OMG you guys! The day I have had. This morning, my kid looks at me typing on my computer and says, "How old is that computer?" And I suddenly realize it's hella old (for a computer) and I really, really need to do a backup, like, last month. But I can't do anything right that minute because I am going to be a chaperone for her first grade field trip to the symphony! (And that's a post in itself, but it will have to wait.) So I go do that, and as soon as I get back home, I go up to my desk and there's this odd smell in the air. Sort of ozone-y. Like when there's been an unfortunate electrical event that has fried the crap out of something you really really need. LIKE YOUR COMPUTER. Dead. My baby. Gone.
So I had a HUGE wholesale order for books (and can I just say - I GOT A WHOLESALE ORDER!!!!!!!!! And I wan't even going to start thinking about that until next year!) and I was in a panic, so I hauled the poor thing to the MacMedics where they thought it was fixable at first, and then decided later it really wasn't. So poo.
But it all took up my whole day is what I'm getting at here. And so It's After 6 pm and I am FINALLY telling you that today's stop on the tour is CraftGossip! Scarlett Burroughs, who runs the quilting page for CraftGossip, has always been a big ally for me. She was instrumental in getting out the word about the first calendar and linked to one of my most controversial posts on the GenQ site, driving even more traffic our way when we really needed it. I hope I can do her a favor in return someday.
She has two posts up, one is a review and the other is the giveaway. Definitely read them both, but the giveaway one is priceless. You'll see.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Blog Tour Day 3 - Scientific Seamstress
Wow, we're at Day 3 already! Time flies, don't it?
Today's stop is the awesome Carla Crim, also known by her superhero name, The Scientific Seamstress.
You know, Carla used to live near me, and before we could get together (and let me just say, when we first talked about getting together, she was basically offering me fabric and I didn't jump in my car and drive to her house right that minute—wtf is wrong with me?), she up and moved to New York. I got to see her for, like 5 minutes at Market as she was running off to catch a plane and get home before the hurricane hit the East coast. But I will remember those five minutes forever (sniff!).
I've talked about my love for Carla's work before here and here - but I cannot emphasize enough how great she is. She even has TWO new books coming out this year, Pattern Cutting for Kids' Clothes and Essential Sewing Reference Tool: All-In-One Visual Guide (both of which are available for pre-order on Amazon). I love her to pieces, even though she LEFT ME and now we will probably never sit in some little coffee shop in downtown Baltimore, talking smack about quilters. That's okay, we'll just do it at Spring Market in Pittsburgh.
She's giving away a book, so go see her and tell her she's awesome (but not too awesome because of the LEAVING.)
Today's stop is the awesome Carla Crim, also known by her superhero name, The Scientific Seamstress.
You know, Carla used to live near me, and before we could get together (and let me just say, when we first talked about getting together, she was basically offering me fabric and I didn't jump in my car and drive to her house right that minute—wtf is wrong with me?), she up and moved to New York. I got to see her for, like 5 minutes at Market as she was running off to catch a plane and get home before the hurricane hit the East coast. But I will remember those five minutes forever (sniff!).
I've talked about my love for Carla's work before here and here - but I cannot emphasize enough how great she is. She even has TWO new books coming out this year, Pattern Cutting for Kids' Clothes and Essential Sewing Reference Tool: All-In-One Visual Guide (both of which are available for pre-order on Amazon). I love her to pieces, even though she LEFT ME and now we will probably never sit in some little coffee shop in downtown Baltimore, talking smack about quilters. That's okay, we'll just do it at Spring Market in Pittsburgh.
She's giving away a book, so go see her and tell her she's awesome (but not too awesome because of the LEAVING.)
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Blog Tour Day 2 - Hunter's Design Studio
Woot! We're at day number 2 on the Great Bitchy Book Blog Tour of 2013. And 2014. And I'm very happy about today's stop on the tour because the host for today is my good friend, Sam Hunter.
Sam and I met through Jake Finch, my friend and publisher at GenQ. Jake and Sam have known each other for years and one day, Jake said, "Hey - you two should be friends." Jake must have some kind of freaky friend-melding ability, because Sam and I have become super close.
