Category Archives: Blog

Little Pincushions

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A friend and I went to a new class last week to learn to make little pincushions. Of course, I’ve made pincushions before, as I think most quilters have, We went to the class because we are interested in having the presenter come to our guild.

This is the pincushion I made in class

The class was held at Sew Much Fun in Lowell, near Charlotte, NC. My friend had told me it was a wonderful shop, and indeed it was.

Lesley Storts was the teacher. I’ve known of her for some time, but she used to be in Ohio and I only recently learned she had moved to North Carolina.

Lesley Storts

It looks like Lesley’s interest started with vintage glass and then she and her daughter got to making little pincushions in the vessels she collected.

Some of Lesley’s pincushions

Lesley did a great job of teaching to students with variable levels of experience. The class included someone who literally needed assistance threading a needle and others who had been sewing for years. Best of all, Lesley’s pincushion technique is totally different from mine, so I learned a lot!

And Lesley is really into this pincushion thing. In addition to her vintage vessels she has a potter make little bases especially for her pincushions. We enjoyed seeing her collection.

OK, Lesley is REALLY into little pincushions!

You can go to Lesley’s blog and see a number of YouTubes of her techniques. Or, if you live near Charlotte, go take a class with her. My friend and I both enjoyed it!

 

Anniversary

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Back at the beginning of June I marked (or failed to mark in print) the 10th anniversary of my blog.

My blogging friend Andrea recently reviewed her stats and noted her most popular posts. I almost never look at my stats because I’m writing this for fun, not for fame, but I liked her idea. So because of her I’m going to review several things I found interesting when looking at my stats.

First up: Where in the world are my readers? One of the things I love about blogging is the opportunity to exchange ideas with people I’m unlikely to encounter otherwise. Not surprisingly, most of my readers are in the U.S., followed by Canada, Australia, and the U.K. generally. After that there are a number of European countries, other English-speaking countries, and some countries I never heard of!

A blogging friend in South Africa wrote about her borage, so I planted some and it’s beginning to bloom! The circle shows a little hitch-hiker I found on the plant.

I have had no readers from Greenland or most of the countries in the African interior.

Pinterest and the WordPress app itself are the most frequent source of viewers. I know people often click on pins (Pinterest) from my blog because of the pages on which they land when visiting me. Many visitors come to this post I wrote years ago about Jo Glover, one of the original Big Stitch quilters. I expect it’s because of the pictures of some of her work, including this one:

Some Big Stitch quilting by Jo Glover

As for other popular posts, of course many people visit the home page and About Me pages. Another frequently-viewed post is about AQS Quilt Week in Chattanooga in 2016, possibly also because there were so many quilts from there added to Pinterest.

But the thing I enjoy most about blogging, regardless of stats, is encountering other quilters and their ideas. I’ve only met one blogging friend in person, but I’m hoping to meet others one of these days.

Laura visited in 2021 and was the first blogging friend I met in person.

In looking at some of these older posts, I’m surprised to see how long I’ve been exchanging comments with some of these friends. Some blogging friends have disappeared, to Instagram or otherwise, and I’m sorry to see them go. I did finally subscribe to Instagram just so I can see what’s going on with my friend Chela (colchas_y_mas), but it isn’t really a habit yet. And I’m pretty busy, so maybe it never will be. I did manage to post one picture so far 😀

Based on this review, I have a suggestion for friends who are trying to get more traffic to their blogs: Post your stuff on Pinterest. And I have it on good authority that your blog can be sent over to Instagram. I haven’t figured it out yet, but that might drive traffic to your blog as well.

I’m just happy to have met so many people through my blog, regardless of traffic in general. And to all my followers and commenters, THANKS!

Food For Thought

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Of course I read a number of blogs and thought I’d pass on links to a couple I enjoyed.

The first post  is by a blogging friend,

Photo courtesy of Andrea herself!

Andrea Huelsenbeck.

She recently wrote a blog entitled “What Happens to Your Blog After You Die or Lose Interest in It?”

Click this link to read her post.

Because of this post, I am leaving specific instructions for a family member to delete my blog when I die.

I wrote a few years ago about making arrangements for a friend to dispose of the contents of my quilt studio after my death. That’s an important thing to consider, too, since often a quilter’s heirs don’t know what half “that stuff” is or what to do with it.

 

Then there’s is Leo Babauta’s post on intellectual property and why he doesn’t copyright his blog.

zenhabits.net/uncopyright/

I’ve followed Leo’s blog off and on for years because we share some of the same values and I like his perspective. It is because of his example that I have very little in the margins of my blog, while many of my colleagues have numerous icons, lists, etc. His example also helped me to decide against affiliate links in my blog.

A blog needs pictures, so here’s one of Leo. I just lifted it from his blog without worrying about it 😀

author2

Photo courtesy of Zen Habits

Of course this is really a quilting blog, so here are pictures of a couple of quilts one of my groups recently made for Flying Horse Farms, a camp in Ohio that serves children with serious illness. The fabric draped in the upper corner is a pillowcase to go with the quilt.

Let me know what you think of the blog posts referenced above.

