Monthly Archives: October 2011

50 Little Paper-Pieced Blocks—and a giveaway!

October 31st, 2011 in Contests
By Lisa Fulmer

Carol Doak has put together the perfect tools to bring quilters and cardmakers together…her new book, 50 Little Paper-Pieced Blocks, is filled with adorable, perfectly-pieced 3″ quilt blocks in a variety of themes including stars, hearts, flowers, a birthday cake…even crayons, an airplane, and a candlestick!

This book is also a great intro to paper piecing for those of us (ok so maybe it’s just me) who have been a little afraid to try.

Once you’ve made all your favorite designs from the book, you can tuck them into Carol Doak’s Keepsake Frame Cards and mail them off to friends and family. The card stock is handmade and really lovely…definitely works as a mini art frame too, to display the blocks that you want to keep for yourself. If you’re not into cardmaking, you can mix and match the blocks to make table linens, wall quilts, pillows, or just about any cute fabric accessory.

Click here for a few FREE block patterns from the book, just to whet your paper-piecing appetite.

One lucky person will win a copy of 50 Little Paper-Pieced Blocks, PLUS a pack of Carol Doak’s Keepsake Frame Cards! To enter, leave a comment telling us about the nicest greeting card you ever received.

Comments will be closed at 6:00 pm PST on Sunday, November 6, 2011—the winner will be contacted via email and their name will be posted here on the blog next week.

Increase your chances to win! Enter an extra comment for each of the actions you take below. Tell us what you did and thanks in advance for spreading the word!

Sign in to your Amazon account and hit the “like” button for this book
Sign up for the PatternSpot.com Shopper eNewsletter
Make us one of your Flickr contacts
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Like us on Facebook
Join our Creative Troupe

Congrats to Jenny, whose name was drawn at random from the comments on last week’s post. Linda won a copy of Mickey Lawler’s SkyQuilts.

Team Quilting 911

October 28th, 2011 in Inspiration
By Alice Mace Nakanishi

My daughter, Colleen, with her Team 911 quilt

As a production editor here at C&T, I get to be part of the team that produces dozens of book titles a year, full of the most beautiful quilts and crafts I’ve ever seen! Several fabulous book team members—creative, accomplished quiltmakers themselves—gave of their talents this year in an unexpected team quilting project.

My first quilt was planned years ago: a free-form T-shirt quilt for my daughter Colleen’s high school graduation. I purchased fabric for the quilt top in her favorite colors (purple, blue, and lime green) and sewed a base. I measured and cut the binding fabric. I collected her most beloved T-shirts, did a rough trim of the parts to save, and ironed fusible on some of the backs to stabilize the T-shirt fabric (as shown in Terrific Tees by Roberta De Luz). But my daughter was young. There was no rush to finish.…

Suddenly it was January 2011 and graduation was fast approaching in June. Just as I realized that it was time to finish the quilt, I had an accident in which my elbow and wrist were seriously injured, I had surgery, and I missed almost two months of work. When I returned to the office and was frustrated by my arm limitations and months of physical therapy that followed, several coworkers came to my rescue—they stepped forward and offered to help finish the quilt! I brought the unfinished quilt to the office, and when each of them had spare moments, these “quilt angels” ironed, fused, helped lay out, stitched, trimmed, and ultimately quilted my project just in time!

Colleen and I, surrounded by some of the 911 quilting team

A heartfelt thank-you to Carolyn, Liz, Cynthia, Gailen, Sandy, Sue, Teresa, and longarm quilter Ruthmary for your ideas, advice, skills, and time in completing this quilt when I couldn’t! I hope one day to help pay the gift forward to someone who needs it.

Colleen’s quilt now graces her college dorm bed.

Great quilting upgrades a “Super Simple” quilt

October 26th, 2011 in Inspiration
By Cynthia Bix

This little baby quilt shows how you can use imaginative quilting to add interest and life to even the simplest quilt!

I wanted to make a really fast, really easy crib quilt for my niece’s new baby—a quilt that she would receive in the first six months of her life instead of one that would arrive two years later, as her big brother’s did! (I’m such a dawdler. . . )

Anyway, I used one of my go-to sources, a book in the terrific Super Simple Quilts series by Liz Aneloski and Alex Anderson. This time I chose Stacked and Layered from Super Simple Quilts #3. I made it in soft pastel flannels from one of Jennifer Sampou’s lovely fabric lines. My niece told me that she was steering away from pink and doing the baby’s room with lots of sunny yellow, so I featured analogous yellows and greens (although I couldn’t resist throwing in a few pink roses!)

When the quilt was ready for quilting, I called on Ruthmary…C&T salesperson by day, ace longarm quilter by night (and weekends)! She really got creative on this small quilt top.

