Generation Q Magazine, Me, a Giveaway

I'm excited to share my first ever published quilt with you. It's called Flash Card and it's in the June/July issue of Generation Q Magazine.

Flash Card came about when I designed a block as part of Generation Q's Block Builder series. Each issue features a block starter which consists of a few lines. The idea is to take it from there and design a quilt block. The designer in me just can't resist playing along with these challenges. Below left is the starter block that gave birth to the Flash Card block and quilt.

The Block Builder challenge usually gets me thinking outside the normal quilt block approach and as a result, I end up with some pretty interesting ideas. Through the process,  I've also discovered that it's often the simple looking blocks that have the potential to turn into very dynamic quilts. I've had 3 of my blocks make the cut in previous issues so you can see I love to play along. When submitting for this round of Block Builder, the folks at GenQ asked me to make up my block into a quilt for their Spring Market issue. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. I highly recommend giving the Block Builder challenge a try. Maybe your block will become a quilt in one of their upcoming issues too.

Flash Card is an easy quilt to sew and great for using scraps. I used Kaffe Fassett scraps for the block centers. Karen Dovala of the Quilted Moose did the quilting and I just love how the overall floral pattern turned out echoing the floral prints. A light gray thread was just right to show up equally well on both the black and white solids and yet not distract from all the color centers.

As I worked on the quilt, I pondered what to do with the little left over HST. Couldn't let cute little scraps go to waste so I turned them into bean bags and sewed up a pouch to hold them all. Now you can use the quilt as a throw and a game too! The bean bags and pouch became a bonus project that was featured on Generation Q's blog. You can see that project here. My new kittens seemed to love the bag the most. I think it was the drawstrings.

Don't you think those scrap HST made cute little bean bags? I backed them up with 4 different fabrics from the quilt so 4 people could play at a time. 

There are so many different ways this quilt could be made and used. Here's just a few other ideas.

• Use novelty prints in pairs and turn the quilt into a matching/tossing game.
• Use different solid colors in place of the prints and have each player try to land their bean bags on a given color.
• Make the matching even more challenging by changing up both the block center colors and the triangle colors for multiple color combinations.
• Come up with your very own game plan.

If you don't know about GenQ or haven't seen an issue yet you don't know what you're missing. It's a great small format magazine loaded with quilty information. Here's a sample of what you'll find in this issue:

• Victoria Findlay Wolfe talks vintage poly quilts.
• At home profile with Melody Miller, designer of Ruby Star.
• Test drive basting sprays.
• Paper piecing basics.
• The next Block Builder . . . why not give it a try.
• Plus lots more including Flash Card by yours truly.

Starting with the June/July issue they are now publishing bi-monthly. Head over to their website to find out more and order your own copy. I think you'll like what you see. They are just the nicest people and have been most encouraging to me.

To celebrate my first ever quilt being published I'm giving away a copy. All you need to do is leave a comment and tell me what quilting magazine is your favorite and why. Become a blog follower for a second chance.

Comments are closed. The winner is Rachel at The Life of Riley. Congrats Rachel.

WIP Wednesday

Thanks to our new Boulder Modern Quilt Guild and Denise, I've finally joined the scrappy trip around the world block craze.

I'm not usually one for doing too many quilt-alongs since I have way way too many of my own designs swimming around in my head and not enough time to get them done. That said, now I see what everyone is so excited about. This is such an easy block to piece thanks to Denise's great demo. Love the Elmers glue trick for matching seams.

I've been collecting fabrics in the aqua/blue/lemon/yellow range for awhile now ever since I saw this great eye catching display in one of my favorite Ft Collins shops, The White Balcony. The color didn't come out too great in the original photo but I still remember the impact it had on my creative ideas.

Now I think I'll be making more of these fun scrappy trip blocks. Even have ideas for other color schemes. Who knows  . . .

If you're like me and just never got around to making this one, it's never too late.
Here's the link to the original Scrappy Trip tutorial.

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday. Hop over and take a look.

Tradewinds, a quilt and table runner finished!

I posted earlier about buying a layer cake of the fabric collection called Tradewinds made by Moda. Now I rarely buy a whole line of anything. Not so much because I don't want to, more because my budget just doesn't allow for all my wants. Besides, I keep telling myself I need to work with all the glorious fabrics I already own. But this time I splurged. And then, instead of adding it to my stash, I made the top and actually quilted it! Probably no big deal to many of you but quite out of my norm. I tend to be a topper all too often instead of a true quilter. Working on breaking that bad habit.

I used a variation of my own pattern called Cascade (available here) to make the quilt. The fabric with the lattice design said napkins to me and the triangles in the quilt design made me think of folded napkins tucked under a plate. I bought additional yardage of the lattice prints and used the layer cake squares for the main blocks. Didn't plan on a border when I started but once the blocks were pieced they just wanted to be contained and given a little breathing room to set them off. Plus adding a border made the quilt finish at a better size for a tablecloth. I used a 2-color extra wide binding to echo the colors in the corners of the quilt. A little red check for the backing finished off the summery tablecloth/picnic feel.

