Splotch Part Two

Sometimes people think that since I design quilts and write books and long arm that I have all my crap together. Ha! It couldn't be further from the truth.

I find that a bunch of creative people walk that thin line of this is going to be genius or it could be a complete disaster on a daily basis. It's knowing when to take risks and when to move on that distinguishes what side of that line we fall on.

Sometimes we have this idea in our heads that sounds awesome. And then we pour our hearts and souls into it until we get to the point of no return... And then we continue on in this process not knowing which side of the line we will come out on... Usually the thought is this is going to be this biggest disaster known to man. It's an epic battle in our brains all the time. I mean. All. The. Time.

You may have seen this graphic going around on social media sites... It's funny only because it's so true:

But on some freak chance, we forge through and come out with something much greater than expected.

 When I started making the blocks for this new version of Splotch (from my new book, Seems Like Scrappy), I had this little voice in the back of my brain saying "make the background striped, it'll be awesome". And for a minute I thought it would look nice. Then I thought it would be amazing and all other priorities and tasks ceased to exist and I tore into my stash to find the perfect fabrics...

Only to discover I didn't have enough of them. So I waited patiently and put them on my list to grab the next time I was at the quilt shop...

And that's when it happens. When you let too much time set in and doubt starts to eat away at your inspiration. I got the fabrics and doubted the outcome the ENTIRE time I was working on finishing this top until the moment the last seam was sewn and pressed.

Then. In that moment. Just like the graphic above. IT WAS AWESOME!!! I'm so freaking happy with how it turned out I already know how I want to quilt it and I want to quilt it now.

Only problem being I don't know what to put on the back. Or if I have something to bind it in that would fit. I'm sure I do, but I have quilts to work on and deadlines to meet. And Market is only a couple weeks away!!!

(Insert mini panic attack here)

But then I look at this and realize it's the middle of the morning and I'm still in my PJs and the sun is shining and and and...

It'll all get done when it gets done and I have a pooch to take on a walk and fabric to play with. How can I stress about that?! I mean really?

Anywho, back to the new Splotch. I used a honeycomb of Mirabelle by Fig Tree for the blocks and combined my favorite French General linen print basic for the tan background with Natural Kona cotton for the cream. I have no clue when I will get it quilted, but once I do, I will share that with you too because it's going to be awesome.

Oh, and I just added Seems Like Scrappy to my shop. Head on over to preorder a signed copy now.

And just because I like you (I like you a lot), from now until the day I get the books in my hand, all preordered copies are 25% off! No special code needed!

What can I say? Without having all of you to share this crazy creative life with, I'd be a crazy hermit. Seriously. I'd like to show my appreciation for you because without you all, I wouldn't be able to do this and call it my job. Simple as that.

I'll be back with more quilty goodness. Stay tuned!

Seems Like Scrappy Preview: Annabelle

Well folks, best I can tell, Seems Like Scrappy has been delayed until a June release... So you'll just have to wait a bit longer to get your hands on this goodness, but trust me - it'll be worth it!

Today I wanted to show you the largest quilt in the book, Annabelle:

Photo provided by Martingale, photography by Brent Kane

I was inspired by antique two-color quilts for this design. I wanted to "spiff it up" and changed the basic layout keeping one color as a constant (the red) and making the alternative super scrappy. To keep things interesting, I added in these little stars scattered them about the quilt.

When I design quilts like this one, I try to keep that classic feel and honor the heritage of the quilts from years past. In order to accomplish this task I try to only switch out one thing at a time... First I had the idea of adding the stars and that alone would have been great. This book however isn't called two-color quilts, it's meant to be scrappy! So that is where I decided to scrap up one piece of this puzzle.

The trick to keeping a balance when you have so many fabrics in a quilt like this is to keep it subtle. The mixture of prints used in grays and tans and pinks looks much more harmonious in real life (I promise, pinky swear). When you pair all of those warm tones with that deep dark red, the red is so bold it blends together the rest of the fabrics even when normally you'd think they may not work together.

Now with keeping it subtle, you want your scrappy pieces to be individual enough to stand out on their own when mixed in a grouping like this. If your fabrics all look too similar and don't stand out a bit in the mix, you could sabotage yourself and make it look like you only used three fabrics when you used 20... Why go through all of that work to have it mush in the end?

I elaborate more on this topic in the book and much more with several tips and tricks like I had in my first book, Seamingly Scrappy. I could go on forever about color choices and scrappy quilts, but I will share all of that with you little by little.

Annabelle was one of the few quilts that was named quite easily. I have such a hard time coming up with names for all of my quilts and this one made it easy. Well, easy if you can follow my logic:

* I'm a car girl living in NE Ohio... There are several classic car shows in the area almost every night of the week during the summer (you have to show off those cars when you only have three months or so out of the year to do it!)

* Annabelle has a classic look to me but she's got some spunk with that deep cherry red... it reminds me of those classic cars...

* One of my favorite movies had a ton of cars that were named for identities (Gone in 60 Seconds)

* There used to be this diner a few towns over that was THE PLACE for classic car cruise-ins when I was growing up and it was called Annabelle's Diner.

* Annabelle. Consider this quilt named!

Sometimes the quilt name has little actually to do with the piecing or the design rather than the feeling it exudes. I honestly wish I didn't have to name quilts and could just label them Quilt No. 45, but that's pretty boring, so I look at coming up with names as a brain exercise. It pushes my creativity in a completely different way.