When Sam and I first started getting acquainted, she had recently finished her MFA, and was preparing to launch her own line of quilt patterns under the name Hunter's Design Studio. She put together a Kickstarter campaign and took those patterns to Festival at Long Beach, where not only were her patterns picked up by shops and distributors, but her super awesome buttons as well.
I think our friendship really solidified around the time I decided to step down as creative director at Generation Q. This was a huge decision for me, and one that was very difficult to make, and Jake actually told Sam before I told anyone else. Sam called me and the first thing out of her mouth was, "I am so proud of you and I completely support you." She totally got why I had made the decision, why I wanted to forge my own path, and she gave me so much encouragement and strength. We ended up talking about all kinds of things that day, both about my life and hers, and it kind of set the tone for all our talks since then.
I started calling Sam "Samwise" (after Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings), because she is such a careful thinker, and, at the same time, so supportive and reassuring. Whenever I express doubts about something, Sam is always there to say, "You can do this—and I will help you figure out how." I can only hope I have given back to her at least a fraction of the wisdom and aid she has given to me.
When I talk about how grateful I am that I have made such good friends over the internet, I am talking about Sam. I have made a lot of friends—but Sam is special.
So whaddya waiting for? Go head over to her blog today and enter to win a copy of my book!
Sam and I met through Jake Finch, my friend and publisher at GenQ. Jake and Sam have known each other for years and one day, Jake said, "Hey - you two should be friends." Jake must have some kind of freaky friend-melding ability, because Sam and I have become super close.
When Sam and I first started getting acquainted, she had recently finished her MFA, and was preparing to launch her own line of quilt patterns under the name Hunter's Design Studio. She put together a Kickstarter campaign and took those patterns to Festival at Long Beach, where not only were her patterns picked up by shops and distributors, but her super awesome buttons as well.
I think our friendship really solidified around the time I decided to step down as creative director at Generation Q. This was a huge decision for me, and one that was very difficult to make, and Jake actually told Sam before I told anyone else. Sam called me and the first thing out of her mouth was, "I am so proud of you and I completely support you." She totally got why I had made the decision, why I wanted to forge my own path, and she gave me so much encouragement and strength. We ended up talking about all kinds of things that day, both about my life and hers, and it kind of set the tone for all our talks since then.
I started calling Sam "Samwise" (after Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings), because she is such a careful thinker, and, at the same time, so supportive and reassuring. Whenever I express doubts about something, Sam is always there to say, "You can do this—and I will help you figure out how." I can only hope I have given back to her at least a fraction of the wisdom and aid she has given to me.
When I talk about how grateful I am that I have made such good friends over the internet, I am talking about Sam. I have made a lot of friends—but Sam is special.
So whaddya waiting for? Go head over to her blog today and enter to win a copy of my book!
Monday, December 2, 2013
Blog Tour Day 1 - Bad Ass Quilter's Society
It's here, it's here, it's finally here - the great Bitchy Book Blog Tour of 2013. And 2014. Yep, I had so many people willing to share my book with their readers, I had to extend the tour to January as well as December. For those of you going, "Huhwhatnow?", a book blog tour is where several bloggers, each on a different day, say something about a book, and in some cases offer one in a giveaway. You'll see at the bottom of this post (and each post I do during the tour) a list of all the blogs on the tour and what day each is scheduled for. Some blogs will do giveaways and some won't - it all depends on what the bloggers want to do and can handle in their own busy schedules. So check 'em all just to be sure and definitely leave a comment if you can to let them know you were there.
