Big Stash and May is for Makers

In between designing, cutting, sewing and packing, I try my best to squeeze in some reading, particularly some of the wonderful quilting blogs from around the world. One of my favs is Yvonne Fuchs, aka Quilting JetGirl – not only do I love her style of quilt design, modern and simple yet so striking, but also her whole philosophy behind our craft. If I’m feeling in rut or just not happy with myself, her mantra “you are doing your best work right now” always seems to bring me up again.

Yvonne recently shared a fellow quilter’s blog, LR Stitched. Lindsey Rhodes is another fabulous quilter who shares my love of colour and designs some beautiful patterns. This month she launched a campaign called “May is for Makers” - you can read her full post here.

One thing that really resonated with me was the fact that I am terrible at buying other quilters’ patterns, or products come to that. I know I spout on about how great it is to give something handmade, but when it comes to me buying other people’s creations, I think to myself, “I could make that”, or “I could design that pattern” so why buy it? Now of course, I then go home, get distracted with my own work and never get round to making or designing anything of the sort.

And this is the point, why should I spend my own precious time doing something that someone else has already spent hours upon hours designing? Why shouldn’t I buy that quilter’s pattern and just make it?! Maybe this need to work everything out and design it myself comes from my own background. I have no formal training in this sewing lark, but rather am totally self-taught – I love working out “how did they do that?” However, I now realise this isn’t helping anyone, not me, and certainly not the quilter who has slogged their guts out to perfect their latest creation in the hope that someone will make a purchase.

In a world of free online tutorials (Lindsey’s and mine included) we need to do more to support those talented designers out there. As a quilt designer myself, I know the hard work over many hours that goes into writing a pattern, from designing the quilt, making it, possibly in various sizes, writing the instructions, drawing the illustrations, and that’s all before the actual marketing…

The patterns you see on sale on Etsy, Craftsy and quilters’ blogs really are worth every penny and I for one am going to make a concerted effort to invest. Afterall, as every quilter knows, that stash needs using, so why not treat yourself to a wonderful pattern from a talented quilter and just get stuck in!! Looking for ideas? Why not visit some of my favourite bloggers from My Blog List at the bottom of the column on the right?

So my first purchase was this beautiful block design, Triple Goosed by JeliQuilts – this girl really has a thing for flying geese!

This pattern was a joy to make, you do need to know your foundation piecing, and there are no fabric cutting instructions – I cut 3”, 2½” and 1½” strips and cut them down as I went.

I’m not sure how and even if, I’m going to quilt this, the thickness of the Essex linen is making the seams quite chunky, so I may just make it into a cushion panel… we’ll see!

Meanwhile at Sewmotion HQ

We’ve had yet another delivery! This gorgeous collection is American Patch by P&B Textiles – who knew red and pink could go so well together!

I’ve also tried to go a bit more boy-like having noticed how ‘pretty’ my recent purchases were, so we have this funky collection, Keep On Groovin' by Riley Blake.

Both of these ranges will be used in my growing collection of pre-cut quilt kits, so I best get designing!

Looking for more quilty fun and inspiration? Why not pop over to these wonderful Linky Parties and say hello;

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles