It's SUMMERTIME! Tutorials and FREE Quilt Patterns Just for You

Summer Greetings to One and All!

Time has just been flying by and suddenly it's July.  How did that happen?  It's been so crazy around here since I returned from Quilt Market in St. Louis back in May.  I haven't even had much time to quilt or work on any new projects -- it's just been a challenge to get through each day, mostly.

I do have a lovely little surprise or two for everyone, though --

Tutorials for blocks featured in my quilt book, I Love Precut Quilts! as well as free patterns for you to try out the blocks.  F -U -N! 

Who isn't looking for a fun little project to play with during those busy summer months?

You can find the tutorials and free patterns on my website.  Here's the link:

Tutorials and Free Patterns

I hope you enjoy the blocks -- Half and Half Block and Turned Snowball Block and the small quilt projects that go along with the tutorials -- Checkmate and Moonlight.

 Checkmate

 Moonlight

If you make the projects, email  me a photo of your finished piece -- I'd love to show them off on my blog.

Here's hoping that we all find a little time this summer for quilting and sewing!

Spring Market -- Day Number 4 -- what I saw and what I did

Saturday is here!  Hooray!  This afternoon is my book signing at the C&T Booth so that gave me the morning to explore once again.  This time, I decided to take special note of the things that I saw.  I also wanted to take pictures of the things that inspired me.

Here are the things that I noticed:

1)  Bags are back -- totes, purses, and more.
2)  Kids' stuff is still strong -- clothing, toys, etc.
3)  Home Dec is here -- lots and lots of pillows.
4)  Mini quilts -- sometimes just a single quilt block finished as a mini wall quilt.
5)  Taupe is coming back (darn....I've really loved grey as a neutral and accent)
6)  Rainbow everyting is hot, hot, hot
7)  Although modern and contemporary are in, traditional and folk art are still strong in the market.
8)  Apparel is where it's at -- dresses, tops, scarves, accessories...
9) Foxes and woodland creatures are still hot and everyone's wild for llamas.

Well, that sums up what I saw trending at Market.

Here are some of the inspirational  photos I took on the show floor:

My book signing was scheduled for 1:30 PM in the C&T Booth.  Here I am, happily signing away!

Saturday night, I tried toasted raviolis -- a St. Louis speciality!  YUM YUM YUMMY!

On Sunday, it was time to say good bye to St. Louis and Spring Quilt Market as I headed to the airport to fly back to good ol' Pennsylvania.

Of course, my flight was delayed for 4 hours, but I did finally get home.

Now it's time to put all of these new inspirations and ideas to work!  Stay tuned......

Spring Market Friday -- Day 3

After surviving my Schoolhouse presentation yesterday, I was sew sew ready to take on the world today!  Or at least the Quilt Market show floor.

Here are a couple photos of the floor.  You'll have to use your imagination to see how big it really was.  Close your eyes and picture this gigantic room, bigger than a football field.  Can you see the aisles numbered from 200 (row 1) all the way to 3200 (row 32)? Okay, now try to imagine over 900 vendors all under the same roof!

THAT'S QUILT MARKET!

I did not have anything planned for Friday so it was a good day to just walk and look around.  Of course, I checked in with my publisher, C&T, and was delighted to see my book quilt, Breeze -- the blue and white quilt on the left, on display in the booth.  Yay!

I stopped to visit with other friends I've made along the way and somehow, I actually made it through the entire show floor!  Boy, were my feet killing me later.  LOL!


Friday night was the much-anticipated Moda Party and I was lucky enough to get to go the the event.  It was a lot of fun with food, friends, and even some dancing.  I was in for the dancing when they played "Cha Cha Slide" -- really, I know all the moves for this song.  (wink, wink...)

Spring Quilt Market WEDNESDAY -- Day 1

My brilliant idea was to blog everyday during Spring Market, but several thingsmade that a bit more difficult than I had envisioned:

1)  I was just too dang worn out by the end of the day
and
2)  The wifi was pretty spotty at the hotel so trying to blog was a painful process

So, instead I decided to wait until I got home to tell more about my experiences.

Wednesday afternoon after settling in at my hotel, I took the opportunity to wander around a bit and find the Gateway Arch.  Thank goodness for Google Maps or who knows where I would have ended up???

WOW!  It was utterly breath-taking!

There was a lot of construction going on around the Arch and I wasn't entirely sure how to get across the street and to the park, so I actually just admired it from across the street.  Here are a few photos for you to enjoy.

 

Here I am trying to take a selfie with the Arch!  It was really windy and I'm not a great selfie-taker anyway.

Ahh!  Here's the Arch all by itself.

On my way back, I stopped at a wonderful Irish Pub and Restaurant for a quick early dinner -- I was starving.

Loved the dark wood very masculine interior!

Had the Shepherd's Pie -- delish!

As I ambled back to the hotel after my lovely meal, I stopped to admire the architecture of the buildings.  What lovely details and decorations.  Lots of Art Deco and Art Nouveau.

 Lewis and Clark!

Then it was back to the hotel to chill out and get ready for Thursday's Schoolhouse Sessions!

Read about Schoolhouse HERE. (Sorry, I wrote the first 2 blogs out of order....)

Spring Quilt Market in St. Louis Thursday -- Day 2 -- updated!

Today was Schoolhouse day at Quilt Market.

