Hello, and welcome if you are new and stopping by from Plum & June’s New Blogger Hop! If you’re a regular, then thanks for sticking around 🙂
Pandora’s Box, Spinnaker Quilt, Geranium Dress, Daisy Chain Quilt
Welcome to QA Creations! I’m Heather, and this is my little corner for sanity sewing. I started with quilting back in 2010, but when I was pregnant with my daughter I sewed my first dress. With complete ignorance of the fact that garment sewing is supposed to be difficult, I just followed the directions and made some garments that I am still proud of today (even with a little more experience). Now I still make quilts, but sew for my daughter and even myself (still learning on the women’s clothing front!).
Let’s start with a few random facts:
– I adore chocolate, but don’t like doughnuts.
– I now love to sew and cook, but pretty much refused to do either before almost age 25. I ate a lot of boxed macaroni and cheese and lean pockets.
– I was chastised by a tailor when I was in college because I took a shirt there to get a button sewn on. Now, I sew clothing for myself and my daughter though I still rarely do buttons.
– Dream Vacations: Machu Pichu, Galapagos Islands, Northern Italy, New Zealand, driving tour of the National Parks in the western United States (I have a lot more dream vacations than time or money!)
– Favorite TV Show: NCIS
– Favorite Book: Anything by Bill Bryson
– Favorite Movie: McLintock, almost anything with Audrey Hepburn
– Born: Wisconsin
– Grew up in: Oregon
– Lived in: New York, Alabama, Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Iraq and Afghanistan (Yes, I used to be in the Army in case the last 2 didn’t give it away)
I used to blog as Bobbins and Bullets, but switched to QA Creations because it represents who I am now as opposed to what my job used to be. The post announcing the name change explains it a little more. Now, I am momma to a 16 month old little girl that loves doggies and her family (and yes, probably in that order!). The name QA Creations is a combination of Quilts Actually, my long arm business and the stuff I create and document here.
Blogging Tip: Don’t choose a name that scares people! No seriously, it’s better to choose something that has some room for you to grow and develop without boxing you into a corner or making people think you are some type of nut.
Quilting Tip: Label your solids and interfacing. I learned this lesson the hard way because none of mine are labeled and when I go back to look at a fabric I bought years ago I don’t even remember what brand it was, much less which exact shade of the 30 possible greens there are that it is. And just which white is it? Why are there so many whites?!?
Thanks for stopping by, and please check out the other bloggers on the tour today:
Sarah @ Berry Barn Designs
Liz @ Green Cheese Quilting
Janet @ Simply Pieced
Ruth @ Charly & Ben’s Crafty Corner
Kristyn @ Melon Patch Quilts
Jo @ Riddle and Whimsy
Linh @ Calling All Stitchers
Alida @ Tweety Loves Quilting
Rachel @ Quiltineering
-Heather
I love your button story! My husband always wonders how I can spend so much time at a sewing machine and yet never do any darning or patching of holes in pants. I have a stack about 3′ tall of jeans and other pants with holes in the knees (a side effect of crawling/running around with two kids). I’d much rather work on my quilts and other sewing projects than patch pants, though! I don’t even think I know where to begin with darning! Great to meet you!
We have the same problem here! I have pants I have needed to hem for (I really hate to admit this because they are my own pants) years. When I have a few spare minutes to sew, I’d rather not do practical things.
Hi Heather, it is great to get to know you better! I like your tip about labeling your solids; it is something that I haven’t done as good a job with myself recently. So glad to have met you through the blog hop and I look forward to seeing what you create in the future!
Thanks for stopping by! I also don’t do as good of a job as I should labeling solids, so this is a lesson learned over and over for me! Hopefully my pain can help someone else 🙂
I love your brown and blue quilt, and your advice for labeling solids. I would also add scraps. I have Kona White and Kona Snow. It is harder to tell them apart in little pieces.
Great point about labeling the scraps too – looking at my scrap bin right now I would have no chance of telling you which colors were which.
I love your work, especially the Spinnaker quilt – great colour scheme. What an exciting life you’ve led so far, even if you don’t ever get to do those dream vacation trips.
Thank you so much! The spinnaker quilt is probably one of my simplest quilts, but one of my favorites.
Visiting from the New Quilt Bloggers Hop, thanks for sharing your quilts! I love chocolate and doughnuts, and especially chocolate doughnuts, LOL!!
Carole @ From My Carolina Home
I’m glad to see another Carolina girl! Although, I’m jealous because you are in my favorite part of the state. We try to head that way whenever we can, visiting different parts of the mountains every time until we find the perfect spot!
Hi Heather. I’m pleased to see you put New Zealand on your wish list of holiday destinations. The Lord of the Rings movies have shown many people what a lovely country this is.
Swapping life in the army for quilting must have been a big change. I know some people from Iraq, and when the see me quilting they tell me about the quilts they had in Iraq. They sewed two layers of fabric together with no batting and used the quilts in the summer when they slept out on the roof because it was too hot to sleep indoors.
Thank you for sharing your quilts.
