april excitement
April 27, 2012 at 7:32 am | Posted in books and mags, chatty, crafting with kids, holidays, oregon, portland modern quilt guild, quilting, sewing, world of geekcraft | 4 CommentsIt’s been a whirlwind month, but I wanted to post about a few things I got to do that I’m excited about…
I won a wonderful surprise gift certificate from collage (thank you!!) and picked out some amazing art supplies for the kids’ Easter baskets,
got to interview the fascinating Lizzy House for the PMQG blog,
finally got the chance to bring my Oceanside quilt to life (it was inspired by a photo I took at the beach in 2009… and now it’s pieced, backed, and at Nancy’s for longarm quilting!),
got to see four dozen beautiful quilt blocks on the wall for the PMQG Cotton Couture challenge,
and collected my most mysterious craft projects to bring to the Criminal Crafts-World of Geekcraft book party at Murder By The Book!
It’s this Sunday, April 29, at 4:00. Shawn (author of the stellar Criminal Crafts) and I would love to see you there for making ransom notes and comics magnets, plus drinks, snacks, and mysterious surprises! Barbara of MBTB has kindly ordered copies of Modern Log Cabin Quilting and Button It Up, too, so if you ever wanted to get one of my books signed (while learning how to make invisible ink, courtesy of Shawn), here’s your chance!
If you go:
Criminal Crafts + World of Geekcraft Book Party
Sunday, April 29 at 4pm
Murder By The Book, 3210 SE Hawthorne Blvd. in Portland
Drinks, snacks, craft projects and book signing
Free!
mend it better
April 17, 2012 at 2:43 pm | Posted in books and mags, portland modern quilt guild, quilting, recycled crafty, sewing, vintage crafty | 2 CommentsI’m very excited to be reviewing Mend It Better, a wonderful new craft book by Kristin M. Roach (also author of the lovely blog/project/zine Craft Leftovers) today! Mend It Better offers a wide variety of useful techniques, from darning and patchwork to weaving and crochet, for reworking and salvaging garments and beyond.
As Diane noted in her recent review, Mend It Better is arranged like a textbook, with her suggested techniques neatly organized by chapter. There are tons of photos and tips for undertaking a new mending project, which is also a nice touch.
I am very happy to have contributed one* of the 22 mending projects to the book, and along with my contributor copy, Storey Publishing sent me an extra book to give away at our Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting this week. I asked Kristin a few questions about mending, especially patchwork projects, and here are her thoughts…
Do you have any favorite decorative stitches for covering a seam or line in a mended patchwork project?
I know it’s so bland, but I really love the whip stitch or overcast stitch. Just going to town and completely covering it, kind of sloppy, in a bright color!
What’s your favorite mending or embellishment use for binding tape?
I love using it as straps, or sometimes a little accent in a seam, like small piping. So cute!
Have you ever mended a larger quilt or patchwork project? Any general tips for that?
I’ve done some light mending on a quilt I made – one of my first sewing projects – just some basic patchwork. I’m really excited to be embarking on a huge mending adventure this year: restoring a quilt my husband’s grandma made. She passed away a long time ago and it’s in tatters. He doesn’t remember her, so it’s his only connection to her. It’s going to be one of those “for the love of it” projects because mending it will probably take more time than completely making a new one!
Here are a few tips for mending quilts:
1. DO NOT wash it before you mend it. It will just make the damage worse.
2. Unlike darning where you want to stretch the fabric taut, if you stretch the quilt in a hoop before making the basic structural repair, it will actually cause the fabric to ripple when you take it off, or stretch the tear even further. You’ll want to mend it while it’s flat, then repair any quilting stitches in the hoop only after the structure is sound.
3. If you can, work on a large smooth surface with the quilt completely flat. The kitchen floor works great!
4. Sometimes you won’t be able to match the pattern exactly when patching, if that’s the case, think accent vs “sloppy”. One of my teachers used to always say “do it or don’t do it”. So if you can’t match, make it look intentional. Bold contrasting colors can be really fun!
- – - – - –
I think quilters, sewists, lovers of vintage, upcyclers, and wardrobe-refashioners will all love this book. This pieced-vintage-fabric skirt hem idea Kristin included is my favorite project… so adorable!
