I recently had the pleasure of attending the
Knit and Stitch show in London, England.
Yes, glamorous job, but someone has to do it.
One of the Moda designers, Janet Clare had a booth filled with patterns, kits, stitcheries and all kinds of goodies.
Janet was wearing her iconic Artisian Apron.
I love it… wear your creativity!
Read more about Janet here.
Right down the aisle from Janet was Harriett Riddell, a performance textile artist. Yes, a performance textile artist.
I was drawn in by her eclectic table covering made from vintage linens, hankies and art. I knew there had to be a good story here.
While I did not officially meet her, I did stand and watch her work for quite a while. Harriett uses thread and a sewing machine much
like an artist uses paper and pencil to create characters.
Here is a bit of info about Harriett from her bio page.
Harriet Riddell was born in 1990 and grew up in Oxfordshire, England. Harriet is a mixed media performance artist, specializing in observational drawings using a sewing machine. Her artwork responds to and interprets the transient world on to a permanent canvas. Harriet encourages interaction by working in unusual locations and experimenting with the subjects the she chooses to stitch.
(photos used with permission of Harriett Riddell.)
I wanted to show off some of the adorable quilts from the book. There is a variety of quilts using 1 charm pack, 2 charm packs or even go big with 3 charm packs.
Shown above- Bee Hive by Deb Strain
Flying Geese By Bonnie Olaveson
Add your favorite background and see how charm squares can grow into a beuatiful quilt like this one from Bonnie of Cotton Way.
The Halloween candy is almost gone or if you are like me the candy is buried in the freezer. The turkey and all the fixin’s will be on the table very very soon. Then it will be time to pull out all those Ugly Christmas Sweaters, the tackier the better, right?I couldn’t resist when Kerry contacted me and see if I wanted to be a part of her ugly Christmas blocks, sweater blocks that is.
For information on details about the sweater pattern, visit Kid Giddy. There is an a whole group of us making sweater blocks and posting them on Instagram. To follow along search #uglysweaterblock or follow Kerry’s IG.
I will be sharing my block on my Instagram soon, @modalissa.
I am so super excited that one of my quilts is featured in the December 2016 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. I may have to have a Holiday Party and invite everyone over to help me celebrate. But since I can’t do that I will just have to share my Holiday Party Quilt on the newly redesigned cover of this wonderful issue.
If I were to have a party I would need to borrow all of their props to use by my quilt and I would need to clean my house, so I doubt that is going to happen anytime soon.
I thought I would share how this quilt came to be. Do you remember the old commercials from the 80’s for doublemint gum?
Two..
Two..
Two Quilts in one.
I wish it was that easy.
The quilts shown below that were APQ Quilt-Along features were the inspiration.
I drew out the Holiday Party using some of the math from my Burgoyne Surrounded shown below and added in leftover pieces from my four patch quilt to get some what of a morphed holiday version. Once I connected the dots and added a few more squares to fill in the holes, the Holiday Party quilt came to life.
Now I have the jingle from the 80’s commercial stuck in my head. Double Fresh, Double Smooth, Double Pleasure waiting for you……..
I am 57 out of 100.
This is not my class rank or my finish in the last 5K I participated in.
It is my block number in the Splendid Sampler.
I call it the Super Splendid Sampler. (triple S)
It seems like yesterday that I met with Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson as they were cooking up this idea. What a idea it was, bringing together 100 different people from the quilting community from all over the world to make 1- 6″ block.
Sounds easy enough! I had fun playing with a 6″ block, but tying it to a story about me got a little tough. Where to begin?
I played wth fabrics and decided Starting Point was the perfect description for my journey as a quilter. I started quilting in 1980, pre-google, pre online shopping, pre-almost everything! I am a self taught quilter, trying to figure it out as I went along. This was my Starting Point.
The Block instructions are posted on the Splendid Sampler website. I snagged this picture from the site. I had completely forgotten that I wrote the silly note on the envelope when I mailed it to Pat.
In 1989 my SIL gave me a book, It’s Okay to Sit on My Quilt by Mary Ellen Hopkins and an Olfa rotary cutter. Game Changer!! I was hooked. Many books, classes and quilts later, I am still as passionate about the art of quilting as I was then. I continue to learn and be inspired and hope the Splendid Sampler has inspired you.
If you are making the sampler, keep going, you can do it. Hopefully, you have learned a few new things and met some quilty friends along the way.
ONE FINAL THING
Organizing and supporting such a project has been borderline miraculous for Jane and Pat, or maybe a better description would be as if they were herding cats. Thank you to Pat, Jane and all of the designers contributing to this project. Hop on over to Splendid Sampler to download my block instructions.
How super cool is Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings? She is the first person to be shown on the cover of American Patchwork & Quilting. This does make her the official cover girl of quilting. Nick, her husband, thought she should do the photo shoot in a bikini, until everyone informed him it was not that type of cover girl. (just kidding, Nick!!)
