Time to get back to enjoying my blog, sharing whatever I feel like sharing, and talking about what I care about…

The posts may not all be big, they may not be profound, but they are coming. I miss doing this…

I hope you don’t mind studio shots and intimate views of my cutting table…

Speaking of which, I’m almost done with what I am calling the beast. So many 1″ squares in this quilt…

Hugs,
T

There is one exception to that though. I love talking about design, which is what gets me through so much of life, especially Quilt Market and the like. I love talking about what I am working on, and hearing about what other people are doing. I could talk fabric design for hours and hours and hours.

In some ways I was the stereotypical professor. Find me walking across campus and I was like as not to be head down hoping not to bump into anyone (literally and figuratively), but put me at the front of the class and I could go, non-stop, for three straight hours. The thing is, I love talking about my work, but I hate talking about me.

This, leads to why I have been so bad about posting as of late. Back before I was officially doing anything I loved posting about what I was doing, no matter how small or whatever. I just liked talking about stuff. As I often say, Yay Stuff!!!

Now that I have stuff out there, you know, for sale and stuff I seem to be turning shy. Here’s another little secret, I hate self-promotion. I’ve had people tell me that I am good at it, but I think that is because I’m not really doing it. I like hanging out here in digital land, with people I respect and care about. I have a crap-load of fun on Twitter with the fabric & sewing crowd, and I learn a hell of a lot from them.

But then I have a line of fabric come out, or a new set of patterns, and I probably ought to promote it or something, but I go all shy. I love sharing what I am doing, but hate when it seems like I am selling. I really, really don’t like selling. I don’t think I could possibly use the word really enough times to explain how much I don’t like selling, especially myself.

Thus, I post less. I hang out less. I avoid the posts I want to put up just because they will probably seem like selling just because there is stuff out there to buy. Right now I want to blurt out all over the place just how much I love Flock right now, but I just end up being shy.

If I weren’t broke I would totally hire a publicist. But then I’d probably just feel awful about having a publicist and get even more shy. Ah, the vicious circles are everywhere…

I think I would have made a good ostrich…

Hugs,
Thomas

The first one is a little challenge I set myself, to design a quilt especially for Jo Morton’s new line Elizabethtown. I love, love, love the heck out of Jo and wanted to do something that fit my style yet inspiration from more traditional forms. I can’t wait to get this one back from Lisa; I’ve one word about the quilting: trapunto. Eeeee!!!!

The second one is called Method, and the inspiration for it came from 70s architecture, specifically the dire architecture of the Methodist church I went to in NJ when I was just little. It also feels a lot like something Mike Brady might have designed; I can totally see this quilt in the Brady Bunch house…

I think this quilt is a perfect fit for Flock, which should hit stores in about a month. Once again, Eeeeee!!!!

But this quilt is really just an excuse for me to play with what I think of as Modern Brown. Brown often gets a bad rep in terms of Modernism (I blame 70s knock-off home decor), but I can, and have, made arguments that it is the essential Modernist color, no matter what those Bauhaus devotees might say.

Anyway. Just gotta write these up. Oh, and do the million other things I have to do this month. Ack!!!

Hugs,
Thomas

Chalk up another one for my nerdy credentials; I’ve had to tape up my glasses. Thank goodness for the fantastic Lucie Summers and her super-awesome decorative tape. At least I’m a swank geek…

Hugs,
Thomas

And my current favorite use, a tumbling mat for a budding gymnast…

Bee randomly announced that she could do somersaults on Thursday. Who knew???

So many reasons to love quilts, and all the more reason to make them in whatever size you feel like making. Who cares if a quilt fits a bed; it will certainly find myriad uses throughout its life.

Yay quilts!!!

Hugs,
Thomas