my beginning weaving students always start with a pattern known as "log cabin". It is plain weave and the pattern is created by the placement of contrasting colours in both warp and weft. Even with subtle contrasting colours the pattern is obvious. On the lower right a boucle yarn is used for one weft yarn.…
Drafting just about any patchwork design with just two “old school” tools—a ruler longer than your grid, and a ruler or triangle with a 90-degree angle. Check out Jinny’s no-math method ̵…
sushi quilt pattern draft.... hopefully will have the pattern/instructions done in a week?
How I made my patchwork checkerboard pattern jacket using my free pattern + easy draft. This is actually my first attempt in trying to quilt anything, so my...
Nice idea for a silhouette on a quilt. Pattern wasn't free. But I can draft one of my own.
Image of original quilt posted here. Used with permission by Cindy Vermillion Hamilton I fell in love with an antique medallion quilt in the book Medallion Quilts by Cindy Vermillion Hamilton. There is no pattern for it, but, this is the general style of it. I'll draft 1-2 borders a month in Electric Quilt and…
Related topics/ essential pre-reading: Fabric requirements- the All Business Pre-washing your fabrics, making a practice version and how to draft a pocket pattern So how do we actually make a quilt coat? First off, a few disclaimers :-) : The tutorials assume we are using a "normal" coat pattern (eg not one that is ac
The Helen Quilt Pattern was not originally intended to be a scrap quilt pattern, but wow, did it surprise me! My original draft of the pattern didn’t include instructions for a scrappy version, and I didn’t plan to make a scrappy sample. However, the idea made its way into my head and I couldn’t let it go! Loving the S
Related topics/ essential pre-reading: Fabric requirements- the A little Bedazzling Pre-washing your fabrics, making a practice version and how to draft a pocket pattern So how do we actually make a quilt coat? First off, a few disclaimers :-) : The tutorials assume we are using a "normal" coat pattern (i.e. not one t
Maple Leaf: This is an EQ7 rendering of a maple leaf block. I am blogging about the progress and design decisions I am making on my husband's quilt. I hope this will keep me on track and motivate me to continue to work on the quilt. I have been trying to draft Maple Leaf pattern…
Pom is wonderfully artistic and has much to share. Her maple leaf quilt is entirely hand done.. hand cut, hand pieced and hand quilted. I fell in love with it when I saw it. She designed her pattern by hand drafting it. On her blog Pom suggested we draft our own maple leaves so I…
There are so many beautiful historic quilts that have been recreated by various designers. Usually the patterns are cost prohibitive because they include templates and extremely detailed instructions. The Mrs. Billings coverlet is one example. Mrs. Billings The "Burnt Quilt" is another example. The original quilt was used to put out flames after it's owners daughter's clothing had caught fire. It was never repaired, hence the nickname, The Burnt Quilt. Burnt Quilt Variation Another medallion example: The Phebe Quilt How about a sew along where the pattern for a beautiful historic Medallion quilt is completely FREE? Esther Aliu is in the process of translating Love Entwined into a pattern: Images of Love Entwined from two different sources. See Esther Aliu's post HERE. Esther's first draft of Love Entwined. Esther is still working on the design and fabric requirements for this free Block of the Month, but in the meanwhile, you can join the Yahoo Group so you don't miss the launch of the gorgeous pattern! Just a warning: I would opt for the daily digest at the bottom of the sign-up page--it's a very vocal group! Sign up for Esther's Block of the Month Yahoo Group HERE!
A tessellation quilt I created during an online quilting class. I drew up a draft of the pattern on paper and colored it in for reference in order to assemble the finished blocks with ease. Of all the quilts I've ever made, this was the first and only one where I needed a draft. For me, it was challenging to visualize it on my own, without the reference. I've indicated a note on the photo, outlining where one block is, so you could see how it could be confusing to assemble them all into star patterns. Our Daily Challenge "Geometry"
To celebrate Flag Day, I just finished the second doll quilt in my series Quilts Styles I Will Never Get Around to Making as Bed Quilts, so I'm Just Going to Make Them as Doll Quilts. The first quilt is this series was a Lemoyne Star Medallion based on an antique doll quilt. This latest one is 21 square, and each small square is 7/8. My inspiration for this little quilt came from two of my favorite quilters, Lori at Humble Quilts and Karen at Log Cabin Quilter, who both enjoy making folk art and holiday themed quilts, although they are experts at appliqué, while I am more of a piecer. It's funny to me that I avoid most technology when it comes to quilting, since I worked for 16 years as a Technology Assistant at my children's former elementary school. I do spend a lot of time on my various devices -- just not for designing quilts. My process is low tech (just like my method of making a quilt), and for this design involved only graph paper and some colored pencils, although I often use a compass and protractor as well. I've never been good at math, but I've learned how to draft a pattern, and I'm not sure why, but sketching design ideas seems to help in the creative process. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, below is my final drawing for the above quilt, after several failed attempts. I notice the diagonal design in the center is more obvious on my drawing than it is on the actual top, because I used all those scrappy fabrics (especially the shirtings). The quilt is mostly made using antique blocks and tops from my collection, but the indigo border is a repro, as are a few of the shirtings in the 4-patches.
