Valerean

I made this flip-through video of the quilting journal I started as part of my Ten Things in a Month challenge . All finished up; onto the journal I'm writing for Fall. :)

I like Robin Hood stories, and when I saw the circa-2006 BBC TV series on sale I decided to invest. The big box came with three seasons over fifteen discs, and it took me about a month to work my way through them. This production is spun more modern than most, and has an interesting cast. Robin is played by a skinny, boyish Jonas Armstrong, who did a decent job of the role, but had to compete with Richard Armitage, who plays Guy of Gisborne with a slow-burning vengeance. The Sheriff of Nottingham, played by Keith Allen, was beyond campy and ridiculous, which just made Gisborne smoulder even more. Maid Marian, played by the quite lovely Lucy Griffiths, is soulful, stubborn and has a mind of her own. The very small band of Merry Men -- known as only the gang on the show -- are all interesting actors. I really liked the characters, and how their roles changed and grew and did some surprising moral bomerangs. The writing, especially most of the dialogue, is pretty dreadful. The co...

I am a huge fan of Pick Up Limes , and I thought I'd share one of Sadia's videos on healthy eating hacks that has some simple and neat ideas on how to put more healthy options into your diet without a lot of fuss:

I've been trying to figure out how to use the fabric scraps I have that are too narrow to sew, and found a video on using up even the tiniest scraps that inspired me to give it a try. I tweaked her idea a bit by layering my strips on top of a piece of scrap muslin and lightweight Pellon fusible web, as the latter is the only fusible I have on hand. After ironing, I top-stitched the strips on the machine with a zigzag stitch: It worked, so I trimmed the block and turned it into a mug rug with some scrap batting and another piece of muslin To hold everything in place I added more top-stitching, using a straight stitch: It's a sturdy little piece, and definitely an easy way to use even the littlest bits of fabric. My one concern was that it's probably not going to survive the washing machine or the dryer, which would make it a bad technique to use for a quilt. So I put it through both, and here's how it looks after the wash and dry: The raw edges of the ...

Just a heads-up, Bluprint.com (formerly Craftsy) is making all of their 1420 online class videos free for anyone to watch until 4/9; all you have to do is register an account with the site, which only requires an e-mail. These are the class categories: Quilt (208) Sew (198) Cake (193) Knit (164) Cook (121) Photo (83) Bake (78) Paint (75) Draw (75) Embroidery (58) Paper Craft (55) Crochet (52) Jewelry (50) Wood (24) Garden (23) Other (21) Family (14) Weave (12) Spin (9) I made this quilt from a kit I bought from them back in 2018 when they were still Craftsy, and I have watched a couple of their free shows in the past. Definitely worth it for free.

In honor of National Craft Month, here's a fascinating Craft in America episode featuring some very talented thread artists, including two insanely talented art quilters:

Since it's National Embroidery Month, here are: Ten Things About Embroidery This is a very cool article on the kind of embroidery found on late medieval clothing and accessories. Did you know embroidery has often been subversive ways for women to protest and be heard? Read more here. Christie's shows an amazing selection of historic Chinese embroidery robes in this article for collectors . Learn more about the different styles of embroidery in this V&A article with beautiful example pics. This article on book-embroidery shows some beautiful examples of the fabric covers made and embroidered for books dating back to the 17th century. The very famous Bayeux Tapestry (which should really be called the Bayeux 220-foot-long Embroidered panel) can be seen in its entirety online here . One of the earliest known examples of primitive beaded embroidery was found along with the fossilized skeleton of a Cro-Magnon man , who died some 30,000 years ago. Click on the lin...

I'm always looking for new ways to get creative with my materials, and this video shows you an easy method to make a beautiful rose out of good old ordinary ric rac (the first part shows the leaves, so I started it at the ric rac transformation point.)

I never got much into YouTube until 2019, when I started looking for therapeutic music. Weird, yes. Along with my hearing impairment I have moderately severe tinnitus (made worse by taking statins) and read about a potential audio therapy treatment. The treatment didn't work for me, but in the process of hunting down some music I found other YouTube channels that interested me, and still do. To share the wealth, here are Ten Channels I Subscribe to on YouTube Arne & Carlos : In the knitting world, these two Norwegian designers are rockstars. I like them because of their gentle banter with each other, their interesting projects, wonderful use of color, and the beautiful spot where they live in Norway. They also do a bit of crazy quilting. Bernadette Banner : A NYC costume designer and period garment expert who has historical sewing adventures, and is something of a displaced time traveler. She's definitely quirky but always fun. Cathy Hay I found this Briti...