Each time I write about my Out of the Box challenges I get questions about the group itself. I plan to start answering them along the way. Please feel free to add your questions to the comments so I can keep a running list. All these posts will be tagged with the Out of the Box category. I also went back and tagged past posts about the group (I’d missed a few!) with the category so they can be easily viewed together.
The question I get most often is “What advice do you have for starting my own group?” If I read between the lines, I think that really means “How do I meet people that would enjoy participating in a group like this with me?” I’m going to tackle that today. (As a side note, I did not start my Out of the Box group. I was asked to participate and jumped at the chance!)
Moving to Bainbridge Island 3 years ago required me to make new friends. Here is a list of things I did:
- I took my first quilting class at Esther’s. My teacher was Margret Darrah. She is an extraordinarily talented woman and I’ve had the pleasure of becoming her friend since we first met in class. There were two other students in my class. One I’ve never seen since. The second I ran into at a drop-in knitting session at Churchmouse two weeks ago. She finished her quilt too. Margret started Out of the Box last year and invited me to join.
- I took my second quilting class at Esther’s and learned to machine quilt. Two of the students told me about the Kitsap Quilter’s Guild and encouraged me to join. I did. The teacher and one of the students are now also Out of the Box group members.
- I’ve been involved with the guild for two years. Last year I stepped up and took on a committee chair position for the annual quilt show. Each time I volunteer I meet new people. The majority of quilters would consider themselves traditional in their style and the average age is much older than I am. There’s always a few subversives (young and old) that show their modern quilts during show and tell, I always make a point of getting to know them.
- I take classes that are offered through my guild. At one of these classes I sat next to a woman that told me about the American Sewing Guild. I joined that group too. It’s much smaller and more intimate than the quilt guild and I’ve made several good friends.
- Whenever I meet new people I ask them if they sew or knit. I learned that my neighbor across the street makes quilts and so does the office secretary at school. A friend of mine that doesn’t sew told a friend of hers that sews clothes about me and ‘this clothes sewing group’ I go to every month. She joined ASG several months ago.
The point of all these examples is that none of them were an instant source of crafty friends but they were all journeys that led to meeting the talented women I’m friends with today.
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The Out of the Box challenge for February was:
“Create an original work composed entirely out of organic materials. The idea is that, if need be, this item will assimilate back into nature anonymously.”
I’ve tried really hard to keep my challenge projects fiber based. My primary goal for participating in the group is to have a structured monthly task that requires a stretch of my creativity and results in the creation of at least one art related quilt every four weeks.
The winter has been very cold for a very long time and I am SO ready for Spring. That inspired the tomato plant marker idea. I’ll write in the varieties with a permanent pen once I get things planted. I envision these will deteriorate over time, similar to prayer flags.
I used the organic cottons I won from Sew, Mama, Sew via the Whip Up challenge. The dyes are all natural based, non-toxic and biodegradable. I fudged because the cotton thread, batting and linen backing obviously all have chemicals in them from the production process. I’m excited to use these in my garden this year. Come on Spring!
Just incredible Kathy. Are those radishes? I just love them.
Kathy, you make me want to hop the ferry to Bainbridge!!! I’m a new quilter (and new to the Seattle area) and am awe-inspired by your work!!
I think another thing worth mentioning is that sometimes the first group you go to might not be a good fit. If that happens, keep trying! When I moved back to Seattle about 2 years ago, I went to a knitting group and just didn’t really feel comfortable. I was a little nervous to try another one, but I’m so glad I did! I’ve found some amazing friends through the group and we have so much fun at our group knit nights as well as with our extra-curricular activities – I’ve gone running with people from knitting, had sewing/quilting get togethers, celebrated New Years and my 30th birthday!!! Definitely a great way to make friends after I moved!
Those are wonderful. I wouldn’t want to use them outside.
You make me want to hop the ferry too. I have a couple of quilt and fiber arts groups I belong to over here and it certainly did take a little bit of time and meeting people to get involved in them.
The plant markers are wonderful, but I wouldn’t want to use them outside either…way too cute to have to suffer the ravages of the weather!
OH they are too cute to use outside!!!
What a clever girl you are. xoxoxo Clarice
That was exactly what i needed to hear today! I just made my first ‘quilt in a day’ at a workshop sponsored by the Home Extension Agency in Woodbury, TN and am now wanting to make friends with other crafty minded folks in my area. You’ve convinced me that a local quilting guild is where i need to begin to satisfy my thirst that I’ve developed from the workshop. I spent the day with a new friend that lives in another town and visited her local quilt shop that blew my mind. The sky is the limit and i’m ready to fly! Thanks for your continued inspiration in your crafts and the creative way you are living and sharing……….
lovely!
OMG, I love those!
Those are so cute! I love the prayer flag type idea. I’m sooo ready for spring as well!
Great tips! I love the markers. I gather that they don’t have any fusible in them. Is it hard to sew down the pieces without fusible? I might give that a try sometime.
