Table of Contents:

ABOUT THE LIBRARY OF LISTS

INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN WRITING AND QUILTING , PART ONE
 
INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN WRITING AND QUILTING, PART TWO
 
THE TIME MISER'S LISTS

RESOURCES FOR LEARNING TO QUILT

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1) List-making is an organizing principle.

2) List-making transforms everyday life (especially the logistics of life) into an art form: creative problem-solving; turning tasks into a game.

3) Lists are Text Isles.

4) These lists are about quilting, the writing process, efficiency, synergy, cooking and food choices, reading choices, spirituality, high-brow self-help, and other stuff I support.  I am a tip junkie and a T.I.P. (Text Isle Patchwork) junkie.

5) This page is a 21st century commonplace book.

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Intersections between Writing and Quilting [Part One]:

1) Writing: Combining words, sentences, paragraphs, scenes, chapters. Themes, threads, and background. Deciding how to structure a novel or essay or short story.

For structuring fiction: how much flashback and backstory is too much? Where should I place and apportion it? Is there enough contrast? Is the tone annoying or true? 
 
I control the process most of the time, but serendipity keeps helping me out. This is the addictive hook.
 

Quilting: Combining colors, shapes, panels, borders. Themes, threads, and background. Deciding how to structure sections and the design as a whole.

Is there enough contrast? Is the tone jarring or muddy or transcendent? How can I create variations within the pattern so that the viewer will give the quilt more than a passing glance?

I control the process most of the time, but serendipity keeps helping me out. This is the addictive hook.


2) The process is as rewarding as the result. When I give the quilts away to Project Linus, when I contemplate how hard it is to get a novel published, I remember that by quilting and writing I get to make mandalas. But then I also get to make mandalas when I empty the dishwasher. It's just that I'm not interested in emptying the dishwasher.

3) Quilting and writing are solitary, immersive, spiritual, and colorful.

4) The marathons I can run without hurting my knees.

5) This quote hits the nail on my head:

"Bookmaking comes naturally to me. The research is like a treasure hunt, the writing like piecing together a quilt." -- Debra Lynn Dadd

I like the allusion to treasure-hunting in this quote. The heroine in my novel Six Words is a scavenger huntress.

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Intersections between Writing and Quilting [Part Two]:

These three textile artists are also evocative writers.

1) Jude Hill at http://spiritcloth.typepad.com. Hill’s online journal is exquisite, subtle, cerebral. She describes it as “a personal journey into gift giving and story cloth.”

Please check out this blog post in particular:

http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/2008/07/needle-chanting.html

2) Susan M. Hinckley’s website is Small Works in Wool, at http://www.susanmhinckley.com/

This is my favorite Susan M. Hinckley quote:

“I am currently stitching my stories full time. It seems that words, images and medium have merged – at last – to truly give me voice.”

3) Judy Martin’s blog, “Judy’s Journal,” is a gem with poignant facets.

http://judys-journal.blogspot.com

This is my favorite Judy Martin quote:

“The period of time spent making stitched art is tangible. Add in the power of repeated human touch and the result is extraordinary. Why is it undervalued?” 


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The Time MIser's Lists:
 

1) Next Action list: Daily to-do list & where you need to be & when & what you need to bring or retrieve.

The concept of Next Actions comes from productivity guru David Allen's Getting Things Done. Click here for the best survey of his GTD system.

Next actions are small, concrete tasks that break up bigger projects.
 
For my novel revision, one next action was "Come up with a way to flesh out Sophia and Dawn's friendship and backstory."

I wouldn't write "Work on revision" on my to-do list. Seeing that whale of a command on my to-do list would send me right off the deep end. Off to sort my sock drawer.

Most people who follow David Allen's Getting Things Done system keep their Project Lists separate from Next Action lists.

Next actions can usually be done in 20 minutes or less.  I wish I prioritized the items on my next action list. I would respect myself more in the morning.

Randy Pausch said "Do the ugliest thing first." He made that suggestion the very first, highest priority item on his list of 30 time management tips. I wish I were disciplined enough to do the ugliest task first.


2) Annual List, divided by month. There's a lot of random, imperceptible stuff I do every year that I would forget to do if I didn't have this list (submit health insurance claims, schedule air conditioner maintenance). 


3) Gift Idea List. I am addicted to Publishers Weekly magazine, so I can keep up with publishing trends, and also because the book reviews are short and wise. They review nonfiction books I don't see reviewed elsewhere, which gives me great gift ideas, especially for history books. I also keep this gift idea list so that I have some place to record gifts that support good causes, mom-and-pop (or mom-and-mom) businesses, and friends of mine who are authors, artists, or entrepreneurs.

If it weren't for this gift idea list, I wouldn't have remembered that there is a Mr. T keychain that you can press to hear a recording that says "I pity the fool!"

4) Grocery Lists. I keep these on my computer. I print out a few weeks' worth, circle what I need each time, so I don't have to keep writing down "carrots, cucumbers, onions, carrots cucumbers, onions." And my handwriting is illegible, so typing is better.

Here is a link to a good grocery list from Chi Running gurus Danny and Katherine Dreyer.

5) Highlights List, one per year, to document my daughter's life, not just for our family, but so that she can enjoy reading the details from past years.

I record what she did month by month, especially if it was the first time she did something, and funny stuff she said.

Please jot or write down your family history in whatever way is easiest and most fun for you. Your kids, descendants, and historians will be interested to learn all sorts of things that you take for granted. Not just the big stuff that usually gets recorded, like how much you weighed when you were born, or the year you got married, but about your everyday life. What made you happy, what were your most vivid memories, did you believe in God, and how much did you pay for ice cream?

There is an excellent book about how to do this: Peter Stillman's Family Writing. 

In this age of facebook and twitter status updating, you might consider saving your status updates to a file on your computer so you can keep a diary that way.
 
 

Mobile List-making:

My Blackberry has 6 lists on it, via the Memo function and accessible easily by the shortcut key on the side of the blackberry. I jot anything I'll need to put into files on my laptop or date book. I then email the lists to myself so I don't have to manually type them in again back at home.


1) Next Actions.

2) Six Words: everything related to my novel.

3) Shopping List.

4) Portable Book List, so I know what to look for at a bookstore or library, and when I'm super-organized, it lets me know which branch has which books. 

5) "Portable Info,"  Stuff you need again and again when you are out and about:

-- driving directions for places that I only go to a few times a year, so I can't remember quite how to get there.

-- health insurance info for filling out a form if I don't have a card with me

-- daughter's current measurements are listed in case I need to go to a store without her.

-- I keep meaning to add in post office, library branch, and store hours for places I go to a lot.

6) Quilting Ideas List.


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Resources for Learning to Quilt   

 

by Rebecca Wolsk (info@textislepatchwork.com)

 

I. Book List

II. Website List

III. Supply List

IV. Beginning Skills List

V. Food for Thought

 

I. Book List

 

 

Your First Quilt Book by Carol Doak

 

The Quilter's Ultimate Visual Guide,  Ellen Pahl, ed.

 

Quilter's Complete Guide by Marianne Fons and Liz Porter

 

If you’re making a quilt with children:

 

Handprint Quilts: Creating Children's Keepsakes with Paint and Fabric

and Calendar Kids: Handprint Quilts Through the Year by Marcia L. Layton

 

If you’re teaching children to sew or quilt:

 

Sewing Fun for Kids: Patchwork, Gifts & More and The Best of Sewing Machine Fun for Kids by Lynda S. Milligan and Nancy J. Smith

 

In addition to these books, I have been pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of quilt books available for free at even the smallest public library branches.

 

II. Website List:

 

1) http://quilting.about.com/ is a great place to start. The site is skillfully coordinated by Janet Wickell

 

2) Here is a link to a free, full-size quilt pattern that is simple and elegant:

 

http://amybutlerdesign.com/pdfs/LotusQuilt.pdf

 

3) http://schoolofcrafts.blogspot.com/  Natalie’s blog is excellent in its own right, and also a gateway to the quilting blogosphere.

 

 

5) Virginia A. Spiegel fuses the worlds of art quilting and fundraising for worthwhile causes.

 

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/blog/archives/tag/good-causes

 

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html

 

 

6) Michele Bilyeu also quilts to benefit others, and has gathered and sorted links to 2500 free quilt patterns. 

 

http://with-heart-and-hands.blogspot.com/

 

and

 

http://freequiltpatterns.blogspot.com/

 

Also check out Bilyeu’s instructions for environmentally friendly “morsbags.”

 

http://with-heart-and-hands.blogspot.com/2008/06/morsbags.html

 

7) Marcia Hohn is a witty and talented quilt pattern designer—I wish I could find an interview with her. She’s so modest she doesn’t say much about herself on her resourceful and resource-full ! website,  http://www.quilterscache.com/

 

8) Bradie Sparrow’s wonderful Quiltcetera’s Basic Quilting Techniques Course can be found at

 

http://www.quiltcetera.com/Basic-Quilting-Techniques/files/category-bqtc-00231.html

 

Her husband Matt is her quilting business partner, and they have 8 beautiful children who I’m guessing are just as creative as they are.

 

9) Bonnie Hunter at http://quiltville.com/ makes gorgeous scrap quilts, and offers terrific instructions. String quilting is just one of many fun scrap quilting techniques, and Bonnie’s “String quilting primer” can put to good use for a charity called The Heartstrings Quilt Project at

 

http://heartstringsquiltproject.com/

 

Hunter lists other worthwhile causes at this page:

 

http://quiltville.com/charityorg.shtml

 

 

10) Charity quilting is a great route for beginning quilters to take. My favorite is

Project Linus, which distributes handmade blankets, including quilted, knitted, and crocheted blankets, to children nationwide via many state chapters.

 

www.Projectlinus.org

 

 

DC/MD/VA-based Resources:

 

Since I am from Washington, DC, I can’t resist sharing some local links:

 

1) “Service Projects” page for Needlechasers of Chevy Chase (the guild I belong to)

 

http://www.needlechasers.org/serviceprojects.htm

 

 

2) Other DC-area guilds can be found here:

 

http://www.needlechasers.org/otherguilds.htm

 

3) The Needlechasers of Chevy Chase guild list includes a link to Northern Virginia’s Quilters Unlimited, which has 12 chapters. http://www.quiltersunlimited.org/

 

 

4) DC Threads, at www.dcthreads.org, was founded by Laura Lee and Allison Lince-Bentley. Through their outreach (monthly sewing lounges, and Stichin’ For Change), and a great website, participants work on their own projects in a collegial atmosphere, learn to sew, or help others learn to sew. The DC area’s craft scene is flourishing right now, in spite of, or even because of, the bleak economic climate, and DC Threads is a part of this larger scene. 

 

*            *            *

 

For fabric and supply shopping, if you are in DC, Maryland, or Virginia, please consider supporting these local small businesses:

 

Capitol Quilts

Gary & Susan McLaughlin, owners

15926 Luanne Dr., Gaithersburg, MD

301-527-0598

www.capitolquilts.com

 

Artistic Artifacts

Judy Gula owns a fabulous crafter’s paradise in Alexandria, VA (http://www.artisticartifacts.com). You can sign up for workshops, order products online, and Gula has a link to her blog from the main site.

4750 Eisenhower Avenue ?Alexandria, VA 22304

703-823-0202 x213

judy@artisticartifacts.com

 

Honfleur Home

8519 Georgia Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20910

800-656-3587

http://www.honfleurhome.com

Honfleur Home donates a portion of their proceeds to arts and education. They run classes, and sewing cafes where you can rent time on their sewing machines. Online shopping available.

 

III. Supply List

 

** Fabric! (100 percent cotton is best)

** thin white fabric (especially muslin) to use as foundation for techniques like foundation piecing and crazy quilting

** Fabric markers to decorate white fabric, especially if you’re working with kids.

 

**  Rotary cutting mat (23 by 17 is a good starter size)

** Rotary cutter (60 mm good to start with)

** Rotary ruler

I like 14 by 4.5 for smaller pieces of fabric; longer rulers for bigger swaths of fabric.

** Sharp scissors 

Buy fabric scissors, then reserve them for use with fabric only, because paper will dull them over time.

 

** Square ruler

June Tailor makes a square ruler value pack of different sizes.

 

You can use Bias square rulers (Nancy J. Martin’s brand is the classic choice) to draw quarter-inch seam lines; as templates; and for the bias-strip method, once you get excited enough about quilting to know what the bias-strip method is!

 

Thread  (100 percent cotton)

 

Pearl Cotton and Embroidery Floss

For hand-tying your quilts instead of quilting them. I hand-tie all the quilts I do for charities and school auctions because it is so much faster than machine-quilting them, and it is fun. The embroidery floss is also handy for embellishing your quilt tops, especially if you are making a crazy quilt.

 

Needles

I suggest buying needles for machine work and hand work in a variety of sizes so you can see what you like. For handwork I prefer size 10 sharps, but I use a variety of sizes from multi-packs. For hand-quilting I use sharps as well, though you’re supposed to use a type of needle called a between (start with size 10), but betweens are too short for me to be able to handle them since I rarely hand-quilt.

 

For machine-piecing and quilting on cotton fabric, I prefer 75/11 quilting needles or 80/12 universal needles.

 

If you are hand-tying a quilt instead of machine- or hand-quilting it, you will need a sharp yarn needle. Clover brand Yarn Darner needles are ideal, or some needle multi-packs come with sharp, large-eye needles that work equally well.

 

Pins with colorful heads so you can find them easily—they should be longer than the 1-inch pins that you see from the dry cleaners.

 

Iron and an ironing board

Many quilt guides suggest steam irons, but whenever I put water in my irons, they leak a bit. Now I use dry irons, accompanied by a cheap spray bottle from the hardware store that I keep filled with water. When you need steam, lightly spray water on the fabric before using the iron.

 

Needle threader (the best ones have seam rippers on the other end—you’ll also need a seam ripper to do the “frog stitch,” which gets its name from the fact that when you mess up and have to rip out a seam, you go “rip-it, rip-it” J )

 

Popsicle stick for finger-pressing during those times when you’re not near an iron or ironing board. Popsicle sticks will work almost as well as mini irons. There’s also a beautiful little tool called a hera marker that can be used to press seams flat and to temporarily trace your sewing or quilting lines.

 

Batting (the inner layer of the quilt—there are different kinds depending on whether you are working by hand or on a machine)

 

Cookie cutters are fun to use for templates. Sheets of clear plastic work too.

 

Sewing machine: Janome’s “Sew Mini Compact” model is a cheap, sturdy starter machine if you want to do machine-piecing and quilting instead of (or in addition to) hand work.

 

 

For economical purchases online:

 

Check out Etsy.com (full of crafters selling their wares, including quilts, clothing, paper goods, and tools for fellow crafters)

 

www.etsy.com

 

Equilter.com’s clearance page:

http://equilter.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_main.html?catid=189

 

Overstock’s crafts-sewing section:

http://www.overstock.com/Crafts-Sewing/34/store.html

 

IV. Beginning Skills List:

 

1) Create a four-patch block, then a nine-patch block.

 

To do this, refer to these links:

 

Linda Warren’s 4 minute video:

 

http://video.about.com/quilting/Nest-Patchwork-Quilt-Seams.htm

 

http://quilting.about.com/od/blockofthemonth/ss/framed_4patch_2.htm

then

 

http://quilting.about.com/od/blockofthemonth/ss/ninepatch_chain.htm

 

2) Create a crazy quilt block on foundation fabric.

 

http://www.caron-net.com/classes/classmayfiles/clasmay1.html

 

3) Create triangle squares.

 

http://quilting.about.com/od/quickpiecingtechniques/ss/halfsquaretria.htm

 

 

 

V. Food for Thought:

 

Quilter Gwen Marston’s “Liberated Quiltmaking” philosophy:

 

 “Sew some pieces together any way it is possible…. Don’t worry about how the whole quilt will look when finished…. No pattern. No templates.” 

 

Marston advocates this approach in her legendary book, Liberated Quiltmaking (out of print as of this writing, though Liberated Quiltmaking II is available). Marston has other great books available (including Fabric Picture Books). Her website is at http://www.gwenmarston.com/.