Every horizontal surface in my workroom is covered, mostly with fabric, but other stuff, too. I don’t have large enough horizontal surfaces, but that is no excuse. I have so many things going on. On the top of my list is sewing!

I am trying to pick out fabric for my latest Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker Tote. I’d like a new one for spring and it just isn’t going well. I tidied up a little after I got home from CQFA, but I still don’t have enough space to work.

I had three fabrics ready to make the next Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote and one of them disappeared or I lost it or misplaced it. To make matters worse, I don’t remember which one I had selected. Bleah!

I was looking for a red or a pink to bring out the middle of the flower, but am considering another green to encourage subtlety. I looked at pattern on the fabric as well as the color and I am not really sure any of them work. The above are some that I tried out to see if I liked them. I think I need a red with a little more pink.

Perhaps you like the above?

No? I found more fabric choices in the pile behind the door. they caught my eye when I was wandering in and out. This area is like the Tollbooth in the Phantom Tollbooth and they haven’t been on my radar since my sister moved a bunch of stuff around in my workroom.

I definitely like the pink dot better. It is a lot of dots in the piece, however.

The small dot kept catching my eye as I looked at some of the other choices. It was on the top of my ironing board because I had just ironed it. I kind of like the lavender/pinkish color.

Stripes don’t work for me. Well, actually, the stripes work, but the color of the stripes doesn’t work. Too Pepto Bismally.

Too much green?

I really wanted to get going on that tote today. It has been too long since I sewed. Since I couldn’t decide on colors, I was stuck. NOT!

I have plenty of fabric and had just come across the perfect green to make the straps for another AMH MTT, so I started in on that and got pretty far after I made the  straps.

The reddish pink fabric is a Martha Negley for Rowan fabric from the Variegated Garden collection will be used for the exterior. This particular print is MN-40 Dahlia.

That fun dot is the inside. As you can see I have the pockets pinned and ready to sew, but haven’t sewn them yet. I was tired.

I added a cell phone pocket, which is the smaller pocket also waiting to be sewed on.

Sorry, this photo is bleary. I have been up and down the stairs (4 flights) at least 8 times to fix photos and I am not doing it again. This idea is from the Sweet Harmony bag. The dimensions of this  pocket are 4″x5″. I cut it 8″x5″, sew around the outside with right sides together, turn it and then sew it to the lining of the AMH MTT bag. The way I make it fit the cell phone is that I pin the bottom so that it measures only 3″, which makes a pleat.

We spent the weekend on the North Coast. I wasn’t excited about going, but, for various reasons, agreed and was glad I did. The North Coast is beautiful and I found as the car left the City behind and my eyes took in more green than concrete and metal, I felt calmer and more relaxed than I had in awhile.

To prepare for the trip, I looked up quilt shops in the area and came up with four. On the way up, we also saw a shop in Laytonville called Fat Quail Quilts that got good reviews from the other shop owners, but I wasn’t able to stop.

We did stop at Kim’s Fortuna Fabric and Crafts, Itsy Bitsy Quilt Shop in Ferndale, Scottie Dog Quilts and Ocean Wave Quilts, both in Eureka. The first shop I visited was Kim’s Fortuna Fabric and Crafts. It is in a strip mall (a nice one) off of Rohnerville Road and Main Street right as Main Street turns into Fortuna Blvd. I am telling you this because I had to call since I couldn’t find it by driving up and down Main Street.

It is a nice store with a good selection of fabrics at about $8.99 a yard. the woman behind the counter was helpful and friendly. They also have yarn and other craft supplies. there was a Tumbling Block class going on while I was there and the teacher has quite a selection of classes going on during the next few months. I bought 3 flannels I like to use to make some receiving blankets (top 3 fabrics, above).

I bought some food  fabrics for my mom for one of her quilts and a couple of dots for myself. I saw a pink and white flower print that went with a black and white and a stripe. The three of them would have made a fabulous Anna Maria Multi-tasker tote, but I resisted. I have a full box of tote bag fabrics and need to make a few tote bags before I buy more fabric.

Famous last words, however, after I stopped in at Itsy Bitsy Quilt Shop in Ferndale. Ferndale is a cute little town off the beaten path with gorgeous buildings on its Victorian Main Street. Itsy Bitsy Quilt Shop had a very chatty man sitting behind the counter when I walked in. He turned out to be the owner’s husband. They had fabulous fabrics and I succumbed, including two tote bag fabrics.

The store was really bright and cheerful and I think that was part of the attraction. I think it was my favorite quilt of the four I visited. The 2 tote bag fabrics are Kaffe Fassett prints. I also bought some dots, of course. The one above will go on the inside or the pocket panels. Not sure what I will use for the inside, perhaps a black & white print? I have plenty already.

After Ferndale we went up to Eureka to see Scottie Dog and Ocean Waves. Scottie Dog Quilts was a nice shop as well. I am amazed at what quilt shop owners can cram into a small space. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t feel crowded in Scottie Dog, but it wasn’t Best Buy either. I bought more dots and a conversational on turquoise with coffee cups that I want to use on the back of the Tarts (see above on the left, 4th from the top).