The first stop on the tour is Bad Ass Quilter's Society. I have to make a confession, until earlier this year, I didn't have a good sense of what the BAQS was or know much about the founder and head Bad Ass, Maddie Kertay. But then, Maddie posted a picture of Completely Cauchy's "Give a Fuck" quilt from QuiltCon on Facebook, and shit started to fly as people got their undies all bunched up over it, and Maddie handled it all with a firm and decisive hand. (Helpful hint - do not tell someone she is a "bad mother" on Maddie's Facebook page.) In response to this, a small group formed on Facebook to create our own "Fuck" blocks and Maddie joined as well. We became Facebook friends IRL (outside of our blog personas), and let me just say, this woman is a freaking dynamo. Honestly, the woman completely fascinates me and I may be replacing my one lady-crush (Tilda Swinton) with Maddie. Or maybe I have to have two now, because, you know, TILDA.
At the fall Quilt Market in Houston this year, Maddie put together something she called a Networking Wing-Ding. Several people in the quilt industry gave small speeches, full of advice for those who hope to make a living through quilting: Ebony Love, Bari J., Sara Watson, Sam Hunter, Rose Hughes - just to name a few. I paid to see it all streaming live and it was totally worth it. I am secretly hoping Maddie might let me speak at the next one in Pittsburgh. I am also secretly hoping she says no. It sucks to be ambitious and a big fraidy chicken at the same time.
Anyway, I am totally a convert to the cult of Maddie and I can only hope she will let me touch the hem of her garment someday (and maybe share with me the secret of how she gets so much freaking shit done.)
So, head on over to BAQS and let Maddie know she is awesome for being the inaugural blog on the Great Bitchy Book Blog Tour of 2013 and 2014. And maybe let her know that while I'm a bit fat, I'm also very cuddly.
Oh, and PDFs are now on sale along with paper copies!! And for CyberMonday - all orders of a signed copy of the paperback book will include the PDF FREE.
TOUR SCHEDULE
The first stop on the tour is Bad Ass Quilter's Society. I have to make a confession, until earlier this year, I didn't have a good sense of what the BAQS was or know much about the founder and head Bad Ass, Maddie Kertay. But then, Maddie posted a picture of Completely Cauchy's "Give a Fuck" quilt from QuiltCon on Facebook, and shit started to fly as people got their undies all bunched up over it, and Maddie handled it all with a firm and decisive hand. (Helpful hint - do not tell someone she is a "bad mother" on Maddie's Facebook page.) In response to this, a small group formed on Facebook to create our own "Fuck" blocks and Maddie joined as well. We became Facebook friends IRL (outside of our blog personas), and let me just say, this woman is a freaking dynamo. Honestly, the woman completely fascinates me and I may be replacing my one lady-crush (Tilda Swinton) with Maddie. Or maybe I have to have two now, because, you know, TILDA.
At the fall Quilt Market in Houston this year, Maddie put together something she called a Networking Wing-Ding. Several people in the quilt industry gave small speeches, full of advice for those who hope to make a living through quilting: Ebony Love, Bari J., Sara Watson, Sam Hunter, Rose Hughes - just to name a few. I paid to see it all streaming live and it was totally worth it. I am secretly hoping Maddie might let me speak at the next one in Pittsburgh. I am also secretly hoping she says no. It sucks to be ambitious and a big fraidy chicken at the same time.
Anyway, I am totally a convert to the cult of Maddie and I can only hope she will let me touch the hem of her garment someday (and maybe share with me the secret of how she gets so much freaking shit done.)
So, head on over to BAQS and let Maddie know she is awesome for being the inaugural blog on the Great Bitchy Book Blog Tour of 2013 and 2014. And maybe let her know that while I'm a bit fat, I'm also very cuddly.
Oh, and PDFs are now on sale along with paper copies!! And for CyberMonday - all orders of a signed copy of the paperback book will include the PDF FREE.