So cute — I can’t wait to see them in your garden.
As for finding a like minded group to play with, I’ve had many of the same experiences you have — meeting people through the local fabric store and/or guild meetings (it does take time though). One of the most exciting groups right now though, is one that exists only in cyberspace. The lady who brought the group together decided she wanted to be part of a group that did bi-monthly art quilt challenges with a theme, so she contacted all her favorite art quilt bloggers to see who wanted to play. I think she sent out about 20 emails and received 12 responses. We’re on our third challenge now and having a great time. The moral of this story? If you know what you want, put the call out there, there will probably be plenty of people looking for the same thing
.
Very sweet and clever as usual. You are so creative!
I also ask people if they sew, knit or craft in any way, but mostly the answer plainly is “no”. on the flat land (meaning where I live) there are not many people who do anything. no classes around, no fabric store nearby.
I’m so happy that I had the chance to meet some fellow spirits via the internet, some of them I’ve meanwhile met personally, some do I only know “online”, but it really is a blessing having the whole world opening up just by pressing a button on the computer. Think this is also what Kristin means.
Ah, and for the plant stakes – woooo-hooo! CUUUUTE! ^-^
I’ll need some for my roses. I have about 40 sorts in my yard and slowly tend to forget the names…
Kristin: no fusible or glue. I was trying to keep the materials as natural as I could. I wasn’t too worried about the precision so it was easy to sew everything down.
Kristin L: and as an add on to Kristin’s comment… when she posted her latest challenge quilt for the group she mentions I went over and looked at the website. I noticed one of the artists lived in Poulsbo, WA (right next door to me). I sent her an e-mail and she came to the Out of the Box group last night. I thought that was a great turn of events.
Wow! These are incredible. Have you ever considered illustration with textiles as your medium?
These are so charming, and I love thinking about them as little prayer flagrs: like little offerings to the garden, so that it’ll be good & productive.
The little radishes are entirely charming.
Your plant tags are amazing, can’t wait until spring!
I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now, and love looking through all your amazing sewing projects. I’m wondering how you learned to quilt using free motion. Did you use a book? Take a class? I’d love to learn how!
The plant markers are great! Wonderful to read your journey through quilting land and making friends. I’ve been to two hand-quilting classes now and I love to be together with a group of women who share the same interest. I will definitely go the quiltbee that is organized by our rather new local quiltshop next week. It’s a great way to meet new people. Making new friends always takes time and not everybody will become a friend.
Your plant tags are beautiful. I love the subtle colors.
Thank you for sharing your experience in meeting “real life friends”. I say that because so many of the crafty friends I’ve made are blog friends whom I love, but will probably never get to meet in person.
When we moved here, I tried desperatly to meet crafty women my age. It took a lot of searching, it seemed the only women around here who craft are waaaay older, but then I found one. She is now my best friend. We go thrifting together often and bounce ideas around for new crafts. She is the only person I know whom I can call anytime and have an hour-long conversation about bottlecaps or paint colors and she is just as excited as I am.
I think that’s brilliant, Kathy! Love the idea of them deteriorating gradually.
those are so so cute! I’m inspired!
I have a hard time meeting real life crafty friends because of the hours I work and I’m so frequently out of town… I’m always jealous of bloggers talking about crafting with their real world friends!
Allison: I took a class first. Just a three hour type of thing. It gave me a reference point for the technique and allowed me to self-teach from there. My personality likes to master something quickly and easily which is not the learning curve on machine quilting. It takes practice on real quilts. I did a series of doll and baby quilts for my guild donation programs. That was a very low pressure way to practice.
Patsy Thompson has a wonderful collection of free downloads for learning to free-motion quilt: http://patsythompsondesigns.com/free-downloads/
Good luck and have fun!
What a great group! I love your plant markers. And good advice for finding like-minded folks.
Sigh, I adore being an ‘Out of the Box’er! Yes, I’ll brave the rain, snow Seattle traffic and the ferries to get to the island just so I can attend this wonderful gathering. I don’t really regret moving to the mainland, but, boy, how I do miss my crafty playmates. Sniff, sniff… Glad to get to see you at lest once a month! ;o)
Really great idea, love the markers!
If any of you Seattle “mainlanders” ever want to get together, I’m certainly up for coffee and a trip to the fabric shop….feel free to email me.
I have to thank Kathy for inviting me to be part of ‘Out of the Box’!!!
I’m the one who “met” Kathy through Kristin’s blog and post about our online group, ‘Twelve x Twelve.’ The trail led Kathy to my blog post about my entry into our guild’s challenge. I loved Kathy’s comment that when she saw my book she thought “nobody in this guild did that!” I’m really excited I was able to attend the meeting, even though I had to drive home in the snow!
If you want to meet other people the biggest thing is just putting yourself out there and making it known that you are interested in hanging out with other crafty, arty people.
I love the vegtable blocks! You have a very nice blog that i found while on the best sewing sites –
wendy