Happy 2022! Looking Forward to a Good Year

Posted on January 2, 2022January 2, 2022 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Ancient manuscripts, Applique, Books, Deep space quilts, High-Tech Studio, My micro-business, My Studio, skill building, Techniques, Tools, Videos, Wool

We made it through 2021! Hooray! Happy New Year everyone! I am taking a positive approach for 2022…expecting it to be a good year full of light, love, peace, and productivity! So what’s first up for Betty Jo’s Fabric Arts?

I talked a little about this in my last blog post.

I will soon be presenting the first in a three-part series of videos coupled with the publishing of a workbook with pattern for the Two Birds Project. The first part is completely filmed and being edited, and the workbook is fully written and being edited. The two remaining videos are filmed all but the short openings and I need to record the voice-over scripts for them. It will be a fun set for my followers and I’m excited to get to this point.
I am working on putting together a wool applique by machine project. Wait until you see what can be done with these techniques and materials! It’s really going to be fun!
I have worked up a production plan for the first part of the year that includes show quilts (to fit within my architectural, ancient manuscript, and deep space genres), applique projects (both wool and other fabrics), and multiple shorter technique skill project videos that I think you will enjoy. There may be other things too along the way. Plus a little bit of clothes sewing.

I got a fun addition to my studio for Christmas, a Brother Scan and Cut DX. I have been spending the last several days learning all about it and how best to use it. It adds lots of new possibilities and a great help for the applique quilts for sure, but I can also make some quilting stencils and other things I am thinking about. I now have both the Applique Go! with a nice collection of dies to help me cut multiple layers of fabric for snuggle/quick-to-make quilts and the Scan and Cut for cutting digitally created shapes for more complex individual applique designs among other things…how wonderful. Truly, except for wishing I had more space and storage (doesn’t everyone?), I have a marvelous studio for designing, quilting, and stitching adventures complete with the video equipment well set up for filming them. And yes, I also have significant help from my delightful family. Oh, and don’t forget, I have newly improved eyesight to help with all of this! I am totally thankful both to my kids and my Lord for all of this.

Sew I am making a kind of fresh move in my YouTube channel, pattern making, and books now at the beginning of 2022. Last year seems like kind of a rehearsal and learning period for me. So I’m excited. I hope to get a lot of new subscribers/readers and provide significant content you all will enjoy. I love sharing my work with you.

Let me know if there is a particular subject you want me to cover either in comments here or on my videos on YouTube. I will see what can be done.

Sew happy everyone! Have fun in your studio!

Merry Christmas and New Adventures for 2022

Posted on December 19, 2021December 19, 2021 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Applique, Deep space quilts, Food for Thought, High-Tech Studio, Machines, Making Clothes, My micro-business, My Studio, Panel quilts, Project Management, Quilt Journal, Quilts for sale, Skill background, Videos, Wool / 2 Comments

I digitized and embroidered this star as an applique. It is on one of my Christmas quilts now owned by my church.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are already enjoying this wonderful season. It is one of my very most favorite times of the year. We are having a relatively simple celebration this year, but it is still joyous. Right now I have The Piano Guys YouTube videos of Christmas music playing while I write this. They are fun. Have you seen the one with the Christmas scene and all the cameras riding around in the little train, on the Christmas tree, and in the drone flying in the room? Here’s the link. It’s really fun. Or how about the one all done in legos. Here’s that link. So creative and beautifully performed.

Well, I finished the Two Birds quilt along with completing the filming of the videos. The whole stack of hours and hours of videos I made while I made the quilt, along with the voice over reading, and the intro and exits parts we filmed together last weekend are now being edited by my oldest son.

I have written the pattern and workbook that goes with it, and that too is being edited by the family team. I don’t know when we will get the first video of that project published but hopefully not long now. It’s a big job to edit such a tangle of videos, voice overs and corrections into three publishable videos that make sense and are also interesting. It has already taken much longer than any of us anticipated, but that was primarily due to my unrelated circumstances this year that delayed things, such as my cataract surgery among other things. But that is all behind me now and I greatly look forward to the coming new year.

I have every expectation that we will produce much more content for my YouTube channel at a bit faster pace and with ever increasingly interesting projects and building professionalism. I have gotten to where I don’t get bothered by the cameras, know how to set them up properly, and have lots of fun ideas for new stitching/quilting/videoing projects. I have learned that the videography is as important as the making of the fabric art piece to make it all work and find it also very interesting.

I still have only about a third of the subscribers and a fourth of the viewership needed to monetize the YouTube channel, but it is growing and I nevertheless enjoy being able to share my projects with my viewers. I hope you all enjoy the videos and will be happy to see them when a new one is published. We have several projects already planned for the new year.

First of all, I want to create some new wool applique by machine projects, because I think it is possible to make some stunningly beautiful pieces in this category that has hardly been touched in the quilting/fabric art world using the machine and my initial project was only a basic introductory layout of the techniques. It’s an adventure to see how far this can go.

Then I have three new show quilts in mind for 2o22 that I think you will all love or at least enjoy watching me make them. I hope I can succeed in getting all three made.

There will be a number of short and shorter videos showing techniques and use of tools.

And then I need to make some new clothes. I have everything I need for them and will try to spread them across the year so I have something new and fun to wear once in a while. I probably won’t buy any ready-made clothing this year just as a sort of challenge to myself for fun. I haven’t decided whether or not to video these projects. What do you think?

Sew happy everyone! Have a wonderful holiday season and I hope you also Have Fun in Your Studios!!!

Fall Project Timing

Posted on October 3, 2021October 3, 2021 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in a pattern, Art Quilt Techniques, Classes, Design Work, Making Clothes, My micro-business, Project Management, Sewing Clothing, skill building, Software, Threads, Videos, Wool / 4 Comments

Hi everyone. I can’t believe it’s already October! I love that it is fall, because it was a hot and somewhat rough summer for me, but it occurs to me that I have several projects I have in mind for fall and for the Christmas/winter season that aren’t even started yet. Yikes! I better stretch my time in the studio a bit more!

I have been working really hard on the complex multi-video two birds project. I am about three fourths of the way. I want mostly to complete the whole project before publishing the first video because I need to make sure the accompanying workbook and pattern with all its techniques are good and actually work with the videos. That will be available from my shop on my website and together with the videos presents a fairly complete class. This class presents a lot of the techniques I have used in the past on some of my show quilts and I think quilters will enjoy making it. Besides, it makes up into a really nice wall or lap quilt that would be a wonderful present or enjoyable quilt for yourself.

Sew, kind of as step one on this project, I uploaded a video that discusses how to turn a line drawing, like a coloring book page, into a pattern similar to my two birds to use in your own designs. I know everyone may not have all the software or want to play with it in that way, but I know some will and may not have thought of using it for that or really know how. If you have Bernina software v8, for instance, you have Corel Draw elements. Anyway, take a look at the video and see what you think.

Here is a picture of some luscious Wonderfil threads (see link on the right). I love their specialty threads and am using a lot of them in my two birds project.

I have a couple of wool applique by machine decorative wall hangings–one for fall and one for Christmas–coming too, if I succeed in getting them all done in time.

In the meantime, I have my right eye cataract surgery on the 14th of this month. I will be glad to get that taken care of. I can see so well out of my left eye now and not well at all out of the right eye.

Then to top off everything, I have clothes I need to make. We’ll see how much of all of this I get done.

The Simplicity pattern from my substantial pattern stash. Note the pants have a simple full elastic waist and no pockets…not what I want, but I have a better slacks pattern. The long sleeve tunic provides a suggestion for the embellishment. I would be adding something more for fun.

I always plan more than I can do it seems. But it is so much to look forward to and have fun with in my studio as we drift into fall and winter.