Whee!!! It's almost Halloween - and I LOVE silliness, so here I am, working on one of my latest quilts. By the time you finish reading this blog, you may think this is a real picture of me, though! I've been sewing up a storm. To begin with, I finished my Afternoon Delight quilt and took it over to Quakertown for a photo shoot. For various reasons, I "lost" the wall I used at home for taking photos. Below you can see Pat Forke (Quakertown's owner) cranking up her camera with sidekick Vickie, whom many of you may know. With the pictures done, Afternoon Delight will next go onto my longarm machine sometime this month. Quakertown Quilts (www.quakertownquilts.com) is already taking pre-orders and will begin offering Afternoon Delight as a block-of-the-month starting in November. If you would like your own local quilt shop to carry the pattern, put them in touch with Quakertown. This quilt was such fun to make -- simple enough to make fairly quickly, but with enough details that it looks complicated. Here's her beauty shot: Some time back, several friends and I agreed to do a block challenge. We selected a block and I drafted a pattern. Each of us then modified the pattern, selected our own unique fabrics, and made a quilt. The variety of the results was amazing - even to us! Now that the challenge is history, we have decided to repeat the process. We each brought samples of what we thought would make a good challenge block to our last bee (called the UFO bee because we are started that bee with the intent of FINISHING quilts, not creating NEW ones... go figure!). The block below, from a non-quilt book called Victorian Patterns and Designs, was the design we chose for our quilt block challenge. I want to note that this is a copyright-free design. It's now my job to draw up the block that we will each use as our "pattern." And everyone will modify it as they see fit - from fabric colors to block size to variations in the motifs. Wait until you see what I have up my sleeve for this one... Here's the initial drafting of the pattern. You can see that I use a light box, erasers, tape, markers, my copier (which I use to enlarge and shrink motifs), and much more. And below is a rough draft of the final drawing of the block. It looks quite different compared to the original design, but when we choose a design, it must be an executable one. Next, I'll put it into pattern form and ship it off to the gals in the bee. I can't wait to see what they come up with! In the meantime... my good friend Jerrianne came over a day or two ago with a quilt top. It's probably from the 1940s or 50s... and not too evenly made. It doesn't quite lie flat. But you see, it was made by the stepmother of her hairdresser, Kenneth, and he donated about 10 quilt tops to our guild. We put three of them in the guild auction... and set aside the remaining ones for next year and the year after. I told Jerrianne that in thanks for Kenneth's generosity, I'd love to quilt a top for him. Well... he'd set aside his favorites and gave one to Jerrianne for me to quilt. This is it: The fabrics are clearly scrappy -- I believe some of them were from men's shirts or a lady's dress. But together, they are all oddly beautiful. And all of the quilts this woman made were sewn by hand. Look at this -- such even, straight stitches: Oh my! This quilt will be a bit of a challenge to quilt, but it will be quilted with joy because Kenneth was so generous. But also because.... WOW! Kenneth, in thanks to ME, gave ME yet another of the quilt tops from his step-mother! So this quirky quilt below is now mine, mine, MINE! Some of you may think it's just a little garish and bizarre... but that's what I love about it! Who would put these colors together? Who made this pattern up? It's wonderful! So this quilt, too, will get in line to be quilted on my longarm. I can't wait. Here's a closeup of one of the blocks. Don't you just love the weird combinations of colors? It makes me smile to see this quilt! Another thing that has been making me smile lately is the border-on-border quilt that I'm making in the class by Winnie Fleming. In each class, we are given instructions for three options - the first class gave us the option of a lone star center block or two other blocks. I chose the lone star block. I actually made two of them. Here was the first: But did you know that you can invert the "diamonds" and turn the color scheme inside-out? Yes! So here is the same star with the diamonds turned inside out. I chose the one below as the center of my border quilt -- I like having dark tips on my lone star blocks - it makes them stand out more. Next... we had to set the block on point and then add a flloater and a border of half-square triangles in either a wonky arrangement, a structured arrangement, or a flying geese arrangement. I dipped into the box of fabrics I'd gathered for this quilt -- I always pull all the fabrics I might use in a quilt and set them aside before I start sewing; this makes choosing fabrics SO much easier later on. So here's my box of options: And here's my block, set on point with not just one, but SEVERAL floaters (floaters are small, unpieced, narrow border strips). But I was really having trouble figuring out what border design I wanted to use - or even the colors and fabrics to use. I don't like mystery quilts and not knowing what is coming next -- and I didn't want to put a lot of time into making a border that might not look good or that could have looked better. I went online and looked at the pictures of Winnie's quilts that had been entered in our quilt show, so I had a good idea of what the next border options would be. A ha! So... one of the borders was 4-inch sawtooth stars set on point... and the final border was actually small half-lone-star blocks (or two other options that were not as appealing to me, personally). Based on that "research," I decided that I needed to do a mockup of my quilt and the choices I was considering, using the Electric Quilt program. I use EQ a lot to draft my patterns - not so much for developing my designs, but instead, for determining the sizes of blocks and borders and floaters so that the units will fit together and the finished quilt size will be reasonable. So... here was the design I developed -- not just one, but TWO rows of sawtooth star blocks outside of a set of flying geese and 4-patch borders and requisite floaters. I just LOVE the notion of adding TWO rows of those sawtooth stars! I've already started making them... though the class hasn't gotten that far yet. But at least, for now, I have a plan and know that it will all work out VERY nicely! And below is the flying geese border, added to my quilt center. It's not the classic flying geese border with flying geese circling the quilt center. These flying geese are facing inward instead of sideways. Sweeeeeeeet, I say! My floaters are big (at least the green one) because I felt like I needed something to keep the flying geese from "crowding" the center. That's part of what I can "see" when I use EQ to "test" a design idea. So now that I know I need to make 64 sawtooth star blocks, how do I get those done most efficiently? I make nearly all of my pieced blocks with foundation papers. I use the Draw function within Word and draw up paper foundations, print them out, and start stitching away. The Draw function is easy to use -- and lets me make paper foundations for just about anything with straight lines! Here are my foundations, along with some fabric, ready to start stitching on. And I take all of my fabric and precut it so that it is stacked and ready to start sewing. This step eliminates the starts and stops that would otherwise be required for each block. And once I have a stack sewn, it's time to trim the block units, remove the paper... And sew the units together! So here I am, just a few hours into it, and I already have a dozen blocks finished. Only 52 left to make. Ha! I'll keep you posted on my progress on the Winnie border quilt... and in the meantime, what else have I been working on? Here's a clue... Can you figure it out? How about now? Yep - I've been making more and more and many more 8-inch (finished size) star blocks. Here's part of the array. I'm using all of my plaids - starting with blue plaids and tan/off-white background fabric. The basic design is a sawtooth star block - but to vary the results and give the set some visual interest, I took the inside 4-inch square... ... and turned some of them into pinwheels... ... or square in squares... or broken dishes... And once I finished making 50 blue plaid blocks, I started making red and tan blocks. I have made over a hundred red blocks. How do I get so many done so fast? Easy! I stack my precut pieces for each block, together with the paper foundations... and just start working my way down through the stacks, one at a time. So now I have 50 blue plaid stars, 110 red plaid and red/tan stars, 24 bright print stars, and I do not have a CLUE as to what I'm going to do with all of these stars! But what I can say is that, finally, my plaids have been whittled down to a reasonable supply. I am the first to admit that I have more fabric than I can use in a lifetime, and making blocks is one way for me to manage my stash -- productively. I have made a commitment to myself to NOT buy fabric because it's pretty. I can only buy it if I have NOTHING in my stash that I can use. That's a tall order... but I'm determined to get my stash back down to what it was a few years ago - when I KNEW what I had in my closet. Today, there is so much that I can't even FIND much of what I could use. I also have a supply of blocks that I can pick up and put together when I need to throw a quilt together quickly. It feels good! And something else that feels good is coming up with a new quilt design. You saw the beginnings of my new design last month -- a block that I keep calling "twirly balls" when I'm with my friends. Here's one that's done: I just LOVE these blocks! And I have been wanting to make a quilt that uses my 1930s/Aunt Grace reproduction fabrics, and this was the perfect quilt for 30s fabrics -- I had not used them for a number of years, and I'd forgotten how "happy" and how "fun" they are to work with. You can't help but smile when you are stitching 30s fabrics together! So now... this past month I finished the nine center blocks and added a few borders. But I'm not done yet! I will be adding yet another border -- of half-dresden plates. I have the units all sewn and am now in the process of appliqueing them onto border strips. Stay tuned for the finished quilt top next month. I'm calling it Happy Daze - a perfect name for this quilt! And so now... back to the beginning! Here I am, after a whirlwind month of stitching my way through the days. But at least I sure look happy - and I definitely am! Before I close, let me mention that I read every comment I get. I haven't answered them in this post, but I will next time... your thoughts and questions are very important to me. Happy quilting, everyone -- until next month! Sue Garman (c)2012 Susan H. Garman
In a couple of posts here and here, I have talked about this pattern and shown a couple of blocks. I have finally managed to scan the entire original pattern. You will notice that my butterfly is different, having 4 D pieces in each wing, as opposed to 3 in the original pattern. It was necessary for me to re-draft the pattern in order to accommodate the vintage quilt swatches I wanted to use in this quilt. I also decided to eliminate a couple of seams. My altered pattern is available here, in case you prefer the 4-piece version. This is a wonderful pattern for hand stitching (I pieced with a running stitch, without papers), but it is probably not a good choice for a beginning quilter. Because this pattern is large, it will need to be tile printed. Clicking on the pattern image below will open a full-sized pdf file. Scroll to the bottom of that image, and click on the download button. Open the downloaded file in Acrobat Reader, and select “poster” in the print dialog box. This will allow you to tile print the original pattern size on multiple sheets of letter or legal sized paper, which you can then trim and tape or glue together.
