{"id":59731,"date":"2023-08-02T07:29:14","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T14:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/?p=59731"},"modified":"2023-08-02T09:14:02","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T16:14:02","slug":"various-sundry-2023-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/various-sundry-2023-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Various & Sundry 2023 #8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Admin<\/strong>
\nI updated the Minikins page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I also updated the Ends Donation Quilts page <\/a>with the new quilts.<\/p>\n

Tools, Books, Fabric, Notions & Supplies<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am fighting a dearth of tools, books, fabric, notions and supplies this week. I just haven’t had the time to go shopping and, aside from the Sew Tite Magnums<\/a>**, which you do really need if you are serious about EPP, I haven’t found any new tools, etc this time. I thought I would tell you about Notion<\/a>. Notion is a personal knowledge management \/ productivity tool that I have been using at work – or mostly for work. Since it is not approved for use at my office, I have a personal account and haven’t downloaded the app to my work computer. I just use it on the web. Since it is a personal account I have decided to start using it at home. I mostly use OneNote for my random thoughts and notes, but I may switch to Notion. It is taking a lot of time to ramp up, because of the possibilities. I have been watching YouTube videos and that has helped.<\/p>\n

If you don’t have anywhere to save your random bits of information (have you heard of Zettlekasten<\/a>??), then Notion might be right for you.<\/p>\n

Projects, Classes, Patterns & Tutorials<\/strong><\/p>\n

String & Story has come a long way since I met the founder at QuiltCon some years ago. She used to be active in the Twitterverse and with the podcast crowd when that was a high point. I was following some links on one of Friend Julie’s posts and landed on a new project on the String & Story site, Garment Sewing Academy<\/a>. The classes are ongoing and you can signup for the next cohort using the waitlist. Julie will take us through her journey<\/a>, I think and has her first couple of posts up, including selecting fabrics<\/a> and the terribleness of PDF patterns<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Julie posted some excellent links in her June Cornucopia<\/a>. I forgot to include a link in my previous V&A post. One such link was a tutorial \/ informational post on sew-in magnetic closures<\/a> from Clover & Violet. I have tons of these and never seem to use them, though, in fairness, the patterns I use mostly require zippers. Still, this will be useful post to which to refer. One particularly good piece of advice is “Mark your magnet with washi or masking tape.<\/strong> If you\u2019ve placed your magnet and intend to quilt the project afterward, stick a piece of tape over where the magnet is, then you won\u2019t accidentally sew on it.” You could use blue tape also.<\/p>\n

While I was looking at the sew-in magnetic closure article, I saw Clover & Violet’s Ultimate Zipper Guide<\/a>. Another useful tool. She includes my favorite zipper shops, Zip-it and Wawak. I buy a lot of handbag zippers, she calls them 4.5,  just to have on hand when I need them. I also shorten zippers if I don’t have the right color in the right size. I don’t buy 8 or 9 inch zippers anymore. I have a lot on hand and rarely use them. I suppose I should use them for some inside zipper pockets.<\/p>\n

I saw a FB video<\/a> showing the Sewing Space Station. This is essentially a sewing machine mat, but it looks eminently useful because of the storage features as well as the ability to roll it up. It is created by Arabesque Scissors<\/a>. Check out the features in their blog post<\/a>. You get a lot of information if you purchase the pattern. They have a series of YouTube videos<\/a> showing how to make the Space Station. They have a number of interesting patterns.<\/p>\n

Vanessa of Crafty Gemini has a YouTube video<\/a> talking about increasing and decreasing the size of a bag. It starts at about 4:30-13:15. Very helpful information. Completely logical, too.<\/p>\n

Riley Blake has a whole page<\/a> of free patterns. One was called the Taco Pouch<\/a>, which I thought looked like the Persimmon Dumpling pouch<\/a> from Sew Sweetness.<\/p>\n

Lindsay shared the Ice Cream Soda EPP quilt<\/a> with me. It is from a site called Tales of the Cloth<\/a>, which has a fair number of EPP projects. Tales of the Cloth has some free patterns including a needle book<\/a>, which would make a great gift.<\/p>\n

Country Cow Designs<\/a> has some interesting bag patterns. One of Adam’s designs is featured in the Emmaline Bag of the Month club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Media, Books and Articles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Frances from the Off Kilter Quilt<\/a> has a relatively new writing project<\/a> about life with quiltmaking during WW2. The blog is in diary format, one I love. Under the content tab, she has all of her other writing and media projects.<\/p>\n

Remember the Great British Baking Show? There is also the Great British Sewing Bee<\/a>. This is a commentary on a TV show for which I couldn’t find a link. Still, the video from the The Fold Line is entertaining and there are a lot of good garment patterns in video’s description.<\/p>\n

Events, Exhibits and Shows<\/strong><\/p>\n

Souls Grown Deep, the Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers, will hold their ‘airing of the quilts’,<\/p>\n