Trip East

To those of you who live in places that require you to jump in the car and drive for 20 minutes every time you want an ice cream, a loaf of bread or some fabric, my idea of a trek probably has you rolling your eyes. I drive about 2 miles a day and then spend the rest of the day’s transportation allotment on a train with some buses and streetcars thrown in for good measure. I also walk a lot.

Today was a bit different as I was heading to C&T Publishing to return a quilt from the Primal Green Show, go to lunch and do some other errands that were out that way. It was a long haul, but a good day in general. Drivers weren’t too idiotic, people did not zoom through the Fastrak lane and then try and swerve to the cash lane at the last minute, the rain didn’t pour down while I was driving or while I was walking around without a hood or umbrella: all in all a good day.

Where the Magic Happens
Where the Magic Happens

First stop: C&T Publishing

This unassuming industrial type building, in an industrial neighborhood, hides a lot of colorful goodness! I walked into the building and saw the most beautiful C&T commemorative quilt. I am sorry I didn’t take a picture of it. It was really gorgeous!

I also liked the wall of tear sheets they had opposite the reception desk advertising their current titles. It was a great decoration/advertising idea.

Lisa was kind enough to show me all of the different departments. It was funny to think that I have a mystical, awe inspired idea of working in a quilt publishing house, but the people there were just working. I am sure they enjoy their work, but I am also sure that it is a job to them. She took me out into the warehouse where I saw a lot of palettes covered in industrial strength Saran Wrap! I also got a peek inside the photo shoot studio, which is also in the warehouse. Very interesting!

Slightly damaged
Slightly damaged

I was allowed to pick out some books from their slightly damaged shelf. I didn’t have much time so I just grabbed books. These look interesting, don’t you think?

We went to lunch and, afterwards, I showed Lisa Kissy Fish, which I had in the trunk.

Thimble Creek
Thimble Creek

Second stop: Thimble Creek, Concord, Calif.

Talking with Lisa reminded me that I have been wanting to try TAP, so I decided that that would be my excuse to go to Thimble Creek, which is just a mile or so up the road from the C&T headquarters.

I hadn’t been to their ‘new’ location. They moved at least 3 years ago. There was a theme a few years ago of quilt stores moving to industrial or office park areas, because of less expensive rent. It worked for some stores not for others. I was nervous about going, because I don’t know the area and I was afraid I would have trouble finding it. Sometimes the stores that have moved to these industrial areas have been hard to find. Silly, I know, but there you have it.

I walked in and there was a feeling of comfort and light in a country/shabby chic sort of way. The place wasn’t as large as their last location, but they had a lot of fabric The arrangement by color, mostly, but also by style/type. There was a section of large florals including Kaffe Fassett, Philip Jacobs, etc. There was a section of reproductions (some Civil War?) and the choices were very appealing. I didn’t buy any, but loved some of the colors – some of the pinks and blues, especially. There was also a section of dots,and another with fabric that looked like the forthcoming Malka Dubrowski fabrics. There was a section of wools. They had a small section of notions, quite a lot of thread and a nice selection of specialty rulers, but not many Creative Grids.

Kissy Fish Framing
Kissy Fish Framing

Third stop: Framing

Kissy Fish is finished – my part at least. The back looked unfinished, because I stitched through to the back. I originally thought I would put an additional back on. As I got near to finishing I decided that I would frame it. It is an art piece and I want it to be considered art.

A few years ago, I had a number of different types of art pieces framed. The frame shop to which my mom took the pieces did a really great job. Unfortunately, that outlet closed. Fortunately, I found that they had a second shop near C&T, so I went there. I was really pleased to find the shop and added it to my list of tasks for yesterday. I was really pleased the the service. The above mats and frame color are what I chose. It will be ready in a few weeks and I’ll let you know if I like the final result.

Whole Foods was right across the street so I was able to get the gluten free pie crusts I need for Thanksgiving and then I headed home. I thought about stopping at The Cotton Patch and getting the TAP, but I decided just to head home. I’ll get it another time.

Finally: I decided to stop by the Young Man’s school and see if I could find him and if he needed a ride. Boy, was I lucky! He was right out front and ready to go.

Creative Prompt #131: Hills

rolling hills

The Hills TV Show

Between Two Hills by Carl Sandburg

The Sea and the Hills by Rudyard Kipling

Definition: A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit (e.g. Box Hill, Surrey).