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Call or Text (435) 503-7412 or email [email protected] to schedule a visit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2024 Teaching Schedule ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cedar Chest Quilt Retreat Cedar City, Utah Jan 31-Feb 2, 2024 "Fun Curves Ahead" Drunkard's Path Possibilities Wednesday, 5:30 to 8:30 Trunk Show Utah Valley Quilt Guild Orem, Utah February 21,2024 1:30 p.m. "Binding & Alternate Endings" Lecture/Trunk Show Quilty Friends Spring Retreat Ruby's Inn, Bryce Canyon, Utah March 6-9, 2024 "Ypsilon" Wednesday, March 6th, 8:30-11:30 am "1-Hour Sling Bag" Wednesday, March 6th 8:00 pm "Binding & Alternate Endings" Thursday, March 7th, 8:00 pm Super Spring Retreat Fountain Green, Utah "Zircon Crystals" Friday, March 8, 2024, 12:30 - 4:30pm Vernal, Utah March 20-23, 2024 Workshops: "Binding & Alternate Endings" Thursday, March 21, 3:45 to 6:45 pm Sold Out! 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Schenck Booth #4513 Thursday, May 2nd, 2:00 pm BOOK SIGNING "Ultimate Binding & Edge Finishing Guide for Quilting & Sewing" Draper, Utah May 9th, 6:00 to 8:30 pm TRUNK SHOW Friday, May 10th, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm BINDING & ALTERNATE ENDINGS WORKSHOP Lyman, Wyoming May 11, 2024 BOOK SIGNING & DEMOS Saturday Sampler 8:00am and 9:00am Community Demo 12:00 pm Thread Heads Quilt Guild Riverton, Utah May 17, 2024 7:00 pm "Binding & Alternate Endings" LECTURE/DEMO/TRUNK SHOW Silver Mine Quilt Guild Midway, Utah May 21, 2024 9:30 am "Binding & Alternate Endings" LECTURE/DEMO/TRUNK SHOW Quilting on the Green Green River, Wyoming May 31-June 1, 2024 "Purdy Bird" Friday, May 31st, All Day "Sheep Shape" Saturday, June 1st, All Day Panguitch Quilt Walk Festival Panguitch, Utah June 5-8, 2024 "Binding & Alternate Endings" WORKSHOP SOLD OUT!! Thursday, June 6th, 2:00 to 5:00 pm NEW CLASS ADDED Thursday, June 6th, 8:30 to 11:30"Iridescent Star" Friday, June 7th, 2:00 to 5:00 pm "Trunk Show" Saturday, June 8, 2024, 12:30 pm Happy Harvest Quilt Guild Tremonton, Bear River, Utah June 18, 2024 10:00 am "Binding & Alternate Endings" Lecture/Demo ~ Noon: Luncheon ~ "Trunk Show" 1:00 pm Wyoming State Quilt Guild's QUILT WYOMING July 10-13, 2024 Cheyenne, Wyoming Come see us at Quiltscapes' BOOTH! "Purdy Bird" Thursday, July 11th Class is FULL "Binding & Alternate Endings" Friday, July 12th Two Sessions: LECTURE a.m. FULL - WORKSHOP p.m. "Ypsilon" Saturday, July 13th Bertha & Beulah's Tuesday, July 16, 2024 6:30 to 8:30 pm "Binding & Alternate Endings" Lecture/Demo/Trunk Show Utah Valley Quilt Guild ~ July Faire ~ Wednesday, July 17, 2024 9:30 am to 3:30 pm The Red Barn, Wallsburg, Utah Quiltscapes BOOTH Midway Hertiage Quilters August 10, 10:00 am "Color Theory" Bryce Country Quilt Guild Ruby's Inn, Bryce Canyon, Utah Wednesday, August 21, 2024 2:00 to 4:00 pm "Binding & Alternate Endings" DEMO/LECTURE/TRUNKSHOW Utah Quilt Guild Quilt Fest Davis Conference Center, Layton, Utah August 19-24, 2024 "Getting to Gnome You!" "Gnomies for the Holidays" Thursday, August 22nd, 8:30-11:30am "Pincushion/Ornament Gnomies" Thursday Evening, August 22md Quilters Holladay Quilt Guild Holladay, Utah September 10, 2024 "Binding & Alternate Endings" Lecture/Demo/Trunk Show Garden of Quilts Lehi, Utah September 11-14, 2024 "Binding & Alternate Endings" WORKSHOP = Click HERE to Register for Class (still have a few openings) Saturday, Sept 14th, 9-12am "Zircon Crystals" CLASS IS FULL Saturday, Sept 14th, 2-5pm Quilter's Heritage Festival Richfield, Utah October 10-12, 2024 "Ypsilon" "Iridescent Star" "Zircon Crystals" Class is FULL Dave's Bernina Retreat St. George, Utah October 16, 2024 "Binding & Alternate Endings" WORKSHOP, BOOK SIGNING & TRUNK SHOW **YOUR NEXT CLASS/TRUNK SHOW HERE!** ~~~ *************** 2023 TEACHING SCHEDULE **************** Cedar Chest Quilters' Guild Cedar City, UtahFebruary 1-4, 2023"Sheep Shape" Wednesday, Feb 1st, 5:30 to 8:30 pm "Ypsilon" Thursday, Feb 2nd, 1:00 to 4:00 pm Quilty Friends Spring Retreat Ruby's Inn, Bryce Canyon, Utah March 1-4, 2023 "Owlie Pincushion" Wednesday, Mar 1st, 7:00 pm "Tsunami" Lecture/Demo Thursday, Mar 2nd, 7:00 pm "I ♥ Appliqué ~ 10 Techniques!" Friday, March 3rd, 7:00 pm Pie Plate Patterns Super Spring Retreat Social Hall, Fountain Green Utah March 8-10, 2023 "Fun Curves Ahead" Drunkard's Path: 1 yard of fabric, endless possibilities! Thursday, March 9th, 8:30-11:30 am Quilting on the Green Green River, Wyoming June 2-3, 2023 "Ypsilon" Friday, June 2nd, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm Booth:Saturday, June 3rd, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm Panguitch Quilt Walk Festival June 7-10, 2023 "Tsunami" Wednesday, June 7th, 2:00 to 5:00 pm SOLD OUT NEW! Thursday, June 8th, 6:00 to 9:00 pm "Barn Star" - A Soldier's Star Thursday, June 9th, 8:30 to 11:30 am SLOG Longarm Quilt Guild "How to Appli-quilt" Saturday, July 14th, 10:00 am Utah Valley Quilt Guild ~ July Faire ~ Quiltscapes Booth: Wednesday, July 19, 2023 9:30 am to 3:30 pm The Red Barn, Wallsburg, Utah Class: "Precision Piecing Practices" Wednescay July 19th, 10:00 am Wyoming State Quilt Guild's Quilt Wyoming CWC Campus, Riverton, Wyoming Quiltscapes Booth: July 20th, 21st, 22nd, 2023, 8:00am to 6:00pm Classes: "Binding & Alternate Endings" Saturday, July 22nd, 8:30-11:30 am "Tsunami (A Giant "Storm at Sea")" Saturday, July 22nd, 1:00 to 4:00 pm Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, Utah September 13-16, 2023 "Meet the Makers" - Booth Friday, Sept 15th, 6:30pm Classes: "Ypsilon" Saturday, Sept 16th, 9:00 am to 12:00 noon "Kaleido-Medallion" Saturday, Sept 16th, 2:00 to 5:00 pm Utah Quilt Guild Quilt Fest Davis Conference Center, Layton, Utah October 10~14, 2023 "Barn Star" - A Soldier's Star Fri, October 13th, 8:30 to 11:30 am "Purdy Bird" Friday, October 13th, 2:30 to 5:30 pm October 5-7, 2023 Richfield, Utah "Log Cabin Tree Skirt" Friday evening, October 6th"Tsunami" Saturday afternoon, Oct 7th November 8-11, 2023 The Courtyard by Marriott at Page, Arizona "Owlie Pincushion" Wednesday, November 8th, 8 pm "Mod Cathedral Window Pillow" Thursday, November 9th, 9 am - 12 pm "Binding & Alternate Endings" Thursday, November 9th, 8 pm "I L♥ve Appliqué" 10 Techniques! Friday, November 10th, 8 pm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2022 Teaching Schedule ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quilty Friends Winter Quilt Retreat Ruby's Inn at Bryce Canyon, Utah February 3~5, 2022 "Purdy Bird" Friday, Feb 4, 2022, 2:00 to 5:00 pm ~~~ Cedar Chest Quilters' Guild Cedar City, UtahFebruary 16-19, 2022 "Binding & Alternate Endings Workshop" Wednesday, Feb 16th, 1:00 to 4:00 pm "Kaleido-Medallion" Thursday, Feb 17, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm Quilts-N-Fabrics "Oh, Happy Day" Quilt Retreat Hidden Springs, Altamont, Utah February 28th ~ March 3rd, 2022 "Tsunami" (A Giant "Storm at Sea") Quilt "Ypsilon Illusion" "Sew Tiny: Wristlet Key Chain" Pie Plate Patterns Super Spring Retreat Social Hall, Fountain Green Utah "Barn Star" - A Soldier's Star Wednesday, March 9th, 8:30 to 11:30 am "Tsunami" (A Giant "Storm at Sea") Quilt Wednesday, March 9th, 1:30-4:30 pm Orem High School Designer Sewing Class Orem, Utah March 18th, 7:45 am "Three Ways to Kickstart Freemotion Quilting Design" Utah Quilt Guild's 2022 Spring REMOTEFEST! >REGISTER HERE<< "Magic Instant Blocks!" ************* 2018 TEACHING SCHEDULE ************* Village Dry Goods Winter Retreat Academy Conference Center, Brigham City, Utah Jan 9-11, 2018, 8:30 - 11:30 am "Carpetbag! Crazy Patch Tote" Blackfoot Quilt Festival Snake River Junior High, Blackfoot Idaho April 6-7, 2018 "Carpenter's Wife" "Kaleido-Medallion" Panguitch Quilt Walk www.quiltwalk.org June 6-9, 2017 Panguitch, Utah "Disappearing Pinwheel" with Debbie Proctor "Carpenter's Wife" Utah Valley Quilt Guild July Faire Noah's Event Venue. Lindon, Utah "Binding 101 & Alternate Endings" My Happy Place Quilt Retreat Monastery of the Ascension Jerome, Idaho August 14, 2018 "Instant Blocks" Springville Art Museum Quilt Show July 28 ~ Sept 22, 2018 Deonn's Trunk Show, "Quilt Connections" Aug 23, 2018 2:00 p.m. Lake Powell Quilters Retreat November 7-10, 2018 A Soldier's Star Kaleido-Medallion Tsunami Utah Quilt Guild Quilt Festival September 17-21, 2019 ~~~ ~~ 2017 TEACHING SCHEDULE ~~ HQNA Winter Quiltfest January 26~28, 2017 Logan, Utah Thursday, 2:30 ~ 5:30 pm "Sketch & Stitch" Friday, 9:30 am ~ 12:30 pm "Binding & Alternate Endings Workshop" Quilty Friends Winter Quilt Retreat @ Ruby's Inn February 7~10, 2017 Bryce Canyon, Utah Thursday, February 9th, 2:00 pm "Snippets" Friday, February 10th, 2:00 pm "Zircon Crystals" My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe ~ Midway March 1st 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Click HERE for tickets "Kaleido-Medallion" Heber Valley Quilters Thursday, March 2, 2017, 7:00 pm "Precision Piecing Pointers" Kamas Valley Quilters Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 6:30 pm "Precision Piecing Pointers" Utah State 4-H Sewing Training Friday, March 10, 2 Sessions Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, Utah "The Lost Art of Smocking" Blackfoot Quiltfest March 31~April 1, 2017 Blackfoot, Idaho "Bloomin' Blossoms!" Pieces of Heaven Quilt Guild, Sandy, Utah May 4, 2017, 10:00 am "Trunk Show" & Little Birdie Demo Panguitch Quilt Walk www.quiltwalk.org June 7-10, 2017 Panguitch, Utah "Kaleido-Medallion" Thursday, June 8, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm "Bear In Mind, I Love You" Friday, June 9, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Utah State Board of Education FACS Education Conference June 15, 2017 Westlake High School, Saratoga Springs, Utah "Start Quilting: Tips, Tricks & Tools" "Snippets" "1-Hour Sling Bag" Tooele County Quilters Tuesday, July 18th, 10:00 am, Tooele County Offices Trunk Show & "Precision Piecing Pointers" Utah Valley Quilt Quilt July Fair Wednesday, July 19th, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Peteetneet Academy 1:00 pm Lecture: "Tips, Tricks & Tools" Booth open all day Utah Quilt Guild Quilt Festival September 19-23, 2017 Quilt Fest Opening Gala: "Fabric Corsage Demo" Tuesday, Sept. 19, 8:00 to 9:00 pm "Kaleido-Medallion" Friday, Sept. 22, 6:00 to 9:00 pm Kaleido-Medallion Paper-Piecing Workshop Lake Powell Quilt Retreat Page, Arizona November 8-11, 2017 "Zircon Crystals" "Carpenter's Wife" "Binding & Alternate Endings" ~~~ ~~ 2016 TEACHING SCHEDULE ~~ Quilt St.George Retreat January 6th ~ 9th, 2016 Courtyard Marriott St. George, Utah "Carpenter's Star" Wednesday, Jan 6th, 7:00 to 10:00 pm "Sheep Shape" Thursday, Jan 7th, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm "Owlie Pincushion" Make & Take: Thursday, Jan 7th, 7:00 to 9:00 pm HQNA Winter Quiltfest January 21 - 23, 2016 Logan, Utah "Zircon Crystals" Thursday, Jan 21st, 2:30 - 5:30pm "Carpenter's Wife" Saturday, Jan 23rd, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm American Quilting Retreat @ The Zermatt Midway, Utah, March 5th and 9th, 1:30 pm Fairy Godmother Magical Moments USU Extension Sewing Training for FCS Teachers & 4-H Volunteers March 10-11, 2016 "Fun & Fancy Fleece Finishes" Simply Stitched Retreat March 16-19, 2016 Roosevelt, Utah Friday, 2 to 5 pm "Zircon Crystals" Friday, 8:30 to 10:00 pm "Sketch & Stitch" Draft your own Paper-Piecing pattern Saturday, 9 am to 12 noon "Triple Goosed" Blackfoot Quiltfest April 9, 2016 Blackfoot, Idaho "Owl Always Love You" 8:30 to 11:30 am "Pack-Along Sports Throw" 2:00 to 5:00 pm HMQS South Towne Expo Center, Salt Lake City, Utah "Owl Always Love You" Thursday, May 5th, 8:00 am to 12:00 pm Panguitch Quilt Walk Pecking Up the Pieces June 8-11, 2016 Panguitch, Utah "Zircon Crystals" Thursday, June 9th 8:30 - 11:30 am "Owl Always Love You" Thursday evening, June 9th, 6-9 pm "Hen Party Chicklets" Friday, June 10th, 8:30 - 11:30 am Utah Valley Quilt Guild July Faire "Prepare Your Quilt for Machine Quilting" Utah Quilt Guild Quilt Fest September 21-24, 2016 Davis Conference Center, Layton, Utah "Zircon Crystals" "Alternate Endings" Workshop ~~2015 TEACHING SCHEDULE~~ Pine Needles at Gardner Village Saturday, February 7, 2015 10:30 to 1:30 Salt Lake City, Utah "Bindings & Alternate Endings" Midway Heritage Quilters Wednesday, March 11, 2015 10:00 am Midway, Utah "Bias Binding/Faux Piping" Utah State 4-H Sewing Training Thursday, March 19, 2015, 2 Sessions Thanksgiving Pointe, Lehi, Utah "I ♥ Applique" Heber Valley Quilters Annual Retreat, Charleston Town Hall Saturday, March 21, 2015 10:00 am Heber City, Utah "Practically Perfect Paper-Piecing" Blackfoot Quiltfest March 27-28, 2015 BHS 870 S Fisher, Blackfoot, Idaho "Carpetbag" Friday, March 27, 2015 2:00 to 5:00 pm "Snippets" Saturday, March 28, 2015, 8:30 to 11:30 am "Sheep Shape" Saturday, March 28, 2015, 2:00 to 5:00 pm Pine Needles at Gardner Village Saturday, April 11, 2015, 10:30 am SLC, Utah "A Carpenter's Star" "Gems of the Desert RETREAT" A Quiltscapes "Quilt Escape" April 17-19, 2015, St. George, Utah Three fun-filled days of quilting bliss! *Attend the GEMS of the DESERT Quilt Show *St. George Quilt Shop Hop *Catered meals, pampered surroundings *Quilt 'Til you Wilt "Zircon Crystals" Call (435) 503-7412 for more information. HMQS May 6-9, 2015 South Towne Expo Center, Salt Lake City, Utah Wednesday, May 6, 2015, 1:00 to 5:00 pm "Sheep Shape" Quilt Workshop "In a Bind?" Fabulous Finishes & Alternate Endings Lecture/Demo Wednesday, May 6, 2015 5:30 to 6:30 pm "Magic Instant Blocks" Workshop Saturday, May 9, 2015, 12:30 to 3:30 pm Tooele County Quilters Tuesday, May 19, 2015 9:30 am Tooele, Utah "Trunk Show & Hexagami" Utah Valley Quilt Guild May 20, 2015Orem Senior Friendship Center "Carpetbag" "Instant Crazy-Patch" Demo Panquitch Quilt Walk June 10-13, 2015 Panguitch, Utah "Snippets" Friday, June 12, 2015, 2:00 to 5:00 pm "Bindings & Alternate Endings" Saturday, June 13, 2015, 8:30 to 11:30 am Roy Quilt Guild Thursday, July 9, 2015, 9:00 am to noon Washington Terrace Senior Center 4601 South 300 West Ogden, Utah "Binding Workshop ~ Faux-Piped Binding" New Friends Quilt Circle Tuesday, July 21st, American Fork Senior Center "Carpetbag" Thursday Threads Quilt Guild September 10, 2015 Midway, Utah "Bindings & Alternate Endings" Utah Quilt Guild Quilt Fest September 16-19, 2015 Davis Conference Center, Layton, Utah "Hexagarden" Wednesday, Sept. 16, 8:30 to 11:30 am "Snippets" Wednesday, Sept. 16th, 7:00 to 10:00 pm "Sheep Shape" Saturday, 8:30 - 11:30 am and 2:30 - 5:30 pm Heber Valley Quilters Saturday, October 24, 2015 11:00 am AmBank Conference Rom "Alternate Endings" & Binding Workshop 2011 Featured Quilt Artist of the month at my local quilt shop: Open House, Trunk Show, demonstrations and classes all month long! March 1st - April 14 ~ Seasons of Home Trunk Show March 5, 15, 22, 4:00 to 9:00 pm ~ Quiltscapes Quilt School March 3rd, 7:00 pm ~ Heber Valley Quilters "Footsteps" to Successful Paper-Piecing March 8th, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm ~ Seasons of Home OR March 24th, 6:30 to 9:30 pm QUICK QUILTS: "Throw Me a Curve" Throw Me a Curve 72" x 72" Lap Quilt Throw (B) Sports Throw 57" x 57" (C) Layer Cake 57" x 57" (D) Fat Quarters 51" x 51" March 9th, 10:00 am ~ Midway Heritage Quilters Guild Carpenter's Star / Star Medallion March 12th, 2:00 to 5:00 pm ~ Seasons of Home OPEN HOUSE, TRUNK SHOW Demonstrations, Door Prizes, Refreshments March 15th, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm ~ Seasons of Home OR March 19th, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm QUICK CHICKS: Hen Party Chicks, Hoo-Ville Chicks, Chicklets March 29th, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm OR 6:30 to 8:30 pm ~ Seasons of Home QUICK FLOWERS: Bloomin' Blossoms Table Runner April 12th, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm ~ Seasons of Home AND April 14th, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm QUICK STARS: Curves II, Mexican Stars April 16, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm ~ Seasons of Home FINISHING SCHOOL: Sashing, Setting, Borders, Binding workshop September 22, 7:00 to 10:00 pm ~ UQG Quilt Festival BLOOMIN' BLOSSOMS: Fresh Cut Flowers ~~CONTACT~~ Deonn Stott ~ Quiltscapes PO Box 608 Heber City, UT 84032 cell: (435) 503-7412 email: [email protected] CLASS DESCRIPTIONS / PATTERNS ← Click here (Most patterns are also available in downloadable form at my ETSY shop) Happy Quilting!
Draft a Pattern
This year, I have been on the road so many times that I have not had a lot of time to design new quilts, much less finish quilts that were started quite a while ago. I never thought that I'd be saying "thank you" to June's Tropical Storm Bill - the storm regrettably forced me to cancel a trip up to Ft. Worth and Denton, Texas due to the flooding and heavy thunderstorms that made travel unsafe. My thanks was only expressed in that I got an all-too-brief respite wherein I could actually stay in my sewing room and work (ahem: play!). This month's post will show you some of the things that I've been working on... and some of the things that I've actually gotten to finish in the past couple of weeks. I have truly enjoyed the time to do some real quilting. So let's get started. First of all, I think I showed you my Simply Baltimore and Baltimore Squared in various stages of assembly, but I'm not sure that I ever showed you the finished -- quilted and bound - quilts. For starters, here's Simply Baltimore. I made this quilt because I felt like there was not a good "easy" or "beginner" Baltimore design on the market. I wanted something that everyone, of all skill levels, could tackle without being completely overwhelmed. In this quilt, there are nine blocks set on point. And they are fairly simple blocks without a lot of heavy overlays of applique pieces - and very few fabrics... just a few reds and greens and an occasional gold. All of the sashing and border strips are done with paper foundations. Some people hate using foundations, but I love them; they are fast, precision-pieced, absolutely accurate units when done with paper foundations. The secret is to use a VERY small stitch -- most people are astonished by the small size of my stitches - 22 to 25 stitches per inch (fewer if you use a large size 90/14 needle). The stitches are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. The paper flies off the sewn units! This quilt also used "empty" or "alternate" blocks - that is, blocks without piecing or applique in them. I like alternate blocks for several reasons: it allows me to quilt soft, relaxing designs in the open area; it means I don't have to do more piecing or applique; and it gives the quilt an overall airy look. In this quilt, I used a double feathered wreath with cross-hatching in the background in the empty blocks. See how simple these blocks are to make? I did cross-hatching in the background of each appliqued block - and used the 1- by 2-inch flying geese units as my "marker" for where those cross-hatch lines started and stopped on the diagonal. Most of these blocks were based on vintage Baltimore or red-and-green quilt blocks that I have spotted through the years. I just added little touches - like the bird in the block below. The next quilt is my brand new Baltimore Squared quilt. I have posted the pattern on my website for purchase (www.comequilt.com). It has the same blocks in it as the ones in Simply Baltimore except they are not set on point. In some cases, the blocks are the same, but in others - such as the harp block above, I had to redesign the block to make it fit the same 15-inch finished size. As you can see, I chose not to use the same flying geese sashing or open/alternate blocks in this quilt. I decided I wanted to achieve the same open and airy look by using 4-inch wide "empty" sashing strips, along with a lacy-looking ruffled swag border. I love how it turned out! Here is the same harp block - modified for a straight-set layout; compare it to the on-point block above and you can see how they are the same - but different! And here are close-ups of the rest of the blocks in this quilt. I love how easily I could stitch them up. I don't know that I'll ever tire of making red and green quilts. Here, you can get a better look at the sashing strips - I think they add movement to the quilt through the use of the meandering feather vine, but still remain "quiet" within the face of the quilt. And here is a close-up of the Lemoyne star cornerstones. Originally, I designed these with half-diamonds - that is, each diamond was half red and half-green. It was overkill and made the center of the star very, very bulky. I regrouped and made simpler Lemoyne stars and love how they are almost like sparkly snowflakes dancing across the quilt. It lends it self again to a very lacy, open look. Lest you think I'm done making Baltimore album quilts, I'm not! Far from it. This week, I finished the ninth block of a new, on-point "complex" Baltimore quilt that will be called Baltimore Glory. I call these complex blocks because most of the blocks are heavily layered with applique. I already have the layout for these blocks done - now I just need to finish making the units. But in the interim, you get a peak of all nine of the blocks. Woo hoo! In most of my blocks, I start with a notion of what I want the block to be: a woven basket, a ship with a wreath, etc. And then I start designing the layout of the applique units. I like to put at least something in each block that is unique. In the block below, I added two blue and yellow flowers that are made by folding a circle into a hexagon - with no raw edges showing on the top or bottom. It is really kind of a cool way to quickly do the prep work on these flowers! The cherry wreath block below doesn't really have any unique flowers in it - but each of those cherries is stuffed and they will look like trapunto cherries by the time I get the quilt quilted. In the cornucopia block below, I added five "seed pods" - and made the three corner rose buds have two different fabrics (red and gold). I saw that in an antique quilt and thought it was quite unique. And what Baltimore album quilt would be complete if it did not include an eagle?! This particular block was actually based on a mid-century recruitment poster for soldiers back in the 1860s. The rose and daisy block below includes a swag of beads across the vase - I love how that added a bit of "glory" to the block. In this block, I used a set of three stems, which I braided together, to make the top of the basket. The harp block below has nothing unique when it comes to applique, but I did fussy-cut each leaf so that it contained the same motif in it. I love this wreath -- it is just "rich" with berries! I don't think I've ever made a three-bow ribbon before, but they were often found in old album quilts and help historians in dating certain blocks. And an album block is a "necessity" in my mind, in a complex Baltimore album quilt. This one includes blue folded flowers in the bouquet. I am working on assembling the quilt this week and hope to finish it over the coming weekend. Once I put the final touches on the pattern (I've changed the sashing and border design several times!), I'll put the new Baltimore Glory pattern on www.comequilt.com -- hopefully that will happen within the next month - though I may decide to wait until I also finish quilting the quilt before I do the cover photos for the pattern. My goal is to have the quilt completely finished before I head up to Omaha for my Baltimore on the Prairie workshops in September. So what else have I been working on? I started a reproduction of the quilt below, a while back. This quilt was made by Addie Heipler Allen in 1917 and it measured 90 by 78 inches. I first saw a picture of this quilt back in 1991... and fell in love with it. I've followed it around at various points - and saw that it was sold at an auction in 2010 for $5,382. I finally found the time to sit down and start to "remake" this old quilt for myself late last year... but it took me quite a while to finish it due to the interruptions of travel. It is now done! Ordinarily I would lay the quilt out on the floor, photograph it, edit the photo using Photoshop, and then post it here. When I had this quilt downstairs to be photographed, the sun shining through the stained glass windows of my entryway discolored it with prismatic spots... so I ended up just putting the quilt across the grand piano for your viewing pleasure. Beside it, on the piano bench, is a jar of porcelain "letter balls" that were used in Victorian times to teach children their alphabet. Here is the best shot of the quilt that I could get on my entry room floor - so you can at least see the layout. The quilt is paper pieced - and I promise, the foundation piecing is easy with simple flip-and-sew piecing. I love this quilt! I am working on writing up the pattern on this one, too... and should have it on my website next month. It is called Addie's Alphabet. You saw in the Baltimore Squared quilt above, where I used Lemoyne Star blocks in the sashing - and I mentioned that I did not use split diamonds in that quilt. Because the blocks in this quilt were considerably larger, I was able to make these blocks using split (two-color) diamonds without having as much bulk in the middle -- because I could trim a lot of it away and then put a circle on top of the center. It's a simple way to hide any assembly ills. Here is a close-up of the blocks... again, each is paper-pieced with a flip-and-sew method. As I was making the quilt, I came across several different fabrics that were perfect for the backing of the quilt. I chose three different fabrics; you can see two here. The third one is like the one on the bottom, but has a red background instead of black. Finding "perfect fabrics" is so much fun! So what else have I been working on? My daughter and my grand daughter and I now claim finished quilts, so let me show those to you now. The quilt below, Daisy's Cowgirls, was designed by my 8-year old grand daughter, Daisy. She is always happy to come sew with me and to choose what she's making next. She has mastered pillow-making without my help, but needs a little more help with quilts. On this quilt, I bought the blocks on eBay (aren't they darling?!) and Daisy immediately grabbed them for her own use. Her folks own a ranch, so why not a cowgirl quilt? Each little cowgirl was appliqued with a blanket stitch. Sometimes simple options are the best choice! Daisy stitched a few of the sashing strips in place and left he rest for me to do - right after she begged me to take her to JoAnn's so that she could choose a backing. She chose a soft Minkee fabric... which is always a challenge. The quilting was easy, but the clean-up of all those furry threads is a mess! Daisy is the only 8-year old I know that is proud of now having finished four quilts... and having three UFOs. She's taking after me already! My daughter, Jenny, comes over on Tuesday nights and we get to spend the evening sewing. Sometimes we work on the same thing and sometimes we work on different things. We started making a bunch of paper-pieced blocks last year... and stitched and stitched and stitched... thinking that we'd each need about 100 blocks. Then we put our heads together and made a wise decision. I put together a layout in Electric Quilt that required only 48 blocks. Suddenly, we could stop piecing blocks and we were ready to assemble our quilts! Below is Jenny's quilt. She chose to set the blocks with alternate empty blocks -- which is how we saved ourselves from making so many extra blocks. She used a brown print border - and a deep pinkish backing. She asked me to quilt feathered wreaths in the open blocks - and to stitch in the ditch around the pieced block units. These were pretty simple blocks to make; I made paper foundations for them, and we pieced the blocks by making them out of three individual strips. I love easy-breezy piecing like this. And there was a bonus: the blocks were great scrap-eaters. I added a meandering feathered vine in the border to complete the feathered look to the quilt. Here's another picture of the border, showing the corner. I love how meandering feathered vines travel quietly around the outside of a quilt. And then, there was my set of blocks and my quilt that I needed to finish. I assembled the blocks in much the same way; here is my quilt, loaded on my longarm... I decided that I wanted a bit different look to mine, though, so I used a darker background for the alternate blocks and added a little one-inch floater within my border before I started quilting it. I honestly thought I would get really tired of quilting feathered wreaths, but they are fast and easy to make. In addition, the blocks were very easy to quilt - I could start at one end of the quilt and in a single pass, I could quilt an entire line of blocks with no starts or stops. That was an amazing discovery! Also, I did something a bit different in a few of my blocks - the center one, below, has a half-square triangle in the center of the block. Others had four-patches or square-in-squares in the center. I also decided that I wanted to try quilting something different in my border. I dug through my box of quilt templates and found this one... and decided it was the one I wanted to use. So much of what I enjoy about quilt making involves being able to experiment and play with color, shape, style, etc. I feel no compulsion to follow a pattern at all! So here is my quilt with the quilting in the border, using that template. But what in the world are we going to do with all those extra blocks we had been making??? Easy! We packed up 48 of them in a bag that will go in my guild's August auction... And then we packed up all the pre-cut paper foundation units, with the paper foundations, in two more packs, which will also go into our guild's auction. Bonus!!! I was on a roll this month with quilting, so I also spent a couple of days quilting a quilt that a bee had made for my guild's auction. The quilt is one that the bee has made a few times already, so I was prepared to quilt it without having to put a lot of time into which design motifs I was going to use - I asked for them to put 4-inch wide sashing strips around the blocks, and add an 8-inch border. I love how this quilt looks! The blocks are oak leaf and reel blocks - with cherries used instead of the traditional red hoop around the center of the oak leaf stems. Here is the finished quilt... followed by some detail pictures. When I'm making the meandering little feathered vine in the sashing strip, I start by making the stem, using a wavy template. Next, I add feathers on one side of the vine... And then on the other side of the vine. Here's what the whole block looks like - with feathers added around the circles in the sashing cornerstones. And here is a picture where you can get a better idea of how I quilted the border, and the corner. So is that all that I've been doing? Well... you must know me by now. No, that's not all. That's all I've finished but I've been making a lot of progress on another quilt that is dear to my heart. I've been piecing these blocks for a long time now... they are made of thirty-six half-square triangles. Yes, I paper piece them, but not as individual half-square triangles. Instead, I piece strips of triangles... six of them... and then I stitch the strips together to form the block. I realized there were a lot of ways to set these blocks. They could be set all facing the same direction, set touching or separated by sashing strips, set with the center triangles facing away or facing toward the center. I decided to set them with four blocks together, with the triangles all facing (long sides) away from the center. Here is a set of four with half-inch sashing and a single half-inch cornerstone in