Last November Bonnie Hunter’s Mystery Quilt was Easy Street. I liked the idea, but wasn’t that excited about the mystery part of the quilt. I kind of like to have an idea of what the quilt will look like.
Thanks to Pam and many others, I know, basically, what the piece looks like and I am still interested.
Fat Quarter Shop Fabrics
While I am not anywhere near cutting and sewing, I have been thinking about fabrics. I want to use grey for the background for some reason that I can’t fathom. To that end I have bought a few pieces of grey lately.
I have been disappointed in the greys I have purchased recently. They are too beige The perfect grey, which I may have mentioned, was the Happy Go Lucky grey by P&B Textiles, which I used to bring the block sup to size in the A-B-C Challenge (I definitely mentioned this). You can see the perfect grey on page 2 of the fabric card. All the Happy Go Lucky now is by Bonnie and Camille and definitely does not include the grey I want.
There is a lot of “starting new projects” in my head. I need to be mindful and judicious of ruining the progress I have made on my UFOs. I am also not ready to give up the small projects project.
I spent a lot of time cutting over the weekend, which served a few purposes:
lots of fabric is in different shapes
I am showing the world that I am not blowing off Susan and the Russian Rubix project
A lot of fabric was pressed
I actually cut some FOTY squares
I really wanted to make progress on cutting for my Super Secret project and for the Russian Rubix. I just wanted to see what the fabrics would look like cut up.
It turns out I am using the same fabric for both projects. I like the combination so far. Probably not the same background and I will probably use the more colors (fabrics) for the Super Secret project than for the Russian Rubix, but the base colors and fabrics are the same.
Most of the fabrics on the right (above) are fabrics I am using for the two projects. The group shown is small, because the design wall is full of the RR octagons.
I cut octagons from all of the fabrics chosen so far, but there is a pile of them on my cutting table that won’t fit on the design wall. I need to move them to my portable design wall, but the Attack of the Hexies project is there and I am actually working on it a bit, so I don’t want to lose the momentum by taking it off. I’d really like to get that project out of my life. It was fun for awhile, but I am ready to be done with it. Working on it makes it more fun.
It really has been awhile since I filled up part of the design wall enough to post some squares for this project for you. Summer was busy; I wasn’t ironing. I don’t know what I was doing. Read the blog, then you’ll know.
I have been cutting a lot lately. I finished cutting out the bag that will be part of Purse Palooza blog hop. I am cutting out another Petrillo Bag and I cut a bunch of pieces I will talk about tomorrow. Regardless, I needed some finishes – or at least a finish.
This piece had been hanging around just needing a bit more work to get it finished. I really only spent an additional half hour on it to make it ready to use.
Ever since I had the idea to use the trimmings from quilts to make journal covers, I have been making different journal covers. At first, I was just sewing the pieces into the right sizes. Now I am trying to make the covers more interesting. I found that I didn’t like looking at them and that is not a good thing.
Swoon Journal Cover inside
The trimmings are long and thin so by just sewing trimmings together I was ending up with a lot of horizontal design elements. I wasn’t liking those, so on later journal covers I cross cut the pieces and re-sewed them. You can see the sort of checkerboard I have going. Yes, it is more work, but it is also more interesting.
I am still fumbling with the lining. The batting is too fluffy even though it works on some journals (think that has to do with lucky placement) I think I need to try flannel next, but that requires buying some flannel just to put in the center of the journals and I haven’t wanted to spend the money. Part of my idea is using supplies on hand for these covers. I might also try no filling again and see if I still think it needs improvement.
I still have some bits for other journal covers on my sewing table. I’d like to get them off the table, which means I need to make more journal covers.
I picked up this magazine on a whim at Joann when I was there the other day NOT buying ShapeFlex (apparently they had has an interfacing sale and were cleaned out). I was attracted by the bright and cheerful colors. Yes, despite autumn coming on the quilt on the cover had no browns. Points scored!
Every page is designed with bright and cheerful colors. I think that in the US, it might be marketed as a modern magazine, but nowhere obvious in the content did anything scream modern.
There are patterns and most of them have an alternate colorway. The quilt you see on the cover has a 1930s alternate colorway, which is GREAT. It is so different than the fabrics shown that the 1930s fabrics really show the pattern to a different advantage.
In addition to quilt patterns, they offer block tutorials (in this issue, Tula Pink), interviews, and a tote bag pattern, which makes me hope for small accessories in future issues as well. There are a couple of pages showing new fabric lines, a shop review, technique tips and an article about a designer’s journey to Quilt Market. There was also a pattern on how to make apron pockets. Different, yes.