There are 47 named hills of San Francisco

Congressional newspaper

Coyote Hills Regional park

Cal State Dominguez Hills

Hills, Iowa

Black Hills of South Dakota

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog, and how your work relates to the other responses.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. Are you already a member? I created that spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted.

 

26 Projects List Update

Shocked that I am updating you so soon? I have progress and a new categorization for the projects. Am I just making myself feel better? Probably.

Here is the list, again, still in no particular order. This time I have some annotations and I am crossing things off that are well in hand:

  1. Stars for San Bruno #2: Finished! YAY!
  2. Stars for San Bruno #3: Ready to be taken to the quilter. Needs quilting, backing and binding.
  3. Pavers. Finished! YAY!
  4. Food Quilt: needs quilting, backing and binding.
  5. Jelly Roll Race: this quilt does not have good design. I am thinking of cutting it into different shapes and using the shapes for something else. I could make a bunch of interesting 9 patches.
  6. Original Bullseye: needs border, backing, quilting and binding.
  7. Corner Store: foundations cut; blocks not made
  8. Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered.
  9. Infinity blocks
  10. A-B-C (A-Z) BAMQG Challenge – I am actually not sure if this should be considered a WIP, because I don’t really have enough blocks with which to make anything yet.
  11. Aqua-Red Sampler – steady progress and isn’t really weighing on my mind, except for the fact that Frances has still not finished her Dresden Plate. What am I going to do with her?
  12. The Tarts Come to Tea: I haven’t quilted on this since April. I need to work on the quilting. I was making good progress and then got sidetracked.
  13. Kissy Fish: Need to get framed.
  14. FOTY 2011: not finished with cutting. Plan to sew at the end of January 2012.
  15. Flowering Snowballs: I think this is a candidate for abandonment. Hand piecing doesn’t do anything for me and I am bad at it. I think I should make an effort to square up the blocks before I completely abandon the project.
  16. Garden
  17. Flower Garden
  18. Moon and Stars: need to finish handquilting. This quilt is not interesting.
  19. Pointillist Palette #4
  20. See: needs satin stitching.
  21. Self Portrait
  22. Spiderweb
  23. Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors much.
  24. Pineapple: horrible mess. None of the ideas I have to salvage this project make me happy.
  25. Flower Sugar Hexagon
  26. Young Man’s t-shirt quilt: have cut up the t-shirts and am in the process of applying fusible.

Here is new categorization:

Well in Hand or Complete:

  • Stars for San Bruno #2: Finished! YAY!
  • Stars for San Bruno #3: Ready to be taken to the quilter. Needs quilting, backing and binding.
  • Pavers. Finished! YAY!
  • Food Quilt: needs quilting, backing and binding.
  • Kissy Fish: Need to frame

Have a Plan:

  • Flower Sugar Hexagon
  • Young Man’s t-shirt quilt: have cut up the t-shirts and am in the process of applying fusible.
  • Pointillist Palette #4
  • See: needs satin stitching.
  • Original Bullseye: needs border, backing, quilting and binding
  • FOTY 2011: not finished with cutting. Plan to sew at the end of January 2012.
  • Pointillist Palette #4
  • See: needs satin stitching.

Hunting & Gathering Stage:

  • Corner Store: foundations cut; blocks not made
  • Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered.

Steady Progress:

  • A-B-C (A-Z) BAMQG Challenge – I am actually not sure if this should be considered a WIP, because I don’t really have enough blocks with which to make anything yet.
  • Aqua-Red Sampler – steady progress and isn’t really weighing on my mind, except for the fact that Frances has still not finished her Dresden Plate. What am I going to do with her?

Not a Clue or I Have Lost Momentum:

  • The Tarts Come to Tea: I haven’t quilted on this since April. I need to work on the quilting. I was making good progress and then got sidetracked. I think I do have a clue; am just not inspired.
  • Garden
  • Flower Garden
  • Moon and Stars: need to finish handquilting. This quilt is not interesting.
  • Self Portrait
  • Spiderweb – I know I want to put a self bordering border on this quilt, but just can’t seem to get it done. I think I may need to make two quilts, because I have way more blocks than I need for a bed sized quilt.
  • Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors much.

Abandoned:

  • Pineapple: Yes, I am going to abandon this project, because the work I have done so far is a horrible mess. None of the ideas I have to salvage this project make me happy. I do plan to start it over.

Stars for San Bruno #3 – Ready to Quilt

I want to make another Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote.