Interview: Sherry of Powered by Quilting

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I recently ran across this quilt by Sherry Shish, of Powered By Quilting, and I’m very impressed with it. It’s a great mix of traditional and modern looks

Simply Cornered, as shown on Sherry’s website

I contacted Sherry and asked a few questions, which she graciously answered. Here’s The interview:

Q:  How did you get into quilting, how long have you been doing it, and when did you decide to make it professional?

A: I had been hand sewing and doing other crafts for many years before I learned how to sew on a machine.  I’ve been quilting for just over 5 years now and I fell in love with all the different aspects of quilting.  I started pretty early designing patterns since I really love seeing my ideas and my style of quilts.

Q: Where do you get your design ideas?

A: Everywhere… but I find it easier to put self constraints on what I’m designing to help narrow the focus.  I really love secondary designs (like really love them) so a ton of my patterns have a secondary design.  I create, iterate, rotate, recolor, and repeat several times before I land on a design that I love and want to make.

Q: You’ve got a lot going on with social media. How much time does it take?

A: Social media is hard… It’s necessary, but sometimes I’d rather just be me and pretty pictures are not reality.  I should spend more time on social media, but I find I give what I can and that has to be good enough.

Q: What are your goals for your quilting business? What are your goals for your quilting art?

A: I would love to make it my main source of income, but I have a good day job that makes it very difficult to balance time and commitments.  There are things that I would love to be able to do such as kit more of my patterns, teach, lecture, etc. but time is precious and there are things that I’m still prioritizing over adding to the business side to make sure I keep my sanity and don’t burnout in life in general.

Back to the quilt that impressed me: It certainly does have a great secondary design. I drew it in EQ8 and re-colored it because I think it would be striking if done all in one color.

My EQ8 drawing based on Sherry Shish’s pattern “Simply Cornered”

It appears Sherry has made the pattern available already to her Patreon subscribers, and she also sewed it on her Twitch channel in January. It will be available through her PayHip store in March, and you can pre-order here.

I will be making this pattern and following Sherry’s blog. Please join me in wishing her luck!

 

Eight Years

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I’ve now been blogging weekly for 8 years. One of the best things about it is “meeting” people from all over the world and reading about what they are doing. Some of them have been at it even longer than I have, though many of the bloggers I’ve “met” have since quit writing.

Here are my current favorite quilts from each of the years I’ve been blogging.

Rising star art quilt

Rising Star, made for the Quilt Alliance TWENTY contest in 2013

quilt photo

My Zippy Star Quilt and Pillow as shown in Modern Quilts Unlimited, Summer 2014

modern quilt

Happy Squares, designed and made by me, 2015

improvisational quilt

Cherrywood Toss, 2016.

scrap quilt

Scrap quilt made with strips that finish 1″ wide, 2017

Equilateral Triangles, 2018

My “Little Green Man” quilt, June 2019

“Clamshells? Really?” 2020

I’m going to delete many of the older posts since I doubt they are serving any purpose at this time. I have had a book made for each year, as suggested by my friend Linda, so I can always look back at them if I want.

7 Years and Counting!

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As of this month, I’ve been blogging here every Sunday for 7 years!  I’ve debated what to do for my blogiversary, having largely skipped it last year.  My decision is to show my favorite quilt from each year I’ve blogged.  So here we go…

First year blogging:

scrap quilt

My entry for the Quilt Alliance Challenge 2014; I think it won a judge’s choice award

Second year:

I designed this quilt for Modern Quilts Unlimited

Third year:

Improv Table Runner for Modern Quilts Unlimited

Fourth year:

Quilt I designed from a QR code used by Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Northwest, shown here with their staff

Fifth year:

My donation to the Quilt Alliance auction was used in their publicity

Sixth year:

My “Little Green Man” quilt included Kraft-Tex applique

Seventh year:

I’ll have more to say about “Fiddlesticks” next week

Thanks for reading, and please stay tuned for Year 8 🙂

Gypsy Wife Adopted

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The Gypsy Wife quilt is quilted, and bound, and ready to go to its “forever home”, as our daughter calls it when one of the animals she fosters is adopted.Gypsy Wife quilt

I recently read a post listing pictures we supposedly should take of every quilt, and thought “not”. I think Rita, at Red Pepper Quilts, does one of the best jobs anywhere on her photos and posts about her quilts. She includes enough pictures for me to get a good idea of the quilt. Even better, she lists “statistics” about each quilt at the end of the post. So here’s my attempt:

First, a picture showing the back and giving a closer view of the binding:Binding gypsy wife quilt

Then, a picture of my favorite block. OK, that wasn’t Rita’s idea, but I like it 🙂

A picture showing the quilting:

Gypsy Wife Quilt

Pattern:  Gypsy Wife by Jen Kingwell, with several modifications by me

Fabric: Just A Speck collection by Jen Kingwell,

Moda Grunge in various colors

And a few others

Finished Size:  61” x 66”

OK, did any of those pictures or details add to your experience of the quilt?

Happy Blog Year to Me

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My blog just entered its 5th year, and I’m celebrating by linking to some blogs written by my blog-world friends.

