Rounding into June

Xnay on the retirementay. At 10 years as a state employee, I will receive a benefit of 50% state paid Medicare part C for the rest of my life. I need to work 1.7 years at a minimum to earn that benefit. Might as well make it 2 years and go to 65. So, no retirement for me in the the near months to come. 

I have all sorts of plans in retirement. I want to resume my art history classes. I would like to do a couple of jigsaw puzzles. Attending estate sales is at the top of my list. Fishing figures into my future as the Mr. bought a new boat. We waited a little too late on reservations for Fort Bragg, California, but might be able to squeak in at one of the coastal marinas. 

Here is an image of me hand sewing the binding on the state fair quilt. I found it easier to lay it on a bed so the bulk of the weight wasn't on me or laying on the floor. I would like to do a series of these types of quilts translating cubist paintings from the turn of the 20th century. We will see how this one places in the competition, results to be announced on June 8. I have never seen anything like my technique. 

Reselling update: I have made it habit to cross post my eBay listings to Pinterest. I focus on specialty sewing patterns, quilt blocks and tops, and clothing. 

These are the slow months in reselling. I am hoping things will revive in the fall. 

Ending the post with a vintage 1980s pattern quite intriguing, mainly for the names of the dolls. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185450524777

It Was a Go, and Then It Wasn't

My art quilt entry into the California State Fair had been accepted for judging and possible exhibition. The image below is how I signed this competition quilt. Those loose threads were "buried" by pulling the ends into the quilt and snipping them off. The fabric is Moda Grunge, I will be buying more of that. 

As anticipated, I encountered folds in the fabric when I was quilting it. A sharp-eyed fabric constructionist will notice how I solved that problem. I used to get all worked up when I couldn't work around the folds in the fabric. I am getting better at shrugging it off and hand stitching the folds down. 

Here, I reveal stitching without a foot so I could free motion my signature and date. This is what the back looked like - a hot mess. Hard to see against the print but trust me it is wonky. It would be overlooked by the average bear, but I know this is being judged. My resolution? I made a fabric patch that I quilted down on the backing. 

Binding and fabric patch. 

And the corner of the quilt with the patch cover up. 

The last detail was a hanging sleeve in the Hoffman Bohemian Blenders fabric. There are the irritating folds in that section of the backing (and my zoomy yellow tennys photobombing). I was hoping the sleeve would cover those mistakes, but no luck. I hope those mistakes weren't the ones that left me out of the competition. 

Rather than take the image and convert it into a grid (no, can't make it easier), I "eyeballed" it and worked it in block sections. 

I received an acceptance from the fair, and then a rejection two days later by an "Oh My Goodness" email from the coordinator. I was going to reveal this piece in all of its glory hanging at the State Fair, but that was not to be. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

Sad to say, I am not a fan of the fair anymore. Not only was my piece rejected (I get it), but my media pass was also taken away as I don't have proof of 12,000 followers. I am no where near an influencer. 

Entered and Awaiting Word

My lead-off image is a basket quilt top purchased at the Cameron Park hospice thrift for $2.99. This one is such a spring/summer delight, bordered and ready to be quilted, thank you Mystery Quilter. It is joining my quilt collection. 

After two years of waiting, and two frantic months of preparing, my entry into the California State Fair is in! I changed categories from Other Fiber Art to Art Quilt. I finished the flimsy on Mother's Day. The Knitting Woman measures 75" x 100". I didn't have batting large enough for the quilt so I had to do the Frankenbatting. That is when you have to whip stitch sections of batting together to have enough to cover the flimsy+. 

Now that I am more comfortable with curved piecing, I may tackle that Storm at Sea in plaids. I have the templates, picked up for a song, from thrift. 

Reseller update: After all is said and done, I am clearing $500 a month on my eBay sales. I love this business! As a child, I would pack AVON orders for my mom. I loved doing that too. 

I have reached my goal of 1,800 listings. I have enough unlisted inventory to keep me busy for three months, working four hours a day, five days a week. The reason I can gauge that activity is I was not working full time for three months and I devoted my "work" day to listing on eBay. 

I am seriously considering retiring this year. Sacramento is just not the same since the lockdown. Nearly all of my favorite restaurants have gone out of business. Some days when I am in office I am the ONLY person working on the entire floor. I just cannot adjust to co-workers choosing to remain remote, never having met or even seen them online. It is just too weird. I am even managed remotely which in itself is not a problem since I remain a professional in managing my time and workload. But it is odd, not being able to head down to your supervisor's office, just to say "Hi," or ask a simple question. So I am in the process of completing the paperwork. 

Ending a post with a cutie patootie Pattern of the Day.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185429724791

Cubist Quilting

I am in the quilting phase of my State Fair quilt, the Knitting Woman. A tedious phase of this process I usually farm out to someone else. For competition purposes I have to be the sole creator of this artwork from start to finish. I won't reveal the entire project, only her cubist face and the top of her knitting needles. 

