Sew Thinky Thursday: Week 9

These weeks are just flying by! Crazy! This week is an easy question - go with your gut and tell me whatever comes to mind first. No need to over think... ok, ok you can over think if you want. 

If you were a quilt block which one would you be?

Base your answer on what you use most, or what is more metaphorically you. Please try to link to an example, or show a pic of the block if you have one so we'll know exactly what block you mean!

Now for my answer:

Some of my favorite projects using my fav blocks! For individual links to the pics go here.

If I were a quilt block I'd be a prairie point. Why? First off I'm not good at following directions so of course I would pick something that's not actually a block. If I had to choose a real block I'd say a flying geese, or a wonky star. I love the thought of flying geese - flying on their way to great things. I like the symmetry and challenge of getting all those points just so. I like doing things precise and tiny and big and crazy, flying geese are good at both. And what can I say, those little prairie points have my heart. 

Now it's your turn! Choose your favorite block and come back to link up with us! Remember to link back here, and to leave some comments on the other posts! 

Sew Thinky Thursday: Week 8

It's that time of week again, where we chat about our sewing habits. This week's question is pretty easy for me, and I'm excited to read your answers too.

Who do you like to sew for the most?

These were all pouches my sister had with her - on a weekend trip to my house. 

I like sewing for everyone. My first gut response to this question was to say that I like to sew for my sister Roseann. She's always enthusiastic about receiving my stuff - and she has a particular way of using the pouches I make for her in such a way that I see her use them all the time. I suppose I could broaden that to say that I really like sewing for my family, but some of them are more appreciative than others.

Lindsey was more than excited to receive her quilt!

I would also have to add on to say that I especially love making things for swap friends and sewing friends. Swaps are fun because I can work to try to pick out the person's favorite fabrics, and favorite styles -- that's not possible for non quilters. People who don't quilt don't have favorites like we do. :) I love being able to make a random pouch or mug rug for a guild friend on a whim too. It is always nice to be on the receiving end of that sort of thing -- but to be able to give a little gift "just because" it's fun.

I promise if I give you a quilt, Allie will break it in for you.

Then of course there's Allie. She's four and has been well trained to say "oh pretty quilt mommy!!" (lol). She wants to wrap herself up in every single quilt I make - no matter who it's for - she tests it out first. There's nothing more delightful (or terrifying) than a pre-schooler who runs up to your most recent quilt finish, grabs it, hugs and cuddles it, and rolls around the floor wrapping herself in it. It's exciting, but scary (she's not always aware of, say, that chocolate on her face)!

Handmade from the very beginning... she's well trained at receiving quilted goodies.

I guess that means that I like making things for people. Quilty things make people happy, and I like that. :)

How about you? Who do you like to make things for??

Write a post answering this week's question and then come back to link up with us.

Don't forget to check out everyone else's answers and leave some comment love.

Sew Thinky Thursday: Week 7

Bad sewing habits. Do you have them? Share with us, what are your worst habits when it comes to sewing?

My worst sewing habit? Leaving my iron on my pressing mat face down. Eek I know! I can say that it's really rare that I do this and then walk away, but I ALWAYS leave it face down while I re-position my fabric etc. I've got a nice singed area on my pressing mat. (ok so you've found me out - I've been using a folded up towel on my table as a pressing mat for.... four years? I should get an ironing board, but I don't want to shell out big bucks for the nice ones I want! 

Lets see, other bad habits. I leave fabric stacks around my sewing room... sometimes I have to clean the sewing room in order to start a new project only because all the good fabric is already out somewhere. LOL. 

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Now it's your time to fess up. Write about your worst sewing habit and link your post up here. Don't forget to stop back to read what everyone else has shared. We all love comments so don't forget to say hi!

Sew Thinky Thursday: Week 6

Are you ready for an easy Sew Thinky Thursday question this week? 

What is your favorite color of Kona Cotton*? How much of it do you keep in your stash? Is there a solid that you always find yourself running out of? 

