Does diversity include geeks?

Quilters are a diverse lot, and I love that.

But there are days when I look at other blogs and think "Oh, lords, I don't look anything like that. No one will care about my little blog. I am not bright and cheerful and colorful and... and.. and...."

But I am not other quilters. I am me.

We go into LQS X and get weird looks, as though we don't belong. I am usually in weekend gear of geek t-shirt and jeans and a hoodie. We get ignored. We get raised eyebrows. We are thrilled when we find a store that looks past the clothing to see the quilters beneath. We have been asked "You've quilted for that long?" and heard "Oh, you really are a quilter!" more than once. People have talked a lot recently about embracing diversity in quilting - modern, traditional, art, primitive, men who quilt, younger people who quilt, quilters of color. All of that is FABULOUS.

Does that diversity extend to geeks? I don't really know. It doesn't feel like it to me. It feels like if you are making a geek-themed quilt, it ranks up there with crude piecing and messy quilting - something that we know is out there, but we don't TALK about it.

I don't know if it works the other way. If geeks don't embrace quilting. But I am a geeky quilter. I see the good and bad in both sides of the aisle.

Geeky Quilts. For a reason.
Because I am a geek. Because I like geeky things. Comics, movies, certain television shows. Books. Y'know, the stuff that gets labeled "Geek" this or "Nerd" that. Mythbusters. LotR. The Avengers (well, some of them. Some of them annoy me).

Oh, and Day of the Dead. That's a thing, too. And Halloween. And Godzilla. And renaissance festivals.

Looking at this, I know there are other quilters out there who enjoy at least some of the same things. We are, after all, a diverse lot.

If I can be a guiding arc reactor light to someone else who likes the geek-based life, that's fabulous. If I can introduce a geek to quilting, that's amazing. I don't think of myself as a role model, but people keep telling me otherwise.  :)

So I'm going to keep going with my geeky quilts.

Made for my sister. The fabric is actually a very pale blue that looks like the shine from the arc reactor.
 

State of the Studio Address (aka How're Projects Going?)

I am going to try to do a SoSA (State of the Studio Address) once a month, just for a little catch-up, for those who have missed me.

So, for this SoSA...

1. I've decided to try to piece 8 quilt tops this year.  As of now, I have 2 done.  The View From Godzilla's Mouth top and the Hawkeye Minimalist Logo top are both done. The color on the pic isn't QUITE right... it's more purple than that. Still need to get a good camera! But that puts me a quarter of the way through my quilt tops for the year. From here on out they get WAY more complicated/time-consuming.


2. I am going to try to quilt 5 quilts this year. We shall  see. As of now, I have 0 done. Clipper Ship is pinned and prepped, just have to do it. The View from Godzilla's Mouth shouldn't take too long. We shall see. The Hawkeye Minimalist Logo will take a while, because it wound up bigger than I'd first planned, and the template is a little small. But it will be amazing when it's done, so there's that.
After that... I'll have two more to do. Right now those two are Crazy Diamonds and maybe Ninja. We'll see on that last one. I would say Ballet Folklorico, but that one is pretty much quilt as you go, so....


3. If I don't get them all done, I will not be that hard on myself. This is supposed to be fun! (Oh, and this is just MY quilts. This doesn't count quilts for other people. That's a whole other list.  :) )


4. I will start posting tutorials and free patterns. Because I have plans, and it's time to get working on them.


This past weekend we spent the day in the studio - working on quilts and other projects. I re-did my directions for headscarves - more on that later. I also tried a new purse pattern. It worked, but it was... ugly. So... back to the drawing board on that! I think there was a piece that I didn't consider, so I will attack it again once I've taken another look at the paper version.

Yeah, I start with paper versions of bags. It works as a rough draft for me, and lets me see how things need to go together. Usually. *shrug*

It was a wonderful Sunday in the studio. It was a nice day, partly cloudy and warm-ish. Then we had rain. Then we had hail. Then it was partly cloudy again. Oh, Texas.... *sigh* It's like a dog that's just not smart enough to discipline - you try, but it doesn't get what the problem is. (Please note, I love animals, and by discipline I am NOT talking injuring of any sort). On the other hand, there was a tornado in East Texas, so we missed that part of the crazy!

