FACEBOOK LIVE with Mark Lipinski and Mr. Electric, March 19, 2017

If you missed our last Facebook LIVE live video, here it is!  Please feel free to leave a question or comment.  All are answered.  xoxom

Here are the links to the subjects we spoke about in this episode:

LOSS and HOPE

It is with a great deal of sadness and anxiety that I have to report that Beyonce, my transplanted kidney, has begun to reject. She died as a result of the medications I was forced to take to save my life after a near death experience with Ohio Valley Disease histoplasmosis. We thought everything was going well and then, bang. I ended up back in the hospital and as the clock ticked by, I found myself at end stage kidney failure and in need of a new kidney to save my life.

I have been diagnosed with Stage 4/5 chronic kidney disease. Stage 5 means that my kidney has failed. People can become very sick and, of course, no kidney function, no polkas, not patchwork, no living (which makes the first two examples redundant, I guess LOL).

My doctors have told me that the ideal treatment for kidney failure is another kidney transplant. A kidney transplant come from a deceased donor (someone who has died), but I would have to wait about 5 to 7 years, or even longer, for this kind of transplant. This would mean I would probably have to spend years on dialysis, where machines would clean my blood for me and wear down other parts of my body. A transplant from a living donor also has the best chance of working for many years. Unfortunately, there are no suitable donors in my immediate family.

During my evaluation at the Transplant Center, I learned that one of the best ways is to help myself was to make sure that those closest to me know about my situation (which is so difficult to do). I learned that in the United States, there are over 100,000 people on the waiting list for a kidney. Each year, only about 11,000 of those patients are fortunate enough to get a kidney transplant from someone who has died and donated their organs. I am hoping I will be able to find a living donor so that I can avoid dialysis and be transplanted soon so that I may live longer and with an improved quality of life (at this point, I’m alive but hardly what one might call ‘living’).

If you would like to learn more about being a living donor, the staff at my Transplant Center is wonderful and available to talk with you confidentially.  The Transplant Center staff at Saint Barnabas Medical Center can talk to you about what is involved in the living donation process and answer any questions.  

To reach the St. Barnabas Transplant Team call: 

973-322-5346

Calling for any information regarding your donation process is kept strictly confidential, EVEN FROM ME, unless you consent to share this information.  

I wholeheartedly appreciate any support that you can offer to me, no matter how big or how small.  If I can get a kidney transplant from a friend, that would be best for my health and my future.  I realize that donating a kidney may not be right for everyone, or it simply might not be right at this time. I also know that donating a kidney is a very personal decision that requires not only education about the risks and benefits but also thoughtful consideration and the support of your loved ones.  I hope that someone out there will be able to help me.

In the meantime, I am forced to retire from any future speaking and teaching engagements which has been another very painful choice I have had to make.  While I may be able to lecture in the future, I believe my teaching days may be over for good.

For now, and for whatever time I may have left on this planet, my goal is to continue to strive to be the best human I can possibly be, bring a smile to the faces of and inspire people, as they constantly inspire me and bring me happiness, share any joy that comes my way, keep a sense of humor, laugh a lot, love even more, keep drinking my “delicious” Suplena Cocktails, and be courageous in the face of what’s unknown.

Until then, I have faith that a transplantable kidney will become available and you will be forced to suffer many more years of my corny, inappropriate jokes, more LIVE Facebook chats, and endless nonsensical Facebook and Twitter posts.

IT’S HERE! 

Mr. Electric shared the final hardcopy his new book, WHO BROKE THE VASE (due to hit the stores on April 4), and I revealed the quilt pattern that I’m creating, slowly but surely. (frequent tremors and loss of sight make the process slow going) that will soon be available for sale on our websites.

If you have preordered the book from Amazon, please save your receipt.  Those who bought the book from sources other than www.thinkjeffreyturner.com OR www.marklipinski.com, and who can show a receipt, will get the pattern at a significantly reduced price (just a couple of shells). Otherwise, the pattern will be available at the full market price for those of you who like the pattern but opt out of the book purchase.   Keep watching Facebook, Twitter, and this blog because lot’s more of WHO BROKE THE VASE patterns, for all kinds of creative and colorful projects, will be available over the next month or so.

Also, books, personally autographed to whomever you like, will be available from www.thinkjeffreyturner.com once the books become available to sell in April.

PRE-ORDER YOUR PERSONALLY AUTOGRAPHED COPY  HERE:  www.thinkjeffreyturner.com

For a list of places where Mr. Electric will be reading and signing copies of his book please visit www.thinkjeffreyturner.com.  If you would like a reading and/or book signing in your area have your local bookstore or library contact, Jeff.

MORE NEW BOOKS! 

Kaffe Fassett has written a lot of books. From knitting and quilting, the project guides teach readers how to make gorgeous garments and blankets rich in his signature color and pattern. Now, for the first time ever, comes a book that is a natural progression of his talents – A coloring book: Kaffe Fassett’s Advanced Adventures in Color: 36 Coloring Plates, 10 Inspiring Tutorials.

More than your average collection of line drawings, Kaffe Fassett’s Advanced Adventures in Color is a master class in coloring. It includes coloring tutorials that explore methods for coordinating patterns, coloring for mood, blending colors, using repetition, adding dimension, creating drama with contrast, using watercolors, using balance, and much more.

It also includes 36 of Kaffe’s own rendered line art, inspired by his worldwide travels, featuring patterns from Tibetan paintings, designs from Japanese kimonos, and monkeys from exotic locations like Morocco, India, Africa, and more. Additionally, design fans will recognize prints from Kaffe’s well-known fabric and knitwear collections.

Know that the book is not like a Michael’s or Hobby Lobby coloring book.  This is a coloring book of quality, weight, and substance.

Kaffe Fassett’s Advanced Adventures in Color: 36 Coloring Plates, 10 Inspiring Tutorials

• 96 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (January 10, 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419724339
• ISBN-13: 978-1419724336

Buy your copy of Kaffe Fassett’s Advanced Adventures in Color: 36 Coloring Plates, 10 Inspiring Tutorials at www.gloriouscolor.com.

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Award winning children’s author, Susan Goldman Rubin, has written the first ever photo book about the women of Gee’s Bend and their quilts: The Quilts of Gee’s Bend.

This beautiful, easy to follow book for young readers explores the history, culture, and traditions of an Alabama community, Gee’s Bend, where a family of women has been quilting for as long as they can remember. The nonfiction account begins with quotes and archival photos of descendants of slaves from the Pettway Plantation and describes how they quilted from pieces of clothing, feed sacks, and other scraps to make blankets to stay warm.

The book follows the history of Gee’s Bend families, from their time as tenant farmers to the impact of Martin Luther King, Jr. It describes how an art collector discovered the gorgeous Gee’s Bend quilts and shared them with museums, thus bringing national attention to their craft, and providing a source of income to the women for their work.

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend includes photographs of the Gee’s Bend women, along with images of their quilts and descriptions of how they were made. A simple quilt square project is also included for young first-time quilters.

With a focus on African-American history and art/craft, this book will appeal to teachers, librarians, historians and anyone interested in sharing the history of quilting with young people.

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend

• 56 pages
• Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
• Publication Date: June 13, 2017
• Language: English
• Age Range: 8 – 14
• ASIN: B01M25PERQ
• US $21.95/Can $26.95

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Excellent quilt designs withstand the test of time. In Lynette Jensen’s new book Thimbleberries Quilts with a New Attitude: 23 Tried and True Quilt Designs Made in Both Traditional and Modern Fabrics, this statement rings true. Here, Lynette, and internationally known designer and quilting authority – shows how exquisite quilt design works for both traditional and modern fabrics.

Thimbleberries Quilts with a New Attitude features blocks made with Lynette’s own Thimbleberry fabrics and the same designs in modern fabrics.

There is something for everyone in the book:

• 23 projects: from wall hangings to king size bed quilts
• How-to and step-by-step exploded diagrams
• General instructions and glossary
• Tips for aspiring quilt and fabric designers
• How a well-done quilting pattern will withstand the test of time
• Build project ideas for every season
• Some general Thimbleberries history; what inspired it, creating the first BOM program, and social networking

Thimbleberries Quilts with a New Attitude: 23 Tried and True Quilt Designs Made in Both Traditional and Modern Fabrics

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Landauer Publishing (March 28, 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935726927
• ISBN-13: 978-1935726920
• US $24.95

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Every quilt needs to be bound but not every quilt needs to be bound the same way. Now, in one concise booklet, 10 of the most popular binding techniques are shown in large, clear step-by-step photos, illustrations and easy-to-follow text.

Binding techniques shown:

• Double-fold
• Single-gold
• Machine-stitched
• Self Binding
• Inside-out
• Two-sided
• Flange
• Four-fabric scrappy
• Irregular-edge hexagon
• Irregular-edge scallop

Additionally, the booklet includes continuous regular and bias binding, sewing into continuous strip, joining tuck straight or bias binding ends, hand-stitching binding to the quilt back and more.

There’s More Than One Way to Bind a Quilt: How to make a finishing statement with your quilt by the Editors at Landauer Publishing. 

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Landauer Publishing LLC (November 1, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935726765
• ISBN-13: 978-1935726760
• US $14.95

MY LATEST PROJECTS 

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE Block of the Month 

Down the Rabbit Hole is a Block of the Month design by Australian designer, Sarah Fielke.  You can still join in by visiting Sarah’s website at https://www.sarahfielke.com

I’m doing my Down the Rabbit Hole (my slow stitching project due to the amount of hand applique in the piece) in Kaffe Fassett Collection fabrics (all of the fabrics are available at www.gloriouscolor.com. Click on the fabric swatches below to order yardage, if you like).

I’ve decided that my Down the Rabbit Hole background will be Sprout Spots (I knew I wanted dots, but originally thought about using yhe lavender Magnolia Spots. I wanted happy and bold and think vibrant green and white Sprout Spots is the right decision).

