One-Woman Quilt Exhibit

Featuring MY QUILTS! Before you get too excited, the gallery is the gallery at Handi Quilter (where I work). But it is fun seeing about 25 of my quilts all hanging together.

 

Most of the quilts are from my book with Martingale/That Patchwork Place, Triple-Play Scrap Quilting. The book features scrappy quilts using one of my three strategies for getting a scrappy look: (1) Planned Scrappy, where you select fabrics that all adhere to a color scheme of three or four colors; (2) Coordinated Scrappy, where you buy precuts and yardage featuring the fabrics in a fabric line; and (3) Make-Do Scrappy, where anything goes and you use dozens of fabrics literally from your scrap pile.

Here are a couple examples of planned scrappy quilts:

 

 

Although I'm calling this a planned quilt, it kind of breaks the rules of following a limited color scheme. But I did stick to a particular style of fabrics -- all solids.

Here are some examples of coordinated scrappy quilts:

 And here are examples of some of the make-do scrappy quilts -- my favorite style of all!

The exhibit will be up until the end of April. And then I have to find space for all of these quilts again at home.

By the way, whenever the Handi Quilter offices are open (week days, normal business hours), the public is welcome to come and see all of our quilts -- both in the gallery and hanging throughout the building.

2015 That Patchwork Place Calendar and a Giveaway!

Edited to add:  Entries for the free calendar are now closed. Congratulations to Gayle! Counting chronologically -- from the first comment to the last, Gayle was number 18! Gayle, I've sent you an e-mail message for your mailing address so I can send you your fabulous 2015 calendar!

I'm so happy to announce that one of my quilts is featured in the 2015 That Patchwork Place calendar. That's right -- my Bull's Eye quilt is the calendar girl for February! Doesn't "she" look great? Or should that be "he"? I think the quilt has a nice masculine feel and is great for those guy-quilts we need to make now and then.

 

You can see all of Martingale's 2015 calendars on their StitchThis! blog post. Shops are ordering the 2015 calendars now so be sure to pick one up at your local quilt shop!

What's more is that Martingale/That Patchwork Place has given me an extra copy of the calendar to give away to one of you visitors to my blog. All you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post before midnight on Wednesday, July 23. I'll randomly select the lucky winner on Thursday, July 24.

The version of Bull's Eye that Martingale selected for the calendar is the make-do, totally scrappy version of the quilt. I was definitely cleaning out the scraps for this one!

But I made two other variations of the quilt for my book Triple-Play Scrap Quilting: a planned scrappy version and a coordinated scrappy version.

The planned scrappy version used fabrics in red, black, gray, and white only. 

Bull's Eye is a great quilt to feature the colors of your favorite sports team. (Believe me when I tell you that I've already apologized to my family members, who are huge University of Michigan fans, for making this quilt in Ohio State colors!)

The coordinated scrappy version is probably my favorite variation -- and not only because it uses thick, cozy, warm flannel fabrics (Maywood Studios' Woollies flannels and Moda's Wool and Needle flannels). 

Note that I swapped the blocks' center four-patches with hour-glass blocks and used the same fabrics for the alternate triangle corners of the blocks. I love how the small hourglass is echoed where the blocks come together with a larger hourglass. This is definitely a cozy quilt!

So be sure to pick up your own 2015 That Patchwork Place calendar. I got a sneak peak at the collection of quilts in the calendar -- and they are all fabulous! You can see them too by clicking the calendar image below.

Don't forget to leave a comment on this blog post because you just might be the lucky winner of the calendar I'm giving away. Remember that I'll need a way to let you know if you're the winner -- so if you have a "no reply" account, you'll need to include your e-mail address in your comment.

The Countdown Begins

Three months from today my book with Martingale / That Patchwork Place will be available.

And today was the next milestone in the journey.

You can now find out more about the book and see nine of the quilts. Just go to the Martingale website by clicking the book cover image. (Or click here.)

Martingale describes my book this way:

Discover clever, beginner-friendly strategies for showcasing the abundance of fabrics available today--as well as the fabrics in your stash.

