Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2011

Hello Everyone,

I just finished my first day at Quilt Market and I do have some great photos!  But you will have to wait until the next post to see them as I wanted to do my Blogger's Quilt Festival post... Sorry!  But thank you to Amy for hosting this great event again.  You can see more quilts from other people here.

I hope you are not disappointed though because I chose a quilt that I just recently had shown.  For those of you who are new to my blog hopefully it will be a treat!  

This is the quilt that I call "I Am Not Afraid of Color".  It was born out of my love of Kaffe Fassett fabrics and Judy Niemeyer patterns.  This pattern is called Summer Solstice. I love to combine the two!

I had posted about it previously here and here and here.  I created it at a recent Judy Niemeyer retreat that I had been on.  I know it is not quite a quilt and still a top.   But I promise, it will become a quilt soon.  I just need to get back from Quilt Market, although I am having a great time!

So hopefully the next time that you see this quilt it will be quilted.  Cheer me on to give me that extra motivation that I will need before the holidays, or maybe I should just wait for January??

The next post... Quilt Market!!

Don't forget to get your next Blogger's BOM... Month 2 is ready, just click here.

Until Next Time...

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2011

Bounce

Hello Everyone,

How many of you use dryer sheets?  I do, and tend to use a lot.  Not only do I have quite a bit of laundry to do, but I am also a BIG pre-washer of fabric.  

So when I was sent this Bounce Dryer Bar to try, I was very curious.

It says that it will last for 3 months.  In this house that is a ton of dryer sheets.

All you have to do is stick it to the inside of your dyer and leave it there.  Sounds simple enough, right?

Then put in all your laundry, precious fabrics from the washing machine.  These are all my African fabrics all wet and ready to be dried.

Give them a whirl in the dryer and voila!  They are now all dry and no static and smell nice.  The dryer bar does collect a little bit of lint.  If you click on the photo you can see the remnant of lint.  

Since these photos, I have washed tons of fabric and clothing and it is working really well.  A wee bit more linty, but still doing it's thing.  Plus, I haven't used one dryer sheet!!

How many of you use dryer sheets?  How many of you use the Bounce dryer bar?  What do you think?

As you read this post, I am on my way to Quilt Market... very excited!! I will be giving frequent updates via Facebook and will also be blogging too.  So stay tuned!

Don't forget to pick up Block #2 of the Blogger's Block of the Month by clicking here.

Until Next Time...

Bounce

Blogger's Block of The Month... Block # 2

Hello Everyone,

First I would like to say that there are some phenomenal first blocks on the Flickr group! If you haven't seen them just click here.  You can always post your blocks here too!

But right now it is that time again, block #2 is now available from the talented Vicki of Field Trips in Fiber.  This one is a beauty.

Just click here to go to her blog and follow the tutorial for the second block.

You can also, link up below with the linky tool to show us your block on your blog!  And of course, don't forget to post them on the Flickr group too!

Have fun!  I am off to Quilt Market in two days, gotta go get ready!!

Until Next Time...

Blogger's Block of The Month... Block # 2

We're Off To The Races!!

Hello Everyone,

On Saturday our guild had a little workshop day.  It was a fun one too!  We all made Jelly Roll Race Quilts!  We were off and running with our jelly rolls (2.5 inch strips) and we had prizes too for the first ones to finish.

We all went home with a top, borders were the only things that still need to be applied.

The day started off with a bang.  My friend Justine went to town and joined all her strips and ended up with flags!  Now to cut them apart.

Roberta was very organized and very happy to be there.  She is always smiling and delightful.

Wanda was the over achiever in the group.  She finished her top in just about 1.5 hours!  Her machine was humming along... Go Wanda!!

This was a tough crowd too, no bathroom breaks... LOL!!  (only kidding)

Our fearless leaders Pam and Sue inspect Wanda's quilt to make sure that it is complete... Looks good!

Justine did her quilt in all bright strips, fabulous!

I kept chugging along (aerial view).

Justine had the back part of mine going directly into her bag in hopes that she could take it home... no way, sorry Justine!

Here is mine all done... for my son.  Now for some stacked borders.

Don't you just love it in black and white?

You can see more of these beauties that were completed in this Flickr set.

If you want to know how to make one of these little quickies, just click here for instructions and a video!

Also, don't forget two things:

1.  Come back here tomorrow for the Block #2 of the Blogger's Block of The Month.

2.  This is the last day that all Westminster and Batik fabrics will be marked down to $7.95 per yard.  Click here to start shopping.

Until Next Time...

We're Off To The Races!!

