Just to clarify: I saw this flower at the Embarcadero. It is not called an Embarcadero Flower.
Inspiration Monday
Block-a-Long #47: 4 Patch Rectangles
I am still on the four patch / squares and rectangles kick. This block is related to the last few blocks.
The the directions for the 4 Patch Rectangle #47 are posted.
If you have made blocks or a quilt from these patterns, please post a link in the comments section of the relevant block or on the AQ Block-a-Long Flickr group. I would love to see what you have made.
I will be wrapping up the Block-a-Long pretty soon.
Auburn
My DH is on the board of an organization that supports California history. Their charitable foundation supports efforts to repair of craniofacial deformities (such as Cleft Palette- click to find the donation form, even $5 helps a kid). Mostly he goes off to different places around the state and looks official, kisses babies and shakes hands while I stay home and deal with the Young Man or laundry or sew. [Not so much baby kissing really goes on. I am trying to be funny, but you get the idea. 😉 ] When I do attend, the events can be challenging for me, because I don’t attend many and have to work hard to remember people’s names, smile and be sparkling.
About two weeks ago, DH asked me if I wanted to go with him to an event and I said no. Give up a whole day of sewing? Forget it. He said we could go to quilt shops, which was unusual and caught my attention. I thought about it for a few days and decided to go. We have been running past each other for several weeks, kissing each other while one of us is on the way out the door to work or another meeting or to drive the Young Man somewhere. I thought it would be nice to spend some time with him and maybe catch up on discussing stuff about the house, life etc. Also, this time of year is gorgeous in the Gold Country.
I decided to go, so Friday night (after mind-prepping all week), I prepared some of the border pieces for the Flowering Snowball. I only have the border left to make to complete this quilt and, since I am a terrible, nervous passenger while riding in the car, it is a good time to hand piece. I cut boatloads of patches, but only finished this one block. Unfortunately, the ride back was too dark to piece. It doesn’t matter. One block is great and as soon as I finish the Stars for San Bruno #3 binding, I will have a lot of hand work I can do while watching TV when the boys are out.
As an added bonus, the hand piecing enabled me to chalk up my 15 minutes of sewing in for Scientific Quilter‘s 15 Minutes a Day Challenge (#mal15 on Twitter). As another added bonus, I got back in the groove to finish this project in the not too distant future.
As expected, the drive was beautiful and not too long on the way up (on the way back, we were both tired, it was too dark to sew and neither of us could gather the energy to talk much, though I tried since DH was driving and sleeping while driving isn’t very successful, usually). Auburn is about 2 hours away from us. My normally quiet and mild mannered, easy going DH becomes a speed demon on the road, which is entertaining when I think about it objectively. We all need to let loose sometimes.
We participated in an event at noon and then went to lunch with some of the other board members and their wives. I always get the question about why I don’t show up more so I give my standard “In order for my DH to attend the events that he does, I need to stay home and manage the Young Man.” Of course, this line is delivered with a sparkling sorority smile and the right amount of humbleness and apology. 😉 This time one of the other wives who has taken a shine to me, said it for me. I was thrilled. She has, apparently, taken a shine to me and actually remembers what it was like to have kids at home. In terms of age, the organization skews older. Many of the men are retired. I know they forget what it was like to have to work and drive kids around to soccer, Scouts, tennis, Quiz Bowl, to hang out with friends, etc.
After the lunch, we walked around to try and find a quilt store (DH was quite insistent), but it turned out that they had gone out of business. I wasn’t very enthusiastic, but he insisted that I look for another one. I found one called Howell’s Sew and Vac.Their quilt shop quality fabric is on $5.99 a yard! They don’t have much, but the woman at the counter said that she was trying to slowly ad more. They had an interesting selection of rulers. I bought a half diamond ruler. Aside from the fact that I am a ruler sucker, this ruler would have been really handy for FOTY 2010 and the Renewed Jelly Roll Race. I wasn’t planning on making another diamond quilt, but if I do, I will be ready. I wasn’t really in the mood to buy fabric. Shocking, I know, but there you have it.
It looks like Howell’s is trying to make up the void left by the other quilt shop. I hope they succeed. The shop looks like a normal Sew and Vac type shop, but there is plenty of parking and I think they could really create a community there.
