Category: Blog Readers’ Quilts and Quilting Information

Blog Readers Share Quilts

Blog Readers’ Quilts and Quilting Information: Oh No! Kaffe Fasset Fabrics Degraded

Blog Readers’ Quilts and Quilting Information:  February 6, 2014

Oh NO!

Kaffe Fasset Fabrics Degraded

 

I love Kaffe Fasset fabrics.

I love all of the Fasset books.

I love COLOR!  And the Fasset fabrics are all about COLOR.

I’ve made many a quilt with Fasset fabrics and thought to make many more.

But I’m not buying Fasset fabrics any more.

Here’s why:

Fasset fabrics are no longer 44-45 inches wide, but are now 40 inches wide.

The price is the same.  Or, more.

Most importantly, Fasset has changed to a cheaper griege, or the grey goods that get dyed to make the fabric.  The quality of the griege is what makes a fabric sturdy.  And you have only to look at some of the newer Fasset fabrics to see the difference.  I just bought some polka-dot Fasset fabrics, and they are like gauze.  NO WAY AM I PAYING $10 OR MORE DOLLARS A YARD FOR GAUZE.  I don’t care how “pretty” it is.

I found the Fasset email address and wrote to calmly say why I would no longer be buying Fasset fabric.  And I hope you take a look at the new fabrics, look at the quality and the width, and write him for yourself:  www.kaffefassetstudio.com.

In addition, Amy Butler is part of the Fasset group of artists.  I have refused to buy her fabric or her patterns for some years now.  I believe that when you sell a pattern or fabric, you’re done.  I do not believe you can threaten customers with law suits if they make something from your pattern or fabric and sell it, show it, or whatever.

And, yes, I shared in my email that I also refuse to buy anything of Amy Butler’s.

* * *

Fasset and Butler have gone too far.

They have become too greedy.

As customers, we have to protest and refuse to buy their goods.

It’s the only way to get them back in all their glory.

Quilting Information: Red Flannel Pantry Blog’s Modern Table Runner

Quilting Information:  January 4, 2014

Red Flannel Pantry Blog’s Modern Table Runner

I’ve not been drawn to making a table runner.

Until now.

Take a look at Red Flannel Pantry Blog’s hostess gift for the family who will host the family’s daughter (in Ireland, lucky girl) for a semester:  hometown gifts for out-of-town hosts | red flannel pantry.

And what a terrific gift!

I can see myself making a table runner like this one…

Yes I can.

I would choose different colors–though I LOVE these colors together.  They just would not go in my house.  They might go in someone else’s though–as a gift.

This table runner lies in the “modern” quilt movement:  bits of piecing combined with big sections of plain fabric that can showcase quilting.

If I could start all over, I would move in this “modern” direction:  spare lines, different colors than I’ve surrounded myself with my whole life, pottery, candles, woven rugs, simple, simple, simple.

I do love red and green though…

And blues and oranges and reds…

I am a true Pisces it seems…

 

Quilting Information: Sew Me A Song, Etsy store

Quilting Information:  January 4, 2014

Sew Me A Song

Becca Babb-Brott’s Etsy Store

I love the connections in a small community.

Neighbor Susan McBride of Golden Brook Farm told me her friend Becca Babb-Brott, who lives on a nearby street where other people I know live, has an Etsy Store of quilting fabrics.

Here’s the url she sent:   http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewmeasong.  (I can’t get this url to “take,” so you may have to copy and paste it into your search engine.)

I took a look at it and loved how Becca is putting together fabrics.  In particular, I loved her unusual neutrals–which can be hard to find.  I, for instance, have looked for neutrals in five (aren’t we lucky) of our local quilt shops.

As an official  Bonnie Hunter groupie, I need lots of neutrals–especially for the quilts I have planned for this year.  Bonnie’s world divides quilting fabrics into neutrals (nothing darker than a brown paper bag) and colors.

What’s also interesting about Sew Me A Song is Becca’s collection of contemporary and Japanese fabrics.  And she has since told me that she is a “modern” quilter. 

Take a look?

Becca is putting together a collection of neutrals for me.  And I look forward to meeting her next week some time.

Thanks, Becca!

Documentaries: Pay Attention: Antibiotics Can’t Keep Up With ‘Nightmare’ Superbugs

Documentaries:  November 3, 2013

PAY ATTENTION

 

Frontline TV Program:

Antibiotics Can’t Keep Up With “Nightmare” Superbugs

Terry Gross interviewed David Hoffman, the developer of the FRONTLINE television show that aired last week on the presence and threat of Superbugs that are now present in our world.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) allowed, and helped, Hoffman address–and surface–this very real problem.

Hospitals are really threatened with these Superbugs, but they are present in other environments as well.

Below find a link to Gross’s very informative interview:

Antibiotics Can’t Keep Up With ‘Nightmare’ Superbugs : NPR.

And here’s a quote from the web page–which has a link to the Frontline program.

We’re used to relying on antibiotics to cure bacterial infections. But there are now strains of bacteria that are resistant to even the strongest antibiotics, and are causing deadly infections. According to the CDC, “more than 2 million people in the United States every year get infected with a resistant bacteria, and about 23,000 people die from it,” journalist David Hoffman tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross.

Many people are familiar with the type of resistant infections often acquired in hospitals, caused by MRSA, the acronym for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. But most people don’t know about the entirely different group of resistant bacteria that Hoffman reports on in Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria, airing Tuesday on PBS’ Frontline. The show explores an outbreak of resistant bacteria at one of the most prestigious hospitals in the U.S., and explains why there is surprisingly little research being conducted into new antibiotics to combat these new superbugs.

“We really have a big information black hole about these really, really dangerous bacteria, and we need to know more, and it ought to be a national priority,” Hoffman says.

Me, I’m staying out of hospitals unless I get carried in there on a stretcher.

Quilting Information: Fons & Porter Needs Quilts

Quilting Information:  October 22, 2013

Fons & Porter Needs Quilts

 

Fons & Porter have several magazines.  I get “Love of Quilting.”  They also do “Easy Quilts,” “Scrap Quilts,” and “Quilty”–and others.  As a result, they need 300 to 400 quilts a year to feature in their magazines.

Do you have a quilt that YOU designed without using published instructions from anybody/any place?  And, yes, you can use traditional blocks.

You might want to submit a quilt to Fons & Porter for consideration.

For detailed submission guidelines, go to FonsandPorter.com/submissions. They respond within the week.

Remember, they can’t say “no” if you do not send your quilt information to them.

 

Blog Readers’ Quilts and Quilting Information: Judith Brill’s Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Blog Readers’ Quilts and Quilting Information:  September 22, 2013

 

Judith Brill’s Double Wedding Ring Quilt

 

Double Wedding Ring, Judith Brill

Blog reader Judith Brill sent me this picture of the Double Wedding Ring quilt she made for her daughter’s wedding.

Wow!

I love the contemporary nature of this quilt.  Look at the very interesting border.  And look at how she has hand quilted the wedding ring motif down the side–in the white just above the border.

Here’s a close up of the wedding ring block:

Double Wedding Ring 4, Judith Brill

And, more of the hand quilting:

Double Wedding Ring 3, Judith Brill

And, more of the hand quilting in the border:

Double Wedding Ring 2, Judith Brill

Really, this border is quite amazing.  I’ve never seen anything like it on a double wedding ring quilt, and I love it.

I also really like the contemporary use of colors in the wedding rings.  I think Judith said her daughter helped her pick out the colors.

GO JUDITH!

And thanks for reading the blog and for sharing your beautiful quilt!