Sew happy everyone! Have fun in your studio.

Preparing for a Fun Sewing and Quilting Season

Posted on August 30, 2021August 30, 2021 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in High-Tech Studio, Machines, My micro-business, My Studio, Project Management, Studio maintenance, Uncategorized

Hi everyone. I can see so well out of my left eye now after the cataract surgery last Monday that it is amazing. I am probably going to go ahead and have the right eye done in a month or thereabout afterall. Working on my fabric art this coming season is really going to be fun. Unfortunately, I can also see that the house needs a real cleaning, which I really couldn’t see before.

Well, first things first…and that’s the preparation for the sewing, quilting, fabric painting, and both free motion and in-the-hoop embroidery. I’ll be using all kinds of threads, because I enjoy that part of my fabric art so much.

Sew I have made a check list and am going through it and straightening my studio at the same time. My studio is not in bad shape, because I have found the reorganization I did with my friend Anita’s help several years back has held up pretty well. Basically, I just need to put things back where they belong and do a quick check to see what I may need to replace or give away.

Here’s my check list, making sure I have:

— A sufficient supply of sewing machine needles in the following sizes and types:

a: Assorted Superior titanium top stitch needles
b: Assorted Schmetz Super Non-Stick needles
c: A couple of packages of assorted Schmetz universal needles

— Yards of Pellon SF101 lightweight woven interfacing (I buy a bolt usually and back many of my quilting fabrics with this), and a generous supply of other weights and types of interfacing (especially since I use this for clothing too).

— Generous supply of the blackest quilting cotton, because I use a lot of black in my quilts. I love how colors play against the black.

— A nice selection of stabilizers, I particularly like OESD Ultra Clean and Tear

— A supply of blades for my rotary cutters

— Look critically at the rulers and cutting mats for knicks and cracks and toss and replace if needed

— How are my pins? (everyone has their own preferences here, so I am not adding a link)

— Check all the bobbins to make sure they aren’t warped or some such. The B880 bobbins have a silver paint on them that can wear off and make the bobbin unreadable for the machine. So I need to toss them when they get bad, but I generally do that along the way, and the more recent bobbins seem to last longer than the earlier ones.

— Test the threader on my machines to make sure they don’t need a replacement head or something, I just replaced the one on my Q20, and because this is a weak point in my Q20 I keep a spare on hand.

— Carefully clean my machines, oil if needed (don’t oil if not, because too much oil is as bad as too little).

— battings. I like to have on hand: Thermore super thin polyester (good for quilted clothes). Hobbs 80/20 , Hobbs Tuscany wool, and Hobbs Poly down. Since I seldom make bed-sized quilts, I buy a crib or throw size of those if available. If I am going to make a larger quilt I will buy the batting then. This way I usually have available what I need.

I will shop my stash and buy the fabrics I need to make them work as needed, so all I do here is make sure they are in their right places and more or less folded somewhat neatly. I labeled all the drawers and shelves where I keep them. Occasionally they sneak into the wrong drawer somehow. I can’t figure out how. LOL

I will do the same thing with my threads, because I have a large thread stash to go with my large fabric stash. I love both Superior threads and Wonderfil specialty threads and I have a wide selection of colors, weights, and fiber content. So I make sure they aren’t tangled in a nest and are in the right drawers or on the right pegs behind the door (I don’t store them where they get sunlight).

And last of all I dust and wipe down the tables, cutting mats, and outer parts of the machines, and dust and vacuum the studio. I wipe down my Q20 Koala table with Sullivan’s silicone spray, being sure to cover the bobbin/bsr area with blue painters tape (which I also may need to replace) so it doesn’t get into the works. It is such a great thing to be able to have things all stocked and ready to go for future projects and this usually takes me only a few days.

Now! Let the fun begin! First up is my 2 birds project, and then a couple of Holiday quilts, one will be a wool applique and embellishment by machine for Christmas and then something else for the Holiday season.