I was tickled to see Lisa on the cover and then continued to flip through the pages to see some of my other friends. Vanessa Goetzen of Lella Boutique’s bright shiny face on page 5, Betsy Chutchian‘s reproduction quilt, Just Toasty on page 35, Pat Sloan, Bonanza of Baskets on page 54, and then on page 79 I almost wet my pants. There was my quilt, Kettle Corn. You know I love scrappy quilts and mixing all kinds of Moda designers fabrics into one quilt. I also love fall and I can be found munching on kettle corn regardless of what time of the year it is. My family must think I am a bit of a mad scientist. I am always dipping, dying, bleaching and messing with fabrics. I had a variety of fabrics and wondered what they would look like bleached and overdyed. I loved how some of the modern lines turned almost vintage with a dunk into bleach. Shown here is the quilt top before it was sent to the quilter. It really shows off the variety of prints.
Everything including fabrics from Sandy Gervias, Urban Chics, Zen Chic, Vanessa Christenson, Barbara Brackman, Fig Tree and Sweetwater. I guess I could have named it Kitchen Sink since many of the fabrics have spent some time there and I threw in such a variety. Love it!
To be in such good company with all the people in this issue warms my heart.
Can’t wait for the season to change to fall and be surrounded by all things pumpkins.
Look for the October issue of American Patchwork and Quilting!!
Also a thank you shout out to Carrie Nelson and Elizabeth Besse. I was recouping from surgery so they jumped in and wrote the article for me.
DISCLAMIER: I am told I am a pretty private person, so I thought I would go ahead and fill you in on the past 5 or 6 months of my life. The post is long, but I wanted to fill in the gap so I can get back to sharing good things.
Several years ago, I read a blog about how people should not be adding “exclamation marks” to the end of all their sentences. This was not proper grammar and we should be able to tell our story with the correct words and not have to emphasize our feelings with “exclamation marks”.
Last week I read an article about many text messages include emojis and the over use of !!. The average text message includes 3 emojis and a few !!. That is my kind of communication. Recently, I noticed that more and more of my messages and emails to my family and friends have had multiple !!. Thought I should explain.
noun
1. the sign (!) used in writing after an exclamation.
2. this mark sometimes used in writing two or more times in succession to indicate intensity of emotion, loudness, etc.: Long live the Queen!!
3. this mark sometimes used without accompanying words in writing direct discourse to indicate a speaker’s dumbfounded astonishment:
“His wife just gave birth to quintuplets.”(!)
so my story begins……
Since my early forties, I have suffered from migraines, not really suffered, just possibly 2 migraines a year. I know when they were coming on and how to treat them immediately so the effects were not debilitating. Fast forward to late 2015, I had started to have more mild headaches that felt more like sinus pressure. Went to doc and was told to take sinus meds. Things still did not seem right. I went to my eye doctor to see if maybe my contact prescription had changed. It had not.
On March 3rd I spent the night at my son’s house to help with my new granddaughter!!!!
The morning of March 4th, I had a seizure!! Crazy – weird !! I was rushed to the emergency room of a local hospital, spent a week in the hospital as I continued to suffer from mild seizures. This was the same day that I had taken off work and had a doctors appt to get to the bottom of the headaches, the hospital admittance just sped things up a bit.
I stayed in the hospital a few days, overcame the seizures and went home.
Then, March 15th back to ER with headaches and on March 16- Right Crainotomy (brain surgery), then March 23rd headed home. (thank you to the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff of Medical City- Dallas)
My best friend is a nurse and she came into town during all this and stayed with me at the hospital, explained things to my family, while assuring them everything was going to be okay. I hope each of you have a friend like this. Except for the fact that she took pictures of me with staples all through my head and sent it out to her family. I will have to get her back for that.
a huge bulletin board full of notes from co workers, sales team and designers and industry friends.
Once I returned home, I slept in my own bed and was thrilled to be un-hooked from all the machines. My daughter had lined up 24 hour care for me, splitting many of the shifts between my husband and herself. daughter-in-laws, brother, sister-in-law, cousins, mom and friends all took their shifts. All the while my team at work took on more and more responsibility since I was “resting” during the busiest time of the year. They are priceless!!! Thank you to all!!
Texas Law restricts you from driving after having seizures. My daughter knows I am pretty hard headed and she took my car with her just to make sure I didn’t sneak out of the house. One of my first outings, my daughter took me to Target. I felt as if she wrapped me up in 3 layers of bubble wrap and put a leash on me. It really wasn’t that bad, but those of you that know my daughter, Jillian, would certainly believe that I am not exaggerating!!!!!
My mom was showing up for her assigned shifts to take care of me, all the while never letting us know that she did not feel well. Hard hardheadedness runs in our family. Shortly after Easter weekend, my mom fell and was hospitalized. After many complications, my mom passed away exactly one month after I had returned home from the hospital. My mom was an incredible spunky, funny and loving woman. She was a breast cancer survivor and had lived through the death of my father and sister. Mom was known for making notes on a small book she kept in her purse. When cleaning her things I found a torn piece of notebook paper in one of her purses that she had scribbled my doctor’s names on along with…. I like Lissa’s doctors. She is in good hands and will be alright. She also probably thought a few of the doctors were cute and was not afraid to tell them so. Yes, that was my mom!!!!
