Day #3- Supernova

     Earlier in 2016 I submitted a design to a major quilt magazine. Like Twisted Star, it was a design I had done a while ago, but it wasn't until I changed my color selection, that I decided to do something with it. The Powers That Be liked it, and wanted to hold onto it for a while. Then, all of a sudden, while I was in the midst of other projects, it was "officially" accepted for publication, not in the magazine to which I had originally sent it, but to another of that publisher's magazines.
     Things moved very quickly from there. The magazine would provide me with fabrics, so I poured over the suggested textile companies' websites. Once my box of fabrics arrived, I got to work.
     Supernova was published in the October/November 2017 issue of McCall's Quick Quilts. It's a large (for me) quilt, so I had it longarm quilted (a special shoutout to Kathie at Stitch Chicks in North Franklin, CT for her lovely cloud quilting).

Supernova

Day #2; Three's Company

Making the scrap quilts I posted about yesterday was a great way for me to get over "Quilt Designer's Block". I discovered after they were done I was ready to tackle some of my own new designs once again.
   Design #1 had been languishing on a sheet of graph paper for a couple of years. Once I ditched my original (very uninspired) color palette and thought about using OPM (Other People's Material), things began to take shape. In my bag of "dead lady's stash" was a huge piece of  teal tonal fabric, and a smaller piece of teal and tan bird print. Two fabrics down, two to go. A beige tonal was a no-brainer, even though I begrudgingly had to purchase that. I was still missing one fabric. VOILA! A customer had actually given me a piece of fabric because she was unable to find a suitable coordinating print in a heavier home-dec fabric, and was tired of shopping around. She hadn't even bought the fabric in the first place- another person had given it to HER. The dark mustardy gold reproduction-looking print was perfect, and Twisted Star was born.

Twisted Star

     Somewhere during the process of making that quilt, I played around with the original design. Keeping the same basic block, and using five fabrics instead of four, I came up with a quilt that looked, 3-D, A Whole New Dimension.  I used two values each of two colors, along with an accent fabric.

A Whole New Dimension

     I'm not a fan of doing straight-line quilting, but this pattern called out for some so I forged ahead. The accent squares each have a quilted flower.

     But wait; there's more! Same block, this time only three fabrics and a more modern look. I love this pattern, and thought "Twist of Fate"was the perfect name.

Twist of Fate

   This was another fun one to quilt,with dense loops and hearts on the nearly-white print, and lots of little curlicues on the grey.

Day #1: Alive and kicking!

     Wow! Almost a year and a half since I last posted. I have no good excuse for this, so I am challenging myself by participating in Cheryl Sleboda's "31 Day Blog Writing Challenge". This is Day #2 of the challenge, but as I only found out about it this morning, it's Day #1 for me. Which means I won't finish the challenge until 2018.
    2016 ended with several fall shows, including a new one I had never done before. I also had the opportunity to take a workshop with Bonnie Hunter, and was inspired to put some of my scraps to use in two of her free scrappy patterns. I hesitate to call them "my" scraps, as truth is, most of them were other quilters' cast-offs.
    I made Bricks and Cobblestones for a nephew. The picture isn't great, but it was cold and damp and I wanted to get back inside to my hot mug of coffee. I LOVED making this quilt. and got rid of some seriously butt ugly scraps in the process.

Bricks and Cobblestones

     Of course that didn't make a discernible dent in my scrap pile, so I made a Boxy Star quilt. I didn't realize until the other day, that a year had passed since I finished the quilt, but I had never taken a picture of it. See the bright green piece with the white scallops in the second row down, middle block? It's OLD! My guess is 1940s. I only had a small piece-enough for just one point of one star.

Boxy Stars

    When I make a scrap quilt I have one of two rules. Either I have to make it entirely from my stash, as I did for Boxy Stars, or I can only purchase fabric for the outer border and/or backing (Bricks and Cobblestones).

      Playing with these colors and fabrics was a great way to keep my creative juices going until I came up with some new designs for 2017.

Where's Barbara?

