Various & Sundry #6 – July 2014

What I Read

I couldn’t help myself from sharing these non-quilt books with you. If you don’t read fiction, I am sorry. Go ahead and skip this part, because I am going wax rhapsodic about some fiction for a minute.

I have read the three best books recently. I can’t say they are the best books ever, but all three blew me away. You have to buy them RIGHT NOW (after you finish reading my blog), stop what you are doing (ahem-after you finish reading my blog) and go read them.

  • Delicious! by Ruth Reichl – this is about transformation and love. It is about grief as well and how grief can stunt transformation. The characters were realistic and there was a lot of kindness and caring in this book. Read review.
  • Attachments by Rainbow Rowell – This is another book there there is a lot of kindness and caring (hhhmmm…I wonder if this is a theme I need to investigate in my own life). The characters seem really real. They are not perfect and they don’t always know what to do.
  • The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin – it was all I could do not to sit on my bed and read this book cover to cover. Some of the writing is so clever. The story is so great and I love the characters. I wanted to throttle some of them (Augusta for sure), but this is a book I will definitely read again and I might even read the American Heiress again. Daisy Goodwin cannot write fast enough for me. I do wish she had spelled Elizabeth the Austrian way, Elisabeth.

If you don’t like the above reading suggestions, you might want to take a look at the STC Craft suggestions. I am kind of interested in the Natalie Goldberg color book and wonder if they have it at the library?

Patterns, Tutorials and Sew-Alongs

Moda Bakeshop is having a Trifle Dish Sew Along. The first row is a spool type pattern, which I can’t figure out how it relates to Trifle, but is an interesting block nonetheless. Not all of the patterns have been posted, so you’ll have to keep checking back.

Amy has a power cord wrangling tutorial on her blog that I thought was handy. She is trying to get her blog up and running again, so go leave a comment. Life intervenes for all of us, so show her some blog love.

Are we fortunate to have so many people putting up so many tutorials? It is nice to have a lot of resources on different ways of how to do things. Kati has a put up a tutorial on attaching borders without a measuring tape.

Need to thinking about gifts? How about a nail file cover? The J&O Fabric Store has a tutorial. I can’t vouch for the tutorial as I h.aven’t made one yet, but they might make good stocking stuffers or shower favors or be handy for travel

Products, Tools, Thread and Fabric

Lori has a great review up on her blog about Flatter.

Have you seen the second issue of Moda Piece? No, me neither. It is on the Issuu platform which has an Android app as well. I was able to look at the whole issue (124 pages) on my phone so I guess it is free. Don’t quote me.

Look how beautiful this Aurifil display looks! I also love the name of the shop, Crimson Tate. Thanks to Alex Veronelli!

I wasn’t sure whether to put this tidbit in products or media. Judy Martin has designed a game called Quilt Show. After 5 years in design and production phases the game was recently released at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio. Steve (Judy Martin’s husband) and Judy were on hand as the first box was opened up. They spent two days demoing Quilt Show to throngs of eager gamers.

The price of the game is $34.95, which is a steal for a game with this many components of this quality. The game weighs 2-3/4 pounds! That’s a whole lotta game! The box and the tiles have a linen finish. The cards are sturdy. Judy thought there was a chance it would hit $50!

Because of the weight of the game and the fact that she can’t ship it by the very cheap Media Mail, she’ll have to charge $10 to ship a game in the United States. 🙁 Judy won’t be able to ship it outside the United States. There will be distribution in Europe, and I’m sure there are retailers who will ship anywhere.

I see games being played at quilt shows, like Quilt-O, which is played at the Pacific International Quilt Show in Santa Clara. I know it is pricey, but support Judy and her small business by buying a copy. I never would have thought that quilting would make it into a game. I wonder how this fits into that study of improving memory, which was reported on NPR and other media outlets.

Gretchen recently posted a review of the Perfect Angles product. Apparently, this tool prevents the quiltmaker from having to draw lines for half square triangles and such. Go read her review and become an expert. Gretchen is also making progress on her BOMs, which she shows.

Jackie gives some ideas on organizing bobbins, including discussing various products available. One of her commenters, Rebecca, chimed in saying she had done a post on bobbins as well. It is always fun to check out a new blog.

Continuing with our hacking theme, Barbara hacks her sewing machine and answers the age old question of “why does the machine need a handwheel?” Fascinating intersection between sewist/sewer and engineer.

Media

Marginally quilt related, and only because many of you Tweet, are Gail Carriger’s blog post about Twitter etiquette. I am not saying she is the guru, but her points are good and I agree with them. If you haven’t read any of her books, try Etiquette & Espionage. I believe Pam talked about this book on her podcast and I wrote a short review. This is an entertaining book by which to sew.

Abby Glassenberg of While She Naps and stuffed birds fame started a series of blog posts about patterns that changed people’s lives. The first one is about Sara of Sweetness. She, if you don’t know from studying this blog intently 😉  , is the authoress of the Petrillo Bag, which I have discussed endlessly and will, no doubt, discuss more in the future. I look forward to reading more of Abby’s interviews.

As an aside, I reviewed her book, Stuffed Animals: From Concept to Construction, back in February. Did you buy it?

Here’s an interview Judy Martin did for Fave Quilts back in early May. The book giveaway is no longer current, but you might find the rest of it interesting.

Also relating to the Martin Family, check out the Accuquilt blog for the winner and photos of their block contest!

Take a look at the SAQA donation quilts! There is one from Miss Lottie, the hostess of the Slightly Mad Quilt Lady podcast and also one from fellow CQFA-er, Jennifer Landau! Great work, ladies!

Other Artists

Reene over at Nellie’s Niceties blog posted some NY Beauty pillows she made. I showed my mom as we were together and we had a discussion about color wheels as a result. She said that the color scheme of these pillows worked because they are compliments on the Munsell Color System. She swears by Munsell. She wrote a few blog posts, which you can read on her blog, Mary’s Art Musings. She also posted about these pillows as well.

Travel

I went down south to visit Disneyland with some of DH’s family. We had a great time, but that part of the trip is not quilt related (Disney no longer sells fabric in the parks), so you’ll just have to wonder about our trip. 😉 The quilt highlight was meeting up with Susan of History Quilter fame and spend some time with her and her family. I got the grand tour of the remodel, which was great, because it looked like the photos, but was oriented differently in m mind. I saw where the podcast magic happens! I also got to meet her family and talk some quilting. I loved one quilt where she is doing different textures. I actually really liked all of her quilts (got to see her UFOs), especially the free way in which Susan puts patterned fabrics together. Because I am very bossy, I gave her some advice (ideas, hopefully) on how to continue with her UFOs. Now that the remodel is done and school is out, she can get back to her quilting. I look forward to seeing her progress.