Year: 2015

Welcome to Episode No. 165 of the Off-Kilter Quilt Podcast (Where a Straight Line’s a State of Mind). My name is Frances, and I’m your hostess.

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Making some progress on those Dresden Plates …

Want to quilt along? Check out Sherri D’s blog for more info:

http://lazyquilter.blogspot.com/2015/05/have-plate-of-goodness.html

My 1930s fabrics:

The Modern Dresden Block:

Interesting article on the limits of local economies:

Fun video from Angela Walters:

http://thequiltshow.com/daily-blog/142-newsletter/23441-three-things-machine-quilters-should-stop-doing

Welcome to Episode No. 164 of the Off-Kilter Quilt Podcast (Where a Straight Line’s a State of Mind). My name is Frances, and I’m your hostess.

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Big Star! Big finish! (Click for a better look at the quilting)

Basket block!

Basket Block tutorial courtesey of Jaye, the Artquiltmaker:

http://www.artquiltmaker.com/blog/2015/03/sampler-quilt-basket-pt-1/

http://www.artquiltmaker.com/blog/2015/04/sampler-quilt-basket-pt-2/

Half-square triangles tutorial courtesy of Jaye, the Artquiltmaker:

http://www.artquiltmaker.com/blog/2011/09/triangle-technique/

A great interview with Mary Fons:

http://www.whyquiltsmatter.org/welcome/discussion-guide-qa-with/why-quilts-matter-question-and-answer-with-mary-fons/

Check out Hip to Be a Square Pam in this great video:

https://vimeo.com/126226767

Welcome to this archive episode of the Off-Kilter Quilt Podcast (Where a Straight Line’s a State of Mind). My name is Frances, and I’m your hostess.

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Big Star–almost done, but I still have some binding to sew on. Please note threads, tape showing where I need to repair some stitches, etc.

Moody, black and white Big Star.

This week’s links:

The 5 Most Wrong Things People Believe about Quilts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8XvD1rDvVM&feature=share

UNC-TV ran a piece on NC Folk, where I volunteer, Wednesday. It starts around 9:55 :

http://www.unctv.org/content/?hc_location=ufi

An interesting piece on altered quilts from Barbara Brackman’s blog:

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2015/04/altered-quilts.html

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

This week’s Save our Story from the Quilt Alliance:

http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos/interview.php?kid=14-31-317        

Welcome to this archive episode of the Off-Kilter Quilt Podcast (Where a Straight Line’s a State of Mind). My name is Frances, and I’m your hostess.

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Where I am in the quilting process … click on the pic for a better view:

An interesting doctoral thesis about quilts on display, if you have a few hours (or days):

http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2468&context=etd

This week’s Save Our Stories story from the Quilt Alliance:

http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos/interview.php?kid=14-31-ECB

Barbara Brackman’s Civil War Quilts site–worth it for the photographs alone:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/

Have a great week!

Welcome to this archive episode of the Off-Kilter Quilt Podcast (Where a Straight Line’s a State of Mind). My name is Frances, and I’m your hostess.

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Some views of the Big Star quilt:

1. The border:

2. Quilting-in-progress shot number 1:

3. Q-i-P shot number 2:

Below: The signature on the quilt Dawn inherited from her MIL:

Random Cool Stuff:

Want to learn about Southern Culture? UNC’s preeminent scholar of Folklore, Bill Ferris, has a free online course via coursera. This link is to a section on quilting: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-south/lecture/2Axuw/quilting

Tutorial on machine binding (back and front)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w_byQ8c-Ak

Quilt Alliances “Not Fade Away” conference that I’ll be attending in July: http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/support/NotFadeAway2015.php

Some very cool antique “modern” quilts: http://quiltaddictsanonymous.com/2015/03/national-quilt-museum-open-new-exhibits-featuring-modern-antique-nine-patch-quilts/

Books

Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe

Bettyville by George Hodgman

Welcome to this archive episode of the Off-Kilter Quilt Podcast (Where a Straight Line’s a State of Mind). My name is Frances, and I’m your hostess.

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Above: The In the Garden quilt–a BOM quilt I started several years ago. Two more blocks to go! Ideas about sashing? Btw, the blocks are not arranged in any particular way yet, so don’t worry if you think it looks sort of awful the way the blocks are now.

Below: The first draft of the quilt I’m making for my friend Sarah (who I think is mad at me, but maybe the quilt will make everything okay):

I thought the quilt looked kind of boring, so I made two very cool strips of half-square triangles alternated with gray squares, one for the top, one for the bottom, each one about three inches in, if that makes sense. You’ll see when I show you the finished quilt.

Books I’ve read or am reading:

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. Maybe not her best, but still pretty good. As my friend Barbara says, check it out from the library, don’t buy it.

