It's been a while

I've been missing in action for a while, but I'm back now and excited to begin preparations for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival in two weeks (May 18  to June 12).
I've never participated before, but I'd like to this time. Now to pick a suitable quilt . . .

If I knew how, I'd add Amy's BQF button to my page. Anyone who can help?

Now what?

    This is where I am on the Texas Braid. I wanted to make a large throw, so I don't want it much bigger than this, but I do think it needs another border. I thought I wanted a blue with cinnamon, but I don't have anything that goes. The ladies in my "late night" group think I should go with a dark blue and I think that would work if I have anything in the right color.

    I haven't had much time to work on it, so maybe this week . . .
    I'm starting to battle seasonal allergies. Is anyone else?
    I'm linking this to Judy's Design Wall Monday to see what everyone else is working on. I know I spend a lot of time each week getting inspiration from all the shared projects!

Leah nailed it!

     I’ve been reading about the Great Copyright Controversy between a famous designer, a publishing company and a quilt book author and I think Leah’s post here nails all the issues, plus her own unique perspective. Here is mine.
     I’ve been noticing as I surf the net lately how many bloggers seem to be hooked on using designer fabrics in their quilts, and often they’re using a single line. That’s a design decision, and certainly every quilter has a right to use the fabrics she loves, but I wonder where this came from? My theory is this is something promoted by the fabric companies to sell more of their wares. Where I might pick 1 or 2 from a line, some people go in and buy everything in it. That could be 20 or 30 fabrics in all the colorways. A plus for doing this is that the quilter can be sure all the colors go together.
     I don’t want to do that because I’m a scrap quilter and I want a lot of variety. I’ve spent 20 years building my stash so I can have choices. If I want blue, I have a bunch. The same with reds, oranges, yellows, greens and so on. I love the modern fabrics, but I’m just beginning to add them into my stash and I couldn’t do a so-called modern quilt if I wanted to. I love the look but I don’t have those fabrics. If I see a modern quilt that I love, I’ll interpret it in the fabrics I have.
     Now, I doubt I’ll be adding those designers into my stash. I’m highly offended that a designer could imagine that she has a right to limit my use of a product I’ve purchased. What is that fabric company thinking in agreeing to such a restriction? I’m not going to promote her wishes by naming her here. I’ll never buy her fabric, and that’s too bad. I like her designs.
     The controversy had its roots in a promotional tote bag which was to hype a book, “Scrap Republic,” by Emily Cier for C&T Publishing. Moda, a very large, popular fabric company, sent fabric to Emily to use in the book, including the line of fabric by She Who Doesn’t Want Her Fabric Used (SWDWHFU). I haven’t bought the book, so I' haven’t seen the quilt in question, but C&T admittedly took one of the book’s photos, cropped it to show off the fabric and used it on the tote. The apparently insecure (or greedy?) SWDWHFU took exception to the tote’s use of her fabric, hired a lawyer and everything quickly went to Hell in a handcart.
     This is all public record. It’s all over the quilting blogosphere. I decided to weigh in because I think the whole thing stinks. I’m upset primarily with SWDWHFU, who isn’t happy getting a contract with a major fabric company and all the accompanying money, prestige and fame. She also wants to control the USE of the fabrics which she’s designed. She actually has a restriction printed on the selvages of her fabrics saying it can only be used for personal use! She claims it’s the only way she can protect her livelihood. Baloney!
     I think the fabric company, Moda, is also to blame, even though they haven’t been part of the discussion. They obviously agreed to her demands limiting the use of the product they’re trying to sell. I think they were so eager to sign a “hot” designer that they failed their customers. Shame on them!
     I do not blame the author, Emily. She used the fabric Moda sent to her for inclusion in the book in good faith. The use of a single line of fabric in a quilt is pretty common now, and I’m sure she thought nothing of it. Also, she had no control over the publisher’s use of a promotional image from her book in the tote bag. The fact she didn’t identify the fabric in the book isn’t unusual, either. I haven’t seen it in other books. Besides, it’s doubtful anyone could get that fabric by the time the book came out anyway, considering the time lapse between the design, sewing and photography and the release of the book.
     Some other posts on this topic here, here and here. A picture of the offending tote is here.

     A lot of valid questions have been raised in other blogs, but I felt a need to have my say, even if no one but me reads it. If you happen to read this, I’d appreciate your feedback.

What to do?



