Sarah in NF CT. I have sent your email address to C&T and they will contact you for a mailing address.
Thanks to all who commented during the social media tour for the planner!
And the winner is…
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Project Planner!
So, here’s the new Quilter’s Project Planner, which I’ve already started using!
Photo courtesy of C&T
I love paper planners generally and was already planning to do a post about this one, then my friends at C&T invited me to take part in this Social Media Tour. Woo! Be sure to check at the end of the post for other blogs on the tour and for a chance to win your own copy of the planner.
Yes, it’s formatted to start in January (holiday hint for someone?), but I don’t see why I can’t start in September and go through August of 2021.
Ha! Fixed to suit me!
I’ve decided to use the planner for my own designs. And yes, I design at least one quilt a month, I just choose not to sell patterns. You get to see all the quilts here eventually, and some of the patterns are done for Studio Stitch to give away, so there are sources if you want to make my quilts.
The planner includes the kind of features you’d expect but without the bulk of some of the other quilting planners I’ve tried. There are pages for planning individual projects as well as pages for quiilting goals, etc.
Photo courtesy of C&T
I’ve already started the project for September and filled out part of the pages. (The quilt shown isn’t the real thing, but my preliminary drawing from EQ8.)
Here are the other blogs on the tour for you to visit:
| 9/9 | C&T Publishing kickoff | ctpub.com/blog/ |
| 9/10 | Terificreations- Teri Lucas | terificreations.com |
| 9/11 | Quiltville- Bonnie Hunter | quiltville.blogspot.com |
| 9/12 | Quilt Fabrication- Susan Arnold | quiltfabrication.com |
| 9/13 | Zippy Quilts- Mary Puckett | zippyquilts.blog/ |
| 9/14 | Lilo Bowman | lilobowman.com/ |
| 9/15 | SewVeryEasy – Laura Coia | youtube.com/sewveryeasy |
| 9/16 | Slice of Pi- Laura Piland | sliceofpiquilts.com/ |
| 9/17 | C&T Publishing | ctpub.com/blog/ |
And if you’d like a chance to win a copy of the planner, leave a comment and include your email. My husband will draw a winner after the blog hop ends on September 17, so you must enter before midnight on September 17 to be considered. C&T will contact the winner by email to get an address for sending the planner. Sorry, but U.S. addresses only.
Image courtesy of C&T
As always, please note: C&T provides books to me for review, but I only blog about my favorites. Links in my blog are NOT affiliate links; they are for your convenience but do not provide income to me.
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For a Good Time…and OMG
For a good time, see if you can visit your local quilt shop! I was able to visit Studio Stitch last week because they are observing strict social distancing and mask guidelines, including limiting the number of people in the shop at a time. It was SO MUCH FUN to get to shop for fabric after being quarantined for 6 months! I appreciate the care the staff are taking to try to keep everyone safe.
I should mention that I also checked the public health report and noted that COVID was trending down in Greensboro before going there.
Here’s the haul from one visit to the shop:
Yes, the gray and white fabrics are metallic! And the fat quarter at the far right just jumped into my basket while my other fabric was being cut. (Not my fault!!)
Which leads me to the OMG part. For the first time, I am joining the One Monthly Goal challenge. I’ve seen several blogging friends doing this for quite some time but haven’t joined up. So, here is my OMG for September:
In September my goal is to make a quilt from these fabrics and write a pattern for that quilt.
These lovelies are from Studio Stitch, too
The pattern will be available through Studio Stitch when I finish it. If you subscribe to their free newsletter (subscription form is about half way down their home page) you will see a picture and information on getting the pattern when the time comes. And of course I’ll show the quilt here when it’s finished!
That’s all the excitement for now. Has anybody else been able to visit a shop in person with precautions in place? Thanks for reading, and stay safe!
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An Oldie
I made this quilt years ago at my husband’s request, and when he retired last year it came home with him. It was inspired by a quilt on a calendar I had in 2004 or 2005, but unfortunately I did not save the inspiration. If anyone recognizes where I got this design, please let me know so I can give proper credit.
The fabrics are all Kona cotton because for many, many years that was the only choice in solids.
Quilt Stats
Design source: unknown, but it came from a calendar
Finished size: 42.5″ x 43″
Pieced and quilted by me, 2005
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Class With Maria Shell!!!
COVID rolled over my plans to attend the Vermont Quilt Festival (VQF) this past summer and take classes there with Maria Shell. So imagine my excitement when I got an email from VQF offering one of Maria’s classes online! (Here’s the link if you want to learn more.)
This is the Announcement from VQF
I signed up immediately and started gathering the materials–there really isn’t much needed in that department since I’ll be in my own studio for the class! The class will be interactive, and the student information included lots of funny reminders like “Remember, we can see you. Wear pants if you plan to stand up!” I have no idea how to mute my microphone or much of anything else, so there’s no telling what they’ll see/hear from me, but I’ll be sure to be fully clothed 😀
As you may know, I love Maria’s book (here’s the link if you want to know more about the book.).
I’ve made some “mat-cut stripes” inspired by her, though I haven’t figured out yet what to do with them next,
as well as a little art quilt for which I used her method for making free-cut flying geese.
