No quilty updates right now, but two questions/requests for advice:
1) I have a lot of cute socks. Unfortunately I have about 10 pairs that have holes in them and really need to be tossed. But I feel so horrible doing so! I really hate throwing ANYTHING in the trash, especially something made out of fabric. Does anyone know of any projects I could do with repurposed socks? They really are cute, but they are also all worn down. It may be a lost cause. :(
2) Football season has started. I am not a fan of football. I have season tickets. I enjoy the spectacle, the team spirit, and watching the marching band since I used to be a member. But Friday's game lasted a full 3.5 hours. I just can't sit still that long! I am thinking of finding a small, portable sewing project to bring along to work on during games so I don't go crazy. Knitting would be perfect but I'm really bad at it and don't really want to mail all of my yarns down from Alaska and start on a whole separate hobby from quilting right now. I have read lots on many people's blogs about english paper piecing. It seems to be relatively portable. Thoughts? Is this something I could manage at football? Any other ideas for small projects I could do?
Finally, I wanted to share a little story. I was visiting relatives this weekend and we went to a small, old-timey tourist town (population <3000). I was very excited to see a quilt shop on the main street (only street), but when we went in, the entire place was just selling finished quilts! There was a teeny tiny section in the back with fabric and a few patterns. I was so disappointed I spent probably less than 5 minutes in the shop. Have you ever seen a place like this? It highlighted to me that the town was really aimed at tourists since the quilt shop was trying to sell completed quilts to people (and they had TONS in there, these weren't art quilts but more mass-produced traditional patchwork designs) who might be wanting a piece of Americana or something. Anyways, I was pretty dismayed over it, although I should have checked out the prices on the quilts before I stormed out just to see what they were going for!
I'm not big on selling quilts. It just takes so much time and materials to make one, I have trouble thinking of a price that anyone would pay that would actually make it worth my time to make a quilt to sell. Think of the cost of supplies, plus the price per hour that you've spent on it. It adds up very quickly! Plus if you're making a bunch of quilts to sell, you are probably doing it so fast that it's no longer fun. Leah Day had a nice post about this in her "Business of Quilting" series (or it was called something along those lines). Anyways, visiting the shop certainly brought up a lot of food for thought!
Okay, that's all for now. I'm quilting my clock while waiting for the new clock hands to come in the mail. I plan on finishing it before the end of the week!
When my family and I took a long trip, I brought a hexie caddie paper piecing kit with me. I just used one of those inexpensive craft boxes and packed what I needed in there. I did find it was helpful to have the prep work done before I left; all blocks were cut out and folded around the paper, I had a mini set of directions as well and just in case, a glue stick. The glue stick helped keep the edges folded properly around some of the cardboard pieces I was using and it also helped when I ran into a bit of a mishap with one of my pieces not sitting correctly.
ReplyDeleteSo, I did do the project sitting in the passenger seat of our van piled high with kids and cargo so I would think that you should have no trouble doing it in a seat at a game.
Hi Heather, I am working with your mom on a project and she pointed me to your blog. For the socks, there are lot of tutorials on how to make animals and stuffed toys out of socks. I have one posted on my blog for making a bunny: http://keepitthimble.com/2011/04/24/tutorial-sock-rabbit/.
ReplyDeleteYou can also find some fun books, one is called "Stupid Sock Creatures" and another one is called "Stray Sock Sewing" Both of these have some fun projects!