WIP Wednesday, 4/24/13

I finished sewing together Marcelle Goes to the Circus. I love it. The scraps of Oakshotts, along with dots, woven stripes, and the calming "galvanized" shot cotton around the pluses (all by Kaffe Fassett) combined in just the right way.

 

And it's been passed on to quilter extraordinaire, Krista. I can't even tell you how excited this makes me!

So then I started another little project with Oakshott's latest range,Impressions, a set of fat 1/8ths shot with white, making them all lovely pastels.

Does this ever happen to you? You visualize something in your head, do all the cutting, start the construction. And then realize it.is.not.going.to.work. Yeah, that's where I am at this point. Frustrating... Next time I will put the "vision" on paper before I start cutting.

Linking to Lee.

The Name Game: Fabric Mutt

I'm so happy to have Heidi here today, from Fabric Mutt. Aren't you anxious to see how she chose such an interesting name for her blog?

So, Heidi, how did you choose the name Fabric Mutt?

 

 I had been thinking about starting a blog for a few weeks, but I wasn't sure what to call it. I remember lying in bed one night and suddenly thinking, "Fabric Mutt." The more I turned it over in my mind, the more I loved it. My sewing education has come from here, there, and everywhere, so I'm definitely a mutt in that sense. I loved having some sort of theme to the blog -- it was fun to tie it in with the titles on my sidebar, and I loved designing the header which features one of our family dogs, Naomi, who passed away earlier this year. I also really liked that "fabric" was in my blog name. I think patterns and designs are foundational to a project, but it's the choice of fabric that always has the biggest impact on me. 

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

 I'm sure there were other names that I considered, but they must not have been any good. I can't remember a single one of them!

Now that you are recognized by Fabric Mutt, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I'm very happy with the name. It's simple, fun, and approachable. I want people who visit my blog to feel welcome and comfortable no matter where they are in their skills. I'm coming up on my first anniversary of diving into sewing and starting this blog, and while I've grown so much this year, there's still so much more to learn and try. One of the things I love most about the online sewing community is the encouragement and joy that people have in sharing with each other. I've been so blessed by bloggers who were kind and generous with me as I was just starting out, and I want to be the same to other bloggers and readers, especially those who are beginners. It's been an amazing journey so far, and I know there are more great adventures to come!

 It's hard to believe Heidi has only been sewing for a year! She just finished a really great blog hop series called Girl Friday Sews, with lots of fabulous projects by a variety of bloggers, including this one by Heidi.

Don't forget to check it out here. So say hi to Heidi and look around--I think we can expect a lot of wonderful things from her in the future!

The Name Game: Seriously, I think it needs stitches

This is the truth--Kelli has one of my all-time favorite blog names. Ever.

So you can imagine my excitement when she said she would play The Name Game!

If you read her profile, you will find out that she is an RN, where she worked in a cardiac ICU for eight years--which gives her blog name a double meaning (and made me like it even more!). She is also a cancer survivor, living in California. The funny thing is that we will probably meet each other not in California but in Portland at quilt market, because I'm going (yay) and she is helping a friend who will have a booth there.

Kelli, how did you choose the name for your blog?

Since I am a nurse, I wanted to make my blog name a play on words, something to do with getting stitches.  Something catchy that could have a double meaning.  And it seems like I am always telling people who cut themselves really bad, "No really, I think you need stitches."  Or, "That looks like it might need stitches."  And the only quilting I'd ever done at the time had been hand quilting, which is all about "the stitches".  Also.. laughing really hard, as in.. "that had me in stitches."  Stitches could go so many ways, and eventually I settled on "Seriously..I think it needs stitches."

 

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

When I first started trying to come up with blog names, I wanted it to be "The Bee's Knees", b/c when I had my son, that's what I always told him.  "You're the bee's knees".  I was so in love with him.  But that was taken, as well as several other Bee-ish blog names.  I didn't realize how the word Bees was so prevalent in quilting and/or quilting blogs.  Then I decided to just switch over and look for something to do with stitches, since I was going to blog about crafty things, which seemed like a fun way to go, given my background.

Now that you are recognized by your blog name, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I am really happy with my blog name now, and wouldn't change it for the world.  It just seems to fit.  Life will always need stitches in one way or another, I figure. :D

Thanks so much for playing this week, Kelli! I can hardly wait to meet you in person.

 

Please go over to Kelli's blog, say hi and spend some time looking around.  You're sure to find something that will keep you in stitches!

 

Next week:

Heidi, Fabric Mutt

 

Is there a blog name you would like to know more about? Send me an email and I'll try to make it happen!

  

WIP Wednesday: Marcelle Medallion

I didn't really need to start a new project. I have a problem with starting new projects and then not finishing them. But all the scraps from Swooning with Oakshotts were tempting me. 

 So I started the Marcelle Medallion quilt from this book. Really. What choice did I have?

And the next border is flying geese. The trimmings from the Swoon quilt are the perfect size. It's cosmic really. And I'm powerless to resist.

Linking up with Lee. She keeps me motivated.

The Name Game: Occasional Piece--Quilt

It's always exciting for me when I can have a real-life friend be the focus of The Name Game.

Elizabeth and I started our friendship the way so many quilting friendships have begun in this age of technology--through blogging. She sent me some selvages, and included some special French fabric. I thought that was so thoughtful of her, so in turn I made her a pincushion from her French selvages. And our friendship grew from there. Now I've even stayed in her home and have actually been able to touch many of the quilts pictured this week.

Not only that, but she is a member of the Mid Century Modern bee and designed our fabulous logo:

How did you choose the name for your blog?

The name started about when I was attending the University of California-Riverside as an undergrad in Creative Writing (I was a returning student, so it wasn't THAT long ago).  I'd just bought a copy of MSWord and in the registration they asked for my company name.  I thought about this. I like to write, I like to take photographs, I like to quilt.  I don't do any of them for money, for a job, so I would have to say that I did them occasionally.  So. . . piecing for a quilt, a piece of art (photograph) and a written piece--it all added up to OccasionalPiece for my fake company name.  I set up a blog, grabbed the email from Google and I wrote on that initial blog, including all my quilting and photography. 

Somewhere along the line, I split off the quilting so that people who were interested in that wouldn't have to wade through all the rest of my stuff, so then it became OccasionalPiece--Quilt. 

But. . . too many people didn't want to type that all out, so I shortened it to OPQuilt.com.  Whenever it's typed in, it mirrors over to my Wordpress blog.

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

See above.

Now that you are recognized by your blog name, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

 

Well, I'm pretty happy with it and it's harder to change once people know you as this identity.

I still quilt occasionally, write occasionally and take photos whenever I can.  So, the name still fits, I think.  When I made the switch to this site, I transferred over my quilting blog posts, so this blog has quilting dating back about five years.  Somewhere along the line I got the bright idea to catalogue all my quilts--they totalled well over a 100, so that's what the 100 Quilts list is about on the blog.  Now I'm working on 200 Quilts, but have just started.

Thanks for inviting me to your Name Game, as I love reading about all the blogs and have started following a few that you've hosted.  Of course, we all know that YOURS is the best ever. (Note: Elizabeth is too flattering....)

Want to hear something exciting? Elizabeth came up with a great little giveaway from each of us. She picked up these cute buttons at a quilt show. Each button will also come with a little bundle of fabric. Elizabeth already has her bundles put together and they are really cute. Mine will be a surprise at this point--both to the winners and to me--we'll see what comes together as I reorganize some of my stash. Leave your comments here and I'll choose two winners at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Elizabeth will be doing the same thing at her blog.

So head on over to OPQuilt and say hi to Elizabeth, and spend some time not only looking at beautiful quilts, but also read some posts--she is a fabulous writer!

Coming up:
Kelli--Seriously, I think it needs stitches
Heidi--Fabric Mutt
Nancy--Owen's Olivia