Cardboard crafts blog

I didn't get finished with the current quilt.  I got down to the last couple of rows when it simply was too hot in the studio to continue.  So I went to the back part of the house and worked on setting up my newest blog.  Can you tell the room is dark?  If the sun can't get in.... it can't make it hot.

Well of course, while setting that blog up I had to work on the other two as well. 

You might wonder why I have three blogs instead of just putting everything on one?  Hmm.... it's like having three file cabinets.  One cabinet for each subject.  I have this blog which is like a "what's Anita doing today" journal.  I have the hints blog of "ways I save time, money, or space".  Now I have a blog devoted to "using cardboard in artistic ways" instead of putting it into a landfill. 

None of my blogs earn me money although I'm thinking of "monetizing" the cardboard blog just to see if it works.  I guess my curiosity is getting the best of me because I really want to know if money can be earned just by writing a blog. 

I still have work to do on the cardboard blog.  I want to do a few experiments with blogger features while there is not much on the site.  Less information to loose if something goes wrong.  But... right now I am headed to the studio to finish the current quilt before it gets too hot again.

Holiday weekend

I took my door quilt off the machine and put a customer quilt on.  I have it stabilized but don't plan on working on it over the weekend.  I'll work on it today but that's it until Tuesday.  This is a holiday weekend and I'm not supposed to work 

In the past, when I was quilting for a living, holidays were used as extra quilting time to get more work
finished.  That led to me not spending time with family when most people were enjoying themselves.  Not anymore!  I will now use holidays as what they are intended to be.... times for rest and enjoyment and with family. 

You may wonder why I'm type-talking about my holiday plans?  Mostly to record it for my kids and grands to read someday in this journal.  Also to tell myself.... it's ok to take time off from customer work without guilt.  I'm a workaholic so sometimes I have to convince myself to slow down and enjoy life.  This weekend I will spend time with my kids for the holiday.  I haven't done that in many years.  It may be only a phone call but that's ok too.  If they didn't live so far away I might go spend a couple of days with them. 

Holidays are also reminders that some of my kids have passed on and there's no chance to hug them or find out what they are up to.  This is the most difficult part of holidays and probably one reason I so easily worked during holidays in the past.  If I was busy working I wouldn't be thinking about what had been lost.  This was unfair to the other kids.  Just because I had lost some didn't mean I should avoid the others.  I'm hoping to make it up to them by changing my old habits and creating new ones.

If I don't post again before Tuesday..... you'll know what I'm doing. 

It's starting to look like home again

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During my forced time away from the quilting machine I did a lot of cleaning out. Gosh, it's really looking sooo much better in the house now. I don't feel like I'm living in a garage anymore. It feels more like a home. I don't feel so crowded and uncomfortable like I did just a week ago.

My brother and I decided to rent a booth at the new Peddler's Mall on Dixie Highway. For those who don't know; its like a giant flea market or yard sale except that you don't have to be there to make sales. Everything is handled for you. You just price your stuff and put it in the booth. We plan to keep it for three more months.... sell all we can.... then close it. Anything not sold will be given to the thrift store or put into a dumpster.

He had a lot of tools and golfing stuff. My SIL had a lot of knick knacks and I had a lot of quilting stuff. Most of my stuff is package batting that has set for a number of years because none of my customers requested it in their quilts. It's a shame to sell wool or cotton batting at such low prices. Oh well, it's out of my way now. I doubt that we will sell much. We'll probably just about break even on enough sales to pay the booth rental but that's ok with us.

I had company on Sunday and Monday while my daughter was in the hospital. My daughter had a severe case of tonsillitis. She's been on antibiotics for over a month. Stronger drugs through an IV seems to be clearing it up. Ladybug wanted to sweep and clean the studio first. She gets so serious about her chores in the studio. It's hard to believe she's not even two yet. It's like a miniature little old lady.



After the cleaning was done she had a fit to play with some fabric and threads. The intake table is the perfect place to sort and play with fabrics.

Ok, the quilting stuff all done.... it's time to check out NaNa's toy cabinet.

I'm going to do as much quilting as I can before the crew comes to put in new flooring. I'm not sure what day they will start. I hope its in a couple of days.

Yup.... another quilt finished.

I love the colors in this quilt.




For a long time I've wanted to do leaf feathers like Diana Phillips. She told me it is easy but somehow it just never clicked in my brain how to lay them down next to each other. Well, I got out my wax paper and markers to do some practice. Then tried stitching it on this quilt. Hmm..... you think it worked? Not as perfect as Diana's but I like them. I hope the customer does too.

I used an orange thread on this quilt. I could have used almost any color but orange just seemed to accent the top the best. This is the design on the blocks.

Orange thread pops out at you from the black fabric and compliments the bright colors of the top. This is the sashing design.

This is the block design from the back.

Oooo.... and the leaf feather from the back. That orange thread sure does show up well on white fabric too.

Last picture is of the sashing from the back.

The next quilt is on the machine but probably won't get finished for several days. It's a very large one which usually takes at least 3 or 4 days to do.

