Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Attack of the Open Computer Tabs

Warning: ADD post ahead.
This is what my brain looks like... an ever-shifting random collection of ideas and information rabbit holes, some of which I have clearly abandoned, but which I cannot let go of (why is that?)  Here are the tabs currently open on my browser--I'm sure some psychology grad student could do their dissertation off of this list...

The Technium: 1000 true fans - an online article by Kevin Kelly, which is used in Tim Ferriss' book "Tools of Titans."  An essay, originally posted in 2008, on how small entrepreneurs/artists just need 1,000 passionate customers that they can engage with repeatedly in order to make a living.  Interestingly, a Web search on the title will get you lots of more recent commentary and support for the concept.

Search results for images: "chicken silhouette" "simple cat shape" and "bat shapes for children".  I'm up to something, just can't get myself over the fear of not being able to draw.  Really, I just need to get out of my own way...

Apps to make your own memes - umm, yeah I guess I was into that.  For about a minute.  And yet, the tab is still open on my computer.  At this point, I'm starting to feel like I don't pick up my sweaty socks off the floor...

Slave Chain quilt block, also called Job's Tears.  The link discusses some history of the block but doesn't give a tutorial.  I am interested in this block, because the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland, of which I am a member, is making Underground Railroad quilts this year.  And while the concept of using quilts to send messages to escaping slaves--described and patterned in an Eleanor Burns book from 2003--was widely discredited by scholars, that has not stopped our efforts to publicize links between quilting, slavery, and African Americans.  I had looked briefly through Barbara Brackman's book "Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery" that expanded upon blocks that might be meaningful in an Underground Railroad quilt, and the slave chain block kinda stayed with me.  In a fittingly uncomfortable way, I might add.  So I am sitting with this discomfort, now represented by an open browser tab, as I work (on and off) on the blocks for my guild quilt.

A post on Washing Rayon Clothing and Fabric - rayon is very delicate when it is wet; good tips here

I dreamed of the Convergence Quilt pattern one night (without knowing what it was called, or who the designer was), as a response to working with two Frond Design Studio fabrics that didn't make the cut for the giant quilt currently awaiting binding.  Lo and behold, a customer at the shop the very next day came in with a Convergence top that she needed borders for--along with a host of photos on her phone of various Convergence patterns she had made over the years!  The serendipity, I tell ya.  An almost-tutorial on the process is available on the Adventures in Quilting and Sailing blog, but the author of the post tells you to get your hands on the Ricky Timms book, as it has so many variations, and clearer directions, etc.  Plus, it's always good to support the actual designers who do the work to birth these great ideas!

Amazing Quilts by Grace - saw her value tool on an episode of Fresh Quilting (or was it Quilting Arts TV?)  Really think I need one...  As the saying goes,
"Color gets all the credit, but Value does all the work"


2 comments:

  1. Too funny! So glad I am not the only one who's brain bounces from one random thing to another!

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    Replies
    1. You are not alone! My annoyance is that I keep this digital breadcrumb trail...
      Thanks for the reply, I sometimes wonder who is out there listening.

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