Can a crafter be a minimalist?

I recently heard a friend say  

that she ruthlessly gets rid of anything in her house

that hasn't been used or worn for a year.

'I'm a ruthless minimalist' she said.

 As a born collector, I was really impressed, and wanted

a little bit of that ruthless minimalism to rub off,

because, frankly, collecting can get really silly...

Just to give you an idea -

I've brought a full carrier-bag of Belgian conkers through customs,

because they were bigger and better than ours:

I've a vast wine cork collection - and they weren't even good wines!

I have the National Collection of paper napkins.

In the mid-'90s, a dozen ornamental gourds, some corn, and a

few dozen autumn leaves came home from a holiday and 

fifteen years later, most of them are still showing up in

Fall 'happenings' around the house.

The leaves only bit the dust last year, but the corn is fine

and the gourds got a new lease of life with a coat of acrylic paint.

My minimalist friend reluctantly agreed that these were okay

because they actually fell inside her 'use within the year' rule.

 

 What sent the eyebrows shooting above the hairline was

hearing I'd ironed all the leaves in our hotel room before flying home.

Seemed sensible to me - but that's when she

suggested I should see a doctor.

But, hey -

I CRAFT, THEREFORE I COLLECT!

And there's nothing we collectors like better than a

good rummage through stuff...

Choosing bags of buttons at Bits&Bats - great fun!

Obie's Quilt store, Lancaster County PA

Obie's - or Death by Falling Fabric

More photos of this Tutankhamen's Tomb

of quilting on Bonnie Hunter's blog

Obie's again

This part of my stash looks almost modest doesn't it?

But there isn't room for a breath of air in there,

and this cupboard is just the tip of the iceberg...

If you're looking for storage, I can really recommend these IKEA

cupboards and sliding drawers - they're fantastic for organising

your fat quarters and notions.

Are Crafting and Minimalism compatible?

Not right now!

What would help is to increase the creative output 

to match the collecting input. 

Anyone identify with this?

Quilters of the world - unite!

Sorted! (well, almost...)

I'm constantly amazed by how creative, motivated and productive

quilters are - and how willing they are to pass on insights and tips!

It really makes you want to branch out and try something new.

Was particularly inspired by two blogs recently -

 Quilts+Color and A Sentimental Quilter

Kay (Quilts+Color) inspired me to clear my sewing room for action -

Sorted!  Well, this corner of one drawer at least...

and Kathleen (A Sentimental Quilter) made me launch out

more boldly into scrap-matching. 

Result -

1. Fabric for a scrap quilt sorted, washed, pressed, cut out and ready to sew,

2. A lovely pile of prints unearthed for my grandson's quilt, 

plus a blending border and binding fabric found at The Skep 

Love the Skep - the girls there are great! 

So - a good afternoon's work. Very happy!

Scrap quilt - more later!
Many of the fabrics in both these quilts were found at the Skep

fabrics for Meyer's quilt + the 2 in the pic below & a lovely red border

Just right for a little chap born in time for the Queen's Diamond

 Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics! 

Plus his mum really likes these colours...

 

54 down - 18 to go...

Only 18 blocks left to quilt - hurrah!

 

Seems months - it IS months! - since Esther cut the
 batting (wadding) for her Odeon quilt and we sent it
to be machine basted 

I can't recommend enough having the layers
tacked together by machine, particularly if

you're a hand-quilter with bad knees or a bad back.

It's worth its weight in gold!

 My quilting friends offered to do a Team Baste, bless 'em,
but some of them aren't good after leaning
 over a table, so this seemed a very good option.

By the way ... 





Look at this lovely little stained glass wall hanging -

A perfect match for my quilt, or what?

It's by Shards of Glass and I found it on Etsy last week. 

Couldn't believe how similar it was in colour and style


"EQ - what?"

Those who've never seen Electric Quilt 

 in action might be interested in a brief view of how

 the programme helped me design the Odeon quilt

For the basic layout I chose a 9-block by 8-block

horizontal grid and added vertical sashing and a border

Next I added quarter log cabin blocks,

inserting them right across the grid and flipping some

horizontally to get a mirror image.

Colouring the block is easy - just the touch of a button.

EQ comes with libraries of blocks, fabrics, applique
 patterns and basic quilt layouts, and new fabrics are
added free every month.  You can also download

 ranges you like direct from the manufacturers website.

For OdeonI just used library fabrics that were roughly
the colours I wanted and refined the choice later.

EQ6 planning page

Esther wears jade a lot and loves browns and creams,

so those seemed a natural starting point. I've never used batiks,

but the more I thought about the more it seemed the way to go.

Bought most of them at the wonderful Web Fabrics at
Purcellville VA,and then trawled the web to match a
 lovely gold scrap I found in my stash.

  Must've looked at HUNDREDS of sites, but eventually found it at

Batiks Etcetera in Wytheville VA and had it shipped to the UK.

The fabrics shown in this layout are not batiks, but

they gave me the yardage needed in each colour

Number of patches and yardage

EQ6 is great - it works out fabric yardage (above) and prints

rotary-cutting patterns, templates or foundation piecing patterns.

Rotary-cutting diagram

Templates with 1/4" seam allowance added

foundation piecing template preview

These were the final fabrics

My grandson's quilt (see Something old - something new)
has applique in it.  If you're interested I'll add a post with
a few pics to show how the applique design tools work.

Would love your feedback -
it's so nice to meet people through comments!