Mutha Stitcha - the name game

One of the hardest decisions for me to make in this whole process has been coming up with a name for my business.     I have the 'urban' series, 'stitch' series 'edge series, 'thoughts' series...it goes on.  And then came the outrageous...and I'm telling you.  I actually like one of them.  but no...not enough for a business name. LOL

Mutha Stitcha.

Mutha flocker

Bitchin Stitchn

Stiches, Bitches!

The Stitch Bitch

Flock You Stitches

Come on...it's Friday night,  grab your wine, your scotch and join me in the outrageous.   Play your outrageous quilting names tonight and comment below.  

Waiting....

I got an email yesterday saying that my machine was at the Canada USA border waiting to clear customs.   

This morning, I heard a loud truck coming up the street and went to check if it could have magically been my machine that travelled hundreds of miles overnight to see me.  Could it be? Could it really be?  

*blink*  *blink* 

Yeah,  it was  garbage day. 

SheCave...er.. Studio is coming along.  Bought a few Ikea dressers on the weekend to put together and use as a cutting/storage system.   THAT was fun.  LOL.  Got some additional storage cabinets from home depot on clearance and now have one big storage wall....which may change, but for now it's here:

Bought some large insulation panels as well to make a design wall.   Word of advice. Do not, at all, do not...don't get anything other than WHITE.    These ones have a slight light green tint to them which I thought would be covered easily.   Not so much.   sigh.  Back to the depot I go....

I'm feeling excited and also sick at the same time.  

The beginning of a new LONGARM STUDIO !

Well friends,  I know I have been missing and not 'active' here for awhile, but I've been doing a lot of thinking and needed to figure out what I wanted to do without the distraction of other blog inspiration.  I don't know if that makes sense, but sometimes so much inspiration is distracting and sometimes a bit daunting too.    People are just so darn productive and talented!

I have decided to learn and become a longarm quilter alongside my usual designing and piecing.   I absolutely adore the quilting process and cannot wait to develop my skills and become amazing at what I do so that I can share my process with you.   :-)    I have purchased a longarm machine and it will be delivered within the next week or two!  Wahooo!!!

Names of my home business have been haunting me - I really cannot figure it out - if you have suggestions...let me know.  I want something a bit urban/hip/modern  yet don't want to detract from the traditionalists either -  I hope to learn lots from them!

My business will be a developmental one - and I want to share my process with you.  Hope that's okay!

For now, I need to say thank you to my husband, who willingly gave up his future man cave and giant screen projection tv to house our new big ass long arm machine.

Here are some before pics of my future longarm studio/business space:

The longarm machine is going to fit in this space.  We've sold the couches and the tv we are storing for someone for now.  See that big projector screen at the top?  yep.  my husband rocks.  

We will most likely be painting this area white to brighten it up and get some better lighting.  It is a basement and a little dark. 

On the other side of the space is my sewing area which is as is.  I didn't clean or decorate for you.  Sorry.

My sewing area which will also change around. 

Our basement is a walk-UP basement so this is the hallway to the outside.

There's Trent getting ready to assemble some storage cabinets for me.   In that space I plan to have storage and a bigass cutting table in the middle.  where the treadmill is, I'm not sure what will be there.

I also need to put a design wall somewhere.  I finally get a real design wall!

Whoops - gotta go,  need to make sure Trent doesn't assemble these upside down!  LOL

Stay tuned for my series of setting up my longarm quilting business.   I plan to post photos and videos of setup of studio,  arrival of my bigass machine - assembly process by ME!  and everything thereafter. The joys and the pains and everything inbetween.  

If you have questions or there is something you are interested in reading about during this process, please let me know.   I'll also continue with my regular quilt posts as well.....that won't change.

  

Things I learned...

When I began quilting several years ago,  I heard the comments from experienced quilters to get the 'good quality' fabric from your LQS.   At the time I did what I could, but could not afford it all the time. Thus, my stash was built with a mixture of good and not so good quality fabrics. It really didn't matter to me - I just wanted to quilt and make nice things, that's all.   I really didn't think it mattered at the time, and hey - my philosphy is - get what you can afford so that you can do what you love to do.   Now several years later, that 'other store' fabric came out to greet me in this recent stash project.   The not so good fabric really stuck out when I began cutting and piecing a few blocks together.   Those blocks got ripped apart and the bad fabric was sent to the trash.  I was having troubles with that fabric stretching, and that made it difficult to have even and straight seams, matching seams, etc.  And...it just didn't feel right compared to the good stuff in the quilt.   You could definitely feel the difference.  I admit there are one or two pieces of red in there that made the 'cut'  but the rest went away.   

Buy what you need.  NEED.  Not want or covet...and then you can afford some of the 'good stuff'

Another thing that I learned from this project was the reminder of having that accurate 1/4" seam.   I have had very good success with my Juki presser foot, but during this project something was off.  First I blamed it on the fabric.  And then, my seams were still not accurate.  I was having to over stretch or compensate my seams to make things fit.   Again - this shouldn't happen.  

