Inspiration

People that know me in real life know that I am anything but ordinary.  I hate to follow the crowd and I usually make every attempt to make my own path.  My mom can attest to this fact as she says I usually choose the hardest way to do anything.  I see it differently.  Yes, I have made some silly decisions and some down right stupid ones, but there is too much to try, learn and experience.  You can find inspiration in everything thing and that's what I want to talk about.

Given the nature of this blog, you may think I'm referring to the inspiration we find to make new crafts.  You've seen some of my work in my design of the Harry Potter quilts adapted from Rosemary's knitting pattern.  I also have many other scribbles and ideas on the go for different items to create.  This gets me to wondering how we came up with the inspiration to start these projects in the first place.  I talk about it briefly in my “about me” section about where my passion for crafting comes from, but it doesn't really do it justice. 

The first memory I have of sewing is being about two or three years old.  I had a brand new cradle for my favorite baby doll and I requested bedding for it.  I remember sitting on my Mom's lap at her sewing machine helping her.  I'm sure all I did was help guide the fabric, if that, but I do remember telling her I could do it on my own.  This was my first taste of sewing but not nearly my last.

The first quilting project I remember my mom making was a lap quilt from a weekend quilting class out of the leisure guide.  I saw her doing the finishing touches at home and begged her to make one for me.  She did and I used it for many years until I outgrew the pink and purple designs.  It's now put away with some of my keepsakes at my Parents' place.

I asked my Mom to take a picture of it and e-mail it to me so I could share it with all of you.  Instead, she took a picture of every quilt they had in the house.  Some I had forgotten were even there, but looking at each one brings me warm memories. (No pun intended for those who have been pointing out my horrible jokes as of late! You know who you are!!).

This is the first one I watched my Mom finish.  She tells me it was 1991 when she made it to match her newly redecorated bedroom.

This is the quilt my Mom made for me shortly after she finished the one for her bedroom.

This quilt was made by my Mom some time around 1979.

My paternal great-Grandma made this quilt.  It's not very pretty but it is the WARMEST quilt you will ever find.  The quilt top is made of very heavy wool and the back is a thick flannel.  Whenever the temperature gets too cold, or someone comes down with a flu, this is THE go to quilt!

This quilt was also made by my great-Grandma.  It's much more attractive than the first, but not nearly as warm.  I used to keep this one on my bed when I lived at home because it matched the purple in my room.

This quilt was started by my Mom and my Grandma but not finished until my Mom decided to do so after my Grandma passed away.

It's quite easy to say that my Mom has had the greatest influence getting me to where I am and fueling my passion for crafting.  My Grandma was a large influence on my knitting, but my Mom has taught me everything I know about sewing.  From my first experience sitting on her lap at the sewing machine, things only grew from there.  My Mom made us outfits when we were young and then taught me how to make my own as I grew up, just as her Mom had.  The two of us picked out and made my high school graduation dress together.  The list goes on and on.

I realize this is not just a hobby or part of being a "crazy crafting cat lady", this is part of my family history and part of me.  It's so neat to discover once you finally put all the pieces together. (Again! not a bad quilting pun so don't even start!)

I would love to hear about your inspiration for what you do.  Leave it in the comments below!  Who knows, maybe you will be able to inspire one of my readers!

Another Day, Another Topper!

I think this is how I earn the "crazy" part in Crazy Crafting Cat Lady.  As I finish the top to "Home at Last" I started ANOTHER quilt.  If you're surprised, you must be new to following my blog!  My fabric stash has been getting out of control, so a scrap quilt was in order.  I have 13 of 30 blocks assembled from my progress tonight.  It's coming together nicely and I think the colours will complement each other.  I have scraps from my fall table topper, my brothers quilt, home at last, Tiny T's table topper and a few miscellaneous pieces.

Home at Last has been put on the back burner for the time being.  I have material for the backing but my plan to use up the remaining batting from my brothers quilt is not going to pan out.  There wasn't as much as I had thought.  For now, I think I'll focus on making the quilt tops for my scrap quilt, the Gryffindor quilt and Katie's Jump Rope quilt that I started back in early 2011.

A few of the blocks pieced and pressed for the Scraptacular quilt.

Home at Last quilt top assembled!

I have some very exciting news! My blog has been added to Quilting Gallery's blog list! This is a huge directory of some very wonderful quilting blogs and I feel quite honored to be included in this list!  Make sure you check out some of the other blogs listed there!

Home at Last UPDATE

As you can see, my blog received a bit of a make over.  I was tinkering with my website, getting it ready to launch with sales of my patterns and projects and I decided the blog just wasn't quite right in orange.

Some good progress was made tonight on the "Home at Last" quilt.  It seems that it will be much smaller than I originally anticipated.  I'm going to have to add a border to it.  With this quilt top nearing its end, I started thinking about a way to finish it on limited funds.  I have a small amount left of my gift certificate from Christmas, but not nearly enough to get the quilt done.  I rummaged through a few of my sewing bags and my closet and came up with extra batting I saved from my brother's quilt, and two curtains from the old apartment which were no longer needed.  It just so happened that they are a nice chocolate brown and barely used as I bought them only a month before moving.  Fabric is fabric curtains or not, and it should be perfect to finish off this quilt.  I only have one row left!! I'm so excited!

Cabin Fever Free Winter

Saturday night was intense!  I got so much accomplished with my two quilts and they are really coming together nicely.

"Home at Last" now has two rows done.  It doesn't seem like a lot of work done but doing the applique takes a fair amount of time.

Most of the plaid squares are assembled now.  I have enough to get most of the way down the quilt.  I figured it was time to start assembling!

Three rows done on the Gryffindor quilt.  Each row has 19 blocks so it's a decent amount of work to assemble each row.  I'm managing to do a fairly good job of keeping the seams lined up.

The new machine is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  I love its features, how easy it is to wind a bobbin and how seamlessly you can transition between stitching.  This machine is a good investment even at regular price!

On that note, off to do more sewing! Weeeeeeee!

Some Old Projects or A Brief History in the Creation of a Crazy Crafting Cat Lady!

All of this work that I've been doing lately has had people asking me “how many quilts have you made”, “how long have you been making these crafts” and similar questions. It got me to thinking I should showcase some of the work I've done pre-blogging.

My first quilt I made was inspired from helping my mom with some research she was doing for a paper. She had a ton of quilting books and I fell in love with a brick wall pattern. This was the first quilt I had ever attempted, so simplicity was a must. I used scrap fabrics and a few old pairs of jeans for the brick wall and only had to buy material for the border and backing. At the time, I only had a very tiny, hand-me-down Singer feather weight sewing machine from my great Aunt. Suffice it to say that when my quilt was done, the machine was too! I enjoyed making that quilt but lack of a sewing machine made it hard to continue. I bought a used machine online and it worked...kinda...IF it felt like it. It also liked to eat bobbin thread like a fat kid eats cake. That machine was part of the reason my fall table topper wasn't finished in so many years.

It was in the year and a half that I didn't have a sewing machine that I went through my knitting phase. I still haven't knitted a sweater, but I had scarves, toques, purses and every other project imaginable. Part of me still wanted to scratch that sewing itch, and joining the MLHS gave me an excuse to buy a machine and get started. I still do knitting and other crafts. I have a shawl on the go right now and a tub of yarn stashed under the bed.  I also picked up some cross stitching again while away hunting last year.

My first knitted garment!  A ponch!!!

I still have this purse, but have never managed to get the lining done.  (Maybe I can do that with my new machine!)

I wouldn't say I have a favorite or preferred craft, I mostly go through phases. I would say that the impatient part of me enjoys sewing and quilting more. The project comes together a lot quicker than with knitting.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my earlier work!

New Toy!!