If you've never been to Market, then you're probably wondering what that is.  Well, think of it as 8 hours of constantly changing mini workshops and lectures.  During that time you are constantly running between classrooms, hoping that you actually find the ones that you are interested in.  Here in St. Louis, the classes were even on 2 different floors and you only have about five minutes between sessions unless a presenter ends early.  Talk about doing the hustle!  LOL!

My session to present my book, I Love Precut Quilts!, was scheduled for 3:30 pm this afternoon.  There were 2 of us presenting -- our session was called "Precut Party."  My partner in crime today was Vanessa Goertzen, author of Charm School, also by C&T.

Vanessa is also a Moda designer and isn't it ironic that one of the quilts in my book, Around and Round, featured her first fabric line, Into the Woods?????  What a small world it really is!

  Click HERE to see our Schoolhouse presentations!

Tomorrow is the first day of the actual Show with something like 900 vendors.  OMG!  Can't wait -- it will be like getting locked in a candy shop........

My Solo Blog Hop WINNERS!

First, I want to thank everyone who visited -- I really enjoyed reading about your quilting inspirations.  Quilters are extraordinary people and if every person in the world had a quilt -- it would be a better world. 


 Here are our lucky winners:

Janet from California won a copy of my book, I Love Precut Quilts!  Congrats to you, Janet!

 

Pat from Michigan won a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 15.  Yay, Pat! 

 

I was so very pleased with your responses that I added another copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 15.  

 Joy from California won that copy.  Hooray, Joy!

What fun -- I think I'll have to do this again soon.  Anyone want to do another blog hop this summer?  Let me know -- I'm in!!!

 

Quiltmaker Magazine 100 Quilt Blocks Volume 15 + Giveaway

Hello and Welcome to my Blog!

Today I discovered that the Quiltmaker Magazine 100 Quilt Blocks Volume 15 Blog Hop started on Monday and today -- Thursday -- is actually day 4.  Somehow, I missed the Blog Hop boat and I have no idea how that happened.  I emailed Quiltmaker today to find out what was going on, but they didn't reply....

I'm pretty disappointed that I did not get to participate because Blog Hops are SEW MUCH FUN.  I decided that I would do my own Blog Hop GIVEAWAY since I didn't get the opportunity to participate in the official blog hop.

So....WELCOME to my very own solo Blog Hop!

_________________________________________________________________________________

My block is called CITY BLOCK and it is #1476, on page 48.

Isn't it fun?  I chose a selection of modern fabrics by Cotton+Steel.   This block uses 2 1/2" strips so you can use jelly roll strips, too.

Here it is, replacing the printed fabrics with solids.  Striking, isn't it?

Look what happens when I use a black solid background in my favorite red, black, grey (or white) colorway!  Isn't it really sharp?

Now that we've played around with the block a little bit, let's see what it looks like in a project.  Here's a very mellow beachy table runner design using 5 blocks.  

How about a couple of trendy place mats?

 

I hope you've enjoyed playing around with my block a little bit.  I hope you'll look for the magazine at your favorite quilt shop or newsstand.  

________________________________________________________________________

BUT WAIT....................DON'T GO.....................THERE'S STILL MORE!  

KEEP READING......YOU'LL GET TO THE GIVEAWAYS SOON, I PROMISE!!!

_________________________________________________________________________ 

Ever since my new quilt book, I LOVE PRECUT QUILTS! came out, I definitely have precuts on my brain (oh no -- I hope it's not contagious!).  Just look at my City Block block (sorry about the repetition here......).  You can make this block from Jelly Roll strips, fat quarters, or even out of your stash.  Just about every quilt that I make now,  I find some way to incorporate precuts.  I'm even starting to challenge myself to make small projects out of my leftover precut bits and  pieces....

If you're new to my blog, let me tell you a little bit about my latest book.

 My book has 16 go-to projects ranging from place mats and table runners to wall quilts, throws, and YES! even big bed quilts.  The projects are easy enough for beginners but interesting enough for more advanced quilters, too.  It  has a fun fresh contemporary feel that is light and airy and all of the projects feature traditionally-pieced blocks.  

Here are some of projects from my book:

I'm really excited right now because I'm heading to Spring Quilt Market in St. Louis in 2 weeks for my book's official debut.  I will be participating in a Schoolhouse lecture and doing a book signing at the C&T Booth.  So if you're headed to Market, stop by -- I'd love to meet you and show you my new book.

Want your own copy??????

You can find my book (ebooks are also available!) at these locations online:

C&T Publishing

Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

 

I  also have SIGNED copies available on my website:

orphanquilter.com

(Psst!)  Don't forget to ask for it at your favorite quilt shop.

SURPRISE!  I'm also giving a copy of I Love Precut Quilts! away, see below. 

____________________________________________________________________________________

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY

 You've all been very patient, reading through my entire blog, so I promise that it'll be worth it!

I will be giving away the following:

  A  copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 15

 A copy of my latest book, I Love Precut Quilts!

Who knows?

 I might just add some more prizes along the way if I get lots and lots of encouragement.

(Wink!  Wink!)

Here's how it works:

You have up to 3 chances to win the prizes listed above.

1.  Leave a comment and tell me what inspires you as a quilter.

2.  Become a blog follower and leave a comment telling me you that you're a blog follower.

3. Follow me on Instagram @tricia.maloney and leave a comment telling me you're an Instagram follower.

Ready!  Set!  GO!

You have from Thursday, May 4th through Sunday, May 7th to participate.

 Winners will be selected randomly on Monday, May 8th.

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS 

SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN!