WOW! I have reached over 90,000 visitors to my blog! Not unique visitors (don’t have really sophisticated software monitoring), but people coming by to read. Thanks for reading!
Special Notice!
My mom, Mary Carroll, will be teaching a Color Class called COLOR MATTERS on March 22, 2013 at QUILTERS QUARTERS 4343 PACIFIC AVE., STOCKTON (209-462-0161).
Learn how to get away with almost anything in color! Using the five primary color system developed for fabric and yarn make your quilts zing! Mary is an artist, quilter and teacher who recently relocated from the Bay Area. Join her in making a colorful wall hanging which you design yourself!
Call now to sign up! 209-462-0161
What I am reading: I just finished The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley. It is the second time around for me with that book and it was like reading comfort food.
Current Project(s): finishing up Calm, more blocks for the Star Sampler, getting ready to do some cat beds.
Software & Technical Stuff
Join in on the National Quilting Day Sew-in on Twitter today. Quiltin’ Jenny is the hostess.
In time for National Quilting Day, the Quilt Index now as an iTunes/iPad app in the App Store. Cost is $0.99 and the proceeds support the Quilt Index, which provides thousands of quilt images online and, now, at your fingertips. Can you say “inspiration in your pocket?” I tried to download it, but it didn’t work. I’ll have to try again later.
Barbara Brackman has a mini tutorial on how to use Blockbase to see how a block would look in a quilt. Great feature. It is a good day when I learn something new.
Threadbias has posted some tutorials for the new design tool they announced at QuiltCon.
Around the Web
Just a reminder that the world is amazing.
Remember I talked about the Quilt Awards the SewCalGal was doing? You can watch the awards ceremony on the SewCalGal site.
Darla, over at the Scientific Quilter, is doing a March-a-Long, which is 15 minutes of quilty stuff per day. Yes, it has already started, but you can still join in. She has some great graphics in the post and there will be prizes. I wonder if washing and ironing fabrics count?
Do you have monkey mind before bed? Lisa Fulmer has some ideas for quieting an overactive mind before bed.
Lazy Gal Quilter has a post on Quilt Mush. It is, essentially ,about color and how to make a quilt where you can see the parts. Well worth reading.
She Can Quilt has the winners from QuiltCon, parts 1 and 2.
Quiltin’ Jenny has a short review of the Crafty Garden Mom podcast. That is one of my favorite podcasts, but I haven’t taken the time to write a review, so I am glad Jenny did!
Great Projects
Have you seen Little Bluebell’s Swoon bag? I love the colors and the fact that she resized the block to make it fit her project.
I need another bag pattern like a need a hole in the head, but I don’t think I can resist the Petrillo bag by Sara Lawson at Sew Sweetness. It is a ~12″x15.5″ vertical bag, which I have been looking for. The blog post shows the bag in a number of different and very current fabrics. I am thinking it would look great in a Philip Jacobs print. I wished she showed the inside and asked about that. Sara ran outside and took some photos of the inside and emailed me back right away. GREAT customer service. As an added bonus, Pam over at Hip to be a Square podcast liked the bag, too, so it looks like we will do a Bag-a-long. Head over to Sew Sweetness and buy the pattern if you want to join in.
Jill, over at the Quilt Rat (and sometime participant in the CPP) has been snow dyeing. She dyed some thread as well as fabric THEN she made a project with it. She made a gorgeous Dragonfly pillow. I love the design of the dragonfly. It is stylized and has a kind of Aztec (?) or Art Deco (?) look. I am not sure, but I like it. I am wishing ‘Dragonfly’ had been the prompt last week, because then I could take some credit for Jill’s project’s gorgeousness. I can’t though. Jill is an awesome artist without me. 😉
Fabric, Rulers, Tools and Notions
I joined the Quilt Bear Aurifil Club. That gives me two spools of thread each month. I have asked for brights, because I don’t want a hundred spools of beige. this month I got a green (#2892) and a yellow-orange (#2145). I wasn’t sure how I would like it, ,so far, I am really enjoying it and find that it is well worth the $20/month. The Quilt Bear folks always send a little treat with the thread. This month it was a yellow-green fat quarter. The packaging is also very nice.
Hey! Nobody told me Moda was coming out the Nancy Drew fabric! I loved Nancy Drew as a girl. Who wouldn’t love a girl who was smart and independent? I had to find out from Quiltin’ Jenny. Good thing I read her blog, do you? She is part of a Nancy Drew blog hop and shows the two great projects she has made. I don’t know what I would make with Nancy Drew fabric, but I have to make something! I have patches and things from when I was a kid. With thos random memories, I was thinking of making a quilt called “My Life as a Quilt”. Perhaps the Nancy Drew fabric would work on the back? This means, of course, that I actually have to make the quilt!
Simple Sew made a wonderful dress form out of the Nancy Drew fabric. I would love one of those, but have no horizontal space, so I am glad she posted it and I can admire it from my computer screen.
There were a lot of totes that I saw on this blog hop. One that I liked was from Sewing by Moonlight. She made a normal looking tote except one side had some Nancy Drew fabric and the other had, what looked like, a paper pieced book block! Great!
While looking at the Nancy Drew projects, I saw this wonderful bag. Mostly I love the white on red dots. The combination of the red and white dots with the yellow is a very effective combination.
And if all that weren’t enough. Camille Roskelley has shown her new line, Scrumptious. I wish I had designed these fabrics. Just getting bundles and bolts in the mail would be so exciting!
She and Bonnie are back to their Ruby feel. They got rid of that dark blue, which makes me happy. This will be shown at Spring Market and available in September. If you didn’t get me a birthday present, September is not too late. 😉 Otherwise, I’ll have to save my pennies.
Part of this line includes a fabulous set of dots. Don’t tell me I have enough dots. One can never have enough dots and I am making an effort to use them this year. [As an aside, I’d like every project I make this year to include enough dots for people to day “Hey! Dots! Cool!” It isn’t really a goal or resolution; just something in the back of my mind.]The color combinations in this line might be her best combination ever. It is hard to say, but it is a thought that occurred to me.
Quilt World News
Today is National Quilting Day. Quiltin’ Jenny and the other Tweeps are hosting giveaways and a sew-in. Use #nqdsi as the hashtag. Check out Jenny’s post with all the fun and games. To add to the fun, The Quilt Show is offering 140+ shows for free this weekend. I am not sure of the link, but try this one. Otherwise just go to the Quilt Show and I am sure you will be able to find it there. The shows are good. I don’t watch them as often as I would like, but I always learn something.
The quilting world lost one of its favorite stars: Patricia B Campbell, beloved teacher and appliqué artist recently.
The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles has a new lecture series called FiberTalks, which will benefit the museum. Join in on March 24 from 2pm to 4pm for: Inspiration! How the Fabric of Ethnic Culture inspired my Quilting. Yvonne Porcella, a Quilter’s Hall of Fame artist and legendary quilter, will show slides of her work and be in conversation with Lilia Aguero, Director of Education at School of Arts and Culture. Select pieces from the collection will be on view. Porcella is Founder and served as President of the Board of Directors Studio Art Quilt Associates from 1989-2000. She was also a 16 year member of the Board of Directors of Alliance for American Quilts and served 2 terms on the Advisory Board of the International Quilt Study Center, University of Nebraska. Yvonne is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. In 1998 she was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in Marian Indiana and she was the 5th recipient of the Silver Star Award at Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. Michigan State University selected her as a Quilt Treasure for an Alliance for American Quilts documentation project archiving the history of American Quiltmakers. She was filmed for a one hour segment honoring the 2010 quilting”Legend” by The Quilt Show, hosted by Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, shown on their subscription internet program. A major retrospective exhibition of her art work shown January to April 2012 at the new Carnegie Art Center in Turlock, CA., curated by Rebecca Phillips Abbott showcased the depth of her artistic endeavors.
Other programs will include:
- Sunday, June 23, 2 – 4pm Roberta Horton and Mary Mashuta, Internationally Recognized Quilters
- Sunday, September 29, 2 – 4pm Leilani Bennett and Marcia Manzo, Wearable Art Creators Sunday,
- December 1, 2 – 4pm Pam Moore, Artist and Lace Knitter
Each program: $20 Members/$30 Non-Members/$15 Students and Seniors Member’s Discount: $65 for the entire series if purchased by March 24. No refunds, No exchanges. rsvp@sjquiltmuseum.org / 408-971-0323 x. 14 PURCHASE TICKETS HERE: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=3850cd
Nota bene: The museum is in dire financial straits and needs a significant infusion of cash by the end of this month. Please give as much as you can. They have posted a link to information about the museum’s situation.
Other/Personal
Kathleen, over at California Doodles and Designs, has posted 2-3 times about her adventures at QuiltCon. She writes well and has some interesting observations. Go take a peek. You might have to scroll down.
I celebrated my 24th wedding anniversary (DH did as well) a few weeks ago. We didn’t do anything super exciting. I was still suffering from my infection, so we just went out to dinner at a local restaurant that we like. We took the Young Man. He was home and we like him and he needed to eat, so what the heck? I think he came with us last year as well. I was thinking about how fortunate I am have to have such a great husband. It isn’t always easy, but we have worked through the hard parts. I like to think of our relationship as him walking down the street with a big red balloon (me) in his hand. I float and bounce around and he keeps me anchored. And there is a brilliant blue sky behind us.
Hope your day, week, month and year are going well!