Expressions In Thread

What a great name for a shop. This little shop located in LeClair Iowa is owned by Pam Hughes. Pam has sold a ton of my pattern called Spinning Stars. Pictured here is her version of the quilt. She did it all in Batiks and I must say it looks great. So if you are in Iowa stop in and say hi to Pam and her staff and have a look around.

I recently did a quilt for a customer. She liked my Puzzled in Pink pattern and asked me to make her one. I did it in orange and green and must say I was happy with the way it turned out. She was very happy and could not wait to take it home and put it in her home. I have attached a picture of it  so you can see how  using a different color changes the way a quilt looks .

What about Color

I am often asked about my choices in color in what I create. To me people often think they cannot put colors together because they look at something else and think that they could never do it. To me color comes down to putting enough trust and faith in yourself to pick what you like.It is very easy to like what someone else picks and copy that but then you will never be really creating what is inside you. There is alot of freedom that comes with doing what you like and not being stuck on creating an exact replica of what someone else has already done. There is no need to go hunting for that exact fabric that someone else used in their quilt just because you are afraid to pick something that will work and maybe be an even better choice. Trust your inner voices and go with them. When you get dressed in the morning you are capable of making choices that work together and choosing fabrics for your quilts is not a whole lot different. You know your style and what you like better than anyone else. You know what makes you happy and makes you feel vibrant.

Okay, you may say but I still am not any good at picking out fabrics for a quilt. Let go of that thought and try. Here is an experiment. Take this Block. It uses 7 different fabrics. They all look great together. You may not like yellow and orange but this works. I used several shades of yellow and orange and also different scales of fabric from the large polka dot to the little tiny orange with little triangles on it. Nothing really stands out like a neon sign. In fact when I made this it was for a class that I was teaching. I just pulled everything out of my scrap basket. I really like this and it was fun. It all comes down to trusting yourself and what you like. Make a block. Any block. It is just practice. Make yourself use stuff that you want and trust that little voice that says yes I like that and pay no heed to the one that makes you second guess yourself. You will be amazed at what you are capable of.

Quilting with Wool

 I like to relax in the evenings and my hands have always got to have something in them to do. I go crazy if I am not doing something with them. Call it a curse or whatever but I find using this time to relax and busy my hands also relaxes my mind. I love to work with wool. It is soooo forgiving and takes embellishment well. I like using all the different threads that are available and learning the different stitches that bring out the beauty of  the project that I am working on. This project that I am working on is a combination of patterns by Sue Spargo. Sue is a wonderful designer who works mostly in wool and is a very inspiring teacher. Check out her blog at suespargo.blogspot.com and you will see what I am talking about.

I have been working on this piece for some time. I pick it up in the evenings and do a little each night. It is coming together nicely and I can't wait for it to be done.

The Making of a Pattern Cover

I am relatively new to all this pattern stuff although I have been designing for years and years. With creating a new pattern comes the  painful part of writing it all down in a way that someone besides myself can read and make heads or tails of and come up with what I created myself without the pattern. This is probably my least favorite part of all in the design process followed closely by in second to photographing the quilt in a way that makes it appear all the more beautiful for the pattern cover.I do all this myself as I do not have a huge budget to pay someone else.

Yesterday I was grumbling to one of my very good girlfriends about how I could not take a picture to save my life and I have no place to photograph my quilts so I can't come up with a pattern cover and on and on. Well she listened for awhile and then said to me in a very calm and gentle manner " How about we go down to my Dads farm and take pictures?" Well, let me tell you I was there in an instant. Why did I not think of this. Usually I am full of great ideas like that. Anyway, suffice to say the farm is a great place not to mention the wonderful house that goes with it. There is a great big barn with lots of stuff sitting around and lots of architecture as I like to call it. So I gathered up the quilt I was working on and off we went. Once home I was happy to say we had a lot of great shots and I was able to come up with a cover that I liked. I have attached some photos of the quilt in various shots. The pattern is now available for purchase if you are interested. Just shoot me an email and I will give you the details.

New Pattern

Just wanted to let you know I will have a new quilt coming out in the magazine American Patchwork and Quilting in their late summer issue. I sent it off to them today for photography and the like. I am excited and here is a tiny sample

and I can tell you to start saving your scraps and I mean alot of them. I literally made this quilt from my basket of scraps except for the backgrounds. It is amazing to me what we can do with our scraps. I just started sewing one day after thinking that I needed to just use up some of the stuff I have around here. I think you will like what I came up with. It is very whimsical and fun.

 On another note, I have been teaching a weekly class in beginner quilting and my students are doing wonderful. They have gone from making squares and rectangles to half square triangles and quarter square triangles. They are doing wonderful and having a great time doing and learning. Here are a couple of the blocks we have been working on. Enjoy....

Got the new blog set up and will try to post on a regular basis. There are lots of things going on but here is a peek at my latest inspiration. I made this block and am now in the process of designing a quilt around it . Will keep you posted as to where it goes from here.