First, two of my blog friends have nominated my blog for another Liebster Award.  This award was started by a blog called The Global Aussie as a way for people to find new blogs.  I have no idea how many times it’s gone around the world, but the Global Aussie keeps issuing new “rules” each year to keep it going.

I was nominated by both my friend Graciela, at Chela’s Colchas y Mas, and by another friend, Tierney, at Tierney Creates.  Both of them post on a variety of subjects, quilting and otherwise.  I enjoy them and would nominate them back if I could, but of course that would not be passing along the award.  So, I recommend checking out their blogs at the links above.  As an incentive, here’s a favorite picture recently posted by Tierney on her blog.  Isn’t it fantastic?

Photo by Tierney at TierneyCreates.com

I’ll answer a few of this year’s suggested questions in a minute, for those of you who may be curious about me.  But first, here are some blogs I enjoy and can recommend to you.  They are, therefore, my nominations for the Liebster Award.  I’m trying to get this out of one circle of friends who all read each others’ blogs so you can see something new.

  1. I enjoy Stephanie’s posts at My Imperfect Life.  She has a pointy sense of humor, and we have Texas in common, even though hers is an Aggie household (eek!). Oh yes, and she blogs about quilts, too.

    Here is one of Stephanie’s quilts. Photo courtesy of Stephanie at My Imperfect Life

  2. I also enjoy Crafting in the 21st Century, written by a couple who, like my husband and me, are a sewist and a woodworker.  I knew I had to follow them when they encased a bunch of fire ants in resin to make a blank for turning a pen. They’re obviously as crazy as we are.  In a good way 🙂

OK, here are my responses to a few of this year’s Liebster Award questions:

  1. Out of all the countries you have visited, which one did you like the most?  Canada.  The Canadians are mostly very sane, and they have some beautiful scenery.
  2. What is the most extreme thing you have ever done?  Woo!  People who know me would say this is quite a contest.  But I think probably the winner would be working as a health care provider in a male maximum security prison.
  3. What/Who inspires you to travel this world?  The opportunity to learn something new every day!

And that’s it!  Check out the blogs who nominated me, and the blogs I’ve nominated. Spread the love!

 

 

Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show, Part 2

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There has been so much going on (that’s good!) I haven’t had a chance to post the rest of my favorites from my local guild show.  Here are a few more of them.

Please note that this is a local show, so most of the quilts were made from patterns or workshops. I’ll list the source where I have it.

Jen Kingwell qult

Jen Kingwell design beautifully done by Susan Roper

traditional qult

Traditional design made “to use up scraps”

Our guild has a very active group making Quilts of Valor for men and women who have served in the military. The next two were made for that program.

Quilts of Valor

Inspired by a design on the Alycia Quilts blog

Illusions quilt

Design by Jenny Doan for Missouri Star Quilt Company

modern paper piecing

Design from the book Modern Paper Piecing was both pieced and quilted by Linda

Amish modern quilt

Debby designed and made this quilt after a study of Amish quilts

rainbow quilt

Quilt is based on a Mind the Gap design by Moda. Karen cleverly named it after her “mistake” in placing the green strips!

Gray quilt

Christeen designed this quilt herself, and I think the name should get a humor award!

Modern log cabin quilt

Betty designed and made this quilt for a log cabin challenge

Detail view. Pattern is by Kathy Wells.

From a pattern by Kathy Wells

I’m lucky to live near so many talented quilters!

Where Did You Wear It?

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A couple of years ago I made a quilt based on the little triangle codes found on plants at my local nursery.  It sank without a trace when I entered it in a show.

But the idea stayed with me, and earlier this year, when I wanted to make a quilt with social significance, I decided on a QR code.

Since my “day job” involves a lot of treating conditions that condoms might have prevented, I wanted to make a quilt to promote condom use. It’s what we like to call “safer sex”. Now don’t get all huffy on me; sex is a fact of life.

When I went looking for a condom-related QR code, I found this one developed by Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands.

Where Did You Wear It campaign

The folks at Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and Hawaiian Islands were gracious enough to allow me to use their QR code

Back in 2012 they put this QR code on all their condoms in a campaign called “Where Did You Wear It?”. Those who scan the code are taken to a website where they can put a pin in a map to show their geographic location–where they wore the condom!

The site also gives some important facts about condom use. The point of their campaign, and my point in making this quilt for show, is to normalize, encourage, and promote the use of condoms when needed.

It turns out QR codes are robust little devils, so I was able to re-color it and develop a lively quilt design with the use of my trusty Electric Quilt program:

Where Did You Wear It campaign

Quilt Design from the “Where Did You Wear It?” QR code

Making this was quite a challenge!  At each step I kept scanning it to be sure it took me to the “Where Did You Wear It?” site.  (You can download any of several QR code scanners to your smart phone or iPad. I used QMark.)

Asheville Quilt Show

The QR Code quilt, ready for its first show. It will the in the Asheville Quilt Show soon!

When I discussed the project with my wonderful son-in-law, he helped me turn my blog address into a QR code, too!  That’s this blog address you see in the TINY QR code making up one block toward the bottom right of the quilt. Scanning it brings you to this post.

Please help me to encourage condom use when appropriate by sharing this post.