Debra: Improv Quilt for a Friend

One of my good friends recently lost all her personal household goods in the Houston flood.  We have a history of dog rescue together.  I want to sew a quilt for her.  While looking through various boxes, I discovered I had enough parts from previous improv work to put them together for a queen sized quilt.  I hope it will clear out another pile for me!  Angela, you'll notice the strips you stitched for me.  They'll find a good home now!  

I have patched together a backing from dog prints.  She'll be thrilled!  

Debra: Entering a Juried Show

I really hustled this past week and sewed 2 new raw edge pieces.  I entered a very tough competition for a space in a downtown Houston craft museum show this fall.  One day before the deadline I was calling in favors looking for a professional photographer who could photograph the pieces.  I met her at her home studio.  We hit it off splendidly and she's agreed to photograph my work for a professional portfolio & website.  It will be a first!  I really need both to move forward with my gallery representation plans.

Her sons were adorable and I couldn't resist a quick picture of one enjoying my artwork!

Debra: Arts Fulshear Show

I'm going to measure the success of the Arts Fulshear show based on the advice I was given by one of the artist/teachers/organizers of ArtReach.  In a nutshell he told me I had definitely put in the work and my art should be in galleries and museums.  He told me to get out there now; that I was on the cusp of greatness.  

I was speechless.  

People loved my pieces.  No one referred to them as quilts.  Most comments were along the lines of "gorgeous artwork".

Time to reap the rewards of a lifetime of hard work.  

Debra: New Raw Edge Work

Working feverishly on some new work for an upcoming art show.  Love the direction the raw edge work is going!

Debra: Finished Table Runners

I've been accepted into a local art show/festival in April.  In preparation I pulled out some lonely UFOs that I thought I could finish quickly and get them into my booth.  They turned out well so I listed them in my etsy shop too.

I have finally gotten my shop brand sorted.  I petitioned etsy for another name change since my last change was for a legal name change.  They agreed and now I can have a shop for my vintage & supplies along with a shop for my artwork.  It will really help my branding.

I also sewed some patchwork blocks together for wall hangings/table runners.  I had originally planned to sew them into pillows but at this point, it will be faster to finish and easier to show as wall hangings or table runners.  I'll machine quilt them.

It's therapeutic seeing some old projects finished and destined for new lives in someone's home.

See you next week!

Debra-- Chemo Care Quilt

I was recently commissioned to sew a Chemo Care Quilt from a family's clothing.  The Mother/Grandmother is starting cancer care and the family wanted to wrap her in their love.  Such a special project.  I always feel God's blessings when I work on these kind of projects.

Debra: Raw Edge Pashmina Scarves

I find a good assortment of faux and real pashmina shawls/scarves at my local thrift store for about $3.75 each.   Whenever I see something in abundance, I am always challenging myself for an upcycle/reclamation idea.

This is my scarf.  Not too long ago I got distracted while ironing it and gave it a big scorch.  I decided to experiment with raw edge work on it.  I had already embroidered the ends a few years ago so that helped me decide the color scheme.  Here it is stretched on the longarm.  Last night I stitched the beginning rows.  Once I cover the scorch, I may skip an area before adding more strips.  Otherwise, it could take a long time to cover the scarf.  It's kinda long!

I have about 4 or 5 large boxes of small strips so I'm challenging myself in 2016 to work them into lots of raw edge work.  Before I got heavy handed buying more scarves, I thought it would be prudent to work up the ones I own now to see if the idea is even worth pursuing.  Ideas are like that.  Sometimes they seem so good in theory and pathetic in actuality!

Debra: Memorial Pillows

This month I was approached by an acquaintance from a dog rescue group about sewing some memorial pillows.  Her neighbor gave her her mother's coat for the garage sale.  Tammy said when she saw the look on her neighbor's face, she knew she could not sell the coat in her garage sale.  So, she contacted me about sewing some kind of a special pillow for the sisters and granddaughter. 

