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.
I am so thrilled to be a very small piece of a great big community of people who love to share, share their passion, designs and talents with like-minded people. So I was even more thrilled to be asked by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson to be a part of project they are rolling out with 83 quilters, Martingale Publishing, Aurifil threads and Moda Fabrics. I continue to learn from these people and this project will help me do more of this. I am not big on applique or embroidery. As soon as I sit down I fall asleep so that could possibly be the reason I am not a fan of hand work. Maybe it could be that I am impatient. The Splendid Sampler™ is going to allow be to bite off little bits of applique. And the blocks will be small so maybe my big stitches wont show up to badly. I will continue to learn. There are 100 different blocks so even if you don’t want to make all of them there are plenty of options for all. HERE are the details:
The Splendid Sampler™
It starts Feb. 14th.
Don’t you just {heart} that?
100 – 6″ quilt blocks from 83 designers/quilters.
Choose your fabrics, assemble your notions and get ready to learn and share.
If you want to read about how this little project got started, click here and sign up for updates, so you don’t have to remember to go looking.
Follow along on the blog, for tips, tutorials as well as learning about what makes each of these people tick.
You’ll get two FREE mystery blocks per week for a total of 100 blocks throughout the year!
How timely the staff of Martingale publishing was when they created the “Beauty of a Pagent” schoolhouses series. They shared the script from the pagent with me and you will see where Steve Harvey comes into play at the end of this post. If you would rather watch the actual schoolhouse session, our friends at Fat Quarter Shop recorded the entire shenaginins. You can view it here.
Some of the info was hard to hear with everyone laughing so I enjoyed reading the script. Hope you do to.
Live from the Convention center in hot and humid Houston, Texas—welcome to the Martingale & Moda Fabrics first ever Moda All-Stars “It’s a Beauty of a Book” party! To celebrate the December release of “All in a Row” we’ve got a lineup to share with you that’s truly one-of-a-kind. And how best to present the 24 rows and designers featured in the book? What else but a Moda All-Stars All in a Row Beauty pageant.
And KNOW that EVERYTHING you hear about the rows/patterns/books is most certainly true. And EVERYTHING you hear about the designers who made them…WELL, we’ll leave that up to you to separate the fact from the FICTION. But remember, in this pageant, sarcasm IS a form of WIT. I’m your hostess—Jennifer Keltner, Publisher and Chief Visionary Officer for Martingale.
Now without further ado …ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome the first of the “Miss All in a Row All-Stars.
Sandy Klop (American Jane) wearing her row SING YOUR SONG…Representing the great state of California and all people who wish their name was Jane, Sandy is a former winner of the
“Miss American Jane” pageant—primarily because she is the one and only American Jane. Her fusible applique design is stitched in place with machine zigzag and blanket stitches. Fun fact: If you place sheet music lines over Sandy’s row, the musical notes are perfectly arranged to play YANKEE DOODLE DANDY.
Sandy Gervais of Pieces From My Heart wearing her row THREAD AND PINCUSHION. Sandy hails from the great state of IOWA. Known for being the birthplace of education with the IOWA BASIC SKILLS test—Sandy makes sure to educate quilters on how they can have success keeping the corner points on those spools by using an easy flip-and-sew method to add corner triangles. Fun Fact about Sandy: She lives next door to the often imitated, but rarely seen, one-of-a-kind CANDY CORN FARM.
(had to insert different picture here due to FUZZY BLURRY PIC)
Pat Sloan wearing her row WASH DAY. Pat lives just outside of WASHington DC in Herndon, VA—one can only imagine her proximity to WASHington, led her to her design theme. You certainly won’t have any Wash Day Blues if hanging your laundry involves Pat Sloan’s fast & fun fusible bloomers, dresses and socks hanging from a rickrack clothesline. A speaking of rickrack, that brings to mind a fun fact about Pat—she is bilingual, speaking both English and Pig Latin…and her favorite word in Pig Latin…you got it :rick rack…which in Pig Latin is ick-rack-Ray….