TOUR SCHEDULE
Dec. 2 - Maddie Kertay - Bad Ass Quilter’s Society
Dec. 3 - Sam Hunter – Hunter’s Design Studio
Dec. 4 - Carla Crim – Scientific Seamstress
Dec. 5 - Scarlett Burroughs – Craft Gossip
Dec. 6 – Jill Dorsey – Made With Moxie
Dec. 9 - Victoria Findlay Wolfe – Bumble Beans Inc
Dec. 10 - Lynn Harris - Little Red Hen
Dec. 11 – Teresa Coates – Crinkle Dreams
Dec. 12 - Joshua Helms - Molli Sparkles
Dec 13 - Liz Kettle – Stitch Journeys
Dec. 14 - Leah Day – The Free Motion Quilting Project
Dec 16 - Lisa Sipes – That Crazy Quilty Girl
Dec. 17 - Charlotte Newland – Displacement Activity
Dec. 18 - Teri Lucas - TerifiCreations
Dec. 19 – Cheryl Sleboda – Muppin.com
Dec. 20 – Kelly Biscopink – Stitchy Quilt Stuff
Jan. 6 – Generation Q
Jan. 8 – Rose Hughes – Rose Hughes – Quilt Artist
Jan. 9 – Janice Ryan – Better Off Thread
Jan. 10 - Flaun Cline – I Plead Quilty
Jan. 13 – Heather Jones – Olive and Ollie
Jan. 14 – Meg – Without A Stitch On
Jan. 15 – Laura Lochore – Quokka Quilts
Jan. 16 – Elaine Wong Haselhuhn – Dashasel Sews
Jan. 17 - Kim Lapacek - Persimon Dreams
Monday, November 25, 2013
Guess the name of the next quilt.
This past Tuesday, I woke up to what is becoming a semi-regular event: another diverticulitis attack. I had an appointment to see my gastro back in October, but then we lost David's dad and had to travel to Indiana that week. I finally got around to re-scheduling it and she can see me on... January 27! My entire abdomen may just shut down by that point, but frankly the thought of pooping in a bag the rest of my life doesn't seem so awful as long as the damn pain is gone. I'll just make a cute cover for my colostomy bag out of octopus fabric and rhinestones, and maybe put a little sign on it that says, "Hot Shit" or something.
I tell you this only because I realized on Thursday that I had better get my tushie in gear and start signing and mailing some books. The thing with diverticulitis attacks is that one of the main ways to get through it is to basically stop eating. You can have Jell-O and broth, but that's about it. So, by Thursday, not yet healed enough to eat for the third day in a row, I was a wee bit shaky. Nevertheless, I decided it was an excellent time to start signing books! If you receive your book and are wondering why it looks like I might have been drunk when I was signing yours, now you know I was actually just running on fumes. There may have also been a Vicodin or two involved - I'm not saying.
I also had to try and organize a blog tour for the book. I sent out a whole bunch of requests thinking maybe 5 or 6 people would say yes, and I got 25! I had to split it between December and January, and then send out a schedule to all the people who said they would do it and hope that, once they read the book, they will still be just as enthusiastic. Naturally, I got names misspelled and blog names wrong, and every time I tried to send out a correction, I would stupidly copy and paste the list from an email that still had all the wrong names, so I ended up sending out like 80 emails over three or four days. I'm too scared to go back and see if any of them are even coherent. Naturally, of those 25 only about, oh 5 or 6 have responded to say they are good with their date and are definitely in, so we may be having the tour I originally envisioned after all! (It's cool - I know people are busy.)
Hopefully, on December 2 I'll be telling you all about the first stop on the tour and directing you her way, along with a schedule for the rest of the days. Each person on the tour will be (I hope) giving away a book, so there will be (I hope) 25 chances to win one. I'll post here every day of the tour (I hope - do you sense a theme emerging here?) to tell you a little something about the person who is on the tour for that day, and, if the cramps have all completely subsided by then, it will probably all be nice!
And just a reminder that the pre-order price of $9.99 for a signed copy of the book is good until November 30. On December 2, when the tour starts the price goes up to the list price of $12.99 but there will also be a PDF available for only $5.99. I'll have all the deets ready for you on December 2. We will be in Tennessee this week for Thanksgiving so, if you are of a mind to order one this week, it won't be mailed out until next week.
Oh, and since we have Thanksgiving coming up, I should tell you what I am thankful for, because apparently that's, like, a thing:
1) Double chocolate Milano cookies.
2) Tom Hiddleston.
3) Yoga pants.