Shay

Organization

 

January always seems to be the month that people say "I am going to get organized!!" Whether they do or not is debatable. I am focusing on STAYING organized. The photo above is (blurry) picture of my quilt prep organization. I have five stacks of these: they are technically ornament holders without the dividers. Each holds a project: fabric, pattern or sketch, any ideas I have for quilting, and sometimes thread. I have one for each quilting project. It keeps them tidy, out of the way, and I don't worry about using the fabric for other things! (<- Most important thing, right there!).

The labels are just file labels, and I peel them off when I am done and re-use the box. They also serve as a display stand for my design board when I am not using it. (Double duty!)

I like this - it works for me, obviously, and it allows me to see what projects I am planning. Right now they vary from "Clothing" (which currently holds pattern and fabric for vests and a light jacket), "Kits," which has small wool kits from Las Colchas, in San Antonio (go there, buy things! I love that store!!) to a box for Two Fabric Bargello quilts, Large Hex Garden, and lots of others.

Of course, there are always projects that sneak up on me, that never get a box. I have one that I want to do tonight, as a matter of fact: The Minimalist Hawkeye logo. It shouldn't be hard (aka, "how hard can it be?" - the catchphrase of my old college gaming group). I hope to have the top done by tomorrow, and then I can set it aside with the others to be quilted.

Tops waiting to be quilted don't go back into boxes; instead, they get rolled up with any templates, designs, sketches and such until such time as I get to them. I try not to pin until I am ready to work on them - we have a finite number of pins, after all!

How do other people stay organized? How do you store projects to be done/in progress? How do you store your stash, for that matter? Ours is on shelves, with fat quarters separated out. Scraps smaller than a fat quarter get sorted into one of three tubs.

(And yes, I was a gamer. All sorts of Tabletop RPGs... from DC Heroes to Star Frontier to D&D. Still remember most of my characters, too!). I miss some of my characters.... *sigh*

Purses and quilts and getting things done!

I love Fizzgig. He is one of my spirit animals (from Dark Crystal, if you don't remember/have never seen it). He sums up what my attitude is about a lot of things. Maybe I should make a Dark Crystal quilt one of these days... stained glass-looking, with Skeksis and Fizzgig and the gelflings, and landstriders, and all the lovely that was Thra.  I can see it in my mind, almost a movie-poster in detail and such. I may have to start drawing this out. It would take me a while, but it might just be worth it. *Makes note* *Looks at quilt design list and sighs*

As an aside, I watched a special on the making of Dark Crystal, and it was this special that got me interested in stilts. I wanted (and still want) to be able to move on stilts like a landstrider. It seems somehow freeing.

 

ANYWAY... When I wasn't feeling Fizzgig-ish this weekend, I managed to get some things done! (Oooohhh..... aaaahhhhh).

 

Number One - Saturday. I wanted to make a more structured purse than I usually do, so I turned to a pattern I found at one of my LQS.  When I got into it, I decided I didn't care for the pattern - it seemed unnecessarily complex. Since I tend to streamline things (aka, I'm a little lazy), I made some modifications.  I tossed more than half the pattern pieces, shortened the strap (I'm short), and made a few other minor changes. It went together pretty quickly after that! The pattern called for upholstery weight fabric, but I wanted to use quilting cotton, so I put a layer of polyester batting between and moved on with life. I don't use polyester batting for anything else these days, certainly not in quilts, so I use it where I can to get rid of it. It worked out rather well - enough so that I may have to make another one. And figure out how to make more of the handles... I want to have them in nicer woods - mesquite, cherry, and so on. I think it would bring out details in some of the fabrics I want to use. The purse is completely washable - just have to take the wooden handles out first. Overall, I like it!

 

Project Two - Sunday. I finally found the fabric I wanted for this - the background building fabric. I had some, lost it, looked forever, found this, and then promptly found the original. Isn't that how it goes? *shrug*  The prairie points are in a glow-in-the-dark fabric, because why not? This one isn't huge, and not QUITE done... I still have to quilt it. But, here it is: The View from Godzilla's Mouth. The quilting will be other kaiju - Mothra, Gidorah, maybe Jet Jaguar... in glow in the dark thread. Because I can, and why not??

 

I also managed to get my project boxes re-organized and re-arranged, so I can actually find the projects I want to work on this year. Currently, my goal for tops this year is 8, including View from Godzilla's Mouth. So I have finished one already! *cheers myself*

 

Tonight I will try to take pictures of my project boxes. I am pleased with them. Organization makes me happy.