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.
Succulent Christmas Centerpiece
I am a collector of many things. Bottles, craft supplies, fabric, books both old and new, and for the last few years, succulent plants. It all started with the succulents when my sister, Antoinette, gave me one, and my mom gave me another. Then my mom and I toured the Ruth Bancroft Gardens in Walnut Creek and I was hooked.
Now I have about 20 potted succulents and many more in the ground. I love the different colors and all the (Continue Reading...)
My Oldest Sister’s Quilt
One of my resolutions for the new year is to finish some very important quilts. So far, I have made quilts for my boys (two each), my husband, my best friend, and another good friend. But I have not yet gotten around to making a quilt for each of my 4 siblings.
With my new sense of purpose, I started with my oldest sister Antoinette (if you ask her, she will say she is also my favorite sister, but anyone who (Continue Reading...)
Crazy for Judith’s iPhone App
Over a year ago we started creating iPhone apps. We experienced a huge learning curve with the first one, and the curve was even steeper with the second one. The first app was pretty straight-forward though; we converted the Quick & Easy Block Tool. The second was creating three full-feature apps at a great price, all presented within a free intro package, with loads of how-to video clips, step-by-step illustrations of over 15o stitches and stitch combinations, instructions for both (Continue Reading...)
Irwin and Marge, they will be missed
The quilting industry lost two stellar members recently and they will be sorely missed.
Irwin Bear passed away on October 23rd after a short illness. As one of the founders of P&B Textiles, he was a driving force in the quilting industry for over 30 years, bringing quilters everywhere high quality fabrics by the best designers. His sense of purpose and integrity made him a great asset to the industry. His cheery welcome and great laugh made it a delight to (Continue Reading...)
How do you pick a book cover?
Selecting a book cover is a bit like choosing the name of your kid. Once it’s done, it is there to stay. The book is printed and basically stuck with that cover for the duration of it’s life. In all my 10 years at C&T Publishing we have only re-jacketed one book.
This is how the book-naming process goes at C&T: We meet a few times a week to develop title and cover concepts. There are several people in the meeting and (Continue Reading...)
Feeling crafty, feeling better
I was feeling down because I had been sick and had not felt good enough to be creative in a few months. I was looking through a bag of papers and other stuff from Quilt Market in May and I came across this wonderful Our Lady of Guadalupe fabric that I had bought. At first I could not figure out what to do with it, I wanted to make something for my Mom, but was stumped. I even considered making (Continue Reading...)
Fabric Painting with Antoinette
Another craft date with my sister, Antoinette. This time we painted fabric using C&T’s line of Liquitex® paints and inks. We did silk color washing, sun printing and then were not sure what to do next.
My sister brought over a linen table cloth that had been contact stained by being stored wet. It was about 6′ x 10′, yellow, with a red border. Antoinette had bought it at a rummage sale in the hopes of giving it a new life. (Continue Reading...)
Sneak Peek: Collage+Cloth=Quilt by Judi Warren Blaydon
I just looked through the preview pages of one of our upcoming Fall 2010 titles, Collage+Cloth=Quilt, by Judi Warren Blaydon, and it is amazing! The imagery is, in a word, rich. The concept behind the book is that artists can use collages of their own photos as inspiration for stunning, abstract quilts.
It is so fascinating to see how Judi finds just the right fabric to make things work and the quilt results are really interesting. I give Judi and her (Continue Reading...)
Fabulous Fiber Scarf Night
Question: What happens when you combine your mom, your sisters and lots of fiber?
Answer: You get fabulous fiber scarves!
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A Halloween Recipe for Life Long Memories
Last weekend I spent 9 hours over two days making Pac-Man and Clyde the Ghost costumes for my 13 year old son Parker and his best friend Will. I had no pattern to work from and little idea of how to put the garments together, knowing only that the boys wanted dimensional costumes and that I was to create what they described.
Once the boys explained what they wanted, I found a patio table that was about the right size for (Continue Reading...)
