THE QUILTER'S ALLEY

It’s hard to keep up with all the visual beauty that passes through the Quilter’s Alley on a daily basis.  In the last week, I’ve had visits from customers who shared their hard work with us. It’s amazing how creative and prolific people are.  With all that goes on in a life, it is great that people take time to sew. Those of us who do it know how magical it is. In alphabetical order…

We are all in the same craft boat with our doubts, insecurities, lack of time, multiple interests.  I, for one, am so sad, in my isolated creative space,  that so many blogs are going away. Blogs I’ve grown attached to. It’s like the blog is just another craft project. that is finally finished.  Are any of you out there noticing this trend?  But people need to hear what you-all-too-busy-to-blog people have to say and what you are making to keep us all feeling okay about what we do. 

Now a yahoo list I just joined about a week ago… this is spooky!

I know there are still many of us out there, online, flickr, blogging, but I’m afraid I’m losing heart myself, with all the “endings.”  Something cheerful to close…

I’ve dredged up a old icon to spend time with lately. It goes back several years, and, as I mentioned in my last post, sometimes I revisit the sketchbook storehouse to get myself back into inspired mode.  So I decided to cut some templates and print the silhouette on plain fabric.  Then I dyed and painted more stuff.  I used my favorite green fabric paint color, with my favorite brown color and made some murky images. Then I took brighter fabric and traced the silhouette with bleach pen.  Then I dyed over some of the cheerier color and I got some murky thing again.  Some of the dresses are cut out and sewn back onto other fabric.  Some are just squares of fabric. All in all, I’ve tried to brighten them by surrounding them with more color, whether with fabric or stitching and I like what I’ve got. So far I’ve made four…and counting, I’m still not done.  These gals have become simple bags which may end up on (that labyrinth called) Etsy.

I came across the whole “copyright” issue of sorts (blog-style), which is a real hot button for me.  I am constantly producing ideas that turn into making stuff. I usually draw the idea in my sketchbook, or go backwards in my years of sketchbooks to discover an underutilized idea.   I’ve already lamented the insulated life of a shop owner a bit – not getting out much. My “excursions” mostly take the form of books (text and pictures), magazines, the prints on fabrics and notion catalogs. Now blogging. Even in isolation, creative people are bombarded with things that inspire and generate work. Being open to what is outside ourselves grows ideas. Being creative also demands a public life of sorts.  Putting our work out there is part of the process.  We are at risk as copiers and copied.

I don’t want to be scared to look for fear of being a “copier.”   On the other hand, how is a truly “original” idea defined?  

I look at the creative work I do as a commodity, especially now that I am trying to make a living with it.  I also represent a lot of creative people in that I sell their work, their cloth  and patterns.   I am constantly defending someone’s copyright and the labor that gave it to us. 

I came across liesl’s blog  “disdressed”  last night, purely by accident.  I know Liesl because I buy her patterns for the store, because she’s a talented designer who is trying to make a living too. I read her frustration and the mixed comments – pro and con,  with no easy answer.  In this visual world, there is no safe place to divert the eyes. Create honestly.