Scottie Dog Quilts had 2 diamond quilts hanging on their wall. I asked if they had the ruler or template they used to make it and the shopkeeper said that they used the Accucut. I never considered that machine as an option for me, but that offhand comment opened up a whole new world for me. Cutting diamonds for the FOTY 2010 would be absolutely no problem, however. Hhmm. I wouldn’t buy that machine just to make one quilt, but I will look around and see if a shop has it and I could try it. I have a lot of questions:

• do they have the sized diamonds I have started to cut?
• can you put one layer of fabric and have it cut?
• how large of a piece of fabric can you put in, e.g. can I cut a 2×6″ piece of fabric and cut the diamond from that or does the piece have to be larger?

Finally, we went to the Ocean Waves Quilt Shop. It is housed in an old Victorian house, which made it adorable, but also a bit dark. I bought a pack of charm squares and another food FQ for mom. I think I was tired of fabric shopping by then.

I find it quite hilarious to listen to what the quilt ladies talk about while I am shopping. In my travels this weekend, I heard about the tribulations of the world including prescription drug addiction, surgery, a sister determined to have 4-6 children though she doesn’t have the money to raise them and a multitude of Valentine’s Day anecdotes.

If you spend any time up on the North Coast, you won’t have to worry about a shortage of  fabric.

I am thinking of using this combination of fabrics for my next pencil roll. I will center the main part of the back around those two feathers and the teal and chocolate will be the inside and the pocket piece. I thought I would start this the first weekend in Feb, but kind of tanked and didn’t do it.

The upholstery fabric is another FabMo fabric. I already pried off the tags and removed the staples.

Here are some miscellaneous things that came my way. The fabrics were free giveaways at the retreat thanks to Debbie. I couldn’t resist the pink ice cream fabric. I can’t wait to cut up some pieces of it for Cathy’s Eye Spy and Julie’s Tumbler. Perhaps I will make a gift bag out of the rest. We’ll see. that fabric makes me happy to look at.

The Creative Grids Diamond Ruler arrived on Monday. It looks a lot better than the other diamond ruler I have, so perhaps the latter will go to QTN? I haven’t yet tried it out so I’ll have to play with it a bit to see if I want to use it for the FOTY 2010.

Finally, I bought the pattern at Hart’s last weekend. The pictures look different than the model I saw made up in the store. What I saw was more like a little tote rather than a backpack. The store clerks were sure this was the pattern, so I took a leap of faith. Another tote for the list of to dos!

I think I have enough new stuff to play with for now.

My to immediate do list includes a couple of pencil rolls, one for the One World One Heart project and one for a gift. I’d like to get to them this weekend, but we will see.

At some point, I’d like to go to FabMo myself and see the goodies. Not sure when the next open day is and am not sure whether I want to give up some of my sewing time this weekend to do that.

I used some of my Christmas money to buy some new fabrics. Are you surprised?

The second row dot fabrics will be a tote bag. I love the color combination. I thought the orange was more of a salmony orange, but the lighting in the store wasn’t that good and I found out it was a more pure orange. That is ok. I still think the color combo looks good.

I may use them to try the scaled down AMH MTT. I still haven’t tried the scaled down version. I have a rule to use good fabric for new projects in case it comes out well, but I decide not to make the pattern again (remember the Sweet Harmony bag?)  Thus, I am wondering whether I want to use good fabric and possibly screw it up or fabric I don’t care that much about and have it come out really well.

Julie took me  to a store called Hart’s. What an awesome store! They had one of the largest selections of quilt fabrics I have seen in a long time. The quilt fabric selection was HUGE! Julie said she hadn’t been there in a while because of a bad experience  when her kids were little. We were pleased that the service was excellent!

Hart’s also has an upholstery section. They had lots of wonderful upholstery fabric, trims and laminated cotton. The selection of laminated cottons and oilcloth was more extensive than I have seen anywhere. Some of their laminated cottons were so soft they were almost like non-laminated cottons.

The Cal fabric, from Beverly’s, will be for some pillowcases. That is all I can say right now as I am contemplating whether they will be gifts. Yes, I am planning ahead. Stay tuned.

The red dot fabric (top row, third from the left) was the gift wrapping on my gift from Julie. I don’t remember seeing those dots and the wrapping she did looked like that form of Japanese wrapping, whose name I can’t remember right now.

I have to admit that this week has been a challenge and I am pretty exhausted. I felt this way on Wednesday and just had to power through the rest of the week. It was tough! Boys are gone and I am supposed to go to a party. I am tempted to blow it off, but I have gotten a lot of emails asking me if I will be there. I also really like the people who are giving it. We’ll see.

I’d like to get some sewing done as my brain is starting to wonder what that is. I feel like it has been an eternity since I have been at the machine.

I went to the Timberlake Quilters Guild Blog, which is called Fiber Whimsy and saw some lovely photos from their string piecing workshop. One of the photos was a Spiderweb! They seem to be popping up all over. I guess this is message to get back to mine. I think it is one of the projects I want to work on in 2010. Stay tuned to see. Love the red background on the one pictured in the photo.

