Jargon of the Week - Indie

Jargon:
What does the term indie mean to the crafty world? This edition of Jargon of the Week is mostly my interpretation of the term.

According to dictionary.com, indie is:

in⋅die [in-dee]
–noun
1. an independently owned business: to work for an indie.

–adjective
2. (of a person) self-employed; (of a business) privately owned: an indie film producer.

Origin:
1940–45; ind(ependent) + -ie

n. Informal

1. One, such as a studio or producer, that is unaffiliated with a larger or more commercial organization.

2. An artistic work produced by an independent company or group: "[His film] showed that indies could . . . take in millions at the box office" (Liesl Schillinger).

adj. Of, relating to, or being an indie: an album of indie rock; an indie film company.

Word Origin & History

indie

"independent record company," 1945, shortening of independent; used of film production companies since 1920s, of theaters from 1942; extended by 1984 to a type of pop music by such labels.

Indie means something a little different in the crafty world. My interpretation is that an indie crafter is someone who doesn't craft like the mainstream. It's somebody who develops a final product from something someone else has made all design decisions on. Like, say a scrapbooker. The mainstream scrapbooker would use some sort of prefabricated items, like maybe stickers, to decorate their pages. An indie scrapbooker may use items from the vacation they are creating a book for.

Let's use baking cookies as an analogy. A mainstream batch of cookies would be plopped onto a baking sheet right out of the Pillsbury tube. An indie route of cookie making would be to make the dough from scratch to use Grandma's famous recipe.

The indie v. mainstream is a hard thing to define. I think the cookie analogy may be the best way I've come up with to describe it. What do you think? Am I on the right track with this definition?

Come back next week and I'll touch more on the mainstream side of crafting.

I'll be a little absent.

Hello, readers.

I decided over the weekend to participate in a craft fair at a local church. I've never done a craft fair, so this will be a good learning experience for me. I've got a stock pile of things to sell and just worked on my killer spreadsheet (seriously, this thing rocks!) to track my items, sales, prices, and such.

If you live in the Kansas City area, it's November 14th, 8am - 8pm at the One Community Spiritual Center.

Over then next few weeks I'll be working on making some new items to add to my "for sale stash". This means that I've got a lot of work to do in a short period of time, so blogging is going to take a backseat until after the fair. I do have a few posts throughout the weeks already written and set to post on certain days, so don't forget about me completely.

What else do I have going on soon? This weekend, my mom and I are heading to Des Moines for the quilt expo.

Wish me luck on all my upcoming adventures!

October 24, 2009

This week my favorite thing is these birds!





They make me happy everytime I see them.

P.S. In case you are curious, they have held up very well in all the rain and wind we've had around here lately.

Have You Heard of this Contest?

I found this contest a while ago and had emailed myself a reminder link to enter.

I am planning on entering 2 quilts: The Flying Zebras and the It All Started With a Dream .

What are you planning on entering?

Me, My Scarf, and I

I just discovered this new contest being put on by Singer and Craft Magazine. It's called the Me, My Scarf, and I. How cute is that?



I've got a few ideas floating around in my head on what I can make for my entry, but since I just discovered it a few minutes ago there's nothing started. I'll let my thoughts marinade for a few days before I start to make anything. The deadline is November 23rd.

Have any of you readers discovered this contest? Are you going to enter?

Jargon of the Week - Pressing

Dictionary.com defines pressing as:

press⋅ing [pres-ing]

–adjective
1. urgent; demanding immediate attention: a pressing need.

–noun
2. any phonograph record produced in a record-molding press from a master or a stamper.
3. a number of such records produced at one time: The fifth pressing of his hit song has sold out.

Origin:
1300–50; ME presing (ger.); see press 1 , -ing 2 , -ing 1

In the crafty world, pressing is a type of ironing.

Ironing is the use of an iron to remove wrinkles from fabric. How does ironing differ from pressing?
Ironing is accomplished by moving the iron slightly back and forth to remove the wrinkles or create a crease. Pressing is accomplished by raising the iron straight up from the fabric every few seconds and setting it down flat on the fabric. There is no slight side-to-side movement when pressing; it is a straight up and down motion.