My favorite part of this magazine is the Triangle City pillow (block) pattern by Katy Jones. If you don’t know Katy Jones, she is the designer of the quilts that flow out of the I’m a Ginger Monkey blog. I like this pattern, because it is not made up of a 1,000 half square triangles and is a challenging project. The directions are several pages long, involve English Paper Piecing and assume that you can do this. You can. I am going to try it. It might kill me, but I am going to try it. Try it with me. Buy rotary templates from Katy.
The photography is colorful and interesting. The drawings are cheerful and fun. There is a god balance of color and white use on the layout of the pages.
Try it out. As encouragement, they have a special offer good until September 27, 2013:
UK readers: www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/LQPX11
US readers: www.imsnews.com/quilting-2001
Find an issue. I hope you will like as much as I do.
The CQFA Meeting was last Saturday and it was great. As you know, I haven’t been in awhile and I was so glad to see my art quilt pals.
Julie, Dolores and Maureen did a presentation on color. The presentation was called “Why Your Stash Needs to Be Bigger.” 😉 I am not going to rant today about the low cost of fabric compared to other stress reducing activities.
Dolores, Maureen & Julie
They covered the science of color, color in culture and some color exercises. I am trying to get Dolores to do a guest blog post, but I will post some of my notes for your edification. I was too fascinated by what she was saying to take really good notes.
Science of Color
Color is the reflection of ambient light on to an object. Dolores referred to the Archimedes Lab’s information on color. I just Googled and found some pages that I would like to explore later.
gamut is a term used for the range of color that can be reproduced.
Your monitor is set to use RGB colors and your printer is set to use CMYK colors, which why we sometimes have problems printing what is on our screen
No device can reproduce as many colors as our eyes can see.
ATCs
simultaneous contrast – our eye evaluates the color in relation to what is next what we are looking at. This affects the sense of what color we see. It isn’t a function of the color, but of the perception of the color. Dolores told us that Van Gogh used this technique (?) a lot in his work. Our other senses experience this also. If you are in the hot tub, then jump into a pool, the pool seems colder than it really is. If you drink orange juice with your pancakes and maple syrup, the acidity of the juice in enhanced as is the sweetness of the syrup. Fabrics next to each other talk to each other.
Culture of Color
Maureen present culture to us and it was an eye opener how much color is involved in our culture in ways not related to actually using color such as writing with a purple pen or playing with fabric.
Language uses color in metaphors and for metaphors. This is called cognitive metaphor. Part of it is associating colors with emotions (not a comprehensive list; just some examples):
red- passion, anger, danger
green – nature, recycling
blue – calm
etc.
We have been trained to have associations with certain colors. Colors telegraph a certain message. I think this might have to do with my comments about cheerful quilts. I see certain quilts as cheerful when they have warm colors, usually. [I haven’t thought of this before, so it isn’t a fully formed thought. The idea just came together as I was writing this.]
Having emotional associations with certain colors means that we might want to look at the colors we are using in our work and ask ourselves if we are trying to telegraph a certain message through our work via color?
There is also an iPad app you might want to try out called Josef Albers.
Exercise your Color Muscle
Julie reminded us that we all have our own color palette that is defined by our lives, experiences, art to which we have been exposed, etc. Julie showed us some exercises that started in a book called Playing with Color by Richard Mehl.
She used some of what Dolores and Maureen said for the exercises, such as picking a color from two that was in the center of another color.
Color Exercises
One exercise (green on red) was an effort to find a color that looked the same when laid on two different fabrics in the same color family.
You’d think that this was easy, but it isn’t. There were a couple of issues to work with. 1) we are working with fabric. With paint, you can mix a bit of white in or a bit of grey. In fabric, it doesn’t work that way. 2) we were working with pattern. Julie set up the exercise and she doesn’t have many solids (remember the title of the presentation?), so she has to work with patterned fabric. Because of the contrast that often exists in a patterned fabric, it made the exercise harder. Yes, she found as many tone-on-tones as she could, but it was still a challenge. a good challenge, but a challenge. 3) we have a very limited amount of fabric handy, but even with your own stash, this would be a challenging exercise, because of the nature of fabric – it already has color. Yes, you can dye it or discharge it, but you still may not get what you expected out of the dye/discharge bath.
Color Exercises
This was a great example for me of “fabrics talking to each other.” It was really, really interesting and amazing to see the same fabric paired with two different fabrics and how different they can look. The green on green examples show this really well. One makes my eyes vibrate a little. The top combination has the center square looking much darker than the bottom center square even though they are the same fabric.
It was very interesting and fun to work with the whole group. I enjoyed hearing others’ thoughts and how they saw the fabric.
Business
The group is working on a second show at SF Public Library. The organizing group is new, though I have offered to still act as the liaison with the library. The piece I am thinking of making is too big and will take too long. I also don’t think I have thought through the making of the whole piece yet. Not sure. I think I will consider entering Beach Town. More info about the first show can be found in earlier posts.