“But, Jaye,” you say “you have so many works in progress, don’t you want to finish them before you start something new?”

I did finish something!!!!

Stars for San Bruno #3 Top
Stars for San Bruno #3 Top

The top for the Stars for San Bruno #3 is pieced, the back is pieced, the binding is made. All the parts are hung up and waiting to go to the quilter.

I feel like I have made a significant step in the Stars for San Bruno Project. it feels SOOOO good to say: All of the piecing for all of the quilts in this project is COMPLETE!! Yes, I finished the piecing for Stars for San Bruno #3 on Sunday. I also made the back and binding.

Stars for San Bruno #3 Back
Stars for San Bruno #3 Back

The back took a lot of time. I have mostly used up the value of blue fabric that I planned to use in all of these quilts, so I spent a lot of time piecing bits of fabric together. It was soothing in a way, but as you can see, some of the fabrics are not blue. They were in the blue bin, so I counted them as available to use.

Also, a note on the photos. My quilt hanger’s wingspan is smaller than the quilt, so the photos aren’t terrific. Hopefully, you get the idea and will come back and continue to read  and not be horrified by my terrible photography skills.

So, everyone, do a happy dance. The end is near.

FOTY 2011 Mid-November

FOTY 2011 - Mid November
FOTY 2011 - Mid November

I can’t believe I haven’t posted triangles since mid September! But it’s true. I haven’t posted triangles since mid-September. I guess if I had actually pressed fabric in the past 2 months, then I wouldn’t be so behind.

It turns out that I have to press fabric, because the chair I lay the fabric over while it waits to be press keeps falling over. I spent a few hours on Sunday, after finishing a big project pressing and cutting the bits and snippets I need for various projects. I got quite a little pile going after not too long. I think the chair is a bit more stable now, but I just need to get the fabric pressed. AND stop buying new fabric.

Judy Martin Grab Bag Book Special

Ends 11/16/2011

I received the following in my inbox this morning and thought I would pass it along. I bought a grab bag and will give them as gifts, if I don’t want to keep the books. I have to say that the hardest part of the transaction was entering my credit card number! It went so quickly and smoothly. The text below is copied and pasted directly from Judy Martin’s email.

No affiliation and I am not getting paid to post this!

“Greetings quilters,

Just in time for Christmas, we’re bringing back the Grab Bag Quilt Book Surprise. We haven’t done it for a few years, so it seemed like a good idea. Here’s a summary of the details. Please read all the way to the bottom before clicking through.

First off, this offer will expire at 4:00 PM Central Standard Time on November 16, 2011. If the latest winter storm knocked out your power, and you didn’t get this newsletter until the 17th, sorry. Or if your spam filter delayed this newsletter until it was too late, sorry again. These things are always a ton of hard work, and we have to have a firm cut-off date so we can get back to things like working on new books.

The price is $25 plus shipping and handling. For that you will get 3 books with a total current retail value of at least $40.85, but it might be as much as $83.85! In practical terms, it means you are guaranteed to get at least one of our full-price books (Scraps, Judy Martin’s Log Cabin Quilt Book, Stellar Quilts, or Patchwork Among Friends). You are guaranteed a savings of at least $15.85. All 8 of my current books will be made available for this deal. And we will send out at least one order that has all 3 of our $27.95 books. At least one lucky quilter is going to hit the quilt book jackpot!

Specific requests will not be honored. Every book shipped will be randomly selected. We can’t promise you won’t get a book you already own. If you do, you now have an inexpensive Christmas present for your best quilting friend!

We can’t promise that you will get different titles. You might get 3 of the same book or 3 different books or 2 of one title and 1 of another. If you receive duplicate books, you can give them away as gifts to your quilting friends. After all, giving is as much fun as receiving, and it’s more emotionally satisfying.

This offer is open to customers all over the globe. We are limiting it to 1 order per customer.

Special shipping rates will apply on orders outside the US. We sometimes lose money on foreign shipping, but we make enough on the books that we can ignore that fact. At this greatly discounted price, we can’t afford to lose money on the shipping.

In the United States shipping for the 3 books by Media Mail is $7, plus $1 for any additional books ordered. Shipping by Priority Mail is $10, plus $1 for any additional books ordered.

In Canada shipping for the 3 books is $16. We cannot ship any additional books with a Grab Bag Quilt Book Surprise when we ship to Canada because it would push the weight over 4 pounds and cause the shipping rate to go sky high.

