Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I have made an effort to cut pieces for the FOTY 2010 project. I really want to avoid the massive cutting and sewing I did in January. I just want to be more balanced about the project this year. We will see if my plans work.
As of this moment, I have pressed a lot of fabric, but there are still a number of pieces to cut.
I haven’t done any sewing. That should come as no surprise since I don’t sew until everything is cut.
I have been thinking about my fabric lately. It is hard not to think about my fabric. First of all, I love it and second of all, it is where I can see, at least some of, it all the time.
I have been thinking about fabric over the last year, in general, on a lot of different levels:
Terminology
Stash – this is the most common way quiltmakers refer to their supplies of fabric. I wonder why? I wonder who first called their fabric a stash? I wonder if calling it a stash was a joke that got out of hand? When I think of a stash, it has a negative connotation. I don’t hide my fabric in a baggie in the toilet so my parents won’t find it. I also have a stash of emergency cash on me, which isn’t really negative, but does imply poor planning or organizational skills.
None of those things really suggest that fabric buying or, by association, quiltmaking are positive activities.
Finally, buying fabric, as many others have pointed out, is not illegal and it doesn’t hurt anyone. For myself, touching, pressing, playing with fabric really reduces my stress level.
Palette – for a long time, I tried to call my fabric supplies ‘my palette’. I was diligent, but eventually gave up because people had no idea what I was talking about. A lot of them thought I was talking about a wooden thing with paint on it. Painters have it made. They have their palette, they put paint on it and everyone knows what they are talking about.
Fabric Collection – TFQ has a fabric collection. She buys fabric as a collection. We have discussions about the subject often. She may buy a fabric that she just wants to for her collection while I really try to buy fabric if it is something I think I will use. I have to admit that some conversationals are so fun-hilarious-cheerful etc that I can’t not buy them.
Fabric vs. Material – when I was a kid my mom would take us to House of Fabric which was in a mall called the Laurel Plaza (I liked a fast food-ish, but not a chain, restaurant there with great blue tropical shakes as well as dried puffer fish hanging from the ceiling) and we would buy some material to make a dress or outfit or something.
Now I only buy fabric.
I don’t know why I don’t call it material anymore. I think ‘material’ isn’t specific enough. If I say “I need some material for my project” someone could think that I wanted to buy some paper for a scrapbook project or metal for my most recent welding project. Perhaps material is a regional term and people don’t use it where I now live?
Size and Shape
I was listening to Brye Lynn’s podcast (still catching up) recently. One of her podcasts talked about the quiltmakers’ Fabric Stash (episode 8). It got me thinking about how much fabric I buy. Up until I started making tote bags at an alarming rate, I always bought half yards and FQs nad that was plenty.
Now, when I buy fabric specifically destined to be a tote bag, I buy at least 2 yards and sometimes 3. That is more than I need for most tote bag projects, but I like to have enough for the straps and a FOTY piece and to screw up. Brye Lynn said that the minimum that she has seen recommended to buy is a yard and then if you REALLY like it you should buy two yards. Hhhmmm.
Well, if I buy a yard as a basic rule, then I would only have half or quarter the variety of fabric I have now.
Half yards are starting not to be enough. I have a whole list of pieces I have to cut before a piece of fabric is filed into my fabric closet. For blue FQs, they rarely even make it to the fabric closet. I have so many blue pieces to cut (a 6.5″ square, a 2.5″x4.5″ rectangle, a diamond, a Tumbler, etc) that a FQ is just not enough. The above FQ may be a little bit misleading because it was larger than a normal FQ. Not much bigger, but enough.
Half yards are not enough for most bags, but they are enough for straps for a bag. I have adapted half yards for a bag, but it makes me wonder if I need to purchase fabric with bags in mind and not just quilts? Buying a yard of fabric regularly is a lot more of financial investment as well.
The Whys of it All
Well, if I don’t have enough fabric, then there is no such thing as enough. I have less fabric than others. Still, you saw all the things I made last year. I did not make a dent in what I have.
Adding to my fabric selection choices is interesting, because I have enough, in terms of physical quantity. However, I often seem not to have the right colors. No matter how many colors I buy, I often don’t have the right color. I am coming to the conclusion that buying more colors is futile. I am not going to stop buying fabric, but I am going to buy without the goal of having ALL the colors.
I have also been caught with my quilt pants down and not had enough fabric (remember the Windham fabric?), so perhaps I need to buy larger quantities of fabric? The FOTY project has helped in learning which fabrics really work in the projects I make. Perhaps I will start a project to convince fabric manufacturers it would be to their benefit to upload their out of print fabrics to Spoonflower.
New fabric does get me excited about quiltmaking. I do think that I need to shift my inspiration from cash outlay to books, as in read books and don’t use my credit cards. I will probably never be able to stop buying fabric, nor do I want to stop buying fabric, but I need to be aware of what I am trying to accomplish when looking for inspiration.
Is Shopping for Fabric a Stress Relieving Mechanism?
Definitely. That reality is good and bad. On the positive side, I have a legal way of relieving stress that also, as an added bonus, keeps small businesses open and helps the economy. If the stress is bad, it can be really expensive and if I don’t have money my stress just continues. I have to admit that I do have other methods of stress relief.
I don’t think I have any answers for anyone but myself. I am curious what you think about fabric.
Here is your first glimpse of the FOTY 2010 patches. I have pressed a lot of fabric, but haven’t cut it yet. Many of the patches in this photo have been on my design wall for awhile. I have been moving them around so I can see how they look in different arrangements. It is definitely different.
Not different as in “I wish I had chosen something different,” but different in the way I have to think about cutting the patches.
This patch takes a lot of fabric to cut. I like the diamond ruler I bought to help. Once I got the hang of using it, I found it to be quite useful. I am ending up with a lot of triangles and may pick a background and sew them on to squares to make the Corner Store design I discussed in the Pretty Little Mini Quilts review. It would make an interesting sort of scrap quilt. We’ll see.
Starting this cutting process is also making me think about how I will arrange them and set these diamonds. I am thinking of picking something for the border and cutting half diamonds to make a straight edge out of a uniform color. I need to decide if I want to use something I already have or if the “rules” say I have to buy something. Stay tuned.
Every horizontal surface in my workroom is covered, mostly with fabric, but other stuff, too. I don’t have large enough horizontal surfaces, but that is no excuse. I have so many things going on. On the top of my list is sewing!
I am trying to pick out fabric for my latest Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker Tote. I’d like a new one for spring and it just isn’t going well. I tidied up a little after I got home from CQFA, but I still don’t have enough space to work.
I had three fabrics ready to make the next Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote and one of them disappeared or I lost it or misplaced it. To make matters worse, I don’t remember which one I had selected. Bleah!
I was looking for a red or a pink to bring out the middle of the flower, but am considering another green to encourage subtlety. I looked at pattern on the fabric as well as the color and I am not really sure any of them work. The above are some that I tried out to see if I liked them. I think I need a red with a little more pink.
Perhaps you like the above?
No? I found more fabric choices in the pile behind the door. they caught my eye when I was wandering in and out. This area is like the Tollbooth in the Phantom Tollbooth and they haven’t been on my radar since my sister moved a bunch of stuff around in my workroom.
I definitely like the pink dot better. It is a lot of dots in the piece, however.
The small dot kept catching my eye as I looked at some of the other choices. It was on the top of my ironing board because I had just ironed it. I kind of like the lavender/pinkish color.
Stripes don’t work for me. Well, actually, the stripes work, but the color of the stripes doesn’t work. Too Pepto Bismally.
Too much green?
I really wanted to get going on that tote today. It has been too long since I sewed. Since I couldn’t decide on colors, I was stuck. NOT!
I have plenty of fabric and had just come across the perfect green to make the straps for another AMH MTT, so I started in on that and got pretty far after I made the straps.
The reddish pink fabric is a Martha Negley for Rowan fabric from the Variegated Garden collection will be used for the exterior. This particular print is MN-40 Dahlia.
That fun dot is the inside. As you can see I have the pockets pinned and ready to sew, but haven’t sewn them yet. I was tired.
I added a cell phone pocket, which is the smaller pocket also waiting to be sewed on.
Sorry, this photo is bleary. I have been up and down the stairs (4 flights) at least 8 times to fix photos and I am not doing it again. This idea is from the Sweet Harmony bag. The dimensions of this pocket are 4″x5″. I cut it 8″x5″, sew around the outside with right sides together, turn it and then sew it to the lining of the AMH MTT bag. The way I make it fit the cell phone is that I pin the bottom so that it measures only 3″, which makes a pleat.
We spent the weekend on the North Coast. I wasn’t excited about going, but, for various reasons, agreed and was glad I did. The North Coast is beautiful and I found as the car left the City behind and my eyes took in more green than concrete and metal, I felt calmer and more relaxed than I had in awhile.
To prepare for the trip, I looked up quilt shops in the area and came up with four. On the way up, we also saw a shop in Laytonville called Fat Quail Quilts that got good reviews from the other shop owners, but I wasn’t able to stop.
We did stop at Kim’s Fortuna Fabric and Crafts, Itsy Bitsy Quilt Shop in Ferndale, Scottie Dog Quilts and Ocean Wave Quilts, both in Eureka. The first shop I visited was Kim’s Fortuna Fabric and Crafts. It is in a strip mall (a nice one) off of Rohnerville Road and Main Street right as Main Street turns into Fortuna Blvd. I am telling you this because I had to call since I couldn’t find it by driving up and down Main Street.
It is a nice store with a good selection of fabrics at about $8.99 a yard. the woman behind the counter was helpful and friendly. They also have yarn and other craft supplies. there was a Tumbling Block class going on while I was there and the teacher has quite a selection of classes going on during the next few months. I bought 3 flannels I like to use to make some receiving blankets (top 3 fabrics, above).
I bought some food fabrics for my mom for one of her quilts and a couple of dots for myself. I saw a pink and white flower print that went with a black and white and a stripe. The three of them would have made a fabulous Anna Maria Multi-tasker tote, but I resisted. I have a full box of tote bag fabrics and need to make a few tote bags before I buy more fabric.
Famous last words, however, after I stopped in at Itsy Bitsy Quilt Shop in Ferndale. Ferndale is a cute little town off the beaten path with gorgeous buildings on its Victorian Main Street. Itsy Bitsy Quilt Shop had a very chatty man sitting behind the counter when I walked in. He turned out to be the owner’s husband. They had fabulous fabrics and I succumbed, including two tote bag fabrics.
The store was really bright and cheerful and I think that was part of the attraction. I think it was my favorite quilt of the four I visited. The 2 tote bag fabrics are Kaffe Fassett prints. I also bought some dots, of course. The one above will go on the inside or the pocket panels. Not sure what I will use for the inside, perhaps a black & white print? I have plenty already.
After Ferndale we went up to Eureka to see Scottie Dog and Ocean Waves. Scottie Dog Quilts was a nice shop as well. I am amazed at what quilt shop owners can cram into a small space. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t feel crowded in Scottie Dog, but it wasn’t Best Buy either. I bought more dots and a conversational on turquoise with coffee cups that I want to use on the back of the Tarts (see above on the left, 4th from the top).
Scottie Dog Quilts had 2 diamond quilts hanging on their wall. I asked if they had the ruler or template they used to make it and the shopkeeper said that they used the Accucut. I never considered that machine as an option for me, but that offhand comment opened up a whole new world for me. Cutting diamonds for the FOTY 2010 would be absolutely no problem, however. Hhmm. I wouldn’t buy that machine just to make one quilt, but I will look around and see if a shop has it and I could try it. I have a lot of questions:
Finally, we went to the Ocean Waves Quilt Shop. It is housed in an old Victorian house, which made it adorable, but also a bit dark. I bought a pack of charm squares and another food FQ for mom. I think I was tired of fabric shopping by then.
I find it quite hilarious to listen to what the quilt ladies talk about while I am shopping. In my travels this weekend, I heard about the tribulations of the world including prescription drug addiction, surgery, a sister determined to have 4-6 children though she doesn’t have the money to raise them and a multitude of Valentine’s Day anecdotes.
If you spend any time up on the North Coast, you won’t have to worry about a shortage of fabric.
I am thinking of using this combination of fabrics for my next pencil roll. I will center the main part of the back around those two feathers and the teal and chocolate will be the inside and the pocket piece. I thought I would start this the first weekend in Feb, but kind of tanked and didn’t do it.
The upholstery fabric is another FabMo fabric. I already pried off the tags and removed the staples.
Here are some miscellaneous things that came my way. The fabrics were free giveaways at the retreat thanks to Debbie. I couldn’t resist the pink ice cream fabric. I can’t wait to cut up some pieces of it for Cathy’s Eye Spy and Julie’s Tumbler. Perhaps I will make a gift bag out of the rest. We’ll see. that fabric makes me happy to look at.
The Creative Grids Diamond Ruler arrived on Monday. It looks a lot better than the other diamond ruler I have, so perhaps the latter will go to QTN? I haven’t yet tried it out so I’ll have to play with it a bit to see if I want to use it for the FOTY 2010.
Finally, I bought the pattern at Hart’s last weekend. The pictures look different than the model I saw made up in the store. What I saw was more like a little tote rather than a backpack. The store clerks were sure this was the pattern, so I took a leap of faith. Another tote for the list of to dos!
I think I have enough new stuff to play with for now.
My to immediate do list includes a couple of pencil rolls, one for the One World One Heart project and one for a gift. I’d like to get to them this weekend, but we will see.
At some point, I’d like to go to FabMo myself and see the goodies. Not sure when the next open day is and am not sure whether I want to give up some of my sewing time this weekend to do that.
I used some of my Christmas money to buy some new fabrics. Are you surprised?
The second row dot fabrics will be a tote bag. I love the color combination. I thought the orange was more of a salmony orange, but the lighting in the store wasn’t that good and I found out it was a more pure orange. That is ok. I still think the color combo looks good.
I may use them to try the scaled down AMH MTT. I still haven’t tried the scaled down version. I have a rule to use good fabric for new projects in case it comes out well, but I decide not to make the pattern again (remember the Sweet Harmony bag?) Thus, I am wondering whether I want to use good fabric and possibly screw it up or fabric I don’t care that much about and have it come out really well.
Julie took me to a store called Hart’s. What an awesome store! They had one of the largest selections of quilt fabrics I have seen in a long time. The quilt fabric selection was HUGE! Julie said she hadn’t been there in a while because of a bad experience when her kids were little. We were pleased that the service was excellent!
Hart’s also has an upholstery section. They had lots of wonderful upholstery fabric, trims and laminated cotton. The selection of laminated cottons and oilcloth was more extensive than I have seen anywhere. Some of their laminated cottons were so soft they were almost like non-laminated cottons.
The Cal fabric, from Beverly’s, will be for some pillowcases. That is all I can say right now as I am contemplating whether they will be gifts. Yes, I am planning ahead. Stay tuned.
The red dot fabric (top row, third from the left) was the gift wrapping on my gift from Julie. I don’t remember seeing those dots and the wrapping she did looked like that form of Japanese wrapping, whose name I can’t remember right now.
I spent Sunday, and a few minutes on Saturday night, finishing up the FOTY blocks so I can take them to the CQFA Retreat. When I return from sewing bliss, I hope to have the quilt top ready to show you.
I really like the warm colors in this group. Some of the darker colors, especially the greens were given to me by my sis for my 2009 birthday.
Getting down to the bottom of the pile made matching up fabrics difficult. I tend to pull out the ones I really like and press and use those first. Some (not all!) of these were my lesser favorites.
In a way the FOTY exercise helps me train my eye and mind to choose fabrics I really love and want to use right away. At the same time, it trains my eye to avoid fabrics that are not my colors. Yes, I did find fabrics that I bought that made me wonder why I bought them. Before I buy, I think I will have to not just look at the fabric next to lovely coordinating bolts. I think I need to take the potential bolt off the shelf and unroll it a little to see more of the fabric. That will make me shop slower, which can’t be a bad thing.
I pressed, cut and sewed the last fabrics on Saturday. Sunday I counted all of the blocks and consulted with DH about the layout. Not the layout in terms of color, but the layout in terms of numbers of blocks across and down. He told me I had to have an even square root number (or something). I ended up needing 14.83 blocks across the top and down the side. I don’t know what a .83 block looks like, but I knew it wasn’t going to fit evenly into my quilt.
I immediately grabbed the fabrics I received for Christmas and shoved them in the washer. Then I went to work on a pencil roll, which you can read about later in the week. When the fabrics were done, I had figured out that I needed to make 7 more blocks to come out with an even 225 (15 across by 15 down). I pick out some pairs of fabrics and sewed them together. Now I am ready to arrange the quilt and sew it together.
I do have one extra, which I will stick on the back.
Some of the fabrics I bought at the very end of 2009 will end up in the 2010 quilt. As the Quilt Mavs say “my quilt, my rules.”
Unrelated notes:
* I have no Internet at home at this time, so if I am a little slow responding to comments, I apologize! It makes it a challenge to get blog posts up as well!
* Remember to leave a comment in the One World One Heart post for a chance to win!
I moved the Fabric of the Year project forward all weekend last weekend by sewing like crazy. I made over 100 Zanzibar blocks, as well as cut and organized other little pieces that I need for other projects despite the rain, power outages and family obligations.
Keep in mind that these are SMALL blocks. Each rectangle is 1.5″x3.5″, so they sew together very quickly. I do about 8 at a time using chain piecing methods. I talked about the selection and resizing of these blocks on February 16, 2009.
I actually felt rather smug getting so much done. Sadly, that feeling was short lived. I haven’t done anything this week except a little pressing of fabric. Pressing of fabric is the first step in the process so that is a good thing. I, however, had grand illusions of finishing the blocks this week and making another pencil roll this weekend. I have about 18 more blocks to make from uncut/unpressed fabric. Half of those fabrics are pressed and half are not, so I still have some work to do.
I also have about 10 groups of cut pieces waiting for mates that I need to sew. I have a lot of dots, which should not surprise you, and I am trying not to put dots together every time if I can help it. In some cases I can’t help it. In the grander design of the quilt, I don’t think it will matter.
I have been trying to post this blog post all week as well and there were several days where I did not get near the computer at home. I am glad podcasts are around, because they kept me in the creative loop.
One of the things I tried to do with this batch is put contrasting colors together. I did some of that before, but didn’t feel successful. I was bored putting two yellows or two blues together, so I decided to mix it up a little.
I am in love with the blues. What do you think?
In case you were wondering, I have about a foot of design wall space because the Tarts are still waiting for me to machine applique some hearts onto the curvy teapot. Below is what I have to work with:
I have to admit that this week has been a challenge and I am pretty exhausted. I felt this way on Wednesday and just had to power through the rest of the week. It was tough! Boys are gone and I am supposed to go to a party. I am tempted to blow it off, but I have gotten a lot of emails asking me if I will be there. I also really like the people who are giving it. We’ll see.
I’d like to get some sewing done as my brain is starting to wonder what that is. I feel like it has been an eternity since I have been at the machine.
I went to the Timberlake Quilters Guild Blog, which is called Fiber Whimsy and saw some lovely photos from their string piecing workshop. One of the photos was a Spiderweb! They seem to be popping up all over. I guess this is message to get back to mine. I think it is one of the projects I want to work on in 2010. Stay tuned to see. Love the red background on the one pictured in the photo.
Tagging this Blog
As a librarian, you’d think I would have all the answers about tagging, but I don’t. I have been thinking about whether or not I should add a tag for the name of each project so you (and I!) can click on the name of a project and see all the posts about that project. I am not sure I could back and tag all the old posts unless I was laid up in bed for a period of time, but I could do it going forward. Let me know if you think that would help you. I would also like to k now what you do in your blog, if you have one.
I helped my mom download iTunes and subscribe to some podcasts. We listened to a little of the Cast-on podcast and she loved it. I can’t wait to hear whether the whole premise works for her or not. She has really gotten into Cat Bordhi, a knitter, lately so I downloaded some interviews to which she could listen as well.
Laura Wasilowski left a comment encouraging me to finish the piece that I started in her class. I took a look at it again and realized that the handstitching makes the piece look really spiky and unfriendly. I think I need to add some petals to the flowers and see if that makes it look more friendly.
You can see a watercolor painting that usually hangs in my dining room. I love this painting. It makes me feel calm. I just generally love beach and water scenes. That thought makes me wonder if that is why I like turquoise so much? After the painting project, the art is not back up yet. We may rearrange the art. However, as I seem to never be home, we haven’t discussed it yet.
Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson! blog has a laptop sleeve tutorial on Sew, Mama Sew! While I am not fond of beige, I do like the swirly motifs on the fabric. This would make a nice gift. Yes, I am thinking ahead! I would probably add a strap or a handle, however. I have to admit that I find it hard to navigate that site, but sometimes the effort pays off and here is a list of a year’s worth of Elizabeth’s projects just for you.
My sister received Lakers v. Trailblazer tickets for Christmas from her boyfriend. Our dad lives near Portland, so I think they went together. While she was there she took the opportunity to raid and scan our childhood photos. In the course of that project she went to a craft warehouse to get supplies. While she was there, she found some fabric that she said was for me. YAY! I haven’t received it yet, but presume I will soon.
She has sent me some scans of my 5 year old self, which are not new, but still entertaining.
I saw a post on Twitter to a Detroit artist who is doing interesting things with blue. Steven Magsig has a blog called Postcards from Detroit where he posts paintings of little areas of the city and buildings in the city
I seem to remember mentioning that I spent an hour and half last Saturday talking to the CQFAers about developing a creative habit. I got lots of good feedback. Here are some tips from my talk:
I am thinking about something bigger with more detail on this subject, so am just giving you an overview.
Have an inspirational and creative weekend!!!!
I meant to write about this sooner, but it just didn’t happen. I saw this Flowering Snowball quilt when I went to Back Porch in October.
I have to admit that I was shocked, because I thought that nobody was making that pattern except for me and here was a semi-local quilt shop teaching a class. I have to admit that I was disappointed, because I thought I was doing something unique. Call Back Porch if you want to sign up for the class.
When I went to the Kaffe Fassett lecture, we also went to the shop, where we bought a few things.
I wanted to restock up on the Lonni Rossi fabrics. The line was long and as we stood in line, I saw this quilt on the wall.
I know TFQ will like it, but I also like the cheerfulness of it. I think the background is dots.
Here are some of the Christmas gifts I received and bought for myself this year. I don’t have reviews for them yet, because I have really only just glanced through them. I will look forward to reviewing these books in detail and you can look forward to them in 2010.
I talked briefly about Journal Bliss in a previous post. Dolores brought her copy of this book on Thursday when we met so I had a chance to look through it. Some of it is pretty basic, but I love the bright and cheery layout. After Dolores and I parted, I stopped in at Borders and bought it.
Julie was kind enough to give me Fearless Design by Lorraine Torrence. Lorraine gave me the rule “make visual decisions visually”. She and TFQ know each other via the quilt world, so whenever we are together and see Lorraine we are able to have a little more than a writer-customer conversation. Last time, at APNQ, we discussed her desire to have made the book longer and I suggested putting additional information up on her blog/website. I don’t know if she ever did that.
I received a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble. I don’t normally shop there, but decided that I would immediately sit down and buy as many books as I could with the gift card. With the card and about $3 I was able to add 3 books to my library. The first is Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again. I wrote up a bunch of notes to write a review during my week away, but can’t seem to find the actual review on the blog. Perhaps I never got to it! I’ll have to dig up those notes and write the review for you. Look for that sometime.
TFQ gave me Amy Karol’s book, Bend the Rules with Fabric. Angie at the Quilting Loft had Amy Karol (of Angry Chicken fame) here for a reading and signing and TFQ got a copy for me and got it signed!
This is more of an inspiration book for me. A lot of the projects require some kind of fabric manipulation. Since I am generally opposed to messes, I don’t do that stuff at home. However! I am open to the possibilities and would work with someone else on dyeing and painting etc. The photo shows one project that I really want to try! These are dolls where you use photos of the heads of family and friends. I love this idea. My great niece, “Henry I”, lives in Maryland. She has never been out here and it is has been awhile since her parents have been out. I was thinking that it would be great to make a set of her cousins (11) using this idea. I also think that one of my nephews might benefit from a sister doll when his sister goes off to college in the Fall. Getting the heads on the body (provided) looks like it requires some Photoshop so I may need Natalie to help me. Cut and paste may work, too. In general, this project is a lot of work, so I am not committing to anything more than thinking it is a great idea. If I do it, it might be the impetus I need to learn more about Photoshop Elements.
When SIL and I went to hear Kaffe Fassett, we had some time to kill, so we stopped in at Borders. They have a wonderful selection of magazines, which I greatly appreciate. I bought a copy of Magic Patch, a French quilt magazine to which I used to subscribe. It is the November/December issue, #47. The Christmas tree project was really appealing. I’d love to make one!
I have studiously avoided stuffing things in the past, but it looks like, with the dolls above and this project, that there is a possibility that this will be the year of stuffing!
My friend Faye, from New Zealand, has some kind of stuffed Christmas tree that she uses instead of a live tree. I don’t think I have even ever seen a photo of it, but I have often thought of how cool such a decoration would be. When I saw this pattern, I thought that it would be worth a try. I even thought of making 14 for the siblings and cousins, but think that may be too much of a committment. Perhaps I will win the lottery and be able to stay home and sew all the time, which would make it possible.
This issue also has a journal cover pattern with embellishment, some string pieced 8-pointed stars and a inteview/portrait of Lorraine Roy, among other things.
This is mostly a project magazine, but they do have quite a bit of information on what is going on in the European quilmaking community, in which I am very interested. They announce shows in Europe and the piecing in the projects ends towards advanced quiltmakers.
Finally, Julie also gave me Inspired to Quilt by Melanie Testa. I have to admit that I have not had a chance to sit down with this book yet, but I am looking forward to being inspired by it. One of my CQFA colleagues has highly recommended the videos on Ms. Testa’s site. Another item for my to do list!
Finally, I cannot forget the fabric. I received fabric from my mom and Julie both. Dots galore and some cute paper doll fabric that I think, if I have enough, will be a bag.
I have a lot on my mind…again.
My Tivo is taping Fons & Porter periodically. I didn’t ask it to do so, but it started doing it on its own and then I started to watch them. It is nice to be immersed in quiltmaking for a few minutes and get a different perspective. Recently, they had a show on a baskeweave quilt. The photo is from their website. I love the idea of this quilt, because it is not simple patchwork done in rows. The maker has to insert pieces into the middle of already pieced rows in order to get the basketweave effect. The project was originally published in February 2007. I would like to see if it is actually make-able. It looks pretty straightforward on the show and the video, but you know how that goes. I’ll have to look around at the library to see if they have it. I found that with my Quilt Out Loud membership, I was able to log into the Fons & Porter site, so I have to look around there as well. If I ever had that magazine, it is long gone.
Clipmarks and my Internet security system are not liking each other, so I will have to try and explain about Bemused and the online Quilts Japan preview rather than show you. I was reading the Bemused blog and she mentioned her love of Japanese quilting magazines. She also mentioned that Quilts Japan has an online preview. That means you can page through the new issue. YAY!!!
As soon as I remembered to click the page LEFT button, it worked great. Remember? They read towards the left.
My regular podcasting people, Jennifer at CraftSanity, Amy at the Creative Mom podcast and Annie Smith of Quilting Stash/Simple Arts, are not producing podcasts fast enough for me. At the rate I consume them I could go through about 3 hours of them a week. Of course, I can’t whine or complain (I am certainly not whining or complaining, just stating a fact) since the podcasts are FREE, the hosts work for free and I guess don’t get paid. Not having new episodes each week, however, means that I have nothing to which to listen. This has forced me to search iTunes for new material. I found some interesting works. IMy two current favorites are CastOn by Brenda Dayne and An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory.
One of the things I like about Brenda Dayne’s podcast is that it is about fiber and not just knitting. I wouldn’t call myself a knitter, though I do know how to knit and I admire knitting and would like to knit more, yet, Ms. Dayne does not bore me with the minutiae of knitting. She does talk about the minutiae of knitting, but I am not bored by it. She talks about other things, too. And the way she talks about things is not boring, it is professional, and, real sounding. She squeals with delight in a professional sounding way.
Danny Gregory, author of An Illustrated Life, Creative License and dannygregory.com did a series of podcasts in conjunction with the publication of An Illustrated Life a few years ago. I talked, briefly, about that book here on the blog in the past, but didn’t review it thoroughly. His podcasts are about 30 minutes long. Longer segments are broken in two parts. He has a wonderful voice and his conversations with artists who contributed to the book make me appreciate the book a lot more. Perhaps I will look at it again and give it a thorough review.
So far, I have listened to Danny talk with Peter Arkle and Roz Stendahl. I also listened to the Voodoo Lounge interview with Roz and I, now, want to be her. She is amazingly creative and practical in a way where she seems to use every moment of her time and get a lot done. I liked her interview with Danny Gregory, because she says that shopping (e.g. going and looking for the perfect pen to sketch with, or, in my case the perfect green fabric) is not a substitute for creativity. I think she also inferred that you cannot count shopping as part of your creative time. She has a follow-up to that comment on her blog.
One of the things I like about these non-quilt podcasts is that I get exposed to other artists and start thinking about creative things in a different way. I am not going to give up quilt podcasts, don’t worry.
I have never heard of Peter Arkle before. Peter Arkle is a commercial artists/ illustrator. He also does something called The Peter Arkle News. It is a newspaper containing stories of his everyday life. I love the idea. He started it just out of college (??) to show potential employers he could create and idea and follow through on it. It is now an occasional publication, which he calls ‘wheneverly’. As a librarian, I’ll have to use that instead of ‘irregular.’
One of the things I love about podcasts is how I get to hear the story of people’s lives. As I listen to more and more podcasts, I find that listening to professional radio is starting to be a bit boring or….not as interesting. I always liked Terry Gross, but now I’d rather know about her life than listen to her interview people all the time. I am interested, usually, in the people she interviews, but would also like to know about her. I like stories about people. I like to hear about the wonderful things ordinary people do. Have you done an StoryCorps interview? Take your grandma or your dad out to a StoryCorps booth and do one. Or use your new Flip. What is your story?
I love this tree quilt. It is one of those Miami Christmas quilts. I admire the way she put together the fabrics. I found this blog when I was working on my end of the year post and I was looking for the name of a pattern I bought to make the “It’s a Wrap” quilt by Sandy Gervais (obviously, I found it!). Not Your Run of the Mill blog seems to be associated with a shop, but I wasn’t able to find a direct link to the shop, though it looks like she has some interesting things.
My guild, CQFA, is doing a creativity project in 2010 and I am the first presenter. I did a lot of legwork in anticipation of the prep meeting in November and then was unable to attend. Dolores, from CQFA met me about an hour south of here on Thursday. We had lunch, looked at quilt and creativity books and talked about what I would talk about. I feel much more prepared for my presentation than I did before. I, frankly, had no idea where I was going or what I was going to say. Dolores is extremely creative. Sadly she has no website and no blog, but you can see some of her work that I have posted. Perhaps I will post notes or something on what I talk about. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with things that people expect me to do lately. Not to mention the pressure I put on myself! I think I will have to practice the word ‘NO’ in 2010. We’ll see.
By the way, the Dynamic Quilt link in my sidebar provides a list of my delicious quilt bookmarks. If you have any interest in what quilt sites I am looking at, click there and you will see some of the sites I have bookmarked.
Matt Sparrow is talking about creating a TMZ type quilt website. It should be interesting to see what comes of that. I wonder if there is enough quilt news and gossip to make it worthwhile?
Nobody can tell me that I do not have the best MIL in the world, perhaps the universe. I love my MIL. She told me recently that I was the best daughter-in-law.;-) I was helping her wash silver after Christmas dinner. I don’t think the dishwashing was the issue. I like to think she just likes me. Anyway, part of my MIL’s fabulousness is that she gives us money every year for Christmas. I used to spend a weekend gift shopping with her, but she is no longer interested in shopping, so she gives each of us, usually, a magazine and money. If you do not select a magazine, you get some soap or something “to open”. Usually, I hoard my money jealously and wait to spend it. This time, I spent it almost as fast as I could on the fabrics in the photo when I was at Back Porch fabrics. I bought some more pieces of the Lonni Rossi fabrics. I used most of the FQ pack I bought on Marilyn’s Multi-tasker. I have another project in mind for them and wanted to include some in my FOTY quilt. I may wait and include them in FOTY 2010 as I still have a lot of fabric to cut and wasn’t sure I could commit to washing and cutting and sewing all of those additional fabrics before midnight on 12/31. As I write this, it didn’t happen.
For FOTY 2010, speak of the devil, I am thinking of doing another one patch, specifically diamonds. I like what I learned from combining fabrics when I make the Zanzibar blocks. I know I told myself I would create a design that used new and old fabrics like TFQ does and I do see the value in that. As the year came to a close, though, I felt quite stressed about this project. I wanted the cutting and piecing to be done by the end of the year and it just didn’t happen. It was totally my fault for leaving the washing, ironing and cutting until the last second, but still. I have to have fun with my quilt work, so I am cutting myself some slack.
If I do diamonds, I just have to decide what size. I almost bought some diamond rulers at Back Porch, but resisted until I could see what I already owned in the diamond arena.I was thinking of something like a 60 degree ruler.
As of January 4, 2010, I will be working more hours. For various reasons, I have always worked part-time since I left graduate school. My husband, however, has been our house-husband for the past year (almost). Sadly, I cannot afford to pay him at all, even though he does an excellent job. There are just things we need more money to pay for such as healthcare, so more hours at the day job for me are required. I am VERY fortunate that the work is there and the company is willing to allow me to make the change. I am sad to be giving up some of my free time, which I love. I don’t want to make changes in the blog in terms of posting less, but we will see. I haven’t gotten many comments in the past 1.5 months, so perhaps I don’t need to post as much? Again, we will see.
Although, New Year’s Day was yesterday, I want to wish all of my readers a great day and may 2010 be MUCH better than 2009!!!
I am slowly getting a bit of the FOTY blocks done in between the Christmas gifts. I am branching out a bit as well and not putting same color with same color all he time. For some of the color combinations it just didn’t look right. Not sure how I will handle that choice when I start putting together the whole quilt, but I am sure that it will work out one way or another.
Cutting FOTY strips and putting blocks together is my main project for next week