Tagging this Blog

As a librarian, you’d think I would have all the answers about tagging, but I don’t. I have been thinking about whether or not I should add a tag for the name of each project so you (and I!) can click on the name of a project and see all the posts about that project. I am not sure I could back and tag all the old posts unless I was laid up in bed for a period of time, but I could do it going forward. Let me know if you think that would help you. I would also like to k now what you do in your blog, if you have one.

I helped my mom download iTunes and subscribe to some podcasts. We listened to a little of the Cast-on podcast and she loved it. I can’t wait to hear whether the whole premise works for her or not. She has really gotten into Cat Bordhi, a knitter, lately so I downloaded some interviews to which she could listen as well.

Laura Wasilowski left a comment encouraging me to finish the piece that I started in her class. I took a look at it again and realized that the handstitching makes the piece look really spiky and unfriendly. I think I need to add some petals to the flowers and see if that makes it look more friendly.

You can see a watercolor painting that usually hangs in my dining room. I love this painting. It makes me feel calm. I just generally love beach and water scenes. That thought makes me wonder if that is why I like turquoise so much? After the painting project, the art is not back up yet. We may rearrange the art. However, as I seem to never be home, we haven’t discussed it yet.

Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson! blog has a laptop sleeve tutorial on Sew, Mama Sew! While I am not fond of beige, I do like the swirly motifs on the fabric. This would make a nice gift. Yes, I am thinking ahead! I would probably add a strap or a handle, however. I have to admit that I find it hard to navigate that site, but sometimes the effort pays off and here is a list of a year’s worth of Elizabeth’s projects just for you.

My sister received Lakers v. Trailblazer tickets for Christmas from her boyfriend. Our dad lives near Portland, so I think they went together. While she was there she took the opportunity to raid and scan our childhood photos. In the course of that project she went to a craft warehouse to get supplies. While she was there, she found some fabric that she said was for me. YAY! I haven’t received it yet, but presume I will soon.

She has sent me some scans of my 5 year old self, which are not new, but still entertaining.

I saw a post on Twitter to a Detroit artist who is doing interesting things with blue. Steven Magsig has a blog called Postcards from Detroit where he posts paintings of little areas of the city and buildings in the city

I seem to remember mentioning that I spent an hour and half last Saturday talking to the CQFAers about developing a creative habit. I got lots of good feedback. Here are some tips from my talk:

• Use what you have at hand
• Use materials you feel comfortable using
• Tools (KISS)
  • paper
  • pen
• Start small
• Acknowledge your distractions
• Be process oriented not goal oriented. The goal will be achieved if you engage in the process
• Develop a daily practice that works for you
• Surround yourself with inspiration

I am thinking about something bigger with more detail on this subject, so am just giving you an overview.

Have an inspirational and creative weekend!!!!

I meant to write about this sooner, but it just didn’t happen. I saw this Flowering Snowball quilt when I went to Back Porch in October.

I have to admit that I was shocked, because I thought that nobody was making that pattern except for me and here was a semi-local quilt shop teaching a class. I have to admit that I was disappointed, because I thought I was doing something unique. Call Back Porch if you want to sign up for the class.

When I went to the Kaffe Fassett lecture, we also went to the shop, where we bought a few things.

I wanted to restock up on the Lonni Rossi fabrics. The line was long and as we stood in line, I saw this quilt on the wall.

I know TFQ will like it, but I also like the cheerfulness of it. I think the background is dots.

Here are some of the Christmas gifts I received and bought for myself this year. I don’t have reviews for them yet, because I have really only just glanced through them. I will look forward to reviewing these books in detail and you can look forward to them in 2010.

I talked briefly about Journal Bliss in a previous post. Dolores brought her copy of this book on Thursday when we met so I had a chance to look through it. Some of it is pretty basic, but I love the bright and cheery layout. After Dolores and I parted, I stopped in at Borders and bought it.

Julie was kind enough to give me Fearless Design by Lorraine Torrence. Lorraine gave me the rule “make visual decisions visually”. She and TFQ know each other via the quilt world, so whenever we are together and see Lorraine we are able to have a little more than a writer-customer conversation. Last time, at APNQ, we discussed her desire to have made the book longer and I suggested putting additional information up on her blog/website. I don’t know if she ever did that.

I received a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble. I don’t normally shop there, but decided that I would immediately sit down and buy as many books as I could with the gift card. With the card and about $3 I was able to add 3 books to my library. The first is Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again. I wrote up a bunch of notes to write a review during my week away, but can’t seem to find the actual review on the blog. Perhaps I never got to it! I’ll have to dig up those notes and write the review for you. Look for that sometime.

TFQ gave me Amy Karol’s book, Bend the Rules with Fabric. Angie at the Quilting Loft had Amy Karol (of Angry Chicken fame) here for a reading and signing and TFQ got a copy for me and got it signed!

