My sweet Lucy, aged 15, is having a bit of a time. Her severely arthritic hips are catching up with her. She has been on medication for years but now it has progressed to the next step and her restlessness leaves little time for sound sleep. So please forgive the inconsistent postings. 

That said, I have a few more bits from the Ladies of the Cloth. You have seen this quilt in several different stages, by Linda Sue, but it is close to complete now.

Hand quilted over Winter, the colors and design are lovely. I like the dark binding and corner treatments as well.

See what I mean? This little clipped corner does give the entire piece a fresh bit of personality.

My Friday inspiration tip is a simple one. If you are not up to making an entire quilt with applique blocks consider what Linda Sue has done with this one. Using a single, large applique block gives a center focus and balance to the quilt as well as contrast of style.

Now on to another subject. I have been reading many posts and magazine articles recently about major changes coming for the quilt industry. Mmmmm. All pointed to the current "bloated" state of the craft where so many shops, on-line retailers, teachers and tools have glutted the market with items everyone needs to quilt. As the current quilters have aged so have their style of quilting. Less fabric is being purchased because the traditional quilters already have enough fabric to make quilts for a third world nation! Then around 2008 the Modern Quilt Guild hit the market place and that creation introduced many younger people to take up the needle. Their penchant for solid fabrics, large white spaces and geometric design without symmetry have fueled another boom. However, these quilters do not have the resources to spend on quilting, seminars, tools etc. that their older more traditional sisters have. The predictors feel the bubble has burst, so to speak. My conclusions from their writings is:

• Expect many bloggers who use their quilting expertise to fuel a business to drop out of the blogging world. Page views are down, many feel that the intrusive advertisements popping up through the content are distracting. Advertisers pay the blogger according to page views to their site, by the way.
• Expect those small businesses to close in a few years.
• Those who support the industry by teaching will likely continue to do so but the sale of books and tools will go down. How many rulers and templates do you really need?
• The trends are bound to shift. Knitting has become popular again, what is next....macrame?   
• I expect to see a resurgence in garment making blogs and postings. The quality of RTW and poor fit will hopefully induce sewists to revisit their skills. Advertisers are bound to recognize the trends and respond accordingly. In my experience most of us left garment sewing due to fit issues with the aging body. Here is the opportunity for an instructor to gain footing in the industry and target the older sewist.
• These comments are what I have gleaned from reading and the opinions are my own. My blog started as a journal to track my own work. I have refused monetization and multiple requests to change format, add advertising and support causes. Interestingly, I just started paying attention to statistics. As my page views have increased I get more and more inquiries. Some of these seem to be pretty bizarre and likely not authentic. But some really are the real thing. I have no intention of going that route. This blog is still a journal of my work and that of my friends. There is nothing to buy, no links to support a specific retailer. I am now and have always been non-compensated. I plan to stay that way. Another interesting fact, since many blogs have become so ad-laden my page view numbers have skyrocketed! I have no idea what that means.