Various & Sundry 2017 #9

For Sale Items: Take a look at fabric, a design wall and more! Buying helps me get a new design wall.

Get some discounts on Craftsy.

Projects, Exhibits & Shows

New Zealand creatives are hosting a 100 day paper cutting project. which started on May 22. I saw it on Ms. Lottie’s blog. She and her daughter are participating and each have their own pages to show the results of that day’s cutting. I like seeing each day’s work all together.

I am sure you have heard about the EPP Party going on around Pat Bravo. Today’s Quilter published an “Essential Guide to EPP” on their blog. Take a look.

Patterns, Fabric, Supplies & Tools

As you know, I am a huge fan of Judy Martin’s patterns and techniques. She operates a small business in Iowa and has a wonderful newsletter that reads like a friend is sharing news with you. You may have heard (did I mention it?) that Judy Martin has launched a new eBook venture called Judy Martin eBooks. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, I have rebuffed all other offers to become affiliates with other ventures. I am delighted however to be a new Judy Martin Affiliate. I love her patterns and books and, most importantly, her sound quiltmaking techniques. I have a goal to take a class with her sometime. This means that I will probably have to travel to Iowa since she rarely teaches outside the area anymore. Anyway, she already has some of her eBooks up on her site. I encourage you to look through her offerings and purchase some. Yes, I will get a cut if you click on the links listed, but you will also be directly supporting her hardworking family. Links:

  • July Fireworks: this is the first e-pattern I saw as a sample. I was blown away. I love the innovation in the layout
  • Star Happy Quilts is an e-book, originally published in 2001. The patterns are comprised of 3 different star blocks, which are arranged and resized in different ways. The books gives you the design practice to create tons of star quilt designs!
  • Celtic Squares Deluxe is a new-to-me pattern and very modern. The interlocking squares make my mind dance with ideas for gradations of color.
  • Patchwork Among Friends is not just a pattern e-book, but is a resource guide for getting people together to sew. There are 10 patterns, recipes for potluck dishes and ideas for getting quiltmakers together.
  • Starry Night Log Cabin is a pattern from her book Extraordinary Log Cabins for you log cabin fans. Judy has some different techniques for making log cabins that improve accuracy. It is also free!
  • Scraps is an e-book of one of Martin’s classics. There are 16 original designs presented in 3 different sizes to help you customize for your needs. The instructions contain a choice of accurate rotary cutting instructions or templates. Fat quarter requirements and yardage are listed for each quilt in every size. Color diagrams show piecing instructions. There are also ratings for each pattern to tell you ease of cutting, ease of sewing, and ease of thinking.  ;-0

Hints, Tips & Tricks

We all need some help in the measuring department. Riley Blake and Sew4Home are there for you. Riley Blake tweeted out a link to Sew4Home’s post about deciphering measurements on a measuring tape. This can be used as a guide for other measuring tools also. The post comes with printables for your wall. For you enlightened users of the metric system, there is a conversion chart from fractions to metric as well. If you aren’t following Riley Blake on Twitter, it is well worth the follow. They have clever quips and tweets that entertain me.

Charlotte of The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady has been working on her sewing space. Her most recent blog post talks about her new pressing station. She has ‘made do” with some things she had around the house (or boat, in her case). The thing that impressed me most was her testing. She used a folding table with a plastic top. Melting plastic could be a problem. Her tips for testing to see if the plastic would melt were helpful. She links out to a post on her cutting station rebuild and her new studio (few months old now), so you might want to check those posts out as well.

Media

Frances has a series of posts on process. One things she says, which is absolutely true is “One of the things I enjoy about the creative process is the serendipitous moment.” I find I really have to play around with pieces (making visual decisions visually) to get to where the quilt should be. I am very interested in process and I like the way she has put all the pieces of the process together into a couple of posts. This is different from me where I post what is currently going on in my projects and don’t usually put them together. I’ll have to perhaps do something about that. At least I’ll think about it. In meantime go read Frances’ posts.

Author: JayeL

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

4 thoughts on “Various & Sundry 2017 #9”

  1. I always love your Various & Sundry posts. I read your blog every morning, but I save these posts for later in the evening. That way I have time to follow links and more links! I enjoyed the posts from the Slightly Mad Quilt Lady.

    Thanks!

    1. I am so glad. Thank you! And thank you for reading. I was wondering since I hadn’t seen any emails or comments from you lately.
      Hope you are well.
      Jaye

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