The Retreat was discussed. It will be at the end of January as per usual.
CQFA Color Challenge
I was glad I didn’t do the color challenge. My idea was LAME compared to the gorgeousness that others brought. I am so lucky to be in this group. The CQFA people do fantastic work. I need to up my art quilt game. I might be a little discouraged, but the pieces were inspiring and made me think of my color strip in a different way. I am not out of the game. Late, yes, out: NO! The collage above was created using Ribbet.com.
We are having another challenge with shapes. Everyone cut shapes, our personal symbols or what we have been doodling, out of black paper and trade them. Now we have to take the symbols and do something with them.
Show and Tell
Show and Tell always make me want to work harder and more to get better.
ATCs
CQFA ATCs September
We swapped ATCs (photos sprinkled throughout this post) and there were a lot of swappers this time, which was nice. My bridge ATCs (Artists Trading Cards) were very popular, which was nice. I took some photos as I crossed the new bridge last Sunday and may use those as the basis for my November set. It is hard to take good photos from a moving car, so we will see.
ATCs: The Chosen Ones
I picked a nice range of ATCs. I didn’t get one of each, because of all the swappers, but that is the nature of the beast. A couple people asked me for Bridge ATCs, so I might make some more of the historic bridge. We will see. I didn’t really enjoy the stitching I did on the photo. I felt like I had to do something in addition to just print a photo on fabric and edging it to the back to keep it together, but I wasn’t happy with the way the stitching came out. Not sure what to do.
Regardless, I need to get started on my ATCs for the next meeting. Not waiting until the last minute was fantastic.
Some of us stayed after and chatted and sewed. I started cutting out the next Petrillo Bag. Yes, I am making it with the changes I described in my previous post.
Thanks to Angela for the use of her photos of the ATCs.
Definition: “A tropical cyclone is a rapidly-rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain. Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water. They derive their energy from the evaporation of water from the ocean surface, which ultimately recondenses into clouds and rain when moist air rises and cools to saturation. This energy source differs from that of mid-latitude cyclonic storms, such as nor’easters and European windstorms, which are fueled primarily by horizontal temperature contrasts. The strong rotating winds of a tropical cyclone are a result of the (partial) conservation of angular momentum imparted by the Earth’s rotation as air flows inwards toward the axis of rotation. As a result, they rarely form within 5° of the equator.[1] Tropical cyclones are typically between 100 and 4,000 km (62 and 2,500 mi) in diameter.
In addition to strong winds and rain, tropical cyclones are capable of generating high waves, damaging storm surge, and tornadoes. They typically weaken rapidly over land where they are cut off from their primary energy source. For this reason, coastal regions are particularly vulnerable to damage from a tropical cyclone as compared to inland regions. Heavy rains, however, can cause significant flooding inland, and storm surges can produce extensive coastal flooding up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the coastline. Though their effects on human populations are often devastating, tropical cyclones can relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat energy away from the tropics and transport it toward temperatelatitudes, which may play an important role in modulating regional and global climate.” (Wikipedia)
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.
We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP
The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.
Anna Maria Horner talks about giving herself a break. While the comments are just a few sentences, they made me think. It almost made me wonder if the universe is sending me some challenges to get me to give myself a break.
If you want to read a really nice and sweet 1st blogiversary post, check out Valerie’s post in celebration of her first blogiversary. Congratulations, Valerie!
Katie pointed me to a great interview with Lily Ashbury on the Fat Quarter Shop Blog. One of the greys will work with my background idea for Easy Street. Yes, I bought fabric. 😉
Pam and Darla talk about nerdiness quite a bit. If you want a non-quilty take, check out the N3rdc@st, episode 1. I downloaded it, because I thought there was an interview with Sarah Addison Allen, of Gardenspells, The Sugar Queen, the forthcoming Lost Lake and the The Peach Keeper fame. No interview, but there discussion of nerds was kind of interesting. The podcast, well, the first episode, at least, wasn’t as well produced as some of our quilty podcasts, but we all improve.
I really liked this post from The Cutting Table talking about Sampler Quilts. Moda retweeted it. Thanks, Moda!
Periodic Table of Sewing Elements
I saw this very clever Periodic Table of Sewing Elements on the Scientific Seamstress, first on FB then on her blog. She has files on the 2011 post that are high enough quality for you to download and print or have printed in high quality at a copy center. This post also discusses her thought process for making over her sewing space. Great food for thought.
