It was made to go with our thread catchers. I happened to have a little bit of fabric left over.

I used the whip up tutorial, and it was VERY easy. Only two concerns: 1)  I filled the pincushion with sand…because it sharpens needles, but I think the sand I purchased was way too fine. I did a test, and it seems to be okay as long as you use the felt side to stick the pins in and 2) the perfectionist in me is a little too concerned that my “petals” are not perfectly spaced and centered (gasp!). I guess it adds to the handmade charm.

photo courtesy of clotilde.com

The Sidewinder runs on AC or batteries, and works with the simple touch of a button. It works with most bobbins. Unfortunately, I checked 10+ websites, and it’s out of stock everywhere, with an estimated in stock date of January 2008.

To read a review of the sidewinder, click here.

So I wasn’t so great with the photo documentation, but I can definitely tell you about the stores that we went to. Saturday (after a long night of dinner, drinks, and catching up) we did a whirlwind tour of the best fabric stores in the Seattle area. I spent money at every store we went to (surprise, surprise).

Our first stop was The Quilting Loft. I think this may have been my favorite store, because it reminded me of stores back home. It was the smallest of the stores we went to, but I thought that it had the best selection of fabrics. I got a great Kaffe Fassett print and three other cuts of various adorable fabrics.

Next up on the list was Quiltworks Northwest. This was the largest quilting specific store we went to. The selection was similar to The Quilting Loft, with a lot of other stuff thrown in. They were having a massive sale {yes, the gods are smiling down on me}, and I think I bought the more here than any other store. Beware though, the price was on average a dollar pricier per yard than any of the other stores we went to.

After that is was off to Pacific Fabrics (northgate). This was the superstore of the places we visited. I probably liked it the least, but they have HUGE selection of flannel and some super cute oil cloth..I am still dreaming about a couple of those…

Now the task that remains is what the heck to make with these great finds. I think the blues and browns will be used in a quilt for my brother, Matt. But I have no idea about the reds and oranges. The orange could make a cool throw pillow for the living room…you can never have too many of those!

I’ve decided to create a new “feature” for my blog. The feature is titled CRAVE, and each CRAVE post will relate to some quilt gadget or toy that I’m really jonesing for at the current moment. Let’s start with EQ6.

EQ6

Suz and I have always planned quilts with a pad of graph paper, some crayons, and colored pencils. I love the elementary, basic feel of planning something out using your two hands, I find that it really helps me to conceptualize/understand my project. And trust me, I know that you don’t need fancy software to make a beautiful quilt. But, I am coming up with more and more of my own designs and this shiny new product caught my eye. Most of you have probably already heard of it- Electric Quilt software has been around for more than 10 years.

Here is a description and a photo of the product taken from the EQ website:

“While EQ6 is the newest and most advanced version of our best-selling Electric Quilt software, it’s also the most user-friendly. This incredibly full-featured quilt design and drawing program has been especially designed with beginners as well as advanced designers in mind. Use it to design quilts, draw blocks, scan in fabrics or select from over 20,000 blocks, fabrics, colors, embroidery, photos, threads, quilt layouts and borders included in EQ6. Use EQ6 simply to try out colors, or print patterns in any size…”

Additionally, EQ6 has 100 new features, and is a substantial upgrade from the previous version. With a $150 price tag, I am wondering if I can realistically afford the product AND if I do spend the money, will EQ6 really be that beneficial to me? On the upside, the price is commensurate with other software (unrelated to quilting) on the market, so it’s not unreasonably priced. In a perfect world, one where money grew on trees, this puppy would be mine.

(Then again, I would need a new computer first, but if money grew on trees, who cares about the price tag?)

Comments on any experiences or opinions on the product are extremely welcome!

Catherine and Kate – our 1 year in SF “anniversary” dinner

Sigh for good memories. The photo above is my roommate and I at our “anniversary” dinner celebrating our first year in SF. It was a BIG year – first grown up job, first city, etc. Anyhow, Catherine (on the right, in grey) is leaving for grad school this summer…going all the way on the east coast, and I owe her something special. She has put up with me and my crazy quilting habits for almost five years…incredible! The colors my cousin and I had picked for this quilt are the exact colors of her room, so it’s kismet. I don’t want to share the design yet, in case she checks the website. I want it to be a surprise! I will say that I was inspired by the work done on a show called, “Flip That House” on TLC and the source of inspiration was the tiling that was done in the kitchen. Of course, the color palette will be different, but isn’t it funny how inspiration comes from the most unexpected places?

