Various & Sundry #5 – Mid-May 2014

Media

I finally got a chance to listen to the Slightly Mad Quilt Lady podcast and I really like it. I like the descriptions of her process and what she is working on. Charlotte, the hostess, also has a very calm voice. If you haven’t listened to her episode #2, it is really great.

NPR had a recent story on improving memory and they mentioned quiltmaking! They also mentioned exercise and Photoshop, all things we quiltmakers discuss endlessly.

One of my wonderful quilt friends and fabulous teacher, Pamela Allen, has a piece, finally, in Quilt National. This has been a long time goal of hers. She is featured in an article about her journey. In the piece she talks about arrogance and ignorance and quiltmaking. Read it. You will be inspired.

I am not sure if over-dyeing antique quilts is a sad comment on not valuing our past or helping the quilts live another day. I know I am incensed by the prices. Read the brief article and decide. Thanks to Charlotte of the Slightly Mad Quilt Lady podcast for the link.

So many different kinds of media! Have you seen Alex Veronelli’s paper.li? Check out the links to machine binding your quilt. I might have to try that.

Want to take a peek at the eInsider? It is a magazine of the quilt industry.

Reddit has a quilting board that I have never quite gotten the hang of. Katie, from Katie’s Quilting Corner podcast, post a link to a heartwarming story about the perfection of quilts. Good food for thought.

Projects

People are starting to finish their Disappearing Pinwheel projects. Not me, but Sandy finished hers. Her layout looks really nice. It looks like a flower bed to me.

People are also finishing their Scrapitude projects. Not me, yet, but Jackie posted a picture of hers. I think she quilted it herself! It is so great to see how different they look. It looks like Jackie used slightly darker fabrics for the foreground and a creamy light for the background.

Products, Tools & Supplies

Alex Veronelli, the Aurifil King, recent wondered if sewing machines with print cartridges to color the thread would put him out of business. I was shocked when I saw the photo of the sewing machine/thread printer from Yanko Designs. There is so much wrong with this ad, but the concept also brings up a lot of questions for me. Why would people who hate sewing create this sewing machine? How many print cartridges would I have to buy? What kind of thread does it use and who makes it? Is the color colorfast? How fast will it fade? Will the designers be at Quilt Market? Let me know if you see them? I am sticking to Aurifil, Superior and Presencia even if it makes me a an old fuddy duddy.

Here is a great t-shirt that Scooquilt (Valerie) shared on Twitter recently.

Shops and Stores

I sold another clock on my Cafe Press store! Clearly I have started a trend, so get yours now while the getting is good! 😉 When I updated my store recently, I forgot to change the image for this clock, which is still a detail image of the Flowering Snowball quilt, and now I am glad. I have sold a total of 3, which isn’t 50,000, but kind of amazes me. What do you think of a clock as a quilt novelty?

I have also been making an effort to click on my own Amazon link when I buy stuff on Amazon, so that I can get credit for it that way, too.

Other Artists

The buzz around Quilt Market grew in the week leading up to that event, which is on now. Blogs, Twitter and other social media all blew up with the hashtag # QuiltMarket. Did you follow along? A I have been starting to listen to the QuiltCast, a podcast that started late last year. Amy, of Amy’s Creative Side, and April, of Prairie Grass Designs, are the hostesses and they have both also just come out with new fabric lines with Moda.