Monthly Archives: September 2010

Author Interview: Sarah Kaufman

September 29th, 2010 in Behind the Scenes
By Elise Hubbard

…..

When life gives you lemons, make a quilt! Sarah Kaufman certainly did! After being diagnosed with arthritis, she could easily have given up her passion for making quilts. However, she didn’t let it get in her way of her fondness for fabric; instead she created a new technique by folding fabric to create beautiful log cabin quits. She shows how it’s done in her new book Folded Log Cabin Quilts.

What was your career prior to being an artist?

I was the owner/operator of a high end fabric shop and a Real Estate broker.

What and when was your first experience as an artist?

I have always sewn my own clothes, often re-designing Vogue patterns. I began making quilts when my three children were small – AND NEVER STOPPED!

Birthday Cake, 15" x 20", from <em>Folded Log Cabin Quilts</em> by Sarah Kaufman

Birthday Cake, 15" x 20", from Folded Log Cabin Quilts by Sarah Kaufman

What inspired you to make a career of your art?

It’s WHO! Judy D. Hopkins – lifelong friend and quilt book author

How has your artistry changed over the years?

I made a transition from fine needlework—appliqué, and English paper piecing—to Folded Log Cabin piecing in the early 90s after developing arthritis in my hands. I find machine sewing of pre-pressed strips—with no more ironing—workable AND relaxing!

Do you have a process or ritual for starting new projects?

I start with my stash and a plan in mind. Later I head to the fabric store with swatches in hand. I always sketch designs on graph paper, quicky, with just a few notes. I often take a long walk as I contemplate my idea.

Fungus Among Us, 37" x 37", from <em>Folded Log Cabin Quilts</em>

Fungus Among Us, 37" x 37", from Folded Log Cabin Quilts by Sarah Kaufman

When you finish a project, what happens? Do you celebrate?

I am never without two more quilts in progress. There are always two more in my head, impatient to be started! I am ALWAYS celebrating.

What would you like to create that you have not tried yet?

A Native American-like root basket, done in FLC blocks; an all-linen quilt; a log cabin piece made entirely of clothing labels appliquéd onto linen napkins. I’ll start this next week at a Hawaii quilt retreat.

What memorable moments can you share about your travels or teaching experience?

The Yokohama Quilt Show I attended in Japan in 2004 was fabulous. I visited an indigo dye factory in Kyoto and bought scraps of old indigo pieces in a barrel. Also, I was a featured quilter in 2006 at the LaConner Quilt & Textile Museum in Washington. What an honor to do a 3-month show.

Zoom Lens, 29" x 22.5", from <em>Folded Log Cabin Quilts</em>

Zoom Lens, 29" x 22.5", from Folded Log Cabin Quilts by Sarah Kaufman

Junk to Jewel: Vintage Skirt Hem Marker to Inspiration Display

September 28th, 2010 in Inspiration
By Sue Astroth

Lesley Riley is one of my favorite artists—her art always makes me smile. I think it is her use of all those great vintage photos. But whatever the reason I think her work and her projects are just plain fun!

How lucky was I to find that one of her quilts is featured on one of the cards in our new Inspired! Creativity Cards deck. I thought this month it might be fun to incorporate the card into a little Junk to Jewel project.

I really wanted a way to display Lesley’s Creativity Card. It was something I wanted up in my studio reminding me to let loose and “play” a little! So, I put together a little scrapbook page from some leftover paper and ribbon scraps that were hanging around my desk. I glued it all together on a piece of heavy book board, that I first painted with white crackle paint. Done!

It really was that easy. Now I just had to find a way to show off my finished piece. Hmmm – not quite so easy. While looking for an easel, I found one of my vintage skirt hem markers..from a long ago collection I can’t bear to part with. But that gave me an idea….

The Junk

vintage skirt hem marker

All it took was a hemming tool, a vintage clothes pin, a small bolt and nut, and my display was good to go. One hint: The one major tip in construction is to make the hole easier to drill by taking the clothespin apart first!

The Jewel

Inspiration Display

I can’t say this was originally my idea. I’d actually seen a photo idea like this linked to the Junk Market Style website, which by the way is a great place to find some fun ideas using all sorts of treasures. But more about that at a later time.

I do believe I will need to make some more of these treasures. Maybe position the clothes pins at different heights for an interesting display or use two clothes pins—one at the top and one at the bottom to hold your photos or notes in place. Can’t you see these as great place card holders for a quilt guild tea, or as identifiers for the dishes at a pot luck gathering of all your sewing buddies? Or even to show off some special birthday or, dare I say it, Christmas cards. The options are endless….

As a bonus, here are a few other ideas for bringing Inspired! Creativity Cards into your creative projects:

Add a hole to the top of a favorite card and string some pretty ribbon through the hole. I’m always looking for something to mark a page while cruising through my cookbooks or planning a gathering, and these cards make great bookmarks for my kitchen cookbooks.
Clip or tie a card with ribbon to a bamboo skewer and add it to you favorite house plant for a cheery and unexpected plant decoration.
Wrap cards of choice with ribbons individually. Write your guests names on small tags and tuck them into the ribbon around the cards. Super cute place card idea!
Fan a few cards out in a dish on your coffee table. Your guests can look through them while they relax.
Sandwich some note paper in between two of the Creativity Cards. Make holes and use ribbon to bind the three layers together as a mini covered notebook to tuck into your quilt class bag.

Next month’s junk: Card Works Card Building System

What will Sue make out of that?

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Junk to Jewel is a series where, once a month, C&T author and editorial team member Sue Astroth chronicles her upcycling adventures with thrift store finds.

Quilts for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative

September 27th, 2010 in Inspiration
By Lynn Koolish

I finally sent in four quilts for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) that I’ve blogged about in previous posts.

Golden Sun

The 9″ x 12″ or less size is perfect for experimenting and trying out new techniques. Three of the four quilts I sent in were things that I was trying out using acrylic paints and inks from our Liquitex^® Surface Design Center. On the Edge uses palette knife techniques (way fun). Golden Sun uses stenciling and stamping. And Wild Ride has painted cheesecloth on top of a palette knife painted background. Calla was printed on fabric using an inkjet printer.

On the Edge

It’s fun and easy to create these little quilts, and the cause is so important. I hope you’ll consider making something to donate. I also encourage you to check out and become a member of the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative cause on Facebook.

Calla

From the AAQI website:

The latest “big” AAQI event is the 2010 World Series Quilt Challenge: Eight big-name quilters are vying to see who can create the quilt that earns the most money for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. It’s all about bragging rights—and fighting a vile disease.

Proven powerhouse quilters from the American Quilt League are Hollis Chatelain, John Flynn, Becky Goldsmith, and Sue Nickels. Their efforts in 2009 earned more than $11,000 for the AAQI.

Rookies from the National Quilt League are Caryl Bryer Fallert, Judy Mathieson, Mary Sorensen, and Ricky Tims.

The eight quilts will be auctioned online in a Silent Auction from November 1 to November 10 in honor of National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. (They will also be on display at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.)

Now it’s time for quilting fans everywhere to root for their favorites, by donating $1 (or more) to the AAQI for the player, team, or quilt that you most admire. Your donation is not a bid on any quilt, nor does it have any impact whatsoever on the auction outcome. BUT, your donation WILL be counted in the total dollar amount raised by each player and their league.

These quilting superstars have created eight amazing quilts. Cheer them on, and see them in Houston at International Quilt Festival. There will also be lots of other quilts to see and buy so be sure to come by the AAQI exhibit at Festival.

Everyday Inspiration

September 25th, 2010 in Inspiration
By Diane Pedersen

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.

Timing

On a creative project

Is so critical—

If you go too fast

You make mistakes

And have to go back.

If you go too slowly

You try to figure everything

Out before you start

And you never

Get going.

But if you can

Trust yourself

To figure out

The unknown

As you go,

Now that’s power…

And the perfect pace

For a project.