Karla Eisenach (1/3 of the Sweetwater gang with daughters) wearing her row BLOOM. Extra, extra, read all about it. Please welcome a four-time citywide newspaper delivery girl paper-throwing champion (judged on how well she could hit the front porch from a distance of 30 feet)—All the news that’s fit to print on fabric can be found on Sweetwaters’ row. Newsprint fabrics are used as the background fields for red Dresden flowers with black gingham centers. The flowers are machine stitch onto the background and the flower centers are fused and hand-blanket stitched for embellishment. All adaptable of course, to YOUR favorite method.
Anne Sutton (Bunny Hill Designs) wearing her row SNOWY DAY. You know Anne well from the lesser known of Fats Domino’s hit songs “I found my thrill, on BUNNY HILL”…..but baby it’s cold outside on her row as five frolicking needle-turn snowmen are sporting a fashionable array of hats and scarves atop a pieced patchwork background. Fun Fact: Ann was the Winner of this pageants’ Haribou Gummy Bears Good Dental Health award? Why? Because when we asked Ann to tell us her go-to snack food for a full day (or night) of quilting—her answer: Haribou Gummy Bears….and I quote “but it has to be this brand.”
Barbara Groves and Mary Jacobson of Me & My Sister wearing their row FETCH. With talents too numerous to mention in a single runway walk—this sister/sister duo went to the dogs with patchwork pups and pinwheels inspired by Barb’s dog, Bella– the terrier. Personalize the pooches to match your favorite pet. Worried that they’ll only be known for their successfully simple designs, the sisters prepared a complex math joke for the talent portion of the pageant. Here it is: There is a fine line between a numerator and a denominator, and only a fraction of you people will understand this. {For those of you keeping score, they came in a close second to last on the talent portion of the pageant.}
Edyta Sitar (Laundry Basket Quilts) wearing her row BIRD ON A PUMPKIN. Winner of the Frank Burns “It’s Nice to be nice to the nice” award—voted on by her fellow pageant contestants, Edyta’s pieced leaves and fused pumpkins are the perfect combination of two techniques on her row. Continuing the combination theme, Edyta’s recently made the move from Michigan to California… and as a part/year resident of each state, she’s representing the new state of Caligan or was it Michifornia in today’s pageant.
And speaking of combo state representatives, please welcome Miss ARIZ-EXAS–Carrie Nelson (Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co/Moda Multiple-Hat Wearer and Social Media Guru) wearing her row ROW HOUSES. Known for her literal take on almost everything, Carrie put her houses. “All in a Row”….get it ALL IN A ROW. A part-time realtor wannabe, Carrie has some advice for re-creating her pieced houses. “Don’t worry about matching all the fabrics, Carrie says. Just pull what you like and go for it. Every neighborhood has that one house that doesn’t quite fit. And that’s what makes the neighborhood awesome.”
THAT COMPLETES THE “A BIT OF WHIMSY” section of the Book
THIS NEXT GROUP IS FROM THE “Well-Seasoned” section—
Lynne Hagmeier (Kansas Troubles Quilters) wearing her row FALL. Lynne squirreled away some of her very best design juju for her row—featuring not only fall leaves and Acorns, but Bcorns and Ccorns as well. When asked to participate in the pageant, Lynne was the first to join in the fun replying, I wouldn’t want you to LEAF me out. (it’s okay to groan…Leaf me out…fall leaves…people, we need some enthusiasm, even late in the day.)
Representing the great state of Wisconsin, the Green Bay Packers, and cheese lovers everywhere, is
Lisa Bongean (Primitive Gatherings) wearing her row NOVEMBER. While her quilt does appear in the seasonal rows section, it’s actually a television series that inspired her row….can you guess which one? Orange is the new black of course! Needle turn appliqued and embellished with a few hand-embroidery stitches… Lisa suggests her row could be made even quicker with wool or fusible appliqué.
Laurie Simpson (the quilty half of the Minick & Simpson Duo) wearing her row SAND PAILS. Always and forever representing the USA with a red-white-and-blue color combination….Get ready to groan….Laurie’s appliqué skills are Beyond the Pale….(you were warned), get it? Laurie’s talent portion of today’s event included a poetry slam dedicated to her sister and business partner Polly Minick, whom Laurie describes as both the wind in my sail and the sand in my pail.
Corey had a stand in- Luke Haynes
Miss Corey Yoder may call herself (Little Miss Shabby) wearing her row BIRDIES AND TREES—but we know you’ll love her style and be all atwitter over the forest of fir trees and little fast-to-fuse appliqued birds on her row. After spending six years as Santa’s Elf at the local mall, its no longer possible for Corey to finish a holiday project without including at least one Santa hat—so look for that sassy little addition to one of the birds. Remind your inner elf that Christmas is coming soon and imagine whipping up one of these rows with a birdie to represent every member of your family. Let’s hear your sweetest bird whistles in salute to Miss Corey Yoder!
This next row may either delight or terrify you depending on your perspective. Cheerio and hello to Janet Clare (our one and only UK entry to the pageant ) wearing her row BUNNY PLAYDATE. If bunnies are your favorite woodland creature, you’re sure to be delighted her row. Unless, you’re a gardener and, like my husband, bunnies are public enemy number 1, then avert your eyes. But we think it’s all a romp through the meadow and chasing butterflies. Fast to fuse and stitch in place, Janet shares a brilliant tip in the book about using a small brass brad attaching the leg and body pattern pieces together to determine the bunny positions as you wish. That way, no two bunnies need to be identical as they hop across the row.
Debbie Outlaw stood in for Brenda
Seven time international double dutch jump roping champion, and talent contest winner dazzled our judges with her ability not only to jump rope, but twirl her own two ropes while she did it…..It’s Brenda Riddle (Acorn Quilt and Gift Company) wearing her row GARLAND KNOT. Inspired by her unique talent, she chose to incorporate double nine-patch blocks and a knotted garland of leaves and berries. But don’t worry, you won’t be tied up in knots trying to complete this row. It’s simple, fast, and fun to fuse the leaves and berries and stitch them in place in no time.
Kathy Schmitz wearing her row WINTER FRIENDS and proving there’s no business like SNOW business—Kathy’s been star-struck over star blocks and the red-and-cream color combination since she was a kid. Her stem-stitch snowman embroidery block steals the show on her row in his French Knot Polka-dotted sweater with flakes falling all around him. Winner of the “Godiva or Go home” trophy, Kathy was asked to share what she’s doing if she’s NOT quilting. Her answer “I’m thinking about going to the gym or eating chocolate. “
Why choose between applique and patchwork when you can do both as the lovely Kate Spain proves wearing her row HE LOVES ME. The devil is in the details on this attention getting row. Kate fussy-cut her flower centers to showcase the part of the prints she wanted most. An interesting side note: as a child, Kate spent lots of time watching movie classics such as My Fair Lady where she believed Eliza DooLittle was singing “The rain, Kate Spain, falls mainly on the airplane.”
AND THE FINAL CHAPTER IN THE BOOK: Classic Patchwork
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy Oy Oy—that’s the yell that invites in the one, the only Jen Kingwell wearing her row Meadow Rose row. She was the longest distance contributor for the book and the first to submit her row. You can’t keep a good woman who is passionate about hand-piecing and hand quilting down—she’s done both on this garden of patchwork flowers row. When asked if there were any circumstances under which she could not start a new project Jen answered—it’s never happened. I start new things all the time. I’m the queen of unfinished projects, I am. Well watch out Jen, I’m betting there’s some other royal subjects in the audience vying for that crown too!
Camille does not have a beard, but she does have the power to have the President of Moda to stand in for her. Isn’t he the greatest?
A celebrity stand-in will now represent designer Camille Roskelley (Thimble Blossoms) wearing her row Twinkle. Don’t be fooled, Camille is definitely a moda all-star and while she’s all Thimble Blossoms all the time, can you guess which half of Bonnie and Camille fabric line she represents? That’s right, she’s the Camille half of Bonnie and Camille. If she was here in person, she’d show you now….but instead I will just tell you one little secret about this mom of three boys. She can BOTH do the Whip AND the NAE NAE…..it’s true.
Everything old is new again with our next entrant who loves bringing 19th century fabric prints and blocks into the 21st century—please welcome the often imitated, but never replicated Betsy Chutchian wearing her row Bitty Baskets—Appliqued Baskets large and small are interspersed with traditional pieced Duck and Duckling blocks (Also known as Pine Burr –but how much cuter is the image of baby ducklings)…you’ll want to follow along like little ducklings in a row (get it?) to re-create your own Bitty Baskets row in your quilt.
Barbara Brackman (SENT A STUNT DOUBLE) to wear her row DOUBLE STARS. Dos Equis may have the Most Interesting Man in the World promoting their brand—you know the guy, he doesn’t drink beer all the time, but when he does….” Well Barbara may well be “the most interesting Woman in the Quilt World.” She may not quilt all the time, but when she does…she works with Moda Fabrics and creates a classic row that is as timeless and captivating as the designer herself. Six scrappy double star blocks are unified by the choice of a single fabric being used in the centers of all six. Please give it up for Barbara Brackman’s stunt double.
Alma Allen (Half of Blackbird Designs with Barb Adams) wearing their row A TISKET, A TASKET. Representing the great states of Kansas and Missouri—and probably celebrating a ROYALS baseball return to the World Series….Alma and Barb and practically royalty themselves in the world of quilting—they’ve hit a home run with their row. Pieced baskets blocks have a long history in quiltmaking. Here are three variations (flower Basket, cake stand, and one simply named basket)—charmingly interrupted by a single appliqued blossom. Secret talent of Alma—able to applique with one hand tied behind her back. She’ll be demoing that in her booth I think.
On the straight and narrow, please give a warm welcome to Kaari Meng (French General) wearing her row DRUNKARD’S PATH. Now I was going to tell you that the inspiration for Kaari’s row came to her while in France on vacation over a bottle of wine, and then another….but it wouldn’t be true. A true Francophile, Kaari is simply into the classics in every sense of the word. A two-color row that’s anything but plain—she keeps it scrappy using a combination of her French General fabrics, patchwork, and the classic quilt pattern –all united to create a delightful row as comfortable in a row quilt as it would be used alone to create a table runner. Merci Beaucoup!
Often mistaken for her royal highness and the heiress to the non-existent Fig Newton fortune…
Please welcome Joanna Figueroa (Fig Tree Designs) wearing her row WE ARE FAMILY. A business owner, designer, wife and mother, she knows a little something about making strong individuals blend together –so for her row, pieced star blocks stand by themselves…but when joined together and linked with a skinny sashing, form a strong chain of stars—much like a strong family. If you’re looking to hang out with Joanna—know that her fave snack foods when she’s quilting are chocolate, Doritos, and diet coke!
Last but certainly NOT least—Lissa Alexander wearing her BLENDER ROWS. Failing to win the Vita-Veta-Vegimin spokesperson role, Lissa took the blender by the blade so to speak and designed her own blend of terrific blender rows—9 of them in all! A true middle child in her family, Lissa’s peacekeeper mentality and “can’t we all just get along” spirit, led her to create the 9 rows that help all the others get along better. Need a spacer row to give you some relief between the 23 other brilliant rows in the book? Look no further than Moda Lissa’s row by row by row by row by row by row by row of options (if you get what I mean).
END
So you can see that we all had tons of fun. Since I made filler rows I did not think I would be walking the runway. I paniced and threw my quilt on as a “Super Quilt Cape.” I am good at filler rows and working under pressure! I don’t have a picture but it made my day when I won the wonderful blow up crown.
Now this is where Steve Harvey comes in , sort of.
Did Jennifer Keltner announce the wrong name? Should I give up the crown to the likes of French General or Blackbird designs? Are all my hopes and dreams ruined?
After the schoolhouse, I did get a copy of the script and lo and behold there was my name already printed as the winner. Not only is she brilliant but she must have been able to predict the future, naming me queen. If you had a chance to watch the schoolhouse video, then you know that Jennifer Keltner could MC the Miss America Pageant and be able to already predict the correct winner beforehand. Sorry, Steve Harvey, I still love ya.
Do you have your book ready? Have you started making your projects?
Be sure and include #allinarowquiltalong any where you share your pictures. I would love to see them.
If you are a follower of all things Moda, by now you are following along on the Moda All Stars, All in a Row blog hop. There are all kinds of fun things planned. If you are just joining, all the details are listed here.
Today I wanted to share with you a little bit about my rows in the book. I made some little basic filler rows that can be used to add to the main featured rows. Sometimes we all just need a little space and I thought this was true with row quilts. Each of the designs are super cool on their own, but slap another row right next to it and it can begin to feel a little squashed. Right? just like in real life. These filler rows can be used for all kinds of additional design options. The quilt shown above has the flying geese rows added as a border. There are also two filler rows used in the quilt. I especially like the layout and design of this quilt. Only 3 rows were used with a center applique row in the middle and two additional rows mirror each other to create a nicely balanced design. Made by Mellissa Corey
I made a quilt for the book that is nothing but the filler rows. I struggled when choosing fabrics. These were supposed to be filler rows and I need the colors of the rows to “fill” in with. It is a fun and funky quilt and in the right fabrics could be an interesting quilt all on its own.
This book is just the beginning of a series of Moda All Stars books. And of course I am a border-line stalker of the designers and I was honored to have a small “filler” part in the project. Any project like this has so many moving pieces, so you can only imagine how thrilled I was to receive this book autographed by the people that made it happen. Thank you!
More behind the scenes All -Stars are some of the people that are not afraid to answer my call when I say,
Hey, you want to………………?
or
What about………?
Just one all star is Susan Ache. She pieced some of the Gallery quilts. If you know Susan then you know she is quite prolific. Not only did she make one gallery quilt but she also thought we needed one in all reds, so she made it!
It is 18 days into the new year and I thought we could all use a little help with our new years resolutions.
What does this have to do with a Blog Hop. you may ask.
Hop! Exercise! Get it?
Now I wouldn’t want any os us to over-do-it so for the next 11 days, HOP over to 2 different designers blogs to see how they are taking one of the rows from the All in a Row book and making it in their style of fabrics. Get up and do a little HOP before moving to the next blog post. Then start quilting along from Feb. 1st through March 15th. Now this is where the real exercise comes into play as you jump up and down when you become the winner of some great prizes! Okay, it is not the Publisher’s Clearinghouse or the Powerball, but who wouldn’t want to win books and patterns!! (prize details below)
Here is the schedule of the hop: Get ready Start Hopping!
Martingale & Moda have a super contest that will start as soon as this blog hop ends! Here’s a bit of info to peak your interest!
It’s a Beauty of a Contest
#allinarowquiltalong
Contest entries will begin February 1 and runs for 6 weeks. Contest ends March 15
Participants will need to do the following
1. Buy the ‘Moda All-Stars All In A Row’ book.
2. Make your favorite row(s)
One row = one entry
Two rows = two entries, etc.
3. Join the Facebook group #AllInARowQuiltAlong
and post a picture with your quilt top of rows joined together.
Your Facebook name is the name that will be entered into the contest. (open only to US entrants)
For every row in your entry – you get an entry in to the It’s a Beauty of a Book Contest. There will be 5 prizes – like the five finalists in a pageant—plus weekly random drawings for related “beauty” prizes. All will be drawn from entries from above.
Now for the PRIZES!!
All In A Row Quilt-Along Queen (first prize) – FQ pack every month for 9 months (April to December 2016) + two new release books of the month for 9 months (April to December 2016) from Martingale. Company to determine which fabric/book, but May book will be Moda All-Stars Scraps Made Simple for anyone winning that month’s prize!
All In A Row Beauty Book first runner up (second prize) F8 pack every month for 6 months (April to August 2016) + two new release books of the month for 6 months (April to August 2016) from Martingale. Company to determine which fabric/book.
All In A Row Beauty Book second runner up (third prize) Layer Cake every month for 4 months (April to July 2016) + one new release book of the month for 4 months (April to July 2016) from Martingale. Company to determine which fabric/book.
All In A Row Beauty Book third runner up (fourth prize) Layer Cake each month for 2 months (April and May 2016) + one new release book of the month for 2 months (April and May 2016) from Martingale. Company to determine which fabric/book.
All In A Row Beauty Book fourth runner up (fifth prize) one Layer Cake pack (April 2016) + one new release book of the month for April 2016 from Martingale. Company to determine which fabric/book.
THERE WILL ALSO BE SOME OTHER PRIZES! –
Weekly Drawings from weeks 2-3-4-5:
Miss Congeniality: (wait for it) 2 Charm Packs and 1 Book
Talent Winner (hidden or otherwise): 2 books and 2 Mini-Charms
Social Media Butterfly Award: Carrie Nelson’s House Row See!! This is gonna be a lot of fun!
I am so thrilled to have been a part of this book for so many reasons. But just wanted to tell you how special these designers are. All of their proceeds from the sale of the book are being donated to No Kid Hungry, an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America. You can find more info about them here: https://www.nokidhungry.org
Thank you to Jennifer Keltner, Karen Burns and all the creative people from Martingale to make all this happen.
I will be back on Thursday to share with you my little project from the book as well.
I love the name of Kerra Job of Live.Love.Sew‘s pattern, Lazy Longhorn. She is a cattle rancher’s wife, so she knows a bit about Longhorns. However, my dad was a Texas Aggie through and through. He always said we could go to any college that we wanted except…..University of Texas. Fast forward many years later, my son is there and my brother lives in Austin, Texas and has really no other choice but to be a fan of UT.
So when I saw this pattern, I knew I had to make it. My dad would get a kick out of it being called Lazy, but at least I didn’t use traditional UT colors.
I wanted to something a bit more funky, so I choose a floral from Lella’s Boutique’s newest fabric line, Little Miss Sunshine. It is a yummy coral color. From there, I choose a variety of oranges to pinks.
This is the part I love about quilting, mixing all those cool fabrics. Choosing just 10 fabrics was a bit difficult for me, I usually like at least 50different combinations.
Who would have thought but I ended up with a range of fabrics from Lella Boutique to Zen Chic to Chloe’s Closet to Amy Ellis to Jen Kingwell.
Usually I lay the finished blocks on the floor and re arrange them, stretching and turning as if I were playing a game of TWISTER all by myself. Then I have to sew them all together. If I leave the blocks on the floor they are an open invitation for the dogs to make themselves right at home.
I don’t know why I haven’t thought about this before, but I used one of each of the fabrics to decide in what order I would put the blocks. I played around with the balance of color, value and design. I didn’t want all the oranges to be together. I couldn’t put the busy or geometric prints all together.
I rearranged a few times until it was pleasing to my eye. No great right or wrong way to do it, only a matter of my own personal preference. Once I decided on my favorite, I only have to keep the small swatches in order to use as my guide when I am ready to join the blocks.
Do you have a favorite placement of the fabrics?
Here are 3 options side by side.
Version 1, 2 or 3 ?
Much like playing the game of twister, color is all about balance. Do your eyes hurt yet?
This is much like going to the eye doctor… Tell me which one can you see better… 1 or 2, 1 or 2?
I always have to have him do it over again and again just so I can make sure.
Here is another option. Look at the fabrics in Grey scale. Is the version you picked in the picture above, the same here? By taking all the color out of the picture, it lets your eyes concentrate more on the value (dark and light) of the fabrics. 9 times out of 10, if you are happy with the value placement, you will be happy with the balance of color. In quilting as in life, I guess the key is to finding the right balance.
I’ve got to get back to sewing these lazy longhorns, they are not going to sew themselves.
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.
Look for the October issue of American Patchwork and Quilting!!
