Making my First Quilt

Hi everyone, I am continuing to work on my baby quilt(s) and decided to make them at the same time.  So since I do not know if boys or girls are expected, I tried to make these gender neutral.  I cut 275 2.5" charm squares for the centers of the tops, which require 100 squares each. Luckily I have a co-worker who is an amazing quilter, so she talked me through the beginning of this and was even kind enough to draw me a diagram for my first rows.  In addition to the fabric, she instructed me to buy starch, spray baste, and to start my rows by chain stitching. That last piece of advice was priceless, I was able to finish 4 rows last night.

Each row is 10 squares across. 

I could not believe how quickly this came together, especially since I once spent an entire Saturday sewing and it yielded 2 sad placemats.  My coworker told me if I just worked a little everyday and then on the weekends, I could finish both quilts in 6 weeks.  When she first said it I thought she was joking, but now that I've started, I think she's correct. She suggested I time myself for this one so that I will have an idea in the future how much time I would need to make one. As of this post, I am 4 hours in, including cutting the fabric. Oh yeah, this is my first quilt, but I'm hoping one day I can make a quilt with these squares.

How amazing is this? 

I'm also still working on my cowl, just had to get started on these quilts though, hopefully both quilts and the cowl will be finished by April! I will post my progress here, happy crafting!

Demystifying Quilting

So I just got word that some folks I know are expecting babies later this year and I have always wanted to make a quilt, and here's my chance, baby quilts! I'm excited about this because now I too can be one of those savvy crafters that buys the correct thread and modestly says "A quilt" when the cashier asks what I'm making. Hahaha! Seriuosly though I have wanted to make a quilt forever but it just always seemed like such an overwhelming task, like I could not make a quilt unless it was worthy of being entered into the county fair.  I'm saying that because I feel like quilters are almost a secret society, where you have to be grandfathered (grandmothered?) in, or at least have learned the skill when you were little. I am the first person in my family to attempt quilting and the only one that knows how to use a sewing machine, it's like being first generation, but with crafts.  The difficulty in jumping in solo is that all of the tribal knowledge and nuggets of wisdom are hidden from you. Who are you going to ask about the best way to cut strips? Unless you can find a sewing circle, you're going to use my good friends YouTube and Google! Because these exist, you are in luck and you can meander through just about any crafting task with these two resources, that's how I learned to knit, by watching YouTube! In fact all of my crafts started with YouTube, knitting, crochet, paper crafting, and coloring.  So as I start my first baby quilt, I will take you on the journey with me and share my experience and anything I might learn along the way! Here are the first 110 charm squares...I need 220.

Charms squares all day. 

Luckily these babies are due in the fall, so I have time to try, make mistakes and then try again. Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting! Oh, I am still working on the Veritas Cowl and expect to have it done I another week or so.

Quick Quotes Powder Puff Chalking Inks Coloring Technique

Hi everyone, Gabriela here today to show you a fun way to use your Powder Puff Chalking Inks as markers and to demonstrate how I made the butterflies from this post. I decided to make a birthday card from the sentiments I had and a sheet of Farmhouse paper, I also used a butterfly from this month's Club Q, check out the video below:

 Quick Quotes Products Used:
Powder Puff Chalking Inks
Farmhouse 101
Quick Quotes Sentiment
March Club Q

Happy crafting!

It's real in these crafting streets...Design Teams or the Hunger Games?

I'm an avid crafter, there, I said it, or typed it. I do projects for people and I also design, draw, and create for myself and companies. However, wrapped up in all of this is the desire to have my own stamp line and my own designs. The issue is how to get your designs in front of the right people. One thing you need is exposure and unfortunately with so many print craft magazines going out of business and LSS (Local Scrapbooking Stores) going under, a lot of visibility opportunities were lost.  This leaves the obvious choice of the Internet, but even that requires the ability to not only choose the correct platform (blogging or social media), but to drive traffic to your profile/site.  I have been pretty fortunate with a few hundred followers on IG and my site, but that was really some luck and a nice shout out on the Quick Quotes blog.  Without that, I'm not sure what my audience would look like.  This brings up the subject of design teams, I currently belong to one and I'm looking to join 1 or 2 more next year, but even that is an uphill battle.  I personally only apply for design teams I genuinely want to belong to and support.  This is great for keeping your skills sharp and keeping you on task as most DTs have a calendar for your projects.  It's also wonderful to keep you in touch with other like minded creators.  If you've applied for a team or a dozen and you were not selected, please don't give up, it can take a while to find your footing and your style.  Take each application as an opportunity to improve your skills and show what you've learned, you'll be surprised at how quickly you improve. The good thing is that many teams have 6 month memberships so that gives you 2 opportunities per year. I would also suggest going for a team you're passionate about, even if it's one of the major companies because they will see through fake enthusiasm if you don't really enjoy the products.  Last bit of advice is to be yourself in your designs, copying the latest trend won't work and it won't help you stand out from everyone else, offer the team leader something unique, you. That's about all I have for now, but I just wanted to offer a quick pick-me-up to anyone that is struggling with their crafting right now.  It's an extremely competitive space with a lot of talented people, don't get discouraged and remember that the whole point of this is to make things and have fun! Until next time, happy crafting!