Various & Sundry #12 – Early November

Looking for a key to acronyms I use? Check the AQ Glossary.

News

My camera broke a few weeks ago, thus the weird photos I have been posting. I haven’t bought a new one yet, but am planning to do so. It is kind of a pain, because I wasn’t planning on learning something new just now. I had a good rhythm with my old camera and liked the photos it produced. I guess we don’t get to choose these things. I’ll probably borrow my son’s camera for awhile since I would like to figure out what I want and try some out. I don’t want to rush into a purchase. What kind of camera do you have?

Results of the 2014 Quilting in America survey, the 7th conducted since 1994, were announced at Quilt Market. Some key highlights:

  • Quiltmakers in the US spent $3.76 billion on their passion
  • 1 out of every 20 Americans makes quilts, though there was a decrease
  • “Dedicated Quilters” (spend more than $500 per year-how many of YOU qualify?) represent 12.2% of all quilting households, and account for 60.4%
    of the total industry expenditures, or about $2.27 billion

CHA, the Craft & Hobby Association, has a new Blogger membership. This should make it a lot more affordable to attend, however there are some limitations. The blog post says “The criteria for membership were established to attract established bloggers that do this as a business versus individuals who are blogging to support their love for crafting.” I know that many of you qualify, so go to the show.

Products, Thread and Fabric

Need help matching thread and fabric? PlayCrafts has a new app out just for that. Now you can match your Kona solids to your Aurifil.

Michael Miller has something in the works for Janome Sewing machines and their fabric. They put up a sneak peek.

Patagonia Quilt
Patagonia Quilt

Patagonia, the outerwear maker has a cool Twitter feed (@patagonia). It is not just filled with ‘buy this’ and “look at how awesome we are”. They are awesome, because they engage with their readers in their area of expertise. They have beautiful pictures of nature, they show recycled and upcycled products, including a quilt made from old down jackets. I never knew what happened to those down jackets that no longer fit or …. whatever. Now I know one thing. My dad would love this! I was alerted to Patagonia’s down recycling project and went on to read a blog post by Alabama Chanin, which tells more about Patagonia’s relationship with their garment during the entire life cycle of the garment. There is a video that talks about one aspect of the project. This is such a novel and exciting concept. It really makes me want to buy Patagonia products.

Red Pepper Quilts does a Sunday Stash Report and recently she posted about Mimosa by Another Point of View. I thought that I really liked the fabric when I saw a little sliver in a picture of a stack, but I drew back, because a little sliver is a lot different than an 10″x10″ or half yard piece. She posted larger pieces of the blue colorway and I definitely like them.  I am not so sure about the red colorway. I also noticed that a couple of the prints look a LOT like Some Denyse Schmidt prints from Flea Market Fancy. Hhhmmm.

Other Artists

Have you seen Carol Wool’s quilt from her Gwen Marston class? Don’t those stars look like Women’s Work?

What about Charolotte’s Scrapitude blocks? They are very different than the others I saw, but also uniquely her. Charlotte also writes about the comfort of stitching and her words are exactly how I feel. I love her posts and her work.

Mom finally got back on the blogging bandwagon and has a bonanza of projects to show.

Quilt Market

Bonnie Christine have two new lines. I like Cultivate. Enough to buy? I don’t know.

Timeless Treasures talks about what they are introducing, which you should have seen by now. They also sort of explain the Judy/Judel Niemeyer confusion.

Julie, over at the Intrepid Thread, talks about her wardrobe for Market, which is always of interest to me.

Barbara Brackman has a new reproduction line coming out. She is not going to Market, so has created a virtual booth.

Melissa Mortenson is debuting her new fabric line and her book of projects for teens.