Make a List Monday

It's been a while since I've really posted consistantly, there have a been a bunch of things going on both at work, and at home, plus a bunch of travel that always impacted my blogging schedule. But I am ready to get back on schedule, and back to sewing with regularity. The reality is, I've only really done deadline sewing for a while. It's been so crazy busy that i only finished these two projects, both of which were deadline sewing for Market.

Unfortunately, both projects got finished at the deadline (and by that I mean at 2am the night before they had be in a box on the way to their relevant new homes). Nothing like a hard deadline to help you get things done. And to prevent you from getting a decent picture.....

Hoffman Medallion....the new color way is called Medallion Prism, and it was really quick and fun. It comes completely pre-cut, so once you get used to the format, it's a quick and easy project. The project uses the new Bali Handpaints, and they were lovely to work with.

Prismatic Star - this time out of Craftsy's new batik line. This one created quite a stir around her....I sent a pic to my Mom and my niece decided that it was for her. It is her favorite color......So I see a similar one in my future.....

And now that you know what I have been working on lately, let's talk about what's up next....This week is really about getting back to daily sewing, and getting things done. But first, I need to clean the sewing room. Like seriously clean the sewing room. It is destined to be a day long adventure, if not an entire weekend...but here's what's coming next....

1. Cotton and Chocolate Mystery Quilt - Month 1 blocks

2. Vintage Compass - sew border units and add borders.

3. Celtic Wave - make and attach binding

4. Sophie's Quilt - make and attach binding

5. Vintage Rose - make border units

It's going to be a busy week, so I'm not sure how much I will get done during the week, but I have an all girls sewing weekend scheduled next weekend, so hopefully, I will make some good progress. There is nothing quite like a full weekend to get major sewing components completed! I'll try to keep you up to date as I go....

So, until next Monday, happy sewing!!!

Catherine

To Market To Market

It's that big week, twice a year, the professional side of the quilting community comes together and shows all of their goods. Their creativity, their piecing prowess, their quilting essence, we gather this week in Houston to show off to one another, and all of the attending quilt shops and fabric manufacturers. We show our current favorite colors, patterns, and techniques, and we generally have a great time. We eat great food, and go to the Moda party for music and dancing and stop in at the Robert Kaufman party for the chocolate fountain. We go shopping at Cavender's Boot City for new yearly cowboy boots, which we will wear every day for 3 months. We'll meet friends from afar that we only see at Market...we'll go out for drinks, and dessert, and pay crazy prices for diet coke in bottles. We'll stop in at the Four Seasons for Chocolate Martinis, and walk back to our hotels, where we will stay up until all hours talking and laughing and planning next year's quilt dominance.

This year, I'm staying home. It's been about 5 year since I missed a fall market, and it seems weird to not be going, but it just wasn't in the cards this year, for a bunch of different reasons. Needless to say, I'm a bit sad to not be there and sad to miss seeing friends that I won't have a chance to see until this time next year, but really glad to be home for a weekend with no plans. Literally no plans. No teaching engagements, no cleaning backed up, no laundry in need for doing, no home improvement projects, and no deadlines. Just me and 48 hours of free time to do whatever I want.....so here's my "plan"...


(crickets.)


That's right. I'm just going to do nothing except something that makes me happy at that moment. Maybe I will go out for breakfast, or get lost in Costco for a few hours. Maybe I will go test drive cars, or visit the quilt shop. Maybe I will sleep in or take a nap. Perhaps I will clean the sewing room, or spend a few hours on Pinterest doing absolutely nothing. Whatever I do, I'm going to enjoy the weekend free of responsibilities, and stalk all my friends on Instagram and Facebook to get all of the Market insights.

What are you up to this weekend?


Happy Quilting!
Catherine

Life and Lemons

Well, I can't believe that the last time that I posted was September 12th. That's crazy. It's been a crazy month in what is definitely a crazy year. Life has definitely thrown some curve balls this year, and the last few weeks just seem like more of the same. Life sometimes seems like it conspires against all you wanted to accomplish, and completely rocks your world. And so, we are forced to make Lemonade. So Lemonade making we will do.  Needless to say, it has been a few weeks worth of not sewing, and lots of traveling. So aside from need to do sewing (which I had plenty of for Market), I haven't sewn all month. Hopefully, life is going to quiet down and get back to normal. Maybe not to daily sewing, but at least to sewing for a significant number of hours per week.

In the meantime, I have done quite a bit of playing in Quiltster. I must say, it never gets old. I can recolor the same designs over and over in new combinations. Needless to say, it has become a bit of a time suck, to add to my Pinterest and Instagram addiction....I am sure I will be sharing some designs soon.

Until next time, happy sewing!!!

Make a List Monday

Yep, it's Monday and time to get back to work.....there's always a million things to get done, and this week  and the next few will be focused on getting ready for market. I have 3 quilts to make and quilt, as well as about a dozen bags to finish. I also have several upcoming classes that need samples finished  - including Vintage Compass, Vintage Rose, and African Violets are all in design or process. I won't get much sewing time on these three this week, but I should get back to them as soon as my market work is done.

