From The Quilting Company...... The Power of Yes authored by Mary Kate Karr-Petras is a spotlight on Sherri Lynn Wood and her improvisational style quilt-making. 

photo courtesy of AbramsBooks.com

Sherri Lynn will be the QuiltCon 2019 keynote speaker and her mantra is not to reject but to add what might seem to be a mistake into her quilt with the "yes, and" attitude.  She encourages finding what you do like and grow the quilt from there with the "yes, and" rather than "yes, but" talking-to-self dialog. 

Enjoy reading  Mary Kate's article and get excited all over again about The Power of Yes.....not just for quilt-makers. 

Focus on Fabric ~

Let's focus on Robert Kaufman - the fabric, that is!  Especially the Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun, just out.  

Here's "Maritime Quilt" ~ a free pattern from Robert Kaufman's to help us jump start using that fabric collection.  The pattern, designed by modern quilt designer, Heather Black, who blogs as Quilt-achusetts, also includes hints for matching stripes. 

And the completed Maritime Quilt made by Heather beautifully showcases the Essex Homespun. 



Maritime Quilt
Designed by Heather Black for
Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun Fabric Collection

 

Save My Bleeding Quilt~

Great explanation by Vicki Welsh on how to stop the fabric bleed.....Save My Bleeding Quilt .    You can always find Vicki at Colorways by Vicki..... her website where we can catch up with her on her daily blog, where she sells hand dyed fabrics, where she has gallery upon gallery of her quilts and those of her customers.  

Here's Suzy's view on how to save that quilt, blogged about HERE. 

Both Vicki and Suzy agree that working with what may become problem fabric before cutting is the best solution, there is hope in saving a quilt with fabric bleed after construction.   They also both agree that soaking time is our best friend, that Syntrapol (while a good product) isn't required and that Dawn Ultra Pure dish detergent is their go to soap to get that bleeding job done! 

Hold on to those sparklers

Sparkler fabric collection by AGF Studio is a standout featured in the "Astra" quilt.....a free pattern download - just click HERE.




Astra Quilt Pattern featuring
Sparkler fabric collection
AGF photo credit



 

A Sparkler fabric sampling...just to whet your appetite!

 

AGF photo credit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fearless Quilting The QS 1807

My favorite Quilt Show episode 1807....is free for non-members to watch through December, 2018.  Of course, if you are a QS member, then it's there for you any time.  Oh, the advantages of the privilege to subscribe! 

But back to https://thequiltshow.com/watch/free-shows/video/latest/show-1807....both totally fearless and whose wisdom about pushing the limit and letting go continue to inspire me and help push the fear aside, if even temporarily.  Go see for yourself and watch to the end for Katie and Ricky's dialog on inspiration. 

Fabric Trays! You Don't Say ~

Fun is in the house  - fun to make and fun to share - and can be made for that special person regardless of age.....from a coin catcher for Dad to a pencil holder for the 6 year old or a quilt magazine holding tray for moi.    Fabric trays can be made in many sizes....you choose.  And how fun to sew up a couple with the children.   

Thanks Anna Graham (aka Noodlehead)  for this fabric tray tutorial. 

Fabric Trays by Noodlehead

The Cabbage ~

Diane Redfearn,  Quilters' Guild Acadienne block of the month author,  you have intrigued my interest in revisiting quilts and quilt patterns from our past.  Thank you for each 2018 QGA BOM to date and the history thereof. 

Barbara Brackman's name and books have often been referenced so this morning I  took a look at Barbara's blog, Material Culture:  Quilts and Fabric Past and Present,  and what a historical tale she can weave.  Especially fun was her historical findings about The Cabbage.

Tailor with a head of cabbage 

Whether the customer,  the tailor or seamstress provided the fabric, the leftovers belonged to the
garment maker and were often thrown into a basket found under the cutting table.  Needless to say, when the customer provided the fabric they had the reputation of being stingy!  And when the tailor or seamstress provided the fabric, there would always be plenty of fabric available; thus more leftover for the basket.

The Dreamstress provides a delightful proof of the cabbage (and more historical information) from a 1760 painting by Antoine Raspal of a French sewing workshop where under the table is the basket filled with the cabbage.  It was about this time that cabbaging took up the connotation as we know it today.....a bit of private theft and skimming off the top.

Now I know and thought you would enjoy knowing too.....how precious are our scraps! 

Yesterday Revisited BOM 7 ~

Block 7 - Weathervane

 

This is a block that I was not very familiar with. I don’t remember seeing it in my early years quilting and did not find it in any of my older books. But, it is in Ruby McKim’s book published in 1931, so it has been around for a bit.



 

I was surprised that I was not able to find anything about it online as far as its history. I checked several Civil War Quilt websites to see if I could find it and I didn’t. I would assume by the name to be one of those blocks associated with farming and agriculture as so many of them are and associated with the westward expansion. But, alas I was unsuccessful. What I did find is that I’m not the only one looking for history and information on the all encompassing web and not finding it!
  This is from the website - www.talesofcloth.com/blog

The author is a quilter named Jodi - Hi there! Thanks so much for taking the time to pop over to my website! I'm Jodi, and my husband Tim and I laser cut English Paper Pieces in the old hospital in Castlemaine Victoria, about an hour and a half north of Melbourne, Australia.

Jodi was doing some research and this is from her blog post on March 30, 2915:
Last week I finally branched out and bought Barbara Brackman's　Encyclopedia Of Pieced Quilt Patterns.　I'd been trying to do a lot of my research online, like I used to for my History degree (though I could, back then, access the University Journal Database). I'm learning a lot about quilt historiography in this project. Quilt historians write books, quilt museums don't tell stories unless you take a tour, and a whole century's worth of a whole nation's newspapers and magazines and their quilt block patterns are sitting in libraries around the United States on Microfiche rather than on the internet. (why? WHY?) I'm starting to think a visit to America is in order. Can I stay at yours?
So this week, I bought a book. And I'm excited again. Because it helped me put some big puzzle pieces together. Brackman writes about her interest in collecting old patterns, which then turned into a career as a quilt historian. She talks about the history of published quilt block patterns in America. Newspapers and journals advertised patterns available by mail order. Pop a coin in an envelope and receive the templates! Even as I read that, I got that same buzzy feeling I get while waiting for a fabric order to arrive. I'm so glad for Paypal, but things haven't changed that much, really!

While blocks were mostly shared in periodicals, quilt block names changed by region, but then a few quilting legends started to publish books, and more and more names became canonized.　Enter Ruby Short McKim, a creative and clever business woman with a supportive husband, who together, built a business around her artistic ability and needlework. She first started a quilting column in the Kansas City Star in 1916, and by 1931, she was so recognized and enjoyed that she published her first book,　101 Patchwork Patterns, which includes the first known pattern and mention of the Weathervane. It's　available through the above link for free!　 She writes, however, that the block, "dates back　to the time when great-grandmother used that commodity to "calc’late a change," instead of listening to a scientific forecast on the radio."
Did she just guess the block had been around forever? Or did she know of quilts made from her childhood? I think I need lunch with Barbara.　
 
I felt I had found a kindred spirit in Jodi! If you have an opportunity to check out her website, please do. She has a lot of interesting things there and if you enjoy English Paper Piecing….. well, just grab something to drink and jump in!

 
 
 
 

A pool noodle does what!

How thoughtful that Quilting Digest shared so many inventive ways we quilt makers can use a pool noodle.

Yes, this post is all about Pool Noodles ~   So many resources found here....click on every link to learn more about the bounty the pool noodle provides  and you don't even have to get your feet wet.
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Photo Credit...Fairholme Quilters