Sonya Cheney

Writer. Witch. Creatrix.

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a quilted christmas gift.

January 25, 2020 by Sonya Cheney Leave a Comment

About a year and a half ago now I started learning how to quilt thanks to my friend Lydia, and for this past Christmas I made my third completed quilt as a gift for my friend Katie.

One thing I love about quilting is the creative opportunity that it presents. Each quilt that I’ve completed so far has started with the same general idea, the half-square triangle, and each one has turned out completely different in the end. Learning that approach alone creates so much possibility for design, and half the fun for me is in sitting down with a handful of HSTs and moving them about like a puzzle to create a design that really jumps out at me for the current project. It’s just so cool! And it’s beyond satisfying when I find something I like and stick with it.

I actually haven’t used a pattern to make any of my quilts yet, and on the one hand that is so much fun because I get to put my creative muscles to use–but I’m also looking forward to the day that I find a pattern I love (or that I think someone else will love) and trying my hand at something more than winging it. The funny thing is that I’ve been knitting for years and have never made a pattern of my own from scratch. I’ve never really had the patience or the desire for it. But with quilting, I haven’t much bothered with patterns, besides the occasional bit of browsing, because it’s an entirely different kind of satisfaction when I’m quilting without that kind of guidance or restraint.

So much of this quilt came together as I was working on it: the square patterns, the addition of the black space, the quilting pattern. I even chose the quilting thread in the middle of the project, debating between black or purple for the top. When I went to Joann Fabrics to browse thread colors, ultimately deciding I’d be choosing a purple, not only did I get a purple but I got a variegated thread with beautiful shades. It added such a cool dimension to the quilting design that I never would have thought of if I hadn’t given myself the freedom to just browse thread colors halfway through the project. (And, no surprise, I am now more than a little obsessed with variegated thread.)

I see so many more quilts in my future–I’m pretty sure we’re going to be buried under throw blankets in our next house. If at some point you no longer hear from me, just know that I went in one of the best ways possible: comfortably wrapped in an endless blanket burrito.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: crafts, quilting, sewing, slow living

jan 2020 | current favorite podcasts.

January 18, 2020 by Sonya Cheney Leave a Comment

In an effort to keep the TV off a little more often, I would say the majority of my time is spent on Spotify listening to either any of a million playlists or, more likely, listening to a podcast. Right after Finn was born, I would keep track of the days of the week by checking what podcasts were updated when he would wake up at 4am. Of course, it seems like most of what I listen to updates on Wednesdays, but still–it was a rough estimate.

But since so much of my time consists of listening to podcasts with him most days, I thought I’d give a little update on some of my favorites at the moment.

Bigfoot Collectors Club // I’ve been listening to this one since August 2018, and when I first discovered it you know I binged those back episodes like it was my job. I’m always on the lookout for new paranormal podcasts–especially when I’m caught up on my usual listens–and I am still so glad to have found this one. Each week, Bryce Johnson and Michael McMillian (with the aid of Super Producer Riley Bray) speak with guests about their personal paranormal experiences and follow up with a high strangeness story of the week. I feel like I’ve learned about so many new, weird cases from this podcast, and I definitely wait not-so-patiently for a new episode on…Wednesdays.

Office Ladies // This podcast consists of The Office ladies Jenna Fischer (Pam) and Angela Kinsey (Angela) doing a rewatch of every. episode. ever. of The Office and providing behind-the-scenes commentary on each episode. If you’re a fan of The Office, this is a must listen–especially if, somehow, you haven’t heard of it yet. My only complaint is that it’s pretty much impossible to watch one episode at a time, so I can’t quite do a watch-along with the ladies. But it’s totally worth it to get the experience of hearing Angela laugh for what feels like the first time.

Good Mourning, Nancy // Um, yeah, so I subscribe to a fair number of horror movie podcasts, and this is my latest. I love a good horror film analysis, and if you give it to me with a healthy dose of feminist commentary, all the better. Abbey and Gracie are long-time friends with a love of horror, and I enjoy their dives into the backgrounds of various films–including Black Christmas, Misery, and The Conjuring. A personal favorite so far is the deep dive special episodes on Clive Barker and Shirley Jackson. I learned so much from those episodes, and I even placed an immediately library hold on a few recommended books from them.

