Creativity is work!

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A friend sent me a link to a video clip by Ira Glass (thanks, Nysha!). Ira Glass is the host of This American Life, a truly fine weekly radio show on NPR that I never miss.


In this video clip Ira talks about the fact that, especially at the outset, a person has to work at their craft. He may be in radio, and we may be quilters, but he speaks the truth. To see Ira, click here.

Sunny Flowers in Bryan, TX

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I taught the Sunny Flowers class yesterday to 22 lovely ladies from the Brazos Bluebonnet Quilt Guild in Bryan, TX. Anne Perry, the “blog mistress” and/or historian, asked my permission to take photographs of the class throughout the day to post on their guild’s blog. I said yes and she discretely took photos (and some videos, also with permission) throughout the day. 


Anne does not let any grass grow under her feet! Today she sent me a link to the photos. I’m impressed! This is my first experience with a guild blog. What a good idea! Click here to go to the photos taken in my class. Scroll up and down to see more of their blog.

Ikea Curtains = Fabric!

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I used to have folding doors that, when closed, separated my living room from the studio. In all of the 15 years we have lived in the this house, those doors have been closed maybe 20 times. It occurred to me during the remodel that it might look better with the doors down. It is better!


One set of the doors used to fold up against my design wall. With the doors gone, I have gained about a foot of usable space on my design wall. And, while the doors didn’t take up much space, the doorway feels much more open.
The downside was that I was left with a view of the side of my tall bookcase that I didn’t like much. So I got some curtains and an tension rod (meant for a shower) from Ikea. 
I’m pretty darned sure that the fabric is merimekko. It’s cotton, heavier than typical quilter’s cotton, but not as heavy as upholstery fabric. Each of the 2 panels is 56″ or so wide and close to 7′ long. They come un-hemmed.
I washed the fabric in cold with 2 color catchers and dried them in the dryer (not recommend by Ikea). They shrank which was why I did it. I figure that at some point I’ll want to wash them again and I wanted to hem them already shrunk. The red did bleed a little, but not enough to be a problem for me.
The 2 panels (one set of curtains) was just under $30. That’s a lot of fabric for $30 and that’s what I wanted to share with you. You can’t (to my knowledge) order these on the internet but if you like merimekko and shop at Ikea, don’t forget to check out the curtains!
FYI- The side of my desk has a piece of galvanized metal screwed to it. It makes a great magnetic bulletin board. We can buy it here at a sheet metal place and Steve cuts it to whatever size I want. 

Show & Tell

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Last week Jan Hirth sent me photos of quilts her students made from our Everyday Best pattern (from Quilts with a Spin). That’s Candy Martin with her quilt on the left.

The quilts were so much fun that I knew that you all would love to see them. I thought about posting them here, on the blog. But it’s hard (if not impossible) to post more than 2 photos in any single blog posting. 

I decided that it would be easier to show the quilts on a page on our web site. Can you see the glowing lightbulb over my head? Go to our new Show & Tell page to see the quilts. Thank you, Jan, for giving me this idea.
So, if you have a show and tell photo of a project you made using one of our patterns, please send it to me. I won’t be able to post every one but I will try to change them out on a regular basis.

New Web Site

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I have spent the bulk of the last 2 weeks re-doing the Piece O’ Cake web site. That meant learning new software (Adobe’s Dreamweaver). It has been both infuriating and exhilarating! It’s been nice to find out that my brain is still capable of learning a new trick :-).

In re-doing the website (which I hope you all like), I changed every page. Most of the url’s changed. What this means is that your old links to places on our site are not going to work.
If you have been to our site before, the old pages are probably stored in your computer’s cache. When you go to the site now, you’ll need to hit your refresh button – a lot. On just about every page. I’m very sorry about that. My goal was not to make things harder, but easier. But once you have the new pages in your cache, you won’t need to hit refresh as often. 
FYI – We just sent out an eNewsletter that many of you may have received. In it we announced that the patterns for A Walk in the Mountains, our 3rd block of the month quilt, are now available on the site! If you don’t get our eNewsletter and want to sign up, there is a link to do so at the bottom of each page of our site.

My New Table…

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Here is my new sewing table – custom made by Steve Goldsmith. Believe it or not it took longer to make this table than to remodel the back wall of the studio. It is 30″ x 85 1/2″ and is on casters so I can roll it around… although my studio really isn’t big enough to do that much. 


I plan to do the majority of my cutting at the end of the table without the sewing machine. I have cut on surfaces both high and low and, for me, I’ve found I have more power and control of my rotary cutter on a lower surface. Of course, it is harder on the lower back. Everything is a trade-off.

The cabinet doors open to reveal two wide, roll-out shelves. They are just wide enough to hold the three sewing machines that I use the most. I do have a little almost-featherweight still in the closet that just won’t fit here. The 4 narrow drawers hold a lot of  “stuff”. 

You might be wondering about the finish. I like that distressed look and have it on the furniture in this room. It’s a finish that hides a multitude of sins. Pencil marks, cutter knicks, etc., are really hard to spot.