One of the extra features in the Cascade pattern is the use of leftovers to make a second project. I thought I'd use the bonus blocks to make some coordinating napkins but just wasn't feeling any of the layouts. The thing about the bonus blocks is they are a result of the trimmed corners from the larger quilt blocks. Easy peasy to make as you sew the quilt blocks, but what you get is a result of the fabric combinations used for the quilt. Lots of layout options to consider with these extra blocks but I just didn't like them as napkins. When I abandoned the napkins and tried a zigzag layout I knew a small table runner was the answer. Love how the chevron design fell into place.  I decided to skip the border on the runner once I realized it fit perfectly on my side table as is, plus I had just enough leftover quilt backing to back the runner. Gotta love when that works out.  : )

Then my daughter pointed out how well the fabrics went with my colored vase collection. She's got a good eye for design don't you think?

I also posted earlier about the frustration of trying to quilt the top.  : (   Since I envisioned this as a tablecloth, I thought I'd make it lighter weight and thinner than a normal quilt. Didn't quite turn out as I imagined though. I used a piece of flannel instead of batting. Thinner, yes . . . lighter weight, not so much. As a matter of fact, it's rather heavy which was part of my quilting frustration. That and a kitty who wanted to help by sitting on top while I tried to move it around under the needle. The two just do not work well together. But she sure is cute. Meow!

The frustration level went down when kitty left and I had a day to regroup and relax. I quilted a grid on point in the inner red/pink area and then straight lines around the blue/green outer edge. The border got some free motion loops that echoed the design elements from one of the fabric prints. The eclectic bazaar feeling of the prints seems to call for some hand work as well. Now I'm not one to do hand quilting. As a matter of fact I've never done any hand quilting. But there are so many beautiful things being done by some of you that I feel inspired to give it a try. I might try some pearl cotton hand stitching in the borders. What do you think? Red? Blue? Green? Pink? Small pointed half circles between every two loops?

So this about sums up my Tradewinds experience:
Loved the Tradewinds collection and all it's variety.
Will definitely look for more fabric collections to work with.
Won't use flannel instead of batting again unless it's something small.
May try hand quilting but for now other project deadlines take priority.

All in all, I'm very happy with how both these projects turned out. Now it's time for afternoon tea in the backyard. Ta Ta . . .

WIP Wednesday

This marks the second week for me of WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced. There are so many wonderful projects in the works by the looks of it. Hop on over and check out a few for yourself. You're bound to be inspired. I know I am when I see all the new WIP's each week. Please leave a comment or two when you visit. It really helps turn all these WIP's into finished projects. Gotta love that.   : )

My WIP for the week is my Tradewinds tablecloth and matching tablerunner. I used my Cascade pattern (see pattern here) for the main tablecloth and posted about the trouble I was having with the quilting. It was heavy and I had a lot of drag. Hhmmmm . . . do you suppose it had anything to do with my helper who wouldn't get off the quilt? Oh the things I put up with.

Originally I was going to make matching napkins with the bonus blocks that are created when the top is sewn. But I just didn't like any of the block arrangements. What I did like was this great zigzag layout. So instead of napkins, the extra blocks became this tablerunner. I added a border to the main quilt so might do the same with this. Can't decide. What do you think?

I finished the quilting on the main quilt today and will bind later this week. Hope to finish up this little runner too. Then maybe I'll make some napkins from extra yardage if I find more Tradewinds on sale. Love this line. Here's the main quilt before border. I used a layer cake plus a little extra yardage of the bamboo lattice print. This pic was before the border was added.

I've also been working on my Tetris QAL blocks. Still having lots of fun with it and looking forward to the finished quilt. You can see my blocks here. Stay tuned next week and I'll share the finished Tradewinds quilt. Some weeks are better than others at finishing and there are times when I think everyone but me is getting lots done. Hope you're getting lots done too.

Fresh Tossed

Another month of summer begins and it's time for another fruit/veggie quilt in my kitchen. August around here is when the gardens really start to produce all their bounty of veggies. I have friends who have the most amazing garden every summer. Tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, onions . . . you name it they probably grow it. As for our garden, I'm more of a flower gardener than a veggie gardener, but we do manage a couple of tomato plants every year. They produce enough for us and the tomato worms. Can not believe how big tomato worms are. ICK!!! Sorry but I am not a worm girl. Have to have my husband pull them off when I see one.

The design of this quilt is a mix of all kinds of salad goodness. I foundation pieced the blocks using a juicy tomato print for the center that I wonky cut. Then I added varying width strips of green veggies followed by colorful veggies and ending with another border of green. For the center block I switched up this order. I used the leftover scraps of all the colorful veggie to piece an outer border.

And what better way to serve up some fresh veggie goodness than in my veggie dish collection. You know I love my fruit and veggie dish collection. : )  Here's some of the veggie dishes.