For all other countries shipping for the 3 books is $30. We cannot ship any additional books with a Grab Bag Quilt Book Surprise when we ship to foreign addresses because it would push the weight over 4 pounds and cause the shipping rate to go sky high.

We normally ship within 24 hours of receiving your order. Because of the volume of orders, it will take us several days to get all the Grab Bag Quilt Book Surprises out the door. Needless to say, we’re going to work as hard as we can to get all the orders shipped as quickly as possible. If the volume of orders is particularly heavy, some orders may not be shipped until after Thanksgiving weekend (November 24-27).

This is meant to be fun, so have some fun. Let the joy of receiving a surprise sweep over you. Anyone who wishes to complain about getting 3 good quilt books for $25 plus shipping will be repelled at the gates!

If you think this sounds like fun, share it with your quilting friends. And be sure to tell them you were in on this info first because you subscribe to my newsletter. Encourage them to join the “in crowd” by signing up for the newsletter themselves.

To order go here:

http://judymartin.com/products.cfm?action=detail&prod=22&CatID=1

If the link gets truncated and doesn’t work, go to judymartin.com, click on Books and then on Grab Bag Quilt Book Surprise. Have fun!

Judy Martin
http://www.judymartin.com/

info@judymartin.com

 

 

Block-a-Long #30: Double Four Patch

Double Four Patch #30
Double Four Patch #30

After last week’s block, I thought I had better post a regular Double Four Patch. I should have posted this one first, but wasn’t thinking and had in my mind that I already had. I know you can handle the out-of-orderness.

Looking at this block and last week’s block, it makes me want to do a sort of Double Four Patch Sampler. I think I might get bored, though, with just two small blocks, but it would make a good Leaders and Enders project. Alternatively, I can think up some other Double Four Patch variations and have a variety to work with.

Again the directions for cutting are pretty easy. Here is a Rotary cutting worksheet for the Double Four Patch block

If you have made blocks or a quilt from these patterns, please post a link in the comments section of the relevant block. I would love to see what you have made.

Have fun!

CQFA Meeting

The CQFA Meeting was last Saturday. As I already mentioned BAMQG was on the same day. For me, it was a lot of driving and time away from home for one day. Not sure I can continue to make it to both meetings.

This was our end of the year long, organizational type meeting. While long, it was a good one.The end of the year means we needed to plan for 2012. Now we have the start of a plan.

Belly Dancing Belt
Belly Dancing Belt

Show and Tell was great as usual. I love seeing what other people make. Bron brought a gorgeous belly dancing belt to show us, which she bought at the FabMo sale. It was made by an artist who used FabMo materials.

Marie, the President of the San Jose Museum Quilt & Textiles Board, talked about the various events coming up on the SJMQT calendar. We decided to donate some money to the Museum to support the upcoming Quilt National 2011 exhibit, which will be held in 2011.

Gingko Monoprint
Gingko Monoprint

Marie brought monoprints she worked on in a class.

Marie's Monoprint Quilt
Marie's Monoprint Quilt

Of course, I liked this one with all the turquoise.

Squares Monoprint
Squares Monoprint

I purport not to like grey that much, especially the grey and yellow combination that seems to be so popular with the modern quiltmakers right now, but I really liked this monoprint.

Diane's City
Diane's City

I know that Diane calls this series something different, but I think it has the look of a city center from overhead. Diane is a silk painter and has been using FabMo fabrics to mount and as mats for her pieces.

Rhonda's Habitat Challenge
Rhonda's Habitat Challenge

I know Rhonda from BAMQG. She brought this piece to CQFA as well. I hope she will join CQFA.

Carolyn's Notebook Cover
Carolyn's Notebook Cover
Carolyn's Notebook Cover
Carolyn's Notebook Cover

Caroline found an interesting piece of fabric that looked like an Edward Gorey painting. She wanted to use the entire piece of fabric, the back of which had some interesting characters knitting, which is why she made her journal cover the size it is. I really admire Caroline’s finishing skills. Her products look professional..

The cool thing about this cover is that it holds an artists sketchbook. I don’t know how she did the edging (a regular binding?), but I think it looks really nice.

We had a nice ATC exchange. People do such creative work. I would like to start on my ATCs for the next meeting right now, so that my pieces are as great as other people’s. It has been a week and I haven’t started in yet.

I really would like to make some ATCs using the Tsukineko inks. I think it would be a good way to practice with the inks. Sonja did some great paintings when she came to her first meeting where she painted on a piece of fabric and then cut the piece up into ATC sized works. That is on my mind as a possibility.

