the quilt that was supposed to be first but wasn't (or was it?)

Which came first?

#1

 

or #1?

Number 1 the first came first if an idea counts as existence. But number 1 the second came first if physical form counts as existence.

Number 1 the first was the vision I had in my brain. Number 1 the second was how the vision manifested itself in the real world (after my tricky brain reconsidered her original idea and those pesky hands got in the way). Number 1 the first is the quilt that my brain wouldn't forget and wouldn't forget and wouldn't forget. So I had to make it eight long months after attempt #1. Sometimes you just have to make something. again.

A new look

So you might have noticed that I spruced things up around here. In the spring I get the decorating bug and right now it is manifesting itself as a desire to paint my living room Martha Stewart's "Salt Glaze" and possibly paint the kitchen cabinets (oh boy do I hate my cabinets. and my counters).  Instead of doing all of that, I decided to update how my blog and website look. Did you notice the new banner up top? Did you notice that it matches the banner in my Etsy shop? Of course you did. You are very observant today.

This is the updated website. It is much less dark than before. I'm pretty pleased with myself. You might also notice that the quilt on the front page is one of my new small landscape quilts. They are slowly making their way onto Etsy and all four in finished form are posted on my website here. I am not a big fan of shameless self promotion, so this blog post feels a bit...er...awkward to me. But. I am trying to put into practice some of the things I learned in my Artist, Inc. class and through the helpful etsy blog about continuity and (gasp!) branding.

Quilt guild is tonight and my Robert Kaufman Kona Solids quilt is officially finished. Or it will be once it comes out of the wash.

I've been dreaming about big striped quilts lately. Like rugby shirts, but quilts. Hm...

What if I was einsy weinsy?

And Iowa was the quilt I pulled up over myself at night. Would it look like these?

Maybe.

(mini Iowa quilts in progress. finished mini Iowas coming soon)

three tops in three days

Oh boy. I am rich in quilt tops. There are currently six tops waiting patiently for me to quilt them (plus one that still needs binding). That means that this week (Spring Break!) should be spent quilting said tops. For some reason I am not looking forward to quilting them. Dyeing the backing fabric and binding, putting together the quilt sandwich, quilting, and binding are my least favorite steps. They're really not that bad and go relatively quickly, but they are just not as exciting as planning, dyeing the fabric, and piecing the tops. 

Here is what's what:

You might remember my plan to make a cmyk quilt? The photoshop sketch is on the bottom, the quilt top on the top. This quilt top was completed last night while watching Jersey Shore with my husband. I know you're jealous of my very exciting Saturday night. This quilt top is nerdy because cmyk are pure colors but to create the dye colors for the quilt I had to mix 8 different dyes. While I was dyeing the fabric I kept cracking myself up becasue I had to create my own primary colors by mixing them. Yes, I am a nerd. And very easily amused.

These are two sister quilts. The one on the bottom I made a while ago and is available in my etsy shop. I had left over fabric from this quilt (it was supposed to be twin sized but honestly, I got lazy) and I was inspired by my quilt guild to try some improvisational piecing. The new quilt top was made on Friday.

And this is my Robert Kaufman Kona Solids challenge quilt for quilt guild. From my charm pack of 43 "darks", I used 36 for the top in a very basic rainbow gradation. The remaining 7 colors will be included in the back of the quilt but didn't fit in my rainbow. This was my first attempt at using only commercially dyed fabric in a quilt and my first attempt at using block construction. It was finished just in time for me to brush my teeth and jump in the car to rush to quilt guild. I'm pretty happy with it. 

A much needed trip to Our Nation's Capitol

I just got back from the best trip to visit my dear friend Kathryn who makes me laugh until I cry and then I cry for real when we say goodbye. She lives in Washington DC. It's quite unusual for me to take a trip to visit a friend during the school year. I'm usually way too busy and stressed out to go anywhere not family or school related. But Kathryn is getting ready to leave DC and I haven't seen her in about a year, so I made an exception and went on vacation. It was awesome.

 At times, I felt like a country mouse in the city.  Most of you know I live in Kansas City, but Kansas City feels small and cozy to me compared to DC. There were so many people everywhere. Even the grocery store on rainy Saturday morning.  I flew into Baltimore, then took a train to Union Station - the ceiling is shown above. The patterns in the architecture were truly inspiring.

 We went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and met the little guy above. He is a pink fairy armadillo. Really. I'm not kidding. It's real. It looks like my guinea pig (may she rest in peace) wearing alligator feet and a pink shell. It was also quite small - actually not much larger than guinea pig size.

And I also got to see the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. It was huge and awesome. There were different parts of it to show how coral reefs die - like from bleaching and pollution. Very interesting. Since I suck at reading signs in museums I can't tell you many specifics, but their website will.

Most of all this trip made me step back and breathe for a few days. I get so wrapped up in Getting Sh*t Done and trying to Keep Up that I forget about what is important and what truly fuels my art practice. More than anything, I am inspired by life. How can I expect to create something great if I forget about the things that make living worthwhile? Like friendship, and pie, and possibly made up creatures, and walking in a strange city, and taking a breath once in a while. Right, yo?

