around here..

i'm still here! things have been a bit busy... getting ready for classes at the shop, unloading some of my own stash on etsy, working on a small living room re-decorating project, finding time for work and play and the mountain of laundry that seems never-ending... you know how it is. the usual. 

a few scenes from the sewing room lately..

 

a lot of planning and not as much doing as i'd like, but that will change soon enough. there are talks in the works currently for some of my commissioned work to be made for and sold at a designer retail company, so this could be exciting. i'll know more next week!

Weekend catch-all, in Instagram!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and Easter! I spent some time in the shop, some time with friends, and some time with family. Xoxo

weekend catch-up!

this weekend has really been a hurricane of things and emotions and sleep and cleaning and organizing and sorting and creating.

yesterday i taught my first beginner quilting class at The Atelier Stitch. it was a lot of fun and i had great students - one of whom had never really used a sewing machine before! they both made adorable table mats/mini quilts, and i was so excited to see how completely different their colors/designs were! it really just hit home for me how personal creating art is. everyone is really drawn to something different and special to them. it was a gorgeous (almost!)spring day, so we had sunshine streaming in the windows and even had the window cracked a bit! i was totally exhausted by the time i got home in the afternoon, so i gave in to a nap after doing about a hundred loads of laundry. much needed (both things), and the nap was much enjoyed. i haven't been sleeping all that well lately...

okay, back to quilting.. last weekend i mentioned i had started my victory garden blocks (finally), but wasn't sure when i'd be able to work on them again... well, surprise surprise! i finished my first block tonight and actually started/finished a second! this was super exciting for me, until i realized about halfway through my second block that i'd used one of the wrong sized strips. ehhh.. oh well. i kept going anyway - its only mildly noticeable. it just means my skinny cross-X is fatter than the original blockhahah - typical me - this is why i never use patterns, i can't ever seem to follow them. 

(pardon my flash/nighttime photos.. yuck!)

 to give you an idea of size, for those of you who have not made these blocks yet:

i have decided instead of doing an entire large quilt of these like the pattern calls for, i'm going to just do four blocks for now and make a mini! which is awesome, that means i'm halfway done already. this will be a pretty big mini, so it will end up a wall hanging.... i've realized that setting large goals right now isn't fair to myself, and it really kind of stresses me out and keeps me from getting into my sewing room - too much pressure to make something amazing and large. so, i've decided for the time being to keep things small(ish). i want to be able to create as much as i can and use some really incredible fabrics in the meantime, but i simply can't commit enough time to my own sewing right now.

after figuring this out, i also spent a little time tonight working on planning a couple of projects. remember my courthouse steps quilt i had pulled fabrics for months ago? i'm so torn on being excited and simultaneously made miserable by the thought of this project - so this will also be one that i pair down to a mini! i'll be making four blocks, so i will still get the steps effect. each block is 9.5", so it will be relatively small - much smaller than my victory garden mini. i whittled down the original pile of fabrics to just my very favorites...

and! one more! i dug out my material obsession 2 book and got excited about making a third mini - a quilt i would NEVER make full size because the thought of it just makes me want to pull my hair out.. i think thats the hardest thing for me about quilting, i am often so intimidated about making large projects that may get too tedious, i don't want to lose the fun in it... i actually added a handful more fabrics to this pile after i took this photo, but you get the idea for now. i LOVE this quilt, but all of those flying geese, oyyy..

i can't wait to use these fabrics, i have had them set aside for quite some time now! 

i'd been feeling restless lately - i think sorting this process of creating out in my head a bit and seeing it all laid across my table in my sewing room, made me feel somewhat better. i feel guilty when i can't get in there and make something - and i feel even more guilty when i plain ole' don't want to. which is more often than i want to admit. i'm a quilter - through and through - but i find myself getting slightly depressed by all of the incredible talent out there on pinterest and flickr. sometimes its super inspiring and helpful, other times not so much. i just have to get back into my groove, making things that i like and am proud of.. 

today was also a little liberating personally - i had been toying around with the idea of cutting my hair lately. actually, i had wanted to shave it but knew today wasn't the day for that. i felt too impulsive! ;) so.. i just chopped and chopped until i was happy. its a little hard to tell by my photos, but its super short, pretty much all around, though i did leave my bangs pretty long. i can't put it up into a pony tail or even little pigtails. i always grow my hair out as long as i can stand it, but realize i'm really not a long hair girl because i always just put it up. lately i really have been feeling like i'm hiding behind my hair. that if its pink (or blue or purple or whatever), people will see that i'm bold and daring without me actually having to be bold and daring. though, i admit, i never really get used to the stares and strange looks i get when out in public. some people just can't get past the hair. i guess i can't blame them really, its definitely not "normal." but! both of my grandmothers like it! and if they like it, i know its all good. ;)

ugh. tomorrow is monday which means its back to work, back to reality, back to facing the day to day. some weeks this is easier than others. last week seemed particularly difficult, and judging by how i felt this weekend i'm expecting more of the same. i know i need to just let go of things i can't change or control. that whats meant to be will be. but i'm still feeling a little stormy inside. i've got kitties snuggling up around me right now, though, so i suppose i can enjoy the last couple hours of the weekend quietly. ♥

weekend! (& what makes you create?)