This is more of an inspiration book for me. A lot of the projects require some kind of fabric manipulation. Since I am generally opposed to messes, I don’t do that stuff at home. However! I am open to the possibilities and would work with someone else on dyeing and painting etc. The photo shows one project that I really want to try! These are dolls where you use photos of the heads of family and friends. I love this idea. My great niece, “Henry I”, lives in Maryland. She has never been out here and it is has been awhile since her parents have been out. I was thinking that it would be great to make a set of her cousins (11) using this idea. I also think that one of my nephews might benefit from a sister doll when his sister goes off to college in the Fall. Getting the heads on the body (provided) looks like it requires some Photoshop so I may need Natalie to help me. Cut and paste may work, too. In general, this project is a lot of work, so I am not committing to anything more than thinking it is a great idea. If I do it, it might be the impetus I need to learn more about Photoshop Elements.

When SIL and I went to hear Kaffe Fassett, we had some time to kill, so we stopped in at Borders. They have a wonderful selection of magazines, which I greatly appreciate. I bought a copy of Magic Patch, a French quilt magazine to which I used to subscribe. It is the November/December issue, #47. The Christmas tree project was really appealing. I’d love to make one!

I have studiously avoided stuffing things in the past, but it looks like, with the dolls above and this project, that there is a possibility that this will be the year of stuffing!

My friend Faye, from New Zealand, has some kind of stuffed Christmas tree that she uses instead of a live tree. I don’t think I have even ever seen a photo of it, but I have often thought of how cool such a decoration would be. When I saw this pattern, I thought that it would be worth a try. I even thought of making 14 for the siblings and cousins, but think that may be too much of a committment. Perhaps I will win the lottery and be able to stay home and sew all the time, which would make it possible.

This issue also has a journal cover pattern with embellishment, some string pieced 8-pointed stars and a inteview/portrait of Lorraine Roy, among other things.

This is mostly a project magazine, but they do have quite a bit of information on what is going on in the European quilmaking community, in which I am very interested. They announce shows in Europe and the piecing in the projects ends towards advanced quiltmakers.

Finally, Julie also gave me Inspired to Quilt by Melanie Testa. I have to admit that I have not had a chance to sit down with this book yet, but I am looking forward to being inspired by it. One of my CQFA colleagues has highly recommended the videos on Ms. Testa’s site. Another item for my to do list!

Finally, I cannot forget the fabric. I received fabric from my mom and Julie both. Dots galore and some cute paper doll fabric that I think, if I have enough, will be a bag.

I have a lot on my mind…again.

My Tivo is taping Fons & Porter periodically. I didn’t ask it to do so, but it started doing it on its own and then I started to watch them. It is nice to be immersed in quiltmaking for a few minutes and get a different perspective. Recently, they had a show on a baskeweave quilt. The photo is from their website. I love the idea of this quilt, because it is not simple patchwork done in rows. The maker has to insert pieces into the middle of already pieced rows in order to get the basketweave effect. The project was originally published in February 2007.  I would like to see if it is actually make-able. It looks pretty straightforward on the show and the video, but you know how that goes. I’ll have to look around at the library to see if they have it. I found that with my Quilt Out Loud membership, I was able to log into the Fons & Porter site, so I have to look around there as well. If I ever had that magazine, it is long gone.

Clipmarks and my Internet security system are not liking each other, so I will have to try and explain about Bemused and the online Quilts Japan preview rather than show you. I was reading the Bemused blog and she mentioned her love of Japanese quilting magazines. She also mentioned that Quilts Japan has an online preview. That means you can page through the new issue. YAY!!!

As soon as I remembered to click the page LEFT button, it worked great. Remember? They read towards the left.

My regular podcasting people, Jennifer at CraftSanity, Amy at the Creative Mom podcast and Annie Smith of Quilting Stash/Simple Arts, are not producing podcasts fast enough for me. At the rate I consume them I could go through about 3 hours of them a week. Of course, I can’t whine or complain (I am certainly not whining or complaining, just stating a fact)  since the podcasts are FREE, the hosts work for free and he guess don’t get piad. Not having new episodes each week, however, means that I have nothing to which to listen. This has forced me to search iTunes for new material. I found some interesting works.  IMy two current favorites are CastOn by Brenda Dayne and An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory.

One of the things I like about Brenda Dayne’s podcast is that it is about fiber and not just knitting. I wouldn’t call myself a knitter, though I do know how to knit and I admire knitting and would like to knit more, yet, Ms. Dayne does not bore me with the minutiae of knitting. She does talk about the minutiae of knitting, but I am not bored by it. She talks about other things, too. And the way she talks about things is not boring, it is professional, and, real sounding. She squeals with delight in a professional sounding way.

Danny Gregory, author of An Illustrated Life, Creative License and dannygregory.com did a series of podcasts in conjunction with the publication of An Illustrated Life a few years ago. I talked, briefly, about that book here on the blog in the past, but didn’t review it thoroughly. His podcasts are about 30 minutes long. Longer segments are broken in two parts. He has a wonderful voice and his conversations with artists who contributed to the book make me appreciate the book a lot more. Perhaps I will look at it again and give it a thorough review.

So far, I have listened to Danny talk with Peter Arkle and Roz Stendahl. I also listened to the Voodoo Lounge interview with Roz and I, now, want to be her. She is amazingly creative and practical in a way where she seems to use every moment of her time and get a lot done. I liked her interview with Danny Gregory, because she says that shopping (e.g. going and looking for the perfect pen to sketch with, or, in my case the perfect green fabric) is not a substitute for creativity. I think she also inferred that you cannot count shopping as part of your creative time. She has a follow-up to that comment on her blog.

One of the things I like about these non-quilt podcasts is that I get exposed to other artists and start thinking about creative things in a different way. I am not going to give up quilt podcasts, don’t worry.

I have never heard of Peter Arkle before. Peter Arkle is a commercial artists/ illustrator. He also does something called The Peter Arkle News. It is a newspaper containing stories of his everyday life. I love the idea. He started it just out of college (??) to show potential employers he could create and idea and follow through on it. It is now an occasional publication, which he calls ‘wheneverly’. As a librarian, I’ll have ot use that instead of ‘irregular.’

One of the things I love about podcasts is how I get to hear the story of people’s lives. As I listen to more and more podcasts, I find that listening to professional radio is starting to be a bit boring or….not as interesting. I always liked Terry Gross, but now I’d rather know about her life than listen to her interview people all the time. I am interested, usually, in the people she interviews, but would also like to know about her. I like stories about people. I like to hear about the wonderful things ordinary people do. Have you done an StoryCorps interview? Take your grandma or your dad out to a StoryCorps booth and do one. Or use your new Flip. What is your story?

I love this tree quilt. It is one of those Miami Christmas quilts. I admire the way she put together the fabrics. I found this blog when I was working on my end of the year post and I was looking for the name of a pattern I bought to make the “It’s a Wrap” quilt by Sandy Gervais (obviously, I found it!). Not Your Run of the Mill blog seems to be associated with a shop, but I wasn’t able to find a direct link to the shop, though it looks like she has some interesting things.

My guild, CQFA, is doing a creativity project in 2010 and I am the first presenter. I did a lot of legwork in anticipation of the prep meeting in November and then was unable to attend. Dolores, from CQFA met me about an hour south of here on Thursday. We had lunch, looked at quilt and creativity books and talked about what I would talk about. I feel much more prepared for my presentation than I did before. I, frankly, had no idea where I was going or what I was going to say. Dolores is extremely creative. Sadly she has no website and no blog, but you can see some of her work that I have posted. Perhaps I will post notes or something on what I talk about. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with things that people expect me to do lately. Not to mention the pressure I put on myself! I think I will have to practice the word ‘NO’ in 2010. We’ll see.

By the way, the Dynamic Quilt link in my sidebar provides a list of my delicious quilt bookmarks. If you have any interest in what quilt sites I am looking at, click there and you will see some of the sites I have bookmarked.

Matt Sparrow is talking about creating a TMZ type quilt website. It should be interesting to see what comes of that. I wonder if there is enough quilt news and gossip to make it worthwhile?

Nobody can tell me that I do not have the best MIL in the world, perhaps the universe. I love my MIL. She told me recently that I was the best daughter-in-law.;-)  I was helping her wash silver after Christmas dinner. I don’t think the dishwashing was the issue. I like to think she just likes me. Anyway, part of my MIL’s fabulousness is that she gives us money every year for Christmas. I used to spend a weekend gift shopping with her, but she is no longer interested in shopping, so she gives each of us, usually, a magazine and money. If you do not select a magazine, you get some soap or something “to open”. Usually, I hoard my money jealously and wait to spend it. This ime, I spent it almost as fast as I could on the fabrics in the photo when I was at Back Porch fabrics. I bought some more pieces of the Lonni Rossi fabrics. I used most of the FQ pack I bought on Marilyn’s Multi-tasker. I have another project in mind for them and wanted to include some in my FOTY quilt. I may wait and include them in FOTY 2010 as I still have a lot of fabric to cut and wasn’t sure I could commit to washing and cutting and sewing all of those additional fabrics before midnight on 12/31. As I write this, it didn’t happen.

For FOTY 2010, speak of the devil, I am thinking of doing another one patch, specifically diamonds. I like what I learned from combining fabrics when I make the Zanzibar blocks. I know I told myself I would create a design that used new and old fabrics like TFQ does and I do see the value in that. As the year came to a close, though, I felt quite stressed about this project. I wanted the cutting and piecing to be done by the end of the year and it just didn’t happen. It was totally my fault for leaving the washing, ironing and cutting until the last second, but still. I have to have fun with my quilt work, so I am cutting myself some slack.

If I do diamonds, I just have to decide what size. I almost bought some diamond rulers at Back Porch, but resisted until I could see what I already owned in the diamond arena.I was thinking of something like a 60 degree ruler.

