Goddess of the Last Minute

My working wall

2011-12-07T13:57:00.001-06:00

I like to create my quilts on a wall, so that I can see the whole thing at once when I step back and also, my table is usually too small to spread the whole thing out. So, I use a "working wall".

Mine consists of three layers. The first layer is called Designer Tack. Bulletin boards made out of recycled paper. I bought mine at Menard's, which is a home improvement chain in the Midwest. They used to keep them in the cork bulletin board area, but lately I've found them in the wall panel section. Homosote is essentially the same thing, and comes in boards that are 4x8 feet. However, a full sheet is heavy, and doesn't fit in my Prius. But six of the Designer Tack boards fit in my car easily and individually, they aren't that heavy. I paid about $9 a few years ago, I saw them last week for about $13. They are 32x48 inches.

Here's a link to the website for the manufacturer:
American Pacific Designer Tack

I used white batting on top of the bulletin boards. My last working wall had black felt, but this time around, I wanted white. The batting makes the surface feel softer, and also creates a whiter surface. At the very left of the wall, you can see about five inches that is somewhat grey. This is the bulletin board without the batting on top of it. I need to add the last strip. The batting I used is 45" wide, I had wrapped it around the right edge, so I ran out before I got to the left edge, using two full widths. I used P&B prepared for dyeing fabric, that is 108" wide. I used quilt pins to hold everything onto the sides, but at the top, I used pins. I haven't yet gone back to trim the top edge of the batting.

This photo is of the wall before I pinned the fabric on the left side.

So, here are the layers, going from left to right:
1. Blue wall, newly painted by professional painters. It took me a week to be able to nail anything up on the perfect wall.

2. Grey designer tack bulletin boards. Nailed into wall on corners, and in the center of each edge, using panel nails.

3. White batting.

4. 108" white prepared for dyeing fabric. (The fabric doesn't have to be PFD, I just have it already. Sometimes it's very hard to find wide enough fabric.)

Here is the wall after I finished pinning, with a work in progress pinned up on it.

Accuquilt

2011-12-02T00:10:00.000-06:00

I've designed a die for Accuquilt. I'm very excited about it. It will be available in Mid December, you can order it now on the Accuquilt site.

Here's what the die itself looks like:

And here's what you can do with it:

Here's a quilt that I made using my die, along with some strip cutting dies from Accuquilt. I used their palette, which is more Modern than my normal palette, but I like it! Hoffman of California supplied the fabric. When Accuquilt said I had to make a quilt, using my die, and working with a commercial fabric company, I said "I need batiks!" and they said "Use Hoffman!", I was very very very happy. I made enough flowers for two quilts, as I was going to Denver to tape a segment on The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson. My segment was not about the dies, but I wanted to bring my new die along, because by the time it airs, my die will be out. I still have the stuff to put together for the second quilt, but I think I may redo the flowers to match the picture above, with eight petals instead of just six, and use the color arrangement that they did.

I made another quilt and have the pattern for it, but I haven't quilted it yet. I'm going to be doing that in the next week or so. It in a more vivid palette, out of my own hand dyes. I will be posting that, and the pattern will be for sale, I'm aiming for January.

A few people have asked me how I got involved with dies. I've been using fusible, specifically Wonder-Under paper backed fusible webbing, to make my quilts for about thirteen years. My current series involves multiples of the same shape, arranged in a radial symmetrical design.

Here is one of my quilts that required a good amount of cutting:

I designed this specific quilt for Pellon, the company that makes my beloved Wonder Under fusible. They have the quilt and the pattern is available for free on their website here: Steampunk Sublime

Personally, I love cutting out shapes, really, for me it's like hand appliqué, but with scissors. But sometimes, I want precise shapes, like those lime green circles. Or I want to do it faster, because those purple gears took a long time to cut.

I was in Houston in November of 2010, for Quilt Festival, and I walked by the Accuquilt booth. I hadn't paid much attention to them, because I thought all the did was cut strips or shapes for people who piece. THEN I noticed they had dies for fusible appliqué. Lynda Pumphrey was there, a fellow quilter and I said "Lynda! I want dies of my shapes! Being able to die cut my shapes would be fabulous." So, I sent them a pattern I had designed and we went from there. And I'm hoping we'll keep going, I want to introduce more shapes in "my" vocabulary.

