Sharing the CPP

Quilt Rat Jill has been doing some wonderful CPP work. Recently, I was over at Finishing Lines, Kathy Perino’s blog, and saw what Jill had done with some of her Prompt Responses. What a wonderful way to extend the creativity!
clipped from finishinglinesbyksperino.blogspot.com
Really. Just for admiring the Quilt Rat’s talents she sent me a package full of treasures. She is our friendly neighbor from Canada and if you haven’t already – I hope you go visit her page. She is multi talented and always has tid bits to share about her fiber art and quilting. Recently, she had a great recipe for treating fabric before printing. So go check her out here…..
Quilt Rat has been participating in the CPP and has turned some of her doodles into post cards.

  blog it

Creative Prompt #40: Wish

See the Creative Prompt page if you have questions about this project.

Post the direct URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. It will keep all the artwork together.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, now, has a Flickr group, which you can join and where you can post your responses.

There is more information on the recently updated Creative Prompt Page.

Make a wish

Make-A-Wish Foundation

A hope or desire for something.

If you rub the lamp, a genie will give you three wishes

WISH – a TV station in Indianapolis

Nine Inch Nails performs Wish

Wish you were here (song by Pink Floyd of the same name)

Wish bone

Wish-bone salad dressing

What is on your wish list?

I wish I had thought of that!

Wish upon a star

Wishing well

Wish you well

Marilyn’s Multi-tasker

I realized that one of the reasons I like making the same tote bag pattern over and over is that I am trying to understand it. I want to understand it so I can change the pattern to suit my needs and also incorporate the techniques into my own design bag of tricks.

Completed Bag, Nov. 2009
Completed Bag, Nov. 2009

The Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote is no exception. As I mentioned in a previous post, I love the way this tote goes together. Above is my completed Multi-tasker tote #2. This will be a gift for a friend of mine. I used Lonni Rossi’s new fabric line in the black and white colorway. You can buy them at Back Porch if you want some.

I used a FQ pack and had to piece some of the fabrics together to make them large enough to fit the pattern pieces. The pattern calls for more yardage than an FQ pack, however I only had a FQ pack of the fabrics and am always up for a challenge.

Nov. AMMTT in progress
Nov. AMMTT in progress
Bernina Bliss
Bernina Bliss

I always enjoy using TFQ’s Bernina 1230. It is a tough little machine that has never really given me any problems. Now I know how to wind the bobbin and rethread. TFQ better watch out or I’ll just take it over! 😉

It doesn’t have the bells and whistles that mine does (I miss the auto needle up button!), but it does bags very well. I also like the button holer.

I always have a tough time maneuvering the fabric through the sewing machine as the layers increase. Towards the end of the process I was sewing through about 8 layers of fabric or seams or interfacing. I found that TFQ’s  machine was powered right through with no grunts, groans or complaints.

Nov. Tote, detail
Nov. Tote, detail

The pattern doesn’t call for as much interfacing as I put in, but I like my bags to have some body, so I put interfacing on the exterior and lining pieces. I omitted it from the pocket panels.

I am pretty pleased with how it came out and hope my friend is as well. I am going to size this pattern down so it fits me better. If it doesn’t work, then I probably won’t make anymore of these totes, despite the great way they go together.

I am also working on a Chubby Charmer tote. Stay tuned!

Visiting the Back Porch

While in Monterey last week, I stopped in at the Back Porch quilt shop. They don’t allow photos inside, so no photos of the shop, the light filled space, the huge amount of books or the exhibit of  Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran quilts that were on display.

I have written about this shop before. Each time I go is a different experience. I always find something that I like and this time was no exception. There were a lot of books I wanted to snap up, new and fresh fabrics to fondle and different tools to consider.

Collaborate Again
Collaborate Again

Back Porch usually has an exhibit up in the back of their shop. This time I was fortunate to hit the quilts from Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston from their new-ish book, Collaborate Again.  The quilts I saw were bright, cheerful, full of checkerboards and dots. They look like Freddy and Gwen really had a good time making them. The exhibit brightened up an already airy and light space. The quilts which were shown had elements of Gwen Marston’s liberated quiltmaking techniques incorporated in them. They also include chickens, flowers, baskets and houses. The thing about the quilts which were on display is that the elements aren’t difficult. Any quiltmaker can make a house block or a basket block. The key to what made this exhibit special (and the book as well) is the combinations of fabrics and the fabric choices.

Late October 2009
Late October 2009

Yes, more fabrics. The dots (3rd from left, top row) are destined to be a bag, perhaps even this week. The pink and green leafy floral (5th from the left, top row) will also be a bag. The blacks and whites in the second and third rows towards the left are already mostly a bag. I worked on another  Multi-tasker tote yesterday for a friend from those fabrics. One thing I learned was that you can almost make a Multi-tasker tote from a fat quarter pack. I did it, but needed to piece some of the fabrics together in order to have a large enough enough piece to cut out the pattern piece.  I also brought a Jane Sassaman half yard with me and cut the straps from that fabric. Anna Maria Horner never claims you can make the tote from an FQ pack. A friend admired them and her birthday is coming so I thought I would make her a tote.  Pictures to follow.

The two bottom rows of fabric are all from Lonni Rossi’s new collection. I really like a lot of them. I have the ones I have, because they were in FQ packs and I was too lazy to have my friend, Jean, who works there, cut half yards. Now I wish I had bought some half yards. Perhaps I’ll see the ones I really like somewhere else.

The shop had some Philip Jacobs fabrics. His fabrics, by Westminster, are bright and cheerful florals. TFQ was madly choosing fabrics to make Jane Market totes last night and it occured to me that the Philip Jacobs fabrics would make fabulous Market totes.  The tote pattern is by Alicia Paulson and reasonably priced at $6. She also provides instant gratification with an instant download! TFQ is going to make sets of these totes as Christmas gifts. I imagine a day when everyone in the grocery store is carrying around a tote made from gorgeous quiltmaking fabric!

Finally, the book selection at Back Porch is fabulous! They have tons of books, many of which I had never seen at a quilt shop. First, there was the New Handmade by Cassie Barden. This book reminds me of the Lexis Barnes book, Sew What bags that I wrote about. Really great bags to make, including one that is similar to my handbag. I also found a new book by Sandra Meech, Connecting Art to Stitch.

Art to Stitch, Meech
Art to Stitch, Meech

I have always liked Sandra Meech’s books. They are not just about a step by step technique process. She talks about design and inspiration and all the things that take quiltmaking to the next level. I like her writing style as well. I don’t yet have this book, but will put it on my Amazon list.

I didn’t think there were great books out there, but recently I have found a number that I can’t wait to add to my collection.

I was shocked to find that Back Porch is offering a class in the Flowering Snowball pattern! They had a sample on the wall done exactly the way mine will be finished – using the self bordering technique. Sigh. I guess I am not so unique, after all.

Last time I went to Back Porch, I left with a bad taste in my mouth. I went back anyway, because I had heard a podcast interview with the owner, Gail Abeloe and they have a nice shop with great fabric. One thing I admired about Gail was her firm grasp that a quilt shop is a business.  Her philosophy is that you have to keep your stock fresh and your customers interested and that you have to sell fabric. As a former small business owner, I can appreciate that attitude.

Book Review: Knit the Season

Lydia Hirt, of Penguin Group, asked me to read this book and write about it on my blog. I was really flattered even if I am one of the legions offering free labor to write about this book, released today.

Knit the Season: A Friday Night Knitting Club Novel (Friday Night Knitting Club Novels) Knit the Season: A Friday Night Knitting Club Novel by Kate Jacobs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lydia Hirt, of Penguin Group, asked me to read this book and write about it on my blog, Artquiltmaker.com. I was really flattered even if I am one of the legions offering free labor to write about this book, released today.

Kate Jacobs picks up the story of the Friday Night Knitting Club after James and Dakota have worked out some of their messy family issues, such as Dakota switching colleges. Dakota is older and more adult and that makes for a more interesting story line. One line in the book conveys one of the underlying themes of the book quite well, “Convincing everyone she was all grown up led to a hard-won realization: She had to act like an adult. She had to handle new responsibilities.”

The author focuses on Dakota and does a good job showing her trying to juggle school, her business, her dreams for changing and expanding her business, her family and all the things that adults have to do.

I think Jacobs has found her stride with this book. I found Knit Two hard to read, because so much was going on. I think Ms. Jacobs was trying to do get through too much of the story in that book. In Knit the Season, she has relaxed. I also have to thank her for not rehashing the entire previous two books in this book. This book stands on its own and Jacobs had the confidence to write it as such.

I also thought this book didn’t try to give all the characters equal time. Again, Jacobs shows confidence in her writing of this book. She doesn’t exclude Darwin and Lucy, but they receded into the background a bit to give space for Dakota, Gran, Bess and others. I think this was a good choice. Too many storylines can be confusing.

The backstory is also being developed. Jacobs employs a flashback technique to provide context and give Georgia a voice. Flashback writing can be dangerous in the wrong hands, but Kate Jacobs does a GREAT job. She uses restraint and the flashbacks she offers provide insight into the club, into Dakota and the other characters. Learning about the characters’ pasts as well as interactions between the different characters gave added dimension to the book. I also liked the flashbacks, because they gave voice to Georgia again. Georgia was a strong and important character in the Friday Night Knitting Club and she now has a new opportunity to say more.

Jacobs does use sentence fragments in some cases, which I really don’t think worked well. While they got the message across, I would have liked to have seen them punctuated differently. That being said, I was reading an uncorrected proof and those tidbits may have been changed in the version you have in your hands now.

This book has a lot of dialog. I think that it could have used a bit more description. One of the sections I thought needed some extra description was the part where Dakota brought groceries over to Peri’s apartment so she could cook Thanksgiving dinner for Peri. Peri has nothing, NOTHING, in her cupboards, and only root beer and nail polish in her fridge. I would have liked to know more about this phenomenon. Don’t New Yorkers want coffee or tea when they get up in the morning? It didn’t impact the story and I learned to love descriptions reading Rosamunde Pilcher‘s novels, so I may have a skewed view of the writing world in terms of descriptions.

I like books with take-aways. Take-aways are often quotes I can write in my quote book and read later. In one of the flashbacks, Georgia is giving advice to a much younger Dakota, “Don’t give up something you love jut because there’s an obstacle. Find a way to work around it. Be open to something unexpected. Make changes.” This is a great line and I hope it made it into the final version. I think it is one of those quotes that I could put on my wall and be inspired by forever.

Ms. Jacobs tidied up the ends of the story in such a way that if she decides to write another installment, there are enough interesting storylines for her to pick up and weave them in. If she moves on to something else, this book ends in a satisfying manner so the reader, at least this reader, doesn’t feel cheated.

This is a book that I would read again and it made me want to read The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two again.

View all my reviews

A Pile of Books

Yesterday was a travel day for me as I jetted off to the Pacific Northwest for a week of sewing, writing, relaxation, and, yes, some work as well. I arrived in Seattle under clear blue skies and crisp fall temperatures. The pilot announced the temperature and I immediately thought of my cozy Polartec scarf languishing in the scarf/hat/gloves basket at home.

After a minor car confusion, we headed off to begin my vacation. When we arrived at TFQ’s house, I was confronted with a lovely pile of books in which she had gathered together for me to review, peruse, read and flick through.

Seattle Books
Seattle Books

I have seen a number of these books here and there, but some were new to me, such as A Year of Mornings by Maria Alexandra Vettese. She and her co-author, Stephanie Congdon Barnes have also written  A Year of Evenings.

A Year of Mornings: 3191 Miles Apart A Year of Mornings: 3191 Miles Apart by Maria Alexandra Vettese

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My good friend is a great source of new books.

This book is the culmination of a year long joint blog project in which the authors posted a morning picture each day. I liked the idea of this book. It was mostly pictures and could be a source of inspiration. I can imagine putting a piece of tracing paper over one of the photos and tracing an outline of the shapes to get me started on a quilt.

The photos have a certain color and ‘Shabby Chic’ aesthetic, which I think demonstrates the authors’ style as well as their surroundings.

One thing about this book is that it is a celebration of the every day. There are rumpled beds, half eaten bowls of oatmeal, braids and small children reading Calvin and Hobbes at the breakfast table. I like that about this book, because I, sometimes, think that we look for the special and extraordinary outside of our lives and try to draw it in without looking at the specialness of the every day IN our lives.

TFQ pointed out, in the Gwen Marston book, Abstract Quilts in Solids, that the first line is something like “This is a quilt book for grownups.” I love that line, because she goes on to explain that the book does not have patterns, that it is for inspiration and that most people have simple quilt directions in a myriad of other books. Thank you, Gwen Marston!

I don’t want to give anyone the impression that there is something wrong with patterns, because there isn’t. I don’t, however, want to make a quilt just like someone else’s. Also, I am not capable of it. Did you read the wine bag post? Typical of me to change the pattern out of the gate! I know this is an issue that I go on about often. I am still trying to find the right words to express my feelings about patterns, which seem to be complicated!

Quilting Art: Inspiration, Ideas & Innovative Works from 20 Contemporary Quilters Quilting Art: Inspiration, Ideas & Innovative Works from 20 Contemporary Quilters by Spike Gillespie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
To say that I read this book would be just a bit of stretching the truth. I read parts of this book and scanned others.

Letter to the publisher and author: To Whom it May Concern: please write and publish other books like this. I love the lush colors and descriptions of the processes that the artists go through to produce their quilts. Thank you for not including patterns by each of the artists as I do not want to reproduce to their work. You have provided spectacular inspiration for me and I greatly appreciate it. I look forward to perusing this book further and frequently. Sincerely, JL.

This is a book of artists and their work. Among the artists are Pam Rubert, Lisa Call, Jane Burch Cochran, Deidre Adams, Joanie San Chiraco and others I had never heard of such as Joan Dreyer, Angela Moll and Boo Davis.

Each artist is pictured, along with her quilts and, in some cases, her studio, her sketchbook or her surroundings. Details of the pieces are in abundance. The processes of the artists are described as well. The artists talk about how they get their ideas, how they got to where they are and, additionally, where they are going.The reader gleans some hints about the personal lives of the artists as manifested in the work. One of Lisa Call’s pieces, Structures #10 is colloquially referred to as her divorce quilt. There is a definitely a story there.

The detail shots are great. In some cases you can see the stitching up close and personal, which I love.

View all my reviews, including non-quilt book reviews