She is near monstrous size, king-sized plus! I am in love with her and think she is magnificent. I envision her as one of the pieces that hang from the ceiling in the crafts exhibition hall. 

I also hope my piecing will lay flat while quilting. One nightmare is when you reach a section in the quilt that the fabric has skewed, you have to fold it and quilt it down. 

Prior to quilting, I mark quilting lines. Learned from experience, your eye will fool you and what you think is straight is NOT. 

After lines are marked, it is sandwiched. The backing, a good 4" longer on each side is wound onto a painted baseboard. The top is wound onto another painted baseboard. Rather than explain the whole thing, here is the YouTube video. 

Showing my attempts at her face creation - no. 1. 

And attempt no. 2.

There were many sections I did over and over again. My takeaway from this self-taught curved piecing is that you have to break up the circles/curves into small sections.

Just when I thought I had my fabric addiction under control, I discovered more fabric I had squirreled away. It was not a good feeling. In my last attempt to destash, I gave away yards and yards of fabric, mainly feedsack prints. Fabrics I rarely give away are batiks, woven plaids, and Christmas fabrics. I do have to give myself credit for winnowing down my cabinet drawers full of remnants from 2 cabinets down to 1. 

Before I plunge into slapping sewing patterns onto the eBay board, I really need to list the needlework kits and quilt blocks. Quilt blocks, tops, and pieced patchwork all eventually sell.

Until next time ~

Tami

Quilting and such

Some wonderful soul left these adorable quilt hearts hanging on foliage around downtown Sacramento. 

I would be remiss if I didn't devote a post to quilting, one my passions. Even though I am nowhere near prolific in creating such fabric art, I do complete 2-3 bedsized quilts each year.

I would define my patchwork piecing technique as free form. Certainly in the case of this state fair entry I have translated from canvas (print in a book) to quilt. I do square up the blocks and borders. 

Happy mistakes some occur, where you might not have intended to piece two dissimilar fabrics together, but they somehow mesh. 

I have made great progress on my State Fair Quilt for entry into competition at the California State Fair. The competition guide is now posted, my entry will be in Division 165, Other Fiber Art, Class 4, Any Other Fiber Art. 

Tarot card of the day

Round 11 of Reselling, Plundering the Offsite Storage

This round somewhat qualifies as "home sourcing" because I am retrieving product from my offsite storage. To say I went through a Pattern Phase is an understatement. My thinking was that vintage sewing patterns would be worth something someday. That day has arrived. 

Three containers (2 more I forgot back at storage) and one bag full of patterns, another bag full of books and a third bag of miscellany marked for resell. Next milestone goal on listings is to reach 300. 

Some of my patterns are keepers, some of the images in the lead and below. Focusing on the red ones ~

Quilting update: I am knocking around the idea of taking another run at a State Fair quilt, this one of course, would be for 2021. There are some elements I liked in my last quilt and some I didn't. 

List of elements I will include in competition quilt.
1.  Cubist
2.  Scrappy solid border
3.  Turquoise thread

Here is my source image. It was my original concept but when I made the face quilter block, it was way too small. 

Knitting Woman 1919 Oil on Canvas

Jean Metzinger

Scrap busting continues. I have made great progress because I am not buying thrifted fabric every other week. 

I rediscovered Bloglovin' a feed where I had marked online fashionistas, and then promptly forgot about it. Seems a few are doing Lockdown Diaries or Life in Lockdown. My reselling rounds are a way of marking time also. 

Quilter in Quarantine

The devastating news came through that the California State Fair was canceled. Scheduled for late July/August, it was my bellwether that everything just might be ok. Not. 

For two years I had been imagining how to construct this quilt, mainly the cubist quilter block. That section came together quickly, it was easier to piece it than to do applique. I pulled completed blocks from my orphan block stash, and incorporated them into the piece. One section kept nagging at me, good for another quilt but not this one.  

First flimsy

The inclusion of a house block kept niggling at me, I wanted one kinda log cabiney. The house block section I ripped out twice, unhappy with the quilt's composition.  

Second flimsy

Final flimsy

(Cancelled) State Fair Quilt glamour shots:

My work is much improved from two years ago. I bought the large spool of Coats turquoise thread, I wasn't about to run out on this special project!

It was the first time I had done a binding in scrappy solid colors. I really like the look so I will do that again. 

Fabric pull for 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" borders

I could not believe how incredibly fast this quilt came together. I intended on matchstick quilting but after I had marked lines and completed the first pass, starting from the middle and quilting out to the edges, it told me it was done. Quilts have a tendency to do that (quilters out there nodding their heads in agreement). 

I went through the whole creative process.
 