In the meantime, you can start with my die, and add some other appliqué dies, like the Feathers, or Ribbons, and come up with some even more exciting quilts. I'll post a picture of the second quilt I made with my dies and some others in the next few days. And I dyed the fabric. And if you need it, I'll explain what I'm talking about with the dies and the dyes.

Robbi

Art School: This book is probably fascinating but the words are too big....

2010-09-08T23:54:00.001-05:00

Today is Wednesday, so it was Sustainable Forms Day.
Last week we went to Urban Farm, on a field trip. After that, we were to collect and document our trash for a week, and to take 3 types of items we collected and manipulate them in three ways each.

Or maybe it was three items, one manipulation each. I'm unclear. IN any case, I tried to collect my trash for a week, but Brian kept tossing it out. At some point I said "Look, I'm going to have to tell the professor that my husband threw out my homework, and everyone will laugh at me." So, for a few days, he'd point to things and say "trash or art?" Samantha neatly packaged up some snack wrappers for me.

For my samples:

I have a collection of the grey cord that comes on the shopping bags that Apple gives you. If you buy a large item, there are about 4 yards of cord in the biggest bag. I reused the bags themselves without the cord, and then I save the cord. Sample 1: I wanted to use it as a tracing plate. I spiraled it, then tried attaching it to fabric with WonderUnder. Instead, it melted to itself. Apple uses plastic cord. Or maybe nylon. Not cotton. Interesting effect. Sample 2: macrame. (Hey, it's cord) Sample 3: coiled a bundle of cord as if it was tiny sailing line.

My second set of samples were pieces of a big yogurt container that I had melted with a heat gun. It shrinks similarily to shrink plastic, but in different ways, as the object was formed differently than the sheets. The group thought I should play with this idea for my project due in two weeks and several people said they like the giant yogurt too, and would save me the containers. One of the other students gave me three containers right then and there. After class, I washed the containers and put them in my locker. By the time this project is over, I might have a locker full of yogurt containers. But they'll be clean of course. The last time I had a locker was when I had my mammogram, if you don't count that, high school.

We did the sample thing last. In the first part of the day, we discussed a bubble map of sustainable. And then we made rope out of strips of fabric and or yarn. We used big wooden yarn makers. That was fun. I've made cord before, using the bobbin winder on my Pfaff to twist the cord. This was sorta like that, but on a bigger scale.

Besides the "craft" part, we spent a lot of time today discussing sustainability some more. The students in the class are fascinating. Many of them are world travelers at a very young age. All of them have a really interesting outlook. Lots of piercings and tattoos too! Interesting fashion. It's all very interesting.

One thing that strikes me, because I haven't worked in an office in years so I don't know how the corporate world is: the students do not talk in the elevator. This morning, I got there early, so I went down from the 10th floor to the 2nd to get some coffee. On the way back, I had to wait for an elevator, as it was just before the hour and everyone had to get up to their classes. There was a guy waiting for the elevator too. When the elevator came, the doors opened and a solid wall of people GLARED at me. I didn't move. The doors closed. I said to the guy "sorry, they didn't seem amenable to letting me on." He laughed and said something friendly. Then the next elevator came and I just walked over and got on, didn't pay attention to see if there was glaring. There was a bit of space. I waved to the guy to come into the elevator. He said he's wait.

Now here's the thing. I've been on the Cambus at the University of Iowa. After a football game, I swear they get 50 people on the bus AFTER it appears to be full. We're not talking about standing room, we're talking about people giving up their personal space, no squooshing, but people are close.

We could get double the people in the elevator if those students at SAIC were a little more friendly to each other. Or maybe the Iowa thing has something to do with football games. And tailgating. Maybe the tailgating...

I have to say that when we are a group waiting for the elevator, people are respectful. I'd say everyone is respectful at all times. But just quiet in the morning. I have this urge to get on the elevator tomorrow morning and say "Good MORNING EVERYONE!!! What great day in CHICAGO!" or, I could save it for a blizzard.

And finally, I did mention the loud pants luncheon today. We were talking about the internet connecting "makers". I mentioned the quiltart list, and the tiaras and the loud pants. And how we all communicate with each other.

Back to School Day 2

2010-08-31T09:59:00.000-05:00

The day started out with a breakfast reception for the Prior Degree students. And just like they said, I am not the only one my age to be doing this. The reception was held in the Sullivan Galleries, which is an open space in the Sullivan building. There are white walls with art installed, but to me, with a construction background, it looked like an office floor that was in the midst of being renovated. The floor is concrete. The first work on the right looked just like piles of carpet sample to me, without my glasses on. Turned out they were laser cut towels and other fabric elements in stacks. I obviously need to spend more time in the gallery.