I’ll be giving away a copy of Mend It Better at our PMQG meeting at 7 pm this Thursday, April 19 at PNCA. We’ll be meeting in room S1 upstairs in the Stagecraft Building right across the street from the main PNCA building (where we’ve met the last two months as well). Hope to see you there!
*Here’s my little project! Thanks so much again, Kristin!
criminal crafts
April 12, 2012 at 2:35 pm | Posted in books and mags, button it up, chatty, crafty events, free crafty, geek crafts, modern log cabin quilting, oregon, reviews and interviews, world of geekcraft | 3 CommentsPortland author Shawn Bowman has a fantastic, funny new book out called Criminal Crafts (also the name of her stellar website + twitter) – a collection of thirty outlaw projects for scoundrels, cheats, and armchair detectives.
From cocktails to crime scene carpets,
Shawn has created some pretty incredible projects for mystery, thriller, and noir lovers. They range from the super-simple (Invisible Ink)
to the cleverly complex (Case-the-Joint Craft Caddy).
A few other favorites of mine include the Pulp Fiction Pendant
and the Instant Disguise Drink Bling.
Shawn will also show you how to hide a file in a cake, mix an absinthe cocktail, add a secret smuggling compartment to a vintage handbag, and stitch up your own voodoo doll. She is incredibly awesome, and I am so excited that we are teaming up for a book party at my favorite-favorite neighborhood bookstore, Murder By The Book, in a couple of weeks!
MBTB will be hosting an event for both of us on April 29 at 4:00 for snacks, drinks, craft projects to make (think invisible ink, ransom notes, and comics magnets) and a book signing. Along with Criminal Crafts, they’ll have copies of World of Geekcraft, Modern Log Cabin Quilting, and Button It Up on hand!
I will bring my most mysterious book projects along (like the Coraline mystery sewing box and Linda Permann‘s crocheted Tribbles) for folks to check out, and word on the street is that MBTB will be getting their very own Shawn-made Crime Scene Carpet to decorate the store. Speaking of decorating…
I was amazed to see a brand-new addition to my favorite part of the shop a few months back… Crafty Crimes! Jean set aside all the light-hearted crafty mysteries into a new mini-section and let me bring in lots of vintage craft supplies to decorate the shelf. It was so much fun and I LOVE stopping by and finding something new – I think crafty mysteries are very relaxing to read, and most of them have a free pattern or project included, which is a nice extra. For anyone else who’s interested, here are a few of my favorite series I’ve read. Monica Ferris is a prolific author whose amateur detective heroine, Betsy, owns a needlepoint shop in Minnesota called Crewel World.
Maggie Sefton’s detective heroine, Kelly, is part of a knitting circle who meet up at their Colorado yarn shop, The House of Lambspun.
Sally Goldenbaum’s Seaside Knitters series is set in a tiny town on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, centering on a yarn shop as well. (Are you starting to see a pattern here??) I really love reading this one, I love her characters especially.
My absolute favorite crafty mysteries series is Cricket McRae’s, which is beautifully done. It follows a multi-crafting (like me, she does all kinds of stuff) heroine named Sophie Mae, who lives in Washington State (PNW pride!). There are five books and counting in this series – highly recommended. I also really enjoyed Buttonholed, by Kylie Logan… a mystery about vintage and antique buttons, what’s not to like there?!
You can swing by Murder By The Book to pick up Criminal Crafts or any of these crafty mysteries (or they do mail-order by email – books@mbtb.com – or over the phone at 503-232-9995)! I love MBTB – well worth a stop when you’re in Southeast Portland… or in my opinion, a destination worth planning a trip to Portland around.
If you go:
Criminal Crafts + World of Geekcraft + beyond Book Party
Sunday, April 29 at 4pm
Murder By The Book, 3210 SE Hawthorne Blvd. in Portland
Drinks, snacks, craft projects and book signing
Free!
PS – On another crafty note, I’m teaching my wool cross pillow class on Saturday, April 14 at the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store (another SE Portland treasure!). The class is from 10:30-1 and $40 covers all the materials you’ll need to make a cross pillow in class, plus fabric to bring home for your next one. PMQG members always get $5 off classes… hope to see you over there too!
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
