Our Portland Story

Our Portland Story is having a release party tomorrow Sept. 23!  Last year I was asked to do a design for a page in this book... and now I'm SO excited to see my design in print... in a book!  

The concept is really cool ~  Melissa Delzio, who had the idea for the book, spent the last two years putting it all together.  She asked people to write a story about the ONE thing they like best about Portland.  Then she paired the authors up with graphic designers to design a page around the written story.  I was lucky enough to be asked to do a design for this project ~ and I loved working on it. 

The story I received was about growing gardens in the rich soil around Mt. Tabor due to the volcanic ash embedded in it.  I also received a photo of lettuce to work with.  I had a lot of fun with it and was pretty happy with how the design turned out.  You can check out the whole story here: Our Portland Story

This isn't about sewing... but any good creativity makes me happy.

Can't Wait

 

I'm too excited... I had to share a teaser photo!  I was going to wait until I have the whole thing put together... but I can't wait.  I've been geeking out on the layout of hexies for 2 days now ~ I'm trying to make all the different blue and green hexagons for the water colors all blend.  I'm almost there ~ once I'm done I can start stitching them together!!  I'm also posting my initial design so you can see what the plan is.  I'm so motivated I wish I had more time to spend on it.  I guess we all have to take time to pay the bills though, right?

I Think Sew

For those of you wondering... I just changed the name of this blog from "Just Another Girl" to "I Think Sew". 
I started this blog a few months ago and,  as this endeavor continues, I'm finding that what I want to write about and share most is all about sewing.  Lately I've really had sewing on the brain!  I think sew ALL the time.   So bear with me as my blog morphs!

I have finally finished all my hexies for my squid quilt (1122 of them) and I'm laying it out today... eeeeiiiii!!!!  So exciting!  I decided to wait to post pictures until I'm all done.  I'm such a tease!

I'm so glad I started going to the Portland Modern Quilt Guild meetings.  They are so inspiring, and that is exactly what I need to keep motivated.  Last Thursday we listened to Elizabeth give a nice starter seminar on dying fabrics.  Wow ~ I have so many new ideas now... although, I do have about 10 projects in my head already before I will start something new.  But she did talk about using a product called iDye that uses a simpler process, and I'm excited to at least try that out sooner than later.  She had created some "over-dyed" fabrics with iDye that were gorgeous, and I really want to try that with some of my not-so-favorite fabrics. 
Also at the meeting Jen did a little 10 minute demo on how to make pin cushions and we are going to do a pin cushion swap at the next meeting... even for that project I have about 5 different ideas on design and colors ~ I may have to make more than one!  They seem to be the perfect project for using scraps.
I even brought my Rooster Quilt for show and tell... but I was a little nervous and words didn't really come out of my mouth well ~ I wanted to say that the quilt represented my first attempt at paper piecing AND my second attempt at applique.  I have made a couple quilts before, but now I'm trying out different techniques on each new project.  
In my current squid quilt project I'm hand sewing hexagons (a first) and I plan on doing some free-motion quilting on it when I'm done.  Modern Domestic has an open sewing studio in North Portland, and I want to check out their facilities and see if they have a better machine for free motion quilting because my machine is very hard to do that with.  I'm nervous about it... but I'll make a few quilt sandwiches to practice on first... and if I can't do it good enough, I'll quilt with straight lines.  For now I'll just enjoy my time piecing my hexies together.

Catching Up

It's been a while since I've had time to think about sewing... but tomorrow night is the Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting and I'm excited to go.  I'm thinking about bringing my rooster quilt to show ~ but am not sure yet, most of the quilt work at those meetings is phenomenal!  For me, it's like going to my favorite spot at any state fair:  the quilting booth.  So many different styles and techniques ~ it piques my curiosity and I end up coming home with all sorts of new projects in mind.  I'm never quite sure of my own abilities though, and sometimes it's hard to show my work.

We had a great time last Sunday at the Belmont Street Fair... my daughter came down from Seattle to help set up and break down and it was so great just to be able to spend time with her.  Plus, she is really growing up into a bright, happy, self confident, compassionate, kick-ass human being!  Yep... I'm a proud mama! :) 

My daughter and her friend as Gorilla and Cockroach

Anyway... she really helped a lot and the whole thing went off without a hitch.  We sold quite a few T-shirts and even some posters... and Gregg had a great time doing screen printing demos.  We raised almost $500 that will go to Gregg's Surgery Fund.  I only wish I had had more time to advertise and get more people down to our end of Belmont.  I had a couple friends showing their artwork with us, and they did not sell much and that made me feel bad.  We all still had a fun time and we're looking forward to doing it again next year.

I think it's hard being an artist and being financially dependent on those kind of events.  They are so exhausting to plan and set up and these artists still have to produce their artwork on top of it all.  I've been talking to a lot of people who sell at fairs and other events and the economy is definitely affecting sales.  Many say you used to be able to make a living on artwork... now you can only do it out of love because supplies and tools cost a lot, and it takes so much time to produce in a creative mode...  so artists are actually losing money on their crafts.

With this knowledge I am so happy I decided to sew for myself and not to sell.  And I'm thrilled to have found a group that I can share my work with.  Just getting acknowledgment from peers on a project you pour your soul into, goes a very long way in making me happy. 

Chicken Love

Chicken Love, originally uploaded by RamonaX.

Wow time flies! I guess I've been fairly wrapped up planning for tomorrow. My husband and I have a screen printing business called Phantom Chicken and we cleared out our studio this week and have over 500 t-shirts of all styles and colors that we're going to sell for $5 ea... and we pulled out a few of 40 different show posters that Gregg hand printed going all the way back to 1995 and those are going to go for $10 ea. and hand printed cards for 2 for $5.

So my house is in disarray with shirts, posters and display materials getting piled up at the door getting ready to set up in the parking lot of Red Square Cafe / Red Star Machine Works at 4505 SE Belmont from 10 am to 5pm tomorrow!

I think I will also be bringing my pillows that I've been working on... I'll see if what kind of reception they get. My friend Sian Alexander will be with us too ~ she makes amazing ceramics! We'll also be visited by Dingo Dizmal and his partner Olive Rootbeer who will be performing sporadic bouts of circus sideshow fun throughout the day. Dingo will also have his infamous Rubber Chicken Paintings available for sale!

So if you have time Sunday Sept 12 ~ come down and say hi! There will be free trolleys running all day from 20th to 48th and Belmont ~ so enjoy a trolley ride and come enjoy some Chicken Love.

Getting Close!

I did a count last night and I have less than 80 hexagons to go!!  Woohoo!!

I just saw the Modern Quilt Guilds' Quilt Challenge for September... and I really want to be a part of this project, but I feel like my squid quilt needs to take precedence, or I probably won't get back to it.  I wonder if I can finish this quilt in 3 months and see if I couldn't still enter it...?  Who knows ;)   For now, I'll just see how long it actually takes to finish.

It's been hard to find relaxed time to sew these days because my husband and I are getting ready for the Belmont Street Fair.  Our screen printing business always has a booth for this event, but this year we decided to set up a booth WAY DOWN on 45th and Belmont because it's closer to home and we can spread out space-wise.  Plus I don't really have any new t-shirt designs this year (I've been obsessed with sewing more than printing) so we are going to try to clear out our studio by selling all of our sample shirts and old designs on brand new t-shirts for really cheap! We are hoping these funds will help us financially through my husbands upcoming hip replacement surgery.  So... if you need t-shirts... this is the time to visit us ~ seriously!  Here is all the info on the fair.

I'll try to post again before the fair... I may pull out some of my sewing projects to see how they do ~ we'll see.