Busy Busy Busy

I've had blogging on my to-do list for the last couple weeks and just haven't quite gotten to it.  So I decided that I was going  to start this week out right and blog on Sunday.  LOL!

I thought I'd show you some recent publications featuring some of my quilt projects.   Most likely you can find them at your local shop but I've included the links to the publications on the Annie's online catalog just in case.

1.  Terrific Table Toppers.  Fun and seasonal toppers (which means table runners and table quilts).  My quilt, An Apple a Day, is on page 28.  There are 9 projects in this lovely little book that retails for $9.99 at your favorite quilt shop OR you can find it HERE -- there's even a digital download version if you prefer.

 

2.  Exclusively Annie's Patterns.  These are individual patterns which are mostly fast and easy and beginner friendly.  Here are my two most recent ones:  Visions Table Topper (left) and Nursery Rhymes (right).  Aren't they fun?  You can find these two patterns and a lot more HERE.

3.  Annie's Christmas Special Interest Publication (SIP).   I just saw this at local stores this past week.  It won't last very long -- there are 70+ projects ranging from quilting (of course) to crochet to knitting.  My Christmas Stars Runner is on page 22 and the matching place mats are on page 20.  Grab this one when you see it, it retails $9.99.

4.  Autumn Colors.  Get your harvest on since it's now the first day of Fall.  Time to head to your sewing space and make some cozy and fun projects for you and your loved ones.  I have several quilts featured in this one:  Color Cascade (page 12), Trick or Treat (page 16),  Harvest Star (page 92), Color Play (page 95), Modern Harvest Runner and Place mats (page 98).  Whew!  I'm getting tired just writing all of them down.  You can get it at your local shop or HERE.

Doesn't Fall just make you want to burrow in your sewing room and sew something?  These great publications will offer you lots of inspiration and options. 

Go forth and SEW!

On the 8th Day of Christmas........

On the 8th Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee...........

LAUGHTER

 The Merriam-Webster Diction defines laughter as a sound of or as if of laughing.  (Sadly, not a very helpful definition.)

It's very important to have laughter in your life.  Every day.  I bet you've heard the saying "Laughter is the best medicine?"  That saying really is true.  Laughter can alleviate stress and anxiety and it even burns calories. Did you know that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile?  

Here's to laughter!

For my Laughter quilt, I chose a fun block called Scrap Happy.  Just looking at it makes me smile.  It reminds me of a beach ball, which can brings lot of happy thoughts of fun and sun.  As you can see by the quilt, by altering color placement within the blocks, or turning the blocks, you can get a lot of different effects.

 

My challenge to you is..............to laugh every day. 

On the 7th Day of Christmas........

On the 7th Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee.......

CREATIVITY

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines creativity as the ability to create and the quality of being creative.

So, what makes you creative?

For me, creativity is a family trait.  My mom painted, did wood crafts, made candles, sewed, cross-stitched, and so many other things.  My dad is an auto mechanic by trade, but any person who can take a vehicle apart and put it back together has a large dose of creativity and has the ability to think outside the box.  My sister explored lots of different creative outlets over the years, including crocheting and knitting.  Me, I am a quilter.

I can't remember a time when I wasn't surrounded by creativity and encouraged to explore my own creative interests.

Whenever I think about creativity, I am reminded of my dear cousin who tells me over and over that she is not a creative person.  Yet she is a beautiful dancer and her writing is lyrical and thought-provoking.  Or a friend from college who insisted she wasn't creative, yet whenever we played a comparison game back and forth through email (for example, how  a dead fish and a lawyer similar), her comparisons were not only hilarious but unique, demonstrating her creative thinking.

 There are so many different ways to be creative, find yours.

I chose a Twister Log Cabin block for my Creativity quilt design.  I am particularly fond of Log Cabin quilt blocks because of the amazing variety that can be achieved.  Log Cabin designs never bore me. 

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My challenge to you is..............find your creative voice.

Spring Weather Brings.....Christmas Quilts????

After months of craziness, I am hopeful that my world is going to stop spinning for a while!

And while I enjoy this little calm in the storm of my crazy mixed-up life,  I thought I'd try blogging again.

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As I sit here on this balmy April evening with the window open, the overhead fanning humming away, and the peepers (tree frogs) singing their very loud opera outside, I can't help but shake my head over my recent projects for Quilter's World magazine:

WINTER AND CHRISTMAS!

What?  You might ask.  What's wrong with you?  Are you nuts?

Probably, but in the meantime allow me to explain.

When it comes to designing for magazines or other publications for that matter, you are never making seasonal and holiday items during the correct time/season.  Strange, I know, but how else can the magazine/publication bring your your seasonal/holiday issues unless they're doing the upcoming winter issue in the spring and next year's spring issue in the summer? 

This may sound strange, but I take comfort in the fact that the seasons and holidays still follow in the correct order, just at different times of the year.

