Fabric Cartel Mules and Fabric

 

So, for the past few months I've known that my parents were going down to see my sister who lives in the States. They usually drive (I know, insane, but cheaper) which means that they have the opportunity to haul stuff back. And when I say stuff, I mean fabric mostly.

(I know, you're wondering about the Kool-Aid. It's a great dye for Easter eggs and you just can't find the flavours here that you can in the States.)

Alexander Henry

Someone called it the fabric cartel, and I the lord dealer of it all, run it. Well, mostly I order fabric, send it to my sister and have my parents bring it back to me. My parents are my fabric mules.

Wee Wander by Sarah Jane

I mean, come on, no one stops old people at the border. And they drive a minivan for crying out loud. Drug dealers would love to have such people muling for them. The thought of dogs sniffing for Anna Maria Horner fat quarters makes me giggle.

Anna Maria Horner Field Study, Tula Pink Salt Water, Amy Butler Hapi

Why do I have to do such a thing? Well, you'd think that the free trade agreement NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) that our country so willing signed would mean I wouldn't have to pay steep tariffs and outrageous shipping fees, but no.

Tula Pink Fox Field, Anna Maria Horner Field Study

(I also ordered some clothing from Lands End and had my parents bring it up. When they crossed at the border, customs asked where the clothing had been made. So apparently it even matters where things are made? Crazy!)

Sweet as Honey by Bonnie Christine

I'll admit it, I'm cheap and although I am not immune to the idea that I should have instanteous everything (like how can it take so long to load a movie Netflix!). I am willing to wait a few months to save myself hundreds of dollars in shipping fees.

And the end result is worth the wait!

WIP and Copyright

In case you haven't noticed, I've stalled somewhat on the quilts that I already have on the go. So, of course I decided to start another. Because that makes sense. It was that or more bags, and no one needs to see more bags/pouches, especially me.

Part of my fabric haul from my parents foray to the States was a stack of  Modern Solids by Alissa Haight Carlton. They are beautiful fabrics. And the colours, oh the colours! SO lovely!

I have always admired Bargello quilts, but not the scrappiness of them, and decided to do a modern take on one. I'm using the book Bargello Quilts by Marge Eddie. I loved the look of the cover quilt and wanted to do something like it, but with more negative space and in solids.

The pattern calls for only 15 colours, but there was no way I could decide which 15 (I have decision issues). In the end (like after days- told you I had issues), I narrowed it down to a mere seventeen colours, which altered the pattern somewhat (OK, maybe a little more than somewhat). I'm pretty much on my own now.

But my inability to follow that pattern got me thinking about patterns, and the issues of ownership of a pattern. I recently joined Plum and June's New Blogger group and there has been some great discussion about copyright and intellectual property rights. When does a pattern cease to be the right of one person and start to belong to another? How much innovation or change has to happen to make it your own? And what credit should be given and to whom?

I know there has been issues with scraper sites stealing peoples' blog posts and using them without linking back to the original sites and making money off of the content without permission (it's what those sites do, well some of them- the evil ones). But I'm talking about patterns and designs here. Stealing the exact block or design of someone else is an obvious dishonest and unethical thing to do. But what about when there are changes made, or a different method employed to make the block or pattern, what then?

And it seems to me that many block designs ultimately are usually riffs of a traditional block that was created somewhere down the line. Is using your own pattern scheme enough to call the design your own? I've seen someone use a disappearing nine-square patch pattern (which I think is common enough) and sell it as their own pattern.

In the art world, there are actual laws as to how much innovation or copying can go on before it is the property of one or another. In fact, some parroting and use of other artists material is considered satirical or commentary rather than 'stealing'. I'm wondering if the same rules apply to quilting (which some could argue is an art, some argue is a craft- that's an argument for another day)

Well, whatever the case I've used enough of Marge Eddie's pattern to know the quilt I'm making is more of her design than mine (well, so far...?). Guess we'll see how it goes.

Linking up:

 

Batman Piano Bag

 

I wasn't kidding when I said that I recently have been in a bag mood (quilt avoidance mechanism was the term actually).

My finish for this Friday is a bag (surprise, surprise, something to do with a superhero)! A Batman bag to hold all my son's piano books. He started piano this year and our home has been filled with the melodious sounds of Hot Crossed Buns and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ever since. And the Star Wars theme, he had to learn that of course! He really enjoys piano though and I'm hoping he sticks with it.

 
I also made him a couple of boxy pencil cases to go with it, and to hold the felt markers he got for Christmas (yes, I realize those are Sharpies, and yes, I realize sometimes I'm my own worst enemy! Surprisingly, he hasn't coloured anything he's not suppose to and he hoards them from the young ones so they don't get them).

To make the bag, I cobbled together a few bag tutorials that I found on the web, adjusted the size to fit his piano books and viola! I used a medium weight interfacing on the bag, but not on the pencil cases. I now wish I might have on the larger boxy pouch, it probably could have used it.