For the record, Flip That House is one of my favorite sedentary pastimes. Just ask PRD, I sometimes force him to watch it with me! He claims he doesn’t like it, but you have to admit, it’s fun to be critique people’s aesthetic and poor decision making skills! At any rate, it’s a trade off because I watch ESPN and UFC on a pretty regular basis.

In other exciting news, Suz in coming into town this weekend and we’re going to take a trip to Black Cat Quilts; I am hoping to start acquiring fabric for this new project when she is here. She has a great eye for color…stay tuned for a review of Black Cat Quilts and highlights of my weekend with Suz!

In doing research for an article, I came in to contact with a woman by the name of Marybeth C. Stalp, a professor at the University of Northern Iowa, a sociologist, and quilter. She has a book coming out in December that explores the culture of quilting, how and why women quilt, and how it affects their lives. I thought I would give the book (and Marybeth!) a little shout out – this is no small undertaking. With any subculture, I think there is resistence to let strangers into the “inner circle” as I like to call it and quilters are no exception to this rule.

Here’s a portion of the summary:

“This close ethnographic study illustrates that women’s lives can be transformed in often surprising ways by the activity and art of quilting…The place of quilting in women’s lives affects core family and personal identity issues such as marriage, childcare, friendship and aging. The book’s accessible and intimate portrayal of real quilters’ lives provides a fabric for the sociology, anthropology and textile student to understand more about wider issues of cultural production and identity that stem from this very personal pastime. “

To read the full summary and see the table of contents click here.

The book doesn’t come out until December, but I am looking forward to reading about what quilting means to women.

Price: $34.95

ISBN: 9781845206550

The thing I love most about her quilts is they seem to be variations on the log cabin (which means no triangles…most of the time!) but they don’t look quite traditional. In fact, they seem rather Japanese inspired. This is definitely reinforced by the titles of the quilts, which have names like Kasuri Leaves, Miyabi, Sasano Red. One of the coolest things about Pamela Hill is that she grew up in an Amish area of Illinois! How awesome is that – she learned traditional quilt making at a very young age and is able to now adapt those traditional patterns to fit her modern vision.

A sample of her design is shown below. For more information you can click here and check out her website.

So the story is that this quilt has A LOT of triangles. I mean, it’s practically all triangles – it’s a like a personal version of hell. IHaving to spend time ripping out stitches is just plain depressing! On the other hand, I appreciate a good challenge, and triangles are just that. Don’t pull them, they’re on the bias and will stretch. Make sure your seams are accurate, or your points won’t line up. Make sure the seams get pressed the right way or you’ll wind up with bulkiness. The list goes on. The bottom line is that I probably don’t like them because I am not so great at them yet (again – Lila would point out that the class is forcing me to expand my skill set). Anyhow, Abby and I were lamenting triangles the other day in a convo – she’s embarked on a ridiculous pinwheel project, and she’s recommended a book to me, which I am recommending to you for the next time you find yourself cursing triangles.

Triangle-Free Quilts is a book filled with imaginative quilts and NONE of them involve triangles. Hurray! It’s availble on Amazon for $26.95. You can click here, if you’re interested in learning more – the book is also available used starting at about $13.

I also checked out Amazon, and if you are interested, Fun Quilts also has a book out. It’s titled The Modern Quilt Workshop: Patterns, Techniques, and Designs from the Funquilts Studio. I found it starting at $15.61. You can get it at amazon by clicking here, happy reading!

k.

I found another website that has some cool designs; I am not as obsessed with it as I am with ds quilts, but it’s still a cool site. Based in Illinois, fun quilts is a design studio that does everything from fabric, to custom quilts, to classes, to patterns. The offering is extensive, and the quilts very pretty. The quilts are described as contemporary, but I do not think they are quite as modern as ds quilts (see post below for more information) I’ll work on uploading pictures in the next couple of days.

Alright, it’s time to get back to cutting!

k.