What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Hear ye! Hear ye! Creative Spark’s 2025 Embroidery Extravaganza arrives Thursday July 17, 2025 to a computer near you! This live event features:Sue SpargoLaura WasilowskiBetz White Anne OliverChristen BrownLauren WeberMichelle StaubNicole VogelsingerSharon Boggon &Cassandra Diasgiving their wit, wisdom & ways to incorporate embroidery into your quilts or veer off your quilty path and embrace a… Continue reading Creative Spark Embroidery Extravaganza!

People assure me AI art is “soulless,” that unlike human artists AI can’t be “original.” It can only copy. This reflects a widespread misunderstanding of how human artists work: we copy, and there’s no such thing as “original.” I understood this 16 years ago. 

We draw from more or less the same pool of culture that AI does, only our pools are necessarily smaller as humans simply don’t have the capacity for exposure to as much stuff. No matter, because all works carry the influences and language — be it verbal, visual, or musical — as the works around ...

When I was younger, art skills were meaningful and important.  Filmmaking was too expensive for any but the elite; there was more demand than supply of “media.” Animation was drawn by hand, every frame. Even a short animated film required money in digits that blew my mind, and whole teams of “talent” and managers.

So when I figured out how to make animated movies on my own, I suddenly advanced to elite status. I could do for little money, by myself, what many huge overfunded studios couldn’t achieve. And before that, I drew. When my work made it to ...

Dave was hella funny and brilliantly creative and kinda nuts, with a good heart that just stopped January 11, 2024. We both had comic strips in the Daily Illini in the late 1980’s; his, “Bob ‘n’ Dave,” was clever, hilarious, gonzo, and unpretentiously deep. Much later, as the Duke of Uke, he made “Spider Suite” which I used in my film Seder-Masochism. His was the absolutely perfect voice of Death, and if there is an afterlife I hope he’s simultaneously entertaining and scaring the pants off any souls he meets.

The post Dave King Memorial Blogpost appeared first ...

A poem about connecting with my Ashkenazi heritage.

Today I am a woman.
Today I am a Jew.
Today I have an ailment
my ancestors all knew.

For many generations,
my Fathers’ guts have hurt.
My Mother can’t eat chocolate:
a most unjust dessert.

I gather all my chocolate;
I give it all away.
No more can I digest it,
And I have Crohn’s today.

I feel myself much older
than I have ever known.
Today I have a Crohn’s disease;
Today I am a crone.

The post Bat Mitzvah appeared first on Nina Paley.

GENDER WARS Playing Cards were a hit of 2023, and I intended to make a 2024 edition. But recent schisms in the gender world have put me off, so I’m pivoting. I got into the gender mess because of my interest in Free Speech, and would rather focus on this subject. Therefore, I request your nominations for CANCEL CULTURE Playing Cards:
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The post CANCEL CULTURE Playing Cards? appeared first on Nina Paley.

So FINALLY we get to the Sheep in Sweaters Tote!  When I started the previous post, I discovered I’d never blogged about the turquoise tote, which is the forerunner and partner of this one!  I will say now that I have finished this post (Part 2), it is LONG–but I wanted to be sure you got ALL the good info. If you’re here for just the totebag part, skim the embroidery bits! Thanks for reading!

Those of you who get my newsletter (sign up in right sidebar on this blog or the bottom of all the other ...

When a friend recently suggested a deck of playing cards featuring major players in the “gender wars,” I knew I wanted a set. I tried to find other ways to make it happen – photographs? Filters? AI art generator? – but decided the most expedient option was to just do it myself. Which isn’t particularly expedient, as a deck requires 54 designs (if you include 2 Jokers).

I generally suck at caricatures, but decided my limited skills would have to be adequate. I Can Do Hard Things, just not perfectly.

When I lived in New York, I knew two very talented and driven artists who had abandoned their children. One had left her son with her parents so she could move to NYC and pursue visual arts. The other had simply ditched his kid with his ex-wife, to devote his life to stage performance. Both told me separately (they didn’t know each other) that, had they stayed to raise their offspring, they would have killed themselves.

I always took the prospect of parenthood very seriously. I believed anyone who had a child needed to prioritize them, and if that ...

Hello, friends! Today I’m sharing some ideas on How to Get Out of a Creative Slump. Many artists and creators feel plagued by this problem at one time or another in their creative life. As a quilter, designer, and writer, I’ve dealt with this many different times and have some sure-fire steps I routinely take […]

The post How to Get Out of a Creative Slump: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on A Quilting Life.

I've been busy. With my gifted studio space I am making good use of it. There's no wi-fi, so I tend to just work and not stop to make videos or write posts, etc.  As a result I've been less visible than usual, which has been a good thing to do from time to time. Regroup, rethink, reprioritize, and in general concentrate on what I like, what I want and less on what I think I "should" be doing. Painting has taken me back to beginner status.  I'm just figuring things out, testing out the materials ...

I started sewing the rows of my Scrap Jar Quilt together over the weekend. After an hour and a half, I had […]

The post Sew it Slow and Easy appeared first on Adele Mogavero.

I jumped to a conclusion and criticized my little quilt. I thought it unfit to finish. I assumed it wouldn’t lie flat […]

The post Jumping to Conclusions. appeared first on Adele Mogavero.

Don’t start quilting! … Just kidding

Trying to make a decision and debating it until the cows come home clogs up your brain. Then you know what happens? […]

The post Decision Making and Regrets appeared first on Adele Mogavero.

Do you get in over your head with projects? Me too. All the time.Of course, we all know better – but it […]

The post Too Many Projects? appeared first on Adele Mogavero.

It’s okay to take a break from your craft. This is my quilting story. I was one of those people who looked […]

The post Take A Break – Fall Back In Love appeared first on Adele Mogavero.

This Orphan Block Series was a sudden God-inspired idea Wednesday Morning. The only thing I knew was the first block I would […]

The post The Lemoyne Star Orphan Block appeared first on Adele Mogavero.

You don’t NEED all the fancy quilting tools and gadgets to quilt. Heck! Some fabric, a scissor, needle, and thread will get […]

The post Quilting Tools and Fabric – It all Works Together appeared first on Adele Mogavero.

You can be going through your life thinking a singer is the best ever until someone points out that they end their […]

The post Choosing Colors for a Quilt appeared first on Adele Mogavero.