For this week my plan is :

Monday - finish sewing blocks for Prismatic Star
Tuesday - add leading to blocks for Prismatic Star
Wednesday - Sewing Star Sections for Prismatic Star
Thursday - Make Backing for Prismatic Star

The rest of the week will be devoted to teaching and retreat activities.

What are you working on this week???

Happy Quilting!
Catherine

Life Happens

It's been a little crazy around here...trying to get ready for market, and my teaching schedule and lots of regular work, so I've been a negligent blogger....so here's the summary....

Watching - Hawaii Five-O on Netflix

Craving - Ice Cream, this eating healthy thing is really no fun this time of year. 

Doing - lots of sewing, especially the super secret kind

Obsessing - over Quiltster...I've been doing two or three designs almost every day.

Loving - some of the new fabric lines from EESchenck, so looking forward to having them show up in my local stores.

Reading - Great Teams by Don Yaeger

Wanting - a Leuchtern Journal

Pinning - tons of items about bullet journals. I've really been inspired lately by some of the ones online.

Dreaming - about a new car. Agnes the Accord has 328,000 miles and I know she will need replacing soon. So I want to be ready. 

Writing - not much of anything. Obviously not blog posts, or patterns.....

Crafting - some bags and some buntings, but not much else.

Sewing - super secret market sewing is in full swing, there is only 7 weeks left, which seems like a life time and a second, all rolled into one. And a little binding.....while watching Five-O on Netflix.

Knitting - not much....I got a couple of rows on a cowl and I got a new hitchhiker cast on, but that's all I've really had time for.

Listening - to Florida Georgia Line's new album - Dig Your Roots. Great songwriting and harmonies. 

Wearing - my standard uniform -- jeans, t-shirts and tennis.

Needing - to do laundry and go to the store, but I'm too lazy tonight.

Planning - a new gym regimen

Trying - some new recipes, some of which were horrible, and some okay. NO really good ones this month....but I'll keep trying. 

What have you been doing.....

On the state of the quilt nation.....

There is much happening lately in the quilt world. Changes of all sorts are coming or already here. It seems that every time we turn around we hear about shops closing, or magazines folding, or shows getting cancelled. I wish I could say that San Diego was the exception, but in the last decade we have seen the closing of half a dozen shops, and major changes in the guilds and their structures. When I moved to San Diego in 2005 there were 19 shops within 90 minutes of my front door, there are now 8. We lost CWAP (Camp WatchAPatcher) a few years ago, and we have seen a decline in attendance and participation in guild shows.

Many talk about the aging of the industry, and the lack of sewing in school, or the cost to make a quilt, and others talk about the e-commerce aspects, and realistically, those are all factors, but there are many others. There's the modern "era" and its need for cheap and cheerful (myself often included), and lack of understanding of the art component. Or the lack of connection to the "old-fashioned"....there's a million aspects to the issue, and a million different "solutions", but just as the problem is multi-faceted, so must be the solution. The Modern Quilt movement can't fix it, the combining of guilds can't fix it, the reality is fixing it isn't really possible, the industry is changing just as the world is changing.

I want to be confident that the industry is just in a lull, and will rebound as it did after the Centennial. I want to be excited about the future, but these "sudden" changes haven't really been sudden.....they seem to be compounding over time, we lost a shop to retirement, and one to a move, another to a business partnership that went sour. So many different reasons and so many different circumstances that ultimately have the same outcome.

So, what now??? What should we do, and can we save the art of quilting??? individually, maybe not, and maybe so. Saving the industry can not be done individually, yet it must be done by individuals. If we want to save the industry, we have to get involved. We have to be official and unofficial spokesmen and spokeswomen. We have to be advocates for our craft, we have to be teachers, and educators, and participants. We have to get involved, we have to attend, we have to participate. We have to share our craft and our art. We have to introduce new people to our craft and find crossovers that inspire us. We have to be advocates for our craft. We can't depend upon designers, or fabric companies to do it for us, we have to make it happen. So, that is the challenge for the next 12 months....to be a better advocate....a better participant, a better educator, a better celebrator of my craft, or my sometime obsession. That's my challenge to each of you.....be involved and have fun!!!! And then whatever happens in the industry, we have done our best.

Are you up for it???

Weekly Update August 1- August 7

Can it really be August already?? It seems insane that the summer is almost over......This week, I have some big things to finish up.....

1. Vintage Compass - just needs some final curved piecing on the border, and it is ready to go.

2. Dogwood placemats - are all done, I just need to make backs so that I can drop them off to the quilter on Monday night.

3. Teaching -- this week will see my at Annie's Star guild in Chico CA, followed by a weekend at Cotton and Chocolate in Thousand Oaks.

and that is my busy week.....

You can find daily information regarding these projects by following me on instagram @queeniequilts.

Happy sewing and see you next week.....