     I'm here. Wow! Has it really been 8 months since I posted?
     The huge scrappy quilt I referred to in my last post has been quilted, and is available as a laminated pattern, as well as an e-pattern on Craftsy. It's a slightly tweaked reproduction of an antique quilt I own. The original is in ugly browns and reds. I wanted to use ocean colors with some pops of sunshine yellow- so much prettier. It's a great way to use all those little bitty scraps.
     I call the pattern "Wind Farm", but in these colors it's obviously an offshore wind farm!  I completed it in time for spring show season.

Wind Farm

Another pattern that debuted this spring was Five and Fabulous! You can purchase a hard copy or e-pattern. This is my third pattern using five 1-yard pieces of fabric. I had purchased the fabric a while back, and got tired of them taunting me. I really regretted buying them until one day, while searching for something on my computer, I came across a pattern I had worked up in Quilt Pro. I barely remembered creating it, but with only a slight change in border widths, I was able to make it work with five yards of fabric. What's more, the Warm Company provided me with a great batting to test, and with a little cutting and piecing, I was able to use it on this quilt. Viola!

Five and Fabulous!

      When my mother saw the finished quilt she said, "Jody would love this." Jody (my niece) isn't getting it, but she IS getting this:

Pineapple Blossom

     This is Bonnie Hunter's "Pineapple Blossom" pattern. I used the scraps from "Five and Fabulous!" with other pink, green, black and white fabrics in my stash. The borders are the leftover backing strips from "Five and Fabulous!" This was a fun pattern and I love the border of pieced triangles made from the cutaway corners.
     I found this fun fabric for the backing, "Chinoiserie Chic" from Westminster. I have enough left over to make a cute bag or two.

"Chinoiserie Chic"

I had a booth at three quilt shows in March and April. At the first one, I purchased a sweet Moda charm pack, and by the third show had created a new pattern with it. "Rick Rack Charm Pack Bed Runner" uses one charm pack and 2 1/2 yards of background fabric, plus a tiny scrap for the butterfly bodies. Bed runners are great for a pop of color on a white cotton bedspread, or as extra warmth for those of us with cold feet. This will be up on both my web site and Craftsy this weekend.

Rick Rack Charm Pack Bed Runner

     After spring show season was over, I was VERY busy at work for several weeks, and the last thing my brain wanted to do was be creative. So I put my spare time to good use working on UFOs.

     This is a remake of one of my earlier patterns, "Star Light, Star Bright." The original was made from floral prints and was too busy for this bold, graphic design. I loved the pattern, but not the finished quilt.  I had long wanted to do a more "solid" version.
     A couple years ago I was asked to make several long, reversible runners - red tonal print on one side, cream tonal on the other. I was left with long (over four yards long) strips along the fold of the fabrics. I started cutting pieces to remake the quilt, and when I was done cutting, I had enough pieces for 7 1/2 of the 12 blocks! I only had to purchase fabric for half the quilt. And for backing I found this lovely floral stripe from Red Rooster. It's so soft and silky it would make great pajamas!
    I decided a while back that I wanted to hand piece and hand quilt this baby! I only had one border left to go, so I dug it out of the UFO pile and stitched it on. How to quilt it was a dilemma. I didn't want to quilt it as separate blocks, as the pattern has so much movement I thought an allover design would be better. Finally I decided since I love free form, free-motion machine-quilted feathers, I would reproduce the look in hand quilting. I chose thread to match the bits of tan in the backing. I have a LONG way to go, but it's a portable project, as well as something to do with my hands while watching television. Of course if I want to finish it in this lifetime, I need to seriously up my scanty tv watching.

Star Light, Star Bright

allover feather quilting

     Next in the UFO pile was my Judy Niemeyer table runner, "Cactus Blossom." I started this in a workshop with Jackie Kunkel two years ago and finally finished piecing it. I have some amazingly gorgeous variegated thread in my stash to start quilting it, but not enough to finish it, so I need to order another spool, which I will do today.

"Cactus Blossom"

     One of my favorite workshops was the one I took with Anita Grossman Solomon, "Anita's Arrowhead".  I made extra blocks and added a border for a large quilt for my tall husband! This is completely from my stash. Still not sure how I want to quilt it, but no hurry! I've got the backing pieced and batting purchased, but it's too warm to use this time of year. Can you tell I'm procrastinating basting this big boy?

"Anita's Arrowhead"

     I love this pattern, and Anita's amazing techniques, so I signed up for her Craftsy class, "Traditional Blocks Made Simple." I sat and watched almost the whole thing in one sitting. I highly recommend this class, which includes an e-book version of her Rotary Cutting Revolution!  (And with that last sentence, I inadvertently gave a nod to not one, but two companies in which I am an affiliate- Craftsy and C & T Publishing.)

Autumn Interlude

     Yes

, I'm alive and well. Quilt show season is over, and it was a good one. The newest patterns all sold well, and I nearly ran out of my initial order of periwinkle templates (placing an order tonight).

I'm bowled over by the response to this template /pattern set- not only how well it's selling, but the response from quilters has been GREAT! They love how easily the pieces fit perfectly together.

Random Acts of Scrappiness- I was unable to take a decent photo in time for the shows, but the virtual quilt picture I substituted in the meantime didn't appear to hurt sales. This is a scrappy or fat quarter-friendly quilt, and I offer it as a laminated pattern.

Focus on Fun is another easy laminated pattern. Two yards of a fun focus fabric and a bunch of scraps make a huge "lap" quilt.

Jelly Donuts is a quilt for the slightly more advanced quilter. One jelly roll, two border fabrics, and VIOLA! The hardest part about making this quilt was coming up with a name for it.

     Branching out into a small line of wool felt kits was an opportunity that just happened to come my way, and I was able to take advantage of it. I named the line "Pearl Prynne's Pretties" after one of my favorite characters in American literature- the little girl in "The Scarlet Letter".

Merry Beluga Christmas!

     I came home to a couple days off, then back to work, working for two while my co-worker was on vacation. Now my mind is racing thinking about new patterns. My 2016 season starts in early March, and I have a couple projects in stages of "almost done"- quilts that just didn't get done in time for my fall shows. I'm forcing myself to complete one before I start a new project.

     Remember my late spring purging project? And how I "organized" my scraps?
     I did manage to use up quite a bit of scraps. I made one quilt top (in my TBQ- to be quilted-pile) that ended up being 80" square. I made a pile of smaller items for a friend's holiday crafts open house this weekend- six table runners, two baby quilts and an apron, plus a pile of Kanzashi ornaments. I made a couple of blocks for a group quilt. I took the uglies to quilt shows to use for demos. I remade Jelly Donuts in scrappy Christmas prints...  
     AND I HAVE MORE SCRAPS THAN I STARTED WITH!

Just Call Me Bunny*, or, What are Siblings For?

     Eight p.m., a summer evening in a coastal New England town. The phone rings. "What was the Final Jeopardy question?" a male voice asks.
     "Who was T.E. Lawrence?" I reply.
     "Did you get it right?" he asks.
     "Of course."
     I picture the person belonging to the voice, with the twinkling blue eyes and Tom Selleck dimple on his chin.
     "Do you think the good folks at No Such Agency are listening in?" I ask.
     On cue, there's static on the phone lines.
     "Yup."

     This is a typical conversation between us, one that plays out at least once a week. Craig will call me with some oddball question, usually something to Google, because my brother isn't on the internet. Now that my reputation as a walking, talking Googler of useless information has spread, I also receive such phone calls from my parents. Whereas my brother's calls are usually requests to locate parts for obscure power tools, my mother's questions are more likely to involve some long-dead actor of the '40's, often to settle a bet with her sister. Mom is always right, and I think her sister has yet to make good on the bets.

     Occasionally, I feel the need to reciprocate.
     "Hey, Craig, are you busy?"
     "What do you want?"
     "If I send you a printout, would you make me some templates?"
     "How many?"
     "Just two- a set of two."
     "How many sets?"
     "Just one- for now."
     "How many do you REALLY want me to make?"
     "How many do you want to make?"
     "Well, I'm not going to make you 600, if that's what you're asking."

     Today the templates arrived in all their shining plexiglass glory. It's time to play!


*and if you don't get my reference to Bunny, you MUST watch the movie pictured above. Google it.

June Cleaver's dresses, taming the scrap pile, and some thoughts about creativity...

    In my last post, I showed an assortment of vintage fabrics, each piece approximately 11" x 18". I had them for several years, and they taunted me every time I'd look at them. Thanks to the fact I go NOWHERE without a notebook, graph paper, and isometric graph paper, I finally worked out a design on my lunch break. There is nothing like a peanut butter sandwich to get those brain cells hopping!
     Here's "Wiggle Room". The pattern will be available soon.

Wiggle Room

     The past few months have been incredibly busy for me; I've been putting in a lot of extra hours at work, as well as teaching, traveling to out-of-state guilds, and working on new patterns for the upcoming autumn quilt show season. There were days when I'd leave the house before dawn, and wouldn't return until after 10 pm.  And I loved every minute of the insanity. It was truly one of the most creative periods I have ever been through (and it goes on...).
    Why? I discovered decades ago that the busier I am, the more ideas pop into my head. And creative energy fuels physical energy. I am undergoing...

THE BIG PURGE!

    Why now? Even before I started the pile of quilts that are now awaiting quilting, I realized my quilts are taking over my house. Yes, I can keep them reasonably neatly boxed up, but quilts for trunk shows are one thing, quilts for my booth at quilt shows are another, and there is some overlap. This isn't a major problem if, like this year, I have trunk shows but no quilt shows in the early part of the year, and all my quilt shows (but no trunk shows) are jammed together in the fall. I repack once and that does it. That's not usually how it goes though. So, I need to get my quilts in a more easily accessible location so I can repack as needed. I also want to be able to visit my antique sewing machines more often, but they've been hiding in abject terror.

Lady Macbeth, my sweet lass from Scotland

     What is going/has gone in the purge? Carloads of books and magazines, hobby and craft materials that no longer interest me, some never-used household items, non-quilt fabric. Gone, gone, gone, without shedding a tear. And there is still quite a bit more to go.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT QUILT STASH?
    
     I don't have one (gasp!). I have scraps. My scraps and (more likely) other people's scraps. I discovered years ago that purchasing fabric without a definite project in mind is a kiss of death for that fabric, a guarantee it will never be used. And, dare I say it, I don't even LIKE fabric shopping! So, no stash for me.
     Yes, I have scraps. I have scraps of scraps. I have bins of scraps, boxes of scraps and bags of scraps. Scraps on the floor. Scraps in underbed boxes.
     Scraps engender scrap quilts. So, it's probably time to think about doing another scrap quilt book. With that in mind, I've been slowly organizing my scraps.

I started with the bin of scraps from my Quilts of Valor workshop days. I had actually twice donated unfinished tops and bags of fabric to QOV groups that had booths at shows where I was vending. How much could I have left? Here's what I posted on Facebook:

      "I thought I possibly had enough left for one very scrappy top, and I would cut the pieces, bag them, and save them for when I wanted an easy project.
In addition to discovering I had two quilt backings, two tops only lacking borders, the finished blocks for another top, and blocks for half of yet ANOTHER top, I also had more fabric than I thought. I sliced and diced for the past three or four nights, and organized and bagged up the pieces. The photo shows the results:
Fabric to finish the rest of the blocks for that fourth quilt top, plus... three Disappearing 9-patch tops, two Strip Twist tops, and one Rail Fence, one bag of hundreds of 2 1/2" squares, five outer borders, four inner borders, six bindings,and three pillowcases. And I still have some fabric left." 

Since I posted that, I have filled up another grocery bag with appropriate fabrics from among my other scraps.

QOV kits

    
     Fueled by the success of organizing the QOV fabric, I decided to tackle some of my smaller scraps. Trimmed, folded and ironed it doesn't look like a lot of fabric, but there is enough for several quilts here.

She slices, she dices..

           As I go, if I see fabrics that "play nicely together" colorwise, I am putting them in plastic bags for future projects. The fabrics in the bags here are some of the fabrics I am using to reproduce a late 19th century scrappy quilt in my collection. I have a bag with cute modern baby fabric scraps, a pile of purples,  a bag of scraps, spanning at least 50 years, that coordinate with two focus fabrics in bright tropical prints. I'm trimming off uneven edges, and cutting those cut-off pieces into 2 1/2" squares and strips of whatever length.
     
     Happy Quilting,
     Barbara