It’s happened again. I have a song stuck in my head.
When I’m quilting, I love to listen to music. But I must admit I get in quite a rut. I listen to the same CD over and over, most likely because I’m not really listening to it at all. I just hum along and use the music to keep my groove when I’m ironing, cutting, or sewing. But that means I end up humming the songs at odd times after I’ve left my studio, not knowing where the tune came from.
Right now the song stuck in my head is fabulously appropriate for work (or for play…). I just screened Peggy Martin’s DVD (Peggy Martin Teaches you Quick Strip Paper Piecing) that was just released this November and there’s a terrific song that runs over the closing credits. A little research told me it’s “Quilting Party” performed by none-other-than Peggy Martin herself. It’s beautiful! What a talented woman.
I get songs out of my head by thinking the tune of “The Girl from Ipanema”…that gets rid of any unwanted tune and doesn’t get stuck itself. I’m usually pretty desperate to get the songs unstuck, but not this time. I think I’ll let this one stick around for awhile.
Errata. I hate errata.
An errata is an error found in a book after publishing. And we have them. (Not with any frequency, thank goodness!) If any publisher says they never have mistakes in their books, either they’re not telling the truth or they don’t care to check.
When I started at C&T six years ago, I was a technical editor. I love the math, crunching numbers, calculating yardage. There are thousands of numbers to crunch in some project books! The key to being a good technical editor is to also try to predict how someone else might read an instruction, cut a strip of fabric, adjust the yardage requirements and edit or word the material accordingly.
We’re so serious about technical accuracy that we have two technical editors reviewing every project. But unfortunately once in a while (once in a great while), we miss the mark.
This is quite painful for us, but more painful for someone who’s trying to make a project. We often receive calls or emails from readers, mid-project, with questions about construction or cutting. The calls and emails go to our technical editors who work to figure out what’s going on. Usually it’s not a problem in the book and we are delighted to help the reader out with the answer. But sometimes we’ve missed something.
So we list our errata on our website. (Look at the bottom of the home page for Book Corrections.)
We don’t hide them. We don’t use a euphemism (such as “Book Additions”) that would make them harder for our readers to find. And we don’t take them down when a book is reprinted. Of course we fix any errors and clarify any confusing areas as soon as possible. But, unlike other publishers, we don’t take down the correction. That wouldn’t be fair to the thousands of people who purchased the original printing!
I hate errata. The best errata is one that never happens. The second best errata is one that we do absolutely everything we can to make right. We love our readers—we are our readers, quite literally—and we are committed to their success.
Getting your work featured in an exhibition is a big deal, but being the first quilt artist to ever to have your work featured in a one-person show at the country’s most prestigious folk art museum is something to scream about.
Paula Nadelstern’s book, Paula Nadelstern’s Kaleidoscope Quilts: An Artist’s Journey Continues, is breathtaking.
Whether you are a quilter or just a fan of beautiful art, it is hard to look through the book without oohing and ahhing. I also like that this book is a career retrospective. It is always exciting to honor an artist’s journey over the years. So here are the details about Paula’s exhibition:
Kaleidoscope Quilts: The Art of Paula Nadelstern
On View: April 21–September 6, 2009 at the American Folk Art Museum
This is the American Folk Art Museum’s first one-person exhibition highlighting the work of a contemporary quilt artist. Paula Nadelstern has achieved international recognition for her innovative and complex designs inspired by the bilateral symmetry of kaleidoscope images. Her artistic vision encompasses science, history, and tradition expressed in crystalline patterns composed of slivers of jewel-like fabric.
Needle Felted Sweater Fix
When I found holes in one of my favorite wool sweaters, I was really upset. I put it in my “need to fix it” drawer and there it sat for about two years. I knew that I should be able to do something clever to fix it, but whenever I looked at it, nothing came to mind. As I was rummaging through one of my storage bins I found needle-felting supplies and some multi-colored yarn.
I pulled out my copies of Fast, Fun & Easy ® Needle Felting and Indygo Junction’s Needle Felting to get some ideas, and realized that I could use the multi-color yarn as a vine. I cut out leaf shapes from some felted wool, but the leaves looked too plain so I needle felted roving & other shapes to add some color and texture. I arranged everything on the sweater and needle felted it in place. It didn’t feel quite secure, so I used some very fine yarn to stitch everything down. I liked the way the stitching looked, and added a little more stitching.
Now just in time for the cold weather, I can wear my sweater again!
Such sad news to share….one of our Design Team members in the UK, Beverley Todd, passed away suddenly over the Christmas holiday. She was a mother to 4 lovely children and was an active scrapbooker, papercrafter, teacher and blogger. She gave wonderful encouragement and support to so many other artists and crafters all over the world. Beverley created this wonderful journal for us – for the launch of one of our new products this past spring – about all the women in her life who inspire her.
"...dedicated to the women in my life who inspire, support & encourage me to be the best that I can be." Beverley Todd
Beverley will indeed be missed by her many friends in the online crafting communities. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time.
More tributes from her online friends can be found on these posts:
• Christmas Cards All Year Round
• Arty Girlz
“Fat Tuesday,” carved wood, oil stain & mixed media, 68″ x 23″ x 4″, 2006 (click image for larger view)
If you think it’s a challenge to create a beautiful quilt with needle, thread, and fabric, how about this wooden quilt carved by artist Fraser Smith? Every detail is complete, right down to the dimples caused by the “stitches” in the “batting.” Click on Fraser’s name to see more of his awe-inspiring sculptures.
Hope you all had a happy Christmas and we wish you a happy New Year!
2008 was a momentous year—our 25th anniversary! We’ve done a lot of reminiscing around the lunch table on how things have changed in our industry over the years. I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and and see what my coworkers looked like in 1983. Enjoy!
Gailen Runge, Creative Director
Mary Wruck, Business Development Manager
Teresa Stroin, Technical Editor
Stacy Chamness, Developmental Editor
Kristy Zacharias, Design Director
Kerry Graham, Designer
Lisa Fulmer Bruce, Marketing Manager
Megan Wisniewski, Media Relations Coordinator
Adrianne Shroyer, Internet Administrator
Andy LaFaille, Fulfillment Manager
Todd Hensley, CEO
With this quilt, my family and I wish everyone at C&T Publishing—who so kindly and professionally helped make my first book a reality—all my readers, fellow quilters around the globe, and all my friends…a Merry and Wonderful Christmas!!!
Jette
Guess what? I made my first quilt!! After more than ten years at C&T, I finally gave into quilting fever and made a quilt for my mom for Christmas. It’s a memory quilt and it has photographs of all of her loved ones.
I was able to use many of the products that manufacturers have sent to our company over the years—from Printed Treasures fabric sheets to Hobbs batting to some fabulous batik fabrics from various manufacturers. I’m in love with batiks!
I think I’ve must have gotten some tips by osmosis from reading our books over the years, and I now have an even higher regard for our authors and books. Before this I thought our authors were phenomenal quilters whose art was incredibly inspiring, but now I realize how incredibly good they are at teaching!
I referred to a number of books more than once during some late night sewing sessions. Some helpful beginner books for me were Start Quilting with Alex Anderson and Make Your First Quilt with M’Liss Rae Hawley. I also refered a lot to Foolproof Machine Quilting and the All-in-One Quilter’s Reference Tool. I poured through books to make sure I was doing it right!
Ok, so my first quilt is not perfect, but someone once told me that a quilt wasn’t meant to be perfect and that there should always be at least one imperfection in it! Well, mine has more than one, but I’m still pleased with how it came out. Now all I have to do is finish sewing the binding and I’m done—right before I get on the plane to deliver it on Christmas Eve. Wish me luck!
Fantastique Ornament
While decorating the tree at C&T, we thought it should be a reflection of us, so it seemed natural to make ornaments using Fantastiques. I love these little guys! It’s a 6″ x 8″ book with mix and match characters that you just pop out. There are pages of heads, arms, and legs as well as images to use for torsos. You can use other things for the torsos though, like these playing cards! They’re fun to embellish too—what better excuse for glitter and feathers?