A very colorful quilt to say the least. It's perfect as a tabletopper when serving some fresh veggies to snack on. I love eating fresh garden salads this time of year. Makes me feel healthy. So here's to eating well. Now go eat your veggies.

Stay cool and refreshed with a new pattern . . . Cascade

Summer has settled in with temps topping 100- way too often as far as I'm concerned. So what better way to stay cool than to surround myself with some of my favorite cool colored fabrics. They are refreshing and calming amidst all the heat. The fabrics in this quilt remind me of a gentle rain in a lush green garden. I think of hanging gardens and cascading water. 

Thus was born Cascade . . . another SpringLeaf Studios quilt pattern.

I'm excited to share this pattern with all of you because it has so many possibilities.

The pattern features two different versions; 

A Scrappy version and a modern take on the ZigZag.

Plus 7 additional optional looks . . . all from the same design.

This is the Scrappy version and features fabrics from Kaffe Fassett and Michael Miller. It's perfect for layer cakes, fat quarters and of course large scraps. One of my favorites so far because it feels so refreshing.

Here's the ZigZag version featuring Kona Cotton solids. This version also works great with prints. I have to admit this is my first all solids quilt, but it won't be my last. There's a calmness about these solids that is very soothing to me.

I have so much fun designing quilts. Each time I create a new design I'm always exploring what would happen if I tried this or that. What if I arranged the blocks this way? What if the emphasis is changed? What if this? What if that? Sometimes it's very hard to stop experimenting and actually get to work making the quilt. I need little elves to sew for me... that would be so cool.

When I decided to start publishing my quilt designs it seemed like a natural choice to include all these explorations in each pattern. I've never been one to follow patterns exactly as they come. A little change here or there. I'll bet a lot of you feel the same. I really want the Design Explorations page provided in my patterns to inspire you to make a quilt the way you want. Not only with fabrics that you love but also with a flare that makes you feel like it's your very own. Here's what the Explorations page looks like.

Here's a few other versions of Cascade I've made to give you an idea of how it looks in other fabrics and arrangements. Hope they inspire.

Cascade ZigZag made with large scale prints from Kaffe  Fassett and Michael Miller.
A mini quilt was made from the trimmed leftovers.

Cascade made using a checkerboard arrangement of fabrics.

Cascade made using a concentric ring arrangement of fabrics.

A pillow made from the trimmed leftovers. The pattern gives detailed directions for the pillow.

So here's what included:

Cascade gives directions and yardage for 2 different versions; Scrappy and ZigZag.

It includes 3 sizes; baby, lap/twin, and double/queen.

A bonus pillow project is included that's made from the trimmed leftovers of the quilt. Or you can make a mini like I did with the leftovers.

And of course it includes the Design Lesson and Exploration sections to inspire you.

Cascade is available on Craftsy and in my Etsy shop. Hope you'll give it a look. I'd really love to know what you think. Please leave me a comment and tell me which version is your favorite.

Stay cool . . . and quilt on.

Anne

My First Pattern!

I’m super excited to share my quilt with you here at the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. My festival quilt marks a huge turning point for me and my quilting. 

Last year I finally discovered all you talented, enthusiastic quilters in blogland. A little late arriving, but so glad I finally made it to the party. A quilter for 15 plus years, I’ve never quite felt the connection to other quilters that I feel now as I discover more and more of your inspiring blogs. I’ve been more excited and inspired than I’ve been in years. So this year, I decided to join you and play along. My hat's off to Amy for creating this great online event.

Bloggers' Festival marks the introduction to my newbie blog and my very own quilt business, SpringLeaf Studios. And my festival quilt, Facets, is the very first of my pdf patterns to be released for sale. I have to tell you, it’s super exciting and scary all at the same time. I hope you like my quilt as much as I like looking at all of yours.

I’m a designer at heart and by training, so when I design a new quilt, I’m always exploring all the hidden potential within that design. There’s always more than one way to do something and I love looking at all the options. Simple changes to colors, fabrics and placement can make significant changes to the look of a quilt. One of the goals with my patterns is to share my process and explorations with you so that you can envision more possibilities beyond the featured design. 

The Facets pattern comes with 2 versions, optional sizes, plus 8 additional ideas and a bonus pillow project that's made from the trimmed leftovers. It’s like getting one pattern with endless possibilities. Pattern is available at Craftsy and in my Etsy shop. Check it out.

Lastly, I want to thank you for sharing all your inspiring work with the rest of us. No matter your level of experience, I believe we all have something to offer. You never know when your own little idea might be just what someone needs to give them inspiration to make something beautiful. And nothing is more beautiful and meaningful than something made by hand and with our heart for those we love. That’s what quilting gives to me. The opportunity to share my creativity and make the world more beautiful. : )

Here's a final shot of both quilts. Don't you just love that striped chair? My talented daughter, Emily, redid it last summer for her apartment. Love it!