Scrappy Tips will arrive once or twice a month and is short and sweet because we’re all busy. When there’s an event upcoming, I include that, too.
Quilt on!
While I was traveling last month, a book arrived in the mail. According to the invoice, I ordered it while I was away from home.
It’s a great book full of intriguing quilts.
I keep paging through as if that will remind me but so far, no luck.
Then there are these strips, about 500 of them, cut 1-1/4″ x 4-1/2″.
They’re all stacked neatly together as if for a project. But I have no recollection of what it was. A few of the strips are narrower and a few are shorter. Was I just careless or was there a reason?
And then I have these brand-new rolls of 2-1/2″ strips from Robert Kaufman. Why did I buy them?
One is greys and grids by Carolyn Friedlander and the other is beautiful neutral solids.
They really are lovely but I have no hint of what I planned to make with them.
Quilt on,
On Thursday, Feb 24 (just five days away) I’m giving Windy Wonders on Zoom to everyone who’d like to get a ticket and come.
And I know firsthand that their programming is limited by their budgets. So I’ve come up with a plan to make it easier for smaller groups to book a program with Stash Bandit (that’s me!).
The live presentation will be virtual through Zoom.
Available to groups with 50 or fewer members on their paid roster (honor system).*
The fee for a one-hour trunk show of your choice is $10/person on the roster. For example, if you have 35 members, $10 x 35 = $350. (The standard fee is $525.)
You will be guaranteed a seat for every person who registers for the meeting on Zoom.
I will make the remaining seats available to others.
The deadline for your members to register for the meeting is 10 days before. This gives me time to fill the rest of the seats.
For very small groups, I may request a date other than your normal meeting time.
I will limit the number of these programs I do each year.
About a week ago, on Jan. 28, Mary Fons posted a YouTube video called “Stop Cutting Up Quilts to Make Clothes.” A graphic image (below) was used on Instagram to publicize the video.
And the graphic did its job. Not only did it entice me to watch the video, almost 15 thousand other people watched it too. Many of those watched after this became news in the quilt world, but still. For the sake of comparison, Mary has about 8000 subscribers and her videos mostly garner a few hundred views each on YouTube/Twitch.
Mary Fons is the 40-something daughter of quilting superstar Marianne Fons. Marianne and her business partner Liz Porter created an empire of sorts selling magazines, books, videos and tools for quilters, among other things. They became widely known before selling the business.
Mary Fons has long been inside the quilt industry. She hosted Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting television program on PBS, she founded a magazine for beginning modern-leaning sewists called Quilty, she wrote a long-running column for Quilts Inc. (the organization that gives us International Quilt Festival), she more recently served as editor-in-chief of Quiltfolk magazine and she’s an active live-streamer on various quilt topics via YouTube and Twitch. (There’s much, much more to her quilting resume.)
And that’s an understatement. There were quilters at every turn who did not like her and they weren’t shy about saying so. They made awful comments and personal attacks. Mary called them out and forged ahead.
There was a time when I wondered if it wasn’t convenient to ride (into the industry) on her mother’s coattails, but then I heard Mary speak at QuiltCon and she was eloquent. She is smart, she generally does her homework and she isn’t afraid to take a stand.
Part of her background is in theatre and so she is…theatrical. She’s very expressive and it seems like many of her detractors have taken issue with that. But it’s how she communicates—her way of being in the world.
Mary spoke passionately about famous designers like Emily Bode and regular quilters like you and me cutting up quilts to make garments. She strongly opposes the practice and she tells us why.
…wrong, privileged, dramatic, clickbait, condescending, gatekeeping girl boss and more. So much more. The general idea among these folks is “how dare you tell me how I can make art.”
Mary’s YouTube video: What started this storm
Lots of opinions via Reddit: Mostly negative comments
Passion for patchwork: make-do-and-mend hits the Paris catwalk: More about Emily Bode and her fashion designs made from old quilts
Bode’s homepage for lots more quilted clothing: See the weird and wonderful here
I can’t wait to hear what you think.
Quilt on,
Or maybe it’s that we’re sailing into Year Three and that’s disheartening. I’m having a hard time concentrating, organizing, motivating. I think I am not alone.
The start of a new year always feels like a good time to clean up the studio. Of course I do it periodically but I’m no clean freak and my husband would say that I’m a walking tornado. When I can’t see the top of my sewing table, I know it’s time.
Bricks are so easy to cut and sew but the potential for amazing designs is endless! This class is beginner friendly but more experienced makers will gain new insight regarding value, contrast, scale and more. You may choose from several sizes of bricks and you’ll precut so you’re ready to hit the ground running. A ridiculous amount of fun!
This morning I did a Facebook Live for Annie’s Catalog and Quilter’s World.
It was sponsored by Handi Quilter and I quilted live on their HQ Capri, a stationary longarm with 18″ of throat space. It is dreamy.
In this video, I share tips on what questions to ask yourself and I quilt several different kinds of patterns on the HQ Capri. Take a peek, we start officially at about 02:10. You can drag the progress marker to 2:10 if you don’t care to hear the friendly chit-chat at the beginning. 😊
You might wonder why I create online content for companies like Annie’s, Quilter’s World and Handi Quilter.
I do freelance work for companies that provide valuable tools and supplies to quilters around the world. I promote companies I truly believe in. I am paid for my work whether you make a purchase or not so everything is upfront and transparent here. I am honest about what I think you’d use and benefit from.
If you’re new here, welcome! I’m happy to have you. More new content coming soon but right now, I hope you’ll like this!