As of January 4, 2010, I will be working more hours. For various reasons, I have always worked part-time since I left graduate school. My husband, however, has been our house-husband for the past year (almost). Sadly, I cannot afford to pay him at all, even though he does an excellent job. There are just things we need more money to pay for such as healthcare, so more hours at the day job for me are required. I am VERY fortunate that the work is there and the company is willing to allow me to make the change. I am sad to be giving up some of my free time, which I love. I don’t want to make changes in the blog in terms of posting less, but we will see. I haven’t gotten many comments in the past 1.5 months, so perhaps I don’t need to post as much? Again, we will see.

Although, New Year’s Day was yesterday, I want to wish all of my readers a great day and may 2010 be MUCH better than 2009!!!

I have been thinking about fabric design a lot lately. I think it is something that I would love to do. Well, the finished product with my name on it would be great. After hearing Anna Maria Horner talk about the process, I am not sure if I am motivated enough to do all the work entailed for an actual fabric collection. If a fabric manufacturer came knocking, I would definitely find the motivation!!

One of the things I have been thinking about is must-have motifs in a collection. What parts of a collection do I always buy? Stripes and dots, definitely.

I like the above stripes, which I bought during my week away at Fabric Crush in Magnolia, because they are relatively bright and regularly spaced. I also like the ratio of white to color. In my regular fabric psychosis mind, I keep thinking “oh dear! I didn’t buy enough! I should have bought 2 yards!” despite the FACT that I haven’t used any of them and they were just washed over the weekend.

I also liked the stripes from P&B’s Pop Parade collection if the mythical fabric company wants some wonky stripes.

Above are a couple of the dot motifs that I like. Both are regularly spaced, but have slightly different sized dots.  The Emmalynn’s Days of the Week by Susan Osborne are on the top and the Ta Dot is below. There are some scatter kind of dots that I like as well. I find myself gravitating towards the regularly spaced dots lately. I think I need something to count on in my life lately.

Perhaps in my mythical fabric collection I would have a couple of regularly spaced dots (smaller and larger??) as well as some scatter dots or spots.
Barbara Brackman brought a new thought in this vein to mind in a post where she talked about how paisleys were must have motifs in a certain era (Civil War??) of fabric design. I haven’t noticed many paisley type prints lately so I don’t know if they are modern enough to go along with the popular prints today. I haven’t been looking, so they could be out there. I have bought a few paisleys in the past as I recall. I definitely won’t be a designing fabrics in Civil War era colors! Still paisleys are an interesting shape and have a lot of opportunity for designexploration. I’ll have to play around with some paisleys and see what I come up with.

I’ll have to think about what else I would include. I am not sure if I would want a focus fabric as I have no idea what I would design for a focus fabric. Flowers? Trees? Snowflakes? I don’t know. A collection without a focus fabric may be a total non-starter for the mythical fabric company that comes knocking on my door, so I’ll have to think about it.

I have always thought that ‘basics’ collections were very appealing. You can buy a lot of them in many colorways (regular stream of income for the company!) and they are useful for a variety of projects. They tend to stick around in terms of being able to buy them, which is an added bonus for those of us who don’t manage to finish projects very quickly.

I would love to see basics types collections be expanded upon rather than just dropped because the Color Council issues new colors. I think Moda Marbles are an excellent example of a successful basics collection. Not only do they have their basic tone-on-tone version, but they expanded out to the Moda Marble Dots and the Moda Marble Stars. Very clever of Patrick Lose to expand in that way. How about Moda Marble Stripe, Patrick?

P&B New Basics was fabulous as well. I have linked to their current colors, which are very dark and not as interesting to me as the previously issued brighter colors.

So, I wonder if I should include some tone-on-tones in my fabric collection? It might be easier to coordinate them with the Moda Marbles or another basics type collection? Hhhmmm…

So, you can see what wanders around in my head as I navigate the rest of my non-quiltmaking life. What do you think your must haves are when you consider purchasing a whole fabric collection?

Here is my latest Multi-tasker tote. As usual, I made it from the Anna Maria Horner pattern. The more MTTs I make, the easier this pattern gets. Will this be my new tote bag pattern of choice?

I bought the laminated cotton (oilcloth) at the Quilting Loft in Seattle on my week away. As I mentioned, it poured rain part of the time I was there and the regular cotton Julie MTT got wet. When I saw the  dotted laminated cotton, I thought it would be a great winter bag. I made it big, even though I still need to make the Mini Multi to see if it is a better size for my height and shape and the amount of space I usually have on public transport. I had a lot of stuff I was hauling around from cafe’ to cafe’ that week.

Aside from the laminated cotton, the inside is an old, but still fun and fresh and bright Marimekko print, and the pocket panels are some random turquoise that I had. I am not happy with the outcome of this bag. I am not happy with the pocket panel fabric I chose (the turquoise). It goes well with the other fabrics, theoretically. Made up it just looks wrong. I wish I had used a stripe. I may make another one and use this one for a gift or something else. I have more of the dotted fabric.