the middle of a set of four. Okay - so now that I've decided how I want the blocks set... what about the borders? How do you pull together all these blocks in a meaningful way with a border that compliments them? I started with another stack of big traingles for paper piecing... And started cutting and stitching and experimenting and playing... And then... I suddenly had enough blocks to make a border strip! Here is what the border strip looks like, next to a set of the blocks. I like it! And so here is the draft design of how I'm going to assemble the quilt top. This is only a draft... but it's getting close! It is so grand, in my eyes. I can't wait to finish it! I've already started writing the pattern. Already, I'm going to have to modify it. Do you see the extra row of quarter-square triangles on the top and bottom of the quilt, inside of the pieced border? I've decided that making those quarter-square triangles is more work than I want to tackle (please - no comments from the peanut gallery about how I think these might be too much work, bearing in mind the amount of piecing in the rest of the quilt!!!!). I'm going to replace those strips with simple piano-key/slat strips. Once I assemble this quilt, I'll quickly finish the pattern. Look for it in a couple months -- you may have noticed that I am accumulating a lot of "as soon as I finish this" tasks involving patterns and my website. They start adding up, and my time is still being usurped with a LOT of travel. * * * * * * And so now... is there anything else I'm working on??? Yes, but none of it is ready for prime time display yet. Just wait and everything will be here eventually. In the meantime, though, some of you have sent me pictures of your own quilts. I always love seeing your quilts. And I especially love when you've taken one of my patterns and 1) modified it in some way (creativity lives!) and 2) decided to enter your quilt in a show. I have probably said it before but I'll say it again. ENTER YOUR QUILTS IN SHOWS! Why? Most people will say you should enter your quilt so that you can learn how you can improve, based on the judge's comments. I have a bit of a different philosophy. I already know where all the mistakes are in my quilt. Tons of them. So why do I care what the judges tell me? I don't... I care about the fact that entering quilts makes me a better quilter! Face it: none of us wants to be embarrassed. If we know when we start a quilt that it is going in a show... most of us will take a little more time to do a little better job. And that is why I say enter your quilts: it will make you a better quilter. You'll be happier and more satisfied with the results of your effort. And it is also quite nice to have others say they love your quilts when they see them! Here are some more quilts to inspire you. Christie Stevens sent me a picture of her Trip to Temecula quilt, based on my Postage Due pattern. She entered it in her guild's show in June -- the East Cobb Quilters' Guild hosts the largest quilt show in Georgia every other year, with over 350 quilts on display. Here is her quilt at the basting stage... with lots of quilting to be done! Those little on-point squares are each 1/2-inch in size. Whoa! Here's a close-up of a block from her quilt (with the basting pins in it...). What a great job she did in piecing this quilt. It takes forever (or so it seems) but it's worth the effort and time. Here's a finished block with the quilting completed. And here is her finished quilt. Hooray for Christie! She named her quilt Trip to Temecula because the postage stamp design is sometimes called Trip Around the World, and because of her trip to Temecula, California (there is a great quilt shop there - and I get to go see it this month - I'm thrilled!). Christie got great news after entering this quilt in her guild's show: the judges awarded her quilt the NQA Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievement in Quiltmaking. Congratulations! Debbie Williams created her masterpiece quilt after modifying my Ruffled Roses pattern. I love how she put flowers in each of the different baskets - and added wonderful cornerstones in the basket border as well as the outer pieced swag border. The photo suffers only from the fact the "holders" were not tall enough to hold it up as high as it needed to be - but the quilt suffers not at all from it; it's gorgeous! Debbie also used a gorgeous different center block in her version - it pulls it all together. The quilt below (based on my Ladies of the Sea pattern) was made by Diane Johnston and machine-quilted by Cory Allender. It was entered in the HMQS show in Salt Lake City and received a third place award -- and Linda Taylor gave it her Judge's Choice award. Alright!!! I love the soft color of the background fabric that Diane chose to use -- and her work is wonderful. Somehow I think I missed posting the photo below (and if I did post it earlier, it is worth posting again!). JoAnne MePherson made her own version of my Omigosh quilt and it has done quite a bit of traveling. It hung in a Honolulu Hawaii Quilt Guild show and the Peninsula Piecemakers Quilt Show in Poquoson, Virginia. In that latter show, it attracted the attention of a curator for a quilt display of pieces made by quilters in Virginia's Tidewater, so it hung last summer in the Virginia Quilt museum. Congrats, JoAnne! She is now working on her rendition of my Sarah's Revival - she likes a challenge, obviously! Sheryl Phipps made the quilt below, after being inspired by my Stars for a New Day quilt. Sheryl has a good eye for color and I like how she finished off the quilt with a wide border and large cornerstone blocks. Judy Welch sent me pictures of the Lake County Quilters Guild Raffle Quilt, which she was responsible for getting made. They named this quilt "Virginia Reel" in honor of Fanny Tod, the original creator of the antique quilt on which my Twirly Balls and Pinwheels (and their raffle quilt) is based. When Judy and her team (Judy Welch, Vanessa Hampton, Brenda Knox, and Sandy Earnest) made this quilt, they added a bit to the outer border to make the quilt larger and so that the pinwheel sashings floated in the quilt instead of meeting the edge of the quilt -- it's a nice touch. You may not be able to see it in the photo below, but they also put piping in the binding. This quilt is nothing short of spectacular! I also love how they also quilted this quilt with feathers in the white setting triangles. Judy said their raffle ticket sellers (affectionately known as the Quilt Nannie-ettes) cannot wait to sell tickets for the guild. Judy digitized the design (with my permission) and made small quilts on her Bernina for her team. What a sweetheart.... and a work horse! So now I have to ask one more time: is that all? Not quite. Before I close, I thought I'd share that other than a few more guilds where I'm going to lecture and teach in the next few months, I'm also teaching at these two national seminars: Applique Away on Galveston Bay - February 21 to February 25, 2016 - http://www.appliqueawayongalvestonbay.com/ - I'll be teaching two 2-day classes. There will be plenty of opportunity to improve on your applique techniques in these workshops. Empty Spools Seminars - Sunday, April 10 to Friday, April 15, 2016 - http://www.appliqueawayongalvestonbay.com/ - I'll be teaching one applique class for five full days -- you'll get a total applique immersion experience in this workshop in a gorgeous setting on the California coast. And finally... I have nothing else to add to this post! But don't worry - I'll have more pictures to show you next month and more stories to tell. Until then, happy stitching! Sue www.comequilt.com (c)2015 Susan H. Garman