We also looked at a few antique stores, but didn’t see anything of interest. i lookf or Desert Rose china for my aunt and SIL. I look for my silver pattern and interesting sewing machines and implements. I don’t want to collect sewing machines, but you never know. There was a pink Necchi for sale at one, which made me think of Darla the Scientific Quilter and her recent Necchi adventures.
The flowering trees were wonderful. In case you hadn’t noticed, I love flowering trees. It is a profound disappointment to me that the flowering quince in my front yard has never flowered. I am not a gardener, but I do try and treat it nicely.
In general, I like to look for interesting patterns and shapes when I am out of my normal habitat. Because of the beautiful sun coupled with the clouds, there was a lot of opportunity for good pictures that will, with any luck, find a way to inspire me in future quiltmaking project.
All in all, it was a nice day. I enjoyed having some time with DH and checking out the great views. I could do without Daylight Savings Time today, but nobody asked me.
Design Series: Repetition
Sandy and I got together, virtually, of course, and recorded another episode. This time the topic was Repetition, which is a Principle of Design. Repetition is closely related to Unity, another principle of design and a topic we discussed in this series previously. If you didn’t listen to the Unity podcast, you would be well served to listen to it before you listen to this one.
As a reminder, the design definition with which we are working is: Design is a problem solving activity within all the arts, placing or creating subject matter so it is of visual significance and interesting to the artist. (from The
“The principle of repetition is very versatile. It not only promotes the existence of unity, but it plays a significant role in the appearances of the principles of rhythm and harmony (Adventures in Design, pg. 97)
Definitions of Repetition:
- “[Repetition] provides visual clues to help move the eye about the picture. Similarities in elements reinforce the viewer’s recognition of symbols, strengthen the rhythm, encourage movement, and produce patterns. Introduce variations of repeated elements to prevent boredom.” (Liz Berg handout entitled Principles of Design from “Design the Abstract Quilt” workshop). Nota bene: When she uses ‘elements’ in this definition, she doesn’t mean design elements, but elements in the design; parts of the design, e.g. repeating a checkerboard at various intervals.
- “We use the word repetition to describe the practice of using design elements over and over again” (A Fiber Artist’s Guide to Color & Design, pg. 124)
- An element that repeats in various parts of a design to relate the parts (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.155)
- “Repetition in design is simply repeating one or more elements. (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg. 97)
- “…something simply repeats in various parts of the design to relate the parts to each other. The element that repeats may be almost anything: a color, a shape, a texture, a direction or an angle.” (Pentak & Lauer, pg.28)
- Provides visual clues to help move the eye around the image. (Liz Berg handout entitled Principles of Design from “Design the Abstract Quilt” class)
“…repeated elements will help bring unity to our artistic creations.” (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
“A definite focal point is not a necessity in creating a successful design. It is a tool that arts may or many not use, depending on their aims. An artist may wish to emphasize the entire surface of a composition over any individual elements.” (Pentak & Lauer, pg.57) One way to do this is to repeat a motif or element.
- In Andy Warhol’s 100 Cans painting, there are “a hundred repetitions of precisely the same image with no change, no contrast, and no point of emphasis. But the repetitive, unrelieved quality is the basic point and dictated the design.” (Pentak & Lauer, pg.57)
Repetition is used frequently in quiltmaking.