• Choose from nine quilt patterns that are each shown in three different colorways: "coordinated scrappy," "planned scrappy," and "make-do scrappy"
• Learn tips, tricks, and techniques including paper piecing, appliqué, alternatives for making half-square triangles, strip piecing, chain piecing, and more
• Create patchwork quilts that use fat eighths, fat quarters, and yardage, as well as precut strips and squares

It has been a fabulous journey thus far.  I'll be going to spring quilt market in Portland with Handi Quilter and will be helping to launch my book with Martingale. Lots to do before then -- but relishing every moment.

Have a great day.

Black Friday at Martingale

As you know, I am counting the weeks until my book with Martingale comes out.

In the meantime, however, there have been some new books released by other Martingale authors that are on my wish list.  I think now is the time to buy because they are 50% off -- plus free shipping on purchases over $30. Black Friday here we come.

I'm going to buy Jill Finley's book, Home Sweet Quilt. 

I love her fabric collections, so I know I'll love her quilts too.

 

And of course, gotta have Kim Diehl's latest book, Homestyle Quilts, in collaboration with her editor at Martingale, Laurie Baker.

Not sure what else I'm going to get, but this offer is too good to pass up. (Now if only my book were done and available for sale too!)

 

Deseret

"Deseret" means "honeybee" and was the original name of what became the Utah Territory, later the state of Utah. I have collected all things beehive — especially beehive-shaped honey pots — for about twenty years. I thought it was about time to create a beehive quilt.

I designed this quilt for my book, but unfortunately it got pulled at the last minute because it made the book too long.

My brother has beehives on his ranch in eastern Utah. The sage green and golden hues of his ranch inspired the colors for this quilt. As with many of my quilts, some black also finds its way into the palette. In this case, the black and tan border blocks (traditional jewel box block) remind me of the black and yellow of the iconic honeybee. This quilt uses paper piecing for the honeycomb hexagon blocks. It also includes embroidered honeybees buzzing around the hive and a simple running embroidery stitch to highlight the beehive.

This quilt was made completely from my stash except for the backing. I'd had the border fabric for more than ten years. I think it's from a Carol Endres fabric collection called Apple and Bee Orchard. There are little beehives scattered among trees and cabins. It was just perfect. I don't know how many times I had pulled that fabric out of my cupboard and contemplated using it in a quilt.  I'm glad I waited!

I submitted this design to Primitive Quilts magazine in hopes that they would want to include it. But alas, they sent back my submission because isn't primitive enough. Oh well.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving week.

Definitely Time For an Update.

Yippee! My book with Martingale / That Patchwork Place is moving along. Over the last several weeks I was able to review the page proofs that show what the book will actually look like. The photos, the illustrations, the instructions. Pretty exciting. Still waiting to see the cover design -- which will make it seem even more real. The release date is still early May, just before Spring Quilt Market in Portland, OR.

On the job front, I went back to work almost two months ago. It was time. Although I put my 17-month hiatus from full-time work to good use (30+ quilts, the book, a month vacation in Asia, surgery and recovery), my Cobra insurance coverage was going to run out. Yes, it was time to look for a job.

Back in February I was invited to be a beta tester for Handi Quilter's new TruStitch stitch regulator for their sit-down mid-arm machine, the HQ Sweet Sixteen. I spent a day in their offices, met some of the marketing team, and some of the engineers. As I looked around, I thought "Hmmm, this would be a nice place to work." (Especially since it's less than 15 minutes from my home.)

As soon as I got home that afternoon, I sent my resume to the director of marketing to let her know that I had a background in technology product marketing (and of course quilting), and that I would love to do some free-lance work for them if they ever needed help. Well, it wasn't but a couple weeks before I had my first editing project from them. And so it continued over the next five months -- a project here and there.

When I knew I had to start looking for a job, I spoke with the marketing director at Handi Quilter and let her know that once I found a full-time job, I wouldn't be available to do free-lance work anymore. The prospect of not being able to offload some of her work to me must have created some fear and trepidation, because a month later I started work for Handi Quilter full time as the marketing communications manager.

And it's been great. I was able to hit the ground running because I already understand the quilting industry, I was somewhat familiar with their products from the previous work I'd done, and I already had the marketing know-how. I've been very happy with my decision. Good company. Good people. Great products. And quilts decorating the walls throughout the building!

