Various & Sundry #15 – Pre-Christmas

Housekeeping
I updated the tutorials page to include the Wine Bottle Gift Bag guidelines. These make great gifts. I may make these guidelines into more of a tutorial, but for the moment, what you see is what you get.

Fabric

Portuguese fabric
Portuguese fabric

I received some Portuguese fabric from a friend. They were in a fabric shop in Portugal on vacation and thought of me. Isn’t that sweet? The lengths are quite large and may be suitable for a very elegant dress.

Exhibitions and Events
The QuiltCon cancellation fee is changing at the end of this month. Through Dec. 31, there is a 50% cancellation fee, but after Jan. 1, no refunds will be available. View the full cancellation policy here.

Alex Anderson will be teaching a 3 Day block class at Alden Lane Nursery January 16-18, 2016, 9am-4pm. Sign up by calling 925-447-0280 and asking for Cyndee, Becky or Ruth.

Patterns & Tutorials
Bonnie Hunter has her 2015 Mystery Quilt well underway. Find Part 1, posted on Black Friday. Part 2 was posted the week of 12/1. Please note that if you are reading this after 2016, the patterns have been removed from the Quiltville site.

I am making a Sew Together Bag and someone pointed me to the Quilt Barn Sew-a-Long. the tutorials were posted last year, but the pictures and tips are a great addition to the pattern. You do need the pattern to use the Sew-a-Long tutorial.

Yes, you still have time to make a Christmas table runner. Charlotte posted a lovely pattern she designed in just my colors. It is so fresh and pretty!

I never heard of Taylor Hackbarth, but I love the design of his wine tote. It would be great for a housewarming gift or a hostess gift. You could put other bottles of tasty treats in it besides wine, too. You will need the pattern as well as the blog post. His blog bio states that he has a goal of making his own clothes and that the blog was started to document that process. I saw a sew-a-long for a backpack on the blog, but no posts about clothes. I didn’t read the entire blog.

Articles, Magazines & Books

I know that magazines and books ARE media, but I wanted to separate out the print publications for videos, movies and such.

The Modern Quilt Studio will have a new issue of Quilts Illustrated soon. Order on their website. You can also get collections of previous issues.

Charlotte of the Slightly Mad Quilt Lady blog and podcast fame has written an article about the Dear Jane phenomenon and related projects such as Tula Pink’s City Sampler and the Farmer Wife books. I agree with many of the things she says, though she doesn’t mention the social aspect of working on these types of large projects.

For those of you who never heard of or saw the Esprit quilt collection, the name Doug Tompkins will mean nothing to you. I was fortunate enough to be in the right place (San Francisco) at the right time (late 1980s, early 1990s) and be heavily influenced by the Esprit collection. “He was instrumental in disseminating the idea that Amish quilts are art objects of the highest caliber.” The collection was eventually sold when the owners went their separate ways and that was a sad day; the end of an era. Doug Tompkins was killed in a kayaking accident recently. You can read more in an article by Janneken Smucker, which talks about Esprit, Doug Tompkins’ aesthetic and principles as well as the quilts of the Esprit Collection.

There was an article recently posted on the Right Sides Together blog about the Modern Quilt Police. I was shocked when I read it because I had the impression that avoiding the regular Quilt Police was one of the things that started the Modern Quilt Guild.

Websites & Blogs
Pink Chalk Fabrics domain name, social media properties etc are for sale. Do you want to continue the journey?

Media

The Modern Quilt Studio (Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr) has a new YouTube channel. Free subscriptions are available using the normal method for subscribing to YouTube channels.

Other

What it costs to make a quilt
What it costs to make a quilt

Samantha Hostutler posted this image on FB (not sure if the FB link will work for you, but you might take a look in the Quilting FB Group if you want to see the image in the wild) after a friend of hers saw it at a quilt show. While I think hourly rates are low, I think it gives a nice outline of what it costs to make a quilt.