Tag: Various & Sundry

Various & Sundry 2011 #11

Inspiration
A friends shared the link to this hotel with their wonderful inspirational rooms. If you want to be in a fairy tale, check out these photos.

Pattern Drafting
As you may remember, I really struggled with trying to figure out how to layout the FOTY 2010 diamond quilt. Unlike rectangular shapes, the diamonds weren’t quite as straightforward. DH helped me figure it out, so it all worked out in the end.

This topic came up again when I was back East with my SIL who now has an Accuquilt Go Baby. We were looking at the book that came with the device and the quilts were not inspiring. She wanted a chart or list of blocks she could make with each of the templates. I was thinking that this would work for those of us who cut our scraps into regular squares or triangles to have them ready for ….. something. For example, she and I (from our different points of view) would like to be able to say “I have triangles that make 2″ finished half square triangles, what can I make?” What blocks? What overall design, if applicable? What are my choice for the parts I have?”

This is related to the FOTY problem, to which I linked above, because in that case, I wanted to say “I have 340 diamonds, how big can I make a rectangular quilt?”

I searched for a chart or a list specifically related to the Accuquilt device, but couldn’t find anybody thinking that way. When I step back, I think that nobody else must think this way. Does everyone say I want to make an Ohio Star or a Lone Star or a hexagon quilt and then go from there? It seems to me that this would make scrap quiltmakers happy.

Do you know of such a chart? Have you started one?

Media
SIL bought the Jinny Beyer Perfect Piecer that I discussed a couple of weeks ago, because she is going to start on her Eye Spy quilt. It didn’t come with very comprehensive directions about the possibilities for what we could do with it. Granted, the ruler is pretty self explanatory, but we wanted to know more (do you sense a theme here? She and I feed off of each other in terms of quilt information). We went on to YouTube and saw an interesting video from Wish Upon a Quilt (bought some stuff from them recently and found their customer service to be excellent). The video was not specifically about how to use the Perfect Piecer, though the presenter did go into it a little, but we found that what information she gave was helpful in terms of looking at the Perfect Piecer. I wasn’t able to find any other videos, more comprehensive or not on using this tool, but hope that someone will make one. I have Jinny Beyer’s Handpiecing book, Quiltmaking by Hand and will look in there to see if she goes into it at all. It may also be in her puzzle balls book, Patchwork Puzzle Balls. I don’t think this ruler will help me with the Flowering Snowball, but one can dream.

My computer is declining to recognize any device plugged into a USB port. What a pain on a lot of levels, let me tell you. As a result, I wasn’t able to update my iPod before my workout on Wednesday. That meant no Sandy, Pam or Frances to whom I could listen. Fortunately, I had downloaded an episode of Crafty Garden Mom. I was reluctant to start listening even though everyone was saying what a great podcast it was as I was just reluctant to add another addiction to the list, but I was short of podcasts.  Boy, am I glad I did. I love Tanesha’s voice and content!

Other Artists
Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts had a blog post up recently about Sit Upons. Sit Upons are a Girl Scout staple project, but they are great for other uses as well. I wasn’t even thinking about these types of projects, but I am thinking about decorating. I saw these and was so taken with how professional they look, how taut they are and how nice the buttons look. I love the colors, but have to be careful, because I get them home and find that I have nothing to go with them.

Blocks and Piecing
Adrianne and other in the BAMQG are participating in the Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt-a-Long. These quilt-a-longs are so interesting to me. Back in the first days of general access to the Internet, we did swaps. I keep trying to compare that to this new phenomenon. Anyway, I was reading the blog post on this QAL written by one of the organizers. She mentioned holding her templates in place with glue stick while rotary cutting around them! I would have never thought of that. I think of drawing around templates with a pencil, Sewline or SCUF, but not actually rotary cutting around them. Very interesting.

The BAMQG is also doing a block-a-long or quilt-a-long. I am not sure which. People are making blocks that start with a letter of the alphabet-going in order- and then they will make a sampler. Some are using the Farmer’s Wife book and other are just using block books and Quilter’s Cache. Camille Roskelly is doing the Farmer’s Wife QAL and I love her blocks. I wish they were mine. I haven’t decided if I am going to make the blocks, but if I do they will be in the same colors as CR’s.

Various & Sundry 2011 #10

Mentions and Accolades

My post about the Maker Faire was a featured post on Creating the Hive. It is easy to deal with, because the posts I write here are automatically shared there. Yes, people may see some duplication, but I get a whole different audience there. Are you a member of Creating the Hive? I’ll send you an invite if you want one.

My Sketchbook from the Sketchbook Project has been digitized. You can see it at: http://www.arthousecoop.com/library/637. I was able to page through it, but let me know if you are able to do so. Regular readers will recognize the drawings. 😉

Sandy wrote a great review of the Quilter’s Academy v.1 book that I reviewed some weeks ago. She, kindly, built on the review I wrote, which I really appreciate.

Fabric Requirements?

I saw this tool for calculating fabric requirements. I have no idea if it works even though I tried it for hexagons. I just have no frame of reference for using the tool. What do you think?

Robert Kaufman also has a fabric calculator for the Android Market. I don’t have an Android, so I haven’t tried it. Perhaps Sandy will do a review?

Other Artists

Danny Gregory is a writer and journal artist. He did some podcast with artists who were featured in one of his books. I really liked those podcasts, because they talked about creative process, tools and journals. He put a recent blog post that really spoke to me. In it he says “We don’t just want a pat on the head; we want connection, reaction, insight, something that makes us see what we made in a newer light or on a deeper plain.” I try not to want this, but I have to admit that even if I don’t want approval, I do want that connection and a conversation to start. He also says “The true value of acknowledgment isn’t registered in the ego; it’s the opposite, a breaking down of the barriers between creator and audience so that we can unite in a shared appreciation of something that lends beauty and meaning to the grinding metronome of the day. We see a glimpse of the heavens together, a view that appeared to one of us first but is now a canopy over us all.
It’s even true of a joke, a shared laugh, the quick bark of recognition that our minds thought alike, we saw the other’s insight….” It seems to be all about connection.

I took a look at Leah Day site again when mom and I were talking about free motion quilting. She just bought a Flynn Frame so I showed her the site. What I didn’t realize is that Leah has great videos on her site. They are professional, but not slick. They come across as a friend genuinely wanting to share information with another friend. I was inspired.

Nina Johansson is a Swedish artist who does really great drawings. See. Be. Draw had an interview with her recently. Nina is the artist whose coffee cup drawing I adore.

Dan Rouse is a quiltmaker whose blog I found through the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild. He has a great post on pieced circles (just say yes!) on his WIP Wednesday post.

Exhibits and Such

Lisa Call has put up a Squidoo site about Quilt National 2011, which opened last week at the Dairy Barn.

The ‘and such’ part is SeamedUp. Quiltin’ Jenny posted a great interview with the Queen of Everything, Allison Rosen. Quiltin’ Jenny had a great series of posts earlier this year/ late last year (??) about cleaning out various rooms of her house. It was very inspiring and made it seem doable.

Here is a gallery of quilts from Quilts Inc. Who will Pinterest them?

Oops

I have been looking at spelling lately, especially the apostrophe problem, and shaking my head. I found a doosie in a Quilt Market Report today. Not just in the text, but as part of printed signage. I see this as a sign that the apostrophe will be gone before 10 years are over. Sigh.

I am not immune. A kind reader pointed out a date error on one of my recent posts. Thank you! Please feel free to kindly point out spelling errors and such. I want my blog to be the best it can be and am only human.

Various & Sundry 2011 #9

Cafe Press Store

I am getting ready to change out all of the designs on the items in the store. If you want any of the Seeing Red items, now is the time to get them. You know you need that iPad cover. 😉

Supplies & Patterns

I never think to look at Nancy’s Notions for quilting supplies. Not sure why. I saw an update from her on FB and checked a new product she rolled out at Quilt Market. I also looked around at her rulers and such. She has a nice selection of what looks like innovative tools and rulers.

I am sort of interested in needle felting – not actually doing it, but knowing about it and seeing other people do it. I thought this project for a felted iPad cover was a good idea. Useful as well appropriate pattern for the materials.

Fabric

Michael Miller has posted all of their new lines of fabric. They also have an Aqua Red line that includes the Little Plain Jane flower print that I am using on my latest sampler.  I may also buy more of the aqua with the red dots. I love the cheerfulness of that fabric design.

Rouge et Noir looks like it also has some nice prints. I see some of them becoming bags.

Aqua Queen Street
Aqua Queen Street

In both of the lines I have mentioned, I see Michael Miller reusing designs, which I think it is a good idea. I still would like Windham to reissue Botanical Pop in the turquoise colorway. They might have missed their chance, because I am really liking the aqua/turquoise with white dot print in the Queen Street line (above or bottom row, 3rd from left in this photo). I also like the red, which is from the Moda Bliss line.

Michael Miller has spread dots all over their new lines. They have included some of the ‘dumb dots’ (dumb name, IMO) and the Ta Dots in their various new lines. I consider those dots to be staples and am glad to see them reappearing. I will have to search hard in the new lines to ‘replenish’ my supply. 😉

I keep hearing that grey is in for the new season of fabric. I don’t think I am buying into it. I live in the fog. Weeks can go by when I don’t see the sun and the last thing I need is more fog in my workroom.

Did anyone see anything new from Martha Negley at Quilt Market?

Quilt World News

Quilt Market has come and gone. Again I did not attend. I followed along via Twitter, which was ok. The Fat Quarter Shop posted tons of candid shots and that was fun. Stop Staring and Start Sewing has a great blog post recap about it-one of the best I have seen. Camille Roskelly also posted a nutshell recap. There is a great picture of her booth and I just love the colors. I can’t get enough of them. Front and center is a tray of Ruby charm packs. I think I have to get one. Lots of fabulous aqua and red photos in Camille’s post. Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio has a wonderful recap. She posts pictures, but also talks about the trends. Her post feeds my intellectual curiosity about the quilt industry.

C&T publishing, and their Stash imprint, was featured in an article about their phenomenal growth in a difficult industry. YAY C&T/Stash!

I have to admit that I was disappointed in the recent blog list in Quilter’s Home magazine. I like the idea of the 50 best blogs or whatever, but was disappointed (a) because mine wasn’t in there and (b) because most of the blogs were the same old, same old. I have to be honest. I work hard on my blog and it would be nice to see it show up in one of these lists sometime. Still, that isn’t the reason I write this blog, so fine, I am moving on. The other thing, though, is that the blogs they featured are great blogs: good info, gorgeous photos. There isn’t anything wrong with the blogs, but they are the popular blogs. The writers/editors didn’t have to work to make a new and innovative list.

Getting the Word Out

I am excited that another one of my posts, Hooked on Hexagons, was featured on Creating the Hive. This is my fourth post to be featured on Creating the Hive. Creating the Hive is another space for people to talk about their art. Lisa of LisaLizaLou invited me to join. If you want an invitation, let me know.

The other great news is that FOTY 2010 will be hung at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. How did I do it? I just sent in a picture for one of their shows. I am pretty excited. I finished putting the binding on, but have to get the sleeve on that baby and then I can consider it done and will show it here.

Various & Sundry 2011 #8

Patterns and Projects

Julie, over at the Intrepid Thread, has created a tutorial for an iPad bag in conjunction with Cutting Corners. Aside from the bag being cheerful, I like the directions. There are a ton of photos and the words are pretty clear. This is a long tutorial, so put a new ink cartridge in if you plan on printing it.

I bought a gift of fabric from Julie and she was kind enough to offer to include a card. She sent the fabric out in a timely manner as well. Great service.

Quilts & Shows

The 2011 AQS Show winners are posted.

I love this quilt. It was part of the Red and White show in NYC. Don’t you love the different borders? I might make one.

Media

I was listening to Creative Talk Radio with Pat Sloan recently. She had an interview with Joanna Figueroa, which was about a half an hour long. I really enjoyed hearing about her and about her new project with Quilts & More magazine. It starts with the April issue. I will have to seek out that magazine and see what it is about. Pat also had an interview with Eleanor Burns on that same episode as well as the news that she is moving her podcast to the AllPeopleQuilt.com website.

As a result of the podcast, I decided to try out the Fig Tree Quilts Fresh Vintage subscription for awhile. They called me to get some payment information and Joanna Figueroa picked up the phone. What a thrill! Who cares about Brangelina!

I have purchased this publication before. TFQ and I were together when I bought issue 10 that has the fabulous Tea Basket quilt in it. I haven’t made that quilt, but still admire it. I am looking for something a little different and hope that this magazine will provide it.

Sandy of Quilting for the Rest of Us podcast has started to write some book reviews. I flatter myself that I inspired her, but I know that she wrote book reviews on some other subjects for previous jobs. Go check out one of her first books reviews.

Penguin has come out with some new editions of classics such as Black Beauty, The Secret Garden and Emma. The creative part of this everyday publishing phenomenon is that they are being released under a new imprint called Penguin Threads and the covers are hand sewn. I saw a brief article in the Atlantic that featured wonderful pictures. In the images the stitching can be seen. The colors are cheerful without being glary. There is a lot the article doesn’t say, such as how many are being made? Are they all hand stitched or only the first one? Cool, in any case.

The Quilt Index had a great Double Wedding Ring quilt up last week. The background was Nile Green – kind of a combination aqua and green – which provided a real WOW factor to this quilt. The maker really had some guts.

Linda Kemshall has a new blog. She is a UK artist who works on DMTV and Thr3fold Journal. I wrote about her, and her daughter Laura, in a blog post some time ago.

Stars for San Bruno

As you know, I finished the first quilt top and am gearing up for the second. Someone offered me some fabric and replied to my query about her being sure she wouldn’t mind sending it along to be used with a very entertaining quip: “It’s been on my shelves for a couple of years now. I figure if I haven’t even pulled it off to audition it in that time it’s better off going to a home which will make it feel much more needed and useful. I’m all about helping my fabric self-actualize.”

Trying to Do Good

I like to do charity projects that fit with my life and my interests and help people locally. You have seen me make pillowcases. I have made about a dozen so far. I finally got my act together and called the hospital to arrange a time to donate them. I left a message. A few days later, a chipper, cheerful and young woman called me back and left a message telling me they have a ready supply of pillowcases and don’t need any. She told me to take them to a town about 20 miles away. She was very nice, but I am still annoyed. I guess some hospitals are getting too much of a good thing.

Fabric

Quilted Fish Fabrics
Quilted Fish Fabrics

I have to admit that I didn’t remember buying this fabric. Also, I didn’t have a receipt for it, except what came with the fabric when it was shipped. I don’t usually purchase fabric from Fabric.com, so I was really confused.

It is very strange and has really put me off buying fabric lately. If you bought this for me, will you, please, confess so I can write you a thank you note? I also want to get over this feeling of losing my mind. Thank you!

UPDATE: I have a secret fabric fairy. Thanks, Mrs. K.!

 

Various & Sundry 2011 #7

Inspiration

I saw this photo on Camille Roskelly’s blog and couldn’t get the sentiment out of my mind. I like her blog. I like the colors and the feel. I like the look of it and the hopeful tone of the way she writes. As an added bonus, Bonnie and Camille (of the Camille referenced above) are coming out with a new fabric line called Ruby. It looks very similar to Bliss in the coloration and in a few of the motifs. I can’t see the motifs very well, but what I can see I love. I want a full half yard set of all of the prints. I have to resist.

If you haven’t looked at Nina Johansson’s blog recently, it is worth a look. Her drawings are lovely, especially some food drawings she did in Barcelona.

Exhibits

From the American Museum of Folk Art newsletter: See http://www.folkartmuseum.org/infinitevariety for more information. Thanks to TFQ for passing this along.
More than 24,000 people came to see “Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts,” presented by the museum at the Park Avenue Armory last month. It was the largest exhibition of quilts ever held in New York City. Visitors from around the world filled guest books with thank-you notes expressing their gratitude to Joanna S. Rose for sharing her singular collection, and many have posted images to the museum’s Flickr group. We will upload footage of lectures and interviews to our YouTube channel soon. 

This magical but ephemeral moment will ultimately be captured in the pages of a fully illustrated catalog copublished by the American Folk Art Museum and written by Elizabeth V. Warren, guest curator of this spectacular presentation. Stay tuned for information about the publication date.

A digital guide to the exhibition, including images of all 650 quilts that were on display, is available as a free app for your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Android smart phone. Go to the Apple iTunes App Store or Android Market for the free download.

I downloaded the iPad app and found it to be quite inspirational. It took awhile to download, but it is great to have a quilt exhibit at my fingertips.

Fabric

Do you need an explanation of what exactly those dessert bundles Moda is selling contain? As your info resource, I found one for you at the Moda Bakeshop. Take a look.

Other Artists

Freshly Pieced is having a SuperNova challenge/exchange. The blog author posted some examples of participants’ work. The post is a great example of how, using one block, everyone’s work will be different.

The Molly Flanders blog author has started a Flowering Snowball quilt. It is flattering to think that I started something, but I doubt it. Remember mine? I haven’t done anything lately on it and need to make the border.

Workspace

Ever since I did some spring cleaning last week, I have been thinking about upgrading my space: paint, shelves, clearing out more junk, eh-hem unneeded, perfectly good items. Of course, in my travels around the web and other media I keep seeing different workspaces. I saw this one and this one and this one (another view here here). How these artists work in their lovely chairs? Don’t get me wrong, they look gorgeous! I need an office chair with lumbar support and adjustable height otherwise my body hurts and I feel like an 85 year old. And all of those sensible shoes kind of chairs don’t fit with any decor. Yes, I drape fabric all over them, so what does it matter?

Various & Sundry 2011 #6

Doing Good
Modern Relief Japan has their first few auction quilts up. Check them out, buy and donate.

Remember Christchurch had an earthquake as well. Have you made and sent your Hearts for Christchurch?

Other Artists & Fun Crafts

I recently kept Twitter open for a few hours and was actually enable to enjoy the conversation. In the course of popping back and forth between other stuff and Twitter, Little Bluebell pointed me to Carina’s Craftblog. I popped in and saw this GREAT cake post. You know I am a sucker for felt food and this piece of cake is just wonderful. I want one. Will you make it for me? 😉

As an aside, Carina has some lovely embroidery patterns – cheerful colors and designs I would want to have in my house. She makes me think about picking up my embroidery floss again.

You all know that I am making lots of Jane Market totes these days. The bottoms are really on my mind. Without some kind of stiffener the fabric bottoms hang down in a kind of sad floop. I have a lot of options: cardboard as Alicia, the designer suggests; plastic canvas with mailing tape wrapped edges; Timtex (or equivalanet) inserted in the bottom before handsewing the turning seam, interfacing. I haven’t tried all of these solutions yet, so I don’t really have an opinion on which I like better. At work the other day, I was look at the website of a new client . One of their offerings was replacement bag bottoms! WOW! They don’t have great colors, but if the bag bottoms are the right size, I might be able to overlook the color. The description is: “Size:12” x 8” to fit inside the standard reusable shopping bags.” Stay tuned!

Spring Cleaning Continued

I worked a little more after work on Monday and also after work and a meeting on Tuesday. My workroom doesn’t look fabulous, but it feels much better. It feels like I have space to move around and work. I need to take Kathy’s Order Week over at Bliss Habits to heart and clear out some of the unused stuff so I can get to the stuff I want to use.

I have been talking on and off about finishing small projects, which I realized was a kind of spring cleaning as well. Perhaps I was gearing up for Sunday’s ‘big’ spring clean? I don’t think I will ever be a one project at a time kind of girl, but clearing the decks of having too many projects feels good as well.

After all my talk about spring cleaning, I was excited and saddened to see Anna Maria Horner’s new space. Excited, because it is gorgeous and looks amazingly useful. Saddened because it doesn’t belong to me. I now have a goal to work towards. First step: move out the junk!

Julie put up a video of her year long project making a small quilt every week. Great work. Check it out.

Quiltmaking Discussion

I am really bad about keeping up with blogs. I haven’t found a great reader that fits my workflow, or quilt-flow, as the case may be. Google Reader, and other readers, are fine and I have several set up, but I just don’t go to them enough to really keep up. As a result, I nearly missed the Piecemeal Quilts discussion. Pam, the Head Rhombus from Hip to Be a Square Podcast, pointed me to this blog post the other day and the post made me think. (I seem to be doing a lot of thinking about quiltmaking right now! Not sure what that is about, but I digress. ) The writer, Sandi, of Piecemeal Quilt blog, was responding to a  post on another blog that suggested that half square triangles were an intermediate to advanced technique. The Piecemeal Quilt blog writer’s contention was that half and quarter square triangles are not an intermediate to advanced technique. I like the spirit Sandi displays in this post. I liked the fact that she was willing to put herself out there and write this series of essays. I have felt for a long time that the magazines are not providing skill building techniques and are actually making projects so easy that they don’t challenge people at all. Not everyone wants to be challenged and that is fine. I don’t always want to be challenged and sometimes my quiltmaking challenges don’t have to do with piecing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a beginner or just wanting an easy project. I, certainly, have done my share of rote sewing in the not too distant past and appreciate the meditative qualities of not having to focus too much on complicated piecing. A friend makes quilts using squares and does really amazing colorwork. Her challenge is the colorwork. A challenge it something different for everyone.

I find that even just reading about magnificently advanced quilts can stretch my mind. Perhaps Sandi was imagining that there are standards for quiltmaking – defined skills on a list somewhere that make a quiltmaker intermediate or advanced once mastered? I think, in the past, many beginning classes were Sampler classes that enabled beginners to learn a variety of different techniques. I think learning using sampler blocks is still a good idea, but sampler classes take a lot of time, people are busy and most people want to learn quickly.

I did take a look at the Single Girl quilt-a-long Photostream on Flickr. These quilts are not easy nor have the makers used all white backgrounds. I saw one with a chocolate brown background that looked very rich. I think there are more complicated pieces out there and people are stretching in their own ways. Still, I applaud Sandi for putting herself out there and responding with the Skill builder series.

Pretty Package
Pretty Package

I received the fabric from Julie of the Intrepid Thread. Isn’t this a pretty package? The bow (real French ribbon!) will end up as the tie for a gift bag. The service was fast and who doesn’t like getting packages in the mail?

I also received my rulers from Soft Expressions. I was disappointed to find that the 60 degree Creative Grids triangle I ordered has the tip cut off. Normally that is a good thing, but it doesn’t work for the hexagon project (from an early BAMQG meeting) on which I am working. Oh well!

Various & Sundry 2011 #5

Doodle
Doodle

Media
I listened to an episode of Pat Sloan’s Creative Talk Radio with Amanda Herring of the Quilted Fish. She described her new fabric line from Riley Blake. It is called Sugar & Spice. THEN the Fabricworm sent out a teaser a week or so ago and I can’t get the fabric in the teaser out of my head. ERGH!!! Those fabrics would go perfectly with my red & aqua quilt even though I am not buying them.

I heard about Matt and Shari on Mark Lipinski’s Creative Mojo and was so impressed with all the information on their website. They have all sorts of different projects, info about color, lighting, etc. They have a section on framing a quilt block, which includes the book I learned to quilt with, Diana Leone’s The Sampler Quilt. I have the original edition, which I still use for the binding lesson and the newer edition, which has great blocks.

Creative Mojo is growing on me. Mark is interviewing a lot of interesting people and telling me about a lot of interesting books. I hope I can meet him someday and have some of his fortune rub off. 😉

I was looking at my Google Reader for once since it was pouring rain and I didn’t want to go out for my usual lunch time walk. I saw a post from Fresh Lemons showing the Sugar Pop line of fabric. It looks so much better in her photo than it does in my workroom and I am starting to think that if this rain lasts much longer, I am going to have to breakdown and paint over the life sucking beige that still exists in my space.

Bari J, who is getting lots of press right now for her relatively new book, was the guest hostess on Wednesday Night Live with Lisa Fulmer of C&T publishing. She was demonstrating embroidery stitches and tools. There is more information on Creating the Hive.

On My Mind-Revisted
A few weeks ago I made a list of projects. I did that because those projects were cluttering up my mind. They are, with their status:

  • Sugar Pop Chubby Charmer – squares sewn; need to make straps, lining and line with batting
  • 2 Martha Negley totes – already cut out; ready to sew
  • Grand Revival Flea Market bag in light violet with green dots – need to pick and cut out lining
  • Grab Bag- push out corners, press and top stitch
  • Finish testing hexagons
  • Corner Store – thinking about making the blocks 4″ instead of 5″, which means unsewing a lot of blocks, trimming and resewing.
  • Grand Revival Flea Market bag in violet Innocent Crush – unsew, fix straps and resew
  • Back for FOTY 2010
  • Bubble pillowcase
  • Zig Zaggy back – make it a bit longer
  • Stars for San Bruno – still need blocks, will put together starting in April
  • Block for Modern Quilt Guild

Other things I finished recently:

  • binding for FOTY 2010
  • binding for Frosted Stars
  • binding for Frosted Stars leftovers
  • Grab Bag for Grama – finished, mailed and sent

I am not bragging, really. I seem to need to feel like I am accomplishing something!

Shows
I am so sad that I am not rich enough to run off to NYC for the weekend, because I will be missing the Red & White quilt show at the Armory. The Lizzie B Girls have a great post with lots of fab photos on their blog about it. If you go, tell me how you like it.

Doing Good
Last call for Stars for San Bruno! I know the Sendai and Christchurch earthquakes have overshadowed the fire in San Bruno, but any contributions you make will be greatly welcome. See more information on my 3/24 post.

You can also help the modern quilt community with relief for Japan. Check their new site. Tamiko is also doing her part. You only have until the end of the week, so click this link now!

Making
Here is a tutorial for making wonky cross blocks. You never know when you might want to make wonky cross blocks!

Need some kimono?

Project Selvedge
I saw an ad for a Michael Miller contest for fabric design. I have the perfect design, but I uploaded it too late. The directions said it could be done through 3/24, but on the West Coast, we often get shortchanged on the timezones. Oh well. Perhaps next time. I did put it up on Spoonflower, but can’t sell it, because I haven’t ordered a swatch.

Various & Sundry 2011 #4

As you have probably noticed, this hasn’t been a good week for posting. I have a couple of posts in the works, but they aren’t finished. Life is a little crazy and I just haven’t had a chance. I hope you enjoy this post!

Other Artists
In case you didn’t hear, Jean Ray Laury died on March 2, 2011. What a huge loss for the quilt community! There are obituaries all over the web, including on the C&T blog and in the Fresno Bee. I took a class from her via EBHQ and it was the first time I was happy with surface design results. It may have been the only time. I don’t remember when that was. I think it was before I started this blog. She had a Thermofax machine and showed us how to print designs on to fabric. I really wanted to get a Thermofax machine at that time and think that if the class had been over the course of several weeks or had been an ongoing class, I may have taken up more surface design. She made it fun and seem doable.

She also had some cool, if a little scary looking, fish fabric that she had just designed. I bought some and I still have a little piece. One of the fish made it into the Eye Spy quilt. I’ll never forget the teeth on those fish. Her website is still up, if slightly out of date. Take a look at it before it is taken down.

I took a class from Libby Lehman sometime ago and it was one of the best classes I ever took. I learned a lot. Libby was not a prima donna. She knew lots about other machines besides her own brand. It was a great class. Recently, I watched a TQS episode where Alex and Ricky interviewed Libby, showed her house, one of her techniques and her workroom. It was a great episode.

I also watched an episode with Verna Mosquera. She has a soft vintage look that I really admire, but don’t have the wherewithall to pull off in my own life. Her company, The Vintage Spool, sells patterns. Verna is also a fabric designer, but I don’t remember seeing any of her fabric. I enjoyed the interview, partly because it was so complete. I like hearing about the quiltmaker’s background and her inspiration, both of which were covered in the interview.

They have really good guests on TQS. I also like the tutorials they give. Alex showed, in another episode, how to draft a feathered wreath quilting pattern and she made it seem like anyone could do it. She also taught viewers how to piece a split LeMoyne, which she made very accessible as well. I have a few issues with the show. The pricing model and what is available to me is hard to understand from looking at their site. The site is really busy, too. I seem to lose connection to their server in the middle of episodes. Also, the images can be pixellated. I think it is sometimes my own connection, but also partly their problem. They don’t have a very good way of marking your place in the show and coming back later, though I think many online shows suffer from that problem. It may be that the technology isn’t as well developed as it will be in the future.

Primal Green, the art quilt exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library, has some information on the Green Stacks portion of the SFPL website. Hope you can see the show.

Websites and Blogs
Have you tried My Sewing Circle? Anyone can join. It is place to connect with other fabric makers, catalog your projects, patterns, fabrics and notions. I wanted to compare it to SeamedUp since I am site tester over there. Jewel, the My Sewing Circle site mom, is very fast at adding patterns and steering members in the right direction.

I will be speaking at the Primal Green panel and have been thinking about what drives me. One of the aspects of design that drives me is repetition. You can see it in FOTY 2008 with all of those rectangles. You can see it in FOTY 2010 with all of those diamonds. My friend, Kathy, pointed me to a quilt blog call Elisa in Real Life. She has a post showing some gorgeous photos of a quilt show with awesome quilts. You can see the repetition employed by some of the artists front and center when you look at the 3/15/2011 post.  More inspiration!

Mom is doing a mini color tutorial on her blog using the Munsell color system. go read the second of the series here.

Blocks and Patterns
I always wondered how the wonky pinwheel block was made and recently Marcus Brothers posted some visuals on how to do it. They have a little ruler you can use to keep all angles the same. I might make my own or see about using one of the lines on a ruler I already have. I have a plaid quilt in mind, though brighter and cheerier than the one pictured, and this might be the perfect pattern for it. Mom did a blog post about her adventures with this block and it was very interesting to see what would work and what wouldn’t.

Other
Check out the Fabric Worm blog post about their giveaway.

Various and Sundry 2011 #3

Crafts
Since it is never too early to start making gift bags, especially since you can use them for birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Groundhog Day, etc. Here is a video gift bag tutorial for another way of making gift bags.

Time
TedTalks is back with a great audio essay on work life balance. That term “work-life balance” always makes me laugh. People take time for their lives in the midst of work here in the US. IMO, of course.

Media
I went to the C&T Publishing Digital Lounge, which is hosted by Lisa of LisaLizaLou, on a recent Wednesday. There were two video demos and a chat portion. Lisa did one demo of TAP and Liquitex products, while SuziBlu did a demo of working iwth the canvas book. She isn’t an artist with whom I was familiar, but it was interesting.  Links to the products used:

  • Transfer Artists Paper:  Lisa basically showed how to use this. I still don’t know, because the chat was so distracting, but it looks very cool and I know my sister would love it for her cardmaking and scrapbooking. I may have go back and watch the archive demo again.
  • Ready-to-Go!® Blank Canvas Book 8 1/2” x 11”:  SuziBlu, the featured artist, used this book to show fabric printing, fabric painting and various other techniques. I haven’t never heard of her, but the audience was very enthusiastic. Her faces looked similar to Kelly Rae Roberts and I wonder if they work together?
  • Silicone Release Paper:  – Lisa said that this does not get hot. The sheets are only 8/5×11″, but I think they would be useful. I’ll put a package on my list.
  • Liquitex paints (inks?) from C&T:  I have used something similar at A Work of Heart. Inks are wonderful.
  • Fabric Art Collage—40+ Mixed Media Techniques eBook by Rebekah Meier:

You can watched the archived replay as well. Lisa received an award at CHA and you can pretend you were there by watching the video.

I ran across Judy Nolan’s blog post on sewing notions. There were some listed that I thought would be very helpful to quiltmakers, including the Cotton Mills Treasure Markers. In the course of the post, she also gives a brief history of Nancy Zieman, of Nancy’s Notions fame, and her career.

Adrianne keeps pointing me (and her other blog fans) to the Fat Quarterly Magazine/Newsletter. I love the idea and think the articles and information would be right up my alley. I don’t love the online aspect and I can’t see myself printing 70+ pages on my little inkjet. I don’t enjoy reading in bed with my laptop. Perhaps with the iPad, but still, I really like the old print versions to read at night. Not sure what I will do, except not buy it at the moment. New business model: printing and binding online mags for people for a reasonable price on a subscription basis.

In some part of Fat Quarterly that I, as a non-subscriber, could access, I was introduced to Modern Day Quilts, a Tumblr blog that showcases one quilt a day. When I went to look I saw one that looked like the mosaic piecing from a recent issue of the AQS magazine and the art glass type quilts by Julie Hirota. It was made by the writer of PinkPlease! blog. Apparently, though, the artist is calling it a ticker tape quilt from a tutorial.

Be*mused has a set on Flickr of quilts from the Tokyo Quilt Festival this past January.

I haven’t always loved video, but I am liking it more. I didn’t used to watch much TV and the video was jerky and weird. Now, there are so many videos on subjects in which I am interested (such as quiltmaking! Embellishing! Piecing! etc) that it is great to watch little bits of videos and learn something. I just found that Laura Wasilowski has a video on making French knots. It is a little over a minute long and well done (except for the wooshing sound in the background). Viewers also get to see one of her fabulous whimsical pieces.

Shows
I’m part of Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Artists (CQFA) and we’ll be exhibiting “Primal Green: Environmental Art Quilts” @ the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library (5th fl) from March 1 – July 30. Artist reception will be held on April 17th @ 1pm. Hope some of you can come! Check out our link for more info: www.cqfa.org/shows.html

Projects
The Young Man keeps asking for his annual quilt. Huh? He recently told me he wants a food quilt. Mom has a lot of food fabric that I bought for her. Robin, at the recent retreat, was making a disappearing 9 patch, which is stuck in my head. I was thinking of working on one of those using food fabric for him. Recently, I talked to my mom and she said that she was thinking about making a disappearing 4patch. I looked up the directions to which she pointed me and it looks interesting, too.

Machinery
I know BryeLynn of Sew*Stitch*Create has had a lot of problems with her Janome 11K, but I would still like to upgrade to one. It isn’t going to happen until we get the Young Man off to college, but that doesn’t mean I am not tempted by ads that Janome currently has running.

Various and Sundry 2011 #2

Media
I received a 6 month The Quilt Show subscription. I have watched 2 episodes and I enjoyed both. I am enjoying watching, but mostly listening to, these online quilt shows. One thing I like about the Quilting Show is that Alex Anderson shows a traditional technique. In one episode she shows how to draw a feathered wreath quilting design. In another episode, she talks about making a LeMoyne and Split Lemoyne block. The episode with Philippa Naylor seems to be available for everyone. One thing Ms. Naylor said is that she considers herself to be a contemporary quiltmaker rather than an art quiltmaker, because her work is grounded in classic quilts. That was a sentence I thought about for awhile. I really like most quilts and have found it hard to categorize myself. I don’t think I need to categorize myself, but like the idea of being a contemporary quiltmaker. Do I need to change the name of my blog?

I also, as I have mentioned, have a subscription to Quilt Out Loud, which I enjoy. It is entertaining, though Mark is a little over the top sometimes!

There is a great post up on another blog, which I won’t name, but will give you a link. Check out the post! I had a hand in the fodder for the post, so perhaps I am not being humble by sending you over there, but I just love the way the writer wrote about the subject matter and I can’t help myself!

Remember the 1000 Journals Project? I wrote about it several times in various posts and Julie and I went to the exhibit at SFMOMA to write in journals ourselves. An artist in NYC has a new project called Eternally Yours. I saw it on Melanie Testa’s blog. She found one of the letters. The artist has written letters and distributed them all over NYC. The include half finished art and the recipient’s ‘job’ is to finish the art and send it back. There is a video to watch as well. I love the thought of receiving and writing letters. TFQ and I do it, but I don’t get many other letters. Very sad. I could get my own letter from the artist…. I hope some of my NYC readers will participate in this project.

Money
I was asked by an organization to allow them to add advertising to my blog. I thought about it. They were paying ok money for the kind of ad they wanted me to host. I decided against it. I could use the money to pay for some Artquiltmaker related fees, but I didn’t like the sound of them. Hope you all appreciate my restraint! 😉

Fabric
It is always, despite my efforts, about the fabric. I want to try to curb my fabric buying this year and clear out the fabric closet a little bit and use all the fabulous fabric I have. I am resolved to do it and then I see Me and My Sister Designs who come out with some fabulous turquoises. And then, they have to go and show them on their blog. I mean, really. The nerve. Sigh.

Fabricworm has posted a tutorial for a quilt they are calling the Five Points Quilt. It is shown on their blog. Birch Fabrics/Fabricworm is a fabric selling enterprise, so they are, of course trying to sell their fabric, but this is a really nice and modern design. I think it is suitable for all sorts of different kinds of fabric.

Inner Critic
I recently read a blog post on the inner critic written by Violette. I love her book, Journal Bliss, so I check in on her blog periodically and looking at her drawings always makes me smile. I have been meaning to pull out her book and look at her directions for faces. All of my CPP responses with people in them have beautiful views of gorgeous hair and no faces. Anyway, her blog post made me think about my inner critic. After some analysis, I am happy to say that I don’t have an inner critic that calls me an idiot or tells me I can’t do something. My inner critic is all about time (and mess, too, but that is also related to time). I often hear the monkey voices in my head saying “you don’t have time for that” or “that will take too long” or “just do that [non-quilt/creativity related] task before you sew” or “that will take too long.” Reading her blog post started to develop an image of my inner critic gremlin. Diana Trout, the writer of Journal Spilling, also talks about creating an image of the inner critic. I think both writers are suggesting that creating an image of your gremlin is the first step in learning to ignore him/her.

Design/Vision
I am reading a book, which I received for my birthday called Quilts Made Modern by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle. It is, basically, a pattern book, but they have good things to say about design, color, etc. One of their ideas, which I may have spoken about before is the “Big Idea.” Their Big Idea is a way of thinking beyond the focus fabric. The quilt designer gets an idea and tries to convey that idea in the making of a quilt. The Big Idea could be a feeling or an experience or something like that. I thought of this book when I read this post. I completely agree with the writer. I do agree that perfection is not something to strive for and that design/vision is much more important. I also think that good technique is important. By good technique, I don’t mean perfection. I mean technique that doesn’t distract from the design or vision. I sincerely dislike quiltmakers who claim to be making art quilts, because they don’t know how to bury and tie off their quilting threads.

Out and About
Everyone in NYC and the area should check this out: Classes at the Folk Art Museum. If I lived in the area, I would be taking all of these classes, damn the cost! 😉 The next one is on Feb. 26 with Paula Nadelstern. What a great opportunity. I really hope this whole event will spur other museums to do the same sort of thing. I would love it if the DeYoung would fill their entire space with quilts. I am happy to give them some of my quilts to show. 😉

Confidential to Reva
I was looking on Amazon and a new book, The Big Book of Patchwork, by Judy Hopkins has a quilt that you might want to look at with regard to your Drunkard’s Path Project. It is the 7th photo if you look inside.

Various and Sundry 2011 #1

Creative Prompt Project

Some of us are having issues getting our prompt responses out. SherriD is not one of them. Check out her recent responses. She is doing a number of responses in FABRIC on one piece and it is wonderful.

How will you respond?

Did you join the Flickr group?

Quilt Repair

…and some thoughts on donation quilts are posted at Mary’s Art Musings. Mary makes some really good observations about the repair of a quilt and has some great tips on making donation quilts. We will definitely be taking these into consideration as we make the Stars for San Bruno quilts.

Links

I saw something on my blog dashboard that I had never seen before: a way to see who was linking to my blog. Here are some of the latest:

Quilt Rat celebrated my 100th prompt. She also posted her response.

Kathy from Finishing Lines talks about getting her quick sketch prompts from AQ.

Sweet Leaf suggests you find creative prompt inspiration here!

Vicki’s Field Tripping the Web celebrated the finishing of the Cheerful Baskets, , the finishing of the Chocolate Box, and the finishing of the Fabric of the Year 2009 quilt.

Vicki also posted about my Zig Zaggy tutorial, which I greatly appreciate.

Thanks for the links, all!

Scraps

Purple Mosaic Sewing
Purple Mosaic Sewing

I started another piece of scrap fabric in anticipation of making another journal like the Red Journal. It will take while to make a big enough piece from scraps, but a person has to start somewhere.

New Year’s Cornucopia

Reviews

I love my Tivo. It is a relatively cheap date in terms of entertainment and after YEARS of never being able to watch a show all the way through, I finally can. The problem turned out to be, over the holidays, that we watched all of our shows.  We were home a lot, and working on Christmas projects in front of the TV. Many of the shows we like were pre-empted by holiday specials. I was able to watch a lot of Fons & Porter and partially clear out that playlist.

Still I was looking for something else. I am not much for watching YouTube and other videos on the web, but I saw that Laura and Linda Kemshall now have Design Matters TV. I watched one of their free shows where Laura shows how to use photocopies in your sketchbook. I really liked the episode which was called “Those Shoes.”

First, Laura is a very calm presenter.

Second, she talks through the whole process, including tips and tricks about the paint and the process. I am not a confident art journaler and watching this video made me think that I could do what she is doing. I really think that using photocopies is a great idea.

Third, Laura is confident in a way that makes me feel confident that I could do the same thing.

Finally, the show is well produced. I don’t mean shiny and fake, but edited appropriately, no wobbly camera and good information.

There was a project in one of their Thr3fold Journal issues using a photocopied hand on a bag, the Hands on Bag project, and seeing the project with the shoes makes me want to use the shoes on a bag as well. There is a list of shows on their site. I haven’t decided whether to subscribe (cost is about $35 for 3 months). I have renewed my Quilt Out Loud subscription and was given a The Quilt Show subscription. I haven’t watched either. I wish I could watch them on my TV and that they provided a list of shows I could tick off so I didn’t have to start them and stop them when I found I had already watched one.

I also adjusted the Tivo search I have set up for quilts and am now recording Eleanor Burns’ Quilt in a Day program. It doesn’t come on as often as Love of Quilting, so I don’t have as many. The first one I saw was about 2 star blocks from her Victory Quilts book. The stars were Army Star and Hope of Hartford. Army Star has a Sawtooth Star in the center and she showed her quick way of making Flying Geese. I liked her show, which I don’t remember seeing before, because she gives the dimensions, so I can go up to my workroom and make the blocks. I tried the Sawtooth Star bit of the Army Star and found that I couldn’t finish the last bit because I don’t have the specialty Flying Geese ruler Burns uses. I also think the measurements she gave or the Flying Geese must be finished sizes, because they seem too small for a cut piece.

Creativity

Stress has been a constant, and not so welcome, companion for the past few months. I have been seeking ways to reduce my stress and this article on the effects of stress on creativity make me all the more determined to accomplish that goal. I certainly don’t want my creativity affected by work!

Lisa F from C&T publishing has a new blog called “My Blissful Lack of Focus.”  I really like the layout. She talks about her creative adventures for 2011. I wish the CPP were included, but, as yet, I haven’t been able to persuade her to take part. Will YOU take part in the Creative Prompt Project this year?

Color

The Pantone color of the year is Honeysuckle. It just looks like a warm pink to me. You can download palettes for the Adobe Creative Suite application, FB ‘like’ it, tweet it, etc from the above referenced site.

Doing Good

We are making 3 quilts for victims of the San Bruno Pipeline explosion. I have been trying out different quick methods of making Flying Geese with minimal success (see above re: Eleanor Burns).

Eleanor Burns Method
Eleanor Burns Method

I was trying to avoid the bias and get really nice crisp stars, but as you can see, I am a bit stymied in the process due to not having the correct specialty ruler. I have to decide whether to buy that ruler or just try to cut them and see what happens.

Jo Morton Method pt.2
Jo Morton Method pt.2

I saw Jo Morton on Fons & Porter one day and thought I would try her method of making Sawtooth Stars. Of course, Fons & Porter does not include measurements in their show or on their site (mostly), so I went searching for a pattern/directions for the Flying Geese method, which eventually renders a star. I found one called Jamestown that had her method explained. I know that she wants to sell her books, but this was a hard method to find.

The directions were part of a pattern for the whole quilt, so my star didn’t come out the way I needed it to for the San Bruno Stars quilts.

San Bruno Star Wrong
San Bruno Star Wrong

I’ll use it on the back.

Finally yesterday, I dug out my copy of Around the Block and made them the old fashioned way.

Around the Block method
Around the Block method

These look pretty good. I plan to make more and perhaps put them down one side of the quilt. I like them in the on point orientation.

On point orientation
On point orientation

I have to kind of see what other blocks I receive before I can decide how to use them. I also have to make more than 2.  These are 6″ blocks.

I need a lot more blocks, so if you would like to contribute one, three or ten 😉 the parameters are:

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern)
block size: 8? or less (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!

Thursday Misc.

Gifts and Wrapping Department
How many gift bags have you made? I saw a great video on making gift bags. Longtime readers know that I love fabric gift bags because:

  1. they use great fabric
  2. I am terrible wrapper
  3. can be reused
  4. little to no garbage/recycling on the holiday, birthday or anniversary

Deirdre has been sending me Colouricious videos and the most recent one is all about making making a gift bag. This is a really lovely pleated gift bag. You won’t be able to make a bunch of them before Christmas 2010, but this is a heads up for 2011. I think these bags would actually make nicer birthday or Mother’s Day bags. Please show me what you make!

I have had a whopping 4 sales in my Cafe Press shop. I am excited that people I don’t even know like my stuff enough to buy it. Look in the New Year for your thank you note cards!

Fabric

Westminster MN43 Plum
Westminster MN43 Plum

I think I said recently that I was going to try to keep my fabric purchases to a minimum through the end of the year so I could finish cutting all the diamonds for the FOTY 2010. I wanted to show someone some Martha Negley fabric I bought a few weeks ago, so I searched Google and found MY image there (I am ranking in Google. Cool, huh?). In the process, I saw other Martha Negley fabrics. I really like her designs, especially the one above. Perhaps I will just admire it.

I want to make a Quillow and need some nice fleece. The stuff at some local chains is just too pilly (is that a word?). I once bought a whole bunch of fleece for a bathrobe making jag from a place in Massachusetts that had the most wonderful feel. They had a fire and there was a big deal about how they kept paying their workers. I can’t remember the name of the place or if it is still in business. Where do you buy your fleece? Do you have a brand that doesn’t pill too much?

Replay Department

I know that I wrote about this tip before, but I really think it is a good tip. Also, questions about it have come up. I thought I would do a replay, not to bore you, but to encourage you to bite the bullet and set up a feed. ResearchBuzz is an electronic newsletter I read for work. One day, I was pleased to find an article that would allow me to keep a steady stream of quilts coming to my blog reader.

Here is a sample of a quilt search:

http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?tags=quilt,modern

After creating the link above (by changing the tags-everything after the = sign with terms separated by commas- at the end to suit your needs), paste this URL into your Bloglines or Newsgator or Google or whatever reader. The feed will send you back search results showing the gorgeous quilts that have been added to Flickr. I put the above search into my Google Reader and was immediately provided with several fresh looking quilts for my viewing pleasure.

I also wanted to see what was new and exciting in the basket quilt arena so I changed up the URL above to:

http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?tags=quilt,basket

I retrieved a number of basket quilts, but also some mishits. They were pretty mishits, so I didn’t mind much. You can also cut and paste the feeds I have created above into your reader.

Find more info at ResearchBuzz.

Workroom/Studio

This TedTalk is about offices, but I am curious to know how it applies to your quilt work? Jason Fried, the speaker, talks, at one point, about creativity and creative people.

Rice Freeman-Zachery is doing a workshop sort of thing in 2011 using her book Creative Time & Space. Take a look at the blog post on Goodreads. She has a worksheet you can download. You may have to sign up for Goodreads to read the post.

Chronicle Books

We didn’t win the big list of books I made. I did get some new visitors and I hope they come back. I never win the blog giveaways. I did win a book once from Quiltin’ Jenny and that was fun. Perhaps I got a taste of that joy and just want more. I have plenty and will be happy with what I have. -)

Various & Sundry Wednesday

As I mentioned, I opened a Cafe Press store around Thanksgiving (http://www.cafepress.com/Artquiltmaker). I was thrilled to check on the sales and had two sales after only two days. AWESOME! if you are reading this and you bought something, thanks! I know it doesn’t sound like a lot to you big time retail executives, but I am excited. Don’t worry! I am not going to harangue you with sales pitches all the time, but won’t you go take a look and buy?

American Patchwork & Quilting Winter 2010
American Patchwork & Quilting Winter 2010

The Henry Glass Designer Holiday showcase of Project Goodness (or whatever it is called) just ended or is about to end. Linda Lum DeBono (Mark Lipinski’s friend) started out the first day with her blog post. She showed the picture above and I thought it was very like It’s a Merry & Bright Wrap, but much cuter. Is there another Christmas quilt in my future? I don’t know. I’ll buy the magazine, though. In general I found this blog hop confusing and gave up after a day or two. I did enjoy seeing the artists’ work.

Heather Muldur Peterson is also on the Project Hit Parade (or whatever it is called) and she has a great project in her blog post using her new fabric line called Artful Home. I like the way the stripes work in the piece. The colors are very vivid. She must have great light (or a special secret) for photographing. Her project is a dish passer, which I needed the other night. Perhaps I will make one. I assume I will have to make one for each of my baking dishes, so perhaps not.

I joined Creating the Hive when Lisa F of C&T Publishing invited me. I don’t do much there except repost my blog post and respond to comments. I was thrilled when my Red Journal post was featured last week! It makes me feel like all this writing is valuable! If you want an invitation, leave a comment and I will invite you. I think you can join without an invitation as well.

Last week I talked about the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild meeting I attended. At that meeting, Adrianne brought a bag she had made. I really liked the bag and was thinking that I should buy the pattern. I thought I might have bought it already as the Grand Revival name rang a bell. I did a search in my blog to see if I had bought it and found that I had THOUGHT about buying that exact same bag pattern, but apparently didn’t. I wrote a blog post about it back in September. Perhaps that is a sign that I should actually buy the pattern, which I didn’t. Yes, I am still lamenting hte fact that I have so many bag patterns and haven’t made many fo them.

I did see a free bag pattern from Rebeka Lambert of Artsy Craft Babe, which might satisfy my urge for a new bag pattern. I really want to make some gifts for the holidays, but time is slipping and I am only wishing. We’ll see. Not having to wait for a pattern to arrive buys me time.

Somehow, in clicking around, I ended up at Kathy Loomis’ blog. She didn’t have a lot of pictures and sometimes I am too pressed for time to read a lot of words (I should remember that when I am going on and on, right?), but her post about taking a leap in art quilt imagery was interesting. I don’t know if I agree with her completely, but it was interesting to read some writing about going beyond the “bad, citing “clunky, obvious images” and “sappy, crappy ugly quilts or embroideries or puff-painted sweatshirts.” I think I got a glimpse of reaching beyond during the fabric exercise at the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild meeting. I have been struggling with putting fabrics together and that exercise (which I am more and more in awe of as time goes by) really helped me. I don’t want to make representational quilts or quilts about AIDS or depression or the impending train wreck that is environmental disaster. I do want to reach beyond what I am doing now. I am not sure what that means quite yet, but since this quilt adventure is a process for me, I am sure I will reach and find it.

REACH BEYOND

I saw a feature story on the web about a grave in Massachusetts on Andi Stern’s blog with a really interesting carving of a cephalopod on it. Cthulhu was in the title of the story and I didn’t know what what it meant so I looked it up on Wikipedia and found some clarification on some other aspects of the story. Regardless, the image looks like a cheerful beast and I thought some child might like it on a quilt some day, so I saved the photo to my inspiration file.

Finally, support some artists at USA Projects. See information about the project in the Next Web Social Media blog post.

Odds and Ends Wednesday

What are you doing? Reading your blogs, of course! I, on the hand, and slaving away cooking for the, approximately, 30 people who will show up and demand food tomorrow. My mom is helping. Mostly we are making pies, which will be done soon, if all goes well. If you want my attention, you have to wait. 😉

It is getting to be the time of the year where I need to hound you about making gift bags out of fabric rather than buying gift wrap. I should have hounded you two months ago when you weren’t panicking about how fast the holidays were approaching. I do dislike being a nag, though. Lynn left a comment last week, so I went to peruse her blog and came across a tutorial for gift bags. She makes a casing and uses a clever method for not threading the ribbon through later. I’ll have to try out her tutorial. I’ll let you know if I can do it!

Look for a couple of upcoming giveaways. You know substantive comments and creative prompt responses are my thing so start preparing! One giveaway will be a bunch of selvedge edges. I have been saving them and thought that might be a nice little treat for one of you. Another will be a book. I just have to write the review. Stay tuned on that front and don’t say I never gave you anything!

I am fortunate to have 2 dads. One of them is VERY handy. He used to have a handyman business and can really fix anything. He fixed my old iron! the cord was severed and he soldered it together and I have been using it again. YAY!

I followed a link from one of the Quilt Market blogs and found the Sew Serendipity book on clothing sewing patterns. The clothes look interesting and wearable. Am I going to start sewing clothes? I don’t know.

I ran across a new way to look at fabric over at Glorious Color. The method they are showing is not about the pattern, but about the color. If you need a certain color, click on that color and the site shows you the fabric that is similar to that color. I think it is a great way to fill in holes in a quilt project.

A Work of Heart has a video up on their blog that shows the Spontaneous Scrap journal (remember mine?). It is a quick and fun video. Once you look at that video you can link out to YouTube and see the other videos by the artist, Mary Ann Moss. She shows a variety of journals from other people. I enjoyed the video and journal about Carol’s Istanbul journal.

I know you are thinking about pie and have completely forgotten about the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Did you see the winners? I can never enter. I love the quilts I make, but these are so totally out of my league. How about a category just for me? 😉

12 Days of Christmas Selvedge
12 Days of Christmas Selvedge

Isn’t this a weird selvedge? There are 12 little bubbles, but most of them are white. I thought it was strange to have that many different colors of white (not that white is a color, of course).

I am always looking for inspiration. You have been the beneficiary of some of my musings in the form of photos I take as I travel through my life. Recently I saw a blog post interview with Kate Spain, where she talks about her inspiration and how it leads to designs. I thought the interview was lengthy enough to get some meat out of it and interesting enough to keep me reading.

Not that I need anymore projects, but I went trolling through Judy Martin’s site and saw her Blustery Day pattern again. Love it! She periodically puts up free quilt and block patterns. Nice!

WTTW out of Chicago has a video about the blankie collaboration that FunQuilts works on with developmentally disabled adults. If the link doesn’t take you immediately to the video, check the scroll bar for the correct video. The navigation from the link was a little funky.