Please let me know if you have any other podcast recommendations for me based on these three. Do I need to add more to my roster? Of course not. But do I want to? Absolutely.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: podcasts

favorite books of 2019 mini book.

January 11, 2020 by Sonya Cheney Leave a Comment

Last summer, I joined rukristin’s Awesome Ladies Project online community to help on my scrapbooking journey, and one of my favorite projects that I’ve done so far as part of the site is her “Best of…” course. It’s quick and simple to fill out the sheets she provides (although choosing favorites isn’t exactly easy), and when I had my list narrowed down, I went through the paper books I already had from zine making, picked a few pieces I thought coordinated, and started putting together my first mini book.

I decided to go more with favorites than “best”–which there was a great conversation about on the ALP site, actually–because most of the time I’m reading purely for entertainment or to learn something. I don’t always read critically and can sometimes be pretty easily pleased with something even if it’s not objectively “good.” I’m trying to be better about that this year, in fact, by writing more reviews on Goodreads after I finish a book rather than just rating it, which maybe I’ll talk about in a later post.

Anyway, my list turned out as so:

10. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

9. Sadie by Courtney Summers

8. Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon

7. Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes

6. Inspection by Josh Malerman

5. Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

4. The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara

3. Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

2. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

1. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

For my first try at anything resembling a mini book, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I like the size, I like the way I included the covers, and I really like the fact that I managed to use a lot of scraps to do it; I didn’t buy anything new for this. Even the yarn on the binding is leftover from an old sock knitting project.

I’m already planning a second mini album, this time with my favorite horror movies of the 2010s. I think that one will be a bit more challenging, mainly because I don’t keep track of the movies I watch quite like I do the books I read, but I think it’ll be fun nonetheless. Plus, it gives me an excuse to use the Halloween paper pack I got last year.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: crafts, paper crafts, scrapbooking

zines, scrapbooking, and storytelling.

January 4, 2020 by Sonya Cheney Leave a Comment

For months I’ve been obsessed with scrapbooking. It’s on my radar as a possible creative activity for years, since around the time 30 Days of Lists started, but it’s only recently that I’ve finally begun dipping my wallet toes into it, and as I was working on a mini book of my favorite reads from 2019, I realized part of what I love so much about it–scrapbooking is surprisingly similar to zines. Even digital design is similar in the way you layer, create text blocks, and just pour yourself into it to tell your story. The biggest difference, of course, is that you don’t really publish scrapbooks. At most, we share photos of our works on Instagram or blogs, but there’s no photocopying and distributing like with zines. The act is similar, though, in laying out the pages and telling stories.

I haven’t been writing any zines lately, even though I’ve had endless ideas over the past year. (Thank you, pregnancy.) To be honest, I’m not sure why I’m not working on zines more. I still love the thought of it, and as I’ve been working on daily pages and mini books at my desk, I’ve loved the act of cutting and pasting, but I can’t seem to do it in any way other than personal journaling in a scrapbook way. It’s not a bad thing, but it does make me think about how I’m evolving as a storyteller.

While I am working on my pregnancy essay collection, I can feel a lot of my memoir work becoming more internalized and intimate, journaling more for myself, for my personal scrapbooks, and just for more catharsis than greater publication. I think it’s been good for my storytelling as I dig deeper into myself and feel less inclined to hold myself back. Getting these personal stories out in an uninhibited way feels like it’s allowing me to think more about my fiction again, and I’m so excited about that. I’m even feeling enthusiastic about revising my novel, which is a big deal because revision is my least favorite part of the writing process.

As far as published personal writing goes, my current focus is on my pregnancy collection and my blog. One of my goals this year is to blog once a week, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes. I’d like to think this post is a good first step.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: crafts, paper crafts, scrapbooking, zines

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Sonya Cheney © 2021 · Hand Crafted by Alt Jade Studio.