4) Secretly reading dirty books on my Kindle.
5) Nice gastroenterologists, even when they are booked up months at a time, dammit.
6) My smart, sarcastic, awesome children.
7) A husband who thinks the fact that I self-published a book is totally hot.
8) Netflix. See #2.
9) Scorpion traps.
10) Friends - ones nearby and those I've really only known over the internet.
11) Family, both the one I was born into and the one I married into.
12) All my awesome readers.
See you in December!!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Someone interviewed me! For realsies!
Recently, I got a comment from the lovely Heather K. Powers and we started an email correspondence. She is a professional organizer and on her blog she occasionally has interviews with artists about their studios and the organization within. I said if she ever wanted to interview a humor writer about her lack of organization, I would be more than happy help out. Turns out, Heather has an awesome sense of humor and said yes.
You know how, whenever you get a peek into someone's studio, you just know they spent two days cleaning and organizing beforehand? NOT THIS GIRL!
Hop on over to Heather's blog to read the interview. Thanks, Heather!
You know how, whenever you get a peek into someone's studio, you just know they spent two days cleaning and organizing beforehand? NOT THIS GIRL!
Hop on over to Heather's blog to read the interview. Thanks, Heather!
Monday, November 11, 2013
Line dancing: a rant
I don't think I ever showed you my latest fabric purchases. And when I say, "latest" I mean "the ones I bought way back in August because there was a sale and it was the last time I had any extra money."
Upper left you've got your Just My Type by Patty Young. Upper right is Technicolor by Emily Herrick. Bottom right is the Fields of Iris Kona collection. And bottom left is Ashbury Heights by Riley Blake. I may or may not have actually snuggled with one or more of these stacks in my bed; I refuse to say.
I love buying fat quarter bundles, and it is now the way I usually buy fabric. I do love seeing the pretty little stacks, all tied up in a nice ribbon, sitting on my shelf. Who doesn't? Criminals, probably. And sociopaths. But what I no longer love is the idea of making an entire quilt out of each of them. Yeah, that's right. I don't want to make quilts using only one line of fabric. Insanity, you say? Burn the heretic, you cry? Hear me out.
It's all Amy Butler's fault I ever got into quilting in the first place. When I fell in love with Etsy, it was because I had discovered you could buy handmade bags there, bags made from beautiful and interesting fabrics. And this was back when Amy's Midwest Modern was all the rage. It was the first time I had ever really seen that kind of artistry in fabric, and, like many people, it made me want to gather up a bunch of yardage, bury my face in it, and just motorboat the hell out of it. I didn't even have a sewing machine yet.
So when I did get the sewing machine (a thirty dollar Kenmore from Sears) and it was time to start buying fabric, I kind of choked. I wasn't experienced enough to know how people picked fabrics and since I was barely able to sew squares together at that point, much less cut them, I relied on charm packs. I didn't have to do anything! And all the pieces coordinated! And, if I was really lucky, all the little sawtooth marks from the pinking on the edges would line up just right.
As a result of this reliance on precuts, I also began to rely on the fabric lines themselves to do half of my design work for me. I didn't really have a stash, so I couldn't exactly pull coordinating fabrics from it, and the ease of just using one line where you have all the prints and blenders already put together was really seductive for someone just learning how to sew. And someone who tends to be very, very lazy. Not that I know anyone like that. Shut up.
And so seduced was I by the ease of that coordination, that whenever I saw a truly scrappy quilt, I didn't like it. I liked the neat and tidy look of the perfectly coordinated, pre-selected quilt. Because that's what I had been sort of conditioned to like.
But the thing about my laziness is that eventually my—let's not call it arrogance; let's call it pride—takes over. Maybe it's not even pride I'm talking about. It's that thing I've talked about before that I call my Overgrown Toddler Syndrome, the thing that makes me constantly go, "NO! Do it MYSELF!" And also the thing that makes me go, "NO! Don't wanna do it that way. Wanna do it MY way." See, because I'm all smart and shit, I quickly realized everyone was making quilts out of one fabric line. Everyone. And this meant everyone was as lazy as me, so yay, but it also meant something else I didn't recognize at the time because I wasn't as involved in the broader quilt world as I am now (which is still not much). Something I feel a deep-seated need to rebel against.