- blocks
- similar fabrics or colors
- fabric repeats
- Repeated vertical stripes in an Amish Bars quilt (Art+Quilt, pg. 80)
Repetition can be used in representational work as well. In Degas’ painting, The Millinery Shop, the artist often repeats a circle motif. The circles are a repeating element of visual unity, but the circles fit into the painting, because they represent objects such as hats, flowers, bows, the woman’s head, bosom, and skirt. (Pentak & Lauer, pg.28)
Examples of repetition in quilts and other art:
- Cabbages: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artquiltmaker/6259339035/in/photostream/
- Doors: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rSe2s1w5dFY/TbyYeslJqeI/AAAAAAAAAIE/Fo9Qdklxrh0/s1600/DSC01043.JPG (http://sewwhat-maryse.blogspot.com/)
- Stamps: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitty80/4935066650/ (via Pinterest)
- Group of repetition on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlebluebell/6686547963/in/photostream/
Integrating with other Principles and Elements
- Repetition is the element of choice to create unity. (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.97)
- Tinturaria’s Ski Crowd 1 : http://tinturaria-handprinting.com/product/ski-crowd-i
- “Repetition promotes the existence of unity, but it plays a significant role” in the appearances of rhythm as well. “Repetition that flows fluidly throughout a design allows rhythm to come forth. When Repetition and Rhythm work together in a visually pleasing manner, harmony is created.” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.97)
- “…at least one repeating element” can serve to create unity.” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.97)
- “If no repetition exists there is nothing to hold the design together.” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.98)
- “Pattern is a repetitive design with a motif appearing again and again. A pattern is created when the viewer is led to anticipate the same elements in a design. The repetition does not have to symmetrical, nor does it have to be precisely placed for the view to be able to anticipate or a find a pattern.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.49)
- Repetition is “a valuable and widely used device for achieving visual unity.” (Pentak & Lauer, pg.28)
- Rhythm is “the repetition of a regular pattern, or a harmonious sequence or correlation of colors or elements.” (Art+Quilt by Lyric Kinard, pg.80)
Tips and Tricks
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- “Every element does not need to be repeated. If too many elements are repeated, predictability, visual monotony, and disinterest can result.” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.97)
- Elements can be repeated in different sizes, shapes or textures, etc and still be considered repetition. (Pentak & Lauer, pg.28)
- A good example of this is: Sophie Taeuber-Arp‘s Composition with Circles Shaped by Curves and Composition in a Circle. 1937 (Pentak & Lauer, pg.28)
-
- “Similarities in elements reinforce the viewer’s recognition of symbols, strengthen the rhythm, encourage movement, and produce patterns. Introduce variations of repeated elements to prevent boredom.” (Liz Berg handout entitled Principles of Design from “Design the Abstract Quilt” class)
Notes:
If you have not seen Wayne Thiebaud‘s work, not only are his cakes and candies paintings whimsical, they are GREAT examples of repetition.
- “Repetition is another way to create unity in a quilt design. The repetition of an element in a composition can tie the whole together, creating a relationship among the elements.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.15) Nota bene: again, ‘element’ in this context means part.
- “…repetition of an element creates visual rhythm.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.15). Static rhythm, alternating rhythm and progressive rhythm have an effect on unity through repetition, but we will cover that when we cover the Principle of Rhythm.
- “Repetition that flows fluidly throughout a design allows rhythm to come forth.” (Adventures in Design, pg. 97)
- “When repetition and rhythm work together in a visually pleasing manner, harmony is created.” (Adventures in Design, pg. 97)
Repetition Resources
- A Fiber Artist’s Guide to Color and Design by Heather Thomas
- Adventures in Design by Joen Wolfrom
- Art+Quilt by Lyric Kinard
- Design Basics by Pentak & Lauer
- John Lovett website: http://www.johnlovett.com/test.htm
- Liz Berg handout entitled Principles of Design from “Design the Abstract Quilt” class
- The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed by Ann Johnston
- Scrapbook Design Basics – Repetition: http://scrapbooking.about.com/od/gettingstarted/tp/Scrapbook-Design-Basics-Repetition.htm
- Understanding Design Basics: Rhythm & Repetition by Vanessa Gardner Nagel, http://www.seasonsgardendesign.com/Article-UDB-Rhythm_Repetition.html
Examples of Repetition:
The triangles of the branches are what caught my attention.
Source: cathyhecknurseryart.com via Jaye on Pinterest
Camellias in vases lined up are gorgeous.
Source: umla.tumblr.com via Jaye on Pinterest
Source: alifeofblue.blogspot.com via Jaye on Pinterest
Creative Prompt #147: Indigo
Try to respond with the first thought that comes to your mind.
Definition: Indigo is a color named after the blue dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet. Although traditionally considered one of seven colors of the rainbow or the optical spectrum, modern color scientists do not usually recognize indigo as a separate division and generally classify wavelengths shorter than about 450 nm as violet.[2] Optical scientists Hardy and Perrin list indigo as between 446 and 464 nm wavelength.[3]
The first recorded use of indigo as a color name in English was in 1289.[4]
indigo plantation
indigo children
indigo restaurant in San Francisco
Pokemon Indigo
Macintosh home control server
A chapter in Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts
the Indigo Girls
Please 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, and how your work relates to the other responses.
The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. Are you already a member? I created that spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted.
Over the Hump
Process, for me, can be a killer. I want everything to move smoothly along until I finish, then I want to hang the quilt up and move to the next project. When that happens, though, the project is often boring and uninteresting. The humps are the interesting part.
Earlier this week, I wanted you all to put me out of my misery on the Jelly Roll Race. I was struggling, I was ripping out a lot, I was not happy. Nobody stepped up to the plate to help out, so I powered through. I did something that I don’t normally do:I sewed a little bit in the evenings. I was able to fill in a major missing chunk and somehow that made the whole project come together in part.
Don’t get me wrong. I still have a long way to go on this quilt, but I am making progress. I don’t feel tortured anymore and have some home that I’ll make more progress this weekend.
Book Review: Adventures with Leaders & Enders
Adventures With Leaders & Enders: Make More Quilts In Less Time! by Bonnie K. Hunter
I bought this book with an Amazon gift card, because I had heard so much about Bonnie K. Hunter, especially from Katie of Katie’s Quilting Corner. I have been using the the Leaders & Enders technique, which Hunter calls L&E in the book, for awhile. I didn’t really need a book to tell me to cut my scraps into manageable and usable sizes and sew them together.
The first 14 pages talk about the Leaders & Enders technique, including useful sizes in which to cut your scraps, sorting scraps, making some basic units (4 patch, 9 patch, half square triangles), and a small section on strip piecing. The last page (pg.15) is called “What quilters are saying about Bonnie Hunter’s Leaders & Enders method.” All the praise is glowing and there are little stories about people using the Leaders & Enders technique.
The Leaders & Enders technique is explained thoroughly on pages 8-9. If the quiltmaker reads these two pages, s/he will know what to do.
The beginning section also talks about finding time and getting organized. Finding time is a perpetual problem for most people, so Hunter’s advice is useful and realistic. The Getting Organized section (pg.12) talks a lot about containers, what she likes about certain types and what she doesn’t like about others.
Aside from the fact that publishers are demanding that quilt authors make many projects, I think Bonnie K. Hunter had to create projects for this book. If a quiltmaker cut up his/her scraps and made bunches of 4 and 9 patches accented by half square triangles, most wouldn’t know what to do with them. The projects make sense in this book.
Adventures with Leaders and Enders has 13 projects and all of the quilts are made from pieces cut using Hunter’s method. Larger pieces of fabric are used for sashing, borders, etc in most of the quilts, but the majority of the blocks are made with scraps using the Leaders & Enders technique.
At the end of the book (pg. 92-93), there is a section that includes paragraphs on “Additional thoughts on color”, “Allow yourself playtime”, “Analyze the pattern” and “How to gauge yardage.” In this section, she says “If I run out of something, I just substitute something else.” I think that is very good advice. Many vintage quilts have random pieces that don’t match, because, presumably, the quiltmaker ran out of fabric. We are fortunate to have plenty of fabric, but keep this advice in mind as a few different fabrics can add interest and movement to a quilt.
My favorite quilt in this book is the Blue Ridge Beauty, which uses a similar block to my the block used in my Stepping Stones quilt. I like the combination of 4 patches and half square triangles. Actually, I like most the quilts in the book, though I do find the total scrappiness of some of them somewhat unsuccessful. In Sisters Nine Patch, Ms. Hunter sticks to a certain color palette and I think this choice makes this quilt one of the more successful projects.
I am not much of one for randomly selecting fabrics and putting them in a quilt. I like a little more thought, so some of these projects strike me as not being well chosen in terms of color. Still, they have charm. I also think that Hunter’s color palette is a little muddier and more Civil War-ish than mine. That difference definitely affects my view.
I would have dearly loved to have a seen a gallery of quilts (made by students??) in different colors in this book. I think the reader would really benefit from such a gallery.
This is a quick read. I would get it from the Library, but the tips and tricks are good and can be used with any type of fabric.
Jelly Roll Race – Weekend Work
It is at this point in the process where I just want someone to take me out of my misery.
Obviously, I am being dramatic, but really, I don’t want to do this project anymore and I wonder why I thought it would be a good idea. I have already made 2 diamond quilts (the Eye Spy is essentially a diamond quilt and how could I top FOTY 2010?) – aren’t two enough.
