Decisions, decisions...

Wow.  I know I haven't posted in a while, but I haven't been doing anything interesting up until very recently.  Lately it's just been a mixture of attempting to finish up old quilts, starting new projects and "commissions" (no, not paid), and figuring out my life plan!

When school ended, so did my internship with a designer that I had been working for on-and-off for about a year.  She's a Chicago fashion designer (with really cute things, actually!), her name is Anastasia Chatzka and I had such a great experience working for her.  My main duties were to construct various garments for her boutique like skirts and dresses, adjust patterns, work events... (now I sound like I'm writing a resume).  It was at times grueling, especially in her studio without proper air conditioning in 90+ degree weather in July, but I really had a blast and learned so much that I wouldn't have been able to learn in the classroom.  When I look back on the day I left, I feel that I didn't properly thank her for the experience and knowledge I gained that I so greatly appreciated, so I decided the right thing to do was to make her an applique quilt!  I know I've been pretty much making tattoo appliques exclusively, but I thought, "Wouldn't a logo translate well with applique, too?"

My inspiration was the back of her business card:

And this is my loose interpretation:

(I hadn't sewn the binding down on the back yet, so if you're wondering why the binding is horribly misshapen...) I even put a sleeve on the back to hang with a dowel!  I can safely say that this is the very first quilt that I had started and finished all by myself (even the quilting!)

My parents were so impressed by how well it turned out, they suggested making applique quilts of businesses' logos as a business.  I have found an excuse to dismiss every business venture they have suggested, as they are big proponents of being your own boss.  The experience of making this logo quilt was very enjoyable, though, and I wouldn't mind doing it for a living, but are businesses willing to shell out cash for a wall hanging of their logo made out of fabric?  I'm skeptical.  But my parents are unrelenting, so my mom has asked me to make one for the medical coding company she works for.

Here is their logo:

And here is what I have so far:

This is my attempt to show gradation with fabric.  I had to buy a purple fat quarter bundle online in order to get those in-between colors as my local fabric store sucks and does not have much of a purple selection apparently (*coughJOANNScough*).

And I have a few updates on my tattoo quilts in progress.  The quilt of my own tattoo is coming along nicely...

Honestly, this picture doesn't really do the silk dupioni justice, the colors pop much, much more in person.  I'm almost done with the top and have decided to make it a horizontal orientation.  I hope to finish it by the end of the month (I'm trying to be realistic).  Even since this picture was taken I have added a line of clouds in the background with silver metallic thread!  I still need to add music notes and the text.

Here is how my koi fish is coming along:

So far, I have quilted all of the black outlines, the inside of the waves, and a portion of the background with that metallic silver thread.  It is proving to be a little difficult to work with, as the inner thread is maybe like, a ply and a half with metallic crap twisted around the outside of it.  Very frequently the tension of the eye of my machine's needle pushes the metallic part off and then the inner thread breaks. This is very frustrating since the quilting design of slightly curved lines close together that I decided to do for the background, which seemed simple in my brain, is now TAKING FOREVER.  The pure labor alone would make this quilt a million dollars.  Well, not literally.  I just keep telling myself that it'll look awesome when it's done (whenever that will be).

And now here I am with piles of unfinished work.  Not too sure where this whole thing is going, but we'll see what happens! It's been tough trying to figure out my place in the sewing world, but I seem to be gravitating toward quilting and fiber arts rather than fashion right now.  I've been considering careers in quilting.  Shall I even utter the "L-A" word?  No, maybe not just yet...