This quilt is titled “Blue Ridge–Cardinal”
One thing that is different about Maria’s technique for improvising is that she does NOT just combine fabrics randomly. She looks to see if they go together visually before she sews. Her quilts are graphic and striking, and I look forward to learning more from her. I’ll let you know how it goes! And here’s the link to Maria’s site if you want to explore her work more.
Just a reminder: The links in this post are for your convenience; they are not affiliate links that generate money for me!
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Happy As a Clam?
This is a little art quilt I started years ago just for fun. It took quite a while to figure out how to make the clam and finish the quilt.
The “clamshells” were made by cutting out circles from fusible fabric and arranging them ever-so-carefully in rows. I then fused the whole thing, and there it sat for a couple of years. I considered adding a layer of netting, but ultimately just quilted it in waves.
I drew the clam early on but couldn’t decide how to put it on the quilt. I considered thread sketching, drawing and coloring with pigma pens, etc. I wanted a method that wouldn’t risk ruining the quilt if I didn’t get the clam right the first time!
Finally I read Karen Fricke’s article about thread sketching on stabilizer in my copy of The Best of Quilting Arts. (This book is an excellent resource, but it’s “old” so you probably can get it used.) That method worked perfectly for me. I was able to create the clam and then attach him to the quilt. I printed the question mark on fabric and then cut it out and attached it. For the dots going to his dialogue bubble I did, finally, have to draw directly on the quilt.
The edge is finished with satin rat-tail, a technique I learned in another class.
Quilt stats:
Name: Really? Clamshells?
Original design
Techniques: Fusible applique, machine quilting, thread sketching, drawing and coloring with permanent markers
Finished size:16″ x 16″
Quilted by me
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Elizabeth’s Village
My blogging friend Elizabeth (OP Quilt) has designed a number of nice patterns and I recently found myself “forced” to make one because it is so cute. Here is one of her samples.
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Eastman
She has given instructions for multiple variations in the pattern. (I love all of them.)
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Eastman
Naturally, I didn’t quite follow the pattern. I had some cute fabric left from another project so used it for the town square in the center.
When I was finished, I wanted to make the quilt large enough to be used as a donation quilt (crib size), so I ordered some wilderness fabric to surround the town.
And here’s the finished quilt:
Quilt Stats
Name: Elizabeth’s Village
Pattern: Merrion Square, by Elizabeth Eastmond
Finished size: 39″ x 39″
Quilted by: Julia Madison
And yes, I used the same fabric for binding as for the border. You may want to check out Elizabeth’s beautiful projects on her blog and website: OPQuilt.com.
If you’re interested in her patterns, they are available through Payhip.
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Serendipity Quilt
Due to a series of fortunate events, I made this quilt:
Here’s how it happened. You may recall that C&T sends me quilt books and products to review, and if I really like them I write about them here. So a while back I received this book:
Photo Courtesy of C&T
Then a couple of weeks later, I entered a contest sponsored by Pineapple Fabrics and my project was a runner up. They sent a wonderful box of pre-cuts, including a jelly roll. So the only question was which quilt to make! The book had many attractive options, including these:
Photo courtesy of C&%
Photo courtesy of C&T
I eventually chose the lattice quilt because it looked so do-able. And it was! The instructions even suggested designing your own spacing for the border, and you know how I like doing my own thing, so that was great.
Here’s a picture of the pretty flowers quilted on it by Julia Madison:
If you are thinking of making this quilt, know that it was fast, easy, and fun. I did flip some of the seams when joining the pieces so the seams would match up well at the intersections.
Quilt Stats
Name: Serendipity
Pattern source: Love Jelly Roll Quilts, pictured above
Finished size: 51″ x 61″
Quilted by: Julia Madison
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The Latest Baby Quilt
Here’s a quilt made from some blocks for a class I taught, plus a few 5″ squares that were in the stash. 
Look at the very fancy design quilted by Julia Madison!
And here’s a picture of the back.
I liked this quilt so well that I sent it to the newest member of our extended family, since we attended his parents’ wedding and even saw his Mother fairly recently.
Quilt stats:
Name: None; recipient is welcome to name it
Size: 40″ x 40″
Pattern: This is a variation of a block I learned from Barbara Lenox years ago
Fabric: Scraps from many years, as you probably can see!
Quilted by: Julia Madison
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Candy Cubes
Remember this? I started on the quilt on page 34 soon after I got the book
Photo Courtesy of C&T
I didn’t like the first background fabric I chose:
So I took the quilt all apart and put it together again, this time with the background fabric matching the centers so that the blocks look like square lifesavers.
I’m calling it “Candy Cubes”.
To be honest, I’m not sure I like the new background fabric any better–the value is too close to the value of the cubes, even though the color is different. But a done quilt is a good quilt, so I’m on to the next project.
I still like the pattern and enjoyed making the quilt. And I still think it would be a great “make your second quilt” class.
Quilt Stats:
Name: Candy Cubes
Pattern Source: New Patchwork & Quilting Basics by Jo Avery
Finished size: 53″ x 77″
Fabric: Cubes are Moda Grunge. I don’t know what the background fabric is.
Quilted by: Julia Madison
What I might do different next time: Change the cube fabric rather than the background fabric.
I love the fabric on the quilt back, too!