I feel like I barely accomplished anything on Sunday, though I did sew most of the right side into large chunks.
Still, I have it in process and I will finish it before I move on to the next project. I may need to intersperse a new project into the queue before I tackle another UFO just to keep my sanity. The Corner Store, however, is quite appealing.
Block-a-Long #46: 2 Square Columns
This is related to last week’s block and would also make a great quilt by turning some of the blocks horizontally.
The maker could also line all the blocks up vertically and have long columns of squares and rectangles.
There are a number of options for laying this block out in a quilt with similar blocks.
The squares included in this design would be a good use for scraps and also for the Leaders and Enders technique.
The directions for this 2 Square Columns block are included.
If you have made blocks or a quilt from these patterns, please post a link in the comments section of the relevant block or on the AQ Block-a-Long Flickr group. I would love to see what you have made.
I am going to wrap up this Block-a-Long pretty soon.
Inspiration Sunday
I stopped at Mollie Stones yesterday and saw this display of plates and dishes. I thought it looked so cheerful that I had to take a photo. If I had a country house, I would have cheerful dishes like this.
Not Gloating
I love books, am coming to love eBooks and Kindle books, but I just generally love books. I try not to buy too many regular fiction books as the Library has a perfectly good collection and I, mostly, don’t read fiction books more than once.
My downfall is quilt books. I love quilt books. I used to buy every quilt book that came out. That was in the dark ages before a new quilt book came out every week. Now I have to pick and choose and still they overflow my shelves. Still I keep acquiring them. I love quilt books.
I promise I am not gloating, but I wanted to share with you the books I received as gifts or bought with gift cards I received over the holidays and for my birthday. Most were off of my wish list, which I am thrilled about.
I am part way through Adventures in Leaders and Enders and have marked blocks I want to make in Modern Blocks. Of course, I’ll do full reviews eventually, but I have to say that Bonnie K. Hunter does a nice job slipping tricks and tips into her book. I am using the Color and Design book in my preparation for the podcast series with Sandy. I will use Transparency Quilts for the color segment when we get there.
Setting Solutions has been mentioned to me several times, so I finally bought it. I thought I saw today that Sharyn Craig had another book on the same subject, but I don’t remember where I saw it and can’t find it again. I am sure that Setting Solutions will provide adequate insight on the subject.
I still have some hope that I will, someday, renew my acquaintance with machine quilting. Foolproof Machine Quilting is bound to be a good choice for that. Mary Mashuta is an knowledgeable teacher and clear writer.
I heard about How to Keep A Sketchbook Journal on Mark Lipinski’s Creative Mojo and it is a beautiful book. It feels beautiful and the drawings are inspiring.
I think drafting is a really important skill. Sally Collins is a meticulous quiltmaker who works in miniatures. Her Drafting for the Creative Quilter will be a great addition to my teaching materials.
I have a lot of good books to which to look forward this year!
Creative Prompt #146: Broke
penniless
Broke, New South Wales, Australia
2 Broke Girls – CBS
broke promises
the vase broke
go for broke
dead broke
the couple broke up
broke the news
broke the bank
broke the system
Please 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, and how your work relates to the other responses.
The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. Are you already a member? I created that spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted.
Corner Store
In the book, Pretty Little Mini Quilts, I saw a small quilt similar to this. At the time, I was cutting up diamonds for FOTY 2010 and ending up with boatloads of triangles. I thought this project would be perfect.
I cut up some 5″ foundations and started to sew diamonds on to them. I sincerely disliked how much white was on the piece and how it overshadowed the scraps.
I started ripping the scraps off of all of the foundations and cut the foundations down to 4″. The other night, while I was watching TV, I pinned diamonds on to the newly trimmed founds and they are all ready to sew and trim again. I can use these pinned pieces as Leaders and Enders.
I have the little bit up on my design wall. It is making me excited about moving on to it as a quilt.
Various & Sundry 2012 #3
I couldn’t resist posting something fun for Leap Day. We teased The Young Man about girls asking him out today. I wonder if anyone will? He is quite handsome, though I know I am biased.
OK!
Back to the task at hand and your regularly scheduled programming: quiltmaking news and info.
