Because I Don't Have Enough Projects

My rotary cutter needed a new blade (see P.S. below for my tip of the week!) so I had to go to Fabricland.  Everyone knows you can't go to Fabricland and leave without fabric.  Right?  RIGHT! Here is today's haul:

These lovely prints are destined to be quilted placemats.  I'm going to make Wonky Log Cabin blocks using Quilt Dad's tutorial.  I'll add strips on either side of the squares to make rectangles, use a solid backing, quilt and bind them up.  I think I will need to throw in some extra prints so I'll work from my stash.  Right now I'm planning to incorporate the fabrics below.

 

I would like to find a chartruese or lime green to contract the pinks. Just one print. Because what I really need is an excuse to buy more fabric.  

P.S. Before replacing my rotary blade, I googled for tips on sharpening blades.  A number of sewists suggested folding aluminum foil and running your blade across it.  I tried it and IT DID NOT WORK! In fact, it made my blade much more dull.  This, my friends, is your Tuesday Tip from me.  I'm curious if anyone else has found this to not work out for them.  Drop me a comment and let me know!

  

P.P.S. I'm linking up with Fabric Tuesday. I'm not sure if this is kosher because this is a WIP and not a finished project. UPDATED: There is progress made. Not good progress, but still, check it out!

Communal Crafting

I just finished reading an article by Emmy on her blog The Student/Teacher, in which she reflects on the online sewing community. Her post is inspired by Tilly's article titled "Creativity in every Home: What Can the Cultural Sector Learn from Dressmaking blogs?" Both women comment on how the sewist network is self-led and there is no division between amateur and expert. This confirmed my recent realization that a great many of the quilt and sewing blogs that I've begun to follow in the last few months are written by women who began crafting and blogging simultaneuously. Their blogs weren't created to showcase handiwork that they'd been creating quietly at home, but to engage in a community and learn to craft together. One of the ways they do this is by carefully documenting their creative process, often in tutorial form. In fact there is even a process pledge that 707 bloggers have taken! Check it out.

This led me to reflect on what I want to achieve with my own blog. Frankly, when I started the blog, I just wanted someplace to indulge the "show-off" in me, "Look at what I made, isn't it (and aren't I) amazing!". But as I become more engrossed in the various blogs I follow, I find myself wanting to contribute and become part of this community. But how? I'm not a strong photographer and this isn't a skill I'm interested in improving (I'd rather be crafting!). I'm not doing anything innovative or worthy of a tutorial. And I don't want to become a professional blogger or spend any money or time making my blog design more attractive. I need to think more about this, but my initial thought is that I should just comment more frequently on blog posts that I appreciate, post more photos in flickr groups and maybe join some swaps or sew-a-longs. The last idea isn't something to take lightly though because I'm not big on commitment and I don't want to make promises I can't keep!

What do you think? Are you involved in the craft blog community? How do/did you engage?

This Could Be Dangerous

Remember how I recently shared with you that I'll be taking sewing lessons in July? I've been busy researching sewing machines and browsing fabrics online and reading craft and sewing blogs. I thought knitting was an expensive hobby, and It appears that sewing will be equally rough on the pocketbook. But oh! The gorgeous things people are making.

Here are a few of the handmade items and patterns that have caught my eye this week.

Pacifier clip from Sew, Mama, Sew! This looks like a perfect first project for me once I get a sewing machine. Pumpkin loves his soother and hallelujah for that! I know some parents worry about their babies becoming dependent on pacifiers, but not me. Why wouldn't I want my child to self-soothe?

The Purl Bee appears to be THE sewing and craft store/blog/hotspot and it is AWESOME. I could kill hours on this site.

Make and Takes is a parenting slash craft slash food slash home site. Browsing it gets me all excited for when Pumpkin gets old enough to craft with. I'd love to make these Twirling Paper Ladybugs together. Maybe I'll make them myself and hang them above his crib for him to look at.

Finally, How About Orange, is a site loaded with craft tutorials. How gratifying to see the one about making fabric paneled wall art because yeah, I've totally done that in our master bedroom and it looks awesome.

Sorry about the not-so-great photo. Pumpkin was napping on my bed so I needed to be quick when snapping it.