Ugh. (A craft show story)

[Merriweather]

I have tried my hand at most types of crafty stuff, and... Let's just say crafts & I don't go together not for lack of effort on my (very crafty) mum & sister's parts!

Don't give up on yourself yet, it you really want to be crafty. I was very crafty when my daughter was young, I sewed, I did a bit of everything. She just wasn't a craft person, swore that was it, she'd never bother. And she didn't, for a long time. She was into her twenties before she began to do a bit of this and that. Now, she makes gorgeous quilts (and while I've quilted a bit, I've never done a full quilt at all) and she makes the most gorgeious jewelry, and all sorts of other things. The genes (my Dad was a Master Woodcarver, and his mother was a quilter) finally floated to the top in her, just a bit late,

[Aethian]

Hey Kanalah, have you ever soon anyone do frosted glass or etched glass/mirrors when you do these shows?

[Draper Mel]

Machine quilting is hard. I've played with free motion quilting a bit, I like to use it more like drawing or coloring with thread. But it takes some getting used to, and a fair amount of arm strength and control. Keeping a pattern even and in the same scale across an entire quilt would make me nuts.

[Not Lillith]

oooooh...I love the elephants! great shading on them too.

[XCashier]

oooooh...I love the elephants! great shading on them too.

The elephants are my favorite, although the unicorn is beautiful, too.

[PepperElf]

Why were they allowed to block your booth? Couldn't you have gone to the organizers; I'm sure it would have been considered a fire hazard also.

not to mention they probably didn't have licenses to sell the collegiate and character items. if anything, the organization itself could get in trouble for letting her sell without proof of that license, no?

Machine quilting is hard. I've played with free motion quilting a bit, I like to use it more like drawing or coloring with thread. But it takes some getting used to, and a fair amount of arm strength and control. Keeping a pattern even and in the same scale across an entire quilt would make me nuts.

I have no patience for something like that myself. Which is why my "quilts" are what I call "cheater quilts". They're pretty much lap throws that are - gee big surprise - about the same length & width as 2 yards of fabric right off the bolt. I pick out a pattern I like, some filler padding, and a backing pattern and then I embroider around the pattern.

I mean they do look nice sometimes, and it does take a lot of time depending on how detailed the pattern is... but it's only cos I don't want to take the effort to do normal quilting.

and i hand sew simply because...machines move too fast for my tastes. They skeer me... ! No, but really ... they do move faster than I like, and I find hand-sewing to be relaxing, something to do while watching TV or something like that

[Silvercat]

I love that unicorn!

[Kanalah]

Sarlon, yes the dragon helped a lot.

I did say something to them during set-up to the effect of "I'd be careful with that if I were you." regarding the copyrighted things. Because they are included with the machine when you buy them, a lot of crafters think the licensing is included. ( I know because my sewing machine service place tried to sell me one and used that as a selling point and I had to set her straight. )

Machine quilting I think is just as challenging as hand quilting. Yes it's faster paced - but all that means is that you can screw up even faster. My machine has a "turtle" or half-speed button to slow itself down which does help for really detailed things. It's a different skill set. I only started machine quilting a couple of years ago, and yes you can get carpel tunnel from it. There's also long arm quilting machines and that's a completely different skill set from machine quilting on a home machine. There also are computer-controlled quilting machines but they start at 20 grand and take up a ton of space.

I don't think the lady running the show or the building owners would get into trouble - the crafter would. It's a standard clause in every craft show contract that it's up to the crafter to make sure they have all proper licensing (if required.) But a lot of people either don't understand the law or think it doesn't apply to them.

[morgana]

Kanalah, do you do your quilting on a regular sewing machine? I've tried that, and it's painful.

I recently went to a show for the professional quilting machines. Damn near had a heart attack at the prices. I mean, a long-arm quilter is a wonderful thing, but 20 grand?

Did see something I wanted, though. A couple of the companies had what's called a "short-arm" machine. Basically, you sit down at it like at a sewing machine, but it's set up with the wide throat and feed dogs of a long-arm and it's attached to its own big flat table.

But they want 6 grand even for those. Gonna be wanting it another couple of years, I think.

[Kanalah]

Since I will be taking new shop photos today I will take some pictures of my set-up.

I do have a "regular" machine, but I have it set in a 5 foot table, so I have plenty of work room.

Yes I'll take a photo of my fabric stash too

[2gigch1]

It was totally a fire hazard - and I was planning on going to the lady running the show, but they moved every time she came into the room.

If they hadn't been in their 60's I'd have sworn I was back in middle school!

Take a picture, and make a show of it. That will get people scampering in a hurry.

[Seshat]

If it's something crafty (including woodworking, metalworking, most fibre crafts, most paint things, resin work, etc), I can either do it or figure I can learn to do it.

Will I?

Most likely not. Medical limitations, financial limitations, time, skill development....

I will probably never take the time, effort, and financial cost to learn to quilt like Kanalah or make plushies like Spark. If I lived on the same continent, I'd probably commission a Spark plush for one of our best friends' babies. (I just can't justify postage /as well as/ a fair price for Spark, on a welfare budget. Boo.)

[Mytical]

Ok, between watching storage wars and this thread..I had the craziest dream. In the dream I was buying a storage locker, that had a mattress in front (so nobody could see behind it)..so I got it for $200. I moved the matress..and behind it was bolts and bolts of fabric. Mostly silk and satin. The estimated value of the bolts total was $20,000 (roughly). Which I sent to Kanalah for a percentage of whatever she made from it (and sold)... Man I have weird dreams some time.

I don't even know if silk or satin makes good quilt material Oh, and I never ever have been to a storage auction.

[XCashier]

I don't even know if silk or satin makes good quilt material....

Not really, but I'm sure there are a few costumers here (myself included!) who'd be more than happy to take it off your hands...

(And yes, I know you were talking about a dream!)

[Mytical]

If I ever bid on a storage locker, and it somehow has hundreds of bolts of silk and satin in it..I will keep that in mind