And now I swear I'm done with bags (for a little bit anyway)! And since this is a blog about creation and destruction, I'll add that three weeks after we got our brand new piano last summer, the eldest "polished" it with his geode (a crystally, sharp, pointy, hard rock).

Our piano is now graced with large (and smaller) circular scratches on the front! Dum dum dum dee de de- insert Moonlight Sonata or Pathetique No.8 here..... Or watch my son's favourite, ThePianoGuys (playing what I wish wasn't a favourite of my sons... ugh...boy bands).


Have yourselves a great weekend!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF.

WIP

Wow, where has the week gone, seriously!
And.... still working on this.

Are your tired of seeing this, because I am. It needs to get done. I can't even take good pictures of it for crying out loud! But instead I've been doing these.
 

I think sewing bags may be my quilt avoidance mechanism.
A Sew Together bag for my mom and two open wide zippered pouches for a sweet girl.

In the meantime, I've been cleaning up thread. The boys emptied like half a spool dragging it all over the house pretending it was spiderwebs (while pretending to be Spiderman of course). Who says that thread just has to be for sewing I guess!

Linking up:

Always a Work-In-Progress

Its been a while since I've posted. I feel like I have no time to sew, let alone post anything.
Because I've been busy. The ubiquitous excuse. Is it really true though?

My list of to-dos seems to just get longer and time seems like such a fickle thing. I feel like I never have enough, although I could recount to you the number of naps I've had last week (three- three NAPS!!! unbelievable, unheard of....) and I read the new Alan Bradley novel (great Canadian author, I mean, really, he had me when the first book I read opened with his main character imagining her funeral and all the people who would miss her- which come on, who hasn't- and the character's name is Flavia and she's eleven and likes to poison her sisters... need I say more). I feel guilty that I've been doing those things instead of blogging, but really come on, priorities people. Naps first, blogs last.

When I haven't been lounging around, I have been sewing some things though. I managed to finish two Sew Together Bags (downloaded the pattern from Craftsy here). There were a plethora of birthdays last week, like an epidemic really, and I thought some bags for each of the ladies who were having said birthdays would be a great gift.

Of course, I only managed to get a couple pics of the one I did for my friend (bad ones at that). She's a big Union Jack fan, so I pieced one together for the exterior and then used some fabric panels I had for the interior. The other bags were sewn under the wire and hastily thrown in gift bags and given away (I know, I put a bag into a gift bag, it felt ridiculous, but I did it anyway).

My sewing machine hates sewing through anything thicker than a piece of paper, so trying to do the bindings on these things was H-E-double-hockey-sticks. I have one left to go for my mother, although I'm not sure about the fabric selection for it (sigh).
 

Also, my eldest ripped the cover on his Pokemon card binder (surprise, surprise). So I said I'd recover it for him. I got a paper piece pattern off of Fandom In Stiches, and am trying to finish the rest for tomorrow when its Pokemon trading day at school (I know, I know, how on earth is Pokemon still a thing, but it is).

Then, THEN, ALL my fabric that I've been sending to my sister for the past like forever, finally muled it's way up here (seriously, I won't even tell you the amount of stuff they brought up for us- obscene really- and thankfully the customs lady was nice and only made them pay tax and duty on part of the goods, which was still waaaaay cheaper than shipping it all to us).

The Kool-Aid is for dying Easter eggs (even though Easter is over). I think that the Canadian rules for food dyes and artificial flavours is a lot more strict because I can't find half the Kool-Aid flavours here that you can find in the States- if I can find it at all (also the reason why there's no blue in Fruit Loops cereal up here- although for a limited time they have a special edition with the blue. Which I didn't buy for my children despite their cries that we never get any good cereal).

Anyway, part of the fabric haul was this delicious stack of In the Beginning Modern solids that I scooped up from Pink Chalk Fabrics. I have big plans for this. BIG PLANS!

And I'm glad that the weather is finally nicer and the boys can go out to play so I can sew in relative peace. Although they have just exported their atrocities to the outdoors now.

I'm calling it terrestrial terrorism, like Eco-terrorists, except they hurt the earth instead of protect it through random acts of destruction. Never mind we own a sandbox that sits not ten feet away from this dug up piece of turf. Put 'buy grass seed' on my list of to-dos....

So little time....
Linking up, because, you know, life... the eternal WIP.

Star Wars: Episode- Done!

So I'll spare you all the Star Wars quotes and allusions this post. Well..as much as I can.

Finished it is! (promise only this one)

Yesterday I put the binding on and it and was done. Not a moment after, my son took possision of it. I almost didn't get any pictures. But pictures I have! (OK I lied, last one promise)

I used mainly Kona solids for this quilt and a grey Star Wars print that I found at my local fabric store. Usually, I find that novelty prints are not that great in quality, but this Star Wars fabric feels and drapes great.

I used patterns from Kristy at Quiet Play to create the faces (you can find them here). For the light saber and the Death Star I had to strike out on my own and create my own patterns to paper piece- old school, by drawing then out on paper (I really need to get some software to fix that). Anyway, look back here to see more of the genesis of this quilt.

When it comes to quilting I'm always caught between wanting to do very dense, complex quilting and wanting the quilt to be soft and comfortable (as dense quilting tends to make the quilt more stiff). In the end I did some straight line quilting on this quilt. I though striaght lines match the industrial feel of the greys, blacks, and blocks. I downloaded a Star Wars font and traced out my son's name on the quilt so that it's his (keeping in line with the fact that we put his name on everything, which helped yesterday when  he lost a boot at school).

For the light saber, I found this variegated thread at my local thread store, a.k.a. my mom's- really sometime remind me to show you her thread stash, it's epic. I have yet to get on the Aurifill bandwagon, mostly because I'm a spontaneous thread shopper and when I need thread I need thread like right now. And none of the shops around here carry Aurifill, so I've stuck with Gutterman. Is there really a difference? I'd love to know. Maybe one day I'll pony up the cash and have enough forethought to find out. Anyway, the thread provided a little variety to the red in the quilt.

I tried at one point to add some pink strips along the edge of the light saber to make it pop, but the man in charge vetoed that idea (ever since he wore a pink shirt to church and one of his friends told him he was wearing a 'girl' colour, he has shunned pink- grrrrrr, I'm not even going to voice my thoughts on that because not enough words can explain how I feel about someone teasing him that he is wearing pink...and, AND calling it a GIRLS colour... oh seriously, I have to stop here).

Deep breath.

So, I pulled a few props for some of the shots of the quilt (rest assured we have many, many Star Wars 'props' around here). It was great to see the pieced blocks up against the 'real' thing. They really look quite similar. I was afraid I had put too many or not enough lines on Yoda's face, but I think it worked out just right. If you're interested in how I did the faces, I put up a tutorial a while ago.

I'm so glad this quilt is done (never mind it was suppose to be done by Christmas). And it's the first finish on my new FAL Q2 list!! I feel like I deserve a ceremony- just insert me right along Chewbacca (video courtesy Jesse Mohler, YouTube).



Linking up with TGIFF and Quiet Play

Finish Along Q1..I Mean Q2 List

So my list for this upcoming quarter for the the Finish Along, being hosted by Katy at The Littlest Thistle, looks a lot like the list that I posted for the first quarter. It is, it is exactly the same. Well, minus the finishes that is.

You see, today feels like spring outside, and perhaps, just perhaps, spring is on its way. And then summer. And we don't get a lot of summer. When summer comes you've got to take full advantage of that pony....thing...weather?

Anyway, I decided I would be realistic this quarter (I know, I know, but I can manage to get my head out of the clouds once in a while) because I might not want to be stuck inside sewing (as much as I love sewing). And heaven knows I don't want the boys stuck inside (bad things start to happen).

So I've kept my list, and myself, to what I absolutely want and can accomplish this quarter. In other words, all the stuff I didn't manage to get done last quarter. My list is going long term, like more of a finish-it-all-over-the-four-quarters kind of thing. I'll just keep rolling over what I don't finish (which sounds ideal and pretty focused for me, so we'll see how long that lasts).

SO the list:

1. Star Wars quilt. Well, almost done. I have like two more lines of quilting and then I have to bind the sucker. My son has aided in its completion by periodically asking when it will be finished, periodically being like all the time. Hopefully, you'll see this finished this week. Friday is my deadline (but the sun is shining so....no guarantees).

4. Clam quilt. Currently this project is on the design wall. It's coming... some more fabric that is. Every time I look at it this quilt it changes colours and design.

6. Union Jack quilt. Pulled the fabric out, looked at it, hated some of the fabric, needed more, bought more, now waiting for fabric... and time...

7. Disapearing 9-Patch quilt. Started this for fun. Promised it to my other sister. The top needs to be finished. The whole thing needs to be finished. I ordered some orange fabric for the back, even though my sister will hate the colour. Again, waiting for the fabric cartel pipeline to start funneling some backing fabric my way at the end of April (I CANNOT wait for the end of April, seriously).

8. Triangle quilt. I just need a backing to proceed on this quilt. I have probably bought more fabric this month than I ever have in my life (ordered online, coming to me, from my sister- end of April people, END OF APRIL!). But did I think to buy any for the back of this quilt. Nope. And now I have no money...

Also, the following projects aren't really part of the FAL and don't qualify for the prizes, but I'm keeping them around to remind me to get them done.

1. Oil landscape. See previous lists. I'm hoping summer and all the plants growing will provide some motivation and inspiration to just finish this piece.

2. Smokers. Again see previous list. They are sitting in a bin with a pile of paint and materials needed to finish them. The whole corner of my workspace is an eyesore. And it's taking up space. So this will probably get done soon.

And there you have it, the list for this quarter. Even if I never win anything for my finishes (cause seriously, there were like a million finishes for this last quarter- stop finishing things people, give me a chance), the FAL has been great for tracking my progress and urging me along.

So again, I will be linking up to the awesome Katy for the second quarter (of what feels like the second coming).