Portland Quilt Market 2013

Writing a recap of Quilt Market is always so daunting. It's so much to take in visually and otherwise  before your head wants to start exploding, and then even harder to break down, go through tons of pictures, and process them so that I'm able to share it coherently.  I've done the best I could. Get ready for lots of images. I'm going to break things up into two posts.

The first day of Quilt Market is called Schoolhouse and it is a mad rush of 'classes' - or presentations all day long. It's everything from fabric companies and designers introducing their latest collections, publishers talking about their latest releases, to classes to help shop owners improve the success of their stores.  So the reason I was there personally, was to help publicize Martingale's new book Modern Baby: Easy, Fresh, and Fun Quilt Designs that I contributed to. (There I am saying something very profound about my quilt.) It was fun to be on a panel with some of the other contributors, Jen Eskridge, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Jake Finch, Melissa Corry, and Carolyn Friedlander. 

Another panel included Jeni Baker, Lee Heinrich, and Amy Ellis promoting Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe. I love that book! I bought a copy a while back because there are so many great quilt patterns in that book. It was fun to get to see some of the quilts from the book in real life, including one of my favorites- the solid Court House Steps quilt by Audrie.

A few other gorgeous quilts at Schoolhouse (clockwise): Sherri McConnell talking about her new book, A Quilting Life: Creating a Handmade Home, Amy McClellan and her book, It's a Circus, Amy Ellis and her new book, Modern Neutrals, and Vanessa Christenson talking about Aurifil Threads and her new collection, Simply Style.

Friday-Sunday was "the Show" where everything from fabric companies, sewing machine and notions manufacturers, independent pattern designers, book and magazine publishers have booths to display their goods for retail buyers. It's in a huge convention center and it's always a little bit overwhelming after a while - I have to break it up over a couple of days. There is something for everyone's different tastes, and there is always amazing inspiration. I'll share a few of my favorites, and continue with more this weekend, just so I can do my best to give you that overwhelmed feeling yourself.

Above is the Moda booth - always inspiring and well done. The colored 'curtain' is made up of thousands of laser-cut fabric leaves. Some awesome quilts by Camille Roskelly and Kate Spain and running into Sherri and Judi. I really do love connecting with online friends in real life!

Clockwise: with Allison Harris who debuted her first fabric collection, Wallflowers with Windham. The cute Basic Grey girls in the Moda section, Heather Ross's cheerful Briar Rose collection, and Vanessa and her Simply Style with Moda. 

Right next to Vanessa (you can see a cute trip-around-the-world quilt on the right) was Sandy Klop - one of my all time favorites and some how I didn't even manage to get a picture with her, let alone her cute new fabric and quilts! I'm always so afraid that Sandy thinks I'm a stalker. I guess this year I was trying extra hard to play it cool and not scare her. But I'm totally kicking myself for not taking at least one stealthy picture! Her new collection called Pot Luck and is classic vintage Sandy.

The Art Gallery Fabrics booths were gorgeous as always. I've been really good about not buying a lot of fabric recently, but I did succumb (I blame Megan) to buying some samples of their solid Pure Elements. They're so beautiful!

Clockwise: New Art Gallery designer Bonnie Christine and her beautiful booth, Angela Walters incredible quilting, Pat Bravo's Carnaby Street collection (how could I pass up a Union Jack couch?!) and cute Jeni Baker's new collection, Nordika (think modern scandinavian). Some super cool prints in there. I'm especially loving the bird panel on the bag on the right.

All right, break time. More to come.

Dresden Pillow Tutorial

Today, it's my turn to share my Fat Quarter Gang tutorial over at the Art Gallery Fabrics blog.

This pillow is inspired by the traditional Dresden quilt block and uses the EZ Dresden wedge ruler by Simplicity. This ruler is available at large chain sewing outlets, as well as lots of independent quilt shops. I've used this ruler on projects before including a traditional Dresden block as well as my Peppermint Pinwheels quilt tutorial. This wedge is an 18 degree wedge and requires 20 wedges to complete the circle. (There are other wedge rulers at different widths that will use a different number of wedges to create the circle.)

CLICK HERE FOR THE DRESDEN PILLOW TUTORIAL

For this project I am using Bari J's newest collection Bijoux. As always, the designs are rich and the colors are so vibrant! And Art Gallery Fabrics is giving away a bundle of this collection. To enter to win you must follow the AGF rules and follow Art Gallery Fabrics on your favorite social media platform (Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter) or Subscribe to their blog. Don't forget Flickr where you can also upload your AGF projects.

Giveaway open until Friday, May 24 at midnight MST.

And finally, some out-takes from the pillow photo-shoot last week before I left. My trusty assistant wanted to show-off his Vanna White skills. They may be goofballs, but they're MY goofballs and I'm so happy to be home with them.

Inset Seams Tutorial

Howdy friends! I'm home from Quilt Market and trying to jump back into regular life. It was a great time and I look forward to trying to process it all so that I can share some of the highlights with you.  I apologize for the hiccups with the Virtual Quilting Bee Block this weekend. Both Amanda and I were at Market with limited internet access. Poor Amanda's server has been having glitches. Talk about stress for her.

After having the chance to make my own block today I thought I'd share another technique for Inset Seams (or Partial Seams) since it's a little bit simpler and quicker. Feel free to use whichever method you choose. Since there was a little confusion on the block, I thought I'd show my process.

Go here for to see the block cutting requirements. **I did make one change - I cut my center square 3.25" (instead of 3.5") and it worked perfect.** Make outside flying geese blocks per Amanda's instructions. 

After four Flying-geese units were created I laid out my pieces.

Starting with the top flying-geese unit, I lined up the right side with the right side of my center square and sewed a regular 1/4" seam, stopping and back-stitching about 1" from the end.

Going clockwise, you will notice that the second flying-geese block is the same length as the right side of the pieced unit. I sewed the second flying-geese block to the pieced unit like normal and pressed the seam toward the flying-geese block. No inset-seams to worry about. Easy-peasy.

Repeat the same process again, moving clockwise and sew the third flying-geese unit to the bottom of the growing block.

 Repeat one more time on the final side.

Now we are ready to finish of the final side.  Fold down the original flying-geese block, matching up edges and finish sewing the partially-sewn seam.

Fold back up, press seam toward the flying-geese unit and voila: you did it!

I hope that helps. I'm sorry again for any frustration or confusion. Thanks for your patience and for those who chimed in in the comments to help out while I was unavailable.

Virtual Quilting Bee - Block #6

I can't believe we're already on Block #6 of the Virtual Quilting Bee!

New to the Virtual Quilting Bee? You can find all the information and earlier tutorials here. 

This week our block is called Spin Wheel and was created by Amanda Woodruff of the blog, A Crafty Fox. This tutorial will teach helpful information about Inset Seams. 

POST EDIT: So sorry there has been some confusion with this block. I will make mine when I get home from Quilt Market tomorrow and post my own tips and tricks to clarify some parts. Hang in there! In the mean time, see the comments section below for helpful suggestions. Thanks for your patience on the hiccups this time around.

Hi, I’m Amanda from A Crafty Fox! Today I want to show you how to make the ‘Tilt A Whirl’ block for the amazing Virtual Quilting bee here on Diary of a Quilter.To start, we need to cut our fabrics as follows. You will need three fabrics, light, medium, and dark. This block looks great with high contrast fabrics. (fat eighths or smaller will work just fine)  

(EDIT: Use a 3.25" light center square instead of a 3.5" square)

I find the easiest way to make these is to chain piece your flying geese. So you are going to make four right in a row rather than making each one individually. With each dark rectangle, place one light square on the ‘top’. Sew each pair from corner to corner as shown:

  

Trim

Finger press your seams open or towards the dark side. Pair each medium square on the opposite side of your rectangles. Sew corner to corner forming a point. Trim off the outside corners  

 Press your flying geese flat. Begin sewing the flying geese around the square. Starting at the edge of the fabrics, sew until you are 1/4” from the edge of the light square and stop. Being careful not to overlap your seams, make your way around the square, making sure to start and stop 1/4” from the edge of the square. Don’t worry if you sew too far or if your seams overlap, you can just rip out the offending stitches :) Repeat the steps for the second goose with the third goose: When you come to the fourth goose, you can sew the seam all the way to the edge. Now, we are going to go back and finish all of the inset seams. Begin by laying the unfinished edges right sides together: Finish seams until the entire block is sewn. Press and voila! You are done :) This is a really fun block to make. I *may* have made a few extra as I went along. I can’t wait to see it with all of the other gorgeous blocks! 

Thanks Amanda! I used an alternative and somewhat simpler version of sewing inset seams which you can see here if you're interested.

Amanda also owns and operates a darling online fabric shop, specializing pre-cuts and bundles in collections from manufacturers who don't market them such as Michael Miller, FreeSpirit, etc. I recently just got this Fat Eighth bundle of Carolyn Frielander's Architextures from Westwood Acres. 

They also have bundles of Jeni Baker's Color Me Retro and are taking orders for Fat Quarter and Fat Eighth bundles of Briar Rose! You might want to take a peek.

Finally, it's been so fun to see the variations of blocks so far on the VQB Flickr page. It's amazing how the choice in fabrics changes the whole look of the same block! Thanks for playing along!

