Shop Update: A Week Long Flash Sale

Shop Update: A Week Long Flash Sale {an Art School Dropout's life}Flash Sale Time!!! I have put up all of the extra Letters and Hexagons that I cast these past two weeks up in my main shop for ONE WEEK ONLY! 

Most of the listings are set up to be customized in some way or another. This was the reason I couldn’t do this on Instagram and had to open up my StoreEnvy shop again. It will help keep things organized a bit!

I’ve also added a few pre-made earrings, necklaces and a banner or two.

The sale will end Thursday, May 21st at midnight. At that point I will close up shop and start working on all the orders. I wont reopen the shop until the next sale. This way I can ship everything in a timely manner and still fulfill my contractual obligations I have.

All proceeds from this sale are going to help me take care of monthly payments on a long arm sewing machine, something I’m hoping to purchase very soon. The machine will help me turn out quilts faster, and allow me to experiment more with the actual quilting process. Then maybe after a year of practice, I can start taking on others quilts! It’s an exciting venture, and I just want to be ready. So expect a few of these flash sales within the next few months.

Shop Update: A Week Long Flash Sale {an Art School Dropout's life} Shop Update: A Week Long Flash Sale {an Art School Dropout's life} Shop Update: A Week Long Flash Sale {an Art School Dropout's life}

P.S.: You can get 15% off your entire order for being a blog reader! Just use code “BLOGLOVE” during checkout.

P.S.S.: Art School Dropout has an anniversary this month!!! So keep an eye out for a giveaway or two!!!

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WIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project

WIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project {an Art School Dropout's life} #epp #englishpaperpiecingAbout 10 months ago I wrote a post talking about this new obsession I had with english paper pieced hexagons. I talked about making 1″ hexies and hand stitching them all together for a lap quilt.

Well, I’m only about 1/14th of the way there! This is turning into my forever project. That project that you just keep working on until the day you die. Seriously though, If I keep going at this speed, I wont be finished for at least 5 years. YEARS! I’m ok with that though. Since it’s mostly made from my own scraps, with a few donated by friends, I will be able to look back at each hexagon and think of the project I made or the friend that gave me the fabric. It’s basically my quilting scrapbook! Maybe I should rename it?!?

WIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project {an Art School Dropout's life} #epp #englishpaperpiecing WIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project {an Art School Dropout's life} #epp #englishpaperpiecing WIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project {an Art School Dropout's life} #epp #englishpaperpiecingI have been trying to keep this project under control by making 18″ blocks first and then piecing them all together in the end. As you can see above, I’ve finished one block and have three almost there. Each of the semi finished blocks is from a different level of the house or a different bag. I have project bags or boxes everywhere so I am never short of hexies to piece. That one on the bottom right for example, I pieced all of that in the airport this past weekend and a little on the plane. I did it in three sections to keep it manageable (and to not bring attention to myself) and then pieced the sections together at home.

This system really seems to be working for me.

WIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project {an Art School Dropout's life} #epp #englishpaperpiecing WIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project {an Art School Dropout's life} #epp #englishpaperpiecingWIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project {an Art School Dropout's life} #epp #englishpaperpiecing WIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project {an Art School Dropout's life} #epp #englishpaperpiecingAbove you can see one of the storage systems I have been using. Nicole over at Modern Handcraft originally posted about these a few months back on InstaGram. They are Sterilite divided bins from Target and they can only be found in store. The little bins inside come out so you don’t have to have this huge bin on top of your table or wherever you are working. This seems to work best for me when I’m sitting on the couch actually. For any other situation I have little zipper pouches.

WIP: An Update On My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project {an Art School Dropout's life} #epp #englishpaperpiecingI’m leaving for ANOTHER trip very soon and I’m thinking a pouch or two will be stashed away in my backpack, just in case I have free time, because I would love to finish this faster. It’s going to look so neat!!!!!

Keep an eye out in the next few months for yet another update on this thing (hopefully), and in the meantime I have some other Hexagon projects in the works that I’m also excited to share with everyone!

