In Austria the traditional greeting for the New Year is ‘Gute Rutsch’, which means good slide into the new year. I hope your slide out of 2020 and into 2021 was pleasant and happy. Thanks for reading. I look forward to another year of you reading my thoughts and posts about my projects.
Articles, Media, Exhibitions and Shows
I found an article about Sarah Bond’s family history and how quilts have been a part of that history since the early 1800s.
Pantone has released their Color of the Year for 2021. This year they chose 2 colors. The grey is ok, though a little dark for my use. The yellow is too neon-y for me. Pops of it would spark up a quilt.
Kona has done a much better job with their color for 2021. Their blue-sky hue called Horizon is much more my speed. It is similar to the color we painted part of our house last year. That color was called Cloudless from Sherwin-Williams and I am very fond of it.
Fabric, Notions, Supplies, Books & Tools
The Dream Cart site has some nice looking storage solutions. They are not cheap, but if they are well constructed and not flimsy, then the price seems fair. These do not seem to be available on Amazon.
I saw groups of magazine downloads at Quilting Daily. For example, you can get all the2017 issues of Quiltmaker for $35ish. I can’t decide if that is a good price or not. For 2017 issues, it seems high to me, but I understand they may be paying artists, editors, etc. I thought the prices would be lower. Anyway, if you are looking for magazines to flip through on your new tablet, check these out.
Check out the catalog for Sew Expo, Puyallup! Sew Expo, 2021 will be a virtual show. Now is your chance to attend without leaving home! Although there isn’t too much of a quilty nature there are some interesting looking classes. Mister Domestic (Matthew Boudreaux) will be teaching. Sue R posted this on my guild’s member forum.
Friend Julie (all over this post, I know! She is a font of information) told me about Fabric Bubb, an online quilt shop. I was pleased to see they have the Cotton Couture solids by Michael Miller. I do wonder about the names of some shops. I am sure there is a good story there.
Books, Projects, Classes, Patterns & Tutorials
it isn’t too late to join the Spoonflower Doodle-a-Day Challenge. Yes, you’ll be a bit behind, but I have faith that you can catch up. This is similar to my Creative Prompt challenge from a few years ago.
The Royal School of Needlework is encouraging people of all stitching abilities to create a piece of hand embroidered art in the form of a postcard about an aspect of your home, garden or region. They want the “RSN Postcard from Home” project to go viral. Find more information on the RSN website. Use the hashtag #RSNPostcardFromHome
Sarah Ann Smith has a free pattern for pattern weights on her website. If you do not sew garments, these can also be used for taming unruly interfacing.
Jennie, from Clover & Violet, has a[nother] zipper pouch video tutorial. One thing she says in this tutorial, which I have never heard is that top stitching next to the zipper helps keep the lining from getting caught in the zipper teeth. That makes a lot of sense to me. She is slowly adding tutorials and other videos to her YouTube Channel. Remember I mentioned the hidden zipper tutorial from Sotak Handmade? I see in the available Clover & Violet videos that they have a two part series on adding a hidden zipper to the back of pillow. You can start with part 1.
Somehow I missed that Joan Hawley is the brains behind Lazy Girl Designs. I went and took a look at her website and found the Freebies area, which has a number of great tutorials and patterns. I like the 1 hour 1 yard free tote bag. There is also a PDF area of hacks where Joan gives information on sewing on a button by machine, choosing zipper colors and making a lanyard for guild (or other meetings).
Yes, Christmas is over, but I keep thinking about bunting. I saw the Apple Green Cottage tutorial and think I might try and make one for Thanksgiving. My sister made me a paper version for birthdays, but never got around to the Thanksgiving version. Perhaps I’ll get my SIL to embroider some of the designs from the napkins as well as letters.
Friend Julie pointed me to a[nother] mask tutorial. I haven’t tried it, but it looks similar to the one I use. I like the pointy bit for the nose, so it will be worth a try. According to an interview with epidemiologists I read , we will be wearing masks for the next 12-18 months at least.
Take a look at the info Julie provided on block printing. We block printed our Christmas cards a million years ago, but haven’t done anything since.
I found another eye mask tutorial. I am not sure I want to bind the whole thing. It seems easier to just flip right sides out after sewing and top stitch. Still, it is another option.
A friend posted examples of this market bag on the Kaffe group on FB. I really like the way it looks.
I saw a photo on Instagram of a pouch. Big deal, right? The photo was in charisecreates top 9 for 2020 post. The pouch was shown on the left in the middle. I love the curve of the top of the pouch. I looked around and the pattern, apparently is in a book called Perfectly Pretty Patchwork by Kristyne Czepuryk. I was able to see some parts of it on amazon, but nothing about this particular pattern. At the moment, I don’t want to buy the book as 1)I have enough patterns and 2) I don’t want to buy a pattern for one pouch. The other projects in the book weren’t interesting to me. Granted I didn’t see them all, but from what I saw I don’t want to invest. Sadly, the library doesn’t have it either.
Krista Moser has a great tutorial on scalloping borders. Note this is not your grandma’s scalloped borders.
All People Quilt has a UFO challenge for 2021.
Karen the DIY Addict posted a YouTube tutorial on the flat back stitch. The flat back stitch is useful for sewing EPP pieces together.
Other Artists
Friend Julie pointed me to an article that references FabMo. I scanned through the article and was pleased to see that the artist featured, who gets her materials through FabMo, makes pieces that are not a jumbled mess. Jumbled messes are perfectly valid forms of art, especially if they create some kind of discussion. I prefer to see FabMo’s materials used in a creative way that conveys a story I can understand or being to parse. I also like to see good technique, which the artist also demonstrates. The piece that highlighted these thoughts for me was Dare! by Zwia Lipkin.
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