I was fortunate enough to visit New Zealand once a few years ago, and I loved it so much that I really hope to return someday! It was such a wonderful vacation, and I’m jealous that you get to live there. Some of the garment sewing blogs I follow are there and (from my distance) it seems like Wellington has such a vibrant sewing community.
That is so interesting that they use quilts in Iraq as well. I never really saw it at ground level, but I love how quilts are all over the world in different forms.
Thank you for your service to our country! I am also a chocolate addict! It is a great little treat to have along side quilting! 🙂 Your quilts are beautiful! What part of Texas did you live in? I am from the DFW area. We just moved to Colorado and I am loving the weather change! It is great to meet you!
Thank you for the wonderful compliments! I lived right outside Ft. Hood. I enjoyed my time in Texas for the most part, but our last summer there we had temperatures above 100 for more than 3 months straight. That was brutal! I only made it to the DFW area a few times, but always enjoyed my visits.
Thanks for sharing! I liked your point about labeling solids, something I’m guilty of (lets hope I don’t run out at an inopportune time!).
As much as I loved the creativity of your old name and wasn’t put off only because every other item in our wash pile is ACU colored, I think your decision was a wise one from a business standpoint. Hope your longarm business is flourishing! Maybe we’ll cross paths at a post down the road sometime : )
Hey, Heather! Love all of your quilts, especially liking the colors and pattern of Pandora’s Box! I kind of liked your other name, it was intriguing 🙂 I can see however that it would put some off . . .
Great tip on labeling solids! Ugh! I have not labeled anything and even though I haven’t been quilting that long, I still can’t remember and it has caused issues! And they still aren’t labeled 😉
I used to like my name too, but I think too many people thought it was odd. Now I’m more like everyone else for better or worse! Best of luck starting labeling! I have to learn the lesson over and over, and just made the mistake of buying some knits without remembering to write down the fiber content…. the never-ending lesson continues!
Bill Bryson books are hilarious! He makes me laugh until I snort tea. I have his grammar books and his travel books and his history books. I think I love the UK and Australia ones particularly because I am most familiar with those two countries and know what he is talking about. His ability to poke fun while still obviously showing his affection for a place is why I like him. His humour is not disparaging. Obviously a brilliant guy.
The last two did give the career away!
I sometimes think I will only buy one brand of white solid fabric to avoid the problem you mention, but they never have it in stock when I go back so I end up with something else and the problem continues.
Bill Bryson has such a wonderful writing voice, he is so enjoyable to read! Buying one brand is a good idea, but I have found with bees that some people want the super bright white and some want a softer white so I try to stock both those at a minimum. I sometimes buy one in between those two flavors of white, and that’s when the trouble starts…
Hi Heather, great blog post! I really like your tip about labeling your solids. I’ve labeled my various interfacing, keeping each in their own ziplock bag with instructions, but I need to get better about my solids. Not that I have that many, but I’m sure I’ll run into problems eventually. Luckily, the only white fabric I’ve purchase has been Kona White and Kona Bone. Easy to tell them apart but should still label them in case. Thanks!
Great idea about putting interfacing with the instructions in separate ziploc bags! I am totally going to attempt to steal that idea… hopefully I can find enough instructions to put it into practice.
Nice projects and great tips! Nice to meet you Heather!
Thank you, and nice to meet you too!
Great intro post! I did see your old blog name somewhere once and thought it seemed like an odd combination. Makes more sense now that I know the story behind it, though. Labeling solids is a great idea. I don’t have many yet, and I won those and they came with no info whatsoever, so I don’t even know what brand they are. I guess I’ll have to start labeling when I actually buy some for myself!
Great advice for bloggers and for labeling your material. I too am running into the problem of not knowing what is what- I’m trying to cut a square and paste it into a journal of sorts, but I’m so lazy I often forget to.
Hi Heather, nice to meet you! Thanks for the tip on labeling solids and interfacing. I don’t even have that much in my stash, and I’m already getting mixed up. Better start labeling now! I also enjoy Bill Bryson books, I find him very amusing. I would love to go on all of your dream vacations, but there just never seems to be enough time or money 🙂 I need a cool job, maybe like Bill Bryson, so I can go on more trips!
I really have got to start making clothes. Now that I have a little girl, it’s become a bit more important. Your bullets didn’t scare me! 🙂
I just started labeling my solids after encountering the same issues! That’s funny about a scary blog title, I was guilty of being scared away until I read your profile then it made sense 🙂 I have followed you since that ah,ha moment!
hello and nice to meet you! There are some lovely quilts there, I see the first one is made with Lily and Will, I bought some of that line and am still using it! I made chair cushions for the dining room and now have placemats waiting…
Oh I am with you on the labelling solids and interfacing. I haven’t done that either and so wish that I had! Nice to have met you through this blog hop 🙂
Grew up in Oregon! Go Ducks! I am also from Oregon but now live in NH. Do you miss it? I liked Bobbins and Bullets (my husband liked it as he collects antique rifles and other things) but I understand why you changed it. After an incident where Kona Snow got mixed in with the white (which isn’t obvious when you’re grabbing from the scrap drawer), I now label all my solid scraps in ziploc baggies. I love it when fabric arrives from shops all labeled and ready to go. Great intro post!