I mentioned in an earlier post that I finally got to see Paula’s exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum. It was jaw-droppingly gorgeous! I walked through it on my own and was trying to figure out why I couldn’t see where each piece of fabric started and stopped. I tried many angles and was truly puzzled.
Paula came after I had spent about an hour viewing the quilts and the amazing scopes that several of her friends loaned to the museum to be part of the exhibit. The scopes themselves were splendid works of art. Made from stained glass, hand carved wood, and one was a large piece of white glass, they were all spectacular! Paula was there to give a private tour for a group of 35 artists from SAQA. The group leader for this event was another C&T author, Jane Davila.
Paula walked us through the exhibit explaining along the tour her inspiration, how she works and the various ways she creates her kaleidoscope quilts. Paula said, “I often camouflage the seams, because I always think about what I want the audience to see, I want it to look like a kaleidoscope.” She also told us that, “I put lots of stuff in my triangle and let symmetry organize it.” She explained how she creates all of these quilts and is terrible at math, I would have thought she used a complex formula to create these quilts, but no, there is no math involved.
I can’t say enough about how delightful and inspiring I found this exhibit. I met a charming young woman who coordinates donations for the museum, Kristen, and she was kind enough to give me several complimentary tickets to the museum to share with our blog readers. So, blog readers please share with me a comment about where you have found symmetry in your creating and we will give away 8 pairs of tickets for this wonderful exhibit.
For our “Follow Friday” blog today, we bring you Valori Wells’ blog from the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon.
Valori and her mother Jean have been operating the Stitchin’ Post for many years—in fact, it’s one of the very first quilt shops established in America. They offer a full range of supplies for quilting, sewing and knitting.
Valori features adorable sewing projects on her blog, many of which she makes for her growing family (literally – congrats are in order!) as well as her experiences while promoting her books, patterns and fabric designs.
Valori’s blog is fun and informative, with terrific pictures and lots of handy links. She offers some free patterns, too!
Valori and Jean have written several books for C&T – you can get more details on all their titles by clicking on their names here.
If you operate or know of a great retailer’s blog, email the link to us at ctinfo@ctpub.com and we’ll feature it on our next Follow Friday post!
I recently fell down the stairs (not so dramatically, but very inelegantly, to be sure) and sprained my knee. I hobbled into the office on crutches. Within the hour I was blessed with the presence of C&T’s Boo Boo Bear.
Boo Boo Bear was here when I started years ago. Boo Boo Bear is a pink chenille-flower covered teddy bear that travels around the office to those with injuries both physical and emotional. A purple paper heart is stuck to Boo Boo Bear to concentrate Boo Boo’s powers to the part that ails you — headache, heartache, knee ache…
What a great office, to have its own Boo Boo Bear. It reminds me of many of the titles of our books… Covered with Love, Curl-Up Quilts, A Cozy Quilted Christmas.
All aspects of quilting are reflected in our titles “Fabulous,” “Fearless,” “Creative,” “Whimsical,” “Stunning”… but there is something appealing about the warm and fuzzies today. Quilts (and, of course, Boo Boo Bears) are great ways to offer comfort.
If you’d like to share a little comfort of your own, check out Comfort Quilts from the Heart. Author Jake Finch has included many ways to make those around you feel a little more loved in difficult times. The projects are not just beautiful and comforting, many serve additional needs including a walker bag, a foot warmer on a quilt designed for use in a wheelchair, a lap quilt that doubles as a game board. Boo Boo Bear is cute, but he sure isn’t helping me with these crutches!
When we started making projects for the Cupcakes! book, we made a few more than we had room for, so we thought we’d share some of them here. These two items use cupcake patterns/designs that are in the book.
Bibs are the perfect place for cupcakes. The one above uses the bib pattern from Kim Schaefer’s Quilts, Bibs, Blankies…Oh My! We added a layer of Quilter’s Vinyl and finished the edged with big rickrack.
For the T-shirts below, you can sew the design directly to a T-shirt, or you can attach them with snaps so they can be removed for laundering.
My chorus was making a scrapbook for our retiring director. A page was requested from each of us. Augh! I’m a quilter – I’ve never worked with paper. What to do, what to do…hmmmm. Most of my friends were using photos as the foundation of their page. But I’m a relatively new chorus member and don’t have any photos of us yet. Hmmmm…what to do, what to do. I finally remembered my daughters’ 5th grade name acrostic projects. The teacher had each student use the letters of their name in words that described themselves: Marvelous Exciting Lovely Laughs a lot Intuitive Sunny Sweet Animated - Melissa; or Sensational Able Reasonable Active Humorous – Sarah.
Once I had an idea, I did the smartest thing possible: asked for advice! I talked to a co-worker, Sandy, and to one of our resident authors—Sue Astroth. They had a number of wonderful suggestions, plus I had done a class for Valentine cards recently with Lisa, so between the new ideas and the old lesson, I was ready.