A Gaggle of Geese

Hello Everyone,

The past couple of weeks I have been whittling away at a gaggle of paper pieced geese.  They are for my Glacier Star quilt that I posted about here.

These are all paper pieced from Judy Niemeyer's pattern.  As many of you know, I adore paper piecing and her patterns!   These are fun because they are curved.

They are then joined to these quarter circles.

Like so and...

like so.  I am in love!  These will be inset in the main "lone star" portion of the quilt.  You can see the main portion in this post here.

Look at what they look like in a circle, very cool!

If you like Judy's patterns you can find many of them in my shop by clicking here.

P.S. For 3 days only ALL Westminster Fabrics and Batiks are on sale for $7.95 per yard.  We are going to market this week and need to make room for all the new fabric that we will come back with.  

Click here to begin shopping!

Until Next Time...

A Gaggle of Geese

Choosing Color... A Guide

Hello Everyone,

Over the years, I have had many questions on how I choose color for my quilts, and more so once I have chosen color how do I choose the fabric?   Another BIG question is how do you use those wonderful prints, I just don't know how to use them or cut them up?

Sometimes there is no easy answer or they may be multiple answers.  I am going to do my best to give you some answers, at least as I see them.

To many of my readers the above block may look familiar.  I just profiled it this week in my blog post here.  This block is from a quilt that I made for Quilt Magazine called Soul Flower.  I wanted to show you a completely different color option, so I made the block above with colors that are vibrant and non expectant.

The above photo show the quilt from the magazine and as you can see the block looks totally different, right?  So this is that example of using those wonderful prints and cutting them up to use in a block.  The prints in the first photo are mostly larger scale prints than in the second photo.

Here is my rule of thumb for larger scale prints.  I like to look at it as one color.  Choose the dominant color and see it as that.  The print is the texture.  Are you following?  If you do this, you have a whole new outlook on how to use those prints.  I made the block in the first photo saying to myself that I wanted a hot pink and green block with some accent colors of purple and yellow.  Then I went to my stash and started pulling fabric with colors that worked together.

I think it was successful.  Now in the second photo the colors also work together because there are common colors in each fabric so they draw from one another giving it a cohesive look.  That is what makes this work.

Also, in a recent blog post, I featured my quilt Paradise Island.  In that post, I showed you two color options.  But the good folks over at Quilt Magazine have been kind enough to provide a FREE download for you.  It is a line drawing of my design so that you can take out those colored pencils and make you own color way!!  

Click here to get the download.  

You can see above that I did the download and started coloring in the lines.  This is a great way to choose color for your quilt.  It doesn't involve cutting into any fabric and gives you a relatively quick way to see what it might look like.

You can order the magazine by clicking here.

If you don't have a line drawing of your quilt, easy, get some graph paper and start to doodle, draft your quilt make copies of your line drawing and then color each one in different color ways!

For those of you who use computers to design your quilts, there are specific programs out there like EQ.  But for those of you who don't have it here is another option.  I have a Mac and use their Numbers program to design all my quilts.  Numbers is the equivalent to Microsoft Excel.  

It is a great way to use the actual fabrics!  Yes, you can use the images of the fabrics that you want to use in the quilt by either scanning or using the jpegs from the websites.  

In the photos above and below you can see how I came up with the two different color ways for Paradise Island.

Using this program might be a great lesson for anyone wanting to learn.  If you have a Mac and are interested in learning let me know.  If I have enough interested, I just might consider doing several tutorial posts.

Above is another example of coloring in a design to see what it might look like.  I had posted about this one here.

These are the fabrics that I chose for the quilt pattern.

Here you can see the cover sheet quilt and it's colors next to my line drawing and fabrics.

You can order the pattern by clicking here.

Her is the finished quilt.  As you know, I named it "I Am Not Afraid Of Color".  

I hope after reading this post you are now not afraid of color and start to play with it yourselves.  I know that this will be a great exercise for you, but give it a try.  Be fearless and go with your instincts.  I know this will open up more discussion and that is terrific! 

Don't forget 5 more days until block number 2 for the Blogger's Block of Month is released!  Don't forget to come back here for the link, I know you will love this one, it is beautiful!!

Until Next Time...

Choosing Color... A Guide

It Is Quilt Show Season

Hello Everyone,

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to two quilt shows but was only able to attend one.  So I thought I would share some of my favorite quilts from the show with you....

If you are still with me, don't forget to read my newest blog post on Quilt Magazine's site and leave me a comment with your opinion.  It is all about the upcoming Quilt Market.  Just click here to read the post.

Until Next Time...

It Is Quilt Show Season