Maureen & my ATCs
Maureen & my ATCs
Virginia & Sue's ATCs
Virginia & Sue's ATCs
Diane & Reva's ATCs
Diane & Reva's ATCs
Sue & Nancy's ATCs
Sue & Nancy's ATCs

I was sad I had to leave early to make BAMQG, because I missed Dolores’ presentation. This is what made me start thinking about just attending one meeting or going to BAMQG late on days where CQFA also meets. We’ll have to see. I can’t do everything and I just can’t exhaust myself. Last week was particularly difficult, because I was single parenting and, while I have a wonderful, helpful Young Man, I still have double the chores and no backup. I’ll have to play it my ear in January.

Nota bene: my camera battery died and I forgot to bring the spare, so all the photos are taken with my phone. Sorry about that!

EQ Product Review

Am I in Judy Martin mode? Yes. I read her newsletter recently and found some great information, some of which I passed on in Various & Sundry #21. That post was getting too long, so here I am again.

I love her and would go to Iowa (not a bad state; been there at least 3 times, which is another story for another day) for a class with her in a hot minute. Her stars CD for Electric Quilt was awesome, but is now out of print. Lucky you, if you didn’t buy it the first time around, because EQ is bringing it back in a repurposed format by making many of her out-of-print star blocks available for download in their newly launched EQ Boutique site. They are taking the material from the Stars & Sets CD and putting it into what Judy calls families of blocks: Ohio Stars, Ornate Ohio Stars, Variable Stars, Compass Point Stars, and Spikey Stars (first five groups to launch). Others will follow.

According to Judy, the first five groups of blocks range in price from $8.99 to $11.99 and contain anywhere from 15 blocks to 22. Your first purchase comes with a free download of the software you need to play with the blocks.

If you already own the Stars & Sets CD, you do NOT need any of these collections.

Marsha McCloskey has also partnered with EQ in their My EQ Boutique. I have been wanting to make a Feathered Star block since I saw one made from dots in a magazine a few years ago. Now that I know the Triangle Technique and how to make different sizes of half square triangles, I feel more comfortable tackling that project.  I did actually buy her EQ Boutique Feathered Star collection, so I was able to evaluate the process.

After purchase, there is an additional piece of software that you download before you download the collections purchased. The software came with a collection of Rose of Sharon applique’ blocks. Too bad I didn’t know about that collection last week before I prepared Frances’ applique’ lesson! After installing and running the EQ Boutique software, I downloaded the collection I bought and it was difficult *for me* to figure out how to get the collection to show up in the EQ Boutique software. Finally, in tiny print on the download page, I read that you have to close the EQ Boutique software before you download the new collection. I did that, re-downloaded and the Feathered Stars showed up very well. Also, I really don’t want to learn new software when I am pretty well versed in EQ7. The EQ Boutique software has a great ‘Link to EQ’ function that shows up on your Start menu (windows) which actually links your EQ Boutique collections to EQ. I would rather just call it up in EQ7 and skip the EQ Boutique software step, but it doesn’t seem like that is an option. I also understand that not everyone owns EQ7 software.

Read more about the collections, the software, and the system requirements.

I do have to say that EQ is bombarding me with emails about new stuff every day and I am glad they were all at Quilt Market so I could get a bit of relief. I have just been deleting the emails. There is definitely a fine line between just right and too much!

Creative Prompt #130: Eleven

#11

November 11, 2011

Ocean’s Eleven

Grade 11

After 10 and before 12

11 BC

The month of November

Junior in high school

from Wikipedia:

7-Eleven a convenience store in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia

11th grader

Carl Hubbell (Giants), Sparky Anderson (Tigers), Jim Fregosi (Angels), Luis Asparicio (White Sox), Paul Warner (Pirates) all wore #11

A football team, so-called because of the number of players on the team

Apollo 11, historic space mission which landed the first humans on the Moon

only 11 more miles

 

The Symbolism and Spiritual Significance of the Number 11, compiled by Dee Finney: “Number Eleven possesses the qualities of intuition, patience, honesty, sensitivity, and spirituality, and is idealistic. Others turn to people who are ‘Eleven’ for teaching and inspiration, and are usually uplifted by the experience.

