WTF Wednesday #4 - WTF Happened to My Sewing Mojo?!?

Disclaimer:
WTF Wednesday is my day to sound off on the various things that irk me.  I try to keep these quilting-related, since this is a quilting blog.  These are my opinions and I don't expect anyone else to share them, or even agree with them.  This is my day to turn my internal censors off, and just vent.  


Having said this, this Wednesday I get to poke fun at myself.


Work life has started to intrude on real life, and my sewing time.

It shows.  Oh, dear god, does it ever show.

Unfortunately, it's not just a general lack of time.  Working between 40 and 50 hours a week means I basically get to come home, make dinner, and keep the kiddo entertained until bedtime.  Normally, I'd spend the hours between 11 P.M. and 2 A.M. (after getting Zebediah to finally pass out somewhere around 10 P.M.) sewing myself to sleep.  Right now, with my work hours so extended, I'm lucky to not just fall asleep with Zeb, so I'm missing out on two to four hours of sewing time.

Anyway, yeah, not just the general lack of time.

Apparently, I'm just doomed to fail right now.

Thank goodness I'm not trying to do anything more complicated than put together some blocks for the birthday block swap.

Or not.  *facepalm*  This was supposed to be a simple Crown of Thorns block, with some differences in color for some variation.

What on earth was I doing??  That photo...  That was after "unsewing" three times and fixing errors in placement.

Not kidding.

I totally thought the block was done, and was getting ready to give it to Sandi to include in a hug quilt for a dear friend.  Then I looked at it again.  I actually did a double take.  *sigh*  I am clearly not meant to chain piece and chat at the same time.

This was the worst offender.  The Sawblades blocks I made the other day (and have yet to show off) suffered from similar problems.   Soon, I have to make Spinner blocks.  I shudder to think about the damage I can do to such simple blocks.

If I wasn't such an addict, I might actually think about quitting.

WTF Wednesday #3 - There's Seriously a Pattern for THAT??

As I wander through various quilting stores and different quilting-related websites, I am constantly amazed at the sheer number of patterns out there for quilts.

I am further amazed by the number of patterns that make me exclaim, "They seriously bothered to write up a pattern for this?!?"

Now, I'm not adverse to patterns.  I've actually purchased a grand total of two, and they were appliqué patterns.  I simply don't have the ability to draw a smooth line to end up with a nice looking templates that niche nicely together to create a cohesive image.

However, as a quilter who knows how to plan out my quilts, and can do basic math, I'm horrified by some of the patterns out there!  Worst of all, it's not just free patterns that probably didn't need a write-up, but there are folks making money on this stuff.

And, yes, I am totally aware that there are individuals out there who would prefer to simply pick up a pattern, and not have to think about what their quilt will look like at the end.  Seriously, though?  Why are there instructions for this??

To the right is a freebie from Fat Quarter Shop.  Baby Four Patch Free Crib Quilt Pattern  Yeah, it's free.  But really?  It's a bunch of four patch squares mixed with squares of an equal size into larger four patch units, with the orientation of the squares alternating by rows.

Not hard, and easily worked out just by looking at this a little more closely.  And why go with a pattern at all?  Once you've seen the basic breakdown of this pattern, it's so simple to make this one a cute, scrappy quilt and make it as large or small as you want.

To the left is another freebie, this time from Amy Butler.  Nora's Mid Mod 2 Quilt

Another one that's not hard to work out, sans pattern.  The pieced strips are just a variation on Stacked Coins, or Chinese Coins as I always think of them...  Each piece is a different width, but they're all the same height.

Pair with stripes of solid that are the same height and length, and, bam!, super simple utility quilt.  I'd personally go with fabrics that stand out from the solid more, go with some contrast, but easy peasy.

Now, lest you think I'm picking fun only at the free patterns:  Denyse Schmidt's Stacking the Odds.  Purchasable all over the net, and possibly at your LQS.

Done with Schmidt's usual flair for the off-kilter, the pattern's description even baldly admits that it draws from Chinese Coins:
"Denyse Schmidt Quilts Stacking The Odds Pattern- Fresh, modern, and yet timeless, this quilt's inspiration is drawn from Chinese Coin quilts."


She just cut them at slight angles, made sure that no seams directly matched up and slapped some wide, white borders on it and called it a day.  Average cost for this one?  About $15.


You know what?  I'd rather buy the two yards of fabric that I could get with that $15.

These next two, you can get directly from Elizabeth Hartman herself.  Elizabeth is the Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson! fame.

I haven't purchased either of these patterns, so I don't know what else is included in the "More Simple Modern Baby Quilts" pattern bundle, other than the one pictured.  But really, it's just framed squares.  That's it.

Pick a size for your center square - heck, use your favorite square ruler to cut around, add borders, and be done with it.

Mixtape Quilts II actually caught my eye, and made me think, for a moment, that I might actually buy this one.  It's cute, has a lot of solid sashing, and is really colorful.

Unfortunately, it's a just variation of rail fence quilts.  That basic block is just comprised of strips of varying widths cut into equal-sized squares and then sashed.  For me, this would be another scrap buster.

Cute, but not worth the $10 price tag for either of them.

So, thanks, folks, for taking the time to write up directions.  Me?  I'll be sticking with my trusty graph paper and colored pencils, if I even bothered to break them out for a quilt top like this..  Heck, if I feel the need to be super techy about it, I'll re-install EQ5, or even just draw it up in Photoshop.

WTF Wednesday #2 - Material Obsession

Way, way back in July of 2009 I posted about wanting to pick up Material Obsession.  Well, I did, eventually, and it's been sitting on my shelf for about six months.  I took a brief look at the pictures, and put it back down.  This happened several times.

This past weekend, I actually sat down and gave it a good look through.

I really, really wish I hadn't purchased it.

First of all, six of the twenty-three quilts in it were so basic in their construction, that I seriously questioned their inclusion in a book.  Those six quilts would be Avalon, Gypsy Squares, Candy Store, Corner Store, Three Ring Circus, Ginger Snap.  

Avalon is probably the worst offender of the bunch.  It's just a bunch of 18" X 18" squares with a 3" sashing between them.  I really didn't need two pages of instructions, along with drawings showing me construction sequence.  Sure, the fabric is pretty, but this would have held a lot more visual interest if they'd just sewn sashing onto the fat quarters the authors would have the reader start off with.



And then there's Gyspy Squares.  Comprised only of 8" squares (finished), I couldn't believe its inclusion in a book touting "Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots".  What on earth is modern about this quilt?  It's as basic a utility quilt as you can get, and the fabrics aren't particularly modern.

Actually, I could say that for a large number the quilts in this books.  I was not especially struck by any of the fabric selections.  In fact, I found myself more and more irritated by the constant use of busy prints as background fabrics, when a solid would have been far more visually effective.  Furthermore, most of the fabrics were pretty hum-drum, and looked more like '30s reproduction prints than modern prints.

I was irked that the templates and the construction guides were hand-drawn.  It was probably done to make everything feel more approachable, but it feels condescending to me.  I'm quite sure that the majority of people who bought this book were already comfortable with quilting, and didn't need that faux touchy-feely addition.

And, I know this makes me the lone nut in a box of bolts, but I really dislike styled photos of quilts.  I much prefer the head-on images of full quilts, rather than those of quilts artfully draped here and there.  While Material Obsession includes the former, there are far too many of the latter.  And honestly, I just don't care how pretty a quilt looks against the backdrop of the Australian landscape, as beautiful as it is.  If I want to see the Australian landscape, I'll get a book on the Australian landscape.

Then I hit the end of the book... Twenty-one pages dedicated to a "Quilting Basics" section.  Which wouldn't have really bothered me so much, but I'm just really tired of these sections in books.  There are several, better, whole books dedicated that exact subject that contain a lot more detail and and answer more questions than these sections that get tacked on to a book's end to plump up the page count.

I want to say that I'm done buying quilting books entirely, but there have got to be some gems out there.

Welcome to WTF Wednesdays, or WTF Wednesday #1

As you all know, I attended the Madison Quilt Expo.  My experience there led me to an epiphany of sorts, which I will detail further in this post.  Before I let you all get into the nitty-gritty of this particular epiphany (really, it's a rant), I have a few disclaimers:

First of all, note the title:  "WTF Wednesday".  That should pretty much say it all, but I'll be super clear just in case.  "WTF" is the acronym for "What the Fuck".  So, if that phrase at all offends you, you probably don't want to continue reading this new weekly segment.  

WTF Wednesdays are going to be my forum for sounding off on the various issues that hit my hot buttons.  And there are a lot of them, I'm realizing.  This is me turning my internal filter off, and letting fly with the things that irk me.  I'm going to try and keep them quilt-related, but you might see more of my more interesting personality quirks than you had really ever intended to.


Since you've been warned, trolls, flames, and other unpleasantness are not welcome.  Adult, engaged dialogue is totally encouraged and welcomed.  I have no intention of turning the filters back on for these Wednesdays.  It's my blog.  If you don't like it, you are more than welcome to not read.


Should you choose to join in, and I kind of hope you do, fill in the linky at the end of this post.

Now, onto the ranting...

It took me two passes through the vendors at the Madison Quilt Expo to talk myself into buying anything.

Seriously.

I'm not kidding.

Finally, when I purchased four yards of fabric from Nancy's Notions, I spotted this gem:

I repeat.  WTH??

Just... No.  NO.

Not in any world should a sweatshirt, no matter the number of alterations, be your go-to wardrobe option.  Not even when you've hit what seems to be Nancy's target demographic, the retirees.

Don't get me wrong!  If you're a retiree, more power to you.

However, this catalogue cover just epitomizes what kept bothering me throughout my wanderings at the Expo.

I'm just too damned young to be a quilter, apparently.  Age-ism runs rampant in quilting.

I could count the vendors offering more modern prints on one hand.  Yeah, in a 75,000 square foot vendor hall containing 153 vendors.  Yes, I counted.  Most of those vendors were offering such safe fabric options, I could have gone comatose from boredom.  Reproduction fabrics, particularly Depression Era, were rampant. And don't get me started on the number of pre-cuts.  Almost none of the vendors carried bolts of fabric.

Now, I understand that this was the Nancy Zieman Quilt Expo.  And I realize what age bracket Nancy falls into.

Just to be blunt, quilting's current target demographic, the female retiree is a shrinking demographic.  That customer base is going to, literally, die off.  And let's not even get into how many of us will even be able to afford to truly retire in this economy.  Marketers in quilting have done virtually nothing to woo generations X and Y, and even less to keep those two generations interested in the hobby.

Do they not realize that as the woman in my household, I control 90% of the discretionary income and how it's spent?  Does the quilting world not want my money?

Because that's certainly how it felt, and how it has felt over the last several months.  I realize that at 30, I'm in a minority as a quilter.  However, we're out there!  I follow the blogs of several dozen talented quilters who are all under the age of 45.

Really, just give me some freaking options!  There are so many other things I could be doing, other than quilting, and a lot of them offer far hipper color and pattern options.  They're actually trying to get me to spend money.

And, honestly, it really isn't that hard to get me open up my wallet.