If you see a quilt in a magazine that uses only one line of fabric, it is quite possible—likely, even— that the fabric company provided the fabric to the designer. In fact, if you're not paying attention, you may not realize the designer of that pattern works for or is contracted by the fabric company in order to make a quilt using the line. The fabric company, based upon their advertising relationship with the magazine, will print the pattern in order to give the line the best exposure based upon when it is released into stores. (Let me say for the record here: one of the things I love about working with GenQ is they prefer quilts that do not use all one line.) This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something that everyone should be aware of.
Along the same track, many independent pattern designers develop relationships with fabric companies. This gives them the fabric they need to make the quilts (and again, this is a good thing, because fabric is fucking pricey) and sometimes the patterns can be easily worked up into kits, which helps sell patterns. Again, there is nothing wrong with any of this. But there are also many small pattern designers who just seem to do it because they like it and know that their audience does too. It's what we've grown used to. Creating fabrics in collections has been a great boon to the quilting fabric industry, and designing quilts around those collections helps it all along.
What bothers me about all of this is I see so many people who now seem to think they have to make quilts that way, like there's some kind of law about it. My sister, who works in a quilt shop, also says there are many people out there who not only feel they have to use one line in a quilt, they have to use the exact line used in the picture on the quilt pattern. There are many, many people who will not make a quilt if they can't get that line anymore.
I do understand the way fabrics are made and marketed today makes it easier to just grab a pack of some sort of pre-cut and go with that. I also understand it is my own particular psychosis that makes me not want to do it myself anymore. I also no longer want to use other people's patterns to a large degree. I'm a lunatic. And I certainly don't expect everyone to take on my particular insanity. BUT. I do think that many of us are letting ourselves be hindered by fear and by the expectation of what a quilt is supposed to be.
I have plenty of quilts I consider, not failures, but just not total successes. Not everything can be a George or an Alcide. But all of those quilts? They still keep my babies warm at night. I can still cuddle with my man under them. Or, you know, other stuff. Shut up. I still look at them and remember who I was when I made them, and who I have become since then. They are still a part of the history of me as a quilter, and that may have value to no one else in the world but me, but it's enough.
If I am going to be a quilter for many years, I don't want to look at those quilts and see someone who was afraid—afraid to branch out, afraid to try new things, afraid of making independent decisions and taking chances. I have held myself back from so much in my life because of fear, and while I certainly stayed safe, I didn't get anywhere either.
If using all of one fabric collection in a quilt is what makes you happy, I am not suggesting it shouldn't. But if thinking you have to do it that way, or that you aren't good enough to do it another way, is keeping you from making quilts you want to make, then that is where I'd like to challenge you. I'd also like to challenge you to a round of beer pong, but we can talk about that later.
I know people tend to get their backs up when someone suggests maybe they want to think about doing things other than the way they are comfortable doing them. And so, I'll just say here what all the kids say these days: you do you. Do what makes you happy, and if making quilts from one line of fabric makes you happy, I am not saying it shouldn't. What I am saying is that I hope you won't let the way fabric companies have chosen to market their wares be the sole arbiter of the way you make quilts, especially if you want to branch out from that. And don't think that no one will be interested in seeing your quilts or even making a quilt from a pattern you designed if the quilt isn't made from some recent, best-selling collection. A beautiful quilt is a beautiful quilt, but a quilt that doesn't rely on one fabric collection has, to my mind, just a little something more. Daring, perhaps.
It wasn't always this way. There weren't fabric collections as we know them until fairly recently (in geologic time). My mom didn't have fat quarter bundles, but she also didn't have a rotary cutter. Or the internet. Or Oprah. Progress is good and it has given us all kinds of cool stuff, including fully coordinated lines of fabric. And, hell, I'll probably be making another all-one-line quilt someday because people keep making babies and who doesn't like an easy, quick baby quilt that you don't have to think too hard about? (See the aforementioned criminals and sociopaths.) Whatever you choose to do that makes you happy is a good thing, but if you think you want to break free of the one-line dance, and are worried you can't, I want you to know you can. And I really hope you will. Because trusting in your own creative instincts—and giving them an opportunity to grow—is pretty fucking cool.
So today, I'm going to take all my fat quarter bundles and I'm going to untie the ribbons around them and I'm going to split them up. I'm going to put all the blues in one box and the oranges in another and the greens in another and I'm going to have lots of boxes of color-coordinated fabrics from many different collections.
And then I'm going to stick my face in one of the boxes and motorboat the hell out of it.
Upper left you've got your Just My Type by Patty Young. Upper right is Technicolor by Emily Herrick. Bottom right is the Fields of Iris Kona collection. And bottom left is Ashbury Heights by Riley Blake. I may or may not have actually snuggled with one or more of these stacks in my bed; I refuse to say.
I love buying fat quarter bundles, and it is now the way I usually buy fabric. I do love seeing the pretty little stacks, all tied up in a nice ribbon, sitting on my shelf. Who doesn't? Criminals, probably. And sociopaths. But what I no longer love is the idea of making an entire quilt out of each of them. Yeah, that's right. I don't want to make quilts using only one line of fabric. Insanity, you say? Burn the heretic, you cry? Hear me out.
It's all Amy Butler's fault I ever got into quilting in the first place. When I fell in love with Etsy, it was because I had discovered you could buy handmade bags there, bags made from beautiful and interesting fabrics. And this was back when Amy's Midwest Modern was all the rage. It was the first time I had ever really seen that kind of artistry in fabric, and, like many people, it made me want to gather up a bunch of yardage, bury my face in it, and just motorboat the hell out of it. I didn't even have a sewing machine yet.
So when I did get the sewing machine (a thirty dollar Kenmore from Sears) and it was time to start buying fabric, I kind of choked. I wasn't experienced enough to know how people picked fabrics and since I was barely able to sew squares together at that point, much less cut them, I relied on charm packs. I didn't have to do anything! And all the pieces coordinated! And, if I was really lucky, all the little sawtooth marks from the pinking on the edges would line up just right.
As a result of this reliance on precuts, I also began to rely on the fabric lines themselves to do half of my design work for me. I didn't really have a stash, so I couldn't exactly pull coordinating fabrics from it, and the ease of just using one line where you have all the prints and blenders already put together was really seductive for someone just learning how to sew. And someone who tends to be very, very lazy. Not that I know anyone like that. Shut up.
And so seduced was I by the ease of that coordination, that whenever I saw a truly scrappy quilt, I didn't like it. I liked the neat and tidy look of the perfectly coordinated, pre-selected quilt. Because that's what I had been sort of conditioned to like.
But the thing about my laziness is that eventually my—let's not call it arrogance; let's call it pride—takes over. Maybe it's not even pride I'm talking about. It's that thing I've talked about before that I call my Overgrown Toddler Syndrome, the thing that makes me constantly go, "NO! Do it MYSELF!" And also the thing that makes me go, "NO! Don't wanna do it that way. Wanna do it MY way." See, because I'm all smart and shit, I quickly realized everyone was making quilts out of one fabric line. Everyone. And this meant everyone was as lazy as me, so yay, but it also meant something else I didn't recognize at the time because I wasn't as involved in the broader quilt world as I am now (which is still not much). Something I feel a deep-seated need to rebel against.
If you see a quilt in a magazine that uses only one line of fabric, it is quite possible—likely, even— that the fabric company provided the fabric to the designer. In fact, if you're not paying attention, you may not realize the designer of that pattern works for or is contracted by the fabric company in order to make a quilt using the line. The fabric company, based upon their advertising relationship with the magazine, will print the pattern in order to give the line the best exposure based upon when it is released into stores. (Let me say for the record here: one of the things I love about working with GenQ is they prefer quilts that do not use all one line.) This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something that everyone should be aware of.
