Meet Kimbuktu!

The latest interviewee in our Meet the Boomers series has two shops:  Kimbuktu for fabric crafts, and Paperparaphernalia for paper crafts.  Kimbuktu specializes in quilted bags, quilts, and other items like placemats, and coin purses.  Paperparaphernalia has decoupaged journals, origami items like business card holders, and ACEOs.

Q. How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?  My grandmother taught me to sew at age five.  I began quilting in 1973.  The paper crafts stemmed from my enjoyment of scrapbooking.  I made my first scrapbook as a child, and still have that first one.

Q. Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional craftsperson?  I consider myself a craftsman or artisan.

Q. What inspires you?  Color, texture, fabric, new techniques and tools.

Q. Please share with us what a typical day is like in your workshop or studio.  I work full time in addition to my Etsy shops, so my time is limited. Generally I sew for 30 minutes to an hour in the morning before work, then another couple of hours in the evening. Weekends depend on what else is going on with my family and friends.

Q. What keeps you company while you’re working on a project?  My husband. I have a craft room, but usually drag my sewing out to the dining room table so I can be in the midst of things.

Q. What is your favorite task related to your art/craft?  I really enjoy pretty much the whole process of quilting.  My very favorite part is when the individual pieces of fabric become a cohesive whole after the piecing and quilting.  Usually the whole is much more beautiful than the pieces themselves.

Q. What is your least favorite task related to your art/craft?  I don’t like changing sewing machine feet, threads, winding bobbins, setting up the embroidery machinery — boring.

Q. How do you promote your shop? Do you belong to other teams? use other sites? blog?  I hang out in the Etsy forums (too much), Twitter, Facebook, several blogs, my own website.  I do have a shop on icraft but haven’t sold anything from it.  I belong to several teams. One is a local team, that recently started.  I also belong to a group of artisans who post on WordPress as EveryDayCreate.

Q. Related to your craft, tell us about a funny, strange or unusual situation you found yourself.  Not really funny, strange, or unusual, but a few friends and I have made preemie size quilts for the neonatal unit in a hospital my daughter works in, and make quilts for the new babies at our church.

Q. Tell us something about you that we wouldn’t necessarily know about you by talking to you in the forums.  I am always doing something; it is very hard for me to just relax and do nothing.  But I tend to zigzag and flit, rather than stick to a project until completion.  I enjoy the journey more than accomplishing the goal.

Q. Would you care to share any words of wisdom with other aspiring artists or crafters?   Enjoy the process.  Don’t get caught up in comparing your work or success against others.

Please leave a comment for Kimbuktu!