In systems such as Astrology and basic Numerology, eleven is considered to be a Master Number. Eleven can also represent sin; transgression and peril. Ten being the perfect number, eleven represents the exceeding of both. It is interesting to note that eleven when broken down ( 1+1=2) comprises the Two of duality.  Number eleven is a master vibration and as such should not be reduced to a single number.People with this number could be both idealistic and visionary, and they are attracted to the unknown.They can be both unusual, interesting and magnetic personalities.

Eleven bring[s] the gift of spiritual inheritance, is gifted as the “Light-Bearer”. It is the number of the Light within all. Strengthened by the love of Peace, gentleness, sensitivity and insight. Greatest facility is the awareness of Universal relationship. Is related to the energy of Oppositions and the Balancing needed in order to achieve synthesis. Eleven is The PeaceMaker… Colours : Gold, Salmon, Prune, White and Black.”

Receiving Blankets

Lilac Receiving Blanket
Lilac Receiving Blanket
Lilac & Wine Receiving Blankets
Lilac & Wine Receiving Blankets

A woman at work is expecting a new baby. She is so pleasant to work with and so helpful. I have been wanting to make her some receiving blankets. As I have said many times, receiving blankets are so useful as playmats, swaddling cloths, capes, etc. She is about to go out on leave, so I finally made them last weekend and gave them to her on Monday.

Gift Wrapping
Gift Wrapping

I was particularly proud of the wrapping. As many of you know, I am a very poor gift wrapper, so I was thrilled that this came out so well. I didn’t even plan it!

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.

Block-a-Long #29: Squares & Rectangles

Squares & Rectangles #29
Squares & Rectangles #29

Yes, a delay in posting today. I thought I had more time, but somehow this day off just slipped away and I only marked one thing off my to do list. I did make progress on others, but didn’t finish them.

Anyway, I saw this block and remembered how much I liked it. I am a sucker for Double Four Patches. This this block is related to the Double Four Patch and also related to the Four Patch, which I posted as the first block in this series. Multiples of Squares & Rectangles would make a lovely scrap quilt.The pinks and turquoises are really making me happy right now.

Again the directions for cutting are pretty easy. Here is a Rotary cutting worksheet for the Squares & Rectangles Block

If you have made blocks or a quilt from these patterns, please post a link in the comments section of the relevant block or on the AQ Block-a-Long Flickr group. I would love to see what you have made.

Enjoy!

November BAMQG

Yesterday was a big quilt day for me. CQFA and BAMQG were both on the same day. All quilts all the time. I didn’t feel like I had much to show, but it turned out that I didn’t have enough time to show everything I brought. I had a good time.

We had a lot of business to do – officers for next year, events for next year, challenges for next year, the Habitat challenge, show and tell, etc.

Eva's Delight
Eva's Delight

For the A-B-C (A-Z) Challenge, this month’s letter was ‘E’. I think I have said that I am really enjoying this challenge and chose a block I found in Around the Block Again. It was also in EQ7, which I used to resize it.

I don’t remember ever seeing this block before, but I liked the vertical lines created by the squares. This block has 37 pieces. I know it is lunacy to make such a small block with so many pieces, but with 26 blocks the size of the quilt will be much more manageable than a quilt with 26 12″ blocks.

Kathleen's A-B-C Challenge Blocks
Kathleen's A-B-C Challenge Blocks

Kathleen brought all of her A-B-C Challenge blocks. As you can see, she is using blacks and whites with a bit of red. I think she has done a lovely job of choosing blocks. The black and white really work well together with the variety of blocks.

Not many people brought their A-B-C blocks this time. I think there were a number of people working on the challenge who couldn’t make the meeting. I am really liking this challenge and the way my blocks are looking together.

There was a big presentation surrounding the Jay McCarroll Habitat Challenge. I did not participate in this challenge. I was, once again, impressed by the talent in this group. There was a lot of frustration surrounding the type and variety of prints, but people came up with wonderful ways to use it. My thought during the entire discussion was that this fabric was a really challenge.

Habitat Challenge Group
Habitat Challenge Group

All of the quilts are so creative. I was pleased to see how much collaboration there was during the meeting on the quilts that weren’t quite finished.

Lynnette’s quilt, ‘Love Beads'(far left, bottom), is one of my favorites.  I thought it was the Chinese Lanterns patterns. It certainly looks like Chinese Lanterns, but the pieces are a slightly different shape – a nice, elongated shape. I also think that the connector between the two is a little different.

Rhonda's Habitat
Rhonda's Habitat

Rhonda’s top from the Habitat Challenge has wonderful vertical lines.

One of the things I noticed was that people said as they cut the pieces of Habitat fabric up, the fabric became easier to work with. I think that some fabric works better in smaller pieces. This thought seems to be adverse to the idea of a Modern Quilt. At least I didn’t think that Modern Quilts used lots of small pieces. I suppose it depends, just like every other type of quilt.

I spent some of the sewing time cutting up another Jane Market tote. Perhaps I’ll make it tomorrow. I had a talk with a longarm quilter who is willing to try and work with me. she seems like she might be a good person to work with and I got the impression that she would try hard. I’ll think about it. I don’t want quilt tops to stack up, but I don’t know how I feel about working with a new quilter.

 

 

Preparing for Quilting

If you, mostly, do not quilt your quilts yourself, then part of your quiltmaking process should be preparing your quilt for your longarm professional. You can read my longarm rant which implies things to think about when choosing a longarm quilter, but regardless of who you choose, you will still have to prepare your quilt.

To be honest, when I get to the “YAY! I have finished my top” stage, I am done with the quilt. However, I also don’t want a bunch of tops laying around, so I am working on finding the Zen or meditative qualities of finishing my quilts.

For the top, don’t worry much about pattern or block design when thinking about the longarmer. I am more interested in what I want for the top.

Back

However, when I get to the back, I do try to be nice. Part of the process or creating the Zen or meditative space in my head of finishing my quilts deals with the back. I no longer piece tiny squares together to create a coordinated back. I try to use very large pieces of fabric, which not only enables me to finish the back quickly, but also lessens the number of seams on the back for the longarmer.

My personal, fabulous longarmer has never complained about seams, but I also don’t want her to become frustrated with me. I make pieced backs. That is just what I do. I see no good reason to buy additional fabric for the back when I have perfectly good fabric in my fabric closet that is not being used.

Lately, I have started to try to remember to piece the seams open on the back. It doesn’t really matter in terms of construction, IMO, but it lessens the number of layers that the longarm needle has to punch through. My personal, fabulous longarmer has never said one way or the other, but I figure that it can’t hurt.

If I know that the end of the seam will be on the outside of the quilt or NOT crossed by another seam I will also backstitch. I do this on the front also, so that the threads don’t pull apart as the quilt is being stretched on the longarm machine. Of course, I don’t always know, but I do my best.

I try to make the back at least 8″ larger (4″ on each side and 4″ on top and bottom) all the way around than the size of the top. To do this, I lay the top on my design floor and build the back on top of it.

Post-it Notes are your Friend

I measure the top and the back and pin a post-it note to the quilt saying what the sizes are. I use hot pink post-it notes. My quilts are generally square, but usually not perfectly square. They are often off by an 1/8″, but not much more. If I put the post-it note on, the longarmer clearly knows what s/he is dealing with and can’t blame me later for lousy piecing (Well, s/he can, but I can just look at him or her sarcastically and not feel bad).

Top and Bottom

You might think that any idiot could tell which is the top and bottom of your quilt, but that is not always the case. I had a quilt where the back was really large – much larger than the 4″ all around that I normally make it – and my personal, fabulous longarmer put it on sideways, because I didn’t mark the top and the bottom. She is not in my head, though she is in my fantasy life, so now I put a post-it note with the word ‘top’ on both the top and the back. Top on the post-it note means “dude, this is the top of the quilt.”

Pins

I take them out as I piece. There is no later. If my personal, fabulous longarmer runs over a pin I left on the quilt, I pay to have her machine repaired. My fault, my problem.

Embellishments

I embellish with anything 3D AFTER the quilting is done. If there is some reason that I put a button or beads in a section of the quilt, then I pin a very bright post-it note to that area. I also point it out to her when I bring the quilt to her. If my personal, fabulous longarmer runs over an embellishment on the quilt, because I didn’t warn her, I pay to have her machine repaired. My fault, my problem.

Press, Press, Press

As much as I despise pressing the top and the back I do it just before I take the quilt to the longarmer. Then I hang the top and the back on a pants hanger. The pants hangers have to be tough and have really strong clips, because those quilts are heavy. If I don’t press the wrinkles will not ‘quilt’ out.

This is the last step. Once the quilt is on the hanger, it is ready to be taken to the longarmer.

Keep in mind that your personal longarmer might have different requirements for how you prepare your quilts. Make sure that you know what those are before you take your quilt to be quilted.