Along the same track, many independent pattern designers develop relationships with fabric companies. This gives them the fabric they need to make the quilts (and again, this is a good thing, because fabric is fucking pricey) and sometimes the patterns can be easily worked up into kits, which helps sell patterns. Again, there is nothing wrong with any of this. But there are also many small pattern designers who just seem to do it because they like it and know that their audience does too. It's what we've grown used to. Creating fabrics in collections has been a great boon to the quilting fabric industry, and designing quilts around those collections helps it all along.
What bothers me about all of this is I see so many people who now seem to think they have to make quilts that way, like there's some kind of law about it. My sister, who works in a quilt shop, also says there are many people out there who not only feel they have to use one line in a quilt, they have to use the exact line used in the picture on the quilt pattern. There are many, many people who will not make a quilt if they can't get that line anymore.
I do understand the way fabrics are made and marketed today makes it easier to just grab a pack of some sort of pre-cut and go with that. I also understand it is my own particular psychosis that makes me not want to do it myself anymore. I also no longer want to use other people's patterns to a large degree. I'm a lunatic. And I certainly don't expect everyone to take on my particular insanity. BUT. I do think that many of us are letting ourselves be hindered by fear and by the expectation of what a quilt is supposed to be.
I have plenty of quilts I consider, not failures, but just not total successes. Not everything can be a George or an Alcide. But all of those quilts? They still keep my babies warm at night. I can still cuddle with my man under them. Or, you know, other stuff. Shut up. I still look at them and remember who I was when I made them, and who I have become since then. They are still a part of the history of me as a quilter, and that may have value to no one else in the world but me, but it's enough.
If I am going to be a quilter for many years, I don't want to look at those quilts and see someone who was afraid—afraid to branch out, afraid to try new things, afraid of making independent decisions and taking chances. I have held myself back from so much in my life because of fear, and while I certainly stayed safe, I didn't get anywhere either.
If using all of one fabric collection in a quilt is what makes you happy, I am not suggesting it shouldn't. But if thinking you have to do it that way, or that you aren't good enough to do it another way, is keeping you from making quilts you want to make, then that is where I'd like to challenge you. I'd also like to challenge you to a round of beer pong, but we can talk about that later.
I know people tend to get their backs up when someone suggests maybe they want to think about doing things other than the way they are comfortable doing them. And so, I'll just say here what all the kids say these days: you do you. Do what makes you happy, and if making quilts from one line of fabric makes you happy, I am not saying it shouldn't. What I am saying is that I hope you won't let the way fabric companies have chosen to market their wares be the sole arbiter of the way you make quilts, especially if you want to branch out from that. And don't think that no one will be interested in seeing your quilts or even making a quilt from a pattern you designed if the quilt isn't made from some recent, best-selling collection. A beautiful quilt is a beautiful quilt, but a quilt that doesn't rely on one fabric collection has, to my mind, just a little something more. Daring, perhaps.
It wasn't always this way. There weren't fabric collections as we know them until fairly recently (in geologic time). My mom didn't have fat quarter bundles, but she also didn't have a rotary cutter. Or the internet. Or Oprah. Progress is good and it has given us all kinds of cool stuff, including fully coordinated lines of fabric. And, hell, I'll probably be making another all-one-line quilt someday because people keep making babies and who doesn't like an easy, quick baby quilt that you don't have to think too hard about? (See the aforementioned criminals and sociopaths.) Whatever you choose to do that makes you happy is a good thing, but if you think you want to break free of the one-line dance, and are worried you can't, I want you to know you can. And I really hope you will. Because trusting in your own creative instincts—and giving them an opportunity to grow—is pretty fucking cool.
So today, I'm going to take all my fat quarter bundles and I'm going to untie the ribbons around them and I'm going to split them up. I'm going to put all the blues in one box and the oranges in another and the greens in another and I'm going to have lots of boxes of color-coordinated fabrics from many different collections.
And then I'm going to stick my face in one of the boxes and motorboat the hell out of it.
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