What's happening in the industry

Too much stuff happened in the industry yesterday to not mention it today.

First off, there's an excellent article explaining why the five founding designers from Cotton + Steel left RJR. Have a read - It's very eye-opening. I suspected internal issues between the division and the parent company was the reason they left. Note the first sentence in Abbey's article - I would give you more of my opinion, but I don't want to burn any bridges in the industry. But here's a quick personal opinion. I think fabric companies are greedy. They keep trying to push out new stuff and they give no regard to the end users (the quilt stores and eventually us quilters) and our needs/wants. Delivery times? Quality? Availability? Do the fabric companies not care? or they don't have the foresight? or they're just greedy and don't give a damn? 

I don't know, but it's a very interesting situation. What would happen if we boycott the quilting fabric industry? I wouldn't suggest it because I wouldn't want to hurt the quilt shops who are stuck in the middle, but if I could find a way to boycott the fabric companies - I think I'd go for that. Anyone with any bright ideas???

And on a sad note, there are two more magazine publications that are folding or have folded. Abbey mentions them in this article along with the other two that I mentioned last week.

The quilting industry is changing. Whether we're talking fabrics, magazines, notions, tools or whatever. I seriously think there is going to be a lot more shake-ups in the next couple of years. Companies will merge or close because they won't be able to keep up with all the changes in the marketplace. Higher costs of transportation and cotton are two that come to mind. Fabric companies will continue to skimp on the width of fabric - measure a couple of pieces you have in your stash from 10 years ago and now measure one that you just bought. I bet the more recent one is narrower!!!  The thread counts are going to get skimpier which will cause our fabrics to fray more. It's happening now! Perhaps we can boycott the companies one at a time. Therefore the quilt shops can still stay in business and we can prove a point to the fabric company that the CONSUMER RULES this industry. Now, which company should we target?  OH - god - I'm such a trouble maker!!!  But wouldn't that be awesome to show them that the consumer counts!

Here's another little irk that I have. Trust me - I'm in a great mood. I just cranked out 30 KM in my spin class this morning. I left the house feeling great and thinking how light my gym bag was now that I only have summer clothes in there. Only to realize when I was hanging out in the steam room after the class that I had left my toiletries bag on the bathroom counter at home. Thankfully they had almost everything that I needed at the gym.

OK - here's my other little irk. Someone posted a picture on Facebook of a block that they were trying to identify. Someone mentioned that the block was a pattern by a famous designer. Yes - that is true - that designer did make a quilt and published instructions for a quilt that was made using that particular block. I identified the block as a flying geese pineapple block. The original person said NO - this is famous person's pattern. SHEESH  - do people not realize that log cabin quilts (and blocks and settings of which the pineapple is part of that family) have been around for eons. Hundreds of years in fact.

Do you know the difference between a regular pineapple block and a flying geese pineapple block???  Here they are - can you tell the difference???

ONE version of the pineapple block

ONE version of the flying geese pineapple block

As many of you who are reading this blog, that's how many (and more) versions there are of the pineapple block. But do you see the difference between these two? The corners on the bottom version form a flying geese unit and hence that's why that version is called flying geese pineapple block.

What irks me to no end is the number of quilters who think that just because a famous quilter publishes a video or a blog or a pattern or a Facebook post or an Instagram post of THEIR quilt that the quilt is original. Hardly so - I find that many of these famous designers are putting their spin on public domain blocks (which is perfectly legal and normal), but then we should NOT be thinking that this is original because it's far from original. Just their spin on the block is original. Trust me - I received an e-mail from someone who saw one of my patterns in a magazine and accused me of stealing that pattern from a famous designer. Sheesh!!!!!! 

Anyway, I'm out of time for today. I have a real dilemma to post tomorrow and then it's onto more show n tell.

I should mention that I sat down last night with the tablet for the long arm. I put into practice the things that I've been reading about on the technical site. AHA - I know so much more now! And I was trying to figure out how to get into a shared calendar on my computer that I'm part of as well as a shared drive. I got into the shared drive, but not the calendar, but I learned something about Google calendar. It always drove me crazy that the default notification for any new event was 10 minutes. I need ONE full day. And I found out how to change that default setting. I'm on a technology high today!!!!! 

On that note - have a SUPER day!!!!!

OH - don't forget to check out QUILTsocial today. I've got some SUPER tips for quilting.


Ciao!!!!