We Interrupt This Garment Sewing Blog

… to bring you a quilting-crafty blog. Or so it seems, lately. ;-0



That's OK. That's one of the things I love about sewing — there are SO MANY different things to sew that it's hard even for someone with the attention span of a gnat (me!) to get bored.

So, I didn't get the quilt top finished, but it's nearly so. (Do you know how long it takes to arrange all the blocks so that there are no repeats of prints in the rows or columns and the color depth is evenly distributed? Hah!) I still need to machine appliqué the flowers and leaves and then I'm going to straight-line machine quilt this little wall hanging so the finish shouldn't be that far away. Hopefully, I'll get it done by the weekend since it's a slower work week. Fingers crossed.

If I do say so myself, I like it. It's very cheery and the unexpected pop of orange and yellow in the corner makes me smile. And makes it less matchy-matchy, I think. If I were a "real" quilter, I would have a stash of quilting fabrics and this wallhanging wouldn't have been made with every same fabric I've been using for the last few weeks. But I did manage to dig up a few that haven't been used in the room re-do yet.

Speaking of "real" quilters — it's no wonder quilting is so popular. The finished pieces I've been seeing on quilting blogs are so pleasant to look at, the fabrics are adorable with such a big choice, and the shops know how to do it right.

Case in point, Fat Quarter Shop (NAYY):



Each magazine was packaged in its own protective zippy bag, the charm packs in their own wrapper with cute FQS stickers for closures and decoration. Yes, I bought charm packs. Does this mean I'm starting a quilting stash? Hmmm. Even the pretty invoice (yes, pretty!) came inside a nice Thank You envelope. Contrast this with Fabric.com, Fabric Mart, and others who toss wadded-up fabric in a bag inside a box and throw in advertising. Hmmm. (OK, EOS has better packaging, but even that could be improved at those prices. Sorry, just my 2 cents.)

So, what's with the quilty magazines? Well, I've taken a liking to them and also crafty magazines for eye-candy and entertainment reads since Threads, et al. has been boring me for quite a while. Deep down, I still like the garment sewing magazines (what few there are!), but it seems like everything is a re-hash and there's not much new and fresh within the pages.

Which is completely different from the quilting and crafting magazines. On and in those, the colors are bright, the projects look fun and imaginative, the writing is entertaining, and the whole vibe is just more inviting. Even though I could do most of the crafty projects in my sleep. But I'm an experienced sewer/crafter and not the typical target audience, so I understand that most of the projects are not going to be for advanced skills. But how attractive these magazines and projects must be for new and/or young sewers. (Or … ahem! … "old" sewers like me with the gnat's attention span!) If you were a 20-something beginner sewer/crafter, would you pick up a magazine with a fuddy-duddy boucle Chanel jacket on the cover or would you pick up the one with Fun! Bright! Cheerful! projects with articles that are written the way you talk? I may be nearing mid-century but I'm far from ready to be a Lady Who Lunches. Pfffft. :-)

So where am I going with all of this? I don't really know. LOL! I just know that I like having choices. Vive la différence!

And do stick around. There will be garment sewing again eventually. That gnat thing, remember? ;-)