Creative Prompt #287: Parrot

Macaw

Parrotheads

Parrots International is a non profit organization promoting international cooperation for conservation of endangered parrot species and improving the lives of pet parrots.

Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Definition – “Parrots, also known as psittacines /?s?t?sa?nz/,[2][3] are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes,[4] found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoidea (“true” parrots), the Cacatuoidea (cockatoos) and the Strigopoidea (New Zealand parrots).[5] Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere as well. The greatest diversity of parrots is in South America and Australasia.

Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.

The most important components of most parrots’ diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral nectar and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree hollows (or nest boxes in captivity), and lay white eggs from which hatch altricial (helpless) young.

Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays and magpies, are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity as pets. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade, as well as hunting, habitat loss and competition from invasive species, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds.[6] Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile charismatic species have also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystems.[7]” (Wikipedia)

Parrot Virtual Machine

The Parrot Confectionery

Priceless Parrot Preserve educates the public about exotic birds and gives a permanent home to abused, mistreated, and unwanted exotic birds.

Parrot Flower Power Channel

The Parrot Imports

Parrot Cay Resorts is tucked away amidst the crystal-clear waters of the Turks and Caicos

Parrot drone AR.Drone 2.0

Parrot Bluetooth hands free car kit

Parrot virtual file system “speaks” a variety of remote I/O services include HTTP, FTP, GridFTP, iRODS, HDFS, XRootD, GROW, and Chirp on behalf of ordinary programs

Parrot Magazine covers all parrots and parrot-like birds, including reader stories, articles covering breeding, behavior, and health care.

 

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Dream Projects #3

As I said in the last post, projects I have wanted to do for awhile kept springing into my head and I really needed a place to put them. I realized that once I cleared out my head, there was more space for other stuff. Guess what happened? More new projects popped into the free space in my head.

I am still not dating these posts, I will just continue to number them. I still like the idea of pretending that time is not passing, so they will just be on the list as I enter them. I still want these posts to be abut the possibilities.

Like I said last time, some of these come from the Current Projects list (Hunting and Gathering section). I don’t know if I will keep them there or move them here. Lots to work out, so continue to stay tuned.

Art Institute of Chicago Fusible Quilt

  • Pattern: Original
  • Fabric: Turquoise and red, mainly, but other colors for the leaves and flowers
  • Steps: need to fuse a bunch of turquoise to some piece of fabric in the ‘ticker tape’ style. I am thinking of making it similar to the Whole Cloth Quilt and using red, again, for the background.

Basketweave Baby

  • Fabric: Scrappy
  • Pattern: Fons & Porter, series 1000, episode 1005
  • Thoughts: I like the challenge of piecing this quilt and the unique piecing

Blue Gradation Quilt (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: blue 2.5×4.5 rectangles
  • Pattern: similar to FOTY 2008
  • Thoughts:

Blue Lemonade (Hunting and Gathering)

Easy Street

  • Fabric: pinks
  • Pattern: Easy Street by Bonnie Hunter
  • Thoughts: I really liked Daisy‘s version of Easy Street, which she calls Cherry Bomb (she thinks of the best names for quilts) in terms of color and feel. I don’t want to copy her, but if I do this quilt, I’d like to have the same pinky-red feel to it. One challenge about a mostly monochromatic quilt is getting enough contrast. I look forward to that challenge.

Food quilt #2  (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Pattern: Disappearing 9 patch
  • Fabric: RJR Food prints. Will use a different color for the non-food print section than I did for the Young Man’s version.
  • Thoughts: Gift for son of good friends for graduation. I have started cutting for this in a serious way. I just need to figure out alternate colors.

Food quilt #3 (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Pattern: Disappearing something, probably 4 patch or 9 patch
  • Fabric: RJR Food prints. Will use a different color for the non-food print section than I did for the Young Man’s version.
  • Thoughts: Gift for nephew for graduation

Half Moon Modern Quilt

  • Pattern: I have some ideas, but nothing definite
  • Fabric: Half Moon Modern Fabrics. I have half yard cuts, I think, plus some odds and ends and I’d like to use them together with some additional fabrics, or, at least a background.
  • Thoughts: I do think it is difficult to start with fabrics rather than a pattern.

Music Quilt

  • pattern: Don’t know
  • Fabric: music prints and tone-on-tones
  • Thoughts: The Young Man has requested this quilt as his graduation quilt

Neutrals and Red/Scarlet Quilt

  • Pattern: Sew two ~3″x3″ squares together, slice each separate fabric and insert a red strip, resew and sew the two squares to another set of squares.
  • Fabric: neutrals+white, black and whites. I have some of these. I bought them not know what to do with them.
  • Thoughts: gift

Pineapple (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: dots. Have most of the strips cut. Will be much more selective about which strips I use.
  • Pattern: Pineapple log cabin
  • Thoughts: I haven’t given up on a Pineapple quilt despite my frustration with the previous attempt. I bought a different ruler: a Creative Grids Pineapple ruler in hopes that it will work better for me.

Pink Gradation Quilt (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: pink 2.5×4.5 rectangles
  • Pattern: similar to FOTY 2008
  • Thoughts:

Scrapitude #2

  • Fabric: scrappy again, but with NO browns or blacks or super darks that look like holes; also more blues and perhaps a different background, though I do like the dots on bright white. I would make sure to skip the dots with a cream background.
  • Pattern: Scrapitude by Charlotte Hawkes
  • Thoughts: I want to try and figure out how to make the edges NOT on the bias.

Silk Colorblock quilt

  • Fabrics: silk dupioni and cotton in brights (of course)
  • Pattern: Similar to Colorblocks 2
  • Thoughts: I have made a couple of, what I call, Colorblock quilts over the years. One was the Kona Challenge in 2011, another was my 1990 Colorblocks 2 and the first one, Colorblocks, also made in about 1990. I bought the fabrics at the Marin Needlearts show about a zillion years ago and they have languished waiting for me to learn to back them so I can use them.

Spin Wheel  (Hunting and Gathering)

Stepping Stones #2  (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: Bonnie & Camille fabrics Bliss, Ruby, Vintage Modern: made two test blocks, but still in the thinking stage while I decide on the background colors. I want the contrast to be good.
  • Pattern:

Stepping Stones #3

  • Fabric: Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. It isn’t started, but I have lots of pre-cuts and think they would make a really fun version of this quilt.
  • Pattern:

Windmill  (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: Scrappy. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps.
  • Pattern: Come Quilt with Me Rotary templates

This is clearly not a regular feature, but it could be an irregular feature.

Current Projects – November 2014

I am a bit late in posting this post, but I have made some progress.

Finished 2014 Quilt Projects

  1. Disappearing Pinwheel: finished 5/30/2014
  2. Fabric of the Year 2012: finished 4/24/2014
  3. Flower Sugar Hexagon: finished 7/1/2014
  4. Fresh Fruit: finished May 3/3/2014
  5. Infinity Quilt: finished 3/3/2014
  6. Scrapitude Carnivale: finished 6/3/2014
  7. See: finished 8/11/2014
  8. Spiderweb: finished 2/22/2014 WHEW!
  9. Star Sampler: finished 7/3/2014
  10. Wonky Nine Patch – finished 9/6/2014

I might be stuck at 10 quilts. I had hoped to finish at least one more, but I don’t know.

Finished 2014 non-Quilt Projects

Still WIPs

I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all, but the list is getting a lot smaller.

  1. Aqua-Red SamplerFrances and I haven’t really worked on this for a long time. She recently got in touch about starting up again and she finished her hexagon block.
  2. The Tarts Come to Tea: I still haven’t worked on this since April 2011, though, periodically, I think about working on it.
  3. Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. I still haven’t worked on this, though, I do think about it. The Lunns have a new line of PP fabric out. I am curious to see the new colors. I only saw a few at PIQF
  4. Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. My career counselor breathed new life into this project for me. She asked a simple question and the end result was inspiration for this piece, but I kind of lost steam again after printing images on paper to try out different designs. Lately, I have been feeling like I need to finish this piece as it should be a good reminder for some other stuff going on in my life. Perhaps that will spur me on.
  5. Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors much. Possibility for abandonment. I have to face reality.

Ready for Quilting

Wow! Everything on this list is new, as in it was never on the original 26 Projects list.

  1. Fabric of the Year 2013: top, back and binding made; ready to take it to the quilter
  2. New:* Super Secret Project #4: at the quilter
  3. Table runner: Basted; needs quilting and binding. I am planning on free motion quilting this myself for practice, which may be a challenge when my main machine is not working. (Not on original list)

In the Finishing Process

  1. I am binding the Green T Quilt, which Gerre and I worked on together.

In Process
I decided that I had better put in an ‘In Process’ category. The difference, at least in my mind, between ‘In Process’ and ‘UFO’ is that I am actively working on a project that is “In Process.”

Hunting and Gathering

  • Blue Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5?x4.5? blue rectangles
  • Blue Lemonade: cutting blue, green, purple 2? squares
  • FOTY 2014: cutting out 3″x5″ rectangles.
  • Pink Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5?x4.5? pink rectangles
  • Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered. I probably have enough fabrics and just need to decide to start.
  • Stepping Stones #2 using Bonnie & Camille fabrics Bliss, Ruby, Vintage Modern: made two test blocks, but still in the thinking stage while I decide on the background colors. I want the contrast to be good.
  • Stepping Stones #3 using the Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. I just remembered this project. It isn’t started, but I have all the pre-cuts and should think about actually using them.
  • Windmill quilt: Still hunting and gathering. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps

Abandoned

Nothing so far for 2014

You can find the last update for the Current Projects list provides a good comparison to this month.

I thought you might want to take a look at the first list I made, the one with the 26 Projects. I started the list in October 2011. I have made REALLY GOOD progress. Up until last month, I was still planning to stop this post when I had no more projects from the original list to write about, but now, that the end is in sight, I am not so sure. It is so useful to keep track of all of my projects. Since I still have some pretty old projects on the list, I don’t have to decide right now.

*New – Project started after I started working on the 26 Projects list

Various & Sundry 2014 #14

Patterns and Blocks

Camille Roskelly posted about Market and included some info about a new Scraps Inc book. She contributed a quilt, parts of which look like inside out Flying Geese.

Starting in January, you can help raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and get a quilt pattern. Read about it on Camille Roskelley’s blog.

EQ held a BlockBase Sew-along back in 2012. In writing a review for you, I found it and thought I would share. I would probably get overly ambitious and do something like make all the blocks in a smaller size a la Dear Jane, but this Sew-along is a good start.

You can always use my pillowcase guidelines, but if you want a different experience, take a look at A Spoonful of Sugar’s pillowcase design. This is a really pretty post as well.

Exhibits and Such

BAMQG members have quilts inspired by Amish quilts at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. There is a recent, interesting article in the San Jose Mercury News, which a friend from Chicago sent me!

Primal Green 2 is on at the San Francisco Public Library. This is the main branch and the exhibit is on the 5th floor. I have three quilts, Beach Town, Flower Garden and the Whole Cloth Quilt in the show.

Social Media

This is such a tough time of year to write a blog. I sometimes wonder why I do it and I realized that I wonder that more during this time of year than other times. I get myself back in a right place in my head and remind myself that I do this writing for myself and my blog has become a great resource for myself! I know you are busy, but take a moment to comment on the blog. I get a lot out of your comments and am glad you are reading.

Tools, Supplies and Fabric

I found out from Alyssa Lichner that she has updatedthe Kona® Cotton to Aurifil Thread Conversion Chart and you can find it by going to her site.

Media

I heard from Ms. Lottie that Linda and Laura Kemshall have a new magazine out, Through Our Hands.

The Electric Quilt Company will soon have online classes. Keep checking their website for start dates and titles of classes.

December To Do List

To Do List:

  1. Quilt Christmas table runner
  2. Wash fabric AKA The Great Unwashed (I am guessing this will never be off the list, but a girl can dream) ;-)
  3. Make stiff bucket or box for TP in main bath
  4. Make stiff bucket or box for TP in second bath
  5. Dragon Box (gift)
  6. Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote (gift-due Holiday 2013- oops) – found the pattern, which is a good start.
  7. Make 3 notepad covers (gifts)
  8. Day in the Park backpack variation
  9. Sew Bon Appetit apron
  10. ATCs for CQFA January Meeting – I should have enough time, right?
  11. Make two bags for gifts

To see the 26 Projects Lists, which list quilt WIPS, visit the October Current Projects update. Last month’s to Do List is about the same.

All small items that have been completed since November 4, 2013 (prior to this month’s list). This really shows progress, right?

  • Make free motion quilted piece into a bag
  • Sew Church Ladies apron
  • Blocks for BAMQG Opportunity Quilt
  • Binding on Wonky 9 Patch
  • Sew on sleeve for Original Bullseye
  • Kelly’s Brown Round Robin
  • Pillow from cake tea towel
  • Try plain square for center of Russian Rubix blocks
  • Hand sew bottom opening in Shopping bag for BAMQG
  • Finish binding on T-Shirt quilt
  • Secret Santa gift for BAMQG
  • Kathleen’s Round Robin
  • Make sleeve for Original Bullseye
  • Finish sewing triangles for Scrapitude
  • Take apart Ribbon Star and resew
  • Color Group donation quilt
  • Binding for Color Group donation quilt
  • Make shopping bag for BAMQG
  • Sew coffee patch to red bag
  • Sew coffee patch to bathrobe
  • Sew green and red striped 8 pointed star (probably should include an item called “find background template for 8 pointed star!)
  • Scrap Lab backpack
  • Make binding for Disappearing Pinwheel
  • Petrillo bag #2
  • Bright apron as a gift
  • Paris apron as a gift
  • Finish tote for Mom‘s auction (new 6/2014)
  • Layer, baste Christmas table runner
  • Cut background for black wavy line 8 pointed star
  • Sew white on black wavy line 8 pointed star
  • Quilt/stitch fish postcard – finished
  • Make receiving blankets
  • Sew BAMQG label to donation quilt for Band Mom
  • Sew BAMQG label to green donation quilt back
  • Cut lining fabric for Church Ladies apron
  • BAMQG label to Flower Sugar donation quilt back
  • Sew sleeve on See
  • Sew facing down on See
  • Make donation blocks

Russian Rubix Continues

Friday was the Black Friday Sew-in. I didn’t do anything in terms of giveaways or prizes. No time this year and no prizes.  I don’t seem to be a reviewer for Lark  any more since they closed their NC office and my contact was laid off. C’est la vie.

Russian Rubix with 3 Borders
Russian Rubix with 3 Borders

I worked on the Russian Rubix for the amount of time I had to sew. I wasn’t able to sew all day on Friday, but I am pleased with the progress I made. My progress:

  • I finished all but two blocks for the borders. I thought I made all the blocks I needed, but realized, after putting the last border together, that I had forgotten about the corners.
  • I sewed another border on. Before I actually sewed the border and kept it there, I sewed it on, ripped it off and sewed it on again, but there are now three borders on the RR quilt.

As you can see from above, the top is starting to look like something other than a floppy mess. I am thinking of using Kelly’s letter fabric as the back. I have fabric I may as well use it. I have a nice large chunk and that might make the back easier than piecing a back. Right now I need some easy.

Book Review: 1001 Patchwork Designs

1001 Patchwork Designs1001 Patchwork Designs by Maggie Malone

This is a bit of a cheap date review for a couple of reasons: little text, old book, iffy quality. Since I have been talking about blocks and their structure I am going for it.

I don’t know why or when I originally bought this book, but it was awhile ago. The publication date in my copy is 1981. The age and some of what the author says makes me think it may not have the same level of scholarly research that the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilts or Jinny Beyer‘s The Quilter s Album of Patchwork Patterns. This is not a bad book, but I think, at the time, the provenance of blocks may not have been considered important AND there is nothing about where the author got her information I don’t think anybody thought it was important, but this book may have been a step in the direction that ended up as the two books mentioned above. There is a bibliography at the end, but no footnotes or reference notes.

The books starts with an introduction in which the author describes her theory of teaching as well as a bit about the book and block structure. The introduction also directs the reader to a section on drafting.

This book has one of the best lines about drafting I have ever read, “The major advantage of being able to draft a pattern is the flexibility it allows you in designing a quilt.” The section goes on to enumerate the variety of ways knowing how to draft a pattern can help you in your quiltmaking. It was awesome to read why drafting is important. While I prefer to draft blocks in EQ, knowing how to draft really helps in the process and in designing quilts in general. The thing I like about this section is the practical tips on how to use the drawings in the book to start learning about drafting. There is an example of some of the math that is useful.

After a couple of pages of introduction and the few pages on drafting, there is a very little additional text in the middle of the book. All the rest of the book is comprised of pictures of blocks until a few sections at the end of the book. I actually like this, because I have enough text in my life and sometimes I want to just look at blocks. I tend to focus on the text, and skim the photos, so little to no text is better in this kind of book. I also like it that the blocks are black and white, mostly line drawings. It keeps the distractions minimal.

Towards the end of the book, there are the ‘obligatory’ pages on Determining the Quilt Size, Fabric Requirements, Quilting and Setting the Top. The final pages of the book include a bibliography and index.

In looking through the book, I saw a lot of blocks that are now showing up in the Modern Movement, such as some of the circle blocks (pg.192-193) so popular in quilts now such as The Circle Game. The #854, the Rising Sun, looks pretty familiar as well. The Snowball Wreath, #974, is also shown, though none of these blocks have any piecing directions. This is an inspiration book only and you have to know how to draft in order to use these blocks. Of course, there are directions elsewhere on the web.

I hadn’t ‘read’ the book in a while. It called to me when I was looking for blocks to suggest to TFQ. When I pulled it off the shelf I was pleased to see that the blocks were divided into section by the structure of the blocks, as mentioned before. When I started looking through the first section, I had to wonder if all of the blocks were categorized in their proper structure? One I wonder about is #274, Golda, Gem Star. I can see where it could have a Nine Patch structure, but I still wonder. It is not listed in the index of Beyer’s book, though I see blocks that look similar in Beyer’s 5×5 Base Grid category. After doing some additional research, I found this block on Pinterest and in BlockBase under the same name with #2741 from the Brackman book. Also, there is a reference to QNM 1978. This block makes me wonder where she got her information. The blocks are great and that is just my librarian brain.

This book is really good inspiration and a great start to the drafting of blocks.

View all my reviews

Creative Prompt #286: Lotion

Body lotion

Definition-“A lotion is a low- to heavy-viscosity topical preparation intended for application to unbroken skin.[1] By contrast, creams and gels have higher viscosity.

Lotions are applied to external skin with bare hands, a brush, a clean cloth, cotton wool, or gauze. Many lotions, especially hand lotions and body lotions are formulated not as a medicine delivery system, but simply to smooth, moisturize and soften the skin. These are particularly popular with the aging and aged demographic groups, and in the case of face usage, can also be classified as a cosmetic in many cases, and may contain fragrances.

Most lotions are oil-in-water emulsions using a substance such as cetearyl alcohol to keep the emulsion together, but water-in-oil lotions are also formulated. The key components of a skin care lotion, cream or gel emulsion (that is mixtures of oil and water) are the aqueous and oily phases, an emulgent to prevent separation of these two phases, and, if used, the drug substance or substances. A wide variety of other ingredients such as fragrances, glycerol, petroleum jelly, dyes, preservatives, proteins and stabilizing agents are commonly added to lotions. Lotions can be used for the delivery to the skin of medications such as:

