Projects to Work On

I have multiple projects in the works.  Personally, for some strange reason, I have a hard time staying on one projects until it is finished.  I quickly lose interest and want to move on to something new and at least for the moment, more interesting.  I guess, I need a short break from every project I make in order to remain interested in it.  I never completely lose interest, I just become more interested in something new.

Right now, I have a four or five year old Christmas stocking to finish.  For some reason, I have little to no interest in finishing it.  I am going to finish it, just to finish it, but I am not really enjoying it. I have an embroidered fairy to complete.  That is actually something that I want to complete and will enjoy working on.  I have a few English Paper Piecing project to complete.  One is a monthly EPP block and I am a little behind, but I want to work on that too.  I have 2 modern quilts to work on, one for my daughter and one for my son.  I was able to complete my oldest's son Angry Birds quilt and I really enjoyed that, knowing that he was going to love it.  Then there is also the Halloween costumes that I have to work on.  I have a yellow angry bird to make, some princess, and a robot.  I am thinking about adding yet another project, a quilt for my bed.  Then there is always the potential to make a baby quilt for my niece's baby who will be born in December.

I know that there are other projects to work on, but right now I can't think of them.  I wish I had more time to spend actually working on projects.  I can't decide if I would ever like to sell my work, but I think I would love to have a studio and have people come create with me.  I would love to be able to have open studio time and create with others and make money doing that.  Then there are those times that I think I would love to teach others about traditional hand crafts.  I sometimes think that it would be fun to teach a class and work on a project while I am teaching.  I have the opportunity to teach a class at a local studio, I am just not sure if I know enough to actually teach a class.  I think I could probably teach a basic knitting and quilting class.  I could even teach an EPP class, which I know I would like but I'm not sure if anyone else is interested.  I could teach a jewelry class and rubber stamping classes, but fear gets in the way.

One day, I'll get enough confidence to actually teach a class.  Until then, I'll just enjoy working on my own projects!

Amy

Teaching

I think I may have mentioned that a Facebook friend is opening a studio/art gallery.  This is something that I have dreamed of doing myself.  Unfortunately, someone else beat me to it.  Fortunately, it is someone I know and a friend.  The nice thing is, she has asked me to teach a class.  She has also offered for me to take a class of hers for free.  I am hoping to go to her floating lantern class next Friday and see how she runs a class.

I am considering teaching a quilting class.  I have made a few small quilts and one large one that fit my full size bed.  I feel like I have enough knowledge to teach the class, but maybe not enough confidence to actually teach someone how to quilt.  My friend Liz sent me to the quilt pattern she used when she gave her class.  I am starting a quilt for my kids with the pattern she sent me to.  It's from Elizabeth Hartman at http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2011/03/mod-sampler-redux.html.  I let my twins pick out their fabric with some help from me.  I figured, I better make the quilt that I am contemplating teaching.  We chose the following fabric for the two quilts:

Eva Rose's material

Thomas' choices

I am also looking at some other types of quilts to teach.  I love the cathedral windows, but it may be a little complicated to teach in a class environment, but then again, it may be fine as long as I have the right equipment.  It looks so much harder than it is, it just involved folding and ironing.  The nice part is that it doesn't necessarily involve machine sewing.  You can hand sew or machine sew, which may open it up to more people who may not have a sewing machine.  I have also thought about teaching English Paper piecing, another hand sewn quilting project.  Then of course there is hand piecing in general, but I haven't perfected that as much (not that I've perfected machine piecing).  There is of course traditional machine piecing that I can teach.  I am thinking quilting classes may be what I teach, but I need to feel more comfortable teaching it.

Simple pinwheel block

Hexagone English paper piecing

Hand Stamped Thank You Card

Dresden plate machine stitched, hand appliqued

butterfly dresden plate english paper pieced hand appliquéd

English paper pieced hexagon not sewn together yet

English paper pieced hexagon made with 6 pt diamonds sewn together

English paper pieced hexagon like the above yellow one but sewn together

1/4 dresden plate mug rug

The above pictures are just a couple of the different projects I've made using tutorials that I think I could teach others.  I don't have a picture of a cathedral window, but I could make one up very quick and throw a picture on later.  These are some of the things that I love to make using both hand sewing/piecing techniques and machine piecing techniques!

Just a few thoughts to get down so that I can contemplate what I feel comfortable teaching.  I love to make everything on here, I just need to figure out what I want to do first.

Amy

More On English Paper Piecing

I'm still amazingly addicted to the idea of English Paper Piecing and I'm still spending time researching what I can find.  I have a few projects in the works.  I joined an English paper piecing quilt a long, with the goal to make a sampler quilt.

This is for block number one

I guess I haven't taken a picture of my tumbling blocks for quilt block number two, but it is in the same colors just the tumbling block pattern.  I made the six point diamonds a little bigger than I was supposed to, so I think I am just going to make three instead of six tumbling blocks.  The current month is eighty-one half inch hexagons in a diamond shape.  Not looking forward to sewing them all together (or even cutting out eighty-one hexagons), but I am looking forward to seeing these all come together.

It's amazing.  Just when I think I've seen all that you can do with regards to shapes and english paper piecing, I find something new.  I now have two more blogs that I am following because of english paper piecing projects.  I looked at getting the book "Pieced Hexies" by Mickey Dupre, but decided against it.  I'm rethinking that decision, since I think it may be helpful to have for creative ideas with hexagons and english paper piecing.   I think I tend to be to concrete when it comes to shapes for english paper piecing.  I'm thinking that if I can just think outside the box, I may be able to come up with my own shapes and designs.  Love the internet, social media, and having the ability to learn all about things like this.  

I also want to keep learning about handcrafting history, especially quilting including hand piecing and hand quilting.  Along with that, I want to learn more about the creative arts and how they affect both your mental and physical health.  I have read about and talked with people who are able to do some amazing projects, but you would never expect it, looking at their physical condition (severe arthritis for example).  I also plan to continue with my goal of creating forty things for others (handcrafted) before I turn forty-one.  I am  also hoping that I can get the courage to teach a class at my local art/craft studio that will be opening this summer.

Lots of goals and projects in the works.  I really love sewing.  I wish I had more time to spend making things, learning how to make things, teaching others how to make things, teaching others how being creative can benefit them physically, mentally, and even spiritually.

Have a fabulous day.  Until next time!

Amy

BTW-going gluten free has been easier than I thought it would be.It hasn't been easy, but I am doing it and actually following through with not eating gluten.  I had a little trouble a a graduation party I was at, but I was better than I would have been if I hadn't been doing this challenge!

History

If you can't tell, I love to create!  I also love to know the history behind things I create!  I have friends/acquaintances, more friends/acquaintances than I realized, who like to make hand made items too.  The funny thing is, I don't know if any of them are as interested in the history of the things they create as I am.  I am also more of a traditionalist when it comes to creating things.  I can certainly appreciate more modern patterns, but when it comes to things that I love, I am much more traditional and classic in my taste.

I would love to teach the history of hand crafted items.  I've already read a little about civil war quilting, but no where near enough to know really anything.  I recently started looking at english paper piecing and the history behind it.  It's actually kind of funny how little info I am finding on the history.  The one fun fact that I found is; early on, women would use old letters or newspapers as the paper pieces and use old scraps of material to make their paper pieced quilts.  The other fun fact is that this allowed people to date these quilts, as women would often leave the paper pieces in the quilts for extra warmth.

I'm looking forward to reading more about quilting history, and can't wait to learn more about the history of other crafts that I enjoy.  I'm going to start reading http://www.womenfolk.com and see what kind of information I can learn.  Personally, I can't wait to the how the things I enjoy came about.  Maybe I can, in time, become someone who teaches the history as well as someone who can teach how to make traditional projects.

I have a ton on my plate right now, with the kids, work, husband, and household stuff.  I am contemplating not putting my twins in preschool and doing some homeschool stuff with them and use the money that I would spend on preschool on other types of learning activities that will hopefully teach them and allow them to have fun and learn at the same time.  I am also hoping to add in some learning about hands on activities not just phonics, spelling, math (all of which are important, but I believe there needs to be a balance of hands on learning too).

Too much to think about right now.  I just want to keep learning about the things that I create and teach my children to appreciate handmade things.

Amy