Julie's Bold, Bright Tops

Julie W. sent me a box of tops a while ago and I've been itching to quilt them just because I love her colors and fabrics so much!  With the current quilting blitz I finally got around to it.  Isn't this scrappy bear claw wild? And I had the perfect backing fabric for it.  

Julie must have a great stash. I recognize so many of the prints from popular fabric lines. All of the small prints will be perfect for a family to spend a long time looking over and finding fun things.  There are foxes and gnomes and mermaids.

There are seven quilt tops from Julie in this group, all quilted now and ready to go up to the hospital.  I'm going to be making a huge delivery sometime soon. 

Since this is a long, picture-heavy post I thought it might be fun to tell you about some of the things I have been watching/listening to while quilting all of these. 

For a while now I have been enjoying "Time Team", which is a British archaeology show that ran from the early 1990s to about 2012.  Typical for British television, it's educational and entertaining and the hosts are charming. I've learned a ton about British history.  You can find most of the episodes on YouTube and if you want to give it a try I recommend this one. 

Along sort of similar lines, I've lately started watching YouTube channels of some British mudlarks.  (Mudlarking is going out looking along tidal rivers and estuaries for bits of history lost in the river and hidden for years in the mud.) Last year I listened to this book on Audible about mudlarking the Thames in London which introduced me to the idea. 

The two Mudlarking channels I am enjoying the most right now are Si-Finds and Nicola White.  There's a video here where Simon finds an almost-intact Roman pot in the Thames estuary. The mudlarks find coins from the past 2500 years, buttons, clay pipes, horse shoes, glass bottles, pottery, guns, shrapnel, and the list goes on and on.  They try to research whatever they find, which is fascinating.  Some things they take to the museum and other less valuable things they upcycle or make into art. 

Taking a break from history, I spent some time watching Adventures with Purpose. These specialist divers from Oregon search for missing things underwater. They especially work to solve cold-cases of missing people who may be  in a car underwater.

I first heard of them in a newspaper article when they solved a 30-year-old missing persons case on a nearby lake.  They don't have the video of that case up on their channel yet, but there are several others, like this one. 

Tasting History with Max Miller has been one of my favorite YouTube channels for the past year.  Max blends old recipes (like really old) with hilarious bite-sized takes on history.  This episode on the history of pancakes is a good one.

Another food channel that I really enjoy is Binging with Babish, he specializes in replicating food from movies and TV.  Here's part 2 of the Lord of the Rings special.  

I love the pattern of this quilt. So simple yet so effective!  Love that backing fabric, too.

There's a soap-making crafter I like to watch, Royalty Soaps.  She only lives about an hour from me and her videos are really soothing. I like to watch how the patterns some out in the soap bars.  She also sells her soap online although I've never bought any. 

Lofty Pursuits is a candy making channel based in Tallahassee, FL. They make traditional sugar hard candy with images in the cross section.  My grandma used to get me a cannister of candy like this at Christmas. Similar to the soap channel their videos are really soothing to watch. Greg also mixes in a lot of history and background in most of the videos.  I have bought their candies online before and they are amazing.  I got the Thanksgiving assortment a couple years ago with flavors like honey ham (yes ham candy!), sweet potato casserole, and sweet corn.  It was like Willy Wonka candy.

A few honorable mentions:  Lost in the Pond in a British man who has lived in the US for a decade and makes videos about the differences between the UK and America. Adam Savage's Tested is Adam from Mythbusters.  He works on all kinds of projects in his "cave" while rambling about different topics. Good to put on and listen to while I'm also working on a project. Frank Howarth is a genius woodturner. The way his brain can manipulate complex shapes is astounding and he makes beautiful wood turned objects.  Similar to the candy and soap channels, it's soothing to watch.

Well, that isn't all but it's enough don't you think? I feel like this exercise of making a list of my Youtubes has shown us 2 things.  One, I watch too much Youtube, even if I am almost always doing something else while listening to it.  And Two, there's a theme to these channels and the theme is that I'm a giant nerd.  But we already knew that ;)  I hope you might all find at least one new channel you enjoy from these!

As much as I love bright colors, I have to admit that this last quilt with the mellow blues and greys is actually my favorite.  Thank you Julie!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 700 so far! During May/June Tammy is hosting our block drive on her blog.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finished or Not Friday