The rest of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon were spent in a ballroom with presentations by the department heads. We were told repeatedly that SAIC is different from other art schools, and I'm excited about that. Not that I even have a clue what a "regular" art school is like.

With 3200 students, it's certainly not like being at Purdue with 30,000. No Big Ten football team or anything.

The last event that I attended was the presentation on critiques. Very interesting.

Back to School Day 1

2010-08-29T19:23:00.001-05:00

Last fall I applied to the School of the Art Institute for the MFA program in Fiber and Materials. I did not get in. BUT, I was invited to take a semester as a Prior Degree student. They said it would make me a better candidate for Grad School, and they said they thought I had something to contribute to the community and vice versa.

Today was the first day of orientation. One of the other prior degree students found his way to me and introduced himself. He's there for photography, but he knows Marianne Fon's daughter Mary, and he's interested in quilting. AND he insisted we should put our arms around each other during the group picture. So that was very nice!

Then, a group of 20 of us gathered in the Sharp Building, for our official orientation. I DID make friends and people sat with me at lunch. (OK, we did all go back to the same room, but several of them waited for me and walked back to the auditorium with me. )

After several speakers, there was a vendor fare. I can join a health club for cheap and I got some free markers and a coupon for 30% off at Utrecht. I love coupons.

Here's a picture of my ID, you may have seen the picture before. It's my professional portrait. I"m going to use it, like Ann Landers, until I'm 80.

American Quilter Magazine: Jinny Beyer

2010-04-01T23:33:00.000-05:00

One of the earliest influences on my quilting was this book by Jinny Beyer:

http://www.amazon.com/Quilters-Album-Blocks-Borders-Identification/dp/0914440926/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270182312&sr=1-4

I swiped that image off Amazon's website. I bought the book back in the 80s. I used to buy her fabric. The first time I won anything, a gift certificate from a quilt shop, for $50, I spent it on long quarters of Jinny Beyer's fabric. At that point, fabric was cheaper, so I got a lot of it.

American Quilter Magazine has a lovely article about Jinny, with a quick biography of her. And then an article about mixing two blocks in a quilt. I enjoyed seeing that very much. Jinny is interesting to me, because she was overseas, away from other quilters when someone introduced her to quilting. She had to pretty much find her own way, using Indian fabrics instead of American calicos. Her quilts are marvelous. I found my way to my current quilts through studying Amish quilts, and Jinny's quilts and all kinds of traditional quilts. Jinny's still appeal to me very much, as do the Amish quilts.

Wonder-Under is more greener

2010-03-30T15:54:00.000-05:00

The folks at Pellon are so good to me. Every year, they send me boltage of Wonder-Under to use for my own work and for my teaching. I love Wonder-Under and use it in all of my work. One thing that was annoying me was the plastic instruction sheet that is wound on the bolt along with the fusible. It annoys me to deal with it and it's plastic, something I'd rather limit to places I have to use it.

So, I'm very happy to see that now Wonder-Under instructions come on a lightweight recyclable paper printed with green ink.

Now I can start thinking of uses for the paper. I don't think it's will be usable as a cover sheet, the way the paper on the Wonder-Under itself can be, since they specifically prepare that, but it will come in handy for note taking while I work on quilts.

San Antonio/Kerrville Texax

2010-03-14T23:43:00.000-05:00

I am now in Kerrville, getting ready to speak to the guild here tomorrow, Monday March 15. Oh no, that's the Ides of March... and apparently today was Pi Day. I was in San Antonio starting on Thursday. Great group on San Antonio.

I would show you a cute picture I took of two women from the guild, who took my class on Friday and completed their samples, but I forgot to ask their permission and get their names. So instead, I will show you a picture of the waffles I had yesterday morning. (And again today). Texans seem to be very proud of their state. Illini, not so much. I have never seen waffles the shape of Illinois.

How I bury knots

2009-11-08T17:09:00.002-06:00

I haven't been very good at updating my blog. I'm sorry.

In any case, I posted the following to the Quiltart list and people keep asking me for it again. So here it is. I'll take some pictures the next time I'm in the basement at my longarm with a camera and then post it here.