we had our grand opening at The Atelier Stitch last night..  and despite the snowstorm that hit the day before, we had a pretty great turnout! a huge thanks to our friends, family, and total strangers who made the night a success! we sewed up little dresses for africa, booked some classes(!), ate cupcakes, and had a grand old time! ♥ i'll have some photos to share of the event soon (once my mother emails them to me, hehe..)!

today was the shop's first full day open, and both G and i were there. i spent most of my time making some pillowcases. i'll be teaching this beginner class a handful of times from now until may and wanted to brush up on my skills and the design. they were just as easy as i remembered! i used some awesome anna maria horner flannel that i got recently and instantly put them on my bed when i got home. i can't wait to sleep on them tonight!!{if you're local and interested in signing up to take this class, please contact the shop at atelierstitch[@]gmail.com!} i have about a half dozen pairs of these that i've made over the years, and they are such a fun and gratifying project to put together!

i've been thinking a lot about this, and fellow quilters/crafters/etc please feel free to chime in here. what makes you create?.. its okay to create something beautiful simply for its beauty - whether its just a piece, like a lonely quilt block, a partially finished work in progress sitting in your cupboard quietly waiting its turn, or a finished project completed from start to end - creating something pretty because of the colors or fabrics or design or style. aesthetically pleasing... but what about the bigger picture? creating for a purpose? to mean something? shouldn't you feel something? i sometimes find my lack of creativity, or a total block where i simply can't make anything, is usually because i won't let myself feel something. whether its personal and private, or something as simple as laziness... i think art should evoke some kind of emotion inside of the artist. and sometimes when i sit down to create, i know its out of necessity. part of owning a business. part of getting ready to teach others. and its something i struggle with... i'm very much anticipating being able to teach my students, from beginners to intermediates, all that i know - but sometimes i'm scared of where my inspiration comes from. i want my students to learn how to channel their own creativity into their projects, to nurture that creative hum they've got inside of them. to participate in something and make it important... to be accepted and understood. to show them that these projects can be direct reflections of themselves - that sometimes they'll create to get away from themselves, and sometimes they'll create to push themselves further. today i created without any emotion, in our new space looking out onto the snowy and rainy streets below, and it was hard. to leave those feelings at home - to not listen to those songs on repeat and write in my head as i stitched, the way i do when i'm alone. i made something that was simply pretty, and although i'm happy with the outcome, its such a strange thing.

.....i'm so glad that the weekend is here.. we'd been working so hard leading up to the opening, and i slept so hard last night! i really had to force myself to get up and out of bed this morning! i'm laying pretty low for the rest of the weekend, remembering how important it is to slow down sometimes. tomorrow i'll be driving out into the country a little bit to see where i'll be house-sitting for a co-worker (for over a week) later this month (a different place than the four corgis, for those of you keeping track!). otherwise, i'll just be doing some computer work and catching up on cleaning around the apartment! there's a laundry pile about a mile high in the kitchen that i'm dreading having to tackle. ;)

meanwhile, i can't get enough of these two songs:

&

they've pretty much been on repeat in my car lately...

♥

i have been finding myself sinking in that that strange mellowness that hits me every winter, just before it breaks into spring.

the end of the four day weekend...

a little late night fabric cutting from yesterday..

working on getting kits made up for my two beginner classes! 

i think i cut over 100 - 5" squares.. and there are probably double that in strips waiting to be sized!

 

today i made an example/model for one of those kits...

here are some photos from along the way! ♥

 

 i still need to do the top quilting on it. :)

now, to match up all of those little squares!

fabric everywhere!

this morning i got up nice and early to finish a custom quilt i'd been working on for my aunt - she'll be giving it as a gift. i don't normally take custom quilting orders, because it tends to just be too much these days, but i never turn down family or close friends. i used all fabrics from my stash, mostly from my scrap bins, for this - including the pinwheel blocks. (those were pre-made as part of this project!) anyway, she's picking the quilt up from me tomorrow, and i hope she likes it!

 in the sun:

i am spending this evening working on cutting kits for some of my classes at The Atelier Stitch... 

cutting the fabrics is the easy part - 

it will be writing out basic directions to use alongside (and outside) the class that will be tougher for me!

luckily i don't teach my first class with a kit until 3/10, so i have a bit of time to do the writing...

this morning, i also basted my four mini quilts that you've seen before..

i hope to get those quilted and bound in the next two weeks before our shop opening,

and they'll be listed on etsy, too - along with these guys:

there's actually one more hexie hoop that i finished,

but its going with me next saturday to teach my hexie class at Alewives.

 and last but not least, i've started to paw through my kona solids some more,

in anticipation of my color theory class 

(that isn't until may but will take the most planning and sewing)...

i'm glad i pulled them all out, because i am seriously lacking in green and blue!

 AND, finally - see those three fabrics draped over the armoir door?

i'll be turning those into standard sized bed pillowcases in the next two weeks, also.

as examples for one of my beginner classes!

 they're going to look great on my bed ♥

i'm so glad i've had this long weekend to get things accomplished, but i'm not out of the woods yet! soooo much more to do, it seems!! XO