quilting books (or books in general)... I borrow them from the library (and get to "suggest purchases" because I'm a librarian ::grin::)
7) I generally don't like Art Gallery Fabrics --go ahead throw rotten vegetables at me-- don't get me wrong, their designs are beautiful and I have purchased some and use them... but... a) I don't find the feel of the fabrics to be luxurious at all, I think they feel thin and cheap and my machine doesn't really like sewing with them. b) I find their marketing tactics to be off-putting. AGF designers are the only ones I have seen that exclusively sew with AGF fabrics and that makes me sad... see next point.
8) It really bothers me when bloggers "sell out" and only promote their fabric or sponsors' fabric. I liberally un-follow blogs that only blog about sponsor's or giveaways, or their own fabric line/patterns.
9) I am terrified of the actual quilting process. I love piecing and binding, the quilting scares me though and I dread it... probably why I have so many WIP's and UFO's.
10) I don't like making blocks that produce a lot of waste, and I don't like purposefully making extra large blocks just so I can square them up. If the blocks are "close enough" that's fine by me. I do however find trimmings so pretty :)
I feel like I know you so well by now.. :) I could have predicted more than half of these ;) But anyway, I enjoyed reading about your likes/dislikes!
ReplyDeleteThanks hon! Yeah, none of this should be news to you, lol :)
Deletewell aren't you refreshing!! I love books too, although not a librarian. Too loud. I plan to check out some more of your blog. The pin thing... I've had needles break into three bits with one flying waaaaay too close to my eyes. Also it knocks off the timing on a machine, which gets expensive to fix, just sayin'
ReplyDeleteLeeAnna at not afraid of color lapaylor.blogspot.com
Thanks LeeAnna for stopping by! The only time I've shattered a needle is when I ran over the metal end of a zipper (whoops!). I use really fine silk pins that I got from Joanns so maybe that helps the needle miss them? I do run into a little difficulty if there's a lot of layers, so I've learned my lesson to take the pins out before sewing over pin+4 more more layers :)
DeleteI think I only really follow one particular AGF designer and I've been noticing more AGF fabric usage than others (when pre-designing she used lots of different fabrics) and I do miss a lot of those scrappy projects. I have seen it with other designers too (eg. Moda ones) but then I suppose they are in some kind of contract to promote their 'own' goods (like matching solids etc.?). But yeah, a lot of the big name blogs that just do book reviews and QALs to promote books and such I've been starting to unfollow because meh.
ReplyDeleteWith the feel of AGF fabrics though, I've actually seen some at my LQS and it feels totally different to me there (like a cheaper quilting cotton) vs what I have purchased online which I thought was weird!
I think what I find weird with AGF is that they're recruiting designers who have never made a mention (or an obvious one) on their blog before about graphic/textile design, or being skilled at it, or knowing how to do it, so it kind of comes out of nowhere when all of a sudden these people are designers? Beforehand their blogs were just of making things with fabric but they each happen to have a high number of followers -- so it looks like it's popularity vs talent being chosen for fabric design? i dunno, I just think it's weird!