The show featured in this blog post will be the last for the guild. The guild has dwindled to 10 members. The quilts shown in the photos aren’t particularly traditional, which makes me wonder why other quiltmakers in the area aren’t joining this guild and keeping tradition going? The KCMQ is huge in the area. Can’t they join forces? I am sure I am missing the politics of the guilds in that area and politics are probably the underlying issue. I hope something replaces that show; it sounds great.
Interesting quilts on the Modern Bias Blog. I also like the quilting on the flying geese quilt.
This blog post was painful to read at the beginning as I know exactly what the mom was feeling, but as I read through the post, I saw the blossoming and expansion of creativity on both sides.
Moda posted a review of the True Cut system. I am keeping my system in place, but I find it interesting to read about new quilt technology. I do use the True Grips, as I have mentioned. They are great at helping to prevent rulers from slipping.
I saw this picture on Twitter and thought it was very clever.
Straight from ResearchBuzz: “Check out this cool Web app that turns a collection of Flickr photos into an “average” photo. This morning’s photo is an “Average” for five photos tabbed Lincoln Memorial.” I haven’t tried it yet, but I think it would be cool to try it with my Ferry Building photos.
QNM put up a very interesting layout for a sampler quilt. Everything is on point and the center block is larger. The colors are depressing and I would love to see this in pink and orange, but the layout is great. Thanks to Pam for pointing it out.
I saw the blog of a Quiltmaker who is really putting the leaders and enders idea to work. She discusses fabric storage and scraps on her blog. Thanks to Adrianne for pointing it out.
Who knew so many people were producing acrylic templates. I did a search on Etsy and really had my eyes opened! Richard, of the Russian Rubix fame, has his shop up and running, so go get your templates, so you can sew along with Susan and me.
You might have seen Alex Veronelli (of Aurifil fame)post about being at the Checker Open House. Checker is a distributor of all things quilty. There are 3 posts about the open house from their newsletter. Take a look at Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 to get the inside scoop.
Katie of Katie’s Quilting Corner mentioned Art Bins in a recent podcast. I use them also for storing progress projects. Katie said that she can fit everything for a project in one, which I can’t do. She might find larger ones than I have found. I like the one that measures 3.5″ x 14′ x 15.25″ (approximately) for projects. I used one to keep the Flowering Snowball parts all together. There is a larger version (15.2 x 14 x 6.2 inches), which holds a lot more, but still not all of my fabric. Remember I tend to use a small amount of a lot of different fabrics for my projects rather than larger amounts of coordinating pieces. The handles are great and keeping most of a project together, especially the cut pieces, patterns, etc is useful.
Sheesh! Camille Roskelley has another new line of fabric for Bonnie & Camille called April Showers. She talked about it very briefly in a recent blog post. It is more of the same type of colorway that Happy-Go-Lucky had with the dark blue. I didn’t think Scrumptious was out yet and I am waiting for that line. I guess I had better go shopping. 😉
Downton Abbey fabrics from Andover for all you fans- coming in the Fall. You can download Mood Boards. Looking at them and the final collections might be a good way to inspire your own mood boards.
Juliana Horner, yes, Anna Maria Horner’s eldest daughter, has designed a fabric collection, which you can find at Joann.
Creativity
I really didn’t know where to put this story about living a life where you do exactly what you love every day. This blog post describes how I feel when I am working with fabric, but especially when I am making quilts.
A post by Danny Gregory echos how I have been feeling, especially the line about “nose pressed to the window.” I guess I need to get in gear and do some stuff before I take the leap.
I did a search for creativity in the podcast part of iTunes and found a number of interesting podcasts of varying lengths and topics. NerdEcon episode X was an interview and discussion with the author of Imagine. I thought it would be too dry, but there were some great tidbits that I was able to takeaway and will use for a big project in which I am involved.
Books
Classic Modern Quilts
My friend, writer at Little Bluebell and the former president of BAMQG, Adrianne Ove, will be included in a forthcoming book by Kansas City Star, Classic Modern Quilts. See some beauty shots on their blog.
Projects
A question came up about the receiving blankets I made a few weeks ago. The receiving blankets are a great gift and moms love them. They also USE them, which is why I started giving the receiving blankets instead of quilts.
I use 1 layer of flannel. One reason I don’t double them like a quilt is that the mom can layer them depending on the temperature she needs. I buy 1.25 yards and square it up, then I do a double fold hem on the raw edges. I don’t hem the selvedges, but my friend does. I am too lazy. I use a decorative stitch and will, sometimes, stitch the baby’s name in the blanket hem, if I know it. Sometimes I stitch “Baby Jones” into the hem. I give 3 to 5 receiving blankets to each mom.
Remember the pillow covers I made a few weeks ago? DH made fun of me for just putting the new covers over the old ones. Well, what am I going to do with the old ones? On another pillow cover topic, to add insult to injury, the fabric doesn’t even feel nice against our skin. Napping on the couch isn’t nearly as pleasant with those pillow covers. Ergh!