She was fairly specific about what she wanted & through some careful questioning and considerations, we were able to design these pillows.  The body of the pillow is from the coat and the black band is the coat lining.  The mother loved red and roses so we did some research to find a variety of roses to embroider.  The finished pillow is 12".  

In exchange I received a massive amount of gorgeous velvety 26 x 26 fabric samples.  They will bested in my etsy store.  I have plans to get my Debra Dixon Design store stocked with my raw edge work.  I'll be opening a 2nd store under The Good Stuff Company in January to market my basic scrappy patchwork items, fabrics and home decor collectibles. I'm going to keep Debra Dixon Design for the high end art styled work.

I will be soliciting more machine quilting for 2016.  I'll be concentrating on the t-shirt market. If you are interested in a t-shirt quilt, I'll have a "friend" deal to offer in exchange for photo use in my marketing portfolio. :-)

Here's to a focused 2016 for all of us!  :-)

Debra: Adding Quilting & a Discovery!

Adding the machine quilting to this t-shirt quilt really is moving it into a cozy state of being!

Last Thursday evening I went to the Open House at the store where I have my merchandise for The Good Stuff Company.  Some of the other vendors were there too; including Emil.  During the course of our conversation, he told me about this chest of drawers he bought.  Apparently, he's a bit of a celebrity!  He'll also be on a spring installment of Antiques Roadshow.  We've been exchanging emails and phone calls & I expect to see him again soon.  :-) ♥

Debra: Tshirt Quilts

Tis the season for Tshirt Quilts!

Debra: Country Red Quilt

I am so pleased to have this quilt finished! It's been a lingering top for a few years & now it has found a good home.

Back in the early 1980s my first husband and I were part of a group that founded the Presbyterian church in the community in which we were living.  We made life-long friends and when he and I divorced, they stayed friends with me.  In the past few years the Presbyterian church has become a co-sponsor of a "Pay What You Can" cafe in the community.  It also serves as a safe haven for teenagers to socialize.  I have given them a few quilts for fundraising and one of my art wallhangings hangs in the cafe.  It's my way to give back to a community that meant so much to me during the early years of my marriage and when I was having babies and watching them grow.  

This quilt, Red Country, is a group of crumb blocks with large blank blocks.  It's a great collection of prints & I love that it is so red!  I thought they might be able to use it for fundraising now but they've decided to save it for the major event in February around Valentine's Day.  

It feels good to be quilting again for the community.  I still have a few tops to finish and I'll find some places for them to go.  

I've picked up quite a few t-shirt quilt commissions.  That's good news since I am still in training about selling machines.  The hourly is very low and the longarm work helps offset the (lack of) a decent salary.

Debra: Scrappy Table Runners

With Angela's help I was able to turn some scraps into table runners.  I hesitated about what to do with the finished strips; purses, totebags, quilt but decided table runners might be a good look for a table.  I'll be selling these in the retail location I have rented in a nearby town.  

5 Runners with a heavy mat batting (reclaimed from moving pads)

backed with reclaimed floral shower curtain

The Runners measure 18½" x 50" 

I actually like these quite a lot!

My partner and I finally had a good craft show last weekend.  I sold the last one of my embroidered skull aprons!  Note to those who might consider shows:  sign up for the ones that are exclusively art & craft shows; not the ones that have tons of other activities in conjunction.  Visitors have too many ways to spend their money & don't get down to the craft section. 

In other news, I'll be in the Janome booth at International Quilt Festival from Wednesday through Sunday.  I hope to visit with friends coming to the show and to make new friends (and by the way, sell some sewing machine feet!)  I'll be in the accessories section of the booth. 

And, the chef loved his coats and paid the following day after delivery.  Next up is a t-shirt quilt from a friend of Susan's.  This is the 2nd top she's sent me so that's always good to have repeat customers.  

Feeling positive!  

Debra: Chef Coats

I'm still sewing the 7 chef coats.  This has turned into a long project.  I have the name and logo embroidery to do also.  I haven't done any real digitizing so reproducing the logo is going to be a challenge.  I can have it done for $60 but I'm a little too tight for that at the moment!  We'll see how hard it is to digitize. 

