Various & Sundry #21

Google Tile
Google Tile

I saw this tile recently. I really like the colored tile surrounded by the vast amounts of white and then with the circles in the border.

Other Artists

Claudia of Machen & Tun blog has posted a photo of her gorgeous Summer Sampler in the Quilting…for the Rest of Us Flickr Group. You can also read about it (in English and in German!) at Claudia’s blog. Her post is well supplied with gorgeous photos. One of her blocks is a Judy Martin block, by the way. I like it that she made the quilt her own.

Jon Crispin, a photographer, has posted photos of suitcases on his blog. The suitcases belonged to residents of an asylum in New York state. His photos are gorgeous. The images contained int he photos are so evocative. Right now I am wondering what people would think if they found a suitcase of mine and looked through all the stuff I take with me, especially if I was coming back from a trip where I bought fabric!!!

Adrianne of Little Bluebell has posted a gorgeous pillow inspired by Camille Roskelly’s Swoon pattern. She also describes making some changes as she went along, which I am all about encouraging. I was particularly interested in this project, because of all my adventures in pillow making. I think this project looks great!

A group of bloggers is challenging each other to be creative (hey! come over here and join the Creative Prompt!) by finishing up their first challenge, Light and Shadow. They have a group blog, which talks about the project. Members of the group are:

I saw reference to this project in a post when I was perusing Carol’s blog, A Scot in Tennessee. I had been working with the blocks she made for the Stars for San Bruno project and thinking about her. Glad I went over to take a look, because this is a worthwhile source of inspiration!

Media

I have always been fascinated by paper and making books. If I hadn’t found quiltmaking first, I probably would be doing more of that now. Jennifer at CraftSanity talked about making envelopes, tiny books and handmade paper on one of her TV episodes. As an aside, I think making envelopes is really useful, because then you know you always have the correctly sized envelope.

Mary Mack did a really nice review and discussion of Aurifil thread on her blog.

Even if you are not a knitter, and I am not much of a knitter, the Cast-on podcast is excellent. It is well produced and interesting. There is a large backstock of episodes, too, if you need something to which to listen on a long train or car ride.

Some time ago, I received a newsletter from Judy Martin saying that her new book, Patchwork Among Friends, had shipped. I haven’t seen it, but I have always enjoyed her blocks, her cutting methods and her tone. She writes “I didn’t think much of Patchwork Among Friends (the title I’m talking about here, not the book contents) when we started this process, but it has really grown on me. I think it captures the vibe I’m trying to convey. Quilters tend to be social animals. Even when they don’t need any supplies, they often end up at the quilt shop because they crave contact with people who share their passion. How can we tap into that? How can we further promote that? My book is first and foremost a pattern book, but in the up-front material and with each pattern I try to show you ways to share parts of the experience with others.”

One thing about Judy Martin’s books is the directions for pressing. She writes “each quilt in Patchwork Among Friends has pressing directions and diagrams featuring pressing arrows. Each quilt is also presented with a page of alternate colorways or settings, depending on the nature of the particular quilt.” Perhaps she will also include, if she doesn’t already, my latest rant, which is the size of units that make a up a blocks, so people can get a little assistance with precision.

Elizabeth Hartman is working on her second book, which is scheduled to be released May 2012. Modern Patchwork will be published by Stash Books. The word on the street is that it will contain 12 patterns and is targeted at quiltmakers who want to move beyond the basics without sacrificing ‘modern’ style. The quilt on the cover is a hexagon quilt. If you can’t wait for the book, check out my hexagon tutorial.

I listened to a couple of new podcasts this week – new to me podcasts, let’s say, because I don’t want to call anyone out – and I realized that new podcasters have big shoes to fill. For beginning quilters we have Frances and Katie. Frances has a lovely voice and a great sense of humor. Katie is fearless and shows videos of her sewing room! Tanesha provides the art quilt aspect along with fabulous books reviews. Sandy is really creative and professional in her productions. The other podcasters provide their own unique take on quilting. Susan provides some history. Darla is great at describing her process, providing assistance on technical issues and doing math (thank heaven!). Each of them, and all the others, give us a little glimpse into their lives, sometimes share a mini-rant (always with a sense of humor) and tell us about their quilting. Someone asked me recently if I would start a podcast. I was flattered, but I won’t. I couldn’t begin to compete with awesome ladies. I’ll write here and horn in on Mark and Sandy’s podcasts every now and again.

Judy Martin wrote a nice post about attending Quilt Market.

And if you want just a funny read that has nothing to do with quiltmaking, read Joshilyn Jackson’s open letter to the Fat Girl at Hot Yoga in New York.

Jennifer over at CraftSanity wrote, last week, about a new round of layoffs at the newspaper where she and her husband work. She has a great attitude about ‘choosing her own next adventure.’ Times are challenging for many of us, so I hope you will remember that people like Jennifer are making wonderful work and your dollars during the holiday season would make a big difference to them. Small Business Saturday is on November 26 and I hope that you will consider including Jennifer’s looms, Artquiltmaker cards and a few other treats from Etsy makers on your holiday shopping list.

WIPs/UFOs

Some of you may have noticed that I have been talking about the 26 Projects lately. In Judy Martin’s newsletter there was a discussion of UFOs/WIPs. One reader said “There is no shame in an unfinished quilt. Tell your readers to ditch the guilt and cherish the joy.” I want to be clear that my life will not be over if I don’t clear out some of these projects. I refuse to make my self miserable just because of these projects. I would really like to ‘render a disposition’ to each one to clear out brain space, but if I want to make a new project I will. Flip-flopping? Yes.

Tutorials

I am developing quite a nice collection of tutorials. It is fun, if challenging and time consuming to write them. I haven’t found a good way to write them yet, though I think that photographing every single tiny step and writing a bit at a time is key. They take me 4+ hours to write, so I hope you appreciate them!

I am working on one that is how to make Flying Geese. I keep seeing different methods and I thought it would be a good idea to put them all in one place and let you choose which works best for you. Quiltmaking, IMO, is all about finding the best method for the quiltmaker (YOU!) so that your projects come out the way you want them. I have or know about the following methods, so if you know of any others, please let me know.

  • regular cutting of triangles and sewing together
  • Deb Tucker ruler method
  • Quilt in a Day ruler method
  • sew squares to rectangle method
  • sew small squares to large squares and trim method

Products and Fabric

Shop Hop Bus Tour! See the New Pieces Blog for information.

Alex Veronelli posted a color ranking of Aurifil colors. The color I used most, #2600, a light grey, is #2 in the ranking. I guess I am hip and cool in this context. 😉

I was going to buy Ruby from Bonnie and Camille, then Julie from Intrepid Thread showed some samples at a BAMQG meeting and I decided not to buy any. However, I keep seeing it everywhere, especially in this post and here and lined up nicely here, shown tantalizingly here and here. I can’t stop thinking about the line. I wish one of my local shops had the whole line. Oh wait! I don’t have a local shop. ERGH! I think the key, if I were to buy it and I am not saying I am, is buy it, wash and press the pieces and make something right away. Sigh. I am sick. Sick, I tell you, sick.

Quilts

I saw this quilt on the Quilt Market Twitter Feed and thought it was a very interesting row quilt. Interesting in that there was a lot to look at. BTW, were you able to keep up with the Quilt Market Twitter Feed? OMG! It was crazy! Every time I looked at Twitter there were 37+ new posts ALL with photos. Crazy and wonderful. So much colorful goodness to which to look forward.

Tutorials

Oh Fransson!’s Elizabeth Hartman has a nice tutorial on the free motion quilting pattern she calls ‘dogwood.’ I wonder if her next book will be about free motion quilting.