Help, guidance, inspiration and motivation can be delivered to your In Box! Last week during the panel discussion at the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild, three of us shared our journey into Monetizing Your Craft! The time went by so quickly that I didn’t have time to mention the resources I find helpful in crafting my business. Listed below are just some of the many resources available on the web. I have enjoyed listening to these people talking about their passion.
I encourage you to have a look at the sites above. You will find some that speak to you and others that won’t. When you find some those you enjoy, sign up for their newsletters, YouTube channels, and feeds. Support these creative entrepreneurs! Please let me know which blogs, podcasts you have found informative or just fun so I can add to my list. Enjoy!
The Toronto Modern Quilt Guild asked me to participate in a panel discussion with Bobbie of Geeky Bobbin and Claudia of Fabric Please! The three of us are all fairly new to having an online business. Bobbie has been at this the longest at about one year and a half. Claudia has been running Fabric Please! for just under 2 months! She talks about her jump into selling online in this blog post. It was a lively discussion and I hope members came away with an appreciation of the time that is needed to having an online presence.
Photo courtesy of Laura Henneberry
We were encouraged to bring samples of our craft to show the members and to sell to them too! I brought a selection of my snow dyed scarves and hand dyed quilting cottons. I was so caught up in preparing for the panel discussion and setting up my table that I totally forgot to take any photos. Thank you so much Laura Henneberry for taking great photos and allowing me to share them here.
Photo courtesy of Laura Henneberry
One of the most repeated lines from the members was that the hand dyed fabric was beautiful but they didn’t know how to use it in a design. So, I thought I would show a couple of examples. The piece above is a fat quarter dyed in indigo. The circles were created by wrapping the fabric around a small object and holding it with a rubber band. When the bands were removed the white circular design appeared. In the quilt below, the dark strip inserted on the right hand side was cut and pieced from a fabric similar to the fat quarter above.
Atmoshpere by Doris Lovadina-Lee
Atmosphere was created from a large piece of indigo dyed cotton. I loved the pattern that was created and I didn’t want to cut into it. This minimal modern design evolved from this.
Photo courtesy of Laura Henneberry
Over the winter, I dyed a few pieces of cotton with snow creating mandala shapes! Again, I didn’t want to cut them up into smaller pieces. Cosmos was created with one of these mandala dyed cottons. The quilt top was simply spiral quilted to reinforce the circular design. Above is a detail of a brightly dyed mandala that reminds me of a bright tropical fruit.
Cosmos by Doris Lovadina-Lee
Don’t be afraid to use these unique pieces of hand dyed cottons in your design. They can be combined with commercial cottons and can enhance any project. I will be adding some of my hand dyed fabrics to my online shop shortly.
Photo courtesy of Laura Henneberry
Check back often. If you see a fabric in the photo above or on my Instagram feed that you are interested in, contact me and I will be happy to send it to you. Are you inspired to use an original piece of hand dyed fabric in your next project?
The new president of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild, Adrienne, invited members to spend a couple of days at her parent’s cottage in Georgian Bay. A few of us packed our sewing machines, projects and swimsuits to take advantage of this generous offer.
The weather, the view and the company were great!
Everyone pitched in and brought food, food and more food!
Everyone had a space to work.
Time was spent laughing and sharing.
Dia brought cake to celebrate all the July birthdays.
Sunsets were photographed.
More amazing photographs were taken.
Some projects were begun and a few were completed. We look forward to our next retreat. A huge thanks to Adrienne and her parents, the Van Halems for allowing us to share their beautiful place.
The Toronto Modern Quilt Guild issued a challenge to its members, create a 14 inch square solid mini-quilt from a select colour palette. No embellishments, no applique, and the quilt had to be bound with a faced binding. The quilts would be put on display during Quilt Canada and the pubic would vote for their favorite.