Sew happy everyone! Get ready to have fun in your studio!

Keeping a Good Eye On My Work

Posted on August 20, 2021August 20, 2021 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Art Quilt Techniques, My Family, My micro-business, Project Management, Quilt Journal, Threads, Wool / 2 Comments

This coming Monday, August 23rd 2021, I will be having surgery for a cataract in my left eye. I know it is often the case that people have both eyes done within weeks of each other, but my right eye is doing just fine at the moment. I am having a hard time seeing my work lately and so I thought all I needed was a new pair of glasses so I went to my eye doctor and find myself here, preparing for this on Monday. I am looking forward to the result. I have had many people tell me what a great result they have had from such surgery and it does not seem to be a big major disruption in their lives. Still, I would appreciate your prayers for a good result and a quick recovery and thankfulness that this is available to me at this time in my life plus that I have excellent doctors. The lack of good vision has clearly slowed me down in my work. My eye doctor told me I would be happy.

Sew I think it would be fun to make something celebratory. I am thinking it might be time to start a Christmas project, and I promised some of my followers that I would come up with another project for wool applique by machine with embellishment. I am thinking of making a Christmas project, and have already begun working on the design. I still have a bunch of beautiful melton wools and it would be really fun to do one with lots of beautiful stitching with beautiful threads and hundreds of beads, crystals, buttons, and other embellishments…a real decorative piece to celebrate both my improved vision and the Lord’s birth. Maybe I’ll do two–one in wool and one in cotton or silk! LOL

In the meantime, progress is finally being made on the project I am calling “two birds” that will be presented with three videos and a detailed pattern. The pattern is basically done, but it is being tested and the project is being filmed as I make it. It’s more complex than my introductory projects on my YouTube channel, so I want to complete the work on the project before I publish any of the videos.

Sew me and my family advisory team have come up with some ideas for shorter videos to publish along the way that we think people will like. These will be showing up periodically, and, before too long, the two birds project will get there.

Sew happy everyone! Have fun in your studio and keep an eye out for my upcoming projects and videos. God bless you all in this perilous time.

A New Stitching Adventure

Posted on July 21, 2021July 28, 2021 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in a pattern, Art Quilt Techniques, Embellishment, Embroidery, Fabrics, My micro-business, Quilt Journal, skill building, Techniques, Threads, Tools, Videos

Birds at Play Detail from Pattern

Hi gentle readers,

I am almost ready to start making and filming a fun new wall quilt that focuses on stitching…both free motion and some with feed dogs up. It also has a small amount of appliques behind some of the stitching and 9 pieces of fabrics to make a simple style quilt background to put all this stitching with some appliques and some paint onto. The picture above is a single tile from a multi-tile downloadable pattern with instructions and supply list. This project was inspired by a page from a Dover Publications coloring book.

I got the missing fabrics this week and they are all washed and ready to go. I am still working on the pattern, but the hard part is done so I will be publishing that for sale at a moderate price on my website store to go along with an undetermined number of free YouTube videos to take people through the project…fun to simply watch, and fun to make with me if you want.

I will be adding a page to this blog site with links to my recommended supplies that apply to ongoing projects. Once it’s there you can just click on “Supply links” above and you can go shopping!

Sew I am excited about making this piece. I will be testing some products I have not used before I make it and will tell you about them as I go. This includes some new specialty threads from Wonderfil Threads I have only briefly used and Sulky’s Sticky-Fabri-Solvy printable self adhesive water soluble stabilizer. I think it could be a real blessing for limiting the amount of marking I have to do for this project and stabilizing the stitching. I might do a 60 second shorts video on my test of all of this just so you can see it even if I decide not to use it for this particular project. Would you like that?

I should be publishing the first parts of this project in a few weeks. We’ll see though. It takes a while to film the making of a complex project like this and get it edited. In any event, I will let you know how it stands with my next blog post. Let me know what you are working on. Do you have any special requests for techniques to discuss? (Please comment here. I love comments because it helps me know if people really view and like my blog efforts here and the comments stay with my blog if I look back on them a few months later for reference).

Sew happy everyone! Have fun in your studio!

Preparing for Thread & Couching Projects

Posted on June 13, 2021 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Art Quilt Techniques, My micro-business, Quilt Journal, skill building, Threads, Uncategorized, Videos / 2 Comments

I am working on the designs for several free motion thread work and couching small quilts. Essentially these are small whole cloth wall quilts done in multiple colors and styles of threads, cords, and yarns. They are pictorial in design and include both free motion thread painting and quilting. I will add some cord or yarn couching and might even add some decorative stitching with my Bernina 880 plus here and there. It’s kind of exciting for me.

Scanned coloring book page before cleaning up and turning into a pattern. This is not one of the four.

Sew what are these planned pieces? They include one scene of evergreen trees in the summer, one scene of trees at night with white winter stylized trees and a night sky both designed entirely by me, and four stylized tropical bird scenes based on scenes found in a Dover coloring book that will be colorful and, yes, challenging to stitch. I am turning them into downloadable pdf patterns to print and tape together ready for tracing onto your fabric. Then I will stitch them out with some additions of quilting designs and embellishments.

I hand stitched this little crewel scene using wool threads years ago. My youngest son took it and had it framed in a museum quality acid free framing to protect it. I believe it is possible to replicate crewel stitching by machine to look nearly like hand stitching.

It’s an adventure! And yes, there will be videos on YouTube and workbooks and patterns available on my website shop so you can sew along with me. I am considering the possibility of creating background fabrics for tracing these bird scenes onto that could then be purchased at Spoonflower. I am not sure this will work, but I will let you know if I am successful.

This is from another Dover coloring book, but I think it would make a wonderful piece of crewel work-like piece. Maybe I will add this one to my thread-work projects.

Sew I hope very much a lot of you will join me in these projects that will be presented in July and August, and possibly September. These small wall quilts make wonderful presents or home decor (either one or in groups). I don’t have the final sizes or supply lists yet because I’m still working on them, but I’ll let you know. Mostly I will be using threads from Wonderfil Threads and Superior Threads. I love both brands and they work well together because Wonderfil has some wonderful specialty threads that Superior does not and I have a huge collection of Superior threads in “normal” weights I have collected over the past several years.

If you do one or more of my projects and send me pictures at www.bettyjo@bjfabricartist.com of your projects, I will share them here on my blogs if you would not mind.

I will let you know when the workbooks with patterns and supply lists are available in my shop for each project. Right now, however, you can join me on the deciduous tree in full bloom quiltlet. There is a workbook with pattern and the first of two videos already available. The second video will likely be available next weekend. This is a skill-builder project and I think you would enjoy making it. If you do you would get to practice textured padded applique and broiderie perse by machine that are two great techniques for the fabric artists to have in their tool belts.

Sew happy everyone! Have fun in your studio!

My Fabric Art and Video Making Merge to Fun

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in High-Tech Studio, Machines, My micro-business, My Studio, Threads, Videos

Sew I was realizing today as I worked in my studio that my fabric art and my video making are fairly well merged together finally and I have really begun to enjoy playing/working in my studio again. It has definitely been a huge challenge.

I started back about September of last year, thinking I would just take some of the classes I used to teach and add a few more and turn them into videos to share on YouTube and make downloads to accompany them. Simple, right? I had no idea what I was about, how to really accomplish it, and the journey I was undertaking. Using my single little GoPro camera I just made a video and edited it on my video editor that was designed for home videos. I had to learn to edit just for that.

After my family and I saw the video result I had loaded up on YouTube, we all realized it would not do. It had many problems from lighting to scripting to quality of the filming. Plus, the talent (me) needed to figure out a little better how to address the watcher. So I took it down and my family swung in there and helped me get set up, figure out how to do the videos, and are still helping me produce better videos. It was a period of frustration, especially when my computer failed just after we got started and it it took a couple of months before that was solved. Now I have a wonderful setup as well as a good computer that is designed for this work (thanks to my family set of professional techies). Grown kids are the greatest blessing!

It’s been a major change in my studio and the way I work and I’m still learning, but this past few weeks I had a lot of fun. I realized that fun has returned to my studio work, frustration has cooled down, and happiness is centered around fabric art again.

Sew new ideas are flooding in and I have quite a few directions I will be taking this newly merged activity based on what I have learned over the years. And yes, I do still plan to make show quality and experimental quilts, perhaps, though, with some videoing along beside them.

One thing I have been adding to help fund this rather expensive activity and keep the YouTube video teaching free for my followers and friends, is to add some affiliations with companies so I can recommend products I use myself with links for you to use both here on my Blog and on my YouTube in the information box below the videos. If people use them and purchase something at the time or shortly thereafter, I will get a small percentage from the purchase and it won’t cost them any more for the product and they won’t have to hunt for it.

I so far have only had people reference the links and not purchase enough for anyone to pay me anything (it has to add up to a bit before you get paid), but I hope this will improve as time goes on and my followers understand how it supports my little business to help keep things going.

So far I have an affiliation with Connecting Threads, Dick Blick art supplies, Accuquilt cutters, and yes, Amazon to cover the blank areas the others don’t.

Very recently I added Wonderfil Specialty Threads. Now you all who know me know I love Superior Threads too, but the thread types I use and like from Wonderfil are not made by Superior Threads, so between the two of them I’ve got the many types I like to use covered.

I am planning on a number of YouTube classes and Quick Tip Videos that will involve extensive thread work using these specialty threads along side of the Superior I like too (even though they don’t have an affiliate program). It will be fun…small wall art whole cloth quilts that feature things I love like trees, rocks, trains, birds, flowers, and architecture that are sized right for a small space on your home walls or even in an office or for use on pillows or tote bags, etc. They should be fun…fun to make, fun to watch being made, fun to think about.

Sew happy everyone! Have fun in your studio and treasure your family and friends. If you have something you want to have me present on my videos, please tell me in the comments.

Computer and Looking Ahead in My Studio

Posted on March 10, 2021March 10, 2021 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Classes, Food for Thought, My micro-business, My Studio, Videos, Wool / 4 Comments

Hooray! I have my new computer and it is all set up. It is lovely, fast, and has all it needs to serve me well for digital design, video editing, book writing, online demos and other computer draining activities. I am soooo grateful to my family members who gave this to me and helped me get it in place and so forth. Sew I’m off and running here in my wonderful studio.

In case you haven’t seen them I now have two videos of the three on Embellished Wool Applique by Machine, coupled with two blogs here that include free downloadables for accompanying handouts. I also have my first quick tips video. All of the videos can be found on the Betty Jo Tatum YouTube channel for free. Of course, I hope to make money from this endeavor eventually, but in a way that the videos remain free to you. Downloadable workbooks, patterns, and so forth will be available for a modest amount from the new little store I have on my main website. There’s nothing to buy there right now though but those will be published on the same subjects as new videos that are better with such downloadables. These all will be uploaded at the same time so you can follow along the easy way.

Other things are also in the plans for that little store. I will sell some of my quilts from there, and I am considering other things that can be downloaded. If you haven’t looked yet, I recently upgraded my main website. Go take a look at my gallery, if you’d like.

Now it takes some time to put together these things so I probably will need two or three weeks between each video, or even a month. They will cover a variety of sewing and art quilting techniques that I have learned over the years and really want to share because I think some of you will find them fun and you may even want to try them yourselves. So if you want to support this effort, I hope you subscribe to my YouTube channel and watch my videos. It doesn’t cost you anything, you don’t give them any information, and it helps me.

