Tag: Off Topic: Crafts

Various and Sundry Saturday

Can you tell I am just desperate to catch up on everything? All of my posts lately are entitled “Various and Sundry.” I hope it gives you an idea from the title what kind of post it will be.

  1. I am doing a project (another one? you say) called 31 Days to Building a Better Blog. You can find it and play along at ProBlogger. I am already 3 days behind, so we’ll see how it goes. When I first saw the ad for this project, I was arrogant enough to think I didn’t need such a thing. Immediately after that thought, I signed up, because thinking I couldn’t improve Artquiltmaker blog is a sure sign I need help. If I can make a few improvements, I’ll be happy. If I learn, I’ll be happier.
  2. Reviews and comments about Handmade Nation are all over the blogosphere. I would like to see it as it sounds interesting. I haven’t, however,  seen it playing anywhere nearby. I’ll keep looking.
  3. Be*Mused had a lovely array of colors up on her blog the other day. She and I are thinking along the same color lines. Here color palette is the look I am going for with the fabrics that I bought at Always Quilting. I want to add something a bit dark just to take the edge off the bubblegum-i-ness. Not sure what, but I’ll have to look around.
  4. I started listening to another episode of the CraftSanity podcast today. It turned out to be a joint podcast with Jennifer and Sister Diane of Craftypod. Essentially the two podcasters interviewed each other to give tips and pointers on starting your own podcast. Listen to CraftSanity podcast #14 and Craftypod podcast #24 to hear the different takes on the same discussion/interview. I love this kind of collaboration facilitated by the web.
  5. I am cutting 6.5″ squares of blue fabric (like the Thoughts on Dots project) for a project and I have lost about 3/4s of the ones I have cut so far somewhere in my workroom. They will turn up, but it made me realize that I need to have some way of organizing projects that are in the germination stage. There are a number of projects for which I need to gather fabrics while I prepare to sew. I want a system where I can put fabrics and supplies in one place until I am ready for them to be front and center. I am envisioning a system like Jan at Be*Mused put up. She used IKEA’s Expedit shelves. I am not sure these shelves would work for me. I also need a bed in my workroom for guests, so I think my ideal would be the IKEA Billy system with a bed somehow integrated into it. In the meantime, I may just get some POTs and use those.
  6. Linda Hughes of  From A Vineyard Garden blog has posted a list, paraphrased from the New Creative Artist book by Nita Leland about creativity. It is a good and interesting list and that book might be worth checking out.
  7. Finally, Retro Mama made a pattern f or fabric eggs and put it up on her blog. I love these eggs and want to make some to decorate for Easter/the Spring. It won’t work for this Easter, but I could make them for next year. We will see. There are just so many wonderful blogs out there!

Various and Sundry Sunday

Another crazy post about a variety of random topics from while I attempt to find my time management skills and tell you all the various things that have been happening.

Infinity Blocks
Infinity Blocks

I showed these blocks yesterday, because I went to Always Quilting today to see Terri Thayer speak and do a book signing. I took a look at the quilts on the wall and found out that this is an Always Quilting exclusive pattern that they call Crazy Eights. I kind of like what the name Infinity suggests, so I will have to think about what I am going to call my quilt and the block.

Terri and I had a tentative date to go out and talk about writing. I was pleased that we were able to go and have a quick coffee. I like Terri, because she is very approachable and willing to talk about her writing process. We ended up talking about writing and migrating blogs, book promotion and other time management issues.

Terri’s new book, Ocean Waves, is out. As soon as you are done reading this post, go and buy it. 😉 Terri will be at the Chicago Quilt Festival in a couple of weeks. You can buy it from her directly there and get it autographed. Of course, you can buy it from Amazon as well. Just buy it. Supporting local authors is how we get books that have to do with quiltmaking. Terri is in the process of negotiating for the next contract for books in the Dewey/Quilter Paradiso series.

I heard about Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy on the CraftSanity podcast. Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood has interviewed Ms. Paulson twice, once in episode 17 and again in episode 91. She has several things on her blog and website that I like:

  • Posie Gets Cozy has a list of links to articles and blog posts about Ms. Paulson. Making Things for a Living by Becky from the Hidden Pearl blog is an interesting post/article about Ms. Paulson. The photos on this page are wonderful and I especially like the washtub of fabric flowers. I am also rather fond of the green on the walls behind the Posie letters.
  • Ms. Paulson has a webstore, where she sells the thing she makes. In it is a Gallery of Sold Things. I like the very appealing layout of the this page and think it shows the wide range of crafts she makes.
  • Finally, she has a close-up of one of the fabric flowers. I really like this one (it has dots!) and my mind is exploding with ideas for attaching them to tote bags. Or making bouquets that don’t die!

I have been working on the Tarts. It is slow going. My latest task is to find the right color for the tea kettle block in the lower left hand corner. I did the design last week, but haven’t put fabric to machine yet. Photos soon.

And finally,….

2009 Cherry tree
2009 Cherry tree

As I mentioned I headed south over last weekend. While driving I found that the cherry trees were in gorgeous bloom all along the highway. The color of the flower petals seemed darker than the petals falling to the ground already in San Francisco.  They may be flowering quince or some other flowering tree. I don’t know for sure. I just know that love the cheerfulness of the trees and how they make the City look when they all come into bloom at once. I, finally, had the opportunity and the time and the camera and the tree all in the same place at the same timeand was able to snap the picture above.

My sister is a very talented scrapbook artist and these are some pages that she made for us.

Baby, It's Cold Outside Page
Baby, It's Cold Outside Page
Christmas With Page
Christmas With Page

Yes, the ‘t’ is missing, but I found it and glued it back on the page. Now, all I have to do is fill the pages with pictures.

Enjoy and be inspired.

Various and Sundry Saturday

I thought today, with people out of the house, would be a good day to catch you all up on what is going on. It isn’t going to happen completely. I am going to do a quick update and promise more later. Promises, promises, I know. I have missing my blog writing, though, so you are not the only ones who are suffering.

I have a lot of photos to post and they take time to process. I don’t just want to slap a bunch up there. I have some fantasies of someone from a card company looking at my blog and then hiring me to share my photos so they can make a line of cards out of them. We can all dream! I know I still have a lot to learn about image processing before my fantasy will become a reality, but I do know how to crop, so I am going to do it.

I also have the Creative Prompt drawing to post for March 27 as well as a bunch of inspiration photos. Yes, I finally got my annual photo of a cheery tree in bloom with some wonderful closeups.

FOTY Late March Blocks
FOTY Late March Blocks

I have been working on the Zanzibar blocks for FOTY 2009. I cut the pieces for these a week or so ago, but just sewed them this morning. Some of the pieces were too long as I sewed them together, so I have to check my cutting and make sure I am not getting sloppy. That project progresses.

Infinity Blocks
Infinity Blocks

I decided to call the above blocks (from the project with SIL) Infinity blocks because they look a bit like an infinity symbol. I haven’t been able to find a name for them, but may when I go to Always Quilting tomorrow. I used the scraps from the most recent tote bag I made for one set of the blocks. I heard from SIL, too, after sending her a sample, that the block looked fine.

If you didn’t listen to This American Life this morning (or whenever the most recent show is aired in your area), go and listen to it. The show is all about the effects of the current economy and stress. I like this show, because they seem to talk with regular people. In order to get away from my stress briefly I went south last weekend to visit my sister. Ostensibly we were going to update our scrapbooks; really we hung out, went to scrapbook and quilt shops and visited the Granny. I was able to sort photos from a trip I took that I want to put in an album. I am ready to start putting them in an album. YAY! I am going back on the weekend of May 1 to start work on the project.

Treasure Hunt Fabric
Treasure Hunt Fabric

One of our stops was at the The Treasure Hunt, a shop the size of a small suburban house (NOTE: not one of those monster houses, but the kind your grandma bought in the 1950s and you visited all the time when you were a kid). It is located in Carpinteria, California (Treasure Hunt Country Crafts – www.carpinteriaquilts.com 919 Maple St, Carpinteria -(805) 684-3360). It is truly a not to be missed shop. Not only does it have a satisfying selection of quilt fabric, tools and supplies, it also has a knitting section and two small craft supply rooms. They have cheerful fabric there. There wasn’t much, if any, Civil War-baby poop brown-depressing fabrics. The impression I got when I walked in was CHEERFUL. Fabrics are organized by line or by type. Want to see all the colorways of a fabric design? They are right next to each other. They also had a dots section and a stripes section. It would be hard if you were looking for blue of a certain shade, but I loved-loved-loved the look of the store. The people working there were very helpful. They didn’t have the turquoise/azure blue Windham Botanical Pop fabric I need, but I would definitely go back there again. I may post some photos later. The ladies were anxious about giving me permission to take photos, so they said they would ask their boss and get back to me. We’ll see.

Blue Island Quilts is also nearby, but I didn’t go there. Maybe next time.

When I got the above fabrics home, I laid them on the floor and think I will use all of those in the bottom row except for the black-on-whites in one project. Not sure what yet, but something. I love the way they look together. It is also a different color scheme than I normally work with. I’ll probably have to add more fabrics to it (a lavendar, maybe?), but it is a wonderful and inspiring start to a project.

As of yesterday, I am also no longer a small business owner. This means that I only have one job after 7 years of consulting alongside my regular job. I finally got a full night’s sleep last night (the stress was really doing me in), which is exciting in itself. I am excited to work on what comes next…writing?? quilt project designs??? I am wanting to get back to my career counseling to move the project along. That will have to wait, but I will do my exercises and make progress.  You can bet that whatever it is will involve more quiltmaking!!!

Color Me Quilts fabrics
Color Me Quilts fabrics

After the sale, I stopped in at Color Me Quilts (Color Me Quilts & More, 37495 Niles Blvd, 792-6567), which was in a perfect location to relieve some stress yesterday morning. I bought the stripe to go with the fabrics from The Treasure Hunt for the pink and brown project. The dots are, well, dots and how can I pass them up? I think they will go well with the cherries for the blue and pink project I am also planning. the blue dot will work well in Patrick’s quilt and the Pineapple. Cheerful, cheerful fabrics.

It is never too early to be thinking about gift bags, so I found some Christmas fabrics on sale and bought some of those to make gift bags for the holidays.

Future Bags
Future Bags

I am not a huge fan of Laurel Burch, but I don’t dislike her fabrics, either. The colors are a bit nontraditional, which I like. I saw a lovely white Christmas fabric, but it was too see through to effectively hide gifts, so I passed on it.

For now, thought I have to go sew a bit and get ready for the rest of the afternoon. Thanks for reading and for your comments!

Sew4Home Website

As I have a Janome machine, I get emails from them talking about new products. Mostly, I can’t use what they send because either I am too lazy to teach myself to use a new foot, I have no interest, I have no time or I am just not interested. Still, I like to see what is going on so when I buy that new machine, I will have something they can teach me at the class.

I was thrilled to see this site, sew4home, which Janome is sponsoring. I really think the layout makes sense and they seem to have a range of projects. I only looked at the cushion area because Teacher Pillow time is coming. I found the plethora of projects to be very appealing.

clipped from sew4home.com

Sew4Home - Transform your space.


Basic Rectangle Pillow in Purple & Chocolate Floral

Click to Read MoreThis simple pillow proves that a home dec item can be very stylish and still easy to make.




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Square Button-Tucked Toss Pillow

Click to Read MoreThe button-tucked or tufted pillow is a classic design. A middle button accent, front and back, is what creates the wonderful plump and puffy look.


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Perhaps Origami?

I saw this article on Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood’s Grand Rapids Press blog (isn’t it cool that they have a craft column??). This man is amazing and I just shiver thinkng about what the world would be like if everyone did something as creative.
clipped from blog.mlive.com

Paper train builder Rodger Despres stays on track

“I think the message from me to the public is: If I can do this with a piece of paper, what can you do with your talents?” he said. “What can you do with the talent that God has given you?”

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Birthday Activities

Every year, I try to figure out a fun and/or creative endeavor to arrange for my birthday. As I am trying to buy in my neighborhood, I decided that Color Me Mine, a pottery painting place was the way to go. I have been walking by it a lot and had been wanting to go in and do some painting. This was the perfect opportunity.

I sent invites to some of my girlfirends and a number of them were able to come along.

I painted this little bowl to match another bowl and a spoonrest I made a number of years ago when these types of stores first came on the scene. All of them also match my kitchen. In the pic above, the bowl is upside down waiting to be fired.

The funnest part for me was to see everyone painting and being creative even if being creative wasn’t their habit. I also really enjoyed seeing all of my friends, long and new, get along with each other.

SFMOMA and the 1000 Journals Project

I have been slack about posting my various holiday adventures, but, with this post, will try and redeem myself. One of the great things I did on my break over the holidays was go to the SFMOMA with friend Julie. My goal was to see the actual journals from the 1000 journals project in person. Julie has posted a great set of narrated photos about our adventures.

The 1000 Journals project has, for some reason, captured my imagination. Faithful readers will know that I have posted about it, gone to see the film and have been trying to get my hot little hands on one of the journals. The film depicted a lot of back and forth with the SFMOMA about this exhibit because Someguy wanted to allow people to add to the journals. A great idea, but the curators aren’t used to allowing people to touch the art. I was really happy that they finally were able to work everything out.

They ended up putting the project in the Koret Education Center. There are people there to watch you, somewhat, working on the journals, so it probably made them feel ok about touching.

Stupidly I didn’t plan ahead and bring an art kit like I had planned, so I rummaged through my purse to see what I had:

  • an old temporary drivers’ license
  • breast health center “how to get your results” sheet
  • pink pen
  • Golden Gate Ferry schedule from 1997

With the pencils, glue sticks, pens, etc that the SFMOMA provided my theme turned into bureaucracy. I was able to make a page with which I was pretty satisfied. As Julie said, it was hard to make art standing up. Not very comfy. Other viewers of the exhibit also have a different sense of personal space than I do, so I had to glare at some people who were just too close, and ask them to step back.

I was disappointed to see that some contributors had basically defaced the books with a message of anger and hate of their own. If I had had colored paper, I would have glued it over those messages, which, I guess, is defacing the books as well, in a way. There was a lot of 13 year old boy potty humor as well. Sad to think that people aren’t enlightened enough to think up something that they would be proud to have endure through the ages. Perhaps I am just being a snob because what they wrote doesn’t fit my idea of ‘good’.

I had fun. I found that I actually can do a visual journaling piece. It made me think that, perhaps, I have too many options at home.

I am happy that I got to spend the day with Julie (no children/young adults=freedom) and that I got see and write in the journals. I feel like I made a contribution. The journal I wrote in was number 754.

Trying out Inks

I saw Pam Rubert’s sketchbook using these inks and I have been thinking of trying them. I would love to have a place where I could go and try out all the artists supplies that I would like to try without buying them.

FW Artists’ Inks

FW Artists’ Ink is an acrylic based pigmented water resistant ink in a range of 38 colours, all of which have either a 3 or 4 star rating for permanence.
Such a high degree of lightfastness over such a range of fully intermixable colours makes them ideal for use by artists in the production of pictures for permanent display.
Equally, however, colours can be substantially diluted to achieve the most subtle of tones, very similar in character to watercolour. Such washes will dry to a water resistant film and successive layers of colour can be laid over a highly predicable manner. FW Artists’ Inks work well through airbrushes and technical pens.
38 colours

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Flower Tote Bag

I loved this fabric, which I bought back in November. As I mentioned last week, I finally got to making a tote bag out of it.

I am pretty pleased with how it came out. I love the bright cheerfulness of these splashy flowers. I think it is a good way to use those big prints.



On one of the last bags, I didn’t like the way I couldn’t see the pocket and the straps, so this time I used a blue for one side of the outside of the bag so that the pocket was highlighted. It means that the bag sides were different fabrics, but who cares? I am pleased with the way the flower fabric stands out.

I used a tulip stitch for the top stitching on the edge around the top. It is ok. There were parts where I had to sew over a lot of layers and the spacing got a bit wrecked. I am going to keep this bag for myself, because it is cheerful and I didn’t put any interfacing in it.

Additional Gifts from Near and Far

I am a lucky girl! I have such nice friends who give me presents sometimes. 😉

First, I got a gift certificate for some fabric. Above is what I bought. Dots, of course, but also some of Mark Lipinski’s Califon line. I like the delicate designs. Not sure how I will use it, but something will come up. Now I can rest assured that the FOTY 2009 quilt will have some fabric in it. Thgift certificate came from TFQ for Christmas and the fabric just arrived today. I still owe her a thank you note.


How do you like this gift bag? The bottom has something slightly stiff in it, so it stands nicely up to attention. It is made out of felt, so I may be able to make lovely designs with embroidery (using my machine’s embroidery function) on the front instead of the applique’. The blanket stitch can be done on the machine as well. I’ll have to try it. One thing I like about it is the cute size.


This little teapot pincushion was in the gift bag. My friend, Leah, gave both to me. We hadn’t seen each other for a long time and when we got together, she produced this little package for me. It is a very sweet treat, and unexpected.

I have been transferring my pincushion between sewing machine and ironing board, so this came at the right time and, perhaps, I can start thinking about just keeping one near each workstation? I am definitely going to have to buy more pins!

Gift Bags From Afar for the Luckiest Girl

I got a surprise on Thursday! Kristen and Mrs. Kristen sent me a dotted package filled with fabrics and gift bags. I was so thrilled and it was just the pick-me-up I needed.

I saw this sunflower fabric on Kristen’s blog and asked her to get me some earlier this year. I never saw it and know that she is really busy, but was so pleased to see it come to live with me.

The dots, of course, will come in very handy.

While they were at it, they worked on some gift bags for me. Aren’t they pretty? They have little cuffs on them, which is wonderful and different from mine. I am so pleased to add them to my collection. I am also pleased that the gift bags phenomenon is spreading. Hope you will make some, too!

They put it all in a gift box covered with dots, which made me happy even before I opened the package. Thanks, ladies!

Denyse Schmidt Fabrics: A New View


countyfairpurse2
Originally uploaded by SarahQFD

I wasn’t that enamoured with the new colorways that DS came out with recently. I like the designs, but the colorways didn’t do much for me. Today I saw this photo (still working my way through the DS Pool on Flickr). These fabrics are obviously designed to be used together. That weird gold looks almost buttery next to the burgundy. It makes me wonder about a fat quarter pack. I have to stop myself, though, because there are many, many gorgeous fabrics that I could use with a bunch of fabrics I already have and these would almost certainly have to be used together and then what would I do with the finished project?

I am glad to see that these fabrics look nice together. Quilt Fabric Delights blogs about these fabrics and this purse at: http://quiltfabricdelights.typepad.com/quilt_fabric_delights/2008/09/i-sewed.html

Bags of the Kemshalls

Linda and Laura Kemshall are quilt artists extraordinaire. I love their Thr3fold Journal and the straightforwardness (is that a word??) and artistry with which they present their projects. They have come out with a new gift bag pattern via Quilting Arts. I looked at the pattern and it is kind of a backwards bag. What I mean by that is that you create, paint, embellish, bead and torture your fabric THEN you make the bag out of it. I can see where this pattern would work for stuff you already had around the house or for test techniques that you didn’t want laying around after you were done testing. These bags look pretty complicated, however. Please note that I haven’t made one, but I am very much a fan of he 10 bags an hour method. Let me know if you make one of these bags and how it turns out. I’ll be happy to post your photo to my blog or link to your blog etc from Artquiltmaker blog.

More “Bags” to make for Your Amusement

The ever ingenious Deirdre sent me a link to this blog post where the writer shows you how to make personalized bubble mailers. I tried to clip using Clipmarks, but it didn’t work, so definitely click on the link to see them.

Seeing as how I never have the right sized bubble mailers and have copious amounts of fabric and bubble wrap, it is a possibility that I might actually make a few. I don’t usually have time to put together something like this when I want to get a package off, but I can see the uses. Something to consider, regardless. I love the web and how you get to see a lot of different types of creativity.

1000 Journals Project Visits SF Weekend of August 1, 2008

You are probably wondering why it took me so long to get to this post.

Life.
Travel.
Back to School.

You know how it goes.

Still, I wanted to post some photos from the actual journals. The Roxie in SF showed the 1000 Journals movie. It was the first commercial showing in the country.

The 1000 Journals project is coming to the SFMOMA as an exhibit starting in November and the exhibit will be open through ~ April 2009.

I think that the images I was able to snap are from the most photographed journals (because they are in possession of Someguy), but I thought I would post some images anyway.


Some entries are homages. Some entries look like a mess, but that is one of the beauties of the project: everyone can express themselves anyway they want regardless of age or ability.

The artistry of some of the pages is remarkable.


I like the way these entries were created in landscape format.

WARNING: Political images next. Stop reading if you may be offended.

I am not exactly sure what these images are saying (remember the journals went out right around the time of 9/11 so there is a lot of 9/11 imagery included), but I admire the creativity and thoughtfulness (especially the double entendre) regardless of whether you think it is positive or not.