1. I start and stop my lines of machine quilting by pulling the bobbin thread up to the top of the quilt and leaving tails that are several inches long.
2. I take a crewel needle or other hand stitching needle with a large eye.
3. I cut a piece of hand quilting thread or thick machine sewing thread about 24" long. The thread should be stronger than the thread you used to quilt the quilt. Let's call this the carrier thread.
4. I put both cut ends of the carrier thread through the eye of the crewel needle and pull them through a few inches, leaving a loop of thread on the other side. (If you have the clover needle thread, you can do this faster by just pulling on the loop.) Let's call this thing the carrier.
5. Insert the needle of the carrier through the quilt exactly where the top thread came through the quilt. I take about a one inch stitch, going only through the top and batting, not coming out the back.
6. I grab all four carrier threads, the loop and the two ends, along with the needle and pull it just until the needle comes back out of the quilt.
7. There should still be a loop on top of the quilt, where you want to bury the thread. Put your hand through the loop, grab the threads you want to bury and pull on the needle, again, holding all layers of the carrier thread. Let the carrier thread slide over your hand and catch the quilting threads. The carrier thread should disappear into the quilt, pulling the threads you want to bury along with it, and then the ends will all pop out on top where you ended the stitch. Pull on the buried threads to put them under tension and then trim them. The ends will disappear into the quilt.

I have found this to be much faster than threading a self threading needle over and over and it also will work when the thread you have to bury is only a quarter inch long.

My new chair

2009-09-08T23:53:00.000-05:00

My pinkies have been numb since February. I thought it was carpel tunnel, so I got a new ergonomic keyboard. No change, and it seemed to be getting worse. I finally went to my doctor and he said "you lean on your elbows a lot don't you?" Why yes, I do. Apparently when you lean on your elbows too much, you can inflame the tissue around your ulnar nerve and your pinkies and the outer half of your ring fingers can go numb.

Here's the problem: my computer desk is too high. It's not really a computer desk, it's actually a library table from about 1930, made out of quartersawn oak, in the mission style. I found it in an antique shop in Richmond, IL about a decade ago. It was in good shape except the only drawer which had a bad bottom. I paid $100 for the desk, fixed the drawer and I really love the table.

Today I went to Crate and Barrel to see if they had a computer desk that I liked. I found a couple, took a catalog and then made my way home. I stopped at a Staples store to look for a desk chair. My current chair is a $20 piece of junk from Ikea. It's a kitchen table, sorta. It's really junky, but I haven't found something I really like. Remember dinettes? That's what I want. A kitchen set. Not another dining room set.

Anyway, at the Staples, I found a chair that was a knockoff of a very expensive ergonomic chair. It had a mesh back, arm rests that go up and down. The chair tilts forward and back, the seat back tilts back and forth. It has lumbar support. It was $150. A light turned on in my head. IF I got a chair that raised me up high enough, I wouldn't have to buy a lower desk! And, I could put my feet on the shelf from the library table, or get a footstool. Since my legs are really short and they barely reach the ground when I sit on a regular chair. AND, if I had ARMRESTS, I'd have somewhere for my elbows to rest, besides on the DESK. I needed this chair.

But the only one they had had a box that looked like it was falling apart. I left.

Got home about six pm, and talked to my brother a while. Brian was out at a business dinner and I had to pick him up at the train station at 8:50pm. At 8:10, it dawned on me that I should go to the closest Office Max and see if THEY had a chair like the one from Staples. I would get there at precisely 8:20, and then have until 8:40 when I would have to leave. I didn't want Brian to be standing around the train station wondering if I forgot to come get him.

I walked swiftly into the store, looking for the chair. Didn't find it. But I found a LEATHER chair, with all the adjustable parts. But it was on a pedestal. And there was a sign saying not to climb on the pedestal. Luckily just then, a very nice salesclerk came by. I told her that I wanted to try out this chair, could she help me take it down?. She said "Well, you'll just have to climb on that pedestal." I pointed to the sign, she laughed, took the chair down and I sat right down on it. Then rolled myself over to a desk to test the height. Perfect. AND it is made by Sealy, the bed people. AND it was on sale, $150, marked down from $205. Leather for $150 is much better than mesh for $150.

I told her I had to leave at 8:40 exactly, could she bring one to the counter and check me out in time? She could. And she did. And she helped me to the car.

And I got to the train station just as Brian was getting off the train.

