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  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?><rss version="2.0" xml:base="http://craftypod.com/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/" xmlns:og="http://ogp.me/ns#" xmlns:rdfs="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#" xmlns:sioc="http://rdfs.org/sioc/ns#" xmlns:sioct="http://rdfs.org/sioc/types#" xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#">
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  3.    <title></title>
  4.    <link>http://craftypod.com/</link>
  5.    <description></description>
  6.    <language>en</language>
  7.     <atom:link href="http://craftypod.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
  8.      <item>
  9.    <title>So Long, and Thank You</title>
  10.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/12/29/so-long-and-thank-you</link>
  11.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23687368789/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;lights&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1689/23687368789_1c9e600dc1_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;600&quot; alt=&quot;lights&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  12. &lt;p&gt;As of January 2016, this blog is no longer being updated.&lt;/p&gt;
  13. &lt;p&gt;If you&#039;ve ever visited here, left a comment, or emailed me, I&#039;m deeply grateful to you. Thank you for joining me on the best journey of my life - and thank you for being a huge part of the reason it was a great journey. &lt;/p&gt;
  14. &lt;p&gt;I&#039;m still on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twitter.com/craftypod&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.instagram.com/craftypod&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Instagram&lt;/a&gt; occasionally, so please feel free to connect with me there if you like.  &lt;/p&gt;
  15. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  16.     <pubDate>Wed, 30 Dec 2015 01:19:59 +0000</pubDate>
  17. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  18. <guid isPermaLink="false">11825 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  19.  </item>
  20.  <item>
  21.    <title>Review: The Spoonflower Handbook</title>
  22.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/12/04/review-spoonflower-handbook</link>
  23.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22661586883/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5747/22661586883_c5218e89e0_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;631&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  24. &lt;p&gt;It was back in August of 2008 that I first interviewed Stephen Fraser about his new company, a custom fabric-printing service called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spoonflower.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Spoonflower&lt;/a&gt;. From that day to the release of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/The-Spoonflower-Handbook-Designing-Wallpaper/dp/1617690783&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;The Spoonflower Handbook&lt;/a&gt;, I&#039;ve watched the company take an amazing journey, growing into a tremendous creative resource and community. It&#039;s been so exciting to witness, and now it&#039;s super exciting be able to review this book!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22920784399/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5636/22920784399_2ac70ee7f1_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;313&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  25. &lt;p&gt;I really applaud the publisher, Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, for putting a book like this out. It could be seen as somewhat risky; a manual for using a specific website to make your own fabrics, wallpaper, and gift wrap. But there&#039;s so much in this book that&#039;s evergreen, and anyone interested in being a surface designer will learn a ton along the way. Really, you could even use it with printing services other than Spoonflower if you wanted to. The only prerequisite is that you&#039;re reasonably computer-literate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22660347674/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5777/22660347674_89bbe0a5a9_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;413&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  26. &lt;p&gt;The book contains over 30 projects, but first, there&#039;s a useful first chapter that covers:&lt;/p&gt;
  27. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The various surfaces Spoonflower prints on: quite a few different fabrics, self-adhesive wallpaper, and continuous-roll gift wrap. What kinds of projects are good for each, and where to look for inspirations.&lt;/li&gt;
  28. &lt;li&gt;The process of turning a design into a digital file, including the various kinds of image and file types you can create, and how to work with the resolution of your original image to create various effects.&lt;/li&gt;
  29. &lt;li&gt;Using Spoonflower&#039;s Color Guide and Color Map to get specific colors in your digital designs, converting a design into multiple colorways, and how to use color in patterns in general.&lt;/li&gt;
  30. &lt;li&gt;Understanding various kinds of repeats in surface design, making a seamless repeat, and taking negative space into account in your repeats.&lt;/li&gt;
  31. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22660346854/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5675/22660346854_f675ca47af_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;514&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  32. &lt;p&gt;...And while all that may sound a bit technical, let me assure you that a lot of effort has gone into writing about these subjects in the clearest, friendliest, and easiest-to-understand way. You don&#039;t need to be a technical genius at all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22992893650/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/684/22992893650_0016d415ba_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;471&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  33. &lt;p&gt;...So, let&#039;s move on to the project collection. These are learning projects, designed to guide you through a bunch of different ways to design your own fabric/paper/wallpaper. Things start simply, with this luggage tag that&#039;s made by placing some found objects on a scanner and turning that into a digital file to print on some cotton fabric.&lt;/p&gt;
  34. &lt;p&gt;The project instructions start with detailed steps for doing the scanning, and then get into assembling the luggage tag.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22661586443/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5708/22661586443_efdb7637b0_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;470&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  35. &lt;p&gt;Another great example: this lampshade, which was made by placing paint chips on a scanner and then printing the resulting digital file to wallpaper. Nice, right?&lt;/p&gt;
  36. &lt;p&gt;This is a good moment to mention that all these projects were created by members of Spoonflower&#039;s community of designers, and sprinkled throughout the book you&#039;ll find all sorts of hints, tips, and inspirations from them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23262587866/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/672/23262587866_8fdacac8cf_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;469&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  37. &lt;p&gt;There&#039;s a series of projects using photographs as the basis for designs, as in this fabric wall panel. And in each case, you get detailed instructions on how to choose and handle your photo, and then instructions on how to make the project. Photos are used beautifully here in projects as diverse as scarves, pillows, softies, and dish towels.&lt;/p&gt;
  38. &lt;p&gt;It&#039;s worth mentioning that the craft instructions themselves are text-based, with very few diagrams. The projects are all simple enough in construction that this shouldn&#039;t be a problem for anyone who can sew a straight seam.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22920784739/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5635/22920784739_f8be4f6377_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;456&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  39. &lt;p&gt;From there, we get into a section on converting your own drawings, paintings, and prints into designs. There&#039;s a primer on Spoonflower&#039;s tools for cleaning up and altering a drawing. The projects in this section include napkins, a necktie, a baby quilt, a shower curtain, and this awesome wallpaper that I would absolutely love to color on.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23180412122/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/781/23180412122_81a77c8e03_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;629&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  40. &lt;p&gt;Next, there&#039;s a section on designing with text, words, and labels, which is intriguing not only for the possibilities of printing words and sayings on surfaces, but also for using type as a design element, as in this gift wrap.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23288719555/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5825/23288719555_bac190a41d_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;589&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  41. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23206102841/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/593/23206102841_1a6fbc0516_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;614&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  42. &lt;p&gt;The thing that makes this book hugely inspiring isn&#039;t so much any individual project, although they&#039;re all beautiful. To me, it&#039;s more about the cross-pollination that happens as you flip through. You could take the found-object design concept from the luggage tag project, for example, and use it to make a custom laptop sleeve. You could use your own photographs to make light switch plate covers. I will never have time for all the projects this book has sparked in my brain!