September Creative Troupe Round Up

September 23rd, 2010 in Inspiration
By Alyice Edrich

Whether you’re looking for back-to-school projects, a creative take on Halloween, or a fun jewelry piece, our Creative Troupe has the tutorials you need!

Michelle Tang, of Greeting Arts, sent her girls off in style this year with the cutest crocheted pencils. She says it’s a tradition to send the girls off with something handmade, on the first day of school, just to let them know that mommy was thinking of them. How cute is that?! Stop by her blog for directions on these adorable pencils.

The next time your children ask for some Haute Couture canvas shoes (that cost a hundred dollars or more) direct them to Gabriela’s blog. Gabriela Delworth shares her secrets for turning an ordinary pair of white sneakers from your local department store into the fashion statement of the year!

Need someone’s head shrunk this Halloween? Don’t call a witch doctor. Cynthia Gagen can teach you how to do it without harming a single life. Stop by her blog to watch a video on the process, then click the links to two tutorials with step-by-step instructions and photos.

Have you ever wanted to make bottle cap jewelry but didn’t want to invest in special cutters or hassle with trying to cut the circle “just right”? Thanks to Tifany DeGough your worries are over! In just four quick—and simple—steps, you can create stunning bottle cap necklaces using sticker paper and stamped images!

Though this last one is not a tutorial I thought you’d like to see how one of our Creative Troupe members used our newest product.

Shirley Pando reminds us that September is National Sewing Month by sharing how she used our new Insul-Fleece™ product in making this reusable market bag. She says “Insul-Fleece keeps cold things cold and hot things hot. And is very easy to sew through”. So why not give it a try today?

These are just a few of the amazing projects our Creative Troupe members have been creating.

Have you joined the Creative Troupe yet? It’s free. It’s fun. Lots of benefits…and it only takes a moment to sign up!

Click here for all the membership details. Then check out the Creative Troupe’s blog links here for a little more artsy inspiration.

My Monet Clock

September 22nd, 2010 in Free Projects, Surface Design & Mixed Media
By Lynn Koolish

Just when I think I’m done making clocks, another one pops to mind. This one was inspired by my experiments with applying acrylic paint from our Liquitex^® Surface Design Center with a palette knife. Below are directions for how to make one like it. For more clock-making ideas check out Fast, Fun & Easy^® Creative Fabric Clocks.

Monet Clock

1. Start with an 8” diameter circle of fast2fuse^®. Iron white fabric to both sides, and trim to the size of the fast2fuse.

2. Paint the front of clock with Liquitex Soft Body Acrylics using a palette knife.

3. Create the numbers using WordArt in Microsoft Word, and print them in reverse on TAP™ Transfer Artist Paper using an inkjet printer.

4. Scrape away the excess background (polymer) of the TAP so that only the numbers and no excess polymer is transferred when ironing the TAP numbers to the clock face (a great benefit of TAP). Use a piece of Silicone Release Paper to protect your iron.

5. Glue a cord around the outside edge of the clock. I used 3 strands of yarn twisted together.

6. Lightly sand the clock hands, and paint them with Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic paints.

7. Cut a hole for the clock stem, insert the movement, attach the hands.

Is Your Sock Softie Most Appealing?

September 21st, 2010 in Contests
By Danielle Dews

We’re putting together a special yearbook on Flickr of all the sock critters you make from Brenna Maloney’s book, Socks Appeal.

If you have made a softie from socks, please submit an image of it to the yearbook. If you do, your sock character might win you one of several prizes!

Our blog readers will vote on the most appealing softies in the yearbook, and the final winners will be selected by author Brenna Maloney and a group of C&T staffers. In honor of all four winners, C&T will donate 100 pairs of new, warm socks in your names, to one of our local homeless shelters.

The Most Popular entrant will win a $100 American Express gift certificate!! Now that’s got to be at least a year’s worth of socks!