I saw a pillow on the ailyn-Nilya blog that I couldn’t stop looking at. Finally I clicked on the link and ended up on Flickr in the Ferris Wheel group. Ferris Wheel? Yes, the pattern kind of does look like a Ferris Wheel and, while I love the imagery, I also thought that the pattern looked like Jack’s Chain. I looked it up in Jinny Beyer’s The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns and the pattern is actually called Ferris Wheel – well, that is one of the names. It is also called Block Patchwork (boring name), Building blocks, Hexagon, Morning Glory and Wandering Paths, in addition to The Ferris Wheel. Jack’s Chain is similar, but has 9 patch blocks where the squares are placed in the The Ferris Wheel. Perhaps I will try The Ferris Wheel sometime. It looks like the makers used English Paper Piecing. I wonder if it would be horrific with Y seams? I should finish the Attack of the Hexies first.
Inspiration
I really like the images in the Basic Grey post from a few days ago.
Inspiration is a funny thing. You never know when it will show up, strike you, appear on your radar.
The hard part is what you have to recognize it when it shows up and seize it.
Seize it? Put it somewhere. Remember it. Keep track of it.
Here is what is inspiring me today:
A Little Sap
Carol’s Kind Tweet
Thanks to Carole for taking the time. Though I write this blog for myself, these kind of comments are another reason to continue on.
Over the weekend, I really had only a couple of hours to sew. Since I was behind Susan a bit on the Russian Rubix project, I decided to cut octagons from the fabrics I had selected for the 2.5″ strip project.
I know you must be thinking “what is she thinking!?!” Well, I was thinking that I really only needed 1-2 (at the most) strips for the 2.5″ strip project and that I could test out the color combination by using the same fabrics for the Russian Rubix project.
I may be wrong and may may have just cut up a bunch of fabric that I will need for something else. I may have cut up a bunch of fabric that I will be sick of using for projects by the time I have made two projects with it. I may hate the fabrics together, and have just cut up a bunch of fabrics in weird shapes that I won’t be able to use.
I really just needed something on the design wall.
Perhaps, for now, I am testing.
I cut a 2.5″ strip for the Jaye-roll project and a 3.75″ inch strip for the Russian Rubix and proceeded to use the RR templates to cut the octagons. I got about half way through cutting strips and octagons from the stack of fabrics I had selected and am pleased with the variety, the cohesiveness and the cheerfulness of the group.
I also cut enough so I could see how different fabrics interact with each other and on that level, I think this group is working.
Right now my biggest problem is background. It will be easier to audition backgrounds with smaller pieces available. The pattern has a white or Kona Snow background. I don’t know if I want to go that route, though I do think it would showcase-provide a nice backdrop? – for the colors of the fabric. I have been thinking grey. I wish P&B still made the Happy Go Lucky (?) grey I used in the A-B-C Challenge. I have some, but I don’t know if I have enough.
All of the above is speculation in my head. I have to get fabric out and look at it before I can decide for certain. Yes, I need to make visual decisions visually (thanks, Lorraine Torrence).
Stitched Blooms: 300 Floral, Leaf & Border Motifs to Embroider by Carina Envoldsen-Harris. Published by Lark Crafts (ISBN: 978-1-4547-0425-6)
Thanks to Lark Crafts for sending me this book to review. It isn’t on Goodreads yet, but I am sure it will be there soon.
This is a beautifully designed book. I love the colors and details such as the scalloped edging on some of the pages. I also like the photography. The pictures fit the sections in which they are placed and in some cases are cleverly used to illustrate a point.
The book comes with a CD that purports to have all of the pattern pieces full sized. I didn’t look at the CD, but imagine Lark would not lie to us. 😉 The author writes in the introduction (pg.7) “You can use the motifs straight out of the book pages or take advantage of the enclosed CD, which has al of the motifs in black and white. Adjust and combine them however you like, by changing the size of the motifs or by adding or removing elements. Step-by-step instructions are included for downloading and sizing…so you can stitch them to nearly anything…”
The above makes me like this book. I like the fact that the author is encouraging readers to use the book as a jumping off point. She implies that you can re-size the motifs to make them fit your garment or item and she encourages reader-makers to manipulate her designs to create new motifs. This is such a refreshing point of view. I love it that she does not think (imply?) that her designs or projects are the end of the story. Yay! An author (and a publisher who let her) who realizes that her readers have brains and creativity of their own.
The tone of this book is very informal. It seems to match the tone of the author’s blog.
Ms. Envolsen-Harris gives a bit of a color theory lesson (pg.9). In the first part she talks about mixing colors, which doesn’t seem that relevant to a book about embroidery, but I kept an open mind and was rewarded when the author talked about the impossibility of mixing embroidery floss. She brings up an excellent point when she says “No matter how tightly you twist them together, red floss and yellow floss will not turn orange-they will always remain red or yellow. But they may look orange from some distance and that is very important to keep in mind.”
Yes, it is important to keep in mind. Colors next to each other look different than they would next to other colors. For example if a kelly green is a next to blue, it will look different when placed next to a sunshine yellow. Try it. It is good for quiltmakers to keep in mind. there are color wheels included in this section, so you can use them if you don’t have another one.
Carina talks about the different words and concepts related to color such as value, warm and cool, complementary, etc (pg.10-11). This is a nice section, because she uses embroidery floss to illustrate the examples. At the end of the section, the author says something that is very important “Being ‘good’ at putting colors together can be practiced. The more you work with colors, the better you will get at combining them. You can train yourself by challenging the color choices you make. ” (pg.12). This is so important. If you think you are not good at color, read that part in this book (link above to purchase!) and remember it. If you won’t listen to me, perhaps you will listen to some who got published. Color is a process and you have to practice.
She talks about Fabric & Thread (pg.14-16), Embroidery Tools (pg.17-21), Working with Motifs (pg.22-27), and there is a Stitch Glossary (pg.28-33). The layout and colors used in the Stitch Glossary make me want to get out a needle and try out the motifs. The Embroidery Tools section includes advice on stabilizers and several paragraphs on needles.
There are 20 projects in this book. The projects include clothing, embellishing store-bought clothing, home decor, personal items, accessories, a sewing case, linens, toys, and a quilt! One of my favorites is a frame. The projects in here are different and interesting. I didn’t see the word easy or simple once, but the positive tone of the book implies that everyone can pick up a needle and embroider. I am going to try making the needle case.
I looked through the book from back to front and saw the motif library (pg.102-125) first. My first thought was that many of the motifs would make fabulous applique’ designs or free motion quilting designs.
I would recommend this book for a a source of inspiration even if embroidery is not something you plan on taking up.
You can find Carina’s blog at http://carinascraftblog.wardi.dk/. There are additional embroidery designs to buy, which are accessible via the blog. (N/A)
In between bindings and hemming pants, I made some more English Paper Pieced Stars. I still haven’t decided on a layout, but I am running out of papers, so I will need to do so soon, so I can reuse the papers.
I received this book as a gift earlier this year. I have been carrying it around with me and never seemed to get to reading it until a few weeks ago. I was laying on the couch exhausted and picked it up to leaf through while watching TV.
The book is essentially a pattern book with some thoughts by the popular bloggers. The title is a misnomer. The quilts aren’t from the blogging universe, they are from the popular or well known blogging universe. I don’t think it is possible to include all of the quilts from the blogging universe in one book, but the title does suggest that there could be a v.2, v.3, etc.
The introduction is a page long and tries to categorize this book into the modern quilt milieu by defining “modern quilts.” The author writes “In the context of quilts, “modern” doesn’t necessarily mean contemporary. Although the quilts in this book could certainly be categorized as such, this compilation focuses on a specific aesthetic. Designs touch on ideas such as purposeful imperfections; improvisational piecing; exploring negative space and approaching classic quilt blocks in new ways. That said, one rule of modern quiltmaking reigns: there are no rules.”
Sigh.
I really have nothing against modern quilting except that the above implies that this type of quiltmaking has never gone on before. I blame Marketing departments. Everything has to be new and fresh or it is uninteresting, apparently. In the early 1990s there was a dedicated group of art quiltmakers rethinking blocks, doing improvisational piecing and making their own rules. The joy at that time was the same: rebelling against the Quilt Police. The problem at that time was the same: the “no rules mantra” gave people an excuse to do sloppy work. I refuse to even comment on “purposeful imperfections.”
The quilts in this book are not sloppy and, from what I can see, technique is good. I also think it is good to encourage people, regardless of skill level, to make quilts. More quilts are always better. Still, I think there are rules. Not rules about personal aesthetic, but more about quilts shown in books should be at a very high level of technique. What people make for themselves is entirely up to them and NOT what I am talking about.
I also have to say that there is a value in knowing what good design is and is not. It occurs to me that I do not know what the editor means when she says “…one rule of modern quiltmaking reigns: there are no rules.” I think that there are always design rules. Does she mean that a quiltmaker can make one giant block and make that a quilt? If so, I agree and say more power to the quiltmaker.
The introduction mentions social media. I agree that social media is one of the phenomena that helps to define modern quiltmaking (pg.7). Social media, however, is not the exclusive domain of the modern quilters.
