2016 Various & Sundry #1

Inspiration

From ResearchBuzz: Stanford University has created a digital archive of Richard Diebenkorn’s sketchbooks. “The Cantor Arts Center recently launched a new website that gives access to the museum’s collection of 29 sketchbooks by Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993), a renowned artist celebrated as both a central figure in the Bay Area figurative movement and a key figure in the nationwide development of abstract expressionism and color-field painting.”

Patterns, Tutorials and Projects

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is upon in varying degrees. Bil Kerr posted a pattern for a log carrier on Craft Nectar. It looks like a very straightforward project if logs and fires are part of your life.

Part 5 and the Reveal, Part 6, of Bonnie Hunter’s Allietare Mystery Quilt have been posted. You need to download the patterns NOW as she will remove them in May or June of 2016. I have seen some very nice versions of this quilt. The ones I like have been in cooler colors. I may actually make this one.

Sewhooked has a Favorite Things BOM. The patterns are available free for the first two days of the month, then cost $2 each or you can buy the set at the end of the year. I downloaded the first block, but it downloaded to Google Drive and not to my account, so I am locked out of it. Be sure, if you download, the patterns, you download them to a place where you can access them again.

Skills and Techniques

Lucky Spool Publishers has started the Mighty Lucky Quilting Club. Many of the BAMQGers have joined for just $5/month. They describe it as “the first monthly subscription club of its kind that focuses on challenging you with design concepts in the quilt making process. It’s like a gym membership for quilters! From playing with improvisation and negative space to finding inspiration and creating your own compositions …and everything in between…you’ll be challenged each month with a new skill to try, with pages of instructions, examples, and inspiration from one of your favorite quilters.” I am interested to see what they do, but don’t want to put another ‘should’ or ‘must’ on my list. I am also not much interested in playing with negative space or more on improvisation, which is to say that it may not be for me, but it could be just right for you. Or you could just look at my quilt class tutorials.

I was watching Season 24 episode 12 of Fons & Porter last night, which was showing the steps to make a project called Cubed. Cubed is a quilt made from 60 degree diamonds with Mary Fons and Jodie Davis hosting. This is a GREAT episode. Mary really does a good job of explaining these diamonds and the tricks to getting perfect patchwork. Additionally, they include a worksheet for adding borders. This is a useful worksheet for every quiltmaker and I suggest that you download it immediately. Watch the episode if you can.

Via Twitter, I saw a post about binding with a decorative stitch, but not the way you are thinking. Check out the Auribuzz blog for the details.

Exhibits and Events

BAMQG pal, Mel Beach, has a quilt selected as one of 12 finalists in the CREA-TV Quilt Challenge. See all the winning/finalists quilts on the Be Creative! Quilt Challenge website.

Supplies and Fabric

Mary, a fellow BAMQGer, shared the WAWAK site with me. She highly recommended it for zippers and other notions. I did look at the site and like their filters for weeding out items. I haven’t ordered from them, but will let you know how it goes when I do.

Articles and Information

Creative people’s brains do work differently. Read the article on the research and the conclusions. I thought that this section was particularly interesting …”it seemed that creative people were more introspective. This led to increased self-awareness, including a greater familiarity with the darker and more uncomfortable parts of themselves. It may be because they engage with the full spectrum of life—both the dark and the light—that writers score high on some of the characteristics that our society tends to associate with mental illness. Conversely, this same propensity can lead them to become more grounded and self-aware. In openly and boldly confronting themselves and the world, creative-minded people seemed to find an unusual synthesis between healthy and “pathological” behaviors.” Another interesting bit: “…creativity is messy”

Housekeeping

I updated the blog theme. After several years of having the same theme, I decided it was time to take advantage of some of the new features and functionality available with the newer themes. The most important of which is that the photos and posts will be more mobile friendly. Supposedly. I am still tweaking the options for this theme so there will be some more changes to come. You don’t have to stay tuned, because you will see them!