Nordika Interviews and Teaching

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Nordika by Jeni Baker
Nordika, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
Happy Tuesday! I can't believe it's already the end of July, this summer is flying by.  Things are about to pick up and be crazy through the end of the year, so that's part of the reason why this was a quiet month on the blogging end.  Just trying to catch my breath while I can! I'm looking forward to heading home for a little vacation in a week or so and then things will be back to normal.

I've got three interviews to share with you about Nordika from around the web this month! The first is over at the lovely Village Haberdashery. The next, with my friend Julie at The Intrepid Thread.  Finally, today I'm over on The Jolly Jabber. Between the three you'll find out my hidden talent, how I got started designing, the inspiration for Nordika and lots more on my creative process!

Drawstring Bag Workshop by Jeni Baker
Drawstring Bag Workshop, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
I had the pleasure of spending this past Saturday at Gentler Times Stitching in Naperville, IL teaching my Drawstring Bag Pattern! It was a lot of fun and so cool to see everyone stitch up their bags in Nordika!

Nordika Mini Quilt by Jeni Baker
Nordika Mini Quilt, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
Speaking of teaching, I've got a new class at The Sewcial Lounge! We're trying something different for the Quilting Basics class. It's now a one-session class and we'll be making simple mini quilts (sample shown above)! This way, if you're not sure you are ready or interested in making a larger quilt, you can get your feet wet with a mini! We'll still cover all the basics from piecing, basting, quilting, and binding.  We're holding it next month, on Wednesday, August 28th from 6pm-9pm. For more information and to sign up see here

While we're still on the topic of teaching, I have one more tidbit to share. The official Sewing Summit class schedule is up! You can see it here.  You might notice that I'm teaching more the one class.  In addition to HTML Basics for Beginners, I'll be teaching a class on Equilateral Triangles.  I've started collecting inspiration and resources on Equilateral Triangles over on Pinterest. Here is a little more information about each class:

HTML Basics for Bloggers with Jeni Baker: Friday 3:30 – 5:30 pm
HTML is the major language used to write websites, but most blogging platforms allow users to create and design a blog without knowing it. Regardless, even an elementary understanding can be useful, and help you take your blog to the next level! Join me in this class as we break down the basics. We’ll cover how to improve your blog or start one, common coding for sewing/quilting bloggers (available afterwards on a sample blog), and resources for design, and more advanced coding.  There will also be plenty of question and answer time, so come ready! Information covered will be applicable to all platforms but will focus on Blogger and WordPress.com.

Triangle Quilt Top with Jeni Baker: Saturday 1:15 – 3:15 pm
Equilateral triangles are a great shape to work with in quilting, and they’re not hard to use! Triangles can be used as a building block for creating other shapes as well, like hexagons and diamonds. In this class we will explore different ways of cutting equilateral triangles, and learn straightforward piecing techniques all while working on a fun modern quilting project.  You may choose to work on either a mini quilt or a larger quilt in this class.

Hope to see you in class!

Notebook DIY
Notebook DIY, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
I absolutely love graph paper. It's one of my favorite things.  I especially love graph paper composition notebooks.  They are a bit hard to find (unless you want to pay $8 each on Amazon!) during non-back-to-school time, so I always make sure and grab a few this time of year.  I decided to use Diane's tutorial for covering one of them with fabric! So of course I made a Nordika one! I thought the plaid worked well for a graph paper notebook!

Clean Sewing Room by Jeni Baker
Clean Sewing Room, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
After I closed my vintage sheet shop this month (which deserves it's own post), I spent a good week reorganizing and cleaning my sewing room again. I think I've finally found a good place for everything.  It's always being shuffled around since it's a small space to make sure everything fits well. Now it's time to make a mess again!

George
George, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
George bun, wanting pets!

Today I love the..
Smell of: Fresh morning air
Sound of: Birds
Taste of: Diet Coke
Sight of: Mostly clean apartment
Feel of: Sleeping in

Good Things about Today:
- Getting things done!
- Having the laundry room to myself.
- Wearing my hair in a braid.
- Cool enough to have the windows open.

8 comments :

  1. awesome Jeni! those are some fun interviews! And you're closing your vintage sheet shop for good? bummer, but I bet you'll have fun using the sheets you already have!

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  2. I just picked up a bundle of NORDIKA and was so excited when it came in the post yesterday, it's LOVELY. Well Done!! The HTML class sounds like a ot of fun, wish I was going.

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  3. What a lovely studio you have.

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  4. Wow, you sure have been busy! The fabric covered composition book looks awesome. How durable do you think that is? My sons have a bunch of composition notebooks on their back-to-school supply lists and they'd love to have them covered with Star Wars, poison dart frog fabrics, etc., but I wonder if the fabric would stay on very long during "rough handling" in backpacks, lockers, and school desks?

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    1. I'm not sure! I haven't used it took much yet!

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  5. I love your drawstring bag pattern! I haven't made it yet, it's on my short list though. I have a board dedicated to them on Pinterest :)

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  6. Love the triangle pillow and wish I was where you are to take the class.
    George is looking cute as ever!

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  7. I love how your notebook came out, Jeni - and I'm honored you used my how-to!

    I replied to Rebecca on my own blog, but will add a note here too - I've been carrying my fabric-covered books all over in my bag since I made that tutorial, and they hold up beautifully. The whole trick is to press, press, press around all the edges so that fabric is good and fused.

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