   Pictured above is a fabric challenge issued by my friend Sophie. She gave everyone in our sewing group one of these panels as part of our Christmas exchange. I've had this on my design wall for 2 months now and have no idea what I should do with it. I've considered a log cabin border -- maybe wonky? -- and also diamonds on point for another look. I want something Oriental-looking.

   I guess I'd better start researching some border books. Maybe something will "speak" to me.

Check out Design Wall Monday to see what other quilters are up to!

Design Wall, March 5

   It's really my design sewing table. I'm preparing the parts for a Jelly Roll 1600 quilt. Instead of joining the strips with a diagonal seam, I've decided to insert a 4-patch between them. Also, I've cut this from my stash, so I have fat quarter strips as well as width of fabric ones. I haven't seen that many 1600 quilts, so I don't know how this experiment will work. I love the  look of the black and white with the batiks. The questions is: how will it look when it's assembled? I'll know next week at Quilt Camp. We're going to have a "race" with prizes! It should be fun. The second picture, below, shows a jumble of the fabrics with the 4-patches added to one end. I'll sew them all together and then I'll be ready for the race!

    Quilt Camp is a twice-a-year getaway that I've been attending for 10 years. A group of 25-30 of us gather at a nearby church camp. Well it's near for me, a 30 minute drive. Some of the campers drive for three hours!

    It's a little different than many getaways in that we have to bring all our sewing gear, as well as bedding, bathing supplies and our food if we go early (I do). Because of all that, I try to start getting organized early. I'm planning to take five projects that I will work on, and additional fabrics in case I decide I want to do something different. Because I'm a scrap quilter, I always take a LOT of fabric.

    Texas Braid is packed up and ready to go. I'm to the point where I need to trim the edges and assemble the top. Then I'll decide about the border. I'm iffy on it. I think it will depend on its size.

I'm linking this to Design Wall Monday. http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/03/05/design-wall-monday-march-5-2012
(I know there's a neater way to do this butI don't know how.)

Jeanne

No sewing today

My design wall is the same as a week ago, but I’ve made progress on the Texas Braid quilt. It’s grown to 6 panels, and I’m laying out the next two braids and I’m planning to wait until Quilt Camp next month to lay it out and put the panels together. I’ll have more layout room there, plus almost unlimited time to sew. I’ll also decide about borders there, too. (The two “burrito” shapes behind the strips are panels five and six; the ones on the sewing table are seven and eight.)

In the meantime, I’ll concentrate this week on finishing the next two panels. I’ve already tested my planned border. It’s square on point, and should fit nicely with the braids, It will necessitate a lot more cutting, but I think the overall design will be worth it. As usual with my scrappy quilts, I don’t have a deadline for this, so whatever it takes is what I’ll do. It will be done when I’m happy with it.

Design Wall Feb. 20

I spent the day working on my Texas Braid quilt. As I mentioned before, I got the pattern from Bonnie Hunter’s Leaders & Enders book. I just love the look she gives scrappy quilts!

Of course, I changed it up some. I used 2 1/2 inch strips and adjusted the length to look similar to hers. I already had a boatload of 2 1/2 inch strips and not many 2 inchers. It made sense to go with what I already had. I’m using blues, both light and dark, and a cinnamon Kona Cotton. I have 4 braids done and I think I’ll need 8. Bonnie used 2-inch strips and her braids finished at 6 1/2 inches. My 2 1/2-inch strips made my braids finish around 8 1/2 inches (I think. I haven’t put them together yet.)

I wanted to use up my blue fabrics. I’ve always loved blue and I had a bunch. I’ve decided to use as many as possible in my scrappy quilts this year. Actually I started last year and am continuing the project this year. I haven’t seriously diminished the amount of blue, but I’m going to be working on it!

I started this quilt at a getaway in October, 2010, but put it away to finish more pressing matters. I think I can get it done before the end of the month if I stick to it. I now have a system that makes it pretty simple. I make 2 braids at a time. If you notice, they are mirror images. If I work on 2 at a time, I find I don’t get mixed up with the mirroring. The picture shows my cornerstone units on my machine bed ready to be attached to the growing braid. I press as I go. I tried finger-pressing, but I wasn’t happy with the results.

This is working for me, so I can see the end in sight. I even have a plan for borders. Bonnie didn’t use any, but I have a plan for a pieced border that I think will enhance the overall design.

Jeanne