A fabulous prize package filled with C&T Publishing products (valued at $50) will be awarded to each of the three entrants who we think deserve the titles of:

• Class Clown
• Best Smile
• Biggest Geek

For more details on how to enter your sock softie in the yearbook, visit the Stash Books blog. Thanks for participating and good luck!

Winners of the Paula Nadelstern Kaleidoscope Collection Giveaway

September 20th, 2010 in Contests
By Tristan Gallagher

Congratulations to Audrey Lynn, Tammy and Sylvia who’ve won the Paula Nadelstern Kaleidoscope collection Giveaway!

Their comments…

Audrey Lynn

Oh the choices are so many.  Elly Sienkiewicz is one.”

Tammy

I vote for Marilyn Oberhelman from Manson, Iowa. She’s an AMAZING quilter.”

Sylvia

I just love Judy Mathieson’s work,

so I’m nominating her!”

Thank you so much to everyone who left comments here and on Facebook.

The Editorial Team: Developmental Editors

September 20th, 2010 in Behind the Scenes
By Gailen Runge

While we spend eight hours a day talking quilts, editing quilt writing, laying out quilt books, and so forth… We still like to do it in our spare time! Here’s what our Developmental Editors are doing.

Developmental Editors are responsible for working with our authors to make the content of the book as useful and interesting as possible, ensuring that the text and images match and add to the book and that the proper forms are filled out, and creating the book map to communicate the flow of the book to the designer.

Cynthia’s Placemats

Cynthia is a dabbler in many different crafty things. Simple quilts, garment sewing, making period doll costumes, and little fabric craft projects like ATCs and book covers. Currently she is making a set of pieced placemats and machine quilting them. (After years of hand quilting, she’s finally trying it!)

In addition to hands-on endeavors, Cynthia has written many published nonfiction books for children and adults on a variety of subjects. She also writes personal essays, which have found their way into various publications. She looks forward to (someday) finishing the two children’s novels she started writing ages ago.

Liz's quilt on the design wall

Liz creates mostly simple quilts, trying to be a step beyond traditional, but not all the way to art quilting. She loves embellishments, particularly with buttons, beads, and perle cotton thread. She’s currently working on a small simple quilt using stacked buttons stitched with perle cotton thread in sherbet colors on circles of layered wool felt—fun embellishments on a simple pieced-cotton surface.

Liz has written and co-written several books for C&T and has a line of buttons with Dill Button Company. She is one of our long-timers—19 years at C&T.

Lynn's Wall Hanging

Lynn makes art quilts, sews garments, knits socks, does Japanese flower arranging, dyes fabric and yarn, makes fabric clocks, messes around a lot with printing and painting on fabric. Currently she has a charity quilt on the design wall, one sock knit and the other one started, some small panels started from a workshop she took with Laura Cater-Woods.

Lynn also teaches a variety of quilting and surface design classes, and has written and co-written several books with C&T.

Next up: The Technical Editors…

Keychain for College

September 19th, 2010 in Inspiration
By Teresa Stroin

Just a quick post about my latest project. Remember me? I’m the one who starts many things but rarely finishes before she starts something else! Anyway, this I’ve got to finish. It’s a quilt for my college-bound daughter. It was to be an off-to-college-we’ll-miss-you present but now it’s a glad-to-see-you-it’s-Christmas present. (Hey, I’m slow, what can I say!?) Here are the fabrics that she chose:

And you can see that I’ve started. I even have some 9-patches completed! I’ve enlarged (to twin bed size) one of the projects from 9-Patch Pizzazz by Judy Sisneros.

But since I’m late with the quilt, I wanted my daughter to have something from these fabrics to take with her. So I made her a keychain. I cut some 1/2″ strips of three of my favorite fabrics from the quilt. Then I braided them and added the braid to a store-bought key ring. Easy peasy.

Mel's key chain

She loved it and wears it around her neck!

C&T Publishing is a group of quilters and crafters dedicated to publishing products tailored to our audience. This blog is where we break away from book schedules and marketing campaigns to focus on what drives us to be creative and how this creativity manifests itself in our every day lives.