Quiltivate

New Blocks - February, Week 4

I hope this 60-degree weather sticks around in Colorado - I'm ready for Spring! Here are this week's five new blocks! Happy quilting:

Basket of Triangles




Georgetown Wreath




Mosaic




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World's Fair Puzzle

New Blocks - February, Week 3

The five blocks this week inadvertently nod to ABC's ridiculous show (which I'm watching for the first and last time this season) The Bachelor.

Jason, the Bachelor, sure does have a Bachelor's Puzzle to solve between the two remaining women: will he go with Melissa (who seems to me to be very solid, like the Fundamental Nine-Patch), or will he choose Molly (who is definitely more complex, like the Mollie's Choice quilt block)? Only one of these two women will receive a Sage Bud, and ultimately a Wishing Ring! Ha! Okay - enough with the hokey Bachelor references - here are this week's five blocks. Enjoy!

Bachelor's Puzzle




Fundamental Nine-Patch




Mollie's Choice




Sage Bud




Wishing Ring

Personal Style Quiz

I just took the quiz from Sproost to find out my personal style. Start the quiz here! It turns out I'm 50% Rustic Revival, 29% Nantucket Style and 15% Cottage Chic, which I would declare pretty accurate.

I'm a sucker for these "What ___ are you?" quizzes anyway, but when they involve creativity and style, I jump on them even faster than usual. :o) Thanks to Jessica from How About Orange for the link!

More Proof that Quilting is Good for You!

Not that I necessarily need the encouragement, but it's always great to have yet another reason to quilt and quilt more often! Here's another study proving quilting can contribute to better health. This time the study focuses on mental health:

"Taking up hobbies such as quilting, pottery and even playing computer games in later life may substantially cut the risk of dementia."

It also says later in the article that "... watching television for hours on end significantly increased the chance of suffering problems." So, I wonder what the net result is if you watch TV while quilting like I do? At least I stick mostly with HGTV - that should help, right? :o)

Simplify Chain Piecing!

Turn these pieces of fabric ...

... into this chain-pieced block ...

... without even cutting the connecting threads at all until it's all together!

Thanks to Rachael for the fantastic tutorial she posted on her Rachael Rabbit blog today!

I am really excited to try these techniques. I am always so paranoid that I will get things out of order that I know I end up wasting tons of thread and time when I piece things together, so this should help me out a ton. Thanks again, Rachael!

'Modern' Pioneer Quilts

This beautiful quilt is one of several Amy captured and posted to her Diary of a Quilter blog. She recently toured a couple of pioneer homes and found this quilt and several others on display. Amy says, "I love how 'modern' old quilts are." So true!

Thanks, Amy!

New Blocks - February, Week 2

We're celebrating Valentine's Day here at Quiltivate.com with five more blocks this week! Here they are:

Aunt Eliza's Star




Free Trade




Mixed T




Rosebud Variation




Windmill Variation

DIY Slowdown?

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the demise of Domino magazine, CRAFT Magazine announced yesterday that they will no longer be printing their fantastic magazine dedicated to all things crafty. They will, however, continue with the Craftzine.com blog and online resources and a portion of their flagship MAKE Magazine will be dedicated to things that would previously have been published in CRAFT Magazine. Evidently a slow-down in ad sponsorship is to blame for this bummer of an announcement.

It is completely understandable that advertisers are "tightening their belts" in a time like this. But, the funny thing is I've read in several articles that one way the everyday American is weathering this storm is by going with homemade things instead of store-bought things, especially when it comes to gifts and home items. I also follow lots of blogs of crafters and it seems to me they're still creating things in full force! While it is sad to be losing such inspirational publications as CRAFT Magazine, I don't think the fact that they're no longer printing reflects at all on the health of the Do-It-Yourself community. I don't have the evidence to prove it, but I'd guess that DIY is actually stronger than ever!

What are your thoughts? Has this economic "belt-tightening" time affected your quilting and crafting? Are you creating more or less things than you have in the past and do you think any changes in your own creating are associated with the economic slow-down?

Tokyo Quilt Show

Check out MOONSTITCHES mangetsu's pictures of the incredible quilts that were displayed at Tokyo's International Great Quilt Festival in late January. I can't believe the level of detail and perfection on these creative masterpieces! You can tell by looking that they're all hand-stitched, and most of them have quite a bit of applique on them. Gorgeous!

[Thanks to the Craftzine.com blog for the link!]

New Blocks - February, Week 1

Can you believe it's February already? Here are some new blocks to start this month:

Arkansas Traveler




Fox and Geese




Milky Way




Robbing Peter to Pay Paul




Wild Waves