One great thing about this project was that I was able to utilize a skill I learned during my week away to add a cell phone pocket to the inside. Apparently, cell phone pockets have a little pleat in them (do they all??). While I don’t know if I would put my cell phone in this bag, I might if my jacket pockets are full of other things. The pocket might also be useful for a Nano, or other small electronic devices. It is definitely a pocket I will use in other bags, mostly because it is cool to make and I feel proud of myself for learning to do it.

After I made this bag and looked at the seven (yes, SEVEN) hanging on my workroom door, I started to wonder if I was giving up quilts and moving on to other accessories? I don’t think so, but the speed with which I can churn out a bag is very attractive and very fulfilling. I will have to put some block making on my agenda for the rest of this long weekend.

Yes, I know. You want to know why all of my post titles have ‘catch up’ in them? I suppose that I am entering the time of the year when I am perpetually behind. It started early this year. Anyway, I hope these posts don’t bore you to tears or prevent you from posting comments. I love your comments.

Quilt World News

I listened to Annie Smith catch up podcast on Friday and heard that Mark Lipinski is giving up both his QNNTV show AND Mark Lipinski’s Quilter’s Home magazine. apparently, the current issue is his last. Huh?

I went and looked at Mark’s blog post from a few days ago – actually, September 24 – and all of this is true, sadly. Subsequent posts have his Aurifil thread collection and his new fabric collection featured, but nothing else. Stay tuned, I guess.

New blogs

Three Kitchen Fairies – I don’t know how I found this blog – some link from somewhere. I really like it and was particularly enamored with her ‘Pay it Forward’ concept. She details it in her post and button. She writes about getting a gift and her resolve to Pay it Forward. I love this idea. We have a lot of bridges here in the Bay Area so sometimes I pay for people crossing the bridge behind me. Stay tuned for something quilt related along these lines here at Artquiltmaker blog. Perhaps you will consider paying it forward?

Ginger Monkey: I found this blog via 3 Kitchen Fairies blog. Somehow Ginger Monkey is also connected to the quilt Pay It Forward concept, but I am not sure how. I still like this blog based on the bit of exploring I have done. I like the look, the colors. She has a tutorial for a Spiderweb quilt, which reminds me that I also have a Spiderweb quilt in progress. I think she has more than one in progress or has made more than one. In any case, I like that pattern, and Ginger Monkey’s color sense. I like some of the buttons she has. I think buttons give people a sense of who the writer is and some idea of their quilt values. Hers look friendly and kind to me, after a quick glance.

Red Pepper Quilts has a lot of really cool, bright and cheerful quilts. Her Flickr stream has a lot of wonderful photos.

Ask and You Shall Receive

Sometime, in the not too distant past, I talked a bit about sewing oilcloth, or laminated cotton, as I have learned it is really called.  Kathy, over at Pink Chalk Studio, wrote a long blog post about using laminated cottons and shows her impeccable photos to display the finished product. Also, the comments posted to her blog are very helpful.

Inspiration

I saw this cool scrap buster quilt on Flickr from Red Pepper Quilts . Very cheerful, don’t you think?

Holiday Crafts

As if you didn’t need more to do as you gear up for Thanksgiving and the December craziness, my friend Kathy of Everyday Bliss, found this link to making individual paper envelopes. They look really fun and would be great for gift certificates or other flat gifts. You might remember Kathy from Creative Prompt #35, where we did a joint special prompt posting to link our two projects together.

Other Patterns

Here is a Wagon Wheel tutorial. This is another great pattern that would be great for a scrap quilt.

Most of you have probably heard about oilcloth recently.  Anna Maria Horner has some as does Michael Miller and many other designers. While on my week away, I bought some dotted oilcloth designed/produced by Michael Miller from the Quilting Loft.

I don’t have a very strong garment sewing background and part of my tote bag adventure is learning to construct 3D objects. As a result, I have never used anything like oilcloth before, except for the tablecloth vinyl. Some issues I ran into were:

1. What scissors to use: if used my good sewing scissors, would the oilcloth dull the blades?
2. What foot do I use? Will I need the roller foot?
3. The directions I found said press on low heat. What is low heat? Testing required, I suppose.
4. What thread should I use?
5. Will the oilcloth play nicely with the regular cotton?

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As I may have mentioned I have wanted to try the oilcloth after carrying the Julie Bag around in the rain and trying to keep my stuff from getting soaked. The bag is complete, as you can see and here is what I found.

I used my medium scissors – not my good Ginghers, but not paper scissors either. They still seem sharp.

Using a regular foot was fine. The machine had no problems feeding the oilcloth.

Pressing the oilcloth was not an option. I used the very lowest setting on my machine and the oilcloth just curled up. After I found that out, I just finger pressed. Not as good as a nice crisp seam, but it worked. When I put the floor into the bag, I pressed from the lining side.

I used regular Aurifil thread and had no issues

The cotton and the oilcloth were nice to each other. The oilcloth was not too slippery. I think I sewed mostly with the flannel-ish side against the bed of the machine, which probably helped.

Today is another travel day for me. I am heading home after a week away. I have sewn and relaxed and been allowed to just be. All of my normal stuff is on hold until  tonight or tomorrow or whenever it calls loud enough for me to pay attention.

This is my last trip of the year and my last trip for awhile. Now I get to settle in at home and try to enjoy the holidays.

TFQ is working on two hexagon projects. The one above looks like sorbet or sherbet. It is so wonderful to look at. She is also working on a 1930s hexagon project, which is her main focus right now.

She works in a similar manner to me in that she explores the process and technique thoroughly as she works on it.

Above is some additional fabric I bought at the Quilting Loft in Ballard and at the new shop in Magnolia called Fabric Crush. The dot fabric is an oilcloth and I plan to make a Multi-tasker tote in the original size whether or not I decide to abandon that  pattern completely. In carrying around the Julie tote in the rain, I found that something with a waterproof bottom would be very nice. I am missing my clear tote bag.

Fabric Crush had a fresh look and feel. They are still stocking their store, but everything was fresh and new and wonderfully displayed. It is worth a look. I went into a bookstore as well and saw some restaurants nearby also.

I bought the black and white print for some other bag, but am thinking it would make a nice skirt as well. My SIL once explained to our husbands that we didn’t see masses of fabric in the quilt store, but finished projects and possibilities. So true. Now I just need to make some of those dreams a reality.

While in Monterey last week, I stopped in at the Back Porch quilt shop. They don’t allow photos inside, so no photos of the shop, the light filled space, the huge amount of books or the exhibit of  Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran quilts that were on display.

I have written about this shop before. Each time I go is a different experience. I always find something that I like and this time was no exception. There were a lot of books I wanted to snap up, new and fresh fabrics to fondle and different tools to consider.

Back Porch usually has an exhibit up in the back of their shop. This time I was fortunate to hit the quilts from Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston from their new-ish book, Collaborate Again.  The quilts I saw were bright, cheerful, full of checkerboards and dots. They look like Freddy and Gwen really had a good time making them. The exhibit brightened up an already airy and light space. The quilts which were shown had elements of Gwen Marston’s liberated quiltmaking techniques incorporated in them. They also include chickens, flowers, baskets and houses. The thing about the quilts which were on display is that the elements aren’t difficult. Any quiltmaker can make a house block or a basket block. The key to what made this exhibit special (and the book as well) is the combinations of fabrics and the fabric choices.

Yes, more fabrics. The dots (3rd from left, top row) are destined to be a bag, perhaps even this week. The pink and green leafy floral (5th from the left, top row) will also be a bag. The blacks and whites in the second and third rows towards the left are already mostly a bag. I worked on another  Multi-tasker tote yesterday for a friend from those fabrics. One thing I learned was that you can almost make a Multi-tasker tote from a fat quarter pack. I did it, but needed to piece some of the fabrics together in order to have a large enough enough piece to cut out the pattern piece.  I also brought a Jane Sassaman half yard with me and cut the straps from that fabric. Anna Maria Horner never claims you can make the tote from an FQ pack. A friend admired them and her birthday is coming so I thought I would make her a tote.  Pictures to follow.

The two bottom rows of fabric are all from Lonni Rossi’s new collection. I really like a lot of them. I have the ones I have, because they were in FQ packs and I was too lazy to have my friend, Jean, who works there, cut half yards. Now I wish I had bought some half yards. Perhaps I’ll see the ones I really like somewhere else.

The shop had some Philip Jacobs fabrics. His fabrics, by Westminster, are bright and cheerful florals. TFQ was madly choosing fabrics to make Jane Market totes last night and it occured to me that the Philip Jacobs fabrics would make fabulous Market totes.  The tote pattern is by Alicia Paulson and reasonably priced at $6. She also provides instant gratification with an instant download! TFQ is going to make sets of these totes as Christmas gifts. I imagine a day when everyone in the grocery store is carrying around a tote made from gorgeous quiltmaking fabric!

Finally, the book selection at Back Porch is fabulous! They have tons of books, many of which I had never seen at a quilt shop. First, there was the New Handmade by Cassie Barden. This book reminds me of the Lexis Barnes book, Sew What bags that I wrote about. Really great bags to make, including one that is similar to my handbag. I also found a new book by Sandra Meech, Connecting Art to Stitch.

I have always liked Sandra Meech’s books. They are not just about a step by step technique process. She talks about design and inspiration and all the things that take quiltmaking to the next level. I like her writing style as well. I don’t yet have this book, but will put it on my Amazon list.

I didn’t think there were great books out there, but recently I have found a number that I can’t wait to add to my collection.

I was shocked to find that Back Porch is offering a class in the Flowering Snowball pattern! They had a sample on the wall done exactly the way mine will be finished – using the self bordering technique. Sigh. I guess I am not so unique, after all.

Last time I went to Back Porch, I left with a bad taste in my mouth. I went back anyway, because I had heard a podcast interview with the owner, Gail Abeloe and they have a nice shop with great fabric. One thing I admired about Gail was her firm grasp that a quilt shop is a business.  Her philosophy is that you have to keep your stock fresh and your customers interested and that you have to sell fabric. As a former small business owner, I can appreciate that attitude.