Kona Curry

My favorite Kona is Curry. You're likely to find snippets of it sneaking into many of my sewing projects. I love the way it pops against my normal color palates (blues, pinks, greys). It's pretty amusing that my favorite Kona is a yellow, I don't think that I'd identify my fav color as being yellow in any other circumstance. If someone randomly walked up to me and asked my fav color I'd likely tell them blue - I'm much less picky about blues so there's that. Ironically I don't usually have Curry in my stash - I use every bit of it as soon as I buy it. :) If I had the money I would consider buying a bolt of it... but I actually think my using just a teeny bit is part of the novelty of it. That little pop is all a project needs!

Wouldn't these make a lovely little bundle? Some shop should market the "Emily" Kona bundle - Just saying. 

Other favorite Kona colors of mine include Lagoon, Peacock, Lime, Grass green, coral, melon, pomegranite, cerise, berry, ash, coal, and charcoal. 

You can find images of all the Kona colors on Robert Kaufman's site.

*Feel free to respond using your fav solid fabric type. I know some people swear by other brands, but to me Kona is still the standard. I know the quality to expect when I buy Kona, and I have a color card so ordering online is easy. This post is in no way sponsored by Kona... although I'd really adore if someone felt like making me an official Kona spokesperson (is there such a thing). LOL 

Now it's your turn to share your fave Kona color! Blog about it, then come back here to link up your post! Be sure to check out the other posts linked up and leave them some comment love. Everyone loves comments.

Sew Thinky Thursday: Week 5

Wow is it really Thursday already? Last week flew by.

Here's our question for this week:

Tell us about your sewing friends. Have your fabric tastes changed by having friends who like to sew? Do you like the same things or are you completely opposite?

I had intended to plan this out better - I just rambled about friends on my last blog post....

Emily and I with our {Modern} Robin quilts. 

For the most part my sewing friends and I share similar likes. However one friend, Emily, has a more refined palate. lol. She was an art student and I can only imagine that she sees fabrics a bit more intensely than I do. For instance for the longest time I didn't know what the difference was between blue purple and red purple... seriously. She would say "I don't like purples that are more blue" and I would not be able to tell the difference. I think I finally have it figured out. These sort of things make sewing things for Emily a little harder than normal. I'm always worried I'll use the wrong shade of this or that. I worried so much with the last swap we did that I made her list out all her favorite (or "acceptable") Kona colors, that way I could cross check the prints with her favorite solids. I hope I did good with it.  I've found myself being more open to Other Emily's colors recently - coral-y pinks and orange. I'm typically drawn to cooler colors.

Now it's your chance to link up. Don't forget to read and comment on some of the other linkups!

Sew Thinky Thursday: Week 4

Welcome to week four of the Sew Thinky Thursday party! As I'm writing this it's only Tuesday... That's the beauty of scheduled posts. I promise I'll check out what you guys have to say on Thursday from my lovely hotel room at QuiltCon! :) 

I'm beyond excited about this trip. So much so that it has inspired this weeks thinky question:

What is one regular thing you do for yourself to keep up your creative mind? Do you go to a guild, out for coffee with a friend? Are there people / activities you do regularly or as needed? 

Personally I would say that I attend the monthly meetings of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild to keep me going. These meetings and the sweet ladies (and one man - HI Mark!) really inspire me. I know that each month I'll go and for one whole afternoon I won't have to worry about anything else. 

CMQG - Fabric swap at retreat.

It took me a while to finally make it to a CMQG meeting... and I'm glad I took the plunge and did it. I think I've missed only one or two meetings in the two years since. Regardless of the meeting topic, it's always refreshing to the spirit to be with likeminded people.

Also - I love going on our guild retreats. I signed up late for our spring retreat and I'm ninth on the wait list... maybe several people will have to cancel!?

I guess I could go on and on about things I do, but for the most part it boils down to CMQG. I've built many great friendships at those meetings, and it's changed my personal sewing experience. 

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Now it's your turn! Answer the question in a blog post and link up below so we can read all about it! 

Sew Thinky Thursday: Week 3

Welcome to week three of Sew Thinky Thursday! I am working down to the line on some pre- QuiltCon projects, so I'll get right to the question today. Here it is! 

Describe your quilting style. Who or what influences you? How do you see your style changing over time?

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What's my style? Could I have picked a harder question? lol. 

I just posted the question on my facebook and got the best answer from my guild friend Sue, "Passionate and Prolific." Thanks Sue!! That's a good start - I'm definitely passionate, and maybe working toward being prolific. 

I'm a modern quilter who is a touch contemporary. I love tiny piecing with a mix of everything from intricate paper pieced blocks, to free improvisational blocks. Sometimes I want crazy intricate, sometimes simple minimalism. I'm not afraid of anything (except for the fabled rotary cutter injuries).

I am inspired by blogs, books, and my guild. 

Blogs: When I started quilting and blogging years ago the question of inspiration would be really easy to answer. I had a list of core bloggers who regularly inspired me. Now that list has grown wildly. It's hard to even keep up with blogs anymore. The people I really know are listed over there on the sidebar. But more than anything I'm inspired by the openness and willingness to share that I've found across the blogging world. I'm grateful to say that I've got quite a few incredibly inspirational quilt friends. Blogs, flickr, and facebook have helped me to get to know them and fuel friendships that inspire so much of my quilting.

Books - ok ok. I work at a used bookstore, and I run the arts and crafts section. I see tons and tons of books every day. Many of them are old and ugly, but there's still so much to learn from these. I don't like following patterns, but I love reading them. My style is influenced by the broad spectrum of quilt books we see at work - really, anything is possible.

My guild / the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild: we're such an eclectic group of experienced quilters and newbies. Serious and hobbiest. (we even have several published authors!) I see the things our guild members bring to show and tell and it's astounding. Creative thinking flows after a guild meeting. I am inspired to try new things and play with color. My style has grown from being around these ladies... nothing is out of bounds for them. 

How do I think my quilting style will grow or change? I've already seen it change a bit. I have gone through some phases already, the grey phase, the wonky star phase, the paper piecing phase... lol. Ok I'm not done with any of those. Although sometimes I wonder if I'll look back and think of this as my "modern" phase - will this movement stick? Or will this be my "Anna Maria Horner" phase (lol as if I'd stop loving her designs!). Maybe this is the crazy phase where I'm so thirsty to try everything all at once?

Now it's your chance! Tell us about your quilting style and link up below! Don't forget to check back to read the other posts! Don't be afraid to say hi in the comments - everyone loves comment love! :) 

Sew Thinky Thursday: Week 2

Welcome to week two of Sew Thinky Thursday! Each week I'll be sharing a sewing related question and you can think about it, blog about it, and link it up here. I'll keep the linky tool open until the following Wednesday, so be sure to stop back throughout the week to read other responses and share in the conversation! Let's get the conversation going!

The button up there is free to be added to your blog however you'd like - just link it back here (let me know if you need help figuring that out - it's not too hard). 

If you notice the button on my sidebar, I'l be adding the next week's question above the Sew Thinky Thursday button, so you can write your blog post anytime you want. 

Finally this week's question is:

What is the most meaningful thing you've ever made?

The most meaningful project I have made is the pair of quilts I made for my nieces Katee and Rosemarie. My niece Rosemarie is 6 and has been battling cancer for five years. About three years ago I decided I wanted to make a quilt for Rosemarie - to take with her to her doctors appointments (which were a 5 hour drive from home). I knew that I couldn't make a quilt for Rosemarie without making one for Katee, but it was a daunting task as a new quilter to try to make two quilts at once. 

So, I called upon my online quilting community. I asked people on my blog, swaps, and flickr to make a block for Rosemarie and Katee's quilts. I have never seen such a caring community before. So many people sent me blocks - 33 people from 7 countries! One block even had prayers written into the seam allowances (you might notice that I do that on my bindings now)! These sweet friends stepped up and helped. I managed to piece and quilt those two quilts in just a couple months! 

