Welcome to Hodgepodge - Kim's World

This is our first official post and it really feels good!  Although Anne and I have only known each for a short time, this enterprise we are undertaking was a long time coming.  For years my family and friends encouraged me to pursue this hobby of mine on a professional level.  I would listen to them and think their ideas were great, but I didn’t know the first thing on how to go about it.  Back in the early 2000s, while I pursued my burgeoning career as an archivist, I took small business courses through continuing education programs and reviewed policies from the Small Business Bureau.  I originally wanted to open a fabric shop of my very own but I never felt it was the right time.  I was unsure of my abilities and myself.  I didn’t think I had enough skills or stamina to develop and maintain such a plan.  But then after many years, marriage, moving to a new city, and the birth of my son I met Anne.

  

We met through the “craft night” she hosted for a local mommies group.  We hit it off from the start.  Although some of my friends may argue the exact opposite, I have never though of myself as particularly “outgoing” when it comes to making new friends.  I tend to be shy at first; however, with Anne I never had that problem!  As we got to know each other we discovered we had similar backgrounds and interests.  Not only did we like to quilt but also we each toyed with turning our hobbies into a profession.  Anne even had some experience as a professional quilter.  I remember the day I told Anne about my dream to open a quilt shop and how I would look at available real estate.  She laughed and admitted doing the same thing.  Something immediately clicked!  It is true, we do have different styles and pursuits but it works and we work well together.  So, welcome to Hodgepodge Handiwork, the crafty adventures of two very sensible young ladies hoping to triumph in their successes and laughing (heartedly) in their failures.  All the while testing out their sea legs on the waters of a new chapter in their lives and learning along the way.

Since the theme of my first post is to show examples of my previous and current work here is a sample of what I do.  I would say the running theme in my work is: UFOs (unfinished objects)!  I am notorious when it comes to UFOs and I think one of my main goals for the blog is to force myself to readdress these discarded projects and complete them at last.  We’ll see… never underestimate the power of self-delusion!

The project above was done in 2007 for a friend (who was also kind enough to take this pictures).  It was heavily inspired by Mexican folk art.  I’ve always been a admirer of Frida Kahlo and this picture represents the piece I did to commemorate her and the influences she has had on my work.  The “Our Lady of Guadalupe” figure was originally an embroidery pattern from Jenny Hart’s Sublime Stitching.  I altered it a little to resemble Ms. Kahlo and embellished the rest of the piece with my own designs.  

The piece above was an embroidery design I created.  I used cotton floss and wool for the thread and did the simple but effective split stitch for the entire piece.  It too was heavily influenced by Mexican fold art and in particular the religious holiday Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

I’ve decided to carry on with the embroidery theme and include this little number, which is also a member of the Kim Dixon’s UFO club.  The pictures are details of what was suppose to be a Christmas stocking for a married couple.  The stocking was to be a pair with a “snake in the garden of Eden” theme (since they were to be wedding gifts).  I created an original design using silk floss and the split stitch (it’s my go-to stitch).  I made the stocking like a crazy quilt using silk fabric.  Unfortunately, the project was never finished because upon finishing embroidering the first stocking I got engaged, was pregnant, got married, moved, moved again, and finally became a mother.  Needless to say, the couple that was to get the stockings received another gift in their stead.  We all have good intentions but sometimes life just happens… 

I recently started work on this project within the last year and once completed it will be a table runner.  It’s sort of like crewelwork except instead of wool thread I used cotton floss.  The design came from an appliqué quilt book.  The design was very large and not easy to transfer.  In later posts I will talk about ways to transfer embroidery designs on to fabric.  

This is a detail of yet another member of the UFO club called “Rhapsody in Blue”.  It is a crazy quilt I’ve been working on for several years.  The stitches of this quilt were pretty traditional crazy quilt stitches.  At the time I began this project I was still living in D.C. and I visited the Smithsonian Institution, American Art Museum to view a historic quilt exhibit.  There were stitches used I had not seen before and I used some of them for this quilt.  I will talk more about this quilt in future posts.

These images are of one of the first major quilts I ever undertook and it’s the original member of the UFO club.  It’s a hexagon log cabin or pineapple quilt.  I made this quilt by-hand and I developed the pattern from a picture in a Civil War reproduction book.  The book only offered a picture of an antique quilt.  I loved the picture so much I wanted to challenge myself, and I did!  Just to give a little background this was neither paper nor foundation pieced.

The last pictures I wish to share are details from two quilts undertaken during different times in my life.  The first was paper pieced and started just after I moved to Kentucky.  I pieced it by-hand and used it as a means of keeping busy while I kept my husband company watching TV.  The last example was the first quilt I ever pieced by machine; however it was still hand quilted.  It works great as a picnic blanket.

Well, that's me in a nutshell!  I also sew clothing from time to time, but I'll save that for another day.  I hope you enjoyed our first post enough to come back.  Make sure to check out Anne's post because she not only quilts but scrapbooks and makes beautiful cards.  It's not to be missed!  Make sure to come back frequently and check out our blog.  We'll have helpful hints, interesting articles, and free patterns!