Various & Sundry 2018 #12

It’s kind of strange that it is December already and 2019 is around the corner. Frankly, I am done with 2018, so this is good news. Still it is strange.

Doing Good

Remember the Girl Scout Hearts I made? The finished quilts are starting to appear and they look great.

My guild is collecting new makeup for high school girls affected by the Camp Fire in Butte County, California. If you have purchased some new makeup, leave a comment with valid email and I will get in touch about getting it to them.

Cindy Needham is collecting tools, solid fabrics (they have enough others) and pre-cuts for quiltmakers who lost everything in the Camp Fire (Northern California, Butte County) and need to get back to sewing. Read through her feed to see what is needed. Rotary cutters, rulers and mats are a big desire.

@lebethbryant has designed a pixelated California quilt. It looks like it is made from charm squares and it is a great design. She is offering this pattern online with 100% of the proceeds going to the California Wildfire Relief Fund. There is a link to purchase the pattern in the profile at the link above.

Patterns, Projects & Tutorials

I have updated the AQ tutorials page here to include the paper wreath tutorial. It is a nice, relatively quick hostess gift.

I saw a link to this older tutorial, The Awesome Bag, and thought it would be easy enough for a quick, last minute gift. I haven’t made it, but I do like the look of it.

Charlotte, of the Slightly Mad Quilt Lady podcast and blog, also has an Etsy shop (and 2 kids, a DH, is a midwife and….WOW!). I was thrilled to see that she has a great dragon pattern for sale. She has a few other things in the shop, but it is not overwhelming and the dragon is the gem.

Northcott posted a free basic apron pattern that would make a great hostess gift or quick raffle prize.

Charlotte Hawkes of Scrapitude fame has a new mystery quilt, A Handy Dandy Scrap quilt. The first cutting instructions are now available.

I am looking for a pattern to keep my KitchenAid stand mixer clean when it is not in use. I found one, but I am not sure about it. Do you have a pattern you like?

I have a very active and important (to me) journal practice. I write every day. I should say that the days I do not write are few and far between. What I do works for me, though I wish I had the time and ideas to make my journals into a piece of art. Still, I am always tempted by other journal projects. I saw the Right Brain Journal project and am tempted. My sister suggested doing it together. One thing I don’t like is that there is no option to purchase a bound version. It is only a digital download.  Digital downloads have their advantages, but I am not sure I want a bunch of sheets of printer paper, not to mention the ink cartridges printing a 70+ page digital download would require. Also, I don’t want to work on printer paper necessarily. Perhaps I could purchase some nice paper that would run through my printer or through the printer at Kinko’s? Are you doing this project?

Media

If you only click through to one link make it this article on the benefits of craft in your life. If your partner or children or neighbor is giving you crap about how many quilts you make, how many quilts are piling up or how much time you spend on quiltmaking, show them the article. The most important thing? Don’t listen to them. Crafting is good for you, good for your mental health. Do it more.

Charlotte, the Slightly Mad Quilt Lady, wrote a great post on sharing photos from shows. There is a bit about copyright, but it is not a piece about copyright.

Anne of PlayCrafts has posted a life update. Aside from being interesting, she has posted some great quilts and quilt WIPs.

Jen Carlton Bailly of BettyCrockerAss.com shows how to use her templates to create a Holly quilt. This is not a tutorial, but it is easy enough to follow the design if you know about piecing.

Modern Quilt Studio is starting a ‘new’ tradition of reflecting on accomplishments for the year. You can read the prompts on Craft Nectar and post your responses on FB or Instagram. I put the ‘new’ in quotes since I have been doing roundup posts for several years. I do them in my own way so they are useful for me.

Behr also has a color of the year. It is different than the Pantone Color of the year, Living Coral.

Tools, Fabric, Supplies & Notions

Sara over at Sew Sweetness introduced her second line of “minikins” recently. I saw a tweet where she wrote “Minikins Season 2 acrylic templates are now in stock! Are you making a lot of the season 2 projects for holiday gifts or craft fairs? These acrylic templates are a huge time saver – use your rotary cutter to quickly cut out your templates”. These seem like a great idea for the small bags included in the second Minikins package.

Honest Fabrics print panels that mimic the pieced quilts of designers such as Anne Sullivan. The colors on the website are beautiful. I haven’t seen one printed out in person. They would be great for someone who enjoys quilting, but not piecing.

I have heard a lot about mini-bolts and wrapping fabric on them for easier storage. I never really investigated the process fully. Recently I came across a page on the Paper Pieces site selling the supplies and explaining how the process works.

Laura Kemshall reviews the Husqvarna Epic. Her work is amazing anyway and the piece she did on this machine is also amazing.

Inspiration

I love the colors and design of the Boulder MQG QuiltCon Charity Quilt. It reminds me a lot of Sarah Goer’s Planned Improv designs.

Laura Kemshall pointed me to a shop and Gallery in Munich. She was invited to display her quilt there. As the shop is local, the site is in German. Click on ‘Kundengalerie’ to see the gallery portion. You can see quilts made by their customers (Kunden!).

Katie, of Katie’s Quilting Corner, posted a link to Tom Hovey the artist who does the food drawings for the Great British Baking Show. I love the drawings. Even though my shelves are overflowing with books, I have been wanting a book of these illustrations. His website is almost as good and includes a section on fruit slices as well. Very inspiring.