We put together the chair and I'm sitting in it now. The desk is at the right height, my elbows are bent at the right angle. The chair is very cool, we played around tilting it in all directions, adjusting the armrests, etc. I love the chair. I feel like Captain Kirk on the bridge.

I'm all set to see what Apple announces tomorrow, on 9/9/09. My favorite number is 9. My birthday is April 9. which is the 99th day of the year, unless it's a leap year, then it's the 100th day. I should buy a lottery ticket.

Oh, and I stopped at the Apple store to buy Snow Leopard today. Tried to get the salesguy to tell me if they had boxes of new stuff waiting for tomorrow. No dice. Not even a smile about it. But he did answer all my questions about Snow Leopard compatibility with my current software, and he listened to me babble about how much I loved the shuffles that came in different colors, as opposed to the current version which is BORING.

what I'm knitting

2009-08-31T12:25:00.000-05:00

Here is a block from the Lizard Ridge Afghan on the Knitty website. It took one skein of Noro Kureyon yarn. The designer of the afghan adapted it from Barbara Walker's Learn to Knit Afghan Book. The block uses short rows to make the lumps. I can "knit back" from the right needle to the left, instead of turning the work, so I like doing stuff like this. Also, I'm not good enough to knit big stuff, so I like little projects. I figured I could knit the blocks for the afghan, it takes 20 or maybe 21, as I went along.

I knitted two blocks and then found a knitting shop in Grayslake. My friend Kathleen and I went to a knitting party there, and of course, I had to buy some yarn from them to knit while we were there. It's the only way to be polite. The shop doesn't carry Noro, but they have a similiar yarn, Poems. I bought four skeins of that, in two different colorways. (So, two skeins of each color). I the pattern repeat is 14 stitches, with each block being 43 stitches across. I like to make bags, so I cast on 126 stitches (9 repeats) and knitted it in the round. I had to convert the pattern a bit, to knit in the round.

Then when I was done, I felted it in my sink, by hand. All the bumps laid flat.

Here's what four skeins look like. Of course, at this point, I had to do it again, but bigger, and using Noro. I have a lot of skeins of Kureyon, in different colorways, in the bottom bag, I used 3 colorways, ten skeins altogether. And I knitted in a strap, since I never get around to sewing them on. I haven't felted the bag yet, here it is all big. I'm not sure the straps will end up working correctly, they are sitting in the middle of the front and back sides of the bag.

Now that I have mastered short rows, I think I'm ready to knit some socks.

replying to comments

2009-08-26T13:28:00.002-05:00

I can't tell if my comments back on the comments left are actually appearing, I'm new to this, so bear with me if I haven't responded. I do read all the comments and I think it's really nice that you take the time to respond.

Love,
Robbi

free ebook on free motion quilting

2009-08-24T21:19:00.002-05:00

Quilting Arts Magazine has republished two articles I wrote on Free Motion Quilting several years ago, along with an article by Frieda Andersen, in an ebook. Here's the link: ebook

Guerrilla Knitting at the Art Institute

2009-08-24T20:44:00.005-05:00

I found this sample of guerilla knitting outside the Museum of the Art Institute in Chicago, right in front. In between the lions.

If you don't know what this is about, go to this article

Project Runway Special Challenge

2009-08-20T20:58:00.002-05:00

Before the Project Runway Premiere, they had a special All-Star Challenge, with 8 designers, and a prize of $100,000. I enjoyed it, it was perfect for short attention span watching.

I thought it was ludicrous when Santino declared the serger broken because he'd broken the needle. That's like saying your car is broken when you need to refill the gas tank. No way should it have been such a big deal to replace a broken needle. Anyone who has been near a sewing machine can change a serger needle, it's the same thing. And hey, most of us who use sergers can change TWO needles. Now, rethreading them, that's another thing. If I ever start sewing clothes again, I want one of those sergers that shoots the thread through a pipe with air, so you don't have to thread it.

And what was the deal with Chris? Did he sleep through the whole season when he was on there? I don't remember that, but I didn't watch that whole season. I think the guy has sleep apnea. OR maybe he stayed up all night sewing, and then had to nap during the day. If I was on Project Runway, that's what I'd do. Except for me, it would be dangerous, because when the models are there for fittings, I'd have to stand on a ladder, not the best thing to do if you are sleep deprived.

iCandy design as of Aug 17

2009-08-17T12:06:00.003-05:00

I've been playing with the design, and here's the current state of it. The flower centers are already made, and I'm tracing out all of the WonderUnder templates while I watch tv.