I was a little nervous going into the craft store because I wasn’t sure what to buy, but once I got going, I had a blast. I bought papers and ribbon and letters and pens and glue and raised dots and little round shiny things; it was great. Then I went home and over the next few days put together a page I am really pleased with. I’ve gotten a little bit of the scrapbooking bug now and since I have leftovers—I’ll be making some homemade cards for birthdays and other events soon. Thanks, Sue, Sandy, and Lisa for the encouragement!
Our new Kaleidoscope Totes are such a big hit, that now we are really curious about where people are totin’ them!
“While trekking with my family up and down the hills of San Francisco, in and out of the Chinatown shops, and all through the artisans’ booths at the North Beach Festival, we found that my Kaleidoscope Tote was roomy and sturdy enough to hold everyone’s purchases. I got my cousins to take turns carrying it, it was pretty heavy by the end of the day!” —C&T Sales Rep, Ruthmary
C&T Business Development Manager Mary—totes her way around Times Square in New York City!
So I think we need a contest!
“Where in the world is YOUR tote?”
Send us a picture of you and your tote, where ever you are. We will feature you on our blog and enter your name into a drawing for a set of beautiful Kaleidoscope Notecards!
Email your picture by July 15, 2009 to ctinfo@ctpub.com
We look forward to seeing you and your tote!
C&T Sales Rep Shirley—totes in her supplies for her family picnic at a park in San Jose, California!
Local quilter, Glenna Valley—carried her tote on a wine-tasting trip in Sonoma, California!
Summer arrives as do trip and excursion opportunities. Whether you’re spending the day experiencing a museum, beaching, browsing shops or flying afar, there is travel time involved as well as that “required” down time wherever it can be found. All you quilt, craft and fiber artists know exactly what this means. It’s hard to not have that mobile project tucked somewhere in your bag to pull out at any given moment. Just gotta get your fix right? The other day I saw a woman at the aquarium whip out her drop spindle. Much to my husbands bewilderment, I’ve knit on sunny beaches in between Frisbee tosses.
This week’s giveaway, Take-along Totes by Marilynn Bilyeu is full of hand totes that keep you organized wherever you go. They hold everything you need! The book offers 6 pattern variations for quilters, scrapbookers, knitters, teachers, and kids. It’s easy to mix and match while customizing your own. The one that catches my eye is for kids on the go (take the edge off those long car rides).
For a chance to win a copy of Take-along Totes, post a comment here before Monday, June 22, 2009 telling us what important items you would include in your tote or where you take your projects when on the go. We’ll randomly pick one winner to be announced on Monday. Good Luck!
*Comments will be closed at 9am PST on Monday, June 22, 2009
I found this bag full of goodies all for $3.
There were lots of threads and beads inside, but I fell in love with these Japanese silks.
I tried to use them for some embroidery this weekend but when I went to use them, the fine fibers kept of catching on…well, everything. They were lovely to feel but working with them was…challenging. Still, lots of other goodies inside that don’t make me feel like I need a manicure before using.
See more garage sale finds
We have another new C&T puppy! Okay, okay, okay. She actually belongs to Creative Director Gailen Runge & Family. She’s an English Bulldog, 9 weeks old. Her name is Lucy
We love puppies!
Everyone who knows me well, knows I’m nuts about my nieces and nephews. Thanks to the kids, I’m becoming slightly *gulp* crafty!!!!
As my niece‘s two year birthday approached, I wanted to give her something fun to open. I was inspired by a book I had seen on making sock animals (Sock & Glove by Miyako Kanamori). Looked simple enough, and, best of all, no sewing machine was required! It’s inevitable that if a sewing machine becomes involved, I need to solicit my mom for help. I was trying to shock even her with my gift idea.
After making the first critter entirely by hand, I learned a sewing machine would make this “little” project of mine go so much faster. Needless to say, a visit to my mom for her sewing machine was in order. Things went pretty well once I had that. By the last critter, I was glad the project was almost complete. It was a delight to watch my niece pull out each animal, one at a time. She ran around and showed each animal to everyone at her party. Each time a new squeal of joy when she’d realize, this one’s an elephant, or a bear or a ….
I’m not anxious to get back on the sewing machine. I was proud of myself for sticking to it, being happy with the end result, and seeing the smile of my sweet niece, Elliot. BTW, for all of you with children, I did remove the button eyes once she opened them all. I’m a paranoid aunt and didn’t want to give her a toy that had pieces she could pull off and choke on. Sure, they didn’t look as cute, but Elliot got over it immediately once she noticed “eyes gone.” She pulls her little buddies around all the time in her wagon and takes them to bed with her. Knowing my lack of enthusiasm for working a sewing machine, my mom refers to this project as a labor of love. Without a doubt.
