In the last blog post I shared some finds I discovered in my Instagram Live interviews during this pandemic (to date I have conducted 115 interviews with artists and quilters since March 28th).

5 fun discoveries:

  1. Melanie Testa is doing her share of mask-making during this pandemic in her Brooklyn apartment. For $20 you buy a handmade mask, and she makes another mask for someone in her NYC community: an essential worker or someone in need. So it’s a two-for-one price and way to pay it forward–she’s doing something good and you are too!
  2. I have not made Clammy quilt yet; I’ve been worried about the curved piecing, but Latifah Saafir has taken that worry away.

    Quilt by Latifah Saafir, featured on her website. Check out her shop!

    Latifah Saafir has the clammy templates available in different sizes! They are available for individual purchase as well, just check out her shop. This is the next quilt top on deck I will make.
  3. Jennifer Sampou’s latest fabric line for Robert Kaufman just dropped this past Friday, called Spring Shimmer. She pulled over on the side of the road on Highway 101 to share it with me, and we had a good laugh about it.This line is truly gorgeous and features butterflies.
  4. This next find I saw on an ad on Instagram, and I fell in love with them: Applipops! With the set of metal circles that snap into each other, you can now easily make perfect circles for needle-turn appliqué (or cheat like me and fuse them down rather than stitching them). They are affordable and will last you a lifetime. Here’s some I have made for one of my Maybel quilts:
  5. And last but not least…I think we are all feeling a little out of sorts this year. No better creature can express displeasure than a cartoon cat by artist Melissa Averinos. She’s now making stationary cards with a number of greetings with disgruntled cats or cats with cat-titude. Go check out her store to snap them up!

Lastly…I’ve been working pretty much around the clock to get this next (virtual) edition of Craft Napa: Uncorked at Home ready. We are shooting for the date of August 17th for the class previews to be available.

Registration will go live in September. This has been a challenge and a learning curve, but I am vowing it will be fun. I have a lot of little touches that I hope will make this still feel like a retreat and community-based experience even though we will all be at home. If you haven’t signed up for the Craft Napa newsletter, here’s the link. and you will find out about everything there first.

Have a great week,

Pokey