It is not unusual for the same drug ingredient to be formulated into a lotion, cream and ointment. Creams are the most convenient of the three but are inappropriate for application to regions of hairy skin such as the scalp, while a lotion is less viscous and may be readily applied to these areas (many medicated shampoos are in fact lotions). Historically, lotions also had an advantage in that they may be spread thinly compared to a cream or ointment and may economically cover a large area of skin, but product research has steadily eroded this distinction. Non-comedogenic lotions are recommended for use on acne prone skin.” (Wikipedia)

lotion tissues

Motion.Lotion

hair lotion

lotion making kits

Blow Dry Lotion

tanning bed lotions

hand lotion

jellyfish sting lotion

Wilson’s Leather Lotion

hand lotion

 

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Inspiration Wednesday

Dramatic Clouds
Dramatic Clouds

Aren’t these clouds dramatic? I really like dramatic clouds and can never seem to get a dramatic picture that looks like what I see. This one looks pretty close.

It is a busy day. I made the fillings for the pies yesterday, but need to bake them today. Mom bowed out for Pie Day this year. I am also making a Pineapple Upside Down Cake instead of one pie. I wanted to change it up a little.

For those of you preparing for Thanksgiving, have a good time and enjoy the process.

More Receiving Blankets

3 Receiving Blankets
3 Receiving Blankets

I went to Stone Mountain and Daughter, a fabric store in Berkeley, a few weeks ago looking for some fabric for pants. I didn’t find the pants fabric I wanted, but they had a nice selection of flannel at a good price, so I bought some pieces to make receiving blankets for a friend’s daughter who had a baby a few months ago.

I know the colors are not totally matchy matchy, but I liked something about the combination.

Decorative Stitching
Decorative Stitching

I like making receiving blankets for gifts, but they are still a pain to make so I used some large and loose decorative stitches. I am pleased with how they look and will send them off soon.

DWM- Thanksgiving Week 2014

I have been sewing a little, but it feels like I have been riding a stationary bike: sewing for hours and not going anywhere. I need to change that and finish something. I know I shouldn’t be product oriented, but sometimes finishing something big gives the ego a good boost.

Thanksgiving Design Wall
Thanksgiving Design Wall

The design wall looks different than last week, though I am sure you can see the similarities. As you can see, the design wall is packed. I kind of sewed everything that wasn’t already sewn down and threw it up on the wall.

1. Two hot color four patches that I thought I would use as the beginning of a quilt, but haven’t done anything with yet.

2. Red and turquoise four patches. I made one additional since last week.

3. Completed red and turquoise four patches. The most recent one is on the top.

4. BAMQG donation blocks. I made them using leaders and enders. Aren’t they cheerful?

5. Same FOTY rectangles as last week. I am looking at The Great Unwashed and wondering what fabrics I want to wash and iron so they can be included in FOTY 2014.

6. One Field Day Zipper ‘block’. I cut the patches apart from each other on Saturday and somehow that one ended up on the design wall.

7. Russian Rubix Octagons. I still have a few blocks to make for the border, so I still may need some of the octagons. I am not sure if I will use all of these in the Russian Rubix quilt or if they will be part of the Snowball/9 Patch quilt I have in mind. Since the border is nearing the end, I will know pretty soon.

8. Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation blocks and I happen to be using them for rewriting my chunking tutorial.

9. PIQF Crosses. I think TFQ and I will probably abandon this project, but I had so many pieces cut that I decided to work on sewing them. I may give the blocks to the guild as donation blocks or I could put them together as the center of a donation quilt or I could make a pillow.

10. City Sampler block n.31. Bleah. It went together like a log cabin and I am not very happy with the way it turned out.

So the process continues…

 

I am linking up with Judy over at the Patchwork Times.

Researching Block Names

Frances' Grecian Cross
Frances’ Grecian Cross

Recently Frances posted on Twitter about the name of a block. She posted the picture of a quilt. I didn’t see the thread until several people had chimed in and Nonnie had tried to draft the block. There are three tools I use to find the names of blocks:

  1. Barbara Brackman’s book, Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, published by the American Quilter’s Society, 1993. I have the reprinted edition. This book is out of print, so you should buy it where ever you see a good used copy.
  2. The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns by Jinny Beyer, published by Breckling Press 2009. I wrote a review of it, which you can find in a post from 2013.
  3. Blockbase, an electronic version of the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.

