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

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