(catching up on Weeds and Dexter)

In this picture, the flowers looked faded, because I would have had to spend more time than I wanted to, if I gave them all black outlines so they'd show up.

Time Traveler's Wife the movie

2009-08-15T20:00:00.003-05:00

Brian and I went to see the movie today. It was excellent. If you have read the book, bring a lot of kleenex. Well, maybe you should bring some even if you haven't read the book.

I thought Eric Bana was an excellent Henry.

I sat through the credits in case Henry showed up at the end of them, but he didn't. So you can leave right when the credits start rolling.

Robbi

A new design

2009-08-13T22:10:00.003-05:00

I worked on this design for a long time today. The colors aren't done, that green doesn't look right. I have to either put more green in, or take the green out. I will probably play with the composition some too. There are two different wheels.

The quilt from this design is about 82x82.

Quilt Design: A ring of Greek Keys, around a flower

2009-08-13T00:08:00.009-05:00

Here is the center of a quilt. In real life, the outer circle is 50" across. I've scaled it down to put on the blog. In real life, the drawing is very crisp. I'll describe how I designed the flower another day. Today, I'm going to show how I add a ring of Greek Keys. This quilt will be made up of a series of concentric rings going around the flower, to make a wheel.

I use Adobe Illustrator to make the drawings.

So, here's the center of the wheel, the flower, and the circle that defines the outer edge of this ring.

I want to have 28 segments, each containing a portion of a Greek Key going around the circle.

Here we have the outer circle of this ring, and the outer circle of the flower. (The purple ring just above, but I've turned it white so you can see the start sitting on top of it. ) This star has 28 segments. I'm going to tell the computer to divide all those shapes up.

Here I've divided the shapes up. The yellow segments are the ones I want to keep.
I've erased all the rest of the drawing, except the two yellow segments, and those cones. The cones, for now, help me make sure the segments are the right distance from each other, to rotate around the center and form a ring.
I have a file called "spiral tile" that contains this square drawing you see of a rectangular tile for a greek key. I'm not going to cover drawing the key today either. Here you see the two segments, filled with that greek key. The computer made that big rectangular design fit into the wedge. I used the "envelope" tool for this.

Now I tell the computer to rotate the two segments around their center and I have my ring.

I bring the center flower back and center it in the ring. I'll keep adding rings until the wheel is big enough. My next ring will have some form of petal shape. At least that's what I'm thinking right now.

the first entry actually about something

2009-08-12T17:24:00.004-05:00

This quilt is called iCandy 2.0.

(Here's a hint, don't put a decimal point in the name of your quilt, it makes it harder to save files named after the quilt.)

This quilt will be in the IQA World Of Beauty contest in Houston, for Quilt Festival.

It's about 70x70 inches.

It was the first in a series, of wheels. I've been wanting to make some quilts with portions of a round design. Not the whole circle, but with sections cropped.

The second quilt, also second in the series, is on the cover of the current AQS Magazine.

And I have another two quilt tops made, using this concept, one of them about 40x54 inches, the other is much bigger.

And I'm working on a few more. I haven't been doing the quilting lately, just the making of the tops. All of these are fused, using my own hand dyes.

I'm going to be posting more about the construction and design method of these quilts. I think it's like working with polar coordinates, instead of a rectangle...

Correction

2009-08-12T10:10:00.000-05:00

Thanks for joining, LadyRa, and Laceygreen, or your alias....

I should have also said "if removing the markings are mandatory, make sure you test in a hidden place first."

My first posting

2009-08-11T10:45:00.000-05:00

Well, I have nothing quilty to post right now. I'm working on several quilts, and I will take some pictures and put them up. I'm planning to blog as I make one of my quilts.

In the meantime, I learned something I'd like to share. I like to use Sharpie markers to write instructions on equipment I use. An example is that as soon as I get a new printer, I write on the front the directions for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper, which side of the paper has to be on top, which edge needs to lead. Stuff that would be nice to know without having to resort to an owner's manual every time. However, once in a while, it's nice to get those marks off, and they come off easily, with an Eberhard Faber white eraser.

Now that I have solved a major problem I caused by writing on something with a Sharpie, I can now go up to my studio and take some pictures of the quilt top I just finished, and the quilt that I will be making.

I hope you'll follow my blog, I promise to have more interesting stuff!