Some of the other www.gloriouscolor.com fabrics I’m using  to start with (happy happy fun!) are:

CLICK ON ANY OF THE FABRIC SWATCHES TO BUY SOME

KAFFE FASSETT’S ROMAN GLASS 

 

KAFFE FASSETT’S SPOTS

KAFFE FASSETT’S ABORIGINAL DOTS

BRANDON MABLY’S CREASED

BRANDON MABLY’S MAD PLAID

KAFFE FASSETT’S PAPER FANS

MARK’S MANDALAS

Here’s my Mermaid Mandala I recentlyh created (it’s about 20″ x 20″). I plan to embroider and bead this design onto a Swiss Dotted fabric using the Sticky Fabri-Solvy I demonstrated on Facebook Live.

If you order the STICKY FABRI-SOLVY from my online Pickle Road Studios Store, www.marklipinski.com, I will email you all 6 pages for the entire Mermaid Mandela (the 20″ verion) and a full-page version you can enlarge or decrease to any size you like, for FREE. (It’s for personal use only, not to share, or sell in any way. Everybody knows that but sometimes you just have to send out a reminder).

Click on the blue link to order your Sticky Fabri-Solvy and to get your FREE Mermaid Mandela pattern.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH INSPIRED QUILT

So this is the image of the quilt from the film THE GRAPES OF WRATH that inspired the quilt I’ve designed and am about to make.

Don’t forget, I used this quilt only as my inspiration.  I am not duplicating it and think you’ll be very surprised by how it actually turns out.  The fabrics I showed you and am planning to use are:

Kaffe Fassett’s Pink Roman Glass

Free Spirit’s Rambling Rose by Tanya Whelan

Kaufman Nantucket Patchwork Plaid Sorbet

WHO LET THE HOGS OUT?

This is a new, soon-to-be-released line of high-quality quilting fabrics designed by Desiree’s Designs for Quilting Treasures called, WHO LET THE HOGS OUT (Hedgehogs, that is).  It will be available sometime around the middle of April — be the first quilter on you block to have it!

Meet the adorbs designer, Desiree (if you haven’t met her already)….

Look for yardage of these bright designs in your local quilt and fabric stores and pick up a few yards.  If you don’t see them in your local shops by the end of April, ask your shop owner to order the pieces that you want to buy (she may not even know they’re out there). You can also order yardage directly from Desiree’s website, at www.desireesdesigns.com or email her at desiree@desireesdesigns.com as soon as they are available.

I love the panel!

DO YOU OVERREACT (Is there such thing)?

I hate when Mr. Electric tells me that I might be, just might be, overreacting to something that’s happened.  Recently, something did happen. First I was caught off guard, then hurt, really angry for about 3-seconds (OK, 30-minutes), took on the guilt, totally obsessed over it, and (finally) became ambivalent about the whole damn ordeal (how’s that for stages, Elizabeth Kubler Ross? LOL).

Mr. Electric thought I might be mildly overreacting.  How do I know?  I asked him and he told me!  Maybe I was bigly overreacting.  Who knows?

So I pulled a few articles on overreacting, being too sensitive, and ways to buck up.

Enjoy!

How to Respond to Someone Hurting Me without Overreacting, Withdrawing From Them, or Ignoring It?

What it Means When Someone Tells You ‘You’re Too Sensitive’

Why You Should Stop Saying ‘You’re Overreacting’

How to Stop Overreacting

5 Suggestions to Stop Overreacting

8 Tips on How to Avoid Overreacting

For the record, I am well aware that even discussing this on Facebook Live and then writing about it is a form of overreacting.  Oh, well.

KALAVA

The cotton fibers I showed in the video is called Kalava.  Here’s what I found out about it:

Kalava (Sanskrit: कलावा) is the sacred Hindu thread also called mauli or charadu in Hindi.^[1] It is tied by a priest or an older family member, typically grandparents or parents on the wrists of all the people attending the prayer ceremony. The Kalava is tied on the right wrist of men and unmarried women and on the left wrist of the married women. Cotton strings in form of yarn in full red are most common as is red with small bits of yellow, however, other dye combination exist. It sometimes has knots which are tied up while reciting sacred mantras to invoke Satvik state of human nature and is worn to ward off evil from the person who wears this red thread. A stylised form of the Kalava is used for the holiday of Raksha Bandhan.^[2]

Notice how this Kalava is used in some traditional patchwork.

Any  Ideas?

If you would like a review of your book, fabric, product, or to make an announcement on an upcoming Facebook LIVE, blog post, or whatever…. simply send us what you would like us to show and tell for you!

Pickle Road Studios, LLC

13 Pickle Road

Califon, NJ 07830

Also, if you have anything you would like Mr. Electric or me to talk about on an upcoming Facebook Live or any questions personal or otherwise? Let us know in the comments section of this blog below.   Thanks!  xoxom