Sadly, the editor or compiler, allows incorrect information to be perpetuated. It is particularly bad in this book. For example, “purposeful imperfections” (pg.7) were thought to be something the Amish included in their quilts. The concept was proved to be wrong, because they actually thought that nobody could be perfect except God and they did not need to add an imperfection into a quilt. There would already be imperfections without trying. [Nota bene: Barbara Brackman talks about this: http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2… or http://www.womenfolk.com/historyofqui…. No references, though, I am pretty sure this was discussed in BB’s book Clues in the Calico. There is a detailed commentary here: http://hartcottagequilts.com/his9.htm, which has icons of the quilt history world named as doing research on this topic].
While not everyone believes in God or goes to church regularly, I think it is fair to say that none of us are perfect. I strive to make the best quilt I can. Despite my best efforts, I have blocks that are a hair too small or points that don’t quite match. I have no problem with design choices where points are cut off or Sawtooth Star legs are wonky. Some wonky-improvisational quilts are gorgeous. I don’t think we should blame design choices on the need to make our quilts imperfect. Be inspired by the imperfections of antique and vintage quilts and incorporate them into your design decisions.
The editor/compiler allows some of the essayists to further perpetuate questionable stereotypes. While many quilts were made using leftovers from sewing for the family, many, many quilts were made using especially purchased fabric or kits. Marie Webster, an icon of quiltmaking in the 1910s and 1920s sold these kinds of kits. It is not a good assumption that all quilts were scrap quilts.
As I said, this is essentially a pattern book. I think the book would have been improved with some information about what inspired the bloggers to come up with the designs. I see a lot of questions and comments about how a person thought of a design and not enough of the answers, though I may not be looking in the right places. Giving the answers to the question of what inspires people to make quilts would go far to give others the confidence to make their own designs as well.
The format of the patterns includes a photo, 2-3 pages for the pattern and an essay by the designer. A lot of the designs are derivative, but freshened up with current, fun fabrics.
The first pattern/quilt that caught my attention was Indian Summer (pg. 27), a pointy Dresden Plate. The designer has included some small appliqued circles around the outside of each plate, adding a bit of interest. She also has clear instructions on making those pointy petals by machine.
Knots (pg.33) is a design of interlocking and layered lines. I like the layering of this design, though I would rather see it in brighter colors.
There are two similar quilts in the book, Juicy (pg.15) and Diamond Crosses (pg.50). There are enough differences to make it worth separate patterns, but enough similarities that you may not want to make both.
I really like the movement in Everything’s Coming Up Rainbows (pg.54) and think she gives good directions for easily creating the wonkiness of the blocks. The designer says to use assorted prints in various colors. I think that the success of this quilt’s color palette is that values of the prints she chose are very similar. That is hard to communicate in a book and, perhaps, the designer’s blog gives more information. If not, be sure to chose prints with all clear color OR all prints that have a slightly greyed color to them.
The Rainbow Stashbuster quilt (pg.60) would probably not need as much attention to whether prints were clear or greyed, etc, though some attention to that detail would make this successful.
One of the things I like about this book is the way some of the designers think outside of the box when making the blocks just a little different. Jessica Kovach does this with her Petal Pod (pg.64) quilt. I love the way she added a simple rectangle to a Drunkard’s Path unit (quarter circle and accompanying background) to make a unit that looks like a flower.
Across the Quad (pg.84) is a quilt I might make. I like the balance. While the cross in the bottom part of the quilt is heavier, the small four patch somehow balances it out.
My favorite quilt in this whole book is Candy Necklace (pg.88). Again, there is a suggestion of interlocking piecing. I also like the controlled scrapiness of the fabric selection. The choice of background fabric is key to the success of this piece. I don’t like that some of the necklaces are cut off and would finish them off at the edges and use some background fabric to even up the edge. That is my little quirk, however.
Martingale has done a good thing by including more on topic and putting the basic quiltmaking information on their website. The editor writes “we wanted to offer you as many step by step patterns as we could fit into 96 pages, so we removed our usual section on basic quiltmaking techniques….you can find the info on our website in downloadable form…” (pg.7) Brilliant.
This book is a good start to what I hope is a series that expands beyond the famous ‘modern’ quiltmakers.
The Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, a main artery between the East Bay and the City, closed on Wednesday August 28 at 8pm forever.
Well, sort of forever.
They replaced it and they had to reconfigure the onramps or interchanges or navigation whatevers.
I started ATCs months ago. I just wasn’t excited about it, but I wouldn’t face it.
Finished ATCs
Somehow, thinking about the Bay Bridge closure made me get excited about ATCs again. I found a historic photo of the Bay Bridge, adjusted the size and printed them on fabric.
