From Fire Fighter to Fiber Artist with Brandy Maslowski
Today I’m chatting with a Canadian quilting friend, Brandy Maslowski, the Quilter on Fire. Brandy is transitioning from a firefighter to a fiber artist and has a terrific perspective on everything from keeping her studio organized to planning a fun quilting retreat. Enjoy getting to know Brandy in this new podcast episode:
Listen to this episode or download it to your computer using this player:
Super Busy Quilting Week
I didn’t realize how many fun things I have in progress until I sat down to share the introduction this week! I’m getting lots of different projects done because my sewing rooms are so clean and tidy. Make sure to listen to last week’s podcast to learn more about how I’m keeping my creative spaces clean so I can be my most creative self.
I began hand appliquéing my pregnant goddess quilt, Eye of Calm. I’m planning to take out the dark blue fabric in this goddess’s hair because it turned out too striped for my taste. But I realized I could still begin the hand stitching process and just secure the fabrics I like together. I’m loving the feel of stitching through this dupioni silk!
Nope, that blue hair is just not working…
I’m planning to insert purple batik instead of the blue silk and that will have an interesting effect because it will not be shiny like the dupioni silk I’ve used everywhere else.
I’m taking my time with this project and enjoying hand appliquéd process. I wish I wasn’t struggling with the fabric colors, but I’m trying to use up what I have and not buy more $20 a yard silk if I can help it!
Cutting Out My Treadle Base
This weekend I tackled a big project in my living room. I finally gave up on getting my Singer 12 vintage sewing machine to work. There is such a thing as a machine that is simply too old to be practical. Unfortunately the Singer 12 fiddle base machines had a much smaller hole cut out in the treadle cabinet so in order to fit any other machine, I knew I would have to widen that hole.
I shot a video of the process that I’ll share in a few weeks. I took the machine out of the treadle base and widened the whole using two Japanese hand saws.
James gave me a hand with a few longer cuts and we both loved these sharp new saws!
James gave me a helping hand and I am so pleased with the fit around my new Japanese Singer 15 Clone. Yesterday I attached the treadle belt and it’s sewing like a dream. I need to practice using this treadle base as it tends to stitch backward instead of forward.
This straight stitch machine is known as a Singer 15 Clone because it was made by a Japanese company after WWII.
Funky Ms. Bunny!
I finally stitched the test Ms. Bunny from a fabric panel I designed for Spoonflower. I was in a hurry when I design the panel and colored my Ms. Bunny Doll bright red and orange. I took more time to plan her dress and panties and create a pretty calico pattern instead.
James said this is what Ms. Bunny looks like when she’s really angry!
Should I run with these crazy colors, or do you like the brown Ms. Bunny dolls better?
Click Here to find all of the sewing tutorials I’ve shared for Ms. Bunny, her simple dress, and panties!
Now that I know this fabric panel idea will work, I want to create many different versions of Ms. Bunny! I’m planning an Easter and 4th of July themed doll with a matching dress. I’m also thinking about making a zombie Ms. Bunny for Halloween.
Let me know in the comments below if you would love to have a zombified Ms. Bunny doll!
Rise to the Challenge of Your Life
In the evening I’ve been working on a batch of illustrations for my new book Rise to the Challenge of Your Life. The illustrations are my favorite quotes from the book, decorated and designed with hand lettering. Here is an initial sketch of one of the hand lettered quotes:
The quote reads “When will I rise to the challenge of making the things my heart most needs to create?”
I’ve set a tentative date to publish this book on April 15. I’m working to be a better publisher and planning to launch this as an audiobook, e-book, large print version and regular print version as well. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I’m really excited about the process!
Friendship Quilt Along
I haven’t had a lot of time to work on this book for the last two weeks because I’ve been spending my morning creative time on the Friendship quilt along patterns. I tend to procrastinate on projects that are especially challenging and stressful.
So put myself in jail and I am nearly done writing all the patterns (and checking them twice). I’m looking forward to getting this wrapped up and back to my creative writing time.
When I began quilting this block, I really couldn’t stand the design!
Speaking of the Friendship Quilt Along, we have two beautiful quilting designs to learn on the Tree of Life quilt block.
Click here to learn how to quilt Undulation on home machine.
Click here to watch how to quilt the corner to corner curves and Sharp Stippling on a longarm.
Help Support this Podcast!
Thank you to everyone that has joined our Quilt Friends Club this week! We now have over 300 members and I love seeing your sweet comments and beautiful quilts every day.
This membership club helps support the podcast and all the free tutorials I share every week. Click here to check out the Quilt Friends Club.
Meet Brandy Lyn Maslowski
Brandy Lynn is an author, quilting teacher, quilt judge and fiber artist from Canada. She is known as the Quilter on Fire and I love her creative style and professional mindset.
I met Brandy back in 2014 when I stumbled across her Kickstarter campaign for her book Kristy’s Quilt. We hit it off and I came on Brandy’s Canadian Quilt Talk podcast. Click Here to listen to that episode.
Brandy is no longer sharing the podcast but planning to start a Vlog this year! She has shared several fun YouTube videos and you can find her channel here.
Studio Magnificent
Keeping my studio clean is one of my biggest goals this year. Brandy was featured in Studio magazine after she staged a big clean up on her blog.
This is now a lecture Brandy shares to encourage quilters to find what works for their creative spaces. She absolutely believes that you need to use the method that works best for you and to either keep things out or put them away and see through bins so you can easily access your materials.
Brandy is a professional quilting teacher and is traveling further in Canada and the US this year. Her favorite teaching event this past year was a quilting cruise. 50 quilters cruised to Hawaii and back with Brandy and made many fun projects and great memories.
Brandy’s most popular workshop is for this beautiful Canadian Maple Leaf quilt!
Brandy has increased her teaching amount in the last year she has changed her job in the fire safety industry so that she can work from home and be more flexible with her quilting business. She offers nine different workshops if you’re interested in having her come teach, click here to check out her offerings.
Brandy is planning on starting a Vlog in the next couple of weeks and is very excited to be sharing face-to-face and videos as well as planning a quilting retreat in November. Make sure to subscribe to Brandy’s newsletter to get weekly updates and book reviews of interesting quilt books.
Find Brandy online at QuilteronFire.com and @QuilteronFire on Instagram and Facebook as well.
Let’s go quilt,
Leah Day
