Last night I had a great time sharing quilts with the Tidewater Quilter’s Guild (TQG) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I lived in Virginia Beach for over 10 years. I always say that TQG birthed me! They were my first quilting guild and they are a wonderful friendly group of quilters.
Whirling Dervish & Cross Street Pasture
My pattern Converging Geese & Studio 180 Design Evening Elegance.
I just finished teaching a Hidden Treasures Workshop at A Different Touch in Chesapeake, Virginia.
The quilter’s who took the class were treasures to me! Just look at our faces. Just as Kathleen was about to take the picture, Connie shouted out something that took us all by surprise (I can’t repeat it here) but is cracked us up! It was a fun 3 days!
Hidden Treasures offers quilters over 30 projects to choose from. Finished quilts are a generous lap size. All the projects in this book are made using the Rapid Fire Hunter Star Petite tool. This book is intended to be a design play book. All the quilts are made using the 7” block size option, and the simplest two color variation where half the pieces are dark value and half are light value pieces. Students can use the one of the following options:
8 dark fat quarters + 8 light fat quarters Or 8 dark fat quarters + 2 yards of a single light fabric Or 8 light fat quarters + 2 yards of a single dark fabric
There are just 3 block configurations used in these patterns.
Jean started to design. Jean & Kathryn chose to make the same design.
But then Kathryn got the idea to switch out Jean’s black & white center blocks with her red blocks. Jean liked it so much she decided to make some red blocks for her quilt center.
Sandy did a fabulous job. All the students got their blocks completed and took them home to design. They learned how to use their Studio 180 Design Hunter Star Petite tool and are now completely armed to go forth and conquer any hunter star pattern!
Thank you Connie, Mary, Kathryn, Pam, Jean, Sandy & Nancy! I had so much fun teaching you this process and can’t wait to see your finished projects.
Also, a huge thank you to the owner of A Different Touch: Doris and her staff Kathleen, Cindy & Patty.
Wowza, I just got home from teaching a One Block Wonder workshop to a great group of quilters whom I think of as friends! We gathered at the Strong House Inn in Vergennes, Vermont, where Innkeepers Mary, Hugh & Betsy spoil us with care.
We hit the road running on Thursday afternoon, almost as soon as I got in the room the cutting of the repeats began.
Carol had started hers hexies at home so she designed first, and what an awesome job she did!
I did not get a picture of Sally’s original fabric. It was motorcycles, racing flags and flowers on a bright clear blue fabric. Her design is so very cool. Ride Sally Ride!
Joan’s panel is in deep golds and rich colors. It seems one of her favorite blocks was very plain that she called “the Tortilla”! Can you find it?
Joan’s sister Sharon had a small aboriginal print from an 8″ repeat that she cut 2 1/2″ strips for a smaller hexie. Somehow I missed getting a picture of her final design which was totally awesome.
Deb’s panel is awesome and her hexie design is totally awesomeness!
Gladys’ fabric is so bright and cheerful. Her design is a true celebration of color!
Our very own Kathy Gannon had a fabulous large aboriginal fabric. The light in this photo does not shown how wonderful this design is. Kathy took the darker greens and fashioned a caterpillar crawling across the design. She also made great use of her left over fabric by making several size hexies to add a unique creative flair to her quilt. I can’t wait to see it finished.
Wonderful Jane found her fabric strips needed to be cut smaller to make best use of the design. She thought she would never get to the end of sewing her Mardi Gras hexies together.
Martha started with a great panel and came up with a very creative design. She loving calls some of her blocks “desert plates” that surround the center of light hexies.
Anne was not too sure about a One Block Wonder Retreat, but she went along with her sister Martha’s choice. What a completely awesome job she did. She is calling this quilt “Moon over Kyoto”!
Me at the end of the day laying in my bed exhausted!
What a great group of quilting friends. I miss you guys already!
I’ll be back at the Strong House Inn October 24, 25, 26 & 27, 2019 for “Everything You Wanted to Know about the Tucker Trimmer, But were afraid to Ask” workshop. We will make at least 4 blocks showcasing what units you can make, a table runner and a wall hanging, so make your reservations soon! Happy Quilting everyone.
It all started in 2008. I went to the Virginia Consortium of Quilters (VCQ) “Celebration” at Smith Mountain Lake. That year they were sponsoring an “Apron Contest”.
I chose a sewing themed fabric that was too busy to embroider so I embroidered black Kona fabric and made many pockets including a license plate. Sometimes my brain can be a scary thing. I got an idea to make a pocket like a quiver for my back to hold a ruler & a pocket on the front to hold a rotary cutter.
This video sort of shows my Ninja powers. A friend Lisa Burgess and I were challenging each other to a “Pillowcase Off”. We had a race to see who could make a pillowcase the fastest. I think Lisa won!
Anyway, back to my story. I won 1st Place in the apron contest and my alter ego was born. Everywhere I went people wanted to see the “Quilt Ninja”. I even named her “Myrtle May, the Quilt Ninja” (said with a deep southern accent)!!!
This photo is hysterical. I was giving a trunk Show to the Deltaville Stingrays Quilt Guild when I whipped out my ruler and it broke! I scared the crap out of myself and everyone else! Just look at my face!
Needless to say Myrtle May the Quit Ninja needs a new wardrobe from time to time. (She even dyes her hair now and then too.)
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Then there was this version that was later altered…
I became a Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor in 2013 and now needed a place for my Magic Wand.
This version is a prototype. I’m playing around with Studio 180 Design Merit Badges for tool expertise!
The fabrics in this post were given to me by Island Batik.
Island Batik Ambassador assignment for March is “Vintage Reimagined”. Hmmmm, I had several ideas, some just didn’t work out. I started to look through my quilt book library. I picked up Harriet Hargraves’ Heirloom Machine Quilting book. I was intrigued by a small quilt, 35″ x 35″ called Bountiful Vineyard by Joanie Poole. Turns out Joanie Poole teaches heirloom quilting. This is ironic (more on this later).
I chose to use the Snow Berry collection, simple gorgeous. I went to my EQ8 and started drawing.
Once I created the block I could also figure out the quilt layout. I love this block!
First I made the Bear Paw unit. I used Deb Tucker’s “Eight at a Time” Technique Sheet to make fast work of 80 Half Square Triangles.
Then add the side rectangles.
Pop off the corner of the rectangles using the Studio 180 Design Corner Pop tool.
Add replacement triangles according to the tool instructions and trim. Easy peasy, the Corner pop tool trims the corner & leaves the seam allowance so adding the replacement triangle is accurate with plenty to perfectly trim.
Stitch the corner popped rectangles to the bear paw unit. Make 20 – 10″ finished blocks.
I laid it out on my design wall, stitched it together and added the borders.
I usually meander my quilts on my Nolting mid arm, but this time I decided to quilt each quarter diagonally with all seams going toward the center with my domestic Bernina 570. It seemed like a good idea. I have never tried this on a large quilt. Bear Tracks measures 70″ x 70″. I stitched in the ditch down the center vertically and horizontally. Then corner to center diagonally. Then stitch in 1/2″ increments, first to the left of the center diagonal then to right. I did this in each quarter stopping at the inner border. What I didn’t realize was how much this close stitching would shrink the center of the quilt, making the borders very wavy. I loaded Bear Tracks onto my quilt frame and meandered the borders to try and shrink them down. It helped a little but the edges of my beautiful quilt are wavy. Drat!
Bear Tracks is wavy, but oh so cuddly. I love it! I think I need a quilting class from Joanie Poole!
This quilt was pieced and quilted with Aurifil thread and finished with Hobbs batting.
Whaaaaaat? I started making this shirt 20 years ago and love it so much I’m still making it. I learned to sew in high school 50 years ago (boy it hurts to say that out loud)!
I first made this shirt in 1999. I love it.
But, I did alter it. I’m always hot, so I did away with the collar. I folded the pattern front center edge to give a smooth V neck and do away with the collar. But then I needed to create a facing. So I laid the pattern piece on tracing paper and traced the curve, then add 2″ to the width. I also shortened it by folding the pattern up to give it a straight edge.
I decided I didn’t need to add a separate yoke, so I stitched the yoke pattern piece to the back pattern piece to simplify the process.
I love cotton shirts. How lucky that I’m a quilter with access to lots of cotton fabric! After washing the fabric I cut out all the pieces and then serge the edges.
I love that the sleeves are not set in and that the front of the sleeve is the same as the back. It makes it easy to stitch to the front and back pieces, and then stitch the side seams.
The products shown in this post were given to me by Island Batik.
Our assignment for February was to create a “Magnificent Mini” using any technique we chose. The only criteria was the size: 24″ x 24″ or smaller. It seems I’m always collecting quilt blocks for hearts and Christmas Trees. The first thing I do is fire up my EQ8 and start drawing.
Last year I made a heart mug rug. The drawing above consists of mirror image split rects and two squares that have had the corners popped using Studio 180 Design Split Rects & Corner Pop tools.
Welcome to Studio 180 Design’s “Twilight Chic Blog Hop”. I have been lucky enough to make 4 quilts from Twilight Chic line of batiks by Island Batik for Deb Tucker.
For this challenge I chose to make a hunter star quilt from Deb Tucker’s book “Hidden Treasures” using the Rapid Fire Hunter Star Petite tool. Hidden Treasures offers you 29 different lap size quilt patterns and 7 bed runner patterns for the hunter star.
The same pieces can make very different quilts. There are just 3 different block configurations used in these patterns.
The pattern I chose used the first two blocks.
I made 24 of each.
With these blocks I could choose from 16 different quilts or 3 bed runners.
These two are Curveball page 30 and Checkmate page 32.
Strawberry Fields page 40 and Spring Fling page 48.
La Belle page 50 and Pele page 74. These 6 quilts are just a sample of what you can make with these blocks. So what did I choose………
I chose to make Autumn Twilight on page 66. But, I call mine Twilight Treasure!
This book is definitely a treasure!
Click here for a chance to win a Twilight Chic Fat Quarter Bundle.
Be sure to see all the creations by my fellow Certified Instructors:
It’s that time again, a new year of challenges from Island Batik. I’m blown away by the generosity of Island Batik, Aurifil, Hobbs Batting and Accuquilt Go Cutter! We have some great projects to share with you this year. I’m almost done with February and March’s challenges and can’t wait to share. Here is a video of all the products given to me as an Island Batik Ambassador:
The fabrics shown in this post were given to me by Island BatikDeb Tucker’s Twilight Chic by Island Batik
Well, if you can’t getaway, go to the library for a good book! The Utica, NY Public Library opened in 1904. I love the inside of this Library.
Shaded Chic
The upper floors of the Utica Library are made of thick glass. I used to love coming here as a child.
In every box of fabric we Island Batik Ambassador’s receive, there is a secret bundle of the newly released batiks. I was lucky enough to be assigned Twilight Chic by Deb Tucker for Studio 180 Design. This is my third quilt from the Twilight Chic line.
If These Threads Could Talk 