TMQG solid mini colours photo courtesy of TMQG
Seven colours were selected for the palette and only 3 of these or less could be used. The colours are from the top: Storm, School Bus, Peridot, Ash, Berry, Coal, and Pomegranate.
Frond
I chose to use Pomegranate, Coal, and Ash. I created this piece improvisationally using a log cabin design.
I enjoyed the process and especially loved hearing comments from people viewing the quilts during Quilt Canada.
Frond detail
There were three winners of the Quilt Canada Solids Mini-Quilt Challenge. First prize went to Rebecca Burnett, second prize went to Doris Lovadina-Lee (me!!) and third prize to Lynda Hutchinson.
Many more great photos are on the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild Facebook page and blog. Head on over to see the other entries in the Solids Mini-Quilt challenge and other quilts our quild had on display.
The first annual SWO Mod: a modern quilt retreat just happened this past weekend. It was a fantastic weekend spent with fun modern quilters from South Western Ontario.
Our quilting space was in the Grand Ballroom where we had plenty of room to set up our sewing stations, lots of natural light and a constant supply of coffee, tea and snacks.
Quilt Block Game – SWO Modern Quilt Retreat 2016
On our first evening, Rebecca hosted her Quilt Block game. Half square triangles in four colours were arranged by the contestants to create a variety of quilt blocks.
Quilt Block Game – SWO Modern Quilt Retreat 2016
Here we see Karen and Sheilagh in the final round of competition.
Winner Quilt Block Game – SWO Modern Quilt Retreat 2016
Karen was the very happy winner of a fantastic prize of fabrics, notions and pattern! Each person attending also received an amazing swag bag with numerous gifts from:
My door prize was a Hobbs Tuscany Collection Quilt Batt. This batt is a blend of cotton and wool. I was excited because I had wanted to try quilting with a wool batt and now I have the opportunity to try it out! Also included were a package of ColorWorks Microchips by Northcott Fabrics and a couple of fat quaters that coordinate with the Color Works soids.
End – SWO Modern Quilt Retreat 2016
The weekend ended with a few projects completed and many begun. New friendships were formed and the desire to repeat this experience again!
Thanks to Kristyn of the London Modern Quilt Guild and Becky and Andrea of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild for organizing and hosting this great quilting retreat. To see more photos of the event check out #swomodquiltretreat2016.
During the summer, the Presidents of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild organized a postcard swap. I created three postcards and blogged about the process for each one.
These are the postcards I received:
A very heartfelt thanks to Lynda for both postcards. They were fused and raw edge appliquéd.
I love the postage stamp fabric!
Karen’s card was also fused and raw edge appliquéd. The feature of the postcard was the beautiful centre with strands of embroidery floss capturing a few beads in shades of orange.
As a bonus, Catherine sent this lovely crazy patch design featuring embroidery stitches from her sewing machine.
At the September meeting, we got to see more of the postcards and they were all unique. I think it’s a great way to try new techniques without risk.
This is the last postcard I created for the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild swap. With this postcard I tried a technique that was new to me – trapunto. I added a layer of quilt batting behind the butterfly, stitched around the outline and cut away the excess batting. This was then layered over a 5″ x 7″ piece of batting and backing. The strips were added in a quilt as you go style through the batting and backing.
Butterfly postcard
All the fabrics used in this postcard are from Cotton + Steel. This year at QuiltCon, Cotton + Steel had a large display booth with all of their fabric lines on display. They also had sewing stations set up for quilters to make and take a small project using their fabrics. The last day of the conference, attendees were allowed to go through the scraps and fill a bag to take home with them. The recipient of this postcard and I were one of those waiting for the conference to officially close so we could fill our bag.
Back of the Postcard
The back of the postcard is a solid white cotton that is fused to a heavy weight fusible interfacing. I used an ultra fine permanent ink marker to add the information. Postage is the same as it would be for any postcard mailed in Canada.
The presidents of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild suggested we do a fun min-activity since the guild doesn’t meet during July and August. I signed up to make three postcards and will receive three back.