Annabelle is the largest quilt in the book, but one of the easiest to make. The pattern calls for fat quarters and some yardage for the red, but this quilt could take on a completely different feel by switching up the color scheme to suit your needs.

I hope you like this quilt! I know I LOVE it!!! Annabelle and 13 other quilt patterns will be in Seems Like Scrappy, my latest book due out in June (at the moment). Check back here every week as I show you a new quilt from the book up to the release date!

Machine Quilting: Lazy Afternoon

First off, there's a giveaway going on here. Jump on over an enter for your chance to win. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. 1/12/13 EST.

Aside from that, we have this amazing group at Cottonpickers Quilt Shop called the Marti & Me Club. Miss Gayle runs it and once a month ladies meet to learn about a new template designed by Marti Michell, they show off what they've made with their other templates and they get a new pattern to go with the template being demonstrated. The best part of it all, you just come, get chocolate, relax, shop and go home. There's no actual sewing done in the meeting so you don't have to drag anything to the group besides yourself! Oh, and your show and tell, but that's minor.

Linda is a fairly new member to the Marti & Me Club, but she was so happy with how well her Lazy Afternoon quilt came out, that she decided to enter this into the Lake Farmpark Quilts 2013 Show this year!

 Linda made this with French General fabrics by Moda and the color placement is incredible. There are just slight variations of tones within the "red" fabrics which really makes this quilt "pop".

 There are three different blocks that make up this quilt so each one got a different style of quilting.

 I know some of the details are a bit hard to see, I finished this quilt late at night and the lighting wasn't the greatest...

To emphasize the fabrics, in each corner I quilted a fleur de lis. Otherwise, most of the quilting was kept simple to allow the quilt to do the talking, not the quilting. 

Linda did a great job on this quilt and I'm so proud of her. Her piecing is spot on and she should be happy with the end result. Thanks for letting me quilt this for you!

You can see this quilt and about 200 others beginning next month at the Lake Farmparks Quilts 2013 Show in Kirtland, OH.

If you'd like to learn more about the Marti & Me Club at Cottonpickers, please contact Beth at cottonpickersquiltshop(at)gmail(dot)com.

More quilting and other topics to come in the near future! Toodles!

The Latest!

It's official that the Charmed Living Runner patterns are near completion and will be ready to ship on Tuesday, June 29th. This has been one of my all time favorite patterns so far and I think even before this year is out I will probably have made at least 7 of them. They're so easy and it works well with any fabric. I know I'll be making one or two for Christmas (since the fabric is out I have to do something with it!) and maybe a few others to use here at home. Maybe a gift or two... we'll see.

Oh, that reminds me, I wanted to share with you my newest favorite saying. Not that it pertains to all of us, but let me tell you in certain aspects of my life and many of my friends I know it's just perfect. So the line I heard was - I'm working on my procrastination issues, just you wait and see! Love it! Made me giggle and okay, now back to the pattern.

So here's how this pattern came to be. Just after I had released the first Charmed Living pattern (Charmed Living Topper - read more about it here), it was such a hit the ladies started asking me what else you could make out of Charm Packs. I replied with the poise and grace that I seem to be known for (insert laugh here) "Uuuummmmmm, (big pause) I don't have anything else drawn up, but I'll come up with something." I couldn't believe that with all of the other patterns I had been working on and drawing up that I neglected to include another featuring Charm Packs. How did this happen?!

Shortly after this conversation had taken place, I attended one of the last local quilt shows for the season and found the coveted fabric I was searching for. I had fallen in love with French General's Rouenerries line since I first saw it, I just hadn't been able to get my hands on it until this show. I took it home and spent that evening brainstorming what to do with my latest purchase. After a couple of hours and nothing to show for it productivity wise, a small chat with my Mom was all I needed to refocus and relax a bit.

Once off the phone I glanced over to the pillow I had made of scraps from my Hubbin's quilt and remembered how I would like to take it and make a quilt pattern based on it. Half an hour later, the quilt was drawn out, designed, and all the math was done, I just needed to make it now.

  

I was so elated that I started cutting and sewing the next day. I liked it so much that I thought another version done in completely different fabric would be nice. I made this second runner using Eden from Lila Tueller. And with it having that spring-time feel to it, why not add an applique design? Before you know it, two runners were made, both completely different, but made using the same pattern. The diversity in this pattern is so great, it will work with any fabrics you choose and look tremendous! You can either choose to do the applique embellishment (the instructions are included in the pattern) or leave it out. Or feel free to change it up to match the fabrics you are using. Snowflakes for winter, leaves for fall, whatever you choose.

Also, this pattern is great for gifts. I love to make gifts for friends, but sometimes my taste in fabric and theirs are totally different. If I have to make a big quilt and pick the fabrics, that's one thing. If I have to make it all myself, I might not enjoy it as much because I don't like the fabric. With this pick a Charm Pack that suits your friend, the choosing of multiple fabrics is done for you, and since it's a table runner it'll go fast and they will love it!

Let me know what you think of this design, as I said I'm sure you will be seeing more of it in the near future. I have one already cut out and another shortly behind it in the to do list. Also, If you make this design and e-mail me a picture of it I will post it here on the blog. I love to see show and tell! Well, thanks for chatting and now I need to go sew. Yeppers, another runner. They're addicting, I'm warning you. Until next time!