The nursing home residents where my mother lives got evacuated Wednesday night. They had a fire in the backup generator. The backup generator was put into use when they lost regular power several days ago during the ice storm. It couldn't have been easy finding new places for nearly 100 people to be transferred temporarily. Especially doing it very quickly. Several of the patients are bed ridden or on specialized machines. Ambulances and TARC were lined up taking people to different nursing homes. I applaud the workers at Britthaven in Prospect, TARC, and the ambulance people for an excellent job!

I went to the LQS class yesterday. This is the room before everyone arrived. The quilts on display are all done by male quilters. It's been advertized in the local media. I was amazed at the hand quilting done on some of them.





So here I am working on my project.

The teacher was extremely patient with everyone. I do think the quilt shop could have been much more helpful to the teacher though. Julianne had a slide show demonstration which we couldn't see because of the overhead lights. The lights couldn't be turned off so we couldn't see what was projected. Also, I wasn't aware.... before the class.... that Julianne had fabrics for sale. The quilt shop should have told everyone fabrics would be available during class. Several bought fabrics a few days before the class.

I took fabrics from my stash and now I understand I will need to take a class on choosing fabric "values" if I'm going to be doing portraits. It will be easier if I order fabrics from Julianne, which I plan to do from now on.

I also realized it will be easier to order patterns from Julianne too. But my desire is really to learn to do my own patterns. I like the idea of viewing different images of a photo and choosing how it will be created in fabric. The cropping out of backgrounds and putting in new ones and changing compositions appeals to me. But... learning photoshop is like getting a college degree in one day. It could be done if the person is smart enough.... but very frustrating for someone like me who isn't. Yup, it will be much easier to let Julianne do the patterns for me and well worth the cost!

Here's what I mean about the values. You see what I see? The colors don't blend together close enough. I have too much contrast between colors.

Even from a distance the light is much too light. The hairline is too choppy and not defined with the right fabric. It would look better if it blended a little better.

Even from a distance the values don't blend together enough. Notice the difference in the way the two pictures blend fabrics? The girl above is fabrics I chose, the girl below came in a pre-made practice kit from another portrait quilt teacher.... Margaret Buckleu.

Here they are from a further distance. Still too much contrast.

Julianne also asked if someone went home and did thread play on their portraits would they send her a picture of it to see. Well, I didn't say it but that's what I had in mind. I would love to combine stitching threads with the fabric to create portraits. I'm not sure thread play would work though. Why? Let me see if I can explain my thoughts.

There are 6 layers to the pattern. In some areas that's 6 layers of fabric plus 6 layers of fusible web glue that are sitting on top of each other. Add to that a background layer of fabric and batting and backing. Threadplay is usually done by sewing very fast and moving the piece around to get the effects. That's a lot of layers to be sewing through at a fast pace. I'll probably try the thread play anyway.... some time in the future.... just to satisfy my curiosity. Maybe after Christmas rush is over?

Now to the differences in how the two techniques are done. I love both techniques but I know there are people waiting for me to tell what I've learned.

Julianne's method:

Each layer is done in order from 1 through 6.

No light box is required. Each layer progresses from darkest to lightest.

Each layer uses the previous layer as the guide for placement of pieces.

Each layer is cut out as it's being worked.

Each layer is ironed on before you start the next one.

This method is very easy to do. She does all the hard "thinking" for you when she creates your pattern. In other words... you won't be saying to yourself.... now where should this piece be placed?

The drawbacks to this method? The paper patterns use a dotted design on the paper to trace and cut. Visually I kept loosing where I should be tracing. Also the stiffness of many layers on top of each other. This is not a problem though if you plan to put your finished portrait in a picture frame.

Margaret's method:

It requires a lightbox or else skill at understanding where to place the pieces. I used the original picture to help with my placements.

All pieces are cut out before putting any of it together. She recomends putting the pieces of each layer into a separate plastic bag until everything is cut out.

The pieces to trace are done in solid black which made it easier for me to visually see what the actual pieces are and what was not.

The layers don't go in number order and not necessarily all pieces of one layer at the same time. Although with practice this won't be too difficult.

What I found was that with this method, one layer will lay on top of another but the two combined layers don't line up in the same spot on the layers underneath. This creates a much thinner finished composite. In no one spot are there more than two layers of fabric.

Did I explain that right? I tried explaining it yesterday to Julianne and didn't have any more success than I'm having now. It's kind of something you have to actually do in order to understand it.

The drawback to this method? The cutting out of extremely tiny pieces and rembering where they should be placed and figuring out in what order. Also remembering what the tiny slivers of fabric were in the pattern. What might look like a highlight for the hair could actually be a highlight for the clothing etc.

Well, that's what I've learned so far. I love the ease of one method and the thinness of the other method. I don't know if I've helped myself or simply created more heartache. My desire to create portrait quilts is even stronger now. Gaining more knowledge about creating these makes it very hard for me to concentrate on machine quilting for others.

Hard as it will be for me..... the portraits will be put into a ufo bag for after Christmas rush is over. My customers come my own work, always. They are my friends and I don't want to disappoint a friend.

As my friend Dawn would say about me..... you can see the object of your journey just ahead, you only need to find the path around all the boulders laying in the way. So with that said, I'm off to do some quilting before I leave for guild meeting.