That one and where you start off great guns, then the hard work starts and you question whether your artistic vision is going the right direction. Then you turn the corner when it starts to come together, the piece might not be exactly as you envisioned it but has a beauty all its own. 

State Fair quilt would have been entered in the Needle and Fiber Arts Division as "Other Fiber Art." I won't be able to enter it next year as it won't be relevant. It will give me one more year to refine my technique. I also made a serious error in the quilt's backing. The material skewed and puckered. I should have learned my lesson to use a heavier quilting cotton in the backing. 

American Patchwork and Quilting Challenge on Facebook pulled the number 12. On one list, it is my black and white/dark blue quilt. I am not sure I am ready to work on darkness. One my second list, it is a coffee block quilt where I will "float" those blocks with a Moda jelly roll. 

I am going to turn my attention to my Retro quilt and start cutting squares for my Summer quilt now called Flamingos in the Cabana. I am hoping that will help assuage my disappointment on the fair cancellation. 

Linking up with Cynthia for quiltingismorefunthanhousework
for:

Here is one thing I bought thrift that I hesitated to list a few months ago. I haven't hesitated now, it is a perfect craft project for the times. https://www.ebay.com/itm/184275394527

Mandatory Face Masks

Just as I suspected, our county issued a health advisory for wearing face masks. Using my pattern from Riley Blake Designs, I made a few for my family. 

I have been gathering batiks for some time and used all of my smaller remnant pieces in the State Fair quilt. I went through my 4 vintage sewing boxes and found some elastic, twill and velcro tapes. I know I had a ton of bias tape that came with those boxes but thrifted that tape back, now I wish I hadn't. 

I won't engage in sewist's shame. I know there are those that have dedicated countless hours to making masks for others. The one and only escape I have from our current crisis is the couple of hours I have to myself to sew. Committing that time to sew for others I know would be selfless but would be sacrificing my mental health.

The Mr. called me out on my trips to the post office. He said, "That's just a pastry run." Admittedly, it is, combined with package delivery. 

State Fair quilt is sandwiched and the entry is in for the judge's consideration! I marked quilting lines spaced 1" to 1-1/2" apart so when I get to teeny tiny matchstick quilting I won't go astray. This time I will have enough of one color thread. I was gifted 6 large cones of polyester thread from an upholsterer's estate. My last matchstick quilting project (my state fair entry intended for last year but completed too late composition quilt), ploughed through thread. While I like the composition, I had many machine problems with spacing for last year's intended entry. My current machine, the Franklin, grumbles A LOT but sets down an even stitch. 

This is my usual practice to have one project completely overtake another. I won't rest until State Fair quilt is done. My next project is to bind the OBW for the graduate but that I can work in tandem with any quilting project. Hand binding takes place in the TV-watching evenings. Gypsy Wife meets Jelly Roll is scheduled to arrive back from the longarmer today. Yipee!

Current status: Hyperdrive

Leading off with my state fair flimsy, marking quilting lines on the Mr.'s work bench in the garage. Lot of fun blocks in it. I just had to have a house block, part of the quilt's theme. Some sections were a struggle but I will detail that all in the reveal post. Such a relief to be at this stage - I know I can make the middle of May deadline. 

We all have different coping strategies. While others have complained of feeling unmotivated, unable to focus, and cannot "get in the groove," I have shifted into hyperdrive. I know my remote work time may be limited so I have made the most of my stay-at-home hours. Those want to do projects? Getting done. The have to do projects? On it. My more obscure projects - converting 35mm slides to digital images, converting VHS tapes, and scanning in a 1977 European tour book for a FB group - depending on the length of this worldwide craziness, may all get done. 

Around the turn of the new year the Mr. and I realized a pandemic was headed our way, my attitude changed. I began ramping up my reselling and laser-focused on quilting project goals. I know it is a manic phase. I am going to harness that coping energy and turn it to my financial and goal seeking advantage. 

In anticipation of an edict requiring us to wear face masks, I found a pattern posted on rileyblakedesigns.com/fabric-face-mask.  I wanted to get clear guidance on what fabric could be used. 


Reseller's update: That survival manual? It sold. My items on average I buy from $1-$2, maybe less, and sell for $15-$20. It is a Tami cleaning house listing extravaganza! Items I had up last year but pulled because I got tired of renewing the auction-style listing are now Fixed Price so I can't withdraw but I also don't need to renew them.  

For some of my packages, I have used remnant fabric for packing. With the Art of French Cooking, I sent a remnant with an Eiffel Tower print. It is a stamp of my personality they receive with the package. 

I just adore blog hops and used to participate in a number of them. One worth a visit is the Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop 2020, I've provided the link to the lead-off blogger at huntersdesignstudio.com. Seeing others workspaces intrigue me. The sheer amount of fabric some have is astounding. 

Ending with my favorite image of the week: