Well, it’s impossible not to be inspired when my RSS feed is full of goodies from both the icff 2009 AND Quilt Market blogs. As the Acquisitions Editor, I usually can’t share too much of what I am working on (and all of the wonderful people I met!). I wish I could do my part to contribute and show you all the wonderful fabrics, pattern makers, and designers, but my hands are tied on this one and my lips are sealed.
But I am totally and completely in love with the Echino booth.
Quilters have long been known for their generosity in making quilts to care for and comfort others. Below are several national organizations involved in making quilts for soldiers or families of soldiers serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Each organization has its own specific requirements, so check the websites to get all of the details. The information below was taken from each organization’s website. C&T Publishing has made available 5 quilt patterns that you can download and use to make quilts that will be donated to a nonprofit organization.
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HURRAH! The local library sale…a buck a book!
Time Life issued this 16 volume series in the 1970s called The Art of Sewing. I am missing one of them, but the book sale had almost the whole collection. They are fantastically 70s and each book is covered in a real fabric that exemplifies the subject of that particular book.
I think I am in love....$15 for all of them.
Lynne Farris, the author of Fresh Felt Flowers, A Touch of Felt & Fast, Fun & Easy® Needle Felting shares her fresh felt flowers with the HGTV audience. Host Carol Duvall and Lynne take you through a fabulous tutorial on creating stunning tropical felt flowers. Check out part one and two of the episode.
A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of poems attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.
Congratulations to Mary on Lake Pulaski who won last week’s giveaway for Easy Stitching with Buttons, Beads and Braids! Thank you to everyone who left a comment. From your responses, I think we can safely say that the possibilities are endless when it comes to embellishments and how they are used.
As a special thanks to our blog readers, for the next two weeks you can get 20% off your purchase of Easy Stitching with Buttons, Beads and Braids. Simply mention discount code WG10660 when you place your order with C&T via phone (800.284.1114) or at our web site (enter discount code where noted during checkout) on or before June 1, 2009.
Yesterday at the Quilt Market trade show I had 9 meetings, including a lunch meeting with a delightful buyer from one of our largest distributors. I walked about 3 miles on the floor which is carpet over cement. Not the most comfortable flooring to walk and stand on all day.
Today I got to walk the floor after a morning of meetings with authors, distributors and magazine editors. I saw some amazing new fabrics, great bright florals, some great architectural prints and paintings by Laura Gunn that have been interpreted into fabric by Michael Miller Fabrics. Paula Nadelstern has another terrific new line with Benartex and Moda has some delightful new prints and focus fabrics. There were several new exhibitors with patterns for children’s clothing.
I also saw two new products from Simplicity that are sure to be a big hit with quilters. They are the bias tape maker and the automatic rotary cutter. My favorite is the bias tape maker because it creates bias tape in strips as small as 1/8″ and as larger as 1 ¼”. It folds and presses in one step, and can even make binding! This is too cool!
Tomorrow is another day and I will wear more comfortable shoes and re-walk the floor and the exhibits to make sure I don’t miss a thing.
Have you joined our Creative Troupe yet?
All artists and crafters are welcome! It’s free, it’s tons of fun, and there are lots of membership benefits for you—check out the details here.
Be sure to visit our Links page to check out the blogs of other Troupers. Soooo much inspiration and motivation!
Our next call-out gives you more wonderful opportunities to create with:
Troupers will get an email early next week with details on this call-out, or you can read about it on the Creative Troup Flickr Group page.
Join us—let’s celebrate your creativity!
I am at the Spring 2009 Quilt Market trade show in downtown Pittsburgh, PA. The city is warm and welcoming and the first day of market was a blast. The convention center is a short walk from our hotel and I don’t believe I have ever been in a city (in the US) that has inspired me more.
There are old, beautifully designed and built churches with gorgeous jewel tone glass on almost every block (according to Kathy Miller of Michael Miller Fabrics jewel tones are going to be hot for at least the rest of the year). The church spires rise way up into the air and the huge, carved stone blocks have so much character.
On my walk back after the show I saw this wall insert that stopped me in my tracks. It was made out of copper and had aged wonderfully. The design and pattern are so pleasing to the eye. The last picture I took was of a door portico that had carved stone on either side and above the entry way of two fish and an urn, in a strange way it reminded me of a Baltimore Album Block.
I am going to get up early tomorrow so I can walk before the show and take more pictures of the stunning buildings and other really cool stuff that I see. I am inspired by all that I have seen so far and can’t wait to get home, print out my pictures and put them in my inspiration journal.
So my question to all of you, is what inspires you to create? Do you take pictures? Cut them out of magazines? Sketch the ideas that come into your head?
I love Dresden plates, always have. Something about the symmetry appeals to me. I’d been planning to make one out of batiks since a shop hop two years ago. (Yes -two years! Actually, it might be three. . . .) At each shop on the hop, I purchased 3/8 yard of a batik or two or three. So I’ve a nice collection. When I got a chance to work on Anelie Belden’s new book Thoroughly Modern Dresden, I was excited and intrigued. Excited, ’cause, well, I wanted to make a Dresden. Intrigued because I’d seen her quilts. They’re gorgeous. Could I really do it? After reading her book and understanding her construction methods, I found I could!
Along with her projects, Anelie gives you tips on mixing and matching block sizes, Dresden blade styles, and settings. This suits me because I hardly ever do anything exactly like I see it. I loved the colors and the setting of her Blue and Yellow Sunshine project. They match my kitchen. But it was too big for the wall where I pictured it. I switched the quarter-block size from 12″ to 9″ and, just for fun, I changed the blades’ top style to pointed from three-sided. I used my batiks and added some other fabrics from my stash. Within a day I had it up on my design wall and then sewn!
My Dresden plate wall hanging
I love this blue and yellow wall hanging and might even make it into a clock. (See Lynn Koolish‘s book Fast, Fun & Easy ® Creative Fabric Clocks: 6 Timely Techniques for Fabric and Paper. Another “can I really do this?” that I found I really could do.) However, I have a problem – I don’t always finish things right away. (Anybody else have any UFO’s out there? Yup, I thought so.) I drafted the outer border design and selected the fabrics, even cut some of the pieces. That was 6 months ago. I “got distracted” and started a queen-sized batik Ohio Star quilt for my husband. Now that I think about it, that’s complete except for the borders, too, and I’m onto something else. Am I seeing a pattern, here?