And, a nice little perk that I didn't know about when I joined Handi Quilter. After three months of employment, employees can (if they want) take home a slightly used HQ18 Avanté longarm machine and after four years of employment, it's theirs to keep. So I'm counting the weeks until I can take a machine home (hopefully one will be available when it's my turn!)

A Couple Quilts That Didn’t Make the Cut

I made a couple quilt tops that I decided not to include in the book. 

Both were set on point and they were the only two on-point quilts in the book. I knew that if I included them I would need to write involved instructions for on-point settings. But more than that, in each case there was something that I didn’t like about the finished quilt top. Don’t get me wrong – I like the quilts. I just didn’t think they were up to the standard I’d set for other quilts in the book.

Can you see what went wrong in the first quilt in reds, golds and greens? I used the same gold background for the borders and edge setting triangles. But I had bought the fabrics from two different sources because neither online store had as much as I needed. And, wouldn’t you know it, they were obviously different dye lots. It wasn’t so obvious in person – but when photographed, the variation in value shows up. And, unfortunately, it shows the piecing in the triangles (which I wanted to blend together – and it didn’t).



The other quilt uses all Kansas Troubles fabrics. I had a layer cake of 10” squares and extra yardage for background and borders. Unfortunately, I was limited in the fabric combinations I could do for the stars and some didn’t have as much contrast as others. It was a fun quilt, and I’ll probably make another one some day using the same star block design. But it didn’t make the cut for the book. So, in reality, I made 32 quilts for my book – not just 30. 



I can’t imagine that I’ll ever do that many quilts in less than a year. Yes, that’s 32 quilt tops. And 30 finished and bound quilts. Oh how I wish I could share them with you. I think I need to create a countdown timeline for my blog with the countdown until the book is released. But that will probably make the time go slower with the constant reminder.

Can’t Show You the Fronts Yet…

But I can show you the backs of these quilts.
I got back the first four quilts from one of the four quilters I’m working with. (More coming next week – yippee!) My mom did the hand-sewing part of the binding. (Thanks Mom!)
So I thought I’d show you the quilting from the backs of three of the four quilts. On one of them, the quilting blended in so much with the backing fabric that it didn’t photograph well enough to show. (But in person and from the front it’s fabulous!)
This first quilt uses Minick & Simpson’s Banner Rose fabrics. Because of the Americana style, it is quilted with a subtle Americana design:

My quilter liked this design so much that she wants to teach it as a mystery quilt at her guild. The design lends itself to a mystery because it comprises lots of basic block components that are then put together into blocks and interesting borders.
This quilt uses Fig Tree fabrics from a couple of different collections. The back is from Fig Tree’s Strawberry Fields. Can you see the rose – floral quilt design? It is perfect for this quilt design – with my original blocks set with chain blocks:

The  last quilt back I’m showing off today is a totally scrappy design – using only scraps and stash fabrics. Even the star-fabric backing was already in my stash. I decided to echo the star design from the backing as the quilting. Love it!

That’s all I can show you, but I am slowly closing in on finishing all of my quilts for the book.
Bye for now.

My Exciting News!

I've been waiting to do this post for more than three months -- but now I can let you all know that I heard from Martingale Company / That Patchwork Place last week.

They ARE going to publish my book of quilt designs! 

We are still in the early stages so I don't know yet what the schedule will be for release. I do know that there will be 30 quilts in the book -- which means I need to design (and make) 3 more for the book.

So far I've completed 18 of the tops -- which means I've got 12 to go. I just snapped a photo of most of the tops that are done. Martingale has 3 of them, plus I was too lazy to go down stairs to get the other couple.

They all still need to be quilted and bound. Not to mention writing the instructions. So I've got a lot to do over the next few months.

Needless to say, I'm excited -- and I'll post updates as I am able.

This past weekend I went to the Heritage Quilters Winterfest quilting retreat at a great lodge up in the mountains. (Yes, it snowed and got VERRRRY cold while we were there. But my room had a gas fireplace that I used every evening to cozy things up.) Joanna Figueroa from Fig Tree Designs was the featured teacher, and I took two classes from her. She was delightful -- and did a fabulous trunk show of about 30 or so of her quilts.

I also had to post this photo of some visitors I had in my backyard a few weeks ago. It's not unusual to see a deer or two now and then. But to have 6 at one time was quite the sight!

Bye for now.