I added some stitching, including testing out the Aurifil monofilament.
Voila!
While you read this, I will be at a CQFA meeting. I haven’t been able to attend a meeting in a while.
A nickname for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, or for any country’s naval fleet.
Definition: “to cause (time) to pass usually quickly or imperceptibly.”
The Lost Fleet series of books by Jack Campbell
Fleet Week
Blue & Gold Fleet
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Red & White Fleet
Band: Fleet Foxes
Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, San Diego, California
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.
We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP
The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.
A fleet is a collection of ships or vehicles, with many specific connotations:
A group of racing sailboats. A superset whose subsets are called “classes”. Classes may be non-identical boat types grouped into handicap rating bands or ranges, or classes may be groups of (“one-design“) boat types, identical within their respective class. A class may be further subdivided into “divisions” and/or “flights”.
Starfleet, fictional military, diplomatic, and exploration force in Star Trek
Ugs fleet, a collection of military ground sensors.
A fleet is a saline waterway found in river marshes:
Fleet, Kent, a waterway in the Thames marshes, England
The last time I seemed to have written about this Flower Sugar Hexagon project was way back in 2011. I didn’t think that much time had flown by, but Pam has made two hexagons, so I guess it has.
My design walls have been empty for several weeks while I work on small projects; the 3D items not needing much design wall space. I also love piecing so much that I didn’t want to be tempted away from the small projects that have been on my list for awhile.
My mom came over for a visit with the Young Man after being on vacation and down with Grama for several weeks. When I arrived home from work she told me that she had raced upstairs to see what was on the design wall and was so disappointed to see NOTHING. She looked a little worried as well. I felt bad.
This hexie project has been on my mind and it occurred to me that I could put it up on the design wall and see what I saw.
The only other photos I have of this quilt is laying on the floor. Laying on the floor is different, for me, than hanging on the wall. I seem to be able to see so much more when pieces are vertical. It must be the perspective or the angle.
I found the piece and put it up on the portable design wall. Looking at it after not having seen it for awhile, I noticed some interesting things:
My balance of different fabrics is pretty good.
The piece is tiny. It is less than half the size of the Swoon. I have a lot of hexies to cut
This piece does cheer up the room.
As I said in one of the previous posts,Adrianne of Little Bluebell, introduced me to the cutting technique I used for these hexies. You can find the cutting instructions on her blog.
I hope I won’t think too much about sewing more pieces together. I still need to work on small projects.
The last time I recovered our couch cushions was about 16.5 years ago. We were staging our flat for sale and I found some fabric that matched the our futon cover. The futon along with its wine grapes and hydrangea cover were jettisoned last year when we bought the new couch. We use our cushions. They don’t get tossed out of the way when we sit down, so now the current covers not only don’t match, but are worn through in places. See that blue and white peeking through? That is the previous cover.
Pathetic, I know.
It has been time to make new cushion covers for awhile. I needed to make three. The sizes are
20″ x 18.5″
23″ x 18.5″
21″ x 22″.
Several months ago I went to Joann, coupon in hand, and bought some home dec fabric that was suitably grown up. Since I am still in small project mode, I decided that I would work on them over the Labor Day Holiday.
I did it. I made 3 new cushion covers. Making those cushion covers has not changed my mind about what a pain in the neck new cushion covers are to make. You see my various rants about the Teacher pillows, which is where I spent most of my cushion cover making time in the recent past. Suffice it to say, what should be an easy project always has a problem. I am glad I don’t have to do that any more.
Tissue paper on Fabric
The major problem this time was the fabric. The home dec fabric I bought turned out to be a really loose weave. My machine really had a hard time with it and wouldn’t feed it properly. I pushed, pulled, put a new needle in, used a walking foot and nothing worked. Finally I tried tissue paper, as suggested by one of the Twilters. That made the fabric feed through the machine. I’ll have to remember that. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it as I have done that before.
WonderClips & Tissue Paper
In addition, pins wouldn’t work on this fabric. Good thing I had WonderClips, otherwise, I don’t know what I would have done.
This was very strange fabric. The loose weave, which didn’t look loose, meant that I had other problems as well. The fabric raveled like crazy. I know that some of the seam allowances aren’t large enough and I expect these covers not to last for long. I couldn’t poke the corners of the covers out with my knitting needle, because it went right through the fabric. Guess how I found that out? If I had known, I wouldn’t have bought it.
I did try lining the seam allowances with fusible interfacing, but it didn’t help the feeding through the machine problem. It probably would have helped the raveling problem, but I didn’t think of lining the whole cover until it was too late.
Finished Cushion Covers
Well, at least they are done and they match. I can think of my next project now. I think I’ll go for red next time. I’d better start looking for fabric now.