Then, while I was rethreading my needle, I realized something.   My presser foot was not as solid as it used to be.   You see, where the foot part meets the shank was becoming wobbly.  Not obvious, but enough that when I wiggled it I noticed a big difference in possible seam measurements.   

I ordered a new presser foot.   And voila,  perfect seams again.  

This quilt is ready to be quilted urban style... on my new longarm arriving soon!

Confessions

1. I can never follow a pattern.  I need to look at something and figure out how to do it.  And then, make changes (to push myself?)

 2.  I used to doodle.  

 A lot

Constantly

All the time.

Doodling was almost like a meditation for me.   

On the weekend, we spend a full day cleaning out the basement storage room.  I'm taking over the basement and we are making it my studio, not just a little corner, but the whole place. (don't worry sis, there's still a room for visitors here!)  I'm trying to get over the selfless part that feels guilty taking it all over, as my husband is full steam ahead with it and very excited to help me with my plans.

In my goals for 2013, finding these samples made me feel like I was on the right track in the midst of some big decision making.  I was reminded of how I loved filling in spaces with designs...doodles..to make them look cool.  Amazing on paper....they will look amazing on fabric!

Year of Ambition

 Well, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, just taking a break for awhile to contemplate who I am, where I am and what I want to be when I grow up.  Goals of 2013 I guess! :-)

First off,  this month we had to say goodbye to our 16 year old cat Shatzi.  He became very sick, very quickly and within 48 hours, paralyzed after a few seizures.  :(

And judge me not....we adopted a new cat within a few days.  Not totally planned, but we fell in love with this guy and knew we would give him the perfect home. For some reason,  grieving in my life means to keep me occupied so the grief isn't so hard.  Pets just are there for you.   A few weeks after my mom's passing, we adopted Mandy.  A few weeks after Mandy passed, we got Jasper.   Just after Shatzi passes we meet  Mojo:

*********

 Does this happen in your location?   After a snowfall school fields are littered with these amazing gigantic snowballs.   It's the universal goal of kids after snowfall - lets roll the biggest one we can, and make many of them.  Every school I've driven by in the past few years, this is what I notice:

 It is so cool.  

I am still quilting away, with distraction.  

I have lost 20 pounds by cutting out grains and eating low carb. 

I have been reading and learning about new things.  

I have been thinking about ways to push myself outside of my comfort zone.

I am making plans for myself, for purpose, for intent.   

Many of my thoughts occur while I'm on my walks with Jasper:

Jasper teaches me to jump in and run free with my ideas.  He's always happy and smiling.  If the big dogs he meets up with aren't friendly,  he bounds on by them and finds dogs that are friendly.   It's kind of metaphorical for life, isn't it?   

This photo makes me think:   come on!- we've got a ways to go, this path has some exciting things to see, let's keep going!

Quilting Malpractice #1279

These are the only quilting gloves I've used for about 4 years now.

They did me very well, I bought them for a dollar at the dollar store. They were gardening gloves.  Over time, little green dots would fall off and become one with my quilts.  I eventually wore a hole in one finger, I have no idea how.  maybe the fact that they were 4 years old?

 I bought these on a whim for around $10.   They rock.  Seriously, go get some!
 Those quilting shops really know what they are doing!

They are very thin, breathable and all fingers are 'sticky'.  It's almost like being bare handed.  Almost.

These were an early Christmas present, because honestly, my husband would have no clue what to do in a quilt shop.   Last time he was in, he was looking at all the computer peripherals for sewing machines....with interest.   That, and the fabric with the cutesy pie country prints.  Oh boy!  

If my husband reads this I would love to have:

-some spools of Aurifil 50wt thread, basic colours
-some new bobbins, because i STILL only have 3.
-a gift card for fabric, in particular Fat Quarter Shop or Connecting Threads or Pink Chalk.
-a new sewing chair - like the backless saddle kind that you can adjust the height.
-A new graph paper sketchbook or photoshop or something to help me design via computer.  My sketchbook is falling apart.
-a long arm quilting machine -NOT slipping this idea in would be foolish.  Santa reads everything, right?

Urban baby boy Quilt

 A simple baby boy quilt, that doesn't have animals, cowboys, robots, teddy bears or pastels.

 A simple quilt using one block, alternating directions.   

Flannel on the back which I blindly went to pick out, and it matched so perfectly!

A Disney Cruise theme...

We're heading on a Disney Cruise soon. There are some meet and greet activities one can join (not Disney sponsored) and we joined one.   It is kind of like a secret santa idea....make/buy something for everyone in your group and 'mail' it to them when you are on your cruise:

I made these sweet Mickey heads out of washers and painted them

Then the boys helped me find the letters to spell the kids' names, and we braided them into friendship bracelets.

For the adults, I made these cute Mickey tree ornaments...they are made with jingle bells! 

This is called a fish extender - it's like a hanging mailbox by your stateroom door.  People deliver your gifts throughout the cruise.  *note this has to be an organized even with other families, people don't just randomly give you gifts!

In other news....it has been winter here.   *sigh*  but I guess I better capture the beauty:

I think this is called 'Hoar Frost'  in Alberta.  When it looks like it has snowed on the trees, but it's just gorgeous ice crystals that have formed on the foliage....

I have projects galore planned, but it's kind of like exercise - I just need to get down and do it.  Life just zaps my time away.   For instance...right now.   I have time to quilt.  Then I remembered, OH I better blog about my disney crafts. So as I took photos, I had to open the blinds way up...then noticed the dust  on the sills.  Then I had to grab the vacuum and vacuum the sills...might as well do the blinds at the same time.  Oh, look at that, need to move the dog crate and get behind there.  Do I need the dog crate anymore?  nah, need to fold that up and put it away.   Oh shoot, I forgot to put the halloween decorations downstairs in the storage.....  and then,  Oh yeah! I have to upload the photos and blog about my disney crafts! 

See how it goes?   That is the story of my life.   

Urban Shades Quilt

I created a new tutorial at Moda Bake Shop called Urban Shades!  

 It is a really easy pattern, with large 14.5" blocks.

 The fabric is Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater...

 ...but I can see a whole ton of different colour ways with this simple pattern.

Christmas is coming....an easy peasy gift to whip up!  

Is it possible???

That quilting from bottom of the quilt to the top can cause thread breakage?
When I quilted from TOP to bottom, the breakage was way way way less.

Thanks...

 Thanks for the suggestions yesterday...none of them helped ;-)  ha!  I put a hammer in my photo to show my frustration.  I have 13 more 14" blocks to quilt.  It's slow going.  I'm thankful that I have no perfectionist ways about me right now, as I'm not burying threads nor am I hand tying them.  I'm double stitching them and snipping.  There I said it. 

 In other news Jasper is growing like a weed and making himself part of the family.  ahem.   How can I say no to this face?

I received my order of fabric from fatquartershop.com  and it is lovely.  I'm making a quilt for my sister in law.  She choses the fabric line:  Shadow Leaves by Cynthia Coulter.

Truly, I do thank you for giving me tips that have worked for you.  I recall a period of time awhile back when Juki was acting up.   Today I want to trade her in.  But it's either winter tires or a new machine.  And I quite like Juki when she's on top of her game.   I'll send her in to the spa soon.

Threads breaking

I'm working on machine quilting a project made with the above lovely bundle.  I'm pulling my hair out. It's a large quilt, and the fricken thread is breaking over and over and over and over and over and over and over.   Get my point?

I've tried:
-rethreading from top to bottom.
-cleaning out all lint from the nooks and crannies
-adjusting tension
-denim needles
-microtex needles
-quilting needles
-a variety of brands of thread including Guterman, Connecting Threads, Serger Thread (gasp!) Empire Threads (British), and of course,Aurifil, the beloved brand of many.  I love it for piecing, but this project it is breaking every.darn.minute.  My last project I tried King Tut, which seemed to win the debate of Aurifil vs KingTut, but my local quilt shop is 1/2 hour away and I'm too lazy to fight traffic to get down there.

HELP!!!!  So my project gets quilting in 1 hour blocks, because the swear words are surfacing randomly and that's just not enjoyable.   It's also not enjoyable when it's my first quilting project back from my summer vacation hiatus.

Perhaps it's my quilting design? Am I too fast?  It doesn't happen on the curves...but on the straight aways.  Is my machine just vengeful at me for neglecting it so much?

Ah, it's good to vent.

This project is really cool.  I'm trying to think of a name.  This fabric,  Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater is blacks/greys/whites and reds.   My quilt is shades of greys, a few blacks and a hint of red.   I was thinking Shades Of Grey...but that's too E.L. James'ish and somehow erotica and quilting make me blush.   Then I started getting giddy...I do have a few spots of red in my quilt....Red Room of Pain?
enough.
Modern Greys?
Urban Shades?
I think it will be called greys black and red quilt.

Creative Floods

I compare myself to the weather patterns....sometimes there are severe droughts, and sometimes there are epic floods.
June and July, for some reason in my life, tend to be drought season.

 June is crazy school month and then July is holidays - visitors, visiting, etc.

 Lemonade Stands

 Calgary Stampede Pancake Breakfasts each day

 Fossil hunting with cousins

 Lake Louise'ing

 Canoeing on Lake Louise

Blendie drinks 

This feast or famine has been occurring regularly in my blog for quite a few years now.   I've come to expect it, and I'm not surprised anymore.  I don't even read up on any one else's blogs.  It's quite a liberating vacation, actually.

Yesterday the clouds opened and the flood waters began.  So I spent the majority of the afternoon and evening sketching and colouring some meaty patterns on my back deck while the kids pummelled each other with the hose and water guns.

Anyways...it's been a busy time.  Entering August always gets me back into creative mode as I think about the Fall approaching.  

Hope you are all doing well if you read this far into my post.