The T-Shirt Quilt Begins

A couple weeks ago, one of my friends asked, "Do you do T-shirt quilts?"

I said no, but could try, even though t-shirts were knit fabric, which are intimidating. Then I read about t-shirt quilts and sent her a list of all the things that could go wrong and she still said she trusted me with it. Now I make t-shirt quilts and anybody who orders one after this one won't get the list of potential disasters!

Her mom is getting the quilt for my friend's birthday, which is a cool idea. People give quilts to babies, but hardly ever to anybody else.

I practiced some on one of my t-shirts and one of Dad's, just to figure out how the material feels. It felt weird, but aside from the disastrous free-motion quilting practice, it came out fine. My FMQ is pretty bad to begin with, but this looked like a mountain range. Straight lines worked fine.

The t-shirts came yesterday and the current colors are green, gold, purple, and turquoise.

May's Plans

May's plans died when my camera decided to act up in April, but the camera came home yesterday, and I can list things again.

For the past few weeks, I spent a long time working on the Kickstarter. I really can't make anything else without outside funding, but Mom and I found a couple boxes with old things I had made, and many of them fit into Ingleside Creations.

The dishcloths are a little small, but now I know a better size exists. I think I misread standard measurements before and now I use new measurements for goal sizes and an old store-bought dishcloth filched from Mom as a guide. The boxes also had a couple doll blankets and historical embroideries.

Now, the main goals are Kickstarter, revising keywords in the Etsy listings, and listing the boxed things. I am also gathering fabric for an awesome t-shirt quilt, which I have never made before, but I have wanted to for quite a while.

Kickstarter

For the past couple weeks, I have been setting up a Kickstarter for Ingleside Creations, which is already started, but needs a kick. The goal is $500, all for materials.

It is very simple to donate to the Kickstarter, but if the goal is not met, none of the raised funds transfer to me. If even just fifty people donated $10, the fundraising goal would be met!

Backers will be the first people to see ideas for new projects and learn about the shop so they know I am being responsible. Among other rewards for different tiers, all the backers can be added to the page of backers—if you donate and don’t want your name there, let me know and I won’t add it, or you can use an alias or initials.

If more than the goal is raised, I would be able to make the business function better, including improving photography, polishing the craft show booth, and getting utilitarian office and sewing supplies for the studio. I have a huge list of boring, business things to take care of, but can’t yet, including craft show change, a photography light tent, and storage bins and tubs.

With the help of backers, hopefully Ingleside Creations will support me as well as a part-time job at McDonalds could in the next 1-2 years. Ingleside Creations is already more than a full-time job and it would be nice if I could live off it.

Still in Action

Due to some weird camera malfunction, I have been out of listing and blogging action for about two weeks, although it feels longer.

But I have been making things, including a custom last-minute order for Confirmation presents. (Photos by customer.)

They are the most detailed embroideries I have ever made and each one took about 3 days working 10-12 hours on them. I gave my wrists an all-day break on Saturday, which does not often happen, but they were tired.

The customer gave the embroideries to the confirmands today and they liked them! I had doubts about a thirteen-year-old boy liking an embroidery, but apparently it was okay. (He had the one on the right; the girl had the one on the left.)

Both of the embroideries have a cross for obvious reasons and a Communion theme because young people in Lutheran churches cannot take Communion until they are Confirmed. Normally, their Confirmation is also their first communion.

I promise the vegetation and crown look more realistic in real life, and that the grapes and leafs are actually purple and green. The cross is woven with blue over silver.

The wafer and base are chain stitch, and the squiggles and base thing are purple in real life. I think the purple and green (used in both embroideries) are so dark they are difficult to photograph.

Both designs are from Broderie D'Antan's ecclesiastical ("religieux") section.