This ‘n that

I finally just decided I was tired of festering over what to do with my trapunto bubble quilt. I loooove feathers, so I did a little sketch just to get a taste of what it might look like if I feathered it:

Funny how the tiny filler bubbles define the feathers so much more than the micro-stipple does. That kind of surprised me. It will be a pain to fill in all the negative space but look at how it defines and enhances the feather!

Step two was to do a bit of sketching on a piece of vinyl laid right atop the quilt:

I like it! I’m not settled on the fills for the “blank” corners but I do want two corners un-feathered. For sure something linear or grid will go in there, just not sure what yet.

I couldn’t wait to get started! So I did just one wee little feather just to calm myself:

The photo appears to show bad tension but it’s just the filter I put on to make the stitching stand out so that you could see it. I’ll add veins and fufu as I go. I swoon over feathers!

I’ve watched Kelly Kline post these adorable pincushions made from feed sacks and old embroidery. She posts regularly on FaceBook and once they hit her shop they evaporate. I happened to sign-on at the right time and got the one that was my fave:

Is that not a heap of adorable perkiness?

Oh those beads and little details, the extra embroidery stitches…

Class act, I need to get some of these made for me.

She is putting together a class on it that she says she will reveal soon. I’m signing up!

And lastly, I presented a short segment on book publishing to a Teacher’s Roundtable  for the Northern California Quilt Council last Thursday. I did a good bit of research and talked with C&T’s Acquisition Editor to prepare for it. It was hard to condense what I found out into 5 minutes. There were also segments on magazine publishing, social media and e-commerce, followed by discussion break-out groups. It was a great session, quite useful for all who attended. I learned a lot from the session on e-commerce.

NCQC is of course focused on serving northern California teachers, guilds, judges and vendors, but anyone can join. We provide a lot of information and education and also facilitate communication between members. NCQC is THE place to go in northern Ca if you’re a teacher looking for gigs or a guild or shop looking for teachers. I’m proud to be on the Board.

I think we had a total of 30 teachers in all. For book publishing, bottom line – there is lots of prep involved before you’re prepared to make a pitch to an Acquisitions Editor. But they are always looking for the next great author, the next great book. It’s a ton of work but totally satisfying to write a book. If you’re thinking about it, let me know and I’ll get my pom-poms out!

I am beginning to accumulate video for an on-demand class on beginning free motion quilting. Don’t hold your breath or anything, but I’m working on it and getting more and more excited about the thought. Stay tuned!

I’ll link up with:
Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
and
Finished or Not Friday