I get the difference between ironing and pressing, but why would I ever need to press rather than iron?
Quilters press, not iron. This is done because the slight movement of the iron stretches the fabric (come back in a few weeks to learn about the bias and grain lines of a fabric). When the fabric is stretched in quilting, it prevents nice sharp angles and distorts the pieces. What happens then? Blocks will not turn out square.

Do you see when pressing comes in handy?

October 21, 2009 - Favorite Things

I know I usually do my favorites on Sundays, but it just didn't happen this week. So, here's my favorite things on a Wednesday.
1. Playing for Change, an awesome CD, 2. TV Project Basket, all the things I'm working on while watching TV go in here, 3. Grandpa Vrooman's Spurs, a pair of spurs from Jason's Grandpa Vrooman's collection, 4. Let's make a patchwork Quilt, a gift from my parents, 5. Mini Singer, a new sewing doo-dad for my growing (okay, just started) collection, 6. Huge Bell Peppers from the farmer's market

Want better descriptions of the items shown above? Go to my flickr set.

Also, we went and saw Where The Wild Things Are over the weekend and it was fantastic. I totally recommend it.

Happy 5th Birthday, Lily

Today, my cat, Lily, turns 5. Well... sort of. We adopted her 5 years ago today. We got her from the humane society when she was around 3 months old, so we don't know for sure when she was actually born. So instead of celebrating her birthday, we celebrate her adoption day.

This year, to celebrate her adoption/birthday we're going to the vet to get rabies shots! (No, we don't usually celebrate a whole lot more than this. She might get canned food instead of her regular dry food or a new mouse. We're really not crazy, wacky cat people.)

Here's a few photos of Lily throughout the years:
1. Jason and Baby Lily, this was the first day she was with us (we had only been dating for 3.5 weeks and I convinced Jason we needed a cat), 2. Lily's Sink Bed, she loves napping in here, 3. Jason and Lily Day One, they were both so small!, 4. Lily's Fabric Stash, how can one sew and not have a cat to hide in their fabric?, 5. Jason and a Younger Lily, this was probably sometime in 2005, 6. Lily 60s Yearbook Style Photo, this was just taken yesterday.

So, Lily... we love you and are glad you decided you could put up with us for these 5 years.

Halloween Crows

I made these little guys using a pattern from Spool. I used 7 different fabrics to create 7 different crows. Up close you can see the different fabrics, but from a floor down, they just look like solid black birds.

I used my button attaching stitch to make little loops on each of their backs. I threaded a piece of fishing line through each of the loops and strung them all together.

I think they're kind of fun. I like that they aren't your everyday Halloween decoration.

Quilters Guild of Greater Kansas City Quilt Show - Part 2 of 2

Yesterday I posted the first half of the photos I took at the Quilters Guild of Greater Kansas City Quilt Show at Crown Center. This is the second half. Enjoy!

If These Shirts Could Talk
Quiltmaker: Rosemary Cromer
Quilted by: Mary Hibbs
Owner: Rosemary Cromer
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted



Red Rooster
Quiltmaker: Janie Wagner
Quilted by: Janie Wagner
Owner: Janie Wagner
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted
I thought this one was really cool. It looks so simple. Why didn't I ever think of this?


Don't you love it when they give you gloves at a quilt show? I hate when they don't because I have to walk around with my hands in my pockets just so I won't accidentally touch something I'm not supposed to. I love the feel of fabric, so pockets or gloves are a must. I just can't help myself.

Sunny Spanish Sky
Quiltmakers: Kay and Norm Cox
Quilted by: Countryside Quilting
Owners: Kay and Norm Cox
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted
The quilting on this was amazing.

Civil War Stars
Quiltmaker: Mary Ellen Bloomquist
Quilted by: Nedra Forbes
Owner: Mary Ellen Bloomquist
Techniques: Machine pieced, hand appliqued, machine quilted

I love the quilting on this quilt.
I think my favorite part of the whole thing is this applique on the border.

