Various & Sundry 2020 #3

Media

Barbara Brackman has a wonderful quilt she has been puzzling over with a friend. She is calling it Friendship Knot, but I get the impression they don’t know where the quilt design/pattern came from. Check out the block! It is so interesting the way this pattern is put together. I might want to make this quilt. 😉

This is not a political blog and I am not for or against any candidate right now, please no political diatribes. However, when I see a quilt on the wall of a politician’s office, I have to take notice. I really want to know the story behind the quilt on the wall. Is it his? Is it part of the office decor? Who made it? This is a NY Times article, so you may have to access it through your public library.

I saw a series of books on color by Michael Pastoreau. To date he has written volumes on blue, yellow, red, green, and black. I haven’t read any of these books, but I think I will need to see if the library has them.

According to a website, drawing is the fastest and most effective way to learn.

Doing Good

You have seen the Color Strip/Chunk quilt tops and the Color Improv quilt tops I have been making. I talk about them all the time. I recently saw Quilt Diva Julie’s blog and was inspired by some pieces she is making.

Classes, Lectures & Workshops

Weeks Ringle has a really great post on preparing for workshops.

I found a video workshop talking about box corners for bags. The presenter talks about creating box corners of different sizes with the theory behind the process. Sara Lawson, Sew Sweetness, also has a tutorial about boxing corners. It is focused on using her boxing corners ruler tool. The two methods are slightly different. In Sara’s tutorial, the choice of how large to box a corner seems a little arbitrary.

Sara also has a tutorial on tapering corners. For pillows and similar projects, tapering the corners actually makes the corners look more square. Not tapering the corners can (for some mathematical reason, I am sure) make them look very long and thin. In the tutorial, she shows a paper template, but she also, now, sells a rotary ruler version. I don’t see a link to the paper template, but you can make your own by looking at the example in the video.

Fabric, Supplies & Tools

Ever since I read Sarah’s blog post about the Janome M7 Continental, I am in love. I think I become enamored with each new machine that Janome releases!

Janome M7 Continental
Janome M7 Continental

Janome claims that “one of the favorite features is that the M7 has the industry’s largest sewing space available on any household use machine. With 13 ½” of work space, a total work area of 17.81”, more than 3” in the needle/needle plate section, your sewing capacity will improve all around. With an added extension table of 26.77” X 15.75”, you’ll have even more work space to utilize! Check out the M7.

Heidi Proffety has a 3 part series of videos where she gives an in depth look at the M7 and its features, all three parts of her tutorial can be found on their Facebook page or on YouTube.

I have a KAMsnaps installation kit. Crafty Gemini recommended it and I used it for my 4-Zip Organizer. I had a hard time with it, so I was pleased to see a video about using it. I am not sure if the video helps, but I will try again to get the KAMsnaps to work on my project.

Lauren Mormino has a selection of bag hardware.

Other Artists

I really like the interesting circles in this quilt.

Patterns, Projects, Tutorials & Designs

If you want to use Illustrator to design quilts, check out a page on the Adobe site.

Barbara Brackman has a block on her blog called Dog Star. She shows a quilt that is really cool looking.

Pouches have been on my mind. Perhaps because of the fabulous gift pouches I received recently. A long time ago, I visited Kelley and she gave me the zippers for a Triple Zip Pouch. I hunted down the directions and think it might be time to make it. I might have to make two and send one to Kelly. We’ll see.

I have not made a Bionic Bag; I have made several Sew Together Bags. However, I found a video (I know! Why I am watching videos is a whole different issue) that I thought compared the Sew Together Bag with the Bionic Gear Bag. I was wrong. The video compares three versions of the Bionic Gear Bag: The Mother Lode, the Bonza and the Original. I don’t know the sizes, but the Mother Lode kind of looks like it might be comparable to my All Rolled Up Tote. The presenter also mentions a baby version. You can find the pattern for the Baby version on the downloadable products page. If you want to make the Bonza version, check out the page of workshops and video tutorials. That page has a good close-up of the features of the bag as well.

Recently, I mentioned the Knot & Thread Hello Pouch pattern. While checking out other videos, I saw a free tutorial for a similar pouch tutorial from Olfa. I haven’t made either bag and I can see some slight changes, but essentially they look the same. This presenter, Lauren Mormino, does everything on camera. The sewing was great, but I sped through the opening of her new rotary kit and all the cutting. She doesn’t have any step-outs prepared in advance. This is a really quick project. I would definitely bind the raw edges on the inside. She deals with the vinyl in a different way than I do. Check out my tips and tricks for using vinyl if you don’t have a similar machine to hers.

I also found a slightly different vinyl bag from So Sew Easy. These make great project bags or ways to organize your fabric closet or supply check. This video has a very interesting method for enclosing the zipper. I want to think about how I could use it for other projects.

There are a whole bunch of zipper pouch tutorials in one place at Threading My Way.

A long time ago, I participated in a Sew Sweetness Purse-a-Palooza. I was looking through her older blog posts and I came across my post on her site. It was fun to see my work out there in the blogosphere.

My eye doctor asked me to put a heated compress on my eyes each night, which I thought might be easier if I had an eye mask. I went looking for a tutorial since I have fabric and rice here at home. I found one which starts out talking the author’s optometrist as well. Chloe of Nurturing Creativity has tutorial called “How to Create  a Heated Eye Mask.” How perfect is that?

If you like Zen Chic, I stumbled onto her free pattern page.

As I wandering around the web, I also came across the Moda Blockheads 3 project. I am sure most of you know about this, but I wasn’t in the loop. Lots of interesting blocks. The Zen Chick LOVE block would make great pincushions.

I saw this super cute coffee cozy.

Author: JayeL

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.