After the scare of my sewing machine almost crapping on me before Christmas, it decided to start for real the other night.  Nessie came over for an evening of sewing to work on the Harry Potter house quilts on Thursday.  She was sitting on the floor cutting fabric while I assembled some of my plaid squares.  I paused to adjust my material and heard the faintest *pop*.  I thought it was possibly my tummy telling me I shouldn't have had so much coffee and let it pass.  When I paused a second time I heard *pop pop sizzle snap pop sizzle* coming from the ground.  Realizing that this was not digestive issues, I picked up my foot pedal.  It was HOT!  Turns out there was a short in the pedal causing it to go off when in use.

I consulted a friend in the MLHS who is our resident expert on all things sewing.  She advised she had a similar thing happen and managed to re-wire her machine and it worked fine.  I tend to be somewhat of a magnet for bad luck and decided that a 12 year gap in any soldering or electrical work was not the best idea.  The other option was to take it to her sewing machine guy to have him repair it.  I paid $25 for the machine two years ago and knew that repairs would be more than the initial cost.  The machine only does straight stitching and as my creativity evolves it was only time before I would need a new machine.

I had to pick up some things at Walmart tonight and decided to stop by the craft section and drool over the shiny new machines. (The 3 I've had in my life have always been used).  Wait...what's this!  A Brother sewing machine on sale for $99!  This must be too good to be true.  Sure enough, some poor associate failed to remove the tag from the sale that ended on January 6th. Darn, so close!! It was then that I thanked my Mom for all the little lessons in saving money over the years.  If it's tagged at that price, it must be given to me at that price.  My mind was made up, I was buying the new machine with it's extending table for quilting and 35 stitch option!  What I forgot was that Walmart adheres to the scanning code of practice, and at the register the cashier reminded me that I would also be getting another $10 off for their mistake.  What's more is when I stopped by my parents place for dinner and to show them my wonderful find, they offered to treat me to the machine for all my hard work and deal hunting!  So here, Ladies and Gentlemen, is my BRAND NEW SEWING MACHINE!!!!

It even has beautiful, quilt specific stitches!!

So of course, after unpacking the quilt and giggling like a maniac, I got right down to some sewing.  I got 4 blocks and the first row of the "Home at Last" quilt done!!  I feel like the luckiest girl right now!!

I really love how the beige thread makes it pop!

Four blocks complete and sewn together!

Time to get my ridiculously tired self to bed before work in the morning.  I'm happy that it's only a 4 hour shift, but they frown upon sewing machines at our desks.

Harry Potter Quilt

Welcome everyone to 2012!  I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate!) and a wonderful new year!

I have been working very hard on the Gryffindor quilt and Nessie has begun her work on the Slytherin quilt.  They are shaping up to be pretty darn epic and I can't wait to see more of it come together!

Cutting out the pieces using my new quilting supplies!

All cut out and ready to go!

Plaid pieces sewn together.  I folded them to get an idea of what they will look like!

Here we have Nessie cutting out her pieces.

Strips cut down into their smaller pieces for assembly!

I haven't done anything on the Gryffindor quilt since aside from starting to pin together all the tiny strips for sewing.  I went to Fabricland on the weekend and bought some more material with my gift cards.  A quilting magazine that I picked up during hunting had the cutest lap quilt called "Home at Last" featuring applique houses and hearts.  It showed it in rather modern colours, but I've always been a sucker for quilted items taking a log cabin feel to them.  I managed to clean out the Christmas clearance section for some great finds! 

Here is what I have cut out and laid out to make sure everything works.  It was VERY easy to cut out and was done in one evening.  It is machine applique with a zigzag stitch.  I've attempted one by hand so far as I don't have a zigzag capable machine.

A nice close up of some of the blocks.  This will be so nice when it's done!

Have a wonderful week everyone!  I look forward to sharing more quilting progress with you this week.  I have a hot quilting date with Nessie this week so hopefully we will have more to show you on the house quilt extravaganza!