Robert Kaufman what are you doing to me?

Oh my goodness, Robert Kaufman. Why do you make such beautiful, juicy kona cotton? And why must you have 221 incredible colors to choose from? And why did you tempt me into using them by donating charm packs for everyone in my quilt guild? Did you realize what this would do to me? Don't you realize that it takes me eight whole hours to make just a fraction of these by hand?  Probably not. Are you even a real person, Robert Kaufman?

I'm totally having an existential crisis over this. Wouldn't it be nice if I could just pick fabrics out of a stack and not have to go through all the labor of making my own? It would make the whole process so much faster if I could skip the dyeing step. I wouldn't really say I'm losing sleep over this (it takes a lot for me to lose sleep over something) but I have been chewing on this issue since Thursday. I realized today that what it comes down to is I love dyeing fabric. It is my favorite part of making a quilt. I love making different color combinations, weighing the fabric, figuring out the equations, mixing stock solutions, adding small amounts of dye to a dyebath with a tiny syringe. It's all fun and interesting and always a different challenge. So, yes. It would be much easier to buy these incredible Kona cottons. But it wouldn't be as satisfying, and I wouldn't be in control of the colors, they would always be someone else's.

 

But seriously, y'all. All I could do Thursday night was fondle my charm pack and flip through all 43 little 5" squares, constantly trying to find my favorite in the bunch. These kona cottons are so beautiful and the people at Robert Kaufman are so generous.

meep meep moop. sorry for the neglect.

Poor little blog has been sitting here all by herself for months with no Kim. I have been such a strange combination of too busy and too lazy this winter. Everything was going well before Christmas. I was excited to be on winter break and I had a big project to work on (a twin size skyscape quilt). Then some stuff happened that turned me lazy (including snow). Now I only have a week and a half until spring semester and I am freaking out, yet still unable to get off my ass and make something. There are too many ideas in my head and not enough time to execute them all, so I find myself sitting around and looking at Etsy and worrying and watching True Blood instead of just working.

Maybe if I write out my ideas here, that will start something going. Right?
1. More paint chip quilts - focus on color theory
2. Skyscape/Landscape quilts using silk and linen based on my winter sky photos
3. Different patterns (embrace the triangle)

I have been a little productive. I'm re-making the Orange Paint Chip quilt and the Purple/Yellow Skyscape quilt. The tops are done, I just need to dye the backing and binding, and then quilt them. I also made these sketches in Photoshop:

 This one is RGB, the green/blue column is a bit off - too gray.

 Here we have CMYK (but it's really MYCK)

 This is a modified color wheel. I'm not so good at color blending in Photoshop, but the colors are supposed to mix and become more neutral in the middle.

The End. For now, but hopefully not for long.

inspiration: the sky from my bedroom window

Every morning I open the curtains in my bedroom so the sun will help Simon wake up. For a while it was dark when I did this. But with the time change it has been getting light out while I'm still at home and every morning right around 7:10 the sky is amazing.

11/21 - do you see that jet stream?

I mean truly honestly amazing. Shockingly so. I am still trying to figure out why the sky is such a revelation to me, when it has been around my whole life.

11/10

 

 

 

 

The night sky is pretty great, too. I guess.

11/18

11/19

 I am completely awed by the difference in cloud structure, color, quality of light, and mood within a span of a few days. These skies only exist for a short amount of time, so unless you are really paying attention, they are easy to miss. If I wasn't such a slave to time, I would wake up with the sun every morning and take a picture. A project for winter break perhaps.

cough, cough, etsy, cough

I am officially a Sicky McSickerton with runny nose, cough, headache, and general unpleasantness. It's no fun. It's hitting especially hard now that I am back home in KC, away from The Most Adorable Nephew Ever.

Instead of an invitation to my pity party, I will leave you all with a very short blog post and some eye candy. Check out this treasury I made on Etsy.

Sneak peeks:

 Moldy Linen Pin by elinart

Quilt Card Set by krankpress

Again, the link for the treasury with a side note that anyone who wants to send me a Christmas present need look no further than this delightful list (hint, hint, no pressure).

pretending to be a designer again

option 1

Alright ya'll.  I'm coming at you again for some advice/help. This time I'm requesting input on postcard designs. I am making an effort to "put myself out there" as it were and finding that I need an actual, physical object to give/send people with my information on it.

option 2

This thing is going to have an image on one side and just a small amount of information on the back (like my email, website, etc.). I've been playing around with some detail shots of my quilts to try and come up with a postcard that is colorful, shows the texture of the fabric and stitching, and has my name on it. They will be 4" x 6".

option 3

I would really appreciate some feedback. Nothing is precious, I could use help with which image is best, orientation of the card, where the text (my name) should be, etc. I want to try and order them by late this week.

option 4

Thank you, thank you, thank you to anyone who writes me a comment with suggestions!!