Quilt World News
Terri Thayer of Ocean Waves fame has a new serial on her blog called Tales of the Quilt Shop. Been dying for more of Terri’s tales? Tales of the Quilt Shop is a unique 8 month web-based series. A block of the month AND a story of the month all in one package.
There will be a Modern Quilt Showcase at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and the organizers are calling for entries. This is an interesting website as it shows some quilts from the Modern movement’s founders and attempts to define modern quilting. The deadline is March 2, so get busy.
Did you see the new (at least to me!) newsletter? It showed up in my inbox earlier this month. Short, sweet, great photos. Check out SEWN Europe.
Did you hear about QuiltCon? February 21-24, 2013. The first modern quilt conference, sponsored by the Modern Quilt Guild will be held in Austin, Texas. Denyse Schmidt will be the keynote speaker. Janome, Robert Kaufman, Michael Miller and Stash Books are all listed as sponsors. There are events, workshops and lectures, but the information is a little sparse. They, apparently, have a newsletter to provide information as it comes out.
There was an article on February 9, 2012 (a Thursday) in the Contra Costa Times about Alex Anderson called “TV show, books, designs — Livermore quilter has built quilting empire” by Beth Jensen. There are photos of her quilts, her as well as background shots of quilts, etc.
Katie of Katie’s Quilting Corner has a great interview with Kimberly Einmo. I wasn’t very interested, because of the whole pre-cuts thing. I liked it, because Kimberly was very articulate, she shared tips for beginning and experienced quiltmakers alike, talked about her books, her process and generally came across sounding very articulate. Kimberly designs rulers. I love rulers. I don’t have any of her rulers. Katie was very well organized and professional. There are some photos on Kimberly’s site and more on Katie’s site.
Starting in March, Two Accordions will be conducting a monthly Quilt Lab. What is a Quilt Lab, you ask? Come and work on projects and get our guidance and help, meet other quilters and textile enthusiasts! Good and creative times will be had! Quilt Lab will be held upstairs at University Art on Marconi Ave in Sacramento.
Fee: $10.00 per Lab Session
Dates: Sunday, March 4th
Sunday, April 15th
Sunday, May 6th
Sunday, June 3th
Sunday, July 1th
Sunday, August 5th
Time: 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Location: UArt Sacramento North, Marconi Avenue
Bring your project and your sewing machine
Check out more on their website. Thanks to my SIL for passing this along.
Refresh
Adrianne of Little Bluebell Blog fame is hosting an ironing board cover sew-a-long. Need an ironing board cover to match your curtains?
I am so happy! I just heard from my quilter that she will be back in March and may be able to quilt some quilts for me. YAY!!! Her husband is in remission and that is the really GREAT news.
There are a lot of different parts of my house that need to be refreshed. I think these storage boxes would help. I need to make one to test the pattern.
Brain Pickings has a series of fairy tale posters posted. The artist has distilled the fairy tales down to a few images and has done a masterful job. The colors are a bit lumpy, but if I think of the longevity of the tales, I guess the colors fit. Thanks to Tanesha of the CraftyGardenMom blog and podcast for the link.
Some very fresh and fun quilts are posted at QuiltStory.
Color Color Color!!! Post at StashBlog.
Tech
Katie, of Katie’s Quilting Corner fame, talks about the changes coming to Blogger in March. This blog no longer lives on Blogger, but if you are you might want to listen to her podcast and investigate these changes more thoroughly.
There was an article about art quilts and Physics in Handeye magazine called When Physics and Textiles Collide. Yes, we are everywhere! The article, by Kate Findlay, talks about the beautiful and inspiring patterns and colors generated by the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. She has worked on a series of quilts from these designs since 2008 The article talks a little about working in series, a subject near to my heart, and how she is starting to branch out from the original format of the series. To view more of Kate’s work, please visit http://art.findlays.net. She will be exhibiting these works in Reading, Oxford, Henley on Thames, Basingstoke and at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham in 2012 – all dates and times listed on the website.
Crafts
A librarian colleague of mine was just laid off. Her firm was merged with a much larger DC firm and all of the managers and much of the staff in the local office was laid off. This coincided with the annual ‘check in’ on a list of which we are both members. I took the opportunity to check in with her personally and found out that she has a knitting pattern business and a blog! She has really nice photos on her blog and I aspire to achieve that level of cleanliness in my photos.