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22661586723/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/782/22661586723_2ef869fc04_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;573&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  43. &lt;p&gt;(Tiny brag: they let me write a piece for the book on the many little projects you can make from Spoonflower&#039;s fabric, gift wrap, and wallpaper test swatches.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22660347824/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5705/22660347824_1ffd1f0c33_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;486&quot; alt=&quot;The Spoonflower Handbook Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  44. &lt;p&gt;If you know any aspiring designers, or creative people looking for some new ways to create, be sure and check out this book! Or if that&#039;s you, get yourself a copy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;Disclosures: the publisher sent me a review copy, and I&#039;m an unabashed Spoonflower fan. :-)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  45. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Categories:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/craft-books&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;Craft Books&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  46.     <pubDate>Fri, 04 Dec 2015 13:45:22 +0000</pubDate>
  47. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  48. <guid isPermaLink="false">11823 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  49.  </item>
  50.  <item>
  51.    <title>Review: Stitch Love</title>
  52.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/11/28/review-stitch-love</link>
  53.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23262593606/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/672/23262593606_81c5119307_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;565&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  54. &lt;p&gt;If you read Mollie Johanson&#039;s blog, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wildolive.blogspot.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Wild Olive&lt;/a&gt;, then you know she creates a whimsical world where anything can become a friendly character. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Stitch-Love-Sweet-Creatures-Kitties/dp/1454708093&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Stitch Love&lt;/a&gt; is a perfect extension of the blog, adding that visual style to a series of sweet sewing-and-embroidery projects.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23288724305/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/680/23288724305_e67d0b3b67_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;511&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  55. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22920790019/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5672/22920790019_b68f20584f_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;446&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  56. &lt;p&gt;The 25 projects are all useful items and toys, with a few decorative pieces for fun. All involve some simple machine sewing that a beginner could tackle confidently, especially with the instructions being a nice combo of text and diagrams.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22661591313/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5714/22661591313_894eb68816_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;525&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  57. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22992898030/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/777/22992898030_65ba45d509_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;593&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  58. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23288724445/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5639/23288724445_e8c3852bb4_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;488&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  59. &lt;p&gt;Each project also includes some stitchery to add a little zing or, more importantly, a sweet smiley face that gives the project personality. &lt;/p&gt;
  60. &lt;p&gt;...And speaking of beginners, I think Mollie&#039;s embroidered designs are very beginner-friendly, too. The book has a thorough Basics section covering several ways to transfer designs to fabric, plus some simple embroidery stitches that pair perfectly with these designs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23262592166/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5753/23262592166_fc8f917735_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;413&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  61. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23262591976/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5639/23262591976_7c5472389f_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;408&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  62. To me, one of the great strengths of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Stitch-Love-Sweet-Creatures-Kitties/dp/1454708093&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Stitch Love&lt;/a&gt; is in the collection of over 100 embroidery motifs in the back. Mollie&#039;s grouped these by themes, such as Pets, Farm Animals, Prairie, Arctic, and Outback. You get to see what each design looks like when stitched, and then you get the line drawings that you can photocopy at any size you want. (Or, you can also download full-size templates from the publisher&#039;s website.) They&#039;re all absolutely adorable.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23180416582/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/654/23180416582_c56a63a9ce_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;528&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  63. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/23262592566/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5634/23262592566_7ae9d586e9_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;408&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  64. &lt;p&gt;When I first saw these pages of cuties, my first thought was, &lt;i&gt;&quot;Oh, clearly they all want to be hanging out together!&quot;&lt;/i&gt; And so I used my phone camera to photograph the motifs I liked. Then I imported those photos into a drawing program on my computer so I could resize them relative to each other. &lt;/p&gt;
  65. &lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22661591823/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/731/22661591823_1591394b26_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;395&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  66. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22664989603/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Book Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5773/22664989603_a5b8806836_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;401&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Book Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  67. &lt;p&gt;...And then I printed those pictures and used them to trace the designs onto tea towels so I could stitch them.&lt;/p&gt;
  68. &lt;p&gt;I love how these turned out! I love how the critters all form a kind of story together. I could see these guys grouped around the hem of a little girl&#039;s skirt, or across a coverlet, or even as the basis for a soft fabric picture book. &lt;/p&gt;
  69. &lt;p&gt;...And with this one book, you could easily embroider up cute gifties for everyone you know - there&#039;s such a wide array of critters to choose from. Picture napkins, table runners, pillow cases, tote bags and backpacks. Just have fun!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22660352084/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/659/22660352084_14fcede6d7_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;530&quot; alt=&quot;Stitch Love Review&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  70. If you&#039;d like a taste of what this book has to offer, I highly recommend a visit to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wildolive.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Mollie&#039;s blog&lt;/a&gt;, where she shares cute free patterns often. Along with a metric ton of charm.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;(Disclosure Time: Lark Crafts sent me a review copy, and I&#039;m a Wild Olive/Mollie fan. There! Now you know!)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  71. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Categories:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/craft-books&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;Craft Books&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  72.     <pubDate>Sat, 28 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  73. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  74. <guid isPermaLink="false">11822 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  75.  </item>
  76.  <item>
  77.    <title>Hand Sewing Lovers, Meet The Lap App!</title>
  78.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/11/08/hand-sewing-lovers-meet-lap-app</link>
