Tidbits: One may be for you

1.  Here is some beautiful fabric that just arrived from the Michael Miller company!  It’s for my next magazine project (for Modern Quilts Unlimited).  I love to use batiks for the “solids” in my quilts because of the texture and highlights they give to the design.

Michael Miller batiks

Michael Miller Batiks

2. Who wants these selvages I’ve been saving? I know the author of one of the blogs I read commented that there is a selvage quilt in her future, and I’m pretty sure there’s none in mine.  Comment or e-mail me if you want them.Selvages

Melanie, whose blog is

Melanie, whose blog is Catbirdquilts.wordpress.com

3.  For those who may want  more traditional lessons on color than the ones I’ve provided in my design series, my friend Melanie in Iowa has some nice posts.  You can find them here and here.  I think you’ll like them!

Zippy Star quilt by Mary J Puckett

Zippy Star I, which was sold at the Asheville Quilt Show

4. Woo!  I recently sold a quilt at the Asheville Quilt show!  And it’s a good thing, because–

5. My digital camera somehow got a little piece of lint inside (at a quilt show, of course) and I can’t get it out!  Any recommendations for a good replacement?

6.  I aim for a blog length of around 350 words.  I figure my attention span is short, so yours may be too 😀

7. And the more pictures in the blog, the better. So here’s my October finish, another quilt for Ronald McDonald House.  I quilted it on my new Bernina 530QE. There’s definitely a learning curve to that BSR, but I’m pleased with the result.

free motion quilting

Free motion quilting with my new Bernina

 

 

 

 

It’s Out!!!

I’ve been WAITING to tell about my Zippy Star quilt, which appears in the Summer 2014 issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited, and here it is!

quilt photo

Zippy Star Quilt and Pillow as shown in Modern Quilts Unlimited, Summer 2014

Didn’t they do a great job of the “glamor shot”?  I love the setting

And the magazine has clear instructions with lots of helpful pictures.  OK, I wrote the instructions and their staff improved on my pictures, so both are pretty good!  There’s a pillow cover to go with the quilt, just for fun.

instructions

This is one of several pages of instructions

The Michael Miller company worked with me to choose fabric for the quilt and I’m very pleased with how it came out.  The central square fabric is called “Tara’s Fireworks” and is a print made from a quilt one of MM’s employees created with their Cotton Couture solids.  So of course the star points made from Cotton Couture solids match perfectly!

fabric for quilt

Some of the beautiful Michael Miller fabrics

The quilt is fairly small (48 x 58) so I quilted it on my home machine.  This was such fun and I’m so pleased with how it is featured in the magazine!

magazine cover

Here’s the magazine cover. It should be at Barnes & Noble and Joann’s soon!

Quilt Alliance Challenge

After thinking I would use Sunbonnet Sue as my inspiration,

Fabric scraps

Scraps!

I did a total about-face and chose a scrap quilt instead.  I LOVE scrap quilts, and since I certainly HAVE a lot of scraps, it all works out 🙂

Here’s the process for this year’s Quilt Alliance donation quilt.  I wanted to use tiny scraps and have one tiny star.  I used Electric Quilt (EQ7) to print a foundation pattern for a star that finishes about 3″ square.  The first one I made, using the brand of fabric we’ve all

depended on for solids, was just a little off.  Turns out the “beefy” thick texture of that fabric doesn’t lend itself well to tiny, tiny points (the center square here is 1/2″ x 1/2″).  So I re-generated the foundation pattern and, as often happens, decided on a little design change at the same time.  Then I made the star using Moda Bella black, which is a lighter weight cloth that folded more crisply in such a small space.

For the rest of the quilt I pulled out my zippy-colored Michael Miller cotton couture scraps and just sewed them together as I took them out of the box.  Eventually I had to cut a few more “scraps” to finish the top.  There were so very MANY seams that I was glad of the lighter weight of this cloth, almost like voile.  It took many days to do this, quite a bit longer than I had expected for a 16″ x 16″ quilt!  The smallest pieces finish about 1/4″ squares or triangles!

scrap quilt

Quilt Alliance Challenge 2014

So here it is!  I would love to count the pieces, but I don’t think I have the energy left to do it!  Besides, who wants to know a thing like that? 😉