Brackman’s book is the original scholarly block dictionary. It was not the first block dictionary, but it was the first book, that I know of, that attempted to organize blocks into families/type and note their origin.

Beyer’s book went much farther, but, clearly, built off Brackman’s book. There are more references to sources, more drafting information and more of an attempt to group blocks in the Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns.

Grecian Cross Notecard
Grecian Cross Notecard

BlockBase is a wonderful tool for actually drafting blocks and printing templates or rotary cutting directions. However, not all of the information from the Brackman book is included in BlockBase. Many of the blocks have only the Brackman number rather than all of the names. I make an effort to amend the notecards in BlockBase as I come across new or additional information that would improve retrieval. For example, a very common name of the block above is Grecian Cross. This name was listed in the Brackman book, but was not in BlockBase, so I added it.

It is helpful to know something about drafting to use any of these tools. By ‘drafting,’ I mean knowing the basic structure of blocks, e.g. is the basic structure a 4 patch or a 9 patch? The reason this is important is that if you only have a picture of the block, it cuts down on the number of blocks you need to look through if you know the basic structure.

Sadly, using patterns all the time does not foster the understanding of the basic structure of blocks, because the quiltmaker only needs to follow the directions of the designer/patternmaker.

Knowing a block’s structure is also helpful in designing quilts of your own. You may not want to mix 9 patch structured blocks with 4 patch structured blocks as the seam lines won’t always line up nicely. Or you may want to look a a variety of different 16 patch blocks so that you can design a quilt with an interesting secondary pattern.

These tools are not only good for looking up block names, but are also good to learn to understand the structure of blocks, get inspiration for new quilts and see how the authors have colored the quilts. You really need these books, if you have any serious interest in quiltmaking beyond buying fabric and making quilts.

You might notice that blocks have different names. People took blocks and republished them under different names or added a line here or divided a square there and deemed it a new block. This phenomenon is still happening today and it is something of which we just need to keep track.

 

 

Book Review: The Bag Making Bible

The Bag Making BibleThe Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have an idea to make the perfect work bag. I haven’t yet found a pattern out there, but with the right knowledge of techniques and an ok pattern, I can probably make something that will work.

After reviewing Big City Bags by Sara Lawson, I put the book in my database (I am a librarian after all!). In the course of testing the records and the search results, I came across Lisa Lam’s The Bag Making Bible and had to look through it for more ideas.

If you have this book and Big City Bags, you have everything you need to make almost any bag out there. Big City Bags by Sara Lawson has good techniques, but is mostly a project book. Lisa Lam‘s book focuses more on techniques, but has projects to go with each technique. The projects are not the focus of the book. In fact they are even hard to find, hidden as they are in the midst of detailed instructions for techniques.

One of the different aspects of this book is that the techniques build on each other. This is a more down and dirty, ‘here’s everything you need to know’ kind of book than Big City Bags. It goes from very basic (explaining parts of the sewing machine-pg.14) through intermediate (explaining a pattern with a glossary of terms) to advanced (modifying patterns). You will have to think, because skills or techniques you learn in one section are referred to again in another section.

On careful examination of the table of contents, I saw that the projects were, indeed, named and given a page number as a subheading under the main point/heading of the chapter. I like this idea, because by scanning the list of techniques, I can find projects that will illustrate the technique I want to learn.

The book is laid out in a pretty standard way: Table of Contents, Foreword and Introduction. The introduction has one line that explains the premise of the book “I have purposefully moved away from quick and easy bag projects because I believe that when you spend a little more time in creating something special you will cherish the results all the more.” This is a great description of the premise of the book.

The first sections after the above are all about the basics. They start with Basic Equipment. The author has good photos of the basic equipment, some of which I have never seen in a bag book. I like it that these unusual tools are included. I did wonder why no rotary ruler was included in the list, though a rotary cutter is included.

