About Me (Lab Report on Me)
Introduction
This is Darla, Scientific Quilter, and this is my Lab report about me and my site.
Hypothesis
Things I want to achieve with this blog:
- Promote quilting, craftiness, science and math in a non-scary way.
- Promote scientific & mathematical themes in others’ quilts & crafts.
- Use quilting as a medium to explore scientific thought processes.
Other interests for this blog:
- Explore the science behind the crafts.
- Describe and share quilty experiments and results.
Provide a crafty solution to scientific labs done either in classroom or at home.
Theory
Science in all its forms is applicable to crafts. Focus on this blog is physical science, but there is plenty of natural science to explore as well. My current passion is quilting, so that’s where most of the entries will center around, but I always delight when I see other blogs, posts and websites that are other sciency crafts.
My knowledge level of science and math is fairly basic, but my love for scientific understanding and reasoning is not. Mr. Wizard was my hero when younger, and now Alton Brown has stepped into that role. I would like to use Good Eats as a muse for this blog. Good Eats shows cooking through the scientific properties of the ingredients, cooking methods, but in the end is still a show about cooking. I would like this blog to discuss quilting through scientific properties and thinking.
Data
I am a scientist, cross stitcher, ex-teacher, simple crafter, simple crocheter, sewer, quilter, and podcaster. My name is Darla and I participate in several quilting communities online. You may see posts and comments on other blogs and forums from Darla or Scientific Quilter – usually either way that’s me.
My undergraduate degree is in physics, with a mathematics minor (almost also a chemistry minor). My master’s degree is in physical science education. I have worked at a planetarium, taught high school physical science, and now work in a production based laboratory. I have found the most joy in jobs when I am able to use my creative side of my brain.
For several years I felt there was something was missing from my life without really knowing what it was. After winning a FREE sewing machine at work, I decided to take up quilting. My passion for crafts is again coming back into my life. Particularly quilting!
Conclusion
Please take a moment to share with me what you think about this blog. I understand that it is different from the others, although I will still find myself talking through my own projects, using them as a lens for my topics.
I also would like input on scientific topics you would like me to explore and share with others. If you’ve created something scientific, feel free to let me know and I will try to highlight it here!
Take care & keep on experimenting!
PODCAST
The podcast for this blog is hosted at:
The Scientific Quilter Podcast
or you can find me on iTunes under Scientific Quilter.
Contact Me
- Find me and other podcasters on the Big Tent
- Leave a comment on a blog post,
- leave a review on iTunes
- Twitter: Scientificquilt
- Facebook page: Scientific Quilter
If you’re wondering about another scientific quilter site, it is an abandoned website on blogger.com. If you’re curious to see it, my original blog is found here. I currently do not moderate anything on that old blog, please post comments here.
Scientific Quilter 
Hi Darla
I’m just loving your podcast. It’s so nice to hear from someone who thinks like ME! You explain the science very clearly, and you have some new ideas – things I haven’t heard before!
I have a couple ideas. One is fractals. I don’t understand them myself (hence the suggestion). Here is a website I found: http://www.roserushbrooke.com/about-fractals.html
The second idea is the Fibonacci number. There was an interesting article in Quilters Newsletter about it several years ago.
Colleen
Colleen,
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll actually work on them both. I may have to do some digging to find th qulter’s newsletter, but I was thinking about fibonacci anyway, so that’s a wonderful suggestion. Sometimes, with all the science, I forget the mathematics side to everything. I don’t know how much I remember my calculus classes to be able to epxlain fractals exactly, but thanks for the link, I think they’d make interesting quilts. Your mathematical themed ideas got me thinking this morning about other mathematical quilts that you could do that could be good to hang up in a classroom or given to math teachers or just mathematical fanatics. Glad to know I’m resonating with somebody, there are days when I am so far “out there” on a different place than the other podcasters that I am not sure if anyone appreciates my style and thinking. Nice to have you listening! 🙂
Darla, I absolutely love your blog. I intend to return when I have more time to listen to your podcasts. I am especially intrigued by the ones about color and of course the fibonacci blocks you created. They are in fact, the basis of bargello quilts. Keep up the great work. Your blog is a shining star in a sea of quilting mediocraty. I can’t wait to read more. Thanks! Reeze
A very generous comment Reeze! I’ll have to quiz you more on the bargello if I see you or take your class on it if that comes to pass. Of course this means I gotta keep working hard to make sure I don’t become part of the sea – which has a lot of beauty in its own right.
Darla,
Your unique podcast and blog is wonderful. I feel it illustrates how quilting is a passion shared by a diverse group of people. I appreciate how you work hard to present scientific concepts in a understandable fashion. I am looking forward to more quilt inspired science in 2010.
Thank you so much Ballardquilter. There is so many styles of quilting out there and so many perspectives to take it from. History, women’s roles, math (and science) home ec and home sewing, physical education (from fighting with your quilt under the machine 😉 Just kidding). I love getting inspired by all of you guys and taking it to the next level – or at least the ledge that I’m sitting from.
About Fractals and QUilting: Quiltuniversity.com offers a class about that…I took it. Contact me if you want! Marion
Marion
I’d absolutely want to get information about what you learned about fractals and quilting. I’ll send you an e-mail shortly! Thanks for offering to help!
– Darla
Yay-hay! I love it! I’m smiling from reading your blog entries!
How the heck are you? I had no idea you were quilting too. Have missed you. How is everything??
Lots of Love
Patti xxx
[…] down: why do I actually podcast? Is it for the reasons spelled out in my first posts / on my about page? Is it truly about helping people or is it just an ‘attention seeking device’ that […]
I’ve just stumbled in here and find this: “Please take a moment to share with me what you think about this blog. I understand that it is different from the others, although I will still find myself talking through my own projects, using them as a lens for my topics.”
Yeah, are you me? I am no scientist, so I guess not. (But I am married to one.) And my blog is not like others. I talk about analysis and process more than any other blog I’ve seen. Except perhaps yours.
My background is more mathematical, in finance. So the analytical, puzzle-solving part is strong. It doesn’t suit everyone, all those who’d just like a pretty pattern to follow… They make beautiful quilts, so I’m not being critical. But it isn’t me. I don’t even know how to follow patterns!
So… are you different? Is your blog different? Maybe so. I’ll need to spend more time here to see. But from my viewpoint, different is refreshing. Thanks for being different.
Melanie