A Bit Of Quilty Gossip

Let's face it.  Most of us enjoy a bit of gossip from time to time.  I'm not talking about malicious gossip.  I'm not a fan of that.  The quilt industry is going through a lot of changes now, so lots of interesting things are happening.  Some seem good and some seem not so good. These past 2 weeks have been full of goings on.

Keepsake Quilting - Have you been?  It used to be a destination for summer travel up in NH.  I haven't heard much about it lately, other than receiving their catalogs.  I think Missouri Star has become the quilting destination.  I guess Keepsake has been in need of a facelift and one of my favorite fabric vendors is going to be doing it.  Pineapple Fabrics has bought Keepsake!

I first saw the gang from Pineapple Fabrics when I was vending at the AQS show in Syracuse a few years ago.  It was a bunch of young guys with a decorated food type truck decked out with fabric.  I heard it was a redecorated stripper truck from Vegas.  I'm not really sure if that's true or not, but you can't miss it.

The people who own Pineapple Fabrics have a very interesting history that I didn' know about until I read the article about the takeover.  They have been in the fabric business for generations and have been in the pre-cut business and do it for lots of the big name fabric companies.  They plan on bringing Keepsake back to its former glory and then some.  You can read  more about it HERE and visit Pineapple Fabrics website HERE.

Exposure is a word that I have come to detest. We deserve to be paid for our work, just as everyone else.  It has value.  Exposure does not pay the bills or feed your family.   DMC, the premier embroidery floss company has not been receiving much popular press lately.  They have been running a design contest.  Their goal is to offer 1,000 free stitching designs on their website.  What's the problem? They are offering no compensation to the designers.  Not only is there to be no payment, DMC retains all the rights to the designs. The designs were to be posted to DMC's contest Instagram account (DMCxstitchcontest). So what are designers to do?  They revolted and posted rebellious embroidery designs.  Some of them I can't repeat  here, but one of my favorites that I can share is:"If I wanted exposure, I'd become a Nudist! Pay Artists".  There was such an uproar that DMC is now offering a pittance of compensation - one $500 prize.

If you're a Bonnie Hunter fan, you have probably hear this.  She is expanding her Quiltville empire to include a retreat center.

Bonnie has to be one of the most generous authors/designers and she deserves all good things.  She has an inordinate amount of energy and travels non-stop.  This will be a wonderful place for her to "hang her hat" when she's ready to slow down on travel.  I can't wait to watch it take place.  You can read about it HERE.  Definitely sign up for her email list if you want to follow along.

And finally, there are big changes at Cotton & Steel.  There was so much excitement at RJR Fabrics in 2013 when they formed a division with  a group of  5 designers to capture the modern quilt fabric market. Not only was the fabric innovative, but their means of marketing was too.  Sadly,  it was just announced that the original designers are moving on. There will be new designers and new concepts. Let's hope for the best.  They really had some wonderful fabric.

Now that I've been a gossip columnist for the day, it's time to get back to work! Just kidding.  I have lots of fabric to iron and cut, because.....tomorrow I am taking a busman's holiday.  I'm heading back to NYC with some friends to take a workshop with Victoria Findlay Wolfe in her loft!!!! I hope to take lots of photos to share.

A Scrappy Chanukah

 

It all started with a Bonnie Hunter workshop.  After deciding to make the scrappy workshop quilt from my Chanukah stash, I first cut up the larger pieces of fabric to make pillowcases for

 ConKerr Cancer, an organization that provides cheerful pillowcases to children with cancer.  They would be perfect for the Jewish kids during Chanukah.    I was able to make 9 pillowcases.  You can read more details in this blog post.

It started me down the road of using up all of my Chanukah fabrics that I started collecting in 1996.  It was truly time to get rid of them. With all the Judaic patterns that I have designed over many years, I never have used a Chanukah themed fabric.

 

It started with Bonnie's Scrappy Bargello pattern. 

 

Then I made the border by cutting hundreds of 1 1/2" strips.

 

I named the finished quilt "A Multitude of Menorahs".

 

But I still had scraps and pieces of fabric left , so I decided to make tablerunners.

 

I ended up with 3 tablerunners and finally used up ALL of my Chanukah fabric.

 

To night is the first night of Chanukah. We will light one candle using the candle in the middle.

 It lasts for 8 nights  more candle.

 

Tonight my kids will come over for our traditional dinner.

We will light the menorah, stuff ourselves with potato latkes (pancakes) and exchange gifts.

 

 Wishing a Happy Chanukah to all who celebrate.

 

Staging Quilt Photos

Have you ever noticed that some bloggers have absolutely gorgeous photos? 

I have noticed this mostly with food bloggers, even the amateur cooks. 

They make the food look so yummy that you can't wait to try the recipe. 

 

Some quilters have that same talent.  The lighting, the angle all make the quilt or the fabric look drop dead gorgeous.  It makes you want to come back, over and over again just for the eye candy. 

Is it a talent or a special eye or do they take classes? 

 

 How much time do they actually spend staging that shot.

 Is it intuitive or does it take a lot of work?

 

During our quilting retreat, I had a conversation with my friend Sujata, who has that special talent for making her quilts look beautiful in the photos on her blog:  www.therootconnection.blogspot.com

So after the gang left, I decided to put some effort into making beautiful eye candy photos.  After they read this, they will be laughing their a$$e$ off, because sometimes you just can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear (that would be me!)

