The Creative Process: Hogwarts House Quilt

Y'all, I am a huge fan of half square triangle quilts. I pin every type of pattern I can find on Pinterest and then, when I need to make a new quilt I scroll back through to find something new. Maybe it's really boring to use the same technique over and over again, but Im obsessed with the patterns that can be made from half square triangles.  I'm thinking about doing something fun with flying geese and other traditional blocks pretty soon, but in the meantime I'm gonna ride out this HST kick! I found this sample on Pinterest a few weeks back from Quilternity's Place. When I decided to make a Harry Potter inspired quilt for a pregnant friend, I went scrolling back through my boards and new it was perfect! I tweaked a few things, obviously, but this might be one of my favorite yet!

I am also currently trying to burn through my fabric stash and trying to not buy any fabric for any sewing projects. I bought a round of fabric in the beginning of May and only picked up more recently for an upcoming project because I really wanted something with polar bears for a friend. The Restraint!!!! So for this HP quilt, it took a lot of arranging and rearranging, but I had all the fabric I needed for all the house colors without having to purchase any! The hardest part was Ravenclaw only because I could've sworn Ravenclaw colors were blue and silver, but It was blue and bronze! Finding fabric that looks "bronze" is not easy, but fortunately I had a decent amount of tans and gold that I feel like it really came together.

I know there are easier ways to do quilt layouts without taking up the entire floor, but when doing things that are "intentionally random" I have to lay it out and rearrange it over and over and over and over again.  In each picture, you can see subtle changes as I move a triangle hear and there before snapping a new photo. It's only annoying for a few hours, but I had to surrender basically the entire floor of my living and dining room.

The shrinking never fails to amazing me! I love watching quilts get smaller and smaller as you piece them together! It used to annoy me because I wasn't good at planning my seam allowances and my quilts were turning out smaller than I anticipated. Now I love watching it happen!

I am surprised how fast the quilting went on this one. I thought it was going to take all day, but I finished it just a few hours with coffee breaks. I used rainbow quilting thread, but the lighting in my apartment is not great to see it. The background looks really neat with rainbow stitching showing up in person really well against the dark blue background.

The finished product! I am so so so happy with this quilt! Picking the binding color was tough as I was worried it would clash or blend too much with one of the house sections, but I think the white looks good. The person I made this for identifies with house Ravenclaw so I threw in some extras for her babe including a raven beanie and magic quote shirt. This might be the last quilt I make for a little while so I can have some time to get some other projects going, but I feel like this was a solid note to rest on!

To Endings and What Comes Next

Yesterday I received my termination receipt from the state of Texas for Made With Moxie. I was both sad and relieved to finally be completely finished with that short lived company. I could have put a lot of effort into it and really tried to hustle in San Francisco to make that little mobile art company happen, but I felt totally fried. I spent a lot of time owning and managing small businesses, sacrificing my personal life, spinning my wheels financially, and being in a continuous state of being overwhelmed. I knew owning a creative business was never going to make me a millionaire, but I loved my work. At some point, the hustle starts to eat you up from the inside. I couldn't help but wonder if I was doing Made With Moxie because I felt like I needed to. Working at pottery studios was most of my adult life. Maybe I was just caught in the flow? Mindlessly ordering pottery and making flyers with paint splatter stock photos because it's all I'd been doing for the last 8 years? I started to lose momentum, but eventually other things in my life started to fill up the space. I wanted to sew all of the time and not just paint. I was working at a preschool and really enjoying interacting with kids on more areas than just art. I did a ton of roller derby officiating and travel. I wasn't really focusing on my business 100%. And when the abrupt time came to move to San Francisco, it just felt right to pull the plug. It was all rather unceremonious. I made a post on Facebook to my friends, but just sort of went about deleting all my website and social media accounts without any real mention of what I was doing on a professional level. Now that my Certificate of Termination has arrived, it feels necessary and cathartic to write this.

Ironically, this weekend is the big Contemporary Ceramic Studio Association Convention. The one I went to for my business. The one I've taught classes at. And friends I made through that industry are posting about their travels and packing on social media. It feels strange not only to not be going, but to not even have realized it was coming up. What's even stranger is I don't really care.

So now I'm back at the beginning. Just me and The Morose Bee.

I'm not sure where to go next. I have a lot of jewelry and I'm working on adding new sewing projects into the mix. Although I've been making so many dang quilts, I'm not sure if I'll ever get to them. No longer being tethered to the ceramics industry means I can do whatever I want and that feels wonderful and terrifying. I know I want to keep making and maybe even do a few craft shows again, but I feel like I need to find my voice as a maker again. What is it that I want to put into the world? The San Francisco Etsy team has a market this weekend and that feels like step one. Take a little time to browse beautiful things made by other people and reassess. It's been so longer since I've been to a handmade marketplace, I don't even what's "cool" anymore! Are people still into owls? Is everyone still making soy candles? What's going on, crafters?!

So that's where I'm at. There's no amazing revelations or conclusions here yet, but I feel hopeful.