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy. I highly recommend this (I checked it out, but you won’t feel ripped off if you buy it).

The Essential Ellen Willis. This is a collection of essays by the rock critic Ellen Willis, who died in 2011. Some of the essays are about music, others are about feminism, art, culture, etc. Very smart and enjoyable.

Need help piecing batting together? I liked this:

http://www.rebelcraftmedia.com/2015/02/how-to-piece-batting/

See you soon!

Welcome to this archive episode of the Off-Kilter Quilt Podcast (Where a Straight Line’s a State of Mind). My name is Frances, and I’m your hostess.

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At last, the Mosaic quilt, finished! Enjoy the views!

Updated: The Man made a Mosaic Quilt video–you can watch it here:

Other points of interest:

Barbara Brackman’s fabric line, The Morris Jewels, based on the designs of William Morris:

http://www.modafabrics.com/fcc_the-morris-jewels.pdf

An interesting article about whether or not decluttering makes a difference in our lives:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/opinion/the-clutter-cures-illusory-joy.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0

The Craftsy class I took about bindings: Finishing School: Edges and Bindings with Mimi Dietrich

The book I read for my book group and highly recommend: The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez

August Wilson on American Masters:

http://video.pbs.org/program/american-masters/

Welcome to this archive episode of the Off-Kilter Quilt Podcast (Where a Straight Line’s a State of Mind). My name is Frances, and I’m your hostess.

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From the More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same files:

Cover of Home Arts Needcraft, 1939

And its bottom headline:

Antique yo-yo quilt found in Waxhaw, NC:

Interesting blog posts on Quilt Economics:

http://www.sewmamasew.com/2014/01/placing-a-value-on-your-quilting/

http://www.mooreapproved.com/2015/02/quiltonomics-the-real-cost-of-quilts/

Oral History–a 2002 interview with quilt artist Carolyn Mazloomi

http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-carolyn-mazloomi-11504

Read about the Heritage Quilters in this issue of the N.C. Folklore Society Journal (the article begins on page 36):

Click to access NCFJ592.pdf

Profiles of some of the Heritage Quilters (Warrenton, NC)

Wallace Evans: http://ncfolk.org/hvw/artists/wallace-evans/

Portia Hawes: http://ncfolk.org/hvw/artists/portia-hawes/

Have a great week!

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I just realized I don’t have any pictures to show you. Well, there’s always Travis … before his most recent grooming …

and after:

Did you know that in 1992 quilters nationwide threatened to march on Washington if the Smithsonian continued to sell reproduction American quilts made in China? Here’s an article: http://articles.courant.com/1992-11-16/news/0000109829_1_quilt-licensing-smithsonian-institution

Quilts, quiltmakers and value–An interesting letter from a quiltmaker to the the band the Decemberists: http://huntersdesignstudio.com/2015/01/22/an-open-letter-to-the-decemberists-quilts-and-their-makers-have-value/

Fun Facebook Group to Join: Quilting Bee. Lots of great pix–you’ll be inspired daily!

Turns out men quilt, too.http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-male-quilters-cafam-manmade-20150125-story.html#page=1

Have a great week!

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Let’s start with some Mosaic pix!

The front, so far:

And the back, which is looking sort of busy …

Okay, stuff I’ve picked up around the interwebs this week:

Article on quilter Joe Cunningham in American Craft

http://craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/crazy-quilts

The article begins,

You can see a video about Robert Rauschenberg’s sculpture, “Bed” here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvpp2lAD9iY

 Also from American Craft, an interview with Denyse Schmidt:

http://craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/craft-community

More on Joe Cunningham–here is a recent and very interesting post from his blog worth pondering:

http://joethequiltercunningham.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-coming-wave.html#comment-form

Interesting article on why we love beautiful things:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/why-we-love-beautiful-things.html

 The Gee’s Bend documentary:

http://vimeo.com/50454661

Interested in cool documentaries in general? I recommend you sign up for Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/

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I’ve finished quilting the mosaic blocks! Now only the white blocks remain.

Another view. And one of the back …

And another one, which for some reasons is a totally different color …

And now on to the negative space!

BTW, I think I say that Annie Smith thing about practicing for your next quilt three or four times over the course of the quilt diaries. Sorry. I mean, it’s true, but you don’t need to hear it three or four times.

Books I got for Christmas:

Some Luck by Jane Smiley

We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas

Making History: Quilts and Fabrics from 1890-1970 by Barbara Brackman

Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000 by Roderick Kiracofe

(Kiracofe is also the author of The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort)

Thanks to Barbara A. for sending me this link about sewists (a word I’m not crazy about, but this post from Barbara Brackman makes a good point):

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2015/01/sewers.html