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A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon

A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon {an Art School Dropout's life}Here we have the last two projects I made for QuiltCon. Woohoo! A drawstring bag and a patchwork lanyard. Both were made as part of the pin swap I’m taking part in.

A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon {an Art School Dropout's life} A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon {an Art School Dropout's life}

The bag was made to hold all of my Hexagon Pins and I used In Color Orders lined drawstring bag tutorial. I actually use this pattern quite often as reusable gift bags, project bags or toy bags for friends and family. They go together super fast and are beyond cute. The fabric I used is by two of my absolute favorite artist. The top Lllama fabric is by Meg Hunt and I bought it YEARS ago from her when she was having a destash sale. It can now be purchased from her Spoonflower shop. The bottom fabric is by Lisa Congdon from her line The Land that Never Was. I figured if I made it out of my favorite fabrics, I’d probably use it more later.
A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon {an Art School Dropout's life} A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon {an Art School Dropout's life}

The bag doesn’t hold all of the Hexagon pins, however it does hold enough for one day. That way I don’t give away all of my pins all at once!

A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon {an Art School Dropout's life} A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon {an Art School Dropout's life} A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon {an Art School Dropout's life}

So this lanyard wasn’t really a necessity, since QuiltCon does provide a lanyard with your badge, but why going the boring route?

I used Procrasticraft’s lanyard tutorial and a bunch of random scraps to put this together. I lengthened it by about 1″, purely because I didn’t want to cut off one of the designs. Fashion over function anyone?!? I spent maybe a total of 30 minutes putting this together and the outcome looks like it took way longer. Those are always my favorite type of projects.

A Drawstring Bag and a Patchwork Lanyard for QuiltCon {an Art School Dropout's life}Are you guys tired of hearing about QuiltCon yet? Well don’t worry, if everything went as planned I should be on a plane en route to Austin when this blog post goes live . So all that’s left to talk about would be a recap, I think…

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Adventures in Casting: Promotional Hexagon Pins

Adventures in Casting: Promotional Hexagon Pins {an Art School Dropout's life} Hand Cast Plastic lapel pins for QuiltCon. #askmeaboutmyhexies #showmeyourhexiesQuiltCon is tomorrow, woohoo! I’m both excited and a little freaked out. I’m not use to traveling alone anymore and the weather isn’t the greatest in Maryland right now (winter hit us late!). For the first time ever I’m done all my projects and packed early. Who am I?!? I even properly photographed it all. What!?! Don’t get to use to this though, who knows how long this will last. Anyway…

There is this fun little tradition at QuiltCon I learned about, where people get 1″ buttons made with their name/business name/etc on them and they go around swapping with other people. They show them off on handmade lanyards or bags the whole trip. It’s a fun way of networking and helps break the ice when your meeting internet friends in real life for the first time. Absolutely brilliant!

I wanted to partake, and was about to go searching for my 1″ button machine, when the little light bulb over my head went off. Why not cast some pins? I had been trying to give myself some excuses to pour plastic again, because I really missed it. Perfect. I ordered some plastic and silicone and started making mock up designs. This was in early January.

Adventures in Casting: Promotional Hexagon Pins {an Art School Dropout's life} Hand Cast Plastic lapel pins for QuiltCon. #askmeaboutmyhexies #showmeyourhexiesI settled on a simple 1″ hexagon (because I REALLY love sewing hexagons) that I would just attach to my already designed business cards. I made a bunch of duplicate molds so I could cast a bunch of colors quickly. This was about the time that I also decided to make the quilty necklaces and soot sprites, because “why not? I already have the supplies”. If I had a quarter for every time I thought that…

Adventures in Casting: Promotional Hexagon Pins {an Art School Dropout's life} Hand Cast Plastic lapel pins for QuiltCon. #askmeaboutmyhexies #showmeyourhexiesI made around 200 of them, and will be bringing 150 with me to QuiltCon. The rest with be held on to for the shop and for myself. So if you’re not attending, keep an eye on this here blog for a shop update announcement.

I decided that it would be fun to make a little hashtag to go along with this project. So if you’re on Instagram or twitter, check out #askmeaboutmyhexies to see the process behind these pieces. Of course I had to go one step further and make myself a pin to go on my bags (shown above), and then one more step and start a contest…

For anyone going to QuiltCon who gets one of these pins: Take a photo of you, your bag, your pet, your friend or anyone else wearing one of these glittery hexies and tag me @jessee_artschooldropout with the hashtag #showmeyourglitterhexies for a chance to win a matching set of hexagon hairpins, necklace and ring! (I’ll have photos of the prize when I get home) I will take entries until the end of March, just to give everyone a chance.

Adventures in Casting: Promotional Hexagon Pins {an Art School Dropout's life} Hand Cast Plastic lapel pins for QuiltCon. #askmeaboutmyhexies #showmeyourhexies Adventures in Casting: Promotional Hexagon Pins {an Art School Dropout's life} Hand Cast Plastic lapel pins for QuiltCon. #askmeaboutmyhexies #showmeyourhexiesI’m really hoping this helps me be more social. Sometimes I get super anxious around a lot of people, and I really want to make the most of my trip. So if you see me walking around, please come say hi and “Ask Me About My Hexies”, no need to have pins to swap, saying hello is enough!

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Instagram Photo Recap: February 4th, 2015

Instagram Recap: February 4th, 2015 {an Art School Dropout's life} Instagram Recap: February 4th, 2015 {an Art School Dropout's life} Instagram Recap: February 4th, 2015 {an Art School Dropout's life} Instagram Recap: February 4th, 2015 {an Art School Dropout's life} Instagram Recap: February 4th, 2015 {an Art School Dropout's life} Instagram Recap: February 4th, 2015 {an Art School Dropout's life}I have noticed I am using my Instagram account as a makeshift blog. An insta blog! I post things there that I would normally post here. It’s just easier sometimes.

So I thought it would be neat to just cross post some of my favorite photos every other week! If you’re on Instagram and would like to follow me, my username is: Jessee_ArtSchoolDropout !

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WIP: A Collaboration With Andover Fabrics

WIP: A Collaboration With Andover Fabrics {an Art School Dropout's life}About a month ago the very kind folks over at Andover Fabrics sent me a sweet package filled with some precut bundles of brandnew and yet to be released fabrics for me to play with. They wanted to see what I would come up with.

I’ve been a huge mess lately preparing for BlytheCon (2 WEEKS LEFT TO PREP) and working on my Silhouette America projects so I can focus on that BlytheCon stuff, so I haven’t been able to play with all this fabric uninterrupted.

WIP: A Collaboration With Andover Fabrics {an Art School Dropout's life} work in progress potholders using the new 1Canoe2 fabric line from Andover fabrics #quilting #chevronI did attempt to make a pretty, kinda chevron looking pillow out of the new 1Canoe2 line. Halfway through though I realized I had cut a bunch of pieces wrong and now I am reassembling what I can into pot holders. Luckily the line has food related items in it, which actually makes it PERFECT for potholders. Why didn’t I think of potholders before? I’ll share the finished set soon!

WIP: A Collaboration With Andover Fabrics {an Art School Dropout's life} The new Chillingsworth line in hexie form #hexagon #quiltingI also attacked the Chillingsworth charm packs and made a couple huge piles of hexies. They have already been pieced together and are just in the queue waiting to be quilted. (I like to do all my quilting at once. I may be a weirdo like that) Just like the potholders, I hope to share  the finished piece soon.

I also have BIG plans for those fat quarter bundles shown in the background of the first photo. I’m just not ready to share yet.

So, on a slightly different note, this post is just a sweet reminder of the changes I’ve made in how I spend my days! I can now sit down and sew, draw, bake and more without all the stress involved with what I was previously doing. I feel like I’m actually making progress in my goals I talked about last month and I have learned so much in that time too. I’m happier and a bit less stressed (I’ll be even more stress free after BlytheCon).

So I’d like to say thank you to everyone who encouraged me and has been supportive along the way.

You are all awesome!!!

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