Where does Ruthmary get her inspiration and ideas? She says, “I often go to Christine Maraccini’s Machine Quilting Solutions for inspiration on flowers and leaves.” She adds, “I find Don Linn’s tips for his “Loopy Pattern” in Free-Motion Machine Quilting to be fun and helpful, whether I’m using a longarm machine or a home machine.”

To carry out the fabric motif on my little piece, she quilted lovely big cabbage roses in the center panels, and surrounded them with graceful vines and leaves. To dress up the plain outer borders, she added masses of bubbles that add wonderful texture and pick up the mottled coloring of the fabrics.

Presto! This very elementary quilt is now a softly textured little treasure for a very special little girl.

Mickey Lawler’s SkyQuilts…with a giveaway!

October 24th, 2011 in Contests
By Tristan Gallagher

"Beach Houses 3"

The sky has a magic about it. Do you remember lying on your back on the cool grass, watching summer clouds drifting along in slow motion and feeling yourself lifted up as if you had become part of the vast sky above? Wherever we are on this planet, the sky surrounds, inspires, sometimes awes, and often gentles us. —Mickey Lawler

Author Mickey Lawler has an incredible ability to embrace and transfer the immense beauty of skies onto fabric.

In her newly-released book, Mickey Lawler’s SkyQuilts, she teaches 12 different fabric painting techniques so you can create a stunning stash of painted landscapes, water scenes and dreamy skies.

She’ll show you how to paint foregrounds and focal points that make your final work exciting. Her techniques are clearly explained with step-by-step photos and her “design strip” method carries the painted cloth (with few dreaded cuts) into striking quilts.

"West Side November"

One lucky person will win a copy of Mickey Lawler’s SkyQuilts! To enter, leave a comment at the end of this post telling us when you love to look at the sky…when it’s clear, when it’s cloudy, sunsets, sunrises, starry nights?

Comments will be closed at 6:00 pm PST on Sunday, October 30, 2011—the winner will be contacted via email and their name will be posted here on the blog next week.

Increase your chances to win! Enter an extra comment for each of the actions you take below. Tell us what you did and thanks in advance for spreading the word!

Sign in to your Amazon account and hit the “like” button for this book
Sign up for the PatternSpot.com Shopper eNewsletter
Make us one of your Flickr contacts
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Like us on Facebook
Join our Creative Troupe

Congrats to Linda, whose name was drawn at random from the comments on last week’s post. Linda won a copy of Special Delivery Quilts #2 with Patrick Lose.

15,092 spools of thread and some steel chain

October 21st, 2011 in Inspiration
By Amy Marson, Publisher

I was in New York recently for sales and publicity meetings and as we (Sandy and I) were leaving one of the meetings at One Penn Plaza, I looked to my right and stumbled upon a very unusual art installation. It is a moving sculpture of 15,092 spools of different colored thread suspended on ball chain. The entire piece is an oval and it’s really interesting and delightful to behold.

Upon seeing it, I got a huge smile and just had to spend some time admiring the clever and innovative artwork. The artist’s use of subtle color shifts is fascinating; it creates subtle texture. The extra touch was the convex mirror (you can see it from the side view image below).

When you look in the mirror and watch the piece move, you can almost feel the slight wind that is moving the spools. Click here to see more work by this artist, Devorah Sperber. I can honestly say it is a completely new use for thread that I have never before seen. Enjoy!

A glimpse of PIQF

October 19th, 2011 in News & Events
By Lisa Fulmer

Going to the Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF) is one of the highlights of my year. Of course there’s all the fabulous shopping and fabric fondling with over 300 vendors in attendance (and I did buy some wonderful things), but for me it’s really all about the quilts. Each year I am even more amazed at the talent that shines inside the walls of the Santa Clara Convention Center.

I’ll let this gallery of pictures that I snapped speak the thousands of words that describe how beautiful and inspiring this show is…enjoy!

Special Delivery Quilts #2 with Patrick Lose — and a giveaway!

October 17th, 2011 in Contests
By Cynthia Bix

Lose book cover Attention, Patrick Lose fans—Patrick has written another wonderful new book, and this time it’s all about baby quilts! Longtime Lose fans will remember his first baby quilt book, Special Delivery Quilts, which featured the phenomenally popular teddy bear quilt pattern called “I Love You This Much.” In this new book, you’ll find 10 adorable new quilt patterns PLUS that old favorite, brought back as a bonus.

As the Developmental Editor for three of Patrick’s books, I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with him over the course of time, during which his adored grandchildren—Lauryn, Lily, and Anna—were born. This book has special meaning for Patrick because of them, and when you see the quilts, you’ll see how much love and imagination went into creating them.

From a sweet giraffe to a bright array of stars, these patterns for pieced and appliquéd quilts offer something for everyone.