  79.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22853547446/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5631/22853547446_b030734ebe_n.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; height=&quot;263&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22691524410/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/621/22691524410_30baa28fc3_n.jpg&quot; height=&quot;263&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22691524610/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5801/22691524610_714aab71a6_n.jpg&quot; height=&quot;288&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22890683951/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/749/22890683951_aa3130136f_n.jpg&quot; height=&quot;288&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  80. &lt;p&gt;So, I went to Quilt Market recently. I&#039;ll admit, I&#039;m not one to get too hopped up about all the newest and coolest fabrics and whizbang gadgets. But I was lucky enough to meet Joyce and William Haskins there, and they invited me to road test their wonderful invention: &lt;a href=&quot;http://lapappstore.net/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;The Lap App&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  81. &lt;p&gt;Since I spend so much time hand-sewing, I&#039;m always looking for ways to make that more comfortable. Sometimes I&#039;m in an easy chair watching TV, sometimes I&#039;m in a car or on a train, and sometimes I&#039;m out at a cafe. It&#039;s not always easy to keep track of my tools while keeping my work close enough to my (aging) eyes so I can see it, all while preventing my shoulders from tensing up.&lt;/p&gt;
  82. &lt;p&gt;This is where the Lap App starts solving problems. It&#039;s a lightweight-but-sturdy lap desk that has two adjustment angles, so you can position it in infinite ways so it&#039;s just right for your body and the craft you&#039;re working on.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22691524180/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/747/22691524180_9164f0ed7b_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;496&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  83. &lt;p&gt;The desk surface is lightly padded for comfort  - a lovely working surface for things like applique, reverse applique, EPP, or hand-sewing of any kind.&lt;/p&gt;
  84. &lt;p&gt;There&#039;s also a handy pocket for your scissors! Joyce is a longtime quilter and sewist, and you can tell she&#039;s really thought through all the details of what&#039;s useful.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22890683711/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/595/22890683711_52ebdb1343_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;373&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  85. &lt;p&gt;In the photos at the top of this post, you may have noticed some spindles sticking up from the base. What are those? They&#039;re thread-holders, of course! And next to them, an embedded magnet to trap your pins and needles. (This is one of my favorite features - I can pop my needle on there, set the Lap App aside to go get more coffee, and come back and there it is.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22691523830/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5646/22691523830_6246327ffa_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;412&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  86. &lt;p&gt;...That brings us to the deeper features of The Lap App. Pull off the cover, and underneath you&#039;ll find a piece of very fine-grain sandpaper laminated to the top. That&#039;s a dandy, no-slip surface for tracing and marking fabrics. I&#039;ve been using it to make fussy-cut tracings for my EPP, and how lovely it is to be able to do that stuff on the go! Usually I have to save my fussies to work on when I&#039;m at home at my table.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22853553596/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/609/22853553596_cf7e2a4aa5_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;513&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  87. &lt;p&gt;The set also comes with a cute little ironing cover. Pop off the cotton cover, slip this baby on, and you can do all kinds of close pressing or fusing work with your mini iron.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22461759767/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/774/22461759767_8fc92aed45_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;419&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  88. &lt;p&gt;The thing I love best here is that this unit collapses down to a very portable size - easy to tuck into your tote for a crafternoon somewhere. &lt;/p&gt;
  89. &lt;p&gt;...And in the interest of thoroughness, I busted out my postal scale and weighed it: 1 pound, 14 ounces.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22853659406/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Lap App in Action&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/592/22853659406_fe4340f423_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;605&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;The Lap App in Action&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  90. &lt;p&gt;Here&#039;s my Lap App in action as I hang out on my bed sewing and watching Food Network Star, complete with red socks (keeping it real). I&#039;ve worked on several projects using this tool, and I absolutely love the comfort it provides. &lt;/p&gt;
  91. &lt;p&gt;Not only that, the base makes a handy place to slip small items like bags of EPP templates, glue sticks, etc so they don&#039;t scatter all over the place while I&#039;m working. If you do lots of hand-work, I highly recommend picking up one of these babies.&lt;/p&gt;
  92. &lt;p&gt;You (or the person in charge of your holiday gift wish list) can visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://lapappstore.net/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;The Lap App website and order one&lt;/a&gt;, or check with your local quilt shop.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  93. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Categories:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/sewn-quilted&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;Sewn &amp;amp; Quilted&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item odd&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/english-paper-piecing&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;English Paper Piecing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  94.     <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2015 22:31:49 +0000</pubDate>
  95. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  96. <guid isPermaLink="false">11821 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  97.  </item>
  98.  <item>
  99.    <title>Making an EPP Quilt Up As You Go Along</title>
  100.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/11/08/making-epp-quilt-you-go-along</link>
  101.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22486299929/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/778/22486299929_45fbe2e1c6_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;480&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  102. &lt;p&gt;This project was an unexpected creative journey from start to finish, and a great illustration of the meandering, make-it-up-as-you-go-along way I like to work.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22254118814/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Izabella Peters Fabrics&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5731/22254118814_3dae1becfd_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;485&quot; alt=&quot;Izabella Peters Fabrics&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  103. &lt;p&gt;It all started when the nice people at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.izabelapeters.com/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Izabella Peters&lt;/a&gt; contacted me and offered me some of their new fabrics to play with. These are digitally printed, so at first I was hesitant. I&#039;ve tried several digitally-printed fabrics in my EPP, but they always have a coating on them from the print process that makes hand-stitching very hard going.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22254118504/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Izabella Peters Fabrics&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/633/22254118504_e90aab2988_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;360&quot; alt=&quot;Izabella Peters Fabrics&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  104. &lt;p&gt;...But the company suggested I play with ways to make the fabric more malleable, so I jumped at the chance. I selected this pretty range of baby blue prints specifically because these are colors I almost never work with. (&lt;i&gt;If we&#039;re experimenting here&lt;/i&gt;, I thought, &lt;i&gt;let&#039;s go all the way.&lt;/i&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
  105. &lt;p&gt;...So happily, making the fabrics soft enough for hand stitching was as simple as washing them with a little detergent and borax, and then drying them in a hot dryer. The Izabella Peters lines are printed on a nice hefty woven cotton base, but it works fine with a sharp needle.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22458541148/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/648/22458541148_b450e7b2c1_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;603&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  106. &lt;p&gt;Then it was time to start playing around with a design. These prints are somewhat large in scale, so I thought an octagon shape, which has a lot of surface area, might be a good pairing. But I wasn&#039;t thrilled with only plain octagons, so I started looking at how I could piece some of them. That&#039;s where the striped fabric came in. I liked using it as a frame for the smallest print elements.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22254113804/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/585/22254113804_0b12824eaa_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;639&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  107. &lt;p&gt;So for a while, I just made octagons in the six fabrics, playing with how fussy cuts and piecing could showcase the most interesting bits. And after a while, I had enough of them that the whole thing started to resemble some kind of quilt.&lt;/p&gt;
