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How Did This Happen, Again?
When I walked into Shiisa Quilts for the first time, I was only in 4th grade. I had begged for a sewing machine at Christmastime and finally got one. My mother, Kathleen, also a now-avid sewist, and I had been seeking the right teacher -- and at Shiisa Quilts, that's what we received.
My first class was making a simple pillowcase. Just in that class, my mother and I came a long way from sewing doll dresses with no arm holes! (True story.) I smoothly ran the machine, and with help from my quilting friend, Alice, I made an Africa-themed pillowcase. It was an easy project, just enough to make my mother and me produce a big batch for our cousins and friends.
Here's some pics of me at the Pillowcase Party!
Here I am showing off my Magic Christmas Stocking! I got to use Chizimi Shrinking Thread
I loved the Quilting Mini-Retreat during the winter break from school!
Alice helped me lay out the rows of my tumbler block quilt.
I couldn't have dreamed that in the year since I got my sewing machine, I would be making a quilt, participating in Groovy Girls (and 1 guy), and just be where I am today - so I have one thing to say:
Thank you Shiisa Quilts!
Paper-Piecing and Jellyrolls
This past week has been very busy here at Shiisa Quilts. We finished up another class of Free Motion Quilting-Basics and Beyond, the Shiisa Quilts Stitch Lounge, Valentine Make and Take Paper Piecing, and the Superbowl Jellyroll Race. It has been a quilting educational whirlwind for everyone!
I was so sad that the FMQ class has ended. Alice and Lisa have taught me so much and left me feeling so inspired. I can honestly say I am now a FMQ addict. With some additional encouragement in the Stitch Lounge, I hope to finish the quilt that I made in the class by next week. This is the first time I have ever been sad to be done with a quilt because I have loved making it so much. As I will be starting a new project soon, I can’t wait to be done with the piecing and start quilting!
While you can see that I am in love with FMQ, let’s just say I learned a new technique in quilting that I did not pick up as easily: Paper-Piecing. The class was excellent and Bev was wonderful and patient, but as easily as I learned FMQ, I thought I would be able to pick up paper piecing quickly. The examples Bev brought in were amazing; the points were perfect and made out of tons of tiny pieces. Yes, the concept of paper piecing is quite simple, sew on the lines of the paper in the right order, but for some reason it seemed like such a backward process for me. After practicing it a bit more and ripping out some very tiny seems I finally caught on. All the ladies in the class were beginners too so it was nice to all be in the same boat. Carol Doak’s 50 Little Paper-Pieced Blocks is an excellent book and all of us couldn’t stop looking through it. The blocks are fun and easy to do and are great to make for holiday cards. By the end of it I felt more accomplished and relieved to have my project looking good after two hours than I ever have for any class. I hope Ryan, my boyfriend, loves his Valentine. 
The week ended with the most fantastic Superbowl party I have ever been too. You think this was a baking contest, think again! On Superbowl Sunday, Shiisa Quilts held their annual Superbowl party. This year, Jan decided to add a competition into the party mix by hosting a Jellyroll quilt race. The competitors turned 1,040 linear yards of fabric into a quilt! The Jellyroll race was everything I could have hoped it to have been. It was competitive, loud, and most of all FUN! All three ladies were a joy to be with and Jan had a play by play of the competition on Facebook. Even though she had a downfall in the last quarter by accidentally sewing her quilt into a tube, Kathleen was our winner!
Thank you to everyone that either took a class with me or taught a class that I was in this week. It was so much fun and I learned so much from all of you!
Letting My Hair Down....with FMQ
I know you have been hearing a lot about Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) from us. You are probably thinking, ok ladies; enough with the free motion this, free motion that. Trust me, you need to try this.
The first class I am taking here at Shiisa Quilts is Lisa and Alice’s FMQ Basics and Beyond. The ladies informed me that even though I am a beginner, I could easily make a quilt like their sample in the store. I thought they were crazy, completely nuts. This sample was the most intricate, beautiful hand quilting I had ever seen. There was no way this is going to happen.
The first thing Lisa said in the class is, “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it” –Salvador Dali. I thought to my perfectionist/over-achiever self; “ this is going to be the most painful class ever, worse than Honors Finance.” After Lisa’s pep talk I started to get more confident, thinking, “Ok, I can do this, it is going to look just as good as the samples. They are going to be astonished with my prodigy FMQ skills, that I never knew I had.”
So I sat down with my practice sandwich, and yup, all that confidence came crashing down. I tried not to show it, but I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t a quilting prodigy. O, well, maybe another hidden talent will show up another day. I began to go through the paces. I didn’t realize that you had to coordinate the speed of the pedal with the movement of the fabric! This was going to be much harder than I thought.
I decided to just dive in on my first square. I chose to use a stencil to draw a big pattern on the square and would free hand the stuff in the middle and the outsides. I found tracing to be a whole different ball game than just doing it by free hand. It took some while to get used to, but it didn’t turn out too bad! For the second square I started to get a little gutsier. I began to loosen up and just let things happen. It was starting to become fun!
I am now on my fourth square, and I am going to let you in on a little secret: I know it isn’t perfect, but I don’t care! This is my very first time to ever FMQ, so how could I really expect it to be perfect? I am having so much more fun knowing that it doesn’t matter. I have come up with more creative designs, my squares are looking better and better, and I feel like I am having a fun break from every other demanding perfectionist aspect of my life. My advice for the week is to try it. Just try FMQ. If it’s not perfect, that’s ok! Relax, enjoy yourself, and let the creativity flow!
Sarah Lempke
Not Really an Addict.... Yet
I have a confession to make.... I gave up free-motion quilting a number of years ago because I just never liked what I did (and, to be honest, I hadn't done much). I had no idea WHAT to do, and not much idea how to do it. And the couple of quilts that I did really looked like I had no idea what to do or how to do it! When I got back to the states and discovered that Bloomington has a couple of "knock your socks off" long-arm quilters, I honed my "quilt by check" skills and found that I was always happy with the results. I also have to admit that, by the time I get to borders, I'm soooo ready to move on to the next project, that the thought of quilting something is just not something that thrills me...
Last fall, Lisa and Alice convinced me that we should offer a Free Motion Quilting: Basics and Beyond Class. It's been incredibly popular, and their students leave the class empowered to quilt! I haven't actually taken the class yet, but I think I just may steal a seat in their upcoming class if there's still room. So what has inspired this change of heart?
One of my FaceBook friends and blogger buddies has organized the 2012 Free Motion Quilt Challenge via her SewCalGal blog, and we decided that it would be a perfect opportunity for us to offer a quilt-along with that challenge... so at Shiisa Quilts, we have the Free-Motion Quilting Addicts Support Group - and we'll be quilting along with the challenge... and yes, I personally have taken the challenge!!
If you live under a rock and haven't heard about the challenge yet, you really should check it out. I think it's going to be fun -- and educational!! Each month a different FMQ expert will post a tutorial and then we're supposed to post a photo of our work on that...
This month our expert is Frances Moore. When I watched her video tutorial, I thought, "I can do that!!" Now... please understand that I'm not, and never have been, a doodler... I can't draw... I can't paint... and I just don't doodle... so just the idea of trying the leaf design with pen and paper was intimidating... but it really looked so easy!! And... it was! And I actually liked what I drew...
So last night I had a few minutes at the shop and I sat down with a small quilt sandwich (too small... bad idea!) and I started to stitch... but I didn't take the time to get my gloves, and really it wasn't much fun and looked awful. I knew better than to start with such poor preparation... so I just stopped. I didn't photograph that sample! No need for historical documentation of ugliness, you know??
This afternoon, I made a FQ-sized sandwich... got my gloves... got some thread that actually coordinated with my fabric... and began...
Not bad for my first practice session, I think!! And good enough that I feel inspired to spend a little time with it on a regular basis, for sure!
So, thanks SewCalGal... and Frances... and Lisa!! I don't think my favorite long-arm quilters need to worry too much about not having my quilts in their queues, but this really does make me believe that I can be successful at this! YAY!!
I promise that I'll keep you posted...
A New Perspective at Shiisa Quilts
When most people my age ask me what I like to do for fun, they are often dumbfounded when I say I like to quilt. Let’s be honest, it’s not a typical answer a 22 year old graduate student would give. Some people shrug it off and think I am strange, most people find it very interesting, and surprisingly my boyfriend thought it was cool.
A few years ago I decided to take a quilting class to keep busy. I was in a new place and had recently lost two friends so I needed something to occupy my time. I caught on very quickly and just loved it, but it wasn’t just the quilting that I loved, it was the quilting family that came with it.
After being accepted into the Master of Arts Administration program here at IU, I started to explore around town. I was looking to get back into quilting and found Shiisa Quilts. Let’s just say I was welcomed into this new quilting family with open arms. These ladies were awesome; crazy, funny, creative, and caring. They were so helpful with my project that I found myself stopping by just to hang out. That is when Janet had an idea….
This is my first official week working at Shiisa Quilts. Janet thought she could use some of event planning skills and arts administration knowledge in the shop. While yesterday was my first day, I have learned more about quilting in 1 day than I ever thought I would. Did you know that there is glitter thread!?? Did you know how many classes Shiisa offers per month!? It is crazy how much these ladies do! My project list after just one day will keep me busy for years. They also already have me sewing samples for the shop, which is kind of scary, considering I have only ever made 2, and I repeat 2, quilts in my life!
So, you will be hearing a lot from me over the next year. I hope I can bring a fresh prospective on quilting here at Shiisa Quilts and keep you up to date on all of the cool things going on here at the shop and in the quilting world. If you are a beginner like me, don’t be scared, these ladies know how to teach and lead you in the right direction. If you are well-season pro at quilting, you will be in euphoria; I guarantee you will learn something new every time you visit the store.
Sarah E. Lempke
New Years Resolutions and Laundry
I am proud to announce that I have not broken even one of my 2012 New Years Resolutions! And, I can boldly state that I will never break even one... not even once! I can, of course, make that claim because I simply don't make New Years resolutions... I learned long ago that it was futile. Since I really don't like to fail, it's better to just not set myself up for that!
I do have some goals, however... and, once again, one of them is to be more consistent about blogging here. Certainly "more consistent" shouldn't be too terribly difficult to achieve since I have been so inconsistent in the past year or so.
One of the ways I'm going to blog more is to do what I often do when something needs to be done -- I get someone else to do it!! So you can expect to see some blog posts from guest bloggers in the very near future. One of the gues bloggers is a young new sewist named Paige..... she's excited about sharing her sewing adventures with us - and I'm really looking forward to seeing her first post!
Today though, I'm going to suggest that you check out Lisa's blog -- where she talks about her experience with my favorite batting... Tuscany Silk by Hobbs.... I think I have another convert!
If you haven't tried silk batting, you should!! Awhile back Matt Sparrow of Sparrow Studioz was chatting about his first experiment with silk batting. I chimed in that it was my favorite. He asked about how much care it takes.... so I shared my quilt washing tips with him....
(caution: if you're a quilt pamperer you will probably find this offensive and perhaps even pornographic!)
How I wash my quilts:
- Gather up all my laundry, including any quilts that need to be washed
- If there's a lot of laundry, sort by weight and/or color - put the quilt into whichever load has space for it
- If there's just a little, dump it all in the washer together -- towels, jeans, undies, t-shirts, quilt
- Wash on warm with cold rinse (that's how I do all of my laundry) unless someone in the house has changed the settings and I don't notice... then it's a crap shoot!
- When the load is done, put everything into the dryer and set it on permanent press (usually)
- Leave the stuff in the dryer until someone else does a load of laundry so that they have to fold/hang mine to get to the dryer
The only time this varies is when one of the kids is doing laundry and they come in to pick up my laundry pile to add to theirs. Trust me, they are no more careful of the quilts than I am!
Sarah's Quilt
Sometimes we need to reflect on the impact we have on the lives of others.... in unsuspecting ways... in unexpected moments.... just from being in the right place at the right time...
About a year ago, a small group of women came in to Shiisa Quilts.... a mom with her soon-to-be 17-year-old daughter, Sarah, and her grandmother. Mom and Grandma were excited because they were heading for their annual quilting retreat – and this would be the first year that Sarah would join them – for her 17th birthday. Sarah and her mom and grandmother, along with assorted aunts, would make a quilt for Sarah. How wonderful!!
Sarah, however, did not look thrilled. She had chosen a pattern, but really had no interest in choosing fabric – and I just got the feeling that she wasn't as excited about this quilting retreat as the others were.
Sullen... texting.... I could just imagine what she was texting to her friends... “yeah... I'm at this stupid fabric shop with my mom and grandma....”
Her Mom was frustrated... probably embarrassed by her daughter's behavior... I remember what that was like when my kids were teenagers.... and I especially remember that feeling of “what is this other adult going to think about me... and my kid...”
So we chatted a bit about what Mom and Grandma had in mind – and Sarah kept on texting..... and answering the occasional question with mono-syllabic responses....
I looked at Sarah and said, “Looks to me like this isn't your idea of a good time.” “It's not.”
I can't really remember what happened next.... but I remember encouraging Sarah to just find some fat quarters that she might like to use... and to not worry about whether they “went with” each other... pretty soon she had a stack of wonderful prints by wonderful designers.... Kaffe Fassett, Laura Gunn, Pamela Mostek, Phillip Jacobs, Teri Mangat, Nobu Fujiyama.... and more.... we paired some up, and Sarah was fearless about combining colors and designs.... Shiisa Quilts staff tossed a few of their favorites into the mix, and Sarah was decisive about what she liked and didn't like. I truly don't remember where Mom and Grandma were during this process....
We spent probably an hour choosing fabric... Sarah was engaged and animated... and I hadn't seen her phone come out of her pocket in quite awhile. I'm not sure she was any happier about heading off for the retreat, but at least the quilt was going to be something that she had been actively involved in planning.
so.... why am I writing about this a year later?
Today, two women came into the shop with a “show and tell” quilt.... I didn't recognize them, but the younger woman said, “about a year ago, I brought my daughter in.... and I wanted to thank you for helping her... ” As they opened this beautiful quilt, the memory of that day came flooding back....
Sarah loves her beautiful quilt! She didn't come in today because tonight she's performing in West Side Story for Sounds of South. I hope she notices that one of the very proud sponsors for tonight's show is Shiisa Quilts....
Quilting is Murder - Secret Messages
When we got our order of Frixion pens, we decided to test them...
We wrote on fabric and then ironed it off -- yep, that worked!!
Then we put that "no longer marked" fabric into the freezer -- and the marks returned!!
So... we LIKE them!! But we also recognize that we need to test test test before we use them on a project -- because you just never know when what you think is going to happen, won't.... has that ever happened to you?
Let's chat about your worst "I didn't test it first" mistake....
and really... it never OCCURRED to me to use them as disappearing ink!! But when I go into my next life as an undercover quilter, I'm going to keep this in mind!
Attention detectives... if you're looking for our clue, go to the homepage and you'll find a link!
Chapter 1 - A Difficult Morning
Welcome back to St. Itchez, where quilters always seem to be involved in intrigue and drama!!
I laughed as I read Chapter 1 because I could relate to Katy's frustration of never feeling like she has the time to quilt! When my kids were in school, I wasn't a quilter, but I had other hobbies/passions/interests that seemed to always take a back seat to work and the kids. One of the things that worked for me was if I had an interest that also involved one of more of the kids... when I was involved in musical theatre, Amy and Nathan were also sometimes in a show I was working on... when I was scuba diving, Nathan was often a dive buddy... one of the cool things about those shared interests is that we often learned together rather than Mom being the all-knowing expert and kid being the one being taught by Mom (and we all know how that often works!)
As I think about that... and I think about how we bring our kids into our sewing/quilting lives, I wonder if we couldn't use that sharing as a chance to grow ourselves -- to step out of our own self-made comfort zone and to explore a new part of quilting/sewing/fiber play that allows us to learn with our kids instead of teaching them...
I'm excited because we recently had a Mom and young daughter register for our Groovy Girls program... Mom isn't a sewer at all, but young daughter is already passionate about it! Won't it be fun for them to learn together? When our kids see us as learners, I think it helps them to really begin to understand that learning isn't just about school... and math... and history... and punctuation... Learning is how we grow!
My First QOV Quilt Has a Home!
Last spring, Kay Miller of Quilts of Valor - Southern Indiana asked if Shiisa Quilts would be willing to host a monthly Quilts of Valor work session. I've been interested in QOV for a long time, but just hadn't found the time to get it organized here. Kay's request put it all together for me! I have the space, and we can make the time -- and she would do all of the organization (including bringing dinner for participants!)
I have a couple of QOV in my UFO stack, waiting to be quilted mostly... but I finally finished one a few weeks ago - just in time for Kay's latest trip to Bethesda Naval Hospital. On this trip Kay delivered 19(!) quilts!
This quilt is from one of our pre-cut Take 5 Kits. Fabric is from Kona Bay Fabrics. I pieced it and did some of the quilting on our BERNINA 830E embroidery machine. Lisa Dodson finished the free-motion quilting on the B830.
When we give a QOV, we never know if we'll get the information about the recipient. Because our quilts go to Bethesda, they usually go to young service members who are in the early stages of recovery from significant and truly life-altering injuries.
This quilt found a home with LCPL Joshua Misiewicz of La Grange, IL. Josh is pictured here with YNC(Ret) Kay Miller, his parents, and CAPT LaSota
Here's another picture of LCPL Misiewicz that shows him on duty in Afghanistan.
I'm so glad that my first QOV went to a young man who can share a high-five with a child while he's on patrol!
If you're interested in joining us for QOV, we meet the last Tuesday of each month at about 6pm.
If you'd like to learn how to quilt and are willing to donate your first quilt to one of our veterans, you might be interested in our Under Our Wings Learn to Quilt program! 
Shrugs and More Shrugs
If one shrug is good... another one is even better.... and then more and more.... right?
We already know that I'm addicted to fabric. And I'm pretty fond of thread, too, although I think Lisa is way more addicted than I am. And let's not even talk about books and patterns, ok? They're provide the inspiration -- and sometimes even the step-by-step directions (although, really, I try not to get all caught up in that step-by-step thing most of the time!)
But this e-shrug thing is crazy!! If you don't know about the e-shrug, let me introduce you.... A few months ago, I got one of those hard-to-resist emails from The Sewing Workshop -- with a new pattern, the e-shrug. I absolutely love TSW patterns!! They're well-written, easily varied, and just classy -- and... they FIT!!
So, how could I pass this up! And, oooohhhh.. I loved that sweater knit, too...
So, I got some of that too... very pretty! But winter was over, and I wanted to make something that I could wear, so I made my first shrug out of a great knit that I thought would be good during warmer weather...
I really love this fabric! It's fun to work with and it really begged me to just leave the edges unfinished... and I've washed this one a LOT -- because I wear it a LOT!!
So, shrug number one is good!
When I'm teaching a class, I like to have a project in progress so I can demonstrate upcoming steps... so I decided I'd make that one out of the brown sweater knit that's pictured above. But I used longer sleeves and extended the length length of the shrug. Once again, this fabric just calls out for unfinished edges. When I washed it, the edges curled a bit, which looks GREAT!! And, its much softer.... but no shrinking -- NICE!! Shrug #2...
During the class, as the participants were trying on their shrugs after they stitched the shoulder seams, Janet J announced that she kind of liked it without the sleeves -- and Cynthia agreed... (I had a sneaking suspicion there were just trying to get out of sewing in those sleeves, but I was certainly willing to entertain the possibility of no sleeves!)
Just in case you were wondering, they were not required to use the same fabric, but how can you pass up the opportunity to make something cool out of this terrific knit?? 
In the end they decided to use the sleeves, but I used that revision to make the shrug out of bonded cuddle --
which has no stretch at all!! Way cool!! 
Watch for our next e-shrug class!