Okay, so right now I'm working on a set of Christmas place mats, a snowman table runner, and a snowflake table runner.  Right now.  In April.

Believe it or not, but there is an upside to working on seasonal/holiday items out of time -- by the time the season or holiday rolls around, I've already got a stash of new quilts ready to display, give as gifts, or donate to my favorite charity.  Just sayin'........

Here are some photos of Winter and Christmas quilts that I've made over the last couple years for various publications and patterns.

A Panel Problem

Now that the first stage of the new book is wrapped up, I've turned my thoughts and quilting in a new direction -- working on a sample for our 2016 Saturday quilt group.  Each year we tackle a different project, often some type of sampler.  Mary Lee, my co-leader, came up with a brilliant idea to combine the block book from 2015 (this year) with a quilt pattern called Starlight.

So I started working on my center panel.  Starlight is a great pattern because you can use pretty much any vertical panel -- you just need to add borders around until you get to the right dimensions which are listed in the pattern.  First, I trimmed up my panel to get ready for the first border which I decided to do little pieced squares using all of the fabrics from what I am using for my blocks.  Yes, I had to actually do the math, but I did survive.  I got the border mostly on when I discovered THE PROBLEM.

The panel was not printed straight so now my quilt center is slightly skewed.  UGH!  I've already invested enough time and energy in this project that I don't want to change midstream.  I thought that by carefully adding the remaining borders that I could correct the skew.  Although it was definitely better by the time I finished the borders around the panel, it still isn't perfect.

See what happens when I match up the top and bottom edges of the quilt?  See the big wrinkle?

Now see what happens when I straighten the quilt through the center......the edges don't meet.

With my breath held and fingers crossed, I am going to go ahead with the project as is.  Hopefully by the time I get to the outer edge, things will have straightened out.  I am counting on the forgivability that 100% cotton fabric possesses. Then with a little luck, I will be able to quilt out any remaining distortion.

Maybe the quilt will turn out just fine.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

New Book, New Blog

Greetings to You and Welcome to my new blog, Quilt With a View.

This is a sunset taken from the little valley where I live.

Sadly, I lost interest with my old blog, The Orphan Quilter, last year due to a lot of different circumstances.  So instead of rehabbing it, I decided to turn over a new leaf -- er, new blog.

I have some new goals in mind for this blog, so I thought I'd put them in writing because I have found that if I write something down, it is more meaningful to me.  Does this work for you, too?

My goals:

1.   To be more proactive with my blog in order reach more people.

2.  To incorporate tutorials (since I have a variety of interests, the tutorials may not always be quilting-related).

3.   To invite guest bloggers to my space.

4.   To blog more frequently.

5.   To have fun!

Okay, now that I've got those goals actually written down, let's get started.

I decided that today was the day to start my new blog because today was the day that the rough draft of my third quilt book was due.  Of course, I, being an overachiever, actually submitted everything yesterday.  :0)

This past year was definitely full of ups and downs for me.  In 2014, I submitted a book proposal to my then-publisher, Kansas City Star, and it was accepted.  Of course, I started contacting fabric and supply companies to gather up everything I needed for the book and I jumped right into making projects.  What fun!  

Then earlier this year, I received a devastating email stating that Kansas City Star was closing and as such, they would not be publishing my book, which was slated for a Fall 2016 release.  After I ranted and raved about the unfairness of the world for a couple days, I got my head on straight and started contacting other publishers to see if anyone was interested in my now slightly-tarnished book proposal and a slightly-bruised me.  A couple publishers were interested and we began talking.

After many months, I found out that Kansas City Star and C & T Publishing made a deal so that KCS would become a C & T imprint.  This was definitely good news for me as I was already in talks with C & T.  For a long time, I heard very little about the whole process and I kept my fingers crossed, hoping that no news was indeed good news.  After tweaking my book proposal a bit to make it all shiny and new, I resubmitted it to C & T and they accepted it.  WOO HOO!

So, to make a very long story short, today was the date for submitting my rough draft (which I already did yesterday, remember?).  The quilts themselves are almost finished, which is a good thing because they will be due in about 6 weeks.  By the beginning of December, everything on my end should be wrapped up and then I get to sit back, pat myself on the back, and wait.....and wait.....and wait for that first copy to arrive.  Although there was a lot of water under the bridge, my book is still slated for a Fall 2016 release.

So, anyway....

Today, a mysterious box was left outside the garage door.  At first, we all assumed that it was a returned quilt from one of the magazines that I work with, but the box was light and rattled.  Then I saw that the return address was C & T.  Hmmm.  My curiosity was really peaked at this point and I just had to open that box.

Here's what I found inside:

A tote bag filled with awesome goodies.  It was a welcome gift from C & T!  How cool is that???!!!  Did you know that C & T did more than just publish books?  They also have their own line of fusibles/interfacings, gifty items, tools and rulers, and much much more.  They sent me a lovely assortment of thier items.  

It will be fun to try them out and tell you about them as I do, don't you think?