  108. &lt;p&gt;(I rarely like to decide what I&#039;m making at the start of a project. I prefer to play with shapes first and then see what those shapes tell me they want to be. It&#039;s not the most efficient way to design, but it sure is a good time.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22863399012/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/615/22863399012_b55e8ae92f_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  109. &lt;p&gt;I decided to anchor the quilt around those stripey-framed octagons, because they were the boldest and most unlike the other patches. Then I just let my other patches fall randomly in the spaces between. And after playing with several colors in the little squares between octagons, I decided I liked the sparkle created by several hues.&lt;/p&gt;
  110. &lt;p&gt;I pieced until I started running low on striped fabric. Then I decided my quilt would need to be a doll quilt instead. (Theoretically it could also be a baby quilt, but there&#039;s noooooo way my hundreds of hours of hand-sewing are ever getting near an actual, fluid-spewing baby. No offense to spewing babies, of course.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22876875825/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/756/22876875825_12d18fb45a_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;519&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  111. &lt;p&gt;To finish things off, I decided to make an EPP edging, which is something I covered in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allpointspatchwork.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;All Points Patchwork&lt;/a&gt;. I made this one a little differently, because I wanted to quilt my quilt before adding the edge.&lt;/p&gt;
  112. &lt;p&gt;...So I pressed the finished top well, especially around the outer edges. Then I peeled out all the paper templates, and pressed again. Normally, it&#039;s a dicey proposition to remove templates from the edges of an EPP project before it&#039;s finished. But the way I baste my templates, I leave in the basting when I remove the paper. And that holds the shapes together around those outer edges nicely.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22484714429/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/656/22484714429_cb23bea20d_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;496&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  113. &lt;p&gt;With all the paper out, I sandwiched, thread-basted, and quilted. For this kind of edging, it&#039;s best to keep your quilting a good 1/2&quot; away from all edges. (Or, to put a finer point on it, no quilting off the edges!)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22458539238/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/606/22458539238_d2536fa3bd_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;508&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  114. &lt;p&gt;Then I carefully trimmed the backing and batting so they followed the scalloped edge of the top, but just a little smaller. (If you try this, just keep checking and re-checking that you&#039;re not cutting into your beautiful quilt top at the same time.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22688869670/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/584/22688869670_4f27044f2f_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;461&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  115. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22254112184/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/650/22254112184_b55d382183_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;518&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  116. &lt;p&gt;...Then I made a large EPP ring of octagons and squares like you see above, using the quilt top as a pattern. And then I placed it right sides together with the quilt and whipstitched all the way around the outer edge. Remember, the outer edges of the quilt have no stiffening paper templates at this point. So it requires a little extra attention to make sure all the edges are lining up well, and that you&#039;re easing the segments to the same length where needed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22863400452/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5745/22863400452_72dc6a731b_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;621&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  117. &lt;p&gt;With the border piece sewn on, then I removed its templates and turned it right side out. That flips the border to the back. I gave it a good pressing all the way around, and then slip-stitched the inner edge to the back of the quilt.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22458521177/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/708/22458521177_3f11c7ebbe_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;546&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  118. &lt;p&gt;...Aaaand lastly, I machine-sewed through all layers about 3/8&quot; from the edge of the quilt, just to give the outer scallops a little crispness.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22460109267/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/579/22460109267_dd110e973f_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;501&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  119. &lt;p&gt;I&#039;m really enamored with my little project. It&#039;s something I would never have arrived at if I hadn&#039;t just started messing about with stuff I don&#039;t normally do. And now I have a little more comfort with baby blues and pinks, and some new ways to use octagons in my toolkit. &lt;/p&gt;
  120. &lt;p&gt;If my next cat turns out to be very feminine, she might just inherit this piece. :-)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22255705084/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5782/22255705084_27d90c04d6_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;483&quot; alt=&quot;EPP Octagon Doll Quilt&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  121. &lt;p&gt;Many thanks to Izabella Peters for touching off a really nice creative journey. (You can see all the fabric ranges, including some lovely Christmas things, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.izabelapeters.com/fat-quarter&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;over here&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  122. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Categories:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/tutorials&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;Tutorials&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item odd&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/english-paper-piecing&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;English Paper Piecing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  123.     <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2015 18:14:59 +0000</pubDate>
  124. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  125. <guid isPermaLink="false">11820 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  126.  </item>
  127.  <item>
  128.    <title>Review: Get Started Quilting</title>
  129.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/11/01/review-get-started-quilting</link>
  130.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22662253426/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting1&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/754/22662253426_78998b68b8_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;618&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  131. &lt;p&gt;It&#039;s been forever since I last reviewed a craft book. So let&#039;s get back on the horse with a really excellent one: Jessica Alexandrakis&#039; &lt;a rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1632501465/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;creative=9325&amp;amp;creativeASIN=1632501465&amp;amp;linkCode=as2&amp;amp;tag=dianegillelan-20&amp;amp;linkId=SXIGBYJJSPS7TZVD&quot;&gt;Get Started Quilting: The Complete Beginner Guide&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  132. &lt;p&gt;You may remember Jessica from her book on English Paper Piecing, &lt;a rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0770434126/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;creative=9325&amp;amp;creativeASIN=0770434126&amp;amp;linkCode=as2&amp;amp;tag=dianegillelan-20&amp;amp;linkId=ZCWH7P5D4PUYRCT5&quot;&gt;Quilting on the Go&lt;/a&gt;, which is one of my favorites. I was excited to learn that she was working on a basic quilt-making book with Interweave, because she has a wonderful way of teaching technical processes while at the same time inviting you to play and add your own creative stamp.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22065493434/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting2&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5826/22065493434_abdd78997a_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;628&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  133. &lt;p&gt;This shot of the title page summarizes the book&#039;s approach nicely: Jessica leads you through 22 different methods for making quilt blocks. Each one teaches you specific basic skills, and as you work your way through an master them, you can start combining the blocks in all kinds of ways to make amazing quilts. Here&#039;s a partial (and impressive) list:&lt;/p&gt;
  134. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt; Strip piecing&lt;/li&gt;
  135. &lt;li&gt; Chain piecing&lt;/li&gt;
  136. &lt;li&gt; Half square triangles&lt;/li&gt;
  137. &lt;li&gt; Quarter square triangles&lt;/li&gt;
  138. &lt;li&gt; Bias-edge triangles&lt;/li&gt;
  139. &lt;li&gt; Blocks on point&lt;/li&gt;
  140. &lt;li&gt; Flying geese blocks&lt;/li&gt;
  141. &lt;li&gt; Curved piecing&lt;/li&gt;
  142. &lt;li&gt; Foundation paper piecing&lt;/li&gt;
  143. &lt;li&gt; Whipstitched applique&lt;/li&gt;
  144. &lt;li&gt; Reverse applique&lt;/li&gt;
  145. &lt;li&gt; Hawaiian applique&lt;/li&gt;
  146. &lt;li&gt; Applique with patterned fabrics&lt;/li&gt;
  147. &lt;li&gt; English paper piecing&lt;/li&gt;
  148. &lt;li&gt; Improvisational piecing (several methods)&lt;/li&gt;
  149. &lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22067098673/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting3&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5700/22067098673_df884a375a_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;267&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting3&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  150. &lt;p&gt;I think Jessica writes about choosing, curating, and using a fabric stash better than anyone. Her section on fabrics covers so many helpful ideas: using an inspiration board, mixing fabrics for best impact in a quilt, using a color wheel, paying attention to contrast, scale, direction, and intensity when combining fabrics, plus storing and sorting your fabrics. Really good advice for beginners without making the subject of fabric feel overwhelming.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22674706772/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting4&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/675/22674706772_12060092ea_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;499&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting4&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  151. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22674706582/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting5&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/576/22674706582_cb89b76e34_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;386&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting5&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  152. &lt;p&gt;I applaud Jessica&#039;s thorough coverage of the basics in this book. I&#039;ve made no secret of my frustration with craft books that present a collection of pretty projects while giving the foundation techniques a glancing pass. In &lt;a rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1632501465/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;creative=9325&amp;amp;creativeASIN=1632501465&amp;amp;linkCode=as2&amp;amp;tag=dianegillelan-20&amp;amp;linkId=SXIGBYJJSPS7TZVD&quot;&gt;Get Started Quilting&lt;/a&gt;, you get several pages of step-by-step photo guides to using a ruler and rotary cutter to make common fabric cuts for quilt-making. And you get some of the best-documented instructions I&#039;ve seen on the all-important sandwiching and basting steps of making a quilt.&lt;/p&gt;
  153. &lt;p&gt;These techniques can make or break a quilt, and they take a little practice to master. This book offers a thorough, encouraging guide through them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22065492384/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting7&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/692/22065492384_553d424c9c_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;441&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting7&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  154. &lt;p&gt;So then, moving on to the techniques from that list above… each one is presented in the format of a specific quilt block, such as this one that teaches how to piece with bias-edge triangles. The section starts with fabric suggestions and a cutting guide.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22688254175/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting6&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5767/22688254175_94331cc11c_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;398&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting6&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  155. &lt;p&gt;Next, you get a &quot;Design Wall&quot; section that shows this block in a couple different quilt configurations, both on its own and combined with another block in the book.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22500335080/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting8&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5736/22500335080_aee3666ebc_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;581&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting8&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  156. &lt;p&gt;…And finally, you get beautifully-documented instructions for assembling the block, with lots of useful hints and tips.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22688253115/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting11&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5787/22688253115_2b19196e12_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;502&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting11&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  157. &lt;p&gt;As you work your way through the book, mastering block after block, you can build a sampler quilt like this one. There&#039;s a full set of project instructions for constructing one.&lt;/p&gt;
  158. &lt;p&gt;(And just a side note: Jessica has done a beautiful job of fabric selection throughout, using a bold color palette that shows these blocks to advantage while mantaining a lovely visual flow through the whole book.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22065491874/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting9&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5708/22065491874_a1e59a6623_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;563&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting9&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  159. &lt;script async=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js&quot; charset=&quot;utf-8&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;
  160. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22699439831/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting10&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5773/22699439831_806895db15_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;494&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting10&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  161. &lt;script async=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js&quot; charset=&quot;utf-8&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;
  162. In addition to the sampler quilt, the book also offers four other smaller-scale projects: a pillow, a sewing machine cover, a table runner and a doll quilt and pillow. Good basics that you could make over and over again using different blocks from the book to get different looks.&lt;/p&gt;
  163. &lt;p&gt;This is what I call a really smart integration of projects into a technique-based book!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22688252955/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;getstartedquilting12&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5679/22688252955_9e5c942c94_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;468&quot; alt=&quot;getstartedquilting12&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  164. &lt;p&gt;…And then lastly, there&#039;s a super-useful math reference, covering how to estimate fabric yardage for a project, plus standard sizes for beds, quilts, and packaged batting. You also get several pages of actual-size templates needed for the various blocks.&lt;/p&gt;
  165. &lt;p&gt;All in all, this is a spectacular book for beginning-to-intermediate quilters. It&#039;s thorough, it&#039;s friendly, and it covers so much variety, there will be something new to learn from it for a good long time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;(Disclosure Time: Interweave sent me a review copy, and the title links here are affiliate links.)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  166. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Categories:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/craft-books&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;Craft Books&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  167.     <pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2015 23:01:45 +0000</pubDate>
  168. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  169. <guid isPermaLink="false">11819 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  170.  </item>
  171.  <item>
  172.    <title>The Halloween EPP Blop Hop!</title>
  173.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/10/12/halloween-epp-blop-hop</link>
  174.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/8013018896/&quot; title=&quot;Mini Pumpkins&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/8013018896_3f49285960_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;478&quot; alt=&quot;Mini Pumpkins&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  175. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5633/21469306903_ca58f4a6d5.jpg&quot; width=&quot;250&quot; height=&quot;245&quot; alt=&quot;Halloween-EPP-Blog-Hop-Button-250&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot; /&gt;We&#039;re entering the home stretch with these monthly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allpointspatchwork.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;All Points Patchwork&lt;/a&gt; blog hops - just one to go after this one!&lt;/p&gt;
  176. &lt;p&gt;...But this month, we&#039;re all about Halloween. I think English paper piecing and Halloween go well together because the contrasty color scheme lends itself well to complex patchwork designs, and Halloween fabrics can be such fun to fussy-cut.&lt;/p&gt;
  177. &lt;p&gt;We have an all-star cast for this hop:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  178. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Monday, Oct 12: Wendi Gratz, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shinyhappyworld.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Shiny Happy World&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  179. &lt;li&gt;Tuesday, Oct 13: Maureen Hyslop, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sewhappyquilting.wordpress.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Sewhappyquilting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  180. &lt;li&gt;Wednesday, Oct 14: Mollie Johanson, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wildolive.blogspot.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Wild Olive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  181. &lt;li&gt;Thursday, Oct 15: Pam Harris, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gingerbreadsnowflakes.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Gingerbread Snowflakes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  182. &lt;li&gt;Friday, Oct 16: Jessica Alexandrakis, &lt;a href=&quot;http://lifeunderquilts.blogspot.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Life Under Quilts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  183. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  184. ...And the linky below will update all week with links to their awesome Halloween projects. Check back often, and Happy Halloween!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  185. &lt;!-- inlinkz code start --&gt;&lt;script type=&quot;text/javascript&quot; src=&quot;http://lm.inlinkz.com/ar.php?id=155095&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- inlinkz code end --&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Categories:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/english-paper-piecing&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;English Paper Piecing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  186.     <pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  187. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  188. <guid isPermaLink="false">11818 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  189.  </item>
  190.  <item>
  191.    <title>How to Make a Denver Broncos Apron (Crafty Football Blog Hop)</title>
  192.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/10/11/how-make-denver-broncos-apron-crafty-football-blog-hop</link>
  193.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22099189155/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Crafty Football Blog Hop: Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5775/22099189155_1ab0da6c2e_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;429&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; alt=&quot;Crafty Football Blog Hop: Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  194. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5758/21330746634_eac65589a4.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; alt=&quot;2015 Crafty Football Blog Hop&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot; /&gt;&lt;i&gt;It&#039;s my turn in the 2015 Crafty Football Blog Hop. We&#039;ve already had a week of cool football-related projects, so check out the linky at the bottom of this post to see them. We&#039;ll continue through Friday.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  195. &lt;p&gt;So, I won&#039;t lie: my original football project idea was one of those projects that looked awesome in my head, but then flatly refused to translate itself to reality. (I won&#039;t tell you what it was, just in case I manage to crack the code one day and make it happen.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5752/21456909184_e677c73baa_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;540&quot; alt=&quot;broncos_ribbon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  196. &lt;p&gt;After my abject failure there, I was left scrambling about for inspiration for a replacement project. And that&#039;s when I stumbled onto this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Offray-NW7207AZ-Broncos-Printed-12-Yard/dp/B00AAOY8L8&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;NFL-licensed ribbon from Offray&lt;/a&gt;. The Broncos designs are super cool! So I decided to use them to embellish something.&lt;/p&gt;
  197. &lt;p&gt;Now that I have a day-job, football Sundays are also big cooking days for me. During the games I&#039;m usually prep-cooking for the coming week, assembling a nice Sunday dinner, and occasionally churning out football snacks. So I decided to make a game-day apron to show my team spirit in the kitchen. &lt;/p&gt;
  198. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Materials:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  199. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Aunt-Marthas-28-Inch-35-Inch-Kitchen/dp/B000W5JO7I/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;sturdy cotton apron&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  200. &lt;li&gt;A set of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Offray-NW7207AZ-Broncos-Printed-12-Yard/dp/B00AAOY8L8&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Offray NFL ribbons&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  201. &lt;li&gt;Scraps of fusible webbing (I like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Thermoweb-17-Inch-4-Yard-Heatn-Adhesive/dp/B001687ZDA&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Heat N Bond&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;
  202. &lt;li&gt;Heat-soluble fabric marking pen&lt;/li&gt;
  203. &lt;li&gt;Quilting ruler, at least 18&quot; long&lt;/li&gt;
  204. &lt;li&gt;Coordinating thread&lt;/li&gt;
  205. &lt;li&gt;Pressing cloth and iron&lt;/li&gt;
  206. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22000617026/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5728/22000617026_fb23010a76_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;443&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  207. &lt;p&gt;This set of polyester ribbons contains two very different types: the wider ribbon is quite stiff and  papery in texture. I wouldn&#039;t recommend putting a hot iron directly on this stuff - it&#039;s likely to melt. So always use a pressing cloth.&lt;/p&gt;
  208. &lt;p&gt;(The narrow ribbons are more satiny, and will iron normally.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21458587313/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Ribbon Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5742/21458587313_88d64a36c2_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;476&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Ribbon Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  209. &lt;p&gt;If you want to replicate my design, here are the measurements. (Nope, this diagram is not even a little bit to scale.) Or, just applique a few pieces of ribbon along the hem, along the bib. You don&#039;t have to be a crazy person like me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22014516882/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5787/22014516882_53137fb41c_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;519&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  210. &lt;p&gt;When I applique ribbon to things, I prefer using fusible webbing instead of pins. It&#039;s so much easier to keep the ribbon in place that way. Whatever brand of webbing you use, be sure to read the instructions on the package so you know the proper iron temperature and handling procedures.&lt;/p&gt;
  211. &lt;p&gt;First, I cut a strip of webbing that&#039;s a bit narrower than my ribbon, and then chop it into lengths like this - roughly a few inches. Don&#039;t get too precise about it - all we need are some tacking-down pieces here.&lt;/p&gt;
  212. &lt;p&gt;Place these pieces glue side down along the back of a piece of ribbon, keeping them a couple inches apart. Keep the webbing away from the ends, because you&#039;ll need some room to turn those ends under. Then place your pressing cloth over the whole thing and press, That fuses the webbing to the ribbon. Peel away the paper backing pieces, leaving just the glue.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22014517312/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/768/22014517312_d3ebd3549a_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;444&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  213. &lt;p&gt;...And then you can bust out that pressing cloth again and fuse the ribbon to the apron. That will tack it down beautifully, so it stays in place while you sew it.&lt;/p&gt;
  214. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22014518062/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/742/22014518062_787b9d3830_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;483&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  215. &lt;p&gt;A note on turning those ribbon ends under - I like to turn one end under first, and then place and fuse the ribbon, and then turn under the remaining end. That way, I can make adjustments to keep everything lined up. My measurements above allow for about a 1/4&quot; hem at both ends, except for those horizontal pieces. Those, you&#039;ll just fold around the edge of your apron and sew in place.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22036709911/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/652/22036709911_aab69531f3_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  216. &lt;p&gt;With the wider ribbon, incidentally, you can easily finger-press a crease before adding your pressing cloth and ironing it into place. The narrower stuff needs to be pressed to hold the fold.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21838972728/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/722/21838972728_fbd1cdb2da_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;416&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  217. &lt;p&gt;Again, because I like my crafts complicated, I went with a design that&#039;s dependent on lining up lots of strands of ribbon together. The best way to approach this is to be careful about placing the center-most piece, and then use that to line all the others up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22036710681/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/770/22036710681_9534b185ea_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;396&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  218. &lt;p&gt;...So I started by finding the center front of my apron. I drew a line with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://pilotpen.us/brands/frixion/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;FriXion pen&lt;/a&gt; (which erases with iron heat), and then measured a second line a little less than 1 1/4&quot; away. (That measurement is because the wider ribbon is just shy of 2 1/2&quot; wide.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22014519172/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5775/22014519172_1ac5131eb5_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;360&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  219. &lt;p&gt;That second line is where I lined up the right edge of my central piece of ribbon. And I placed the turned-under end at the top, along the edge of the apron. I also measured the center point of the apron near the bottom and used that to make sure the ribbon stayed straight all the way down.&lt;/p&gt;
  220. &lt;p&gt;When you have that ribbon where you want it, place the pressing cloth again and press it to tack the ribbon to the apron. Turn under the other end where you want it to end, and press that fold in place as well.&lt;/p&gt;
  221. &lt;p&gt;Now, that ribbon is tacked down and won&#039;t go anywhere while you&#039;re adding other pieces.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21405676413/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/742/21405676413_82eda2dacb_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;360&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  222. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21404032574/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5778/21404032574_b3e050615f_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;384&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  223. &lt;p&gt;I placed my ribbons 1/4&quot; apart. You can eyeball that, or use your trusty quilting ruler. Line the edge of the central ribbon up with the 1/4&quot; line, and then align the next ribbon with the edge of the ruler.&lt;/p&gt;
  224. &lt;p&gt;Just keep building the design, repeating the fusing process until all the ribbon is tacked in place.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22000617676/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/566/22000617676_5dddefdcd3_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;459&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  225. &lt;p&gt;For the horizontal pieces, just cut them a little longer than the edge of the apron so you can fold them over the edge.&lt;/p&gt;
  226. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21405675493/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5697/21405675493_6eca99378d_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;413&quot; alt=&quot;Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  227. &lt;p&gt;...And then put it on your sewing machine and stitched close to all four edges of each piece of ribbon.&lt;/p&gt;
  228. &lt;p&gt;(Yup, it was during this step that I asked myself, &lt;i&gt;&quot;Why the heck to I have to make things so complex, anyway?&quot;&lt;/i&gt;) :-)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/22109210051/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Crafty Football Blog Hop: Broncos Apron&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/615/22109210051_268ee62b42_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;360&quot; alt=&quot;Crafty Football Blog Hop: Broncos Apron&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  229. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Apron Care:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  230. &lt;p&gt;Another warning about the papery wide ribbon: I don&#039;t think it would like a hot dryer any more than it would like a hot iron. So either line-dry your apron or use a low-heat setting. And remember, any time you press your finished apron, bust out that pressing cloth!&lt;/p&gt;
  231. &lt;p&gt;Incidentally, the ribbon set I bought contained 9 yards - if you make your design less complicated than mine, you can get two or even three aprons out of a set. Good quick gifts!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  232. Here&#039;s what the other Football Blog Hoppers made:&lt;/p&gt;
  233. &lt;!-- inlinkz code start --&gt;&lt;script type=&quot;text/javascript&quot; src=&quot;http://lm.inlinkz.com/ar.php?id=154812&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- inlinkz code end --&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Categories:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/tutorials&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;Tutorials&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  234.     <pubDate>Sun, 11 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  235. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  236. <guid isPermaLink="false">11817 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  237.  </item>
  238.  <item>
  239.    <title>The 2015 Crafty Football Blog Hop!!</title>
  240.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/10/04/2015-crafty-football-blog-hop</link>
  241.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/15516300851/in/photolist-pD86Et-pBmxXQ-pkSvwX-pkTcQy-pCoiWH-gRoa5v-gRp1Fn-gRoc3Q-gRobvM-gRp1Gz-gRoa5F-gRo8iJ-gRp3fV-gRp3gg-gRp3gB-gRobJx-gRo8Ls-gRodMw-gRodNJ-gRobP2&quot; title=&quot;Football Fringe Scarf Tutorial&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5598/15516300851_7845d5f96c_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;451&quot; alt=&quot;Football Fringe Scarf Tutorial&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5758/21330746634_eac65589a4.jpg&quot; width=&quot;250&quot; height=&quot;250&quot; alt=&quot;2015 Crafty Football Blog Hop&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot; /&gt;It&#039;s that time of year, my friends - time for crafts that celebrate football in all its glories. We did this hop in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.craftypod.com/2013/10/24/the-crafty-football-blog-hop-how-to-make-fantasy-football-team-coasters&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;2013&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.craftypod.com/2014/10/14/crafty-football-blog-hop-how-make-football-fringe-scarf&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;2014&lt;/a&gt; as well, so feel free to click the links and see the fun diversity of projects.)&lt;/p&gt;
  242. &lt;p&gt;This year&#039;s lineup of bloggers includes some returning faces and some new ones:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  243. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Monday, October 5: Jane Skoch, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.maidenjane.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Maiden Jane&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  244. &lt;li&gt;Tuesday, October 6: Karen Gibbs, &lt;a href=&quot;http://designsbykarengibbs.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;3 a.m. Inspirations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  245. &lt;li&gt;Wednesday, October 7: Catherine Daniels, &lt;a href=&quot;http://ancoracrafts.com/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Ancora Crafts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  246. &lt;li&gt;Thursday, October 8: Tisha Nagel, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quiltytherapy.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Quilty Therapy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  247. &lt;li&gt;Friday, October 9: Jeff Hamilton, &lt;a href=&quot;http://bridgecitytatting.blogspot.com/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Bridge City Tatting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  248. &lt;li&gt;Monday, October 12: Yours Truly (Go, Broncos!)&lt;/li&gt;
  249. &lt;li&gt;Tuesday, October 13: SJ Kurtz, &lt;a href=&quot;http://erniekdesigns.blogspot.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Ernie K Designs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  250. &lt;li&gt;Wednesday, October 14: Katie Francesci, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yarnloveyarn.com/blog/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Yarn Love&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  251. &lt;li&gt;Thursday, October 15: Kim Parkman, &lt;a href=&quot;http://alifepinspired.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;A Life Pinspired&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  252. &lt;li&gt;Friday, October 16: Traci Cameron, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.honeysucklecharm.com&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Honeysuckle Charm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  253. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;!-- inlinkz code start --&gt;&lt;script type=&quot;text/javascript&quot; src=&quot;http://lm.inlinkz.com/ar.php?id=154812&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- inlinkz code end --&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  254. The linky above will update each day with a new post, so check back often to see them all!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  255. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Categories:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/general-crafty&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;General Crafty&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  256.     <pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2015 00:54:30 +0000</pubDate>
  257. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  258. <guid isPermaLink="false">11805 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  259.  </item>
  260.  <item>
  261.    <title>Doing Some Revival With The Cannonball Collective</title>
  262.    <link>http://craftypod.com/2015/09/16/doing-some-revival-cannonball-collective</link>
  263.    <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot; property=&quot;content:encoded&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21365402056/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5714/21365402056_281c50694a_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;419&quot; alt=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  264. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21380789782/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Revived Potholders, made with The Cannonball Collective&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5702/21380789782_4aa6b02322_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;435&quot; alt=&quot;Revived Potholders, made with The Cannonball Collective&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  265. &lt;p&gt;A couple months back, the folks at &lt;a href=&quot;https://cannonballcollective.com/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;The Cannonball Collective&lt;/a&gt; contacted me about checking out their new subscription box service. I was very intrigued by what they were doing and said &lt;i&gt;&quot;Heck yes!&quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  266. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://cannonballcollective.com/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;The Cannonball Collective&lt;/a&gt; aims to explore themes, using a combination of online content, print content, and tools and materials delivered to your door in a good-looking kit - as they put it: &lt;i&gt;&quot;Like a magazine come to life.&quot;&lt;/i&gt; The idea is to give you everything you need to have a fun new creative learning experience.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21204719369/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5619/21204719369_209911a443_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;508&quot; alt=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  267. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/20768933604/in/photostream/&quot; title=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/658/20768933604_d0a7219700_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;423&quot; alt=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  268. &lt;p&gt;The theme of this box (their first) is &quot;Revival,&quot; and it contains tools and materials for giving new life to an old garment or household item. You don&#039;t need any sewing experience, and there&#039;s no pattern to follow. Instead, you&#039;re encouraged to approach the process freely and playfully, and see what kinds of interesting things emerge.&lt;/p&gt;
  269. &lt;p&gt;Above, you can see what comes in that intriguing tin: a beautiful pair of scissors, a box of straight pins, a thimble, and a wooden tube of darning needles from &lt;a href=&quot;http://merchantandmills.com/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Merchant &amp;amp; Mills&lt;/a&gt;, plus an assortment of Japanese cotton fabrics and floss from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.superbuzzy.com/shop/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Superbuzzy&lt;/a&gt;. Really high-quality stuff, all of it - and a pleasure to use.&lt;/p&gt;
  270. &lt;p&gt;(Yes, those scissors immediately went into my EPP box for future thread-snipping.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/20768932964/in/photostream/&quot; title=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/584/20768932964_cbd6c58547_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;475&quot; alt=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  271. &lt;p&gt;...Tucked below all that: Japanese candy. :-)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/20770540253/in/photostream/&quot; title=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5744/20770540253_720d8a259c_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;360&quot; alt=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  272. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21204717459/in/photostream/&quot; title=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5812/21204717459_8ae9f9c19b_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;360&quot; alt=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  273. &lt;p&gt;The zine that comes with the kit is beautiful and inspiring. It contains a profile of this issue&#039;s Cannonball ACE (or featured artisan), Luke Deverell of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.darnanddusted.com/&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Darn and Dusted&lt;/a&gt;, a UK company specializing in artisanal clothing repair. There are some beautiful images of the kinds of work he does, plus some stitch diagrams to try, a cocktail recipe, and some pointers to interesting books and websites on the subject of reuse and revival.&lt;/p&gt;
  274. &lt;p&gt;...And speaking of websites, you can read even more on each theme at The Cannonball Collective website. Here&#039;s the &lt;a href=&quot;https://cannonballcollective.com/revival&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;Revival page&lt;/a&gt; - lots of intriguing links to revival projects there!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5830/21400928521_58fd4b03b2_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;480&quot; alt=&quot;cannonball12&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  275. &lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Image by The Cannonball Collective&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  276. &lt;p&gt;It&#039;s worth mentioning that The Cannonball Collective isn&#039;t strictly a crafty thing; it&#039;s more broadly creative. Take a look at the second issue, which has a theme of &lt;a href=&quot;https://cannonballcollective.com/wonderland&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;&quot;Wonderland.&quot;&lt;/a&gt; With it, you can harken back to the joys of childhood with all the tools and supplies to make your own ice pops, flavored with your own custom mix of specialty syrups. &lt;/p&gt;
  277. &lt;p&gt;...So this is really isn&#039;t something you can compare to other craft-supply subscription boxes on the market. This isn&#039;t a collection of samples to put in your stash and probably never use. Instead, it&#039;s a complete new experience in a box, with extra resources on the web and in your zine. It&#039;s an invitation to make some tea and spend an afternoon exploring..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21203778998/in/photostream/&quot; title=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/715/21203778998_917ab23555_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;360&quot; alt=&quot;The Cannonball Collective Revival Kit&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  278. &lt;p&gt;I was so inspired by the whole thing, that&#039;s exactly what I did - I blocked off a Saturday afternoon on my calendar so I could spend some time with the concept of revival. I made a nice pourover coffee, put my feet up, and enjoyed my zine. And then I went in search of something in my house that needed a bit of reviving.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21399992761/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Revived Potholders, made with The Cannonball Collective&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm1.staticflickr.com/695/21399992761_d1794fd535_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;592&quot; alt=&quot;Revived Potholders, made with The Cannonball Collective&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  279. &lt;p&gt;I&#039;ve been purging stuff lately, so I didn&#039;t have any garments around that were in need of mending. But I did find these terribly ratty 15 year-old potholders in my kitchen. (I know, I know, I could have made my own easily many times. But I&#039;m terrible about making things for myself. And, ugly as these things are, they still protect my hands, you know?)&lt;/p&gt;
  280. &lt;p&gt;Anyway. In the spirit of just playing, I took my Japanese fabrics and cut them into smaller pieces. And then I just randomly started blanket-stitching them all over the surface of the potholders. I didn&#039;t worry too much about making them straight, or keeping my stitching particularly perfect. I just enjoyed the colors and the process.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/20770538333/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Revived Potholders, made with The Cannonball Collective&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5749/20770538333_8629d83dce_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;399&quot; alt=&quot;Revived Potholders, made with The Cannonball Collective&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  281. &lt;p&gt;...And along the way, I thought about how long I&#039;ve had these potholders, how many apartments they&#039;ve lived in and how many times they&#039;ve moved with me. Funny how the serviceable things become so invisible. It was a nice feeling to take these long-suffering workhorses and give them a facelift (while simultaneously covering up multiple stains and scorch marks).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/21113527@N00/21203777358/in/dateposted/&quot; title=&quot;Revived Potholders, made with The Cannonball Collective&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5713/21203777358_852cdd0066_z.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;383&quot; alt=&quot;Revived Potholders, made with The Cannonball Collective&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  282. &lt;p&gt;So now, they&#039;re still old and somewhat lumpy and funky, but they&#039;re also colorful and happy and they bring a smile to my face every time I open the kitchen drawer. So, Revival indeed! Thank you, Cannonball Collective, for a great creative challenge. &lt;/p&gt;
  283. &lt;p&gt;The Cannonball Collective subscription is a quarterly one, and you can opt out of any quarter ahead of time. You can get all the details &lt;a href=&quot;https://cannonballcollective.com/subscription&quot; target=&quot;new&quot;&gt;over here&lt;/a&gt;. I&#039;m interested to see what kinds of explorations these folks do in the future!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  284. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Categories:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item even&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/categories/sewn-quilted&quot; typeof=&quot;skos:Concept&quot; property=&quot;rdfs:label skos:prefLabel&quot; datatype=&quot;&quot;&gt;Sewn &amp;amp; Quilted&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
  285.     <pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  286. <dc:creator>Diane</dc:creator>
  287. <guid isPermaLink="false">11804 at http://craftypod.com</guid>
  288.  </item>
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