I'm so excited to have fellow writer Kim of the amazing True Up blog here for the Project: Project interview series, "Not the Same Five Questions." Kim is a fine enabler, crafter, and mom with a fabric stash to envy.
You know a lot about fabrics and design. What is your background?
Thanks! I am self-taught in all the fabric stuff. My background is in linguistics and publishing -- right now I'm a contract speech pathologist. But I have always had something creative going on -- it was photography and then web design for a long time. I got into sewing about 10 years ago.
You manage to strike a good balance between enabling and educating
Definitely! I'm glad you noticed. When I started out I not only wanted to spread the word about great new fabrics I came across, I also wanted to educate myself about the design process and about different types of fabrics.
One of my favorite posts was “The Great eBay Fabric Haul.” I even read all the comments. What projects came out of that stash?
Ahhh ... that was a great eBay win! That doesn't happen much any more -- too many collectors are clued in now. It was mostly scraps -- some of them found a way in to quilts, some I traded in swaps, but most of them are still hanging out in the stash!
Like many of your readers, you’re a mom. Does the blog allow you to work at home or do you have a day job?
It does allow me to stay home part-time. As I mentioned above I'm also a speech-language pathologist. I do that a few days a week while my mom and husband take turns caring for my 2 1/2 year old son.
You mentioned something about surface design on your blog. Any secrets you care to spill?
I have secrets, but none I can spill! I have found that one of the biggest hurdles in creative life is option paralysis -- but I am thankful I have those options. I'll let you know when I figure it all out!
Thanks again to Kim for the honest and interesting answers. True Up is really important. If you haven't seen it yet, take a look especially at her Digital Fabric Printing Experiment. It's incredibly helpful. And I think I need a storage system like that for my fabric. It's so much better than my ugly plastic 3-drawer system.