Gingham Style

Hey Fabric Ladies (and gents). I'm blogging live from Quilt Market in Portland! I am being good and taking lots of pictures to share when I get home.
It's the day for the next Virtual Quilting Bee block tutorial, but our guest blogger is having a few frustrating technical difficulties. As soon as we get a couple things resolved, the tutorial will be available! Hang in there and thanks for your patience!
In the meantime I have a new video from Riley Blake Designs to keep you entertained: Gingham Style - parody of the crazy-viral Gangnam Style Youtube video. I saw this today for the first time, laughed so hard, and knew I had to share. Enjoy!

Giveaway from JAQS Fabrics

Today I have a cool giveaway from sponsor, JAQS Fabrics, a lovely online fabric shop.  Can I just tell you how much I love Q's shop? 

It is so easy to navigate with many ways to find what you're looking for. You can search for fabrics not only by manufacturer and collection but also by style and color. It's like going to the color wall at you local quilt shop! The whole site is so well organized and very easy to find what you need.
 
Some other helpful tidbits:

• JAQS ships anywhere in the world.  Orders from within the US are always $5 or less and shipping is free when you spend over $50.
• Bulk discounts are also offered starting at 2 yards (20 cents off each yard) and 4 yards (starting at 40 cents off each yard!) 
• For every $20 spent, you get a $1 back in fabric bucks for your next purchase (applied to your account).

Q carries a great selection of Kona Solids at one of the best prices I've seen.

Some new collections that I'm digging are Norwegian Woods for Michael Miller

and Little Red Riding Hood by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake. (I'm such a sucker for bias stripes.)

Other new arrivals include Bekko for Michael Miller, Glimma in cotton and canvas for Windham, and Hot Chocolate for Camelot Cottons. I really dig that line and I haven't seen it widely available. 

Today Q is giving away a half yard bundle of the Piper collection by Dear Stella. If you'd like the chance to win this bundle, take a quick trip to JAQS Fabrics and come back here, leaving a comment telling me something you love. One comment per person and US entries only this time. Giveaway open until Saturday, May 18 at midnight MST. Winner will be announced on Monday. GIVEAWAY CLOSED.

Winner:
RCWfamilyMay 16, 2013 at 7:48 AM

I like the mystery fat quarter bundles. I ordered one and it was fun to see the fabrics when it arrived! 

Here's the part where EVERYONE is a winner - Q is offering 15% off your entire purchase with the code diary15 at checkout. Offer good through 5/18/13!

Follow JAQS Fabrics on Facebook for all the latest new arrivals and discount deals!

Balancing Act

All last week I had thoughts running through my head, crafting an epic post devoted to Mother's Day. I was recently speaking with some friends that I admire (one of whom made this beautiful little bundle) about balancing motherhood and pursuing our own talents and dreams. It's a tough balance some times (okay, all the time) as pretty much every mother can attest - balancing sacrificing for someone else vs. filling your own bucket so that you have something to give each day. We kind of came to the conclusion that it's pretty much just an ongoing, day by day process.

Well, that post never got written. In fact that I ended up not even touching my computer -or my sewing machine - for 2 straight days. Which is pretty rare for me. But as I've looked back at a few phone snapshots of the weekend, I realized, I'd made the right choice. I spent Friday night having a girls night with my daughters while my husband took the boys to a church Father's and Sons campout. The girls and I went out to dinner and went to the Beehive Bazaar. I snapped this pic on our way home. It was an absolutely glorious May evening!

The weekend also included Saturday soccer game, a lunch date with my husband to pick out a long-anticipated bike (for me!), helping with a dear friend's wedding, Mother's Day with my mom, my mother-in-law and my 89-yr-old grandma.

Monday night I got to take my new bike for spin on one of, what I hope to be many, future family bike rides. It could not have been a better weekend. Lack of computer time, included. (We are also having gorgeous weather right now, which pretty much makes everything awesome.)

And now it's back to the craziness. I'm finishing a few projects and getting ready to go to International Quilt market this coming weekend.  As I'm writing this post, I realize how glad I am that I spent all that time with my family last weekend since I'll be away from them this weekend. Back to that ongoing balancing act. I'm so grateful for their support.

(And also for their humor. When my husband saw the pieced diamonds late last night he looked at me and said, "Did YOU make that?" When I answered yes, he commented that it was a diversion from my normal quilting style. Which I was actually kind impressed that he noticed - because, yes, this was the first time I'd tried anything like this. Then he dramatically joked, "Who are you? It's like I don't even recognize you anymore!" I assure you it was all silliness, but it made me grateful for his ongoing support of the constant fabric projects he's subjected to.)

I also made my block #5 from the Virtual Quilting Bee! Block #6 will be available this Friday! And then I will come back and tell you all about Quilt Market. After I ignore my computer and sewing machine for a little bit and hug my homies.

PS Speaking of the Virtual Quilting Bee, Brenda at Pink Castle Fabrics has new bundles of solids - both Fat Quarters and Fat Eighths back in stock!