The second postcard I created for the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild swap also used the hand dyed fabric scraps from Laura Wasilowski of Artfabrik.
Tiny House in process
This tiny house emerged from the scraps with a trellis waiting for flowers.
Tiny House with embroidery
Embroidery floss and hand dyed perle cotton stitches are added to bring out the personality of the house.
Tiny House postcard
The finished pieces is layered with a stiff fusible interfacing and finished with a satin stitch around the edges in a variegated thread.
The next postcard for the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild swap uses a different technique and I know my recipient will recognize the fabrics. Stay tuned for the next quilted art postcard I made for the swap,
The Toronto Modern Quilt Guild doesn’t meet during the summer months, but to keep us active our Presidents have organized a Postcard Swap. Interested members of the guild have signed up to make and receive up to three postcards. This is a casual no stress activity with no themes or restrictions, we could do whatever made us happy. I signed up to make three postcards and will receive three in return.
Flowers postcard in process
The postcards only need to be received before August 31st and the participants are asked to bring in the postcards they will receive to the meeting in September.
Flowers postcard with embroidery
I decided to use some of the beautiful hand dyed fabric left from the Tiny Homes – Fusing Workshop I took with Laura Wasilowski of Artfabrik. I haven’t yet finished the piece I started during this workshop and have small pieces of scraps fused and ready to use.
Once the pieces were fused, I began to add detail with embroidery. I enjoyed this part of the process much more than I expected to. I used embroidery floss and perle cotton, including some I hand dyed! To finish this little flower garden, I embroidered my initials, added a tiny bumble bee and satin stitched the edges with a variegated thread.
I will be posting photos of the other two postcards I made for the swap in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!
One of the sketches I drew had a diagonal line from the left side of the page creating a sort of perspective. I liked the idea of creating depth in the piece by using colours. If I divided the colours I had selected into light and dark I could maybe create this illusion. These ideas brought to mind a couple of quilts I saw at QuiltCon this past February.
Challenge sketch
Chawne Timber of Completely Cauchy has created a series of log cabin style quilts based on her family history. In Anniston is a beautiful quilt that really captured my imagination when I saw it in person. Chawne used hand dyed indigo for the dark logs and various shades of cream for the light logs as well as some reds and green logs as accents. The placement of the light and dark logs emphasize the dark side of the log cabin. It really seemed to be in shadow.
TMQG challenge revised sketch
Chawne’s pieces were very tiny, creating a lot of depth and movement. So, I thought that using the log cabin block would let me create the idea of depth and perspective. I did a rough sketch of the design above.
TMQG challenge top
I wanted to vary the width of the logs and used both half inch and one inch finished logs. This quilt is not pieced in the traditionally method, rather I pieced sections of strips together and then attached these as a unit. I cut the navy solid and print in one inch finished strips to emphasize the idea of steps leading in towards the centre.
TMQG challenge detail
There is a tiny bit of green and coral the inspiration photograph. I used Jean Well’s technique of narrow insert piecing to add these bits of colour. I love the way they pop out of the dark blues.
Thread selections
Log cabin quilts symbolize hearth and home, security and stability. The centre is usually red to reflect the fireplace that was the centre of the home and the light logs represented the side of the home facing the sunshine, while the dark faced the shadow. My inspiration photo was a couple embracing in their bedroom with the closet in the background. Truly an intimate and safe place.
TMQG challenge quilt
I decided to hand quilt this piece and auditioned a few different threads including a rayon perle and a variegated sulky.
TMQG quilt detail
In the end I hand quilted with the dark blue and white rayon perle thread. I really like the strong linear quality the stitches gives to the piece.
TMQG Not Quite President’s Challenge Rosette
I am happy to announce that this quilt was chosen as the winner of the Not Quite President’s Challenge. As well as the fabulous ribbon made by Becky, I received a one year membership to the Textile Museum of Canada!