Truly Nancy #2
Quiltmaker: Nancy Wakefield
Quilted by: Ross Williams
Owner: Nancy Wakefield
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted
I love this one. I love the simplicity of it. I love scrappy quilts that don't have an overall theme. They seem like they have more of a necessity to them than a specific statement. Somehow, no matter what fabrics are put together, they seem to work.

Red and White Triangles
Quiltmaker: Holly Benson
Quilted by: Holly Benson
Owner: Holly Benson
Techniques: Machine pieced, hand quilted


Unfortunately I only took a few photos of this quilt. It was fabulous. It was solid red and white fabrics on the front and I loved the back fabric. It matched beautifully. It was heavily hand quilted. Gorgeous! Sorry about the lack of overall photo on this one. At least you can get a sneak peek.

Chocolate Block of the Month
Quiltmaker: Naida McKee
Quilted by: Naida McKee
Owner: Naida McKee
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted

I thought the colors on this were interesting. I don't think I would have ever come up with these fabrics together, but I dig them.
I love the back on this one. See why I love when they give me gloves? I get to discover really cool things like this.

Cabins Under the Stars
Quiltmaker: Clara Diaz
Quilted by: Clara Diaz
Owner: Clara Diaz
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted
I love the border on this. I need to start doing more of them this way.

Olde Hickory
Quiltmaker: Ramona Collins
Quilted by: Kathleen Coleman
Owner: Ramona Collins
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted



Bright Kaleidescope
Quiltmaker: Kay and Norm Cox
Quilted by: Countryside Quilting
Owner: Kay and Norm Cox
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted



My Funky Rail Fence
Quiltmaker: Joan Pickens
Quilted by: Melinda Roberts
Owner: Matthieu Pickens

I love black and white with a bit of red. It's quite possibly my favorite color combination.

There's No Place Like Home
Quiltmaker: Virginia Paul
Quilted by: Virginia Paul
Owner: Virginia Paul
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted


I loved seeing this one. If you remember, the theme for my row robin quilt swap is the Wizard of Oz. I can't wait to get it back and see how it turned out.

Not College Bound
Quiltmakers: Kay and Norm Cox
Quilted by: Marily Cole
Owners: Kay and Norm Cox
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted


Furrowed Fields
Quiltmaker: Rosemary Cromer
Quilted by: Rosemary Cromer
Owner: Rosemary Cromer
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted

This was made of old shirts. I liked how they didn't cut out the pockets or sleeve buttons.

Not College Bound
Quiltmakers: Kay and Norm Cox
Quilted by: Marily Cole
Owners: Kay and Norm Cox
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted


Furrowed Fields
Quiltmaker: Rosemary Cromer
Quilted by: Rosemary Cromer
Owner: Rosemary Cromer
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted

This was made of old shirts. I liked how they didn't cut out the pockets or sleeve buttons.

Seeing Red
Quiltmaker: Marlene Moore
Quilted by: Marlene Moore
Owner: Marlene Moore
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted


Roses and Raindrops
Quiltmaker: Linda M. Kahmann
Quilted by: Linda M. Kahmann
Owner: Linda M. Kahmann
Techniques: Machine pieced, hand quilted


Sampler Magic
Quiltmaker: Ramona Collins
Quilted by: Kathleen Coleman
Owner: Ramona Collins
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted


This one was awesome to watch Jason look at. He couldn't decide whether or not he was okay with the different sized blocks that didn't necessarily line up with each other at every intersection.

Around the World
Quiltmaker: Peggy Peterson
Quilted by: Beth Kurzava
Owner: Peggy Peterson
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted



Rain Drops
Quiltmaker: Sandra Froyd Mogg
Quilted by: Marthe Cox
Owner: Sandra Mogg
Techniques: Paper pieced, machine quilted

Awesome, isn't it?

Her First Quilt
Quiltmaker: Carol Crouse
Quilted by: Dana Davis of Cabin Fever Quilting
Owner: Kathy Needham
Techniques: Machine pieced, machine quilted


Antique Grandmother's Flower Garden
Quiltmaker: Unknown
Quilted by: Unknown
Owner: Julie Kiffin
Techniques: Hand appliqued, hand quilted