Bags Return


Here are some recent fabrics that I bought from Fabric.com. The bottom fabrics are all home dec fabrics. I am going to use them to make another Eco Market Tote. I have a running list in my mind of bags I’d like to make for friends, so this is crossing the first gift off the mental list. I may have enough to make a dotty bag for myself. I had planned to use the stripe as the outside, but DH said that he thought the blue dot outside would be better, so that is what I will do.

The violet dot at the top was me attempting to replace the fabulous violet dot I got somewhere about a year ago. The color is absolutely right, but the weave (what is it with the weave thing I have going??) is really thin and the violet bleeds into the white dots.

Note to online retailers: don’t buy thin fabric and sell it as first quality quiltmaking fabric. Thanks!

Making Bullseyes, Part 2

In the previous post about making bullseyes, I left you ready to sew the circles on. Tips on appliqueing the circles to the background:

  • use a quarter inch foot.
  • start sewing less that a quarter inch from one of the folds. This ensures that your stops and starts will be covered when you sew the pieces of the bullseye together later.

Then you sew. Once you sew the circle on, you get the finished product pictured above.

To cut out the back, carefully separate the top and the back of the block. Pinch a little bit of the back, inside the sewn line about a quarter inch from the sewn line. Make a small cut, being careful not to cut through to the front. Cut around the inside of the sewn line. I use a pair of applique scissors, which help to protect the front from cutting through.

Here is a block once I have cut out the back.

Here is a close up of the sewn line and the cutting line.

Return of Visual Journaling

The view above was what I could see as I ate breakfast. It is the interior of a fabulous breakfast cafe called Boulette’s Larder. Boulette’s Larder is in the Ferry Building and sort of hidden in the back.

I went to Boulette’s last Friday in an effort to jumpstart my attitude. The lingering effects of the malaise that I described in Second Cup of Tea are still with me and it was getting to the point where I wasn’t drawing anymore. Boulette’s Larder looks out over the Bay Bridge and has a wonderful atmosphere. I walked in, a little unsure, and the proprietor came over to me and asked me if I wanted to sit in the restaurant with them or outside at a little cafe table. I thought being around some people would be good so I sat at the big farmhouse-ish table inside. I had a nice view outside, of interesting jars on the wall and of the activity in the kitchen. I was interested in the fact that the stove was right next to the table and there was no yelling among the staff. It was a very calm and pleasant atmosphere.

By doing something out of my routine, I realized that I was no longer able to see anything new in my regular route and my muse was getting dried up. I needed to get out of my routine and do something different.

Cross Blocks Chugging Along

Here is the latest installation of the Flowering Snowballs project. I think that the green (upper left) is a feedsack fabric. I have only a small piece of it and the weave doesn’t seem to be a modern weave. Not that I know anything about feedsacks or the weave of fabric and whether it can be tied to an era!

Quilter’s Podcast

I knew that Annie did podcasts, but I came across them just now and thought I would make a note of them for the future.

clipped from www.simplearts.com
clipped from simplearts.com

Program 119 – Interview with Master Machine Quilter, Diane Gaudynski

podcast
Running time: 01:04:19 Size: 29.5MB

I hope that you’ll enjoy this wonderful interview with Diane. She offers so much insight and inspiration to every quilter. Pay special attention to what Diane says, as there are tips and hints sprinkled throughout what she shares.

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Making Bullseyes, Part 1

Yes, I am experiencing a period of creative lack of focus. I am all over the place, working on lots of different projects, starting new things and thinking about new ideas…and not finishing anything. Normally, this behaviour makes me crazy. I like to focus and really delve into a project and think about it hard, but at the moment I am happy to just be working on something creative. This will create a creativity chaos later, but I keep telling myself that it will shake out… later and I will be able to pick up the pieces and create order…later.

As mentioned in my Second Cup of Tea post, I am back to working with Julie and Adrienne on our Bullseye project. There are links to previous quilts in the project, so go look at that post if you have no idea what I am talking about.

I finished sewing the circles on to Julie’s backgrounds yesterday. Nothing like people relying on you to get me going. Now I am I working on cutting out the backs of the circles before I send them off to Adrienne for the next round. Above are Julie’s squares with my circles on top. These are not all of them as they would not all fit on my design wall.

These are Adrienne’s backgrounds

Above are Julie’s backgrounds, which you can also see above with my circles on them. If you want to make bullseye blocks, first you find two friends, then you cut 9″ background squares. We actually cut them 10″ inches so we can trim them to the correct size later. I am a big fan of trimming after working with TFQ on many projects.

This ends our agreed upon instructions. What follows is how I make them. Whether or not this is correct, I don’t know. It works for me. If you want another opinion, take a look at Mary Tendall Etherington and Connie Tesene’s book, Quilts from Aunt Amy. It has all the sizes and the original inspiration.

After you have cut the background squares, fold them in quarters and press, then send them to your friend. Once that is done, you need to cut the same number of 8″ squares. Then press in quarters again. Pressing in quarters helps you line up the circles on the background. Aunt Amy doesn’t tell you this as far as I remember.

Above are the 8″ squares folded and press with one of Julie’s backgrounds.

I have paper templates from the previous bulleyes- one for each size of square. I place the 8″ paper template, folded, on the folded fabric square, being careful to line up the openings and folds of the paper and the fabric.

Then I cut…
Once the circle is cut, I open it up, line up the pressed fold lines of the background and the circle and, voila’, the piece is ready to sew.

1000 Journals Project

I just finished reading Jennifer New’s book, _Drawing from Life: the journal as art). Thank you, Pam Rubert! I love this book. It has lots of great inspiration and knowing about why people create visual journals provides the background that my brain needs to do it myself.

In DFL, New talks to Brian Singer, the creator of the 1000 Journals project, which can be found at the website below. The 1000 Journals project is project where Mr. Singer sent 1000 journals out into the world to inspire average people to rediscover their creative selves.

Unfortunately, Mr. Singer has only received one journal back and he says that the odds of getting one to work on is like winning the lottery. As a result, he has created a new project, the 1001 Journals project and one of the subprojects is possible.

I would like to create a journal, which people who read this blog work on. I would like to fill it up with your art and send something to Mr. Singer that reflects the tone of this blog and its wonderful readers. If you are interested in participating, make a comment on this post and leave some way for me to contact you (not your snailmail address-I’ll get that from you later). If there is enough interest, I will work something up.

clipped from 1000journals.com

The 1000 Journals Project is an ongoing collaborative experiment
attempting to follow 1000 journals throughout their travels. The goal
is to provide a method for interaction and shared creativity among
friends and strangers.

Those who find the journals add something to them. A story, drawing,
photograph, anything really. Then they pass the journal along, to a
friend or stranger, and the adventure continues.

Unfortunately, you’ve got a better chance of winning the lottery, then
of getting a hold of a journal. That’s the problem when there are only
1000 of them. Now, you’re best bet is to check out 1001 Journals where you can sign up for a
journal, or launch your own traveling, location, or personal journals.

You can also check out the new book, which contains entries from
journals around the world. It looks just like a journal, has these
crazy stitched pages inside. Check it out on Amazon.

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Quiltmakers, I’d like to Introduce you to the Librarians

Kathy over at Pink Chalk Studio made a small comment on her blog that made my day. Go visit your public library!

I check a LOT of books out at the library. Bless the librarians that pull the
good stuff and put it on display. Here’s some photos from the book href=”http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000YG0EVK/?tag=wwwpinkchalks-20″>The American
Quilt by Roderick Kiracofe. Everything old is truly new again.

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