 

I took the projects I had made during our retreat outside.  It was an overcast beautiful Fall afternoon.  I thought the light would be perfect.

 

I took my scrappy quilt I started during Bonnie Hunter's workshop and finished during our retreat and draped it between some trees. It looked great and very stylized.  But you cannot see the quilt pattern.

 

 

So then I draped it over the picnic table where you could see the pattern, but it did look a bit static, but more fun than just pinning it to my design wall.

 

 I decided to move onto the other things I actually finished.  In my quest to use up  my Chanukah fabric I also made  a bunch of pillowcases for ConKerrCancer 

 and I made 4 sets of polar fleece hats and scarves.  The later was for my quilt guild's monthly community outreach project, to be given to the homeless.

 

I thought it would be appealing to stage the photo of the scarves and hats draped over our rowboat.  The rowboat was on our dock, upside down.

 

It looked so beautiful with the scarves flapping gently in the breeze. 

(I placed a pillowcase that was in a plastic baggie, inside of each hat to keep it from blowing away.)

 

I was having a lot of fun trying different "layouts" when a big gust of wind blew one of the hats with the pillowcase inside into the lake.  Arghhhhh!

The two quickly separated.

 

 I don't know what happened to the hat, but the pillowcase bobbed along, heading closer and closer to shore.  I grabbed a long stick and hoped for the best.

 

I walked along the shore hoping I could reach it from one of the docks.  I was so disappointed as it floated by.  It then started coming closer to the shore.  I didn't want to leave anything to chance so I decided to really reach for it to try and snag it before it got away.  I was just thinking about the child with cancer that could really use that pillowcase.

 

Before I was to make that final reach, I thought that maybe I should take my camera out of my pocket and leave it on the shore.  That was the best decision I made that day.  I stepped onto a partially submerged rock to reach for the pillowcase and it must have been covered with algae.  It was really slippery and there I slid, into the lake!

 

The good news was that I was able to grab the baggie.  The water was not too cold, I had left my camera on shore and there was no one there to see a grown woman dripping in lake water, laughing her you know what off!!!!

 

The moral of the story for me - use the design wall.  No hazard involved.

 

 

Wednesday's Wanderings #43 - Sewing with Bonnie Hunter

Bonnie Hunter is our guest speaker at my quilt guild this month.  She is the Queen of scrap quilts.  You have to visit her website, www.Quiltville.com .  It is chock full of free tips and patterns. But, it would be even better, if you want to use up a bunch of fabric or scraps, to take a workshop with her. 

Yesterday, I took her Scrappy Bargello workshop. 

 You can see the quilt here.

For weeks before the wokshop, I would look at my stash to decide what type of colors I wanted to use. I waivered back and forth between modern, clear colors or neutral batiks or blue and white. 

 This past weekend I decided to use a bunch of fabric that I have been saving since 1996.  When I started designing Judaic  quilt patterns, I thought I needed to have all the Chanukah fabric that was ever printed.  After a while I realized I never used them in any of my designs. 

So this was the perfect opportunity to use up a bunch. 

First I cut out enough fabric to make pillow cases for ConKerr Cancer.  This would be good for any Jewish kids  that were stuck in the hospital during Chanukah.  Then I cut up the left over fabric for my scrappy Bargello quilt.

Bonnie is a tireless quilter.  You can see her quilt in the background of the photo.

This is an easy, full steam ahead type of quilt to sew. 

Here is half of the top that I completed during the workshop:

I can't wait to sew the second half and then try some other scraps.

So my WW is spending a day sewing with Bonnie and then listening to her talk. 

It is hard to see the Bargello design in this mini,

 but it will certainly remind me of what I did this week.

A great way to spend part of my week.

Have you been to Quiltville?

Stop #4 of the Quilt Fiesta Book Blog Tour:  www.Quiltville.blogspot.com
Bonnie Hunter is one amazing quilter.  I have never seen a more hard working and generous professional.  After you check out her blog, you must check out her website:  www.Quiltville.com

Bonnie teaches, travels and is a designer.  Her focus is scrap quilts and you can find close to 50 free patterns on her website. (I did say she was generous.) She also supports many charitable causes as well as encourages fledgling authors!  Actually she is teaching in Germany as her blog was posted for this book tour.

And don't forget you can still go to the first 3 stops of the book blog tour to comment for a chance to win a book.  Remember to include your e-mail address.......just in case.

 http://pinkadotquilts.blogspot.com/                  2/22/11      Day#1
http://www.quiltsoupblog.com/                         2/23/11        Day #2
http://grandmacocosdesigns.blogspot.com/     2/24/11       Day #3
http://quiltville.blogspot.com                             2/25/11        Day #4
http://fingerlakesart.blogspot.com                    2/26/11        Day #5
 http://cyarnell.blogspot.com                             2/27/11         Day #6
http://amyscreativeside.com/                           2/28/11         Day #7
http://therootconnection.blogspot.com             3/1/11           Day #8              http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com                            3/2/11           Day #9
http://CherylLynchQuilts.blogspot.com           3/3/11           Day #10

Here's a fun contest - How would you like to design a fun sock and get paid to do it?  Go to:http://www.sockittome.com/blog/   It's their annual contest and you should see some of the designs.    Quilty socks anyone?