I am thinking more and more about sewing for money after I retire. I love to do it so why not make money at it? I don't want to do things like alterations or making clothes (ugh)...I just want to be creative. I feel like I have all this creativity just bursting to get out of me. I don't know that I have a natural talent but I am seeing great strides of improvement with each quilt that I do. Practice makes perfect and all that...
This all started just a year ago. Tom bought me a small machine that did sewing and embroidery. I made some window dressings and then moved on to a quilt. I quilckly realized that I needed a machine with a bigger opening for quilting so we went shopping at our local Sew 'n Vac store and found a Brother Quattro 2 for a healthy price but I swear the thing dances for me. Every time I use it, I find new features to it that make me go 'WOW'.
I got all excited about the machine and thought up a very complicated quilt design with embroidery on every other square and a log cabin design for the alternate squares. Green being the major color for the embroidery matching the green in the log cabin on one row and then the next row would be burgundy. I got 11 rows done with 9 squares across and said to myself "ENOUGH". Too much work. It wasn't fun anymore so I put it away. As I said in another posting...it was a monstrosity. So, about 3 months later, I pulled it out and rounded the corners and finished it with binding. All right...I have to be honest here...When I decided to pack it away, I had just seen a flaw two rows up from where I was. I couldn't fathom ripping out all those seams and fixing it. One of the embroidered designs was going in the wrong direction. YES I'M A LITTLE OCD. But, even with that mistake, I really like the way the quilt came out.
Then, for Christmas, he bought me some quilting design software that allows me to create my own designs and print out templates for each piece that needs to be cut out. I created an optical illusion quilt hanging from that software over Christmas and realized that the possiblity of creating is endless.
My boss asked me to turn his T-shirts into a T-shirt quilt and he PAID me 250 dollars when it was done. I mean...he actually paid me. I had told him not to pay me because he loaned us his trailer to help move the kids out but he insisted. (I wanted to give him an out in case he didn't really like it.) BUT he really loved it. I was astonished. Of course, that just fed the beast and flattered me to no end. Can't hardly get my head into the house now. I got brave enough now to make my Mom a quilted wall hanging for her birthday. (Since she doesn't read my blog anymore, I'm pretty safe putting this out there) Sent a picture of it to my sister and now she would like one for Christmas. I did some very intricate quilting on the wall hanging. I'll probably make myself one also. Each year we always give each other something that we have ourselves so that we have like items. Not really sure how that got started.
Anyway, everyone wants to do what they love for a living. If I knew how to market what I do, it would be great. I could easily sew for 12 hours a day with no problem. I'd probably lose touch with reality though which wouldn't be good. Tom might move out and I wouldn't even know it. I'd end up in the twilight zone just sewing away.
I want to get better at free motion quilting. They make it look so easy in the how-to videos and when I try it, my free motion looks like someone with epilepsy was doing it. I know I know...practice, practice, practice. I've ordered some templates and a pouce pad so that I can just follow some lines on the quilt when I do the quilting part. I'm afraid that will be the best I can do. I will continue to practice the free motion quilting but I'm not sure I'll ever get good enough at it.
I understand the joke now about "Whoever dies with the most cloth wins". Cloth and I are having a love affair. I just keep stocking up on my favorite colors when they are released from Connecting Threads. This is an awesome site that have amazing quilting material. Good thick material at very low prices. No, I'm not advertising for them...just sayin'.
I guess the bottom like is that it is really just a hobby but I would love to make money at it. 8-)
OK, enough about sewing...here is some Max for you today.
"Get Ready For a Surprise
By Max Lucado
Have you got God figured out? Get ready, you may be in for a surprise. Hear the rocks meant for the body of the adulterous woman drop to the ground. Listen as Jesus invites a death-row convict to ride with Him to the Kingdom in the front seat of the limo. Listen as the Messiah whispers to the Samaritan woman, “I who speak to you am He.” And listen to the surprise as Mary’s name is spoken by a man she had buried.
God appearing in the strangest of places. Doing the strangest of things. Stretching smiles where there had hung only frowns. Hanging a bright star in a dark sky. Many more knees will bow. And many more seekers will celebrate.
“For no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him!” (1 Corinthians 2:9)"
By Grace Alone -
Teresa
