Intro to Curves Class

This November I will be teaching an intro to curved piecing at Quilter's Way in Concord, MA. I will be using a drunkards path block to teach curved piecing and we'll make this great block! Come join me on November 3rd if you want to learn curved piecing or just want to learn how I made this fun block. You can sign up here.

It's an easy and fun block to make. I threw a bunch of these together a while back into this quilt top:

I still need to quilt this, but it's hanging up at Quilter's Way right now. 

Criss Cross Quilt

Last weekend I was rushing to finish this quilt so I could enter it in Quilter's Way's color challenge for the month of June.  

The pattern layout was a bit different than how I finished this quilt. I decide to pair the fabrics from the challenge bundle and create six blocks. The original pattern was much more random, but I wanted to make it a bit more structured. 

The pattern was pretty easy to construct. Just a bunch of squares and triangles. 

I machine quilted this on the longarm using an all over square and straight line meander. 

You can really see the texture in this shot, which I love. 

I decided to bind this quilt in Kona Lipstick. I wanted a different color for the binding and thought a nice, bright red would be the perfect compliment to the rest of the colors. 

I used Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen in Steel for the backing, which blends nicely with the So Fine! gray thread that I used for the quilting. 

This quilt finishes at 48" x 72"and was made using a solid fat quarter bundle pulled by Quilter's Way and an RJR solid for the background.

WIP Wednesday: A New Challenge

Quilter's Way is hosting a new color challenge and I decided to participate. Participants can pick from four different fat quarter bundles and make a quilt using a selected pattern - a criss cross quilt this time around. The challenge will be all about how folks arrange the colors and execute the pattern.

I picked the summer popsicle color way for my quilt.

Over the weekend I broke apart the bundle and separated them into pairs in order to make the criss cross blocks.

I managed to get the main fabrics cut as well. Now I just need to cut the background - a really nice light gray - before I start sewing them together.

Stay tuned for more progress!

Modern Hexagon Class & Winner of QuiltCon Goodies

Yesterday I taught a Modern Hexagon class at Quilter's Way.

I made this quilt as I was designing the class. Students were able to make this exact quilt or make one similar to their specifications - changing the size of the hexagons and the sashing if they so pleased.

I decided to use a fat quarter bundle I received for Christmas for my class sampler.

This is the after - after I showed the class how to cut their hexagons, how to cut and sew their sashing, how to cut their background, and how to sew it together.  I came to the class with all of this pre-cut and a bunch of it already sewn together to show exactly how I constructed my top.

Here's what some of the folks pulled together.

Alison decided to take the technique we learned and make something completely different, which I LOVE! I might have to do something similar at some point.  The wheels in my head are a churnin'.

The rest follow the same pattern I made in my class sample, but each with their own unique spin.

This one uses all batiks.  I like the use of a light blue background here - it feels like a rainbow in the sky.

This one used a deep blue/purple for the background and it worked really well.

I didn't grab a picture of KK's quilt, but I'll be sure to grab one at retreat this weekend and share that with you as well.

Now, for the winner of the QuiltCon goodie bag.  The random number generator selected #17, Tricia who is a follower and is loving aqua and red as well as gray and purple. Congratulations Tricia. 

Modern Hexagon Quilt Class

For those of you in the Massachusetts area, I'll be teaching my Modern Hexagon quilt at Quilter's Way in Acton, MA on March 10th.

Using Jaybird's Hex N More ruler, you can make this quilt top your own by changing the size of the hexagons and even changing the size of the white sashing.  You could make a small wall hanging or a larger quilt.  The one you see here measures 40" square.

I hope you'll join me if you're in the area.  Several spots have already been taken, so if you want a spot in the class, sign up here.

Dazzling Diamonds Class

On November 18th I will be teaching my Dazzling Diamonds quilt at Quilter's Way in Acton.

This class will teach my paper piecing technique and will show you how to make the best use of secondary designs in your projects.

The class runs from 12-5 and is just $45.  This price includes the Dazzling Diamonds pattern.

If you're interested you can call Quilter's Way or sign up here.  If you're in the area and want to make a cute holiday gift, sign on up!  I hope to see you there.

Angela Walters Visit

This weekend I had the pleasure of spending time with the oh-so-talented Angela Walters as she visited one of my favorite local quilt shops, Quilter's Way, and spent some time with the Boston Modern Quilt Guild.

For the trunk show with the BMQG, Angela talked about how she got started in quilting and how she evolved as a quilter. As we progressed during the show, she talked a lot about how she goes about quilting a modern quilt.  She shared some secrets with us - like some new collaborations she has coming up that I'll let her tell you about soon enough.  

She shared some of her awesome quilts and talked about how she goes about quilting them.

I'm sure you recognize some of these quilts from her book and her blog.  Let's just say that they were all awesome to see in person.

I loved this quilt.  Probably because the quilting was awesome and I love Art Gallery fabrics. 

We were the first group that got to see quilts from her upcoming book, In the Studio with Angela Walters.

I loved this quilt.  Probably because I've always loved things celestial, and the quilting in the sky, moon and ocean were awesome in this quilt.

I loved the swirl quilting she did on this quilt.  I was happy that I got to learn how to do it during a class I took with her right after.  Now to find something to practice on.

I wanted to steal this quilt to hang in my basement.  Hey, I did just redo it in a grey and yellow color scheme.  It would go perfect.

Anyone who knows me would assume I would like this quilt just for the abundance of teal in it.

Looking at this quilt up close, it took me a little bit to realize that the quilt spelled out "Inspire." The quilting on this one is great too, but what else would you expect from Angela?

I do love me some good citrus colors in a quilt, and this one is no exception. 

Angela was amazing.  She's an incredibly talented quilter who genuinely loves to share her craft with others.  I was lucky that I spent some time with her Friday night during an opening reception and basically all day Saturday.  She is such a genuine person and I truly enjoyed spending time getting to know her and pick her brain.  

And the Envelope Please...

The winner of the Quilter's Way giveaway of the Echo fat quarter bundle is...

Karyli who said...

I really don't think I could live without my sewing machine. Is that too obvious? It's true!
Thanks for the give away!

 Congratulations Karyli.  You have an email waiting for you.  Please send me your address and your fat quarter bundle will be shipped out to you.

Thanks again to everyone who entered the contest.

Quilters Way Blog Tour Day 2

Today is my day in the Quilter's Way Blog Tour.  If you haven't already checked out Alice's review, hop on over to her blog and don't forget to check out the rest of the blog posts this week.  Here's the schedule.

Yesterday

alidiza

Today

A Quilting Jewel

Tomorrow

Salt Marsh Designs

Thursday

 Pippa Patchwork

Friday

Dodging the Butterfly

I've mentioned it before, but Quilter's Way is one of my favorite quilt stores.  It's where I took my first quilting class and how I became addicted to quilting.  It was close to my college and always had some more fun, modern fabrics.  I've been a regular there for about 7 years now.. Now, Quilter's Way has launched a quilt kit designer tool.

Review
Here's how the tool works:

To start, select a kit design.  Right now you have a choice of 10 quilts.  For this review, I'm going to make the Twisting Again quilt kit. 

When you select your kit, it appears initially in the pre-selected fabrics that the kit template comes in.  This is where you have fun in designing your kit.  Begin selecting fabrics for each design element.

Here you can see that I'm auditioning fabrics for the quilt that I'm designing.  Some of the initial colors are still there as I add and remove fabrics.

On the right hand side is a drop menu that allows you to select different fabric lines. When you select a fabric line the fabrics available in that line appear to the left.  You just drag the fabric that you like down to the fabric position you choose.  As you change fabrics, you'll see the price of your kit change based on the price of the fabrics you choose.  For example, if you use all solids, your kit will probably cost less than if you select all designer cottons.

Here I'm pretty happy with how my quilt kit looks.  As you can see with this screenshot, you can see where the fabrics are placed in the quilt below the fabric swatch. As you change each swatch you'll see the fabric change in the kit in the upper left and below the swatch.

At any time you can enlarge the quilt to see a close up.  The quality is a bit grainy, but you have a good idea of what the quilt looks like.  I like it!  I think this will be my final quilt kit.

I decided to make another quilt to keep playing around.  Here's a second quilt kit that I designed using all solids this time.

What I like about the tool:

• You can see what the quilt looks like with the fabrics you select.  
• I love that you can see how much the quilt kit will cost you as you go.  
• The kit designer is very intuitive to use. I really think that most everyone can use the kit designer.  If you've used EQ, this tool is MUCH easier to use.
• You can design a quilt kit very fast.  
• You can save your design and come back to it later on to see if you still like it or if you want to make changes
• Instead of just laying fabrics out next to each other, like you would in a store, you can get a good representation of what the quilt will look like with the actual fabrics. 

A couple of areas for improvement:

• I'd love to see additional quilt designs added to the tool.  I'm sure additional patterns will be added over time.  An added bonus would be if we could upload our own pattern and create a kit for our own quilt, but I imagine that's a ways out.
• You can't press the back button on your toolbar, you mist use the navigation in the tool. I pressed the back bar on my browser and had to start over.  It's just a matter of habit to press the back button on my browser.  User error on my end, but just be aware. 
• You need to know your fabric lines and what they're called to search through the fabric.  Luckily, I know my lines, but I know many folks who don't know the names of fabric lines and might struggle to find the right fabric.  Maybe a search feature by color would be helpful.
• I also needed to do this on my laptop and couldn't do this on my iPad because it requires flash. Not a huge deal, but it could annoy some people.

 Giveaway
Onto the giveaway.  The winner of this giveaway will win a fat quarter bundle of four fat quarters of Echo by Lotta Jansdotter provided by Quilter's Way.

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is comment on this blog and answer the following question, "What is the one quilting tool you couldn't live without?" If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your email address so that I have a way of contacting you if you win.


The winner will be announced on Monday, January 23rd.  Good luck!

Quilters Way Blog Tour

This week I'll be participating in the Quilters Way Blog Tour to launch their new quilt kit designer.

Quilters Way describes their tool as follows:

The Kit Designervat QuiltersWay.com  is a breakthrough tool that, for the first time ever, allows anyone to easily design their own quilt kits online. Once a kit is designed, it can be shared with the recipient, blog readers, Facebook friends, and of course, ordered through our website. Now you can enjoy all of the benefits of a quilt kit with the added bonus of choosing your own fabrics.

Sounds cool, doesn't it?  

On Tuesday I'll be reviewing the tool and hosting a giveaway of four fat quarters.  

 Come back on Tuesday to see my review and for a chance to win. In the mean time, check out the rest of the bloggers this week. 

Monday

alidiza

Tuesday

Me

Wednesday

Salt Marsh Designs

Thursday

 Pippa Patchwork

Friday

Dodging the Butterfly

 

My favorite Local Quilt Stores

So we moved into our new home this weekend! Yay!!! Now for all of the unpacking. :-P My quilting room will hopefully be semi-unpacked by the end of the week. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite quilt stores since I don't have any quilting progress to blog about because of the move...

Quilters Way - Concord, MA
This is probably my favorite local quilt shop. It holds a special spot in my quilting heart because it's where I really learned to quilt. I took my first quilting class here 6 or 7 years ago. Since then, I've taken probably another half dozen classes here. They always have a great selection of fabric, with much more of a contemporary feel and less of a traditional feel. That's totally me (if you haven't noticed). The people here are wonderful. I've always had a great experience here. I love their New Years sale and always stock up on some great goodies then. They make their own jelly rolls and jelly roll patterns here too. So much fun! I'd highly recommend a visit here if you're heading to MA.

Emma's Quilt Cupboard - Franklin, MA
I discovered this store about a year ago because it's close to my work. It's a pretty big store with lots of great fabrics. This is where I went for the Mark Lapinski visit that I blogged about a few months ago. They do a great job of displaying fabrics here. They also have a pretty big selection of batiks and novelty fabrics. They have lots of classes here, although I've never taken one. I've been so busy since I learned about this store between the wedding and our move that I haven't had the time. They have a passport program where you pay a flat fee and you can attend any participating class during that session period (3 months I think). It's a great deal if you attend more than one class. Another quilt store worth a visit when you come to MA.

Wayside Sewing - Marlborough, MA
This store opened about 3 miles from my old apartment. It was deadly to have a quilt store so close. At first, I found their fabrics to be too traditional, but lately I've found that they're breaking out into more modern fabrics. They also don't carry a lot of pre-cuts or fat quarters. The best thing about this store is the staff though. They do a great job of helping plan out a quilt top if you'd like. I was stumped on picking out some fabric for a blooming nine patch I'm going to make for my cousin's wedding next year, and a fresh set of eyes really helped. They're very knowledgeable and friendly. They have a lot of nice Asian fabrics and a TON of notions.

Bits 'n Pieces - Pelham, NH
I bring this quilt shop up because it's the first place where I used a long arm. The best thing about this store is that you can rent time on their HQ and quilt your own quilt yourself for a very reasonable price. I quilted a top that was probably a full size there, and for instructions on how to use the machine, thread, and usage of the machine, they charged me $40. I couldn't believe it only cost that much. They have a ton of fabrics and some great sales, but it's a fairly cluttered store. They just moved into a bigger location, and I haven't been to the new store yet, so I can't comment on if it's neater now. If you're ever in the area and want to try using a long arm to quilt one of your quilts, I'd definitely recommend heading here to give it a try.

Finished Braid Quilt

So I finished the top of the braid quilt I started on Sunday with KK (the one using the jelly roll). Yay!  It's always exciting to see a completed quilt top.  There are several things I would do differently if I had to do it again, but I was more focused on working with fabrics that I had, which I did a good job of doing.

The main thing I would do differently would be to change the color of the pink that's in between the braid and the inner border.  I wish I had used a light pink instead of the deep pink.  

The problem is that there isn't enough contrast between the pink, the purple inner border, and the actual border.  I had the same issue with a stained glass quilt I made several years ago.  I think the real problem is that I love these colors so much together (because I had the same issue with the same colors) that I don't look past the colors to the tones of them. See... the only that that really stands out in that quilt is the bright yellow.  

Don't get me wrong, it doesn't look horrible.  It's a beautiful quilt, I would just do something differently next time.  

I did enjoy using up some fabrics from my stash.  I didn't purchase a single fabric for this quilt.  It was made entirely with fabric that I had in my stash (ok, so I bought the fabric in the stash, but I didn't buy the fabric recently) and a jelly roll that my husband, Corey, gave me for

 Christmas.  It involved improvising on some of the dimensions, but what fun is quilting if you always follow all the directions.  It's like cooking, I almost never follow recipes.  I always add a little of this and a little of that... you get the idea.

One of the things that I did differently (from the pattern that is-pictured left taken from quiltersway.biz) was that I changed the width of the first inner border around the braids.  The pattern called for it to be cut 3" just like the width of the "sashing" in between the braids.  I didn't have enough fabric to go all the way around at 3", so I cut the fabric to 2".  I think it still came out well.  I really wanted to make the braids appear as though they were floating by using the same fabric for the sashing and first inner border.  It took the entire yard of fabric that I had for this.  The original pattern called for a yard and a half.  This just g

oes to show you how you don't always have to follow the directions exactly and that you don't have to be afraid of a pattern because you don't have enough fabric.

The other thing that I did differently was adding the second inner border.  The pattern didn't call for it, but I thought it was a nice touch.  I also think it helped to add some contrast between the first border and the final outer border.  It wouldn't have looked as good if I had just added the border like the pattern called for.  

In the end, it was fun playing with a jelly roll.  I would do it again.  This was a pretty large quilt (about 85" tall), much larger than many of the ones I've been making lately.  I'm not so sure if I'm going to be able to quilt this myself.  It might be too big to do on a standard sewing machine.  

It might need to be done on a long arm.  We'll see.  I have a bunch of other quilts that I still need to machine quilt.  I need to take some time to get some of them done instead of continuing to make the tops. 

That's all for now, it's off to go have a nice new years eve dinner with the hubs (and possibly do some more quilting while we wait for the ball to drop together).  See you in 2009!