Various & Sundry 2016 #7

Doing Good
Help the people who have been affected by the fires in Canada. TQS has a fire information page on you can help the victims.
You may ship your completed quilts to:
Berkeley’s Place
c/o Lillian Melynk
1712 Turvey Rd
Edmonton AB T6R 2W7

or to

Dorene Wirth
64 Horseshoe Bend
Lewistown MT 59457

This is the address to send to in the USA

Websites & Blogs

A librarian friend of mine sent me a link to Pale Grey Studios who say they add the Nerd into Embroidery and Quilting. Their quilts are very interesting. I like the words they stitch.

Daisy talks about batting. Oh! And did you see her new patterns?

This picture from Robert Kaufman is always useful advice.

A smaller version of the White Fences quilt would make a great donation quilt.

Alison Glass has a new catalog out Beautiful photography.

If you need a guide to yardage of pre-cuts, check out the Bear Creek Quilting site. They have a nice chart that gives examples of yardage for various pre-cuts.

I came across the My Creative Corner blog by Vicki sometime back in March. The reference got lost in my inbox and I just came across it again. The blog posts are really varied. In one, she wrote about being one of the callers on the Mary Fons and Marianne Fons podcast. In another she wrote about tatting. There is a healthy amount of quilting and it looks like she has a longarm, so you longarmers out there can follow a fellow compatriot.

I loved the post from Christa about her quick trip. It is great and it makes me want to jump in the car and go.

Did you see that Sandy over at Quilt Cabana was part of a blog tour? Her pattern is adorable and would make a great cushion cover for a girls’ room.

Media

I love the pictures in this magazine article about the Auckland Quiltmakers.

The Huffington Post had an article with some great pictures about the auction of a journal by Salvador Dali from the 1930s. I don’t normally post HuffPo articles, but the pictures of the journal pages were just too good not to share. I do feel a little odd and voyeuristic looking at the pictures. I don’t think journals are meant for normal consumption. I wonder what he would think if he saw us pouring over these photos?

Ebony Love, the die cutting queen is featured in the latest issue of Inspired to Sew.

Quilt Your Heart Out has ended its short run with no satisfying explanation.

Patterns, Tutorials & Classes

Blossom Hearts has a HST math tutorial, which works great with my Triangle Technique, especially if you only have the cutting sizes for half square triangles. She shows a couple of different ways of making HSTs and her size charts have formulas, so you can do some of your own quilt math as well. Charts and printables are available.

CGM mentioned Emmaline Bags, a website with bag making patterns, supplies and tutorials. I like the bags with the metal inserts in the top that hold the top open. I’ll have to try one of those out sometime.

The Emmaline Bag site led me down an Internet rabbit hole. I found the Idea Pouch, which I love. Radiant Home Studios has bunches of tutorials. The interesting thing about her tutorials is not all of them are complete projects. Some of them are things like adding a zipper pocket to a bag, adding pockets to skirts, and sewing flat piping to a project. Her stuff is worth a look if you want to expand your skills.

Carol, over at Quilted Fabric Art, has a tutorial up on her block for a very cute fabric basket. This would be great for keys by the door, or those pesky extra keys that end everywhere. I can also see several in my makeup drawer to organize all of those lipsticks and extra buttons that seem to have no home. I had a thought as I was reading the tutorial, which was that you could use a knot of Perl Cotton instead of the button or a series of smaller buttons to hold the flaps closed. These would make great gifts.

I am sure you have heard of The Splendid Sampler. I found the site where they have all the blocks. It is a good resource.

If you are working La Passacaglia, you might want to look at East Dakota Quilter’s idea for using transparencies for the fussy cutting.

I found an Armchair Pincushion and Sewing Pocket pattern at the Patchwork Posse and think it would make great gifts for your sewing group or swap partner.

Fabric, Tools & Supplies

Mrs. K finds the most interesting things. She found some California Bear fabric on Spoonflower. I also saw some California Bear Flag fabric that was great. I am tempted to buy some and make some Native Sons something out of it, but I don’t know what.

Melody Johnson has some pre-cuts available for sale at a good price include Kaffe and Kona solids. The page is older, but the pre-cuts still seem to be available.

I am officially jealous. Sewline has a new kind of scissor that is described as “stainless steel blades stay sharp and offer a clean cut all the way to the tip.” They have an “ambidextrous soft grip handle [that] provides precise cutting control.” These sound like the scissors I need for my binding efforts. I am currently using my great grandmother’s embroidery scissors, which are beautiful, but need some sharpening. I am jealous because these scissors only seem to be sporadically available in the US.

I am on the Janome list and one of the emails I get talks about new machines. Recently I received an email about the new Janome Horizon Memory Craft 9400QCP. I haven’t been this excited about a machine since I got my 9000 about a thousand years ago. It looks like it has all the features I want and none that I don’t. I like the screen and the stitch composer. Of course, I haven’t tried it out and the emails make it look fabulous. Someday, perhaps.

Events & Exhibits

The entry form for PIQF and New Quilts of Northern California is now available. “This year NCQC will grant awards for “Visual Impact” for the New Quilts of Northern California exhibit . The recipients will be selected by the hanging committee and will be awarded ribbons and cash prizes of 1st place $100, 2nd place $50, and 3rd place $25.”

Piecemakers Quilt Guild Presents “Legacies of Love Quilt Show”
July 16 and 17, 2016
Dominican Center/43326 Mission Circle in Fremont, California Special exhibit:Vintage Stitchers, Embroiderers’ Guild of America. More info at our website:  www.piecemakersguild.org

Other Artists

As I was perusing Mel0dy Johnson’s site, I saw a piece of hers called Layerings #4 that I really like. I like the spring green and the small Xes on the side.

Remember when I mentioned the blocks we pieced at QuiltCon from the Mostly Manor fabrics? Victoria Findlay Wolfe mentioned that she has been piecing the ALS Quilter’s Dream auction quilt together. It doesn’t sound like she is done and there was no photo, but I was pleased to see something is happening. You can see some additional photos of the blocks as they were made and the table where we sewed at QuiltCon. Another photos of our blocks is also available. I am sure a picture of the quilt is coming soon.

Angela Walters will be the keynote speaker for QuiltCon 2017 in Savannah. Member pre-registration kicks off Saturday, July 25, 2016. Mark your calendars.

Inspiration

I came across an article about a photographer who photographs floors. You know I periodically show you my photos of floors and titles. I love the inspiration that mosaics and tile provide and Sebastian Erras has taken this one step further by living in Paris and having all those tiles and mosaics on his doorstep, not only in France, but in the rest of Europe, Turkey and North Africa. Sigh. I should live in Paris, don’t you think? One of the floors (dark blue hexies) looks like a Libs Eliott quilt. Another one looks like Latifah Safir’s Clamshell quilt. Another one reminded me of the La Passacaglia quilt. Are you sensing a theme? This article provides a lot of information and photos. His website is also great. You can follow the floors on Instagram at parisianfloors.