The sewing machine section includes some information on machine stitches and photos of the machine feet.

The next section is called Anatomy of a Bag, which covers all the aspects of a bag from parts you have heard of like flaps to parts like the gussets, which are less common.

The basics continue with ‘Getting Started’, which discusses using patterns, ‘Understanding Patterns’,’Fabric Preparation and Cutting,’ Modifying Patterns and then the book continues on to the techniques and projects. The ‘Understanding Patterns’ section is good also for garment sewing.

‘Choosing Fabrics’ is very complete. It includes a description of different types of fabrics and the pros and cons of each. The section talks about how best to use the fabrics for bags. This section has a subsection on choosing interfacing and interlining. Again, there are descriptions and definitions of different types and weights of interfacing.

I like the section called ‘Working with Colour and Pattern.’ The author has some beginner level suggestions. While there is no color wheel, the section gives the reader some suggestions about choosing colors as well as using pattern/motifs.

This is where the projects come in. The techniques are all associated with projects and the project teaches the reader those associated techniques. For example, in the Structure and Reinforcement section, there is a chart of ‘Volume Adding Features’. These are darts, pleats, etc and the chart tells the reader the benefits and suggested uses of each. The project photos have good detail shots and lots of instructions which, together, help understand how to use the featured technique while putting the project together.

The book has sidebar boxes throughout the book. The color and pattern section has boxes about using texture and sourcing fabrics. Some of the sections have a ‘Need to Know’, which covers important concepts that don’t fit into the other text.

I like the section on ‘Linings.’ It includes a chart of different types of pockets (charts are a good way to get a lot of information across quickly) as well as photos of the linings.

As with Big City Bags, zippers are covered really well. This book helps me understand what Sara Lawson was doing when I followed the directions for her Flush Zipper Pocket on the Petrillo Bag pattern. I was able to make the pocket from Sara’s excellent directions, but didn’t understand the underlying concept until I read this book. This is a great example of why these two books work really well together.

Information about zippers leaks over into the section called ‘Closures.’ Again, Lam includes a chart of different types of closures with benefits and suggested uses. There are photos different types of closures and how to insert them. I really liked the instructions on adding a pull tab to a zipper. This would have really helped me in some projects I have made recently.

Different types of trim, such as tassels, and edgings, such as piping, are also covered. Ready made handles and the different types of pockets that can be used are defined and instructions are provided.

I do think this book, and most bag books, could have benefited more from photos of the inside of the bags. I thought this, especially, when I saw The Organized Office Bag project. There are plenty of gorgeous pictures of the outside, but, frankly, the inside is heart of the matter for me. How many pockets are there?

This is a comprehensive book and would be a great addition to any bag maker’s library. It is a necessity for anyone who wants to understand bags and their components to an extent of designing or modifying patterns.

View all my reviews

Creative Prompt #285: Lobster

Lobster roll

Maine lobster

Lobster Man

Red Lobster Restaurant

The Lobsters once again team up with the Bay Area’s best new works company, Z Space, for the third iteration of the wildly successful comedy.

Lobster Ink is the hospitality education system that educates staff and management within the hospitality industry worldwide.

Lobster Shack

The Lobster – 2015 movie

Choc Lobster is a brew first brewed in 2012 that evolved from our Super Small Batch program that we began at the pub to make weird one-off batches.

Definition– “Clawed lobsters comprise a family (Nephropidae, sometimes also Homaridae) of large marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails, and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, which are usually much larger than the others. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.[2] Commercially important species include two species of Homarus from the northern Atlantic Ocean, and scampi – the northern-hemisphere genus Nephrops and the southern-hemisphere genus Metanephrops. Although several other groups of crustaceans have the word “lobster” in their names, the unqualified term “lobster” generally refers to the clawed lobsters of the family Nephropidae.[3] Clawed lobsters are not closely related to spiny lobsters or slipper lobsters, which have no claws (chelae), or to squat lobsters. The closest living relatives of clawed lobsters are the reef lobsters and the three families of freshwater crayfish.” (Wikipedia)

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.