Craftsmanship/Good Technique
Weeks Ringle writes “My last bit of advice on this is to not think of craftsmanship as an all or nothing proposition. My first quilt in 1987 had mediocre craftsmanship but but aim was to get a little better with each project.” in her blog post from February 22, 2012. I am not sure what she means, earlier in the post, about aligning seams, but throughout the post she talks about fixing issues as you go along and doing sewing tasks right the first time. I really believe this, in case you hadn’t noticed. I think that good technique is REALLY important, but I also think Weeks says it really well and gently. I just wish I knew what aligning seams meant? She must be referring to something I call by a different name, right?
Gretchen has some great tips about making a group quilt. If you are part of (or leading) a raffle team quilt project, you might want to read her words of wisdom.
Other Artists
I thought I was alone in my quest to bring order to commercial fabrics, but Katie from The Blue Chair posted a quilt that looks like it could fit into my Fabric of the Year series. I haven’t been following the making of this quilt, but am interested to go back and investigate her motivations.
Renewed Jelly Roll Race Progress
After cutting what seemed like a zillion diamonds last week, the picture(left) is what resulted. There are a lot of diamonds. As I mentioned, about 158. It would be nice if that left corner was filled with diamonds as well. I know I can’t have everything, though, and I am not about to sew another Jelly Roll Race top!
DH figured out how many I will need to make a quilt top as well as the layout. YAY! So glad I married someone who can do math. I was thinking of putting the question (whether there is a formula for laying out diamond quilts) to The Young Man’s Geometry teacher, but haven’t yet.
The only scrap of any size at the end, aside from shards, was the weird wonky shape I show on my cutting mat.
I was ready to move forward and just toss the scraps when it occurred to me that I could piece together the scraps, mosaic quilting style, and make a few more diamonds. I might need them. I might not need them. You never know. The scraps might just be fun to sew together or I could make some cool do Donation blocks. A little too wild? Look for more on that.
Saturday, I flailed around. DH and I went around a few times about the number of rows and columns. His first calculations rendered a verdict of 10 rows by 9 columns (remember that the second and every other row would have 9 rows and 8 columns), which left me with a really long skinny piece, though I wasn’t sure HOW long or HOW skinny, because I hadn’t put sashing on yet. I was also sick (yes, again!) and tried to take it easy. I don’t feel like I really accomplished much on Saturday, but it was required for the process, I think.
Sunday went much better. I didn’t have a headache, which was a bonus. The corner is the hardest part to figure out and the fact that I was adding sashing added to the trickiness. I bought a 1.5″ strip cutting die for my Go! cutter and cut 1.5″ strips from the Pure Elements linen I had. Good thing, because I have a lot of it and used up about 1.5 yards so far. Julie of Intrepid Thread will be getting some business from me to replace that fabric. I need it for the A-B-C Challenge.
The photo, left, shows sections of the quilt sewn together. It is going much more smoothly after getting the weird shapes on the right hand side mostly finished. I was sorely tempted just to sew the thing together in long rows across the piece from right to left, but know I would be hating myself midway through, thus the chunks.
And for those of you who are curious about the sashing, I put it on to many diamonds at once. Cutting the strips with the Go! Cutter really made my life easier. I cut 5 strips at a time and then sewed as many diamonds as I could to each strip. It isn’t that I can’t cut strips; of course I can. The Go! Cutter just made my life a lot easier.
Once I had strips of sashing, I lined up the first diamond, folding back the sashing to make sure I had placed the diamond low enough on the strip so that the sashing would fill the entire angle.Then I sewed, one after another as close together as possible so I would waste as little background fabric as possible.
[BTW, that is my hideous ironing board cover. If any of you have a store nearby that carries Polder ironing board covers with a grid pattern, leave a comment or let me know. This one I got off Amazon and it is too thick aside from being not my color. I will be your new best friend if we can work out some sort of arrangement for you to get me one.]
As usual, I wanted to get a lot farther along. I am past the flailing point; I am past the figuring point and now I am just matching seams and rearranging diamonds. I’d like to be done with this project. I will finish it, but I am so ready to move on. No more Jelly Roll Races for me!