Seems Like Scrappy Preview: Baby Cakes

Well folks. We've done it. This is the last quilt to preview from Seems Like Scrappy just in time for it's release next week! Today I'd like to share Baby Cakes with you.

Photo provided by Martingale. Photography by Brent Kane. All rights reserved. 

So many of the quilts from Seems Like Scrappy are fun fast and easy. This one is probably the fastest and easiest quilt in the whole lot!

I was inspired by all of the love my Coinage pattern from Seamingly Scrappy received, so I wanted to do a remake of sorts. This time around I still used the same basic construction, but I started with a layer cake and that's all you need to create this quilt top.

The piecing is organized yet impromptu so it's very forgiving and mindless which works great for a fast quilt project. Baby Cakes finishes at a large crib or small throw size, but as I've said before with other quilts, you can easily make this a bit larger with some borders.

I know I still owe you all a post with the alternate Baskets quilt, and I hope to take pictures of that one today (if I can find it in my Market luggage, I still haven't unpacked my quilts). I also have an alternate version of Baby Cakes I will be sharing too in the near future. I like to show you all options, plus I like to make quilts again in a new style to see how different two ideas from the same pattern can be. My yard finally isn't a jungle, but after we cut it , it looked all clumpy and nasty... Then I noticed all of the overgrown brush along the fence where I take pictures, so another trim of the yard and a bunch of trimmed branches and wild grape vines and it looks much better. I on the other hand am still a bit sore, but I will try to get photos today before all of this rain hits this week.

I hope you all had a great weekend (hence the reason for the delayed post, I attempted to take yesterday off for the holiday and failed miserably) and I hope you enjoyed seeing all 14 quilts from Seems Like Scrappy! I had to double check this morning to see if I missed any because there are so many quilts.

As I mentioned, I still have alternate versions to share and I'm still working on a few more, so once I get those done I will share them here too. To see a recap of all of the quilts, you can search the blog for Seems Like Scrappy (best way if looking on the mobile site), you can click on the Seems Like Scrappy link to the right (if looking at the desktop version of the site) or you can click through this link here and it should list the posts for you.

Thanks again and don't forget to check your LQS in the next couple weeks or your mailbox if you've preordered the book! Books will begin to ship next week, but you can still preorder a signed copy in my shop for 25% off from now until the moment that the books arrive on my doorstep. I will get them shipped out right after!

Calendar Winner

Sorry for the delay in this post, I forgot to look at the calendar when I cut off the entries and I didn't want to interrupt the fun with the Fun-Size Quilts Blog Hop.

So, the winner of the 2015 Calendar is:

Liz LesJuly 18, 2014 at 6:45 PM

Thanks for the great opportunity to win the 2015 calendar.

Liz, please e-mail me at rubybluequilts (at) gmail (dot) com with your snail mail address so I can get your calendar into the mail!

Thank you to everyone that commented and don't forget you still have time to win copies of Fun-Size Quilts, just go to the post here to enter. 

Have a great weekend!

New Calendar Release (And a GIVEAWAY!!!)

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone that entered! Come back soon for more giveaways!

I am so honored to be a calendar girl once again in one of Martingale's amazing calendars.

They just released a few new options to grace your walls in 2015, and if you look in the A Year of Quilts 2015 Calendar, I'm Miss August. This calendar is gorgeous and features pictures of quilts in outdoor settings, like mine:

Now, this calendar just was released this week so it may not be gracing your local quilt shops just yet, but they should be arriving soon. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can enter to win one here!

Just leave a comment below and you'll be entered into a chance to win your own A Year of Quilts 2015 Calendar! A random winner will be chosen July 24th, so check back then to see if you've won. 

Now, Martingale does have other calendars you could choose from, to see a complete listing of all of your choices, head on over to their blog by clicking here. 

I can't believe it's already time for the calendars to be released, I don't know where this year has gone! But I'm still playing catch up, so that could explain alot. Come back tomorrow for more pictures of my trip to Paris and I'll show you how amazing the City of Lights looks at night. It's magical I tell ya!

Shipshewana Fabric Show

It's that time again. This is the Shipshewana Fabric Show that debuts all of the new fabrics from Quilt Market to the local region.

Coincidentally, I also get the joy of loving on new fabrics and quilts. I even made a couple!

So that's the Moda corner featuring most of the new lines. I think it's much better to look at than the dreary weather outside:

And this is my little section of the room:

Most of these are quilts from my book, Seamingly Scrappy, or from magazines. 

But here's the couple I made for the show:

This is my new version of Coinage featuring Bartholo-meow's Reef by Tim & Beck. The only adjustment I made to work with the bundle of fabric I was given was to make the accent sashing scrappy. I used a mixture of the green prints from the line and I think it turned out well. 

Also, I remade my Spun Sugar pattern on the Moda Bake Shop with the new Mill Book Series from Howard Marcus. It's completely different from the original. I also adjusted the borders on this one just adding a scrappy 6" border instead of the original design. It worked well with the Fat Quarter bundle I had. 

I'm posting from my iPod so I can't link these back to the original posts just yet, but give me a couple days and I'll be sure to do that. Please excuse me while I go love on new goodies. Which is your favorite new line?

Happy Anniversary, Durby!

Now, I know that I've mentioned before that my publishers are awesome and I am so happy to be a part of their crafty family. Well, I was told of this tradition they have in the past and I completely forgot about it with Market coming up and just general business around here.

Last week I got an e-mail from Durby, the copywriter at Martingale, that she finally got her quilt for her 10 year anniversary with the company. How exciting is that?! The best part (for me personally) is that Durby chose her quilt from a pattern in MY BOOK!!!!

This is Durby when she received her amazing version of Coinage from Seamingly Scrappy. I love the colors they chose and that smile says it all! Congrats again, Durby! You can see this post on Martingale's Facebook page by clicking here. Go hop on over and wish Durby an awesome anniversary!

As I mentioned, this is a tradition throughout Martingale and you can read more about it here:

http://blog.shopmartingale.com/quilting-sewing/free-quilts-for-all-when-you-work-here-10-years/

Book Quilt: Coinage (Cover Girl)

So if you look at the cover of Seamingly Scrappy, the quilt draped over the chair is Coinage:

Have I mentioned how much I love the cover of my book? It's so me it's not funny. But the saddest part is I want to sit in the chair, wrap up in one or many of those quilts and read a book. That is pretty much impossible to do in my yard because it's so unlevel I'd be in one spot of the yard and the table with the book and beverages would be somewhere else, no joke. But back to the cover quilt!

Copyrighted Image provided by Martingale, Brent Kane, photographer

Coinage is my version of a Chinese Coin quilt. I love the concept, but thought the long chains of "coins" could be too long and there had to be a better solution. Also, I thought it over and wanted to know what it would be like to use different sized "coins". This quilt is a mixture of Fat Quarters and minimal yardage for a decent size lap quilt.

I made this quilt in all batiks and I love how it turned out. If you listened to the Pat Sloan Radio show from last week, this is the quilt I was talking about with the pinky-peachy tone that I didn't exactly love when I chose the fabrics, but if I took it away it really was missing something. Now that the quilt is done, I think that bright pop of peachy something gives it a bit of sass and I like it.

Now, for those of you who like random, as long as it's controlled (I know who you are, this statement is said more times than not in the quilt shop!), this quilt is the perfect opportunity to try the method of throwing all your fabrics into a container and using the first one you grab. Breathe, it's important, and yes I know you can do it.

I have been trying to break my Mom of the "controlled random" theory for as long as I've been quilting and I'm proud to say that she finally converted to the super scrappy school of thought within the last year or so. It's funny when all those things I had been saying to her of why she should try my method are now coming out of her mouth when she explains it to others. :)

There's still time to preorder your own copy of Seamingly Scrappy! You can purchase a signed copy through my shop, or it is also available through online book sellers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble. And there's one last option too, I will be doing book signings at Cottonpickers Quilt Shop on Friday, Feb. 22nd & Saturday, Feb. 23rd as well as at the Vendor Weekend at the Lake Metroparks Farmpark Quilts 2013 Show Friday-Sunday, March 1st-3rd. Mark your calendars and come on out to see me and the quilts!