If my mom would have ever met you she would remember your name and everything about you and quite possibly written a little note about you that she would has stashed away in her purse. Our family is not the same without her!!
Throughout the past months, I have found that my circle of friends is much deeper and wider than I could ever have imagined. I am so grateful!!
There are so many reasons for every day to be a good day and to add !!!!!’s to all messages.
Are you a part of this viral quilting community? Jane Davidson and Pat Sloan are the masterminds behind this year long event, sharing 100 blocks from 80 different designers. (I use the word designer loosely, since I am included and not a designer.) It is amazing to me that Jane (from Australia) and Pat (from the US) have connected, organized and joined together over 13,000 people that share one common interest, Quilting.
Today is Jane’s block and this is my version.
Every Sunday and Thursday, a new 6″ block will be shared.
All the details and much much more is listed here.
Here is the line-up to mark your calendars and meet some new friends.
▪ There is a Bonus block and Jane created a tutorial to make an adorable Block Station. The Page with project Share is HERE ▪ Want to know more? There is a Frequently Asked Question page with all the important links. Our FAQ Page
First of all i thought I would sneak in a few pics of my grandkids. Jarrod and Lindsey’s little angel, Imrie Reign Alexander.
and of course Nolan delivering a Valentine package to his cousin.
I am participating in the third annual American Patchwork & Quilting Quilt-Along.
This year the folks at Meredith have all kinds of projects to make as you Quilt-along. Two patterns in APQ, one in Quilts and More, and one online, all with one theme—this year it’s plus-sign quilts. They are calling the quilt-along “It All Adds Up.”
I have always loved the simplicity of the RED CROSS logo
and now to see all the popularity of Cross/Plus Sign quilts, I knew I wanted needed a reason to quilt-along.
Here are the “It All Adds Up” quilt-along projects:
1. “Plus Postage” quilt from designer Susan Ache
Instagram: yardgrl60
2. “Grand Total” from designer Pat Bravo
Instagram: patbravodesign
website: patbravo.com
Instructions are in the April 2016 issue of APQ for both of these quilts.
3. “Easy Addition” from designer Brenda M. Ratliff
websites: justabitfrayed.com and pinkcastlefabrics.com
Instructions are in the Spring 2016 issue of Quilts and More
I had a hard time making up my mind on which one to make. I started out with Susan Ache’s version but then had an idea of who I wanted to make this quilt for. The end product needed to be a bigger quilt and I didn’t want to make more blocks, so I decided to morph Susan Ache and Pat Bravo together. They both live in Florida so they do have that in common. Makes sense to me!
My version is based on a 2″ finished grid.
I love love the little plus signs thrown through out. They just make me smile!
A positive – negative filler block thrown in.
Some of the plus signs got elongated into cross shapes.
The blocks are 16″ finished.
If you are quilting along, please include the same hashtag as the first two years, #APQQuiltalong. I love seeing the pictures of everyone’s projects.
I added one row of pieced squares in between the blocks and am
excited to send it off to let the quilter work her magic!!
As a bonus there is a super-easy plus sign pillow from the HowToSew.com site.
The setting seems fairly common but for me it is really different. I did not use 5,000,000 different fabrics like I usually do. Each “log” is the same fabric as it is built out from the center, rotating from light to dark and back to light. The blocks are then sashed with assorted putty grey fabrics on only 2 sides, making the blocks easy to assemble. This quilt looks just like it could be a modern version of a quilt on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s bed. Little House on the Prairie fan, anyone?
Stock # b1339 Available now at your favorite retailer!
How about this classic log cabin with the added stars?
Log cabins with red centers represent the hearth (fireplace/warmth) of the home while the light side of the blocks represents the sunny side of the home, dark side represents shady side. to me this version represents a happy cheerful home full of warmth. Isn’t that the fun part of quilting and sharing stories? Each quilt speaks to each of us differently.
Wouldn’t this be so yummy in Christmas colors?
And if you think quilting is for “old ladies” then you are in for a treat. Just look at this Log cabin variation, Rockin’ the Rainbow by Jackie White. I have not meet Jackie and I have no idea how old she is but she has got to be a ton of fun just by looking at her quilt. It makes me happy, plus I love the funky pieced binding.
Young or old, their is a log cabin for you.
The log cabin quilt is symbolic for the westward movement following the civil war. There are all kinds of stories about the underground railroad and the use of log cabin quilts to send the enemies locations just by the direction of how the quilts were hung along the fence. Truth or Fiction? Who really knows but as a quilt enthusiast, it does my heart good to believe that quilts have had a social and political statement for hundreds of years. If you would like to learn more about the history of Log Cabin quilts, visit Barbara Brackman’s blog.
One of the Moda designers, Janet Clare had a booth filled with patterns, kits, stitcheries and all kinds of goodies.
I love it… wear your creativity!
While I did not officially meet her, I did stand and watch her work for quite a while. Harriett uses thread and a sewing machine much
(photos used with permission of Harriett Riddell.)
At one of the fairs she “performed” while her subject pedaled a bicycle to generate power for her sewing machine.
Little Village, Big Woods by 
This design is just as yummy in classic blues and tans as shown in the color option featuring Windham fabrics.