It is such a sight to see when the girls come to visit. They both bring their quilts and it's so sweet to see them sleeping under them. It's definitely a comfort to know all the love that was put into them. I still get emails and notes from online friends asking how Rosemarie is doing. It always makes me smile. Rosemarie is doing well, there is no cure for neuroblastoma, but she's been stable and is off treatment for the time being. She's sweet and spunky, and acts wise beyond her age. And she loves chicken nuggets. 

It means a lot to me that I was able to make something for these girls that brings them comfort. Rosemarie has had a hard life - in and out of hospitals for so long, and as a result Katee's life is effected by it all too - having her family away from her, staying with her grandparents. I like to think that somehow all the love and caring that came from those quilting ladies across the world will continue to be showered on the girls. 

Read the whole story here, and the condensed version here.

Now it's your turn! Write a blog post and link it up. Then read and comment on the other post! :)

Sew Thinky Thursday: A new linky party.

Feel free to grab this button to use on your blog post and/or sidebar!
The button was made by the lovely Shruti!

I've been thinking about starting this linky party for a long while. There are so many sewing and quilting related subjects that I'd love to take the time to think about. I love to talk things out but I'm fairly sure most of this doesn't matter to my husband - so maybe my bloggy friends would like to come along for the ride? After all you'll understand what I'm saying when I talk about sewing stuff! 

So I present you the first edition of Sew Thinky Thursday! A place to think about your sewing life, and share with other bloggers. 

This will be your place for some thoughtful blog reading. Each Thursday I'll post a different question regarding sewing and quilting, then I'll write my response to that question. I'll have the linky tool at the bottom of the post so that you can link up a post sharing your response.

There are no wrong answers here. Many of these questions are open ended  personal stories. I'll leave the linky party open for a few days so that everyone has a chance to write up their post. My hope is that by having this linkup on Thursday we'll be able to stop in over the weekend to read each other's responses! 

This week we'll start off simple. Here's our question:

When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked? 

Here's my answer:

I started sewing when I was young. At maybe seven years old I received a little "creativity for kids" quilt kit set. It came with some charm squares and a couple needles for hand sewing. I don't recall there being any real instructions, but I do remember cutting those squares into quarters so I'd have more of them (the fear of running out of fabric started early). In the end I was always too afraid of screwing up and wasting the fabric that I never really made anything with it.

At about 11 years old my Aunt Kathy gave me a secondhand sewing machine - my White machine. I learned to sew on it and sewed faux fur stuffed animals. If you can sew faux fur you can sew anything!

Throughout the rest of my jr high, high school, and college years I sewed periodically. I made odd projects such as self designed (poorly designed) purses and clothes (the tie purse I made out of my best friend's dad's old ties... lol), and one t-shirt quilt (backed with fleece!).

I didn't become serious about sewing until I had my daughter. When Allie was a few months old I wanted to make her a quilt. I'm not sure why. But I spent those late night nursing sessions combing the Internet for every tip and trick. I found people modern designer fabrics (finally some beautiful quality fabric!), and bloggers like Elizabeth Hartman, SewMamaSew, Anna Maria Horner, etc. I breezed through that first quilt and started planning my second.

I knew I was really hooked on quilting when that first package came in the mail - two yards of luxurious Anna Maria Horner Chocolate Lollipop fabric. I made the cutest dress for Allie out of that fabric, and she wore that dress once a week until she grew out of it (it still hangs on display in her closet). The designs I saw in Anna's fabrics were reminiscent of the pages upon pages of doodles from every notebook I've ever owned. It was the best of all worlds, beautiful colors, fabulous designs, and the freedom to make whatever I wanted. I was in love.

I'm still in love. :) A few years and dozen quilts later and I still get excited looking at that first little quilt, and that little ruffly dress.

Now's your chance to link up and share your thoughts too!