And now that I have my computer…all KINDS of things are running thro0ugh my head that might be accomplished. After I complete the next wool applique video, I am thinking of making a video or a set of videos on landscape quilting elements in both stylized types and more natural looking art quilts. There are lots of those to do, so I won’t bunch them all up together, but will spread them across the year with topics like trees, mountains and rocks, water, geologic strata, and so forth. It should be really fun for us. I have lots of other ideas and I think you will enjoy them as they come out. They will all be presented in small projects or technique demonstrations, but I will likely draw up some digital patterns for larger pieces and maybe even paint some digital fabrics for backgrounds that I might place for sale on a print on demand fabric company if I can work that out so you can buy them to use. What do you think?

If you have something in the way of art quilting techniques you wish you could find how tos for or would like to just see how I approach them, please let me know. I’ll see what I can do about it.

Sew happy everyone! Let’s have some fun in our studios.

300th Blog Post! and Other Things

Posted on December 6, 2020December 6, 2020 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Food for Thought, Machines, My micro-business, Videos / 2 Comments

This is my 300th blog post here! Sew I thought it was a good time to talk about several things planned for the near future related to my little micro business.

I am rebuilding my website and will be adding a little shopping cart that I am planning to use just for downloadable files, such as workbooks, patterns, and other downloadable aids for sewing and quilting. I am almost done with the new website and hope to introduce it to you very soon. The shop will be added a little later.

Now the main website is different from my blog, just in case you are wondering. This blog will remain the same at least for some months. Eventually, I am hoping to move this over to the blog space that comes with my website upgrade, but I don’t want to lose my older blogs. If you haven’t done so for a while or ever, scroll back through my blogs. You have to do it by the month by going to the archives box and selecting the month. But you will find there are a lot of things you may find helpful in my blog archives.

Perhaps I will instead of moving the blogs, pull the more useful information from them and put them into a book or books with a bit of editing, and then start a totally new blog. What do you think? I would love to have your input on how to handle this.

In the meanwhile, I am still working on getting my videos going on YouTube. The first set of three or four videos on Wool Applique by Machine are nearly done and will be posted by the end of December. I have a long list of video subjects I am planning on developing. For this first set, there will be free handouts for download from here, but for the next of them there will be a mix of workbooks and patterns for a small cost from my main website shop I am setting up, and the occasional free downloads will still be from this blog.

Of course, all of this is centered around my continued quilted fabric art work (multi-use work..LOL). Once I get over the hump of setting all of this up, and I am almost there, then I will be able to go back to mostly sewing and quilting and designing, but just using a lot of it for my videos. It has been a bit of a bear getting it all set up, but I have had a great deal of help from my sons.

So 2021 looks to be really exciting for me and my studio, and I hope for all of my readers. Here is a little list of some of the subjects I am thinking about for the first half of 2021.

Wool Applique by Machine Techniques Sampler
Advanced Wool Applique Wall=hanging Project
Cotton and silk applique techniques and when to use what technique
Fabrics of several types and their properties when making fabric art
Embellishment threads, ribbons, roving, beads, and findings with machine work and how to get the best results
Free motion and in-the-hoop embroidery and using it well
Start with a fabric panel and end with a piece of exquisite embellished fabric art
Sit down longarm videos (free motion embroidery and quilting, using rulers, mixing things up)
Bernina Q20 specific videos (short videos)
Some Bernina V8 specific videos
a bunch of really short technique videos.
I am thinking about doing some real tailoring videos and workbooks. It’s something I know well and I think is something others would find interesting.
and on and on…not much if anything about piecing. But there are a ton of piecing videos out there by real experts.

I don’t really know what I will do in what order. Part of the fun for me is moving through the things I know that I want to share by using the projects I want to work on myself. I don’t have deadlines, and I don’t plan on setting them, but I will let you know when they are ready to do.

Sew happy everyone!