In other exciting news, I talked myself into a full-time sales position with a local sewing and vacuum retailer.  They are the 3rd largest seller of Janome sewing machines in the US.  Very progressive business and I think there will be some very good opportunities for me.  I'll be one of the longarm specialist for Handiquilter.  I know that the other salesperson went to Handiquilter University so it's possible I'll get to do that too.  I start next Monday.  In the meantime I still have some shows booked.  The Fall Festival this past weekend was a real bust.  After expenses, I made $30.  I don't think the shows are the best market for the goods.  I'll just continue to develop the line of merchandise for the retail outlets to which I have a commitment.  That should keep me very busy! 

Debra: Custom Work

In #DBApronsStudio the sewing machine is buzzing along on 6 custom chef coats.  These are stitched from seersucker so they are lighter to wear in hot commercial kitchen.

 The embroidery machine is stitching in the background.  I have a new opportunity to display and sell religious needlework.  Toward that end, I am stockpiling one of my favorite images: Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I'll be selling my home goods this weekend in Kingwood at St. Martha's Fall Festival.  It's supposed to be a great weekend to be out in the city!

Debra: Chef Aprons

I just finished sewing a nice stack of chef styled aprons for a hair salon boutique across the street from my old neighborhood.  The stylist who used to cut my hair has kept in touch through Facebook. She's opened a boutique and spa as part of the salon experience and wanted to have some of my aprons to sell.

Question:  Would you wear a short patchwork jacket? Something that you could throw on with jeans?

Here's the link to the t-shirt quilt I sewed last week.  I'm using it for my booth to let people know I can design and quilt t-shirt quilts for them.

Debra: Chef Coats

I have an order for 7 chef coats.  Finished the 1st one today.  It's headed to San Antonio for the chef to try before I cut the rest of them.  I am working off an old coat and I made a muslin for him to try on for size before I started this one.  I'm sure by the end of the project these will be a breeze!  I sewed the buttonholes with my embroidery machine.  I am still impressed I can do that! 

Debra Who?: From Strips to Totebags

In the last few months I've started a business with a new local friend called The Good Stuff Company.  We are manufacturing home goods such as quilts, pillows, totebags and aprons.   We are doing our best to keep the sewing machines running.  We have a handful of fall festivals & retail space where we are selling our products.  Toward that end I have been developing ideas to work through the massive stash of supplies I own.  As we all know, scraps abound!

I sent some to Angela who kindly agreed to sew them to a base fabric.  I decided that totebags will be more profitable than quilts so have sewn them into 18" wide units.  I stacked the units one after another and quilted them.  I recently purchased a stack of felted "blankets" that I believe are moving pads.  It is working splendidly as batting.  The backing is reclaimed cotton shower curtains.

My plan is to make a totebag that uses the quilted fabric without a lining (hence the pretty backing) and I'll cover the seams with binding.  I'll try to post pictures when a totebag is finished.

In other news, I've been single in my Houston house a year now.  August 21st was when I returned. Sadly, that is also the day I wrecked my Corvette.  Ironic, eh?  Still waiting on the final verdict.  Pray it isn't totaled.

:-)

Debra: Quilted Yardage

When I visited with my mentor at SCORE Houston (division of SBA), he suggested I look at my quilts as yardage.  He felt I could make more money cutting the pieces into smaller shapes for something like pillows.  The economics looked like:  One quilt or wallhanging for $400 or 10 pillows @$100 each for $1000.  It didn't take much for me to see the logic in his idea!

He recommended I market to the interior design business.
So, I've started the journey toward turning some fabrics into yardage that can become something else.  I picked up these 5 men's shirts Sunday at the thrift store for $10.  I used a thrifted fleece blanket ($2.32) and some plain navy backing given to me.  So, for what might be 9 pillows, I will probably only have to buy plain canvas for the backing at regular retail (or not!).  It's about as inexpensive as I think I can possibly get.

The major tasks in front of me are building a portfolio and inventory.  Nose to the grindstone time.

I really love the straight line quilting for a modern look.