Make a simple and graphic pieced quilt like “Sawtooth Star Spectrum,” or combine piecing and appliqué to create a fun pictorial quilt like the go-to-sleep sheep in “Good Night, Sleep Tight.” Use fusible appliqué to create adorable animals and alphabets, moons and stars. All of these quilts go together without a fuss, thanks to crystal-clear illustrated instructions and full-size patterns. Who doesn’t love to make a baby quilt? And what better quilt to make than a “new classic” by this favorite designer and author, in your own favorite prints and colors!

One lucky person will win a copy of Special Delivery Quilts #2. To enter, leave a comment at the end of this post telling us your favorite colors and/or themes for baby quilts.

Comments will be closed at 6:00 pm PST on Sunday, October 23, 2011—the winner will be contacted via email and their name will be posted here on the blog next week.

Increase your chances to win! Enter an extra comment for each of the actions you take below. Tell us what you did and thanks in advance for spreading the word!

Sign in to your Amazon account and hit the “like” button for this book
Make us one of your Flickr contacts
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Like us on Facebook
Join our Creative Troupe

Congrats to Shasta, whose name was drawn at random from the comments on last week’s post. Shasta won a copy of Traditions from Elm Creek Quilts.

How about some freebies?

October 14th, 2011 in Inspiration
By Lisa Fulmer

Have you checked out any of the free ePatterns that you can instantly download from PatternSpot.com? How about looking through the featured designers for some new favorites to follow?

As many of you know, C&T launched PatternSpot.com this past spring. Nowhere else can you shop such an amazing variety and huge selection of ePatterns under one virtual roof! Choose original patterns for sale from designers around the world for quiltmaking, craft sewing, wearables, accessories, and fiber art. And many of these designers offer a freebie or two!

Be sure to sign up for the PatternSpot.com Shopper emails…you’ll get exclusive offers, plenty of eye candy and inspiration, and you’ll be notified when there’s going to be a big sale, too.

Whatever your style, whatever your skill level, it’s all here…let’s get sewing!

Lakeshore Drive—a fun project from “Colorful Quilts for Fabric Lovers”

October 12th, 2011 in Inspiration
By Amy Marson, Publisher

Just to remind everyone…in 2010, I decided that each year I am going to make a quilt for one of my siblings and give it to them at Christmas. Last year I made a quilt for my oldest sister Antoinette, so this year I am onto Annie’s quilt (only two more to go, and then onto the 11 nieces and nephews).

Since I am very goal oriented, I am always on the lookout for a great quilt to inspire me on my mission. Well at C&T, I am lucky because I get the opportunity to review every book before it is complete and goes to the printer. And one of the quilts in Colorful Quilts for Fabric Lovers really caught my eye, it was Lakeshore Drive:

I loved the big focus fabric and then the 3″ x 5″ pieces that pulled it all together to create motion and balance. I went to ThimbleCreek, our local quilt store in Concord, and spent about an hour and a half selecting the fabrics. Luckily I had Gailen, our Creative Director, with me. I found an awesome Alexander Henry fabric and she found a beautiful floral and it all came together. Above is a picture of the one in the book…and here is a detail of the one that I made.

I can’t post the whole quilt because my sister reads my posts. And I have already bought the fabric for my next one, so I have almost a year to figure out what to make for Jennie.

New giveaway: Inspired by Traditions

October 10th, 2011 in Contests
By Michele Fry

Jennifer Chiaverini has done it again with Traditions from Elm Creek Quilts. Her words become a visual treat, as some of the quilts she describes in her last six Elm Creek Quilts novels take over the pages of her fifth quilting book.

Fans, it’s not just your imagination anymore; this is how the quilt looks. It’s as beautiful as you thought it would be, and here are the instructions to make it for yourself.

Being able to make the quilts that entwine in Jennifer’s characters’ lives puts another spin on escaping into another world. Never having read her novels, I was drawn in by the excerpts and the background she shares. I loved that the 13 quilts in this book each come with a story, as well as easy-to-follow instructions (though sometimes intermediate to advanced in skill level).

It reminded me that my own projects have stories of my life imprinted on them, it reminds me that my quilts hold history and speak of tradition, and it makes me want to share my stories and add to the tradition.

"Joanna's Freedom"

I could do it, too. Some of these patterns are doable even for a beginner like me. Joanna’s Freedom uses a traditional Courthouse Steps pattern; Mr. Lincoln’s Spy is squares and rectangles.

"Mr. Lincoln's Spy"

C&T Publishing is a group of quilters and crafters dedicated to publishing products tailored to our audience. This blog is where we break away from book schedules and marketing campaigns to focus on what drives us to be creative and how this creativity manifests itself in our every day lives.