Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Returning to the Land of Quilt Blogging!

Hi There!

I am finally resurfacing after a long time away from blogging.

What have I been up to?

Well, I've been quilting, quilting, quilting......with little time for anything else right now except more quilting, writing instructions, and shipping quilts as fast as I can make them.  Oh, and my "day job" too, of course.  :)

So I thought I'd take a little time to catch up.

I've been making quilts for a lot of different publications recently and I'm also looking forward to Spring Quilt Market next month in St. Louis.  My book, I LOVE PRECUT QUILTS! will be officially debuting there so I'll be participating in Schoolhouse and doing a book signing at the C&T booth.



Here are some of the other publications that you can find me in right now:


Stash Busting Quilts by Annie's Quilting

My adorable scrappy strippy quilt, CAKES, can be found in Stash Busting Quilts.
 
Quilter's World Magazine Summer 2017   



My quilt, FLUTTER, featured in QW Summer 2017.
BIG BLUE OCEAN, also featured in QW Summer 2017.

Quilting Quickly May/June 2017 issue
My super fast jelly roll quilt, JELLY SANDWICH, can be found in Quilting Quickly May/June 2017.




Quiltmaker's 100 Quilt Blocks vol. 15
Here's my block, #1476, CITY BLOCK.  



 Stay tuned in the next couple weeks for the Quiltmaker's 100 Block Volume 15 Blog Hop.  It's sure to be lots of fun with great quilt blocks and quilt ideas......and super prizes, too!










Sunday, February 19, 2017

Jelly Roll Challenge.....Round 2

Five years ago, my quilt group had a Jelly Roll Challenge as part of our monthly group get togethers -- that year, we were making smaller projects every month instead of a big sampler quilt.  It was a pretty awesome experience because we were racing against a group in Chicago at the same time.  You can see my post about our first race here.

Many of the same quilters from the PA team participated in our recent race.  Check out our finished tops!

Here is Jill. 
 She is still the  Jelly Roll Champ, finishing in 34 minutes.


Here I am.  I was second again with 42 minutes.


 This is Linda's bright and fun quilt.  This was her first Jelly Roll Race.

Looking good,  Mary Lee!

Both Gaynel (here) and Shirley (below) started with the same Jelly Roll, but they each added fabric from their stashes.  LOVE how there quilts turned out a little different.

Hello Shirley!


Here's Anita's quilt. This was her first Jelly Roll Challenge, too.

Way to go, Sherry!


We had one more Racer -- Debbie.  But sadly her machine quit on her part way through and she couldn't finish her quilt top.

Ready for another rematch???

Maybe in five years????



Monday, February 13, 2017

I Love Precut Quilts! Blog Hop Winners

WINNERS FROM THE I LOVE PRECUT QUILTS! BLOG HOP:



Book Winners:


Pam from Oregon
Vicki from Kansas
Kathleen from BC, Canada
Christi from North Carolina
Patricia from Texas
Wendy from Minnesota
Jeneta from Australia
Cyn from Connecticut
Sandy from Tennessee
Colette from Michigan
Jan from Michigan

(Please note that there are a few more winners who haven't confirmed yet, so I will add them to the list just as soon as I have confirmation.)

Fabric Winners:


Laura from BC, Canada
Ellen from Maryland
Rina from Montanna


Congratulations to everyone!!!

If you didn't win a free copy of my book, please don't be sad......

You can still get your own copy --

Ask your local shop to carry I Love Precut Quilts! 

Stop by my website and order your very own signed copy -- www.orphanquilter.com

Visit your favorite online shop or check out www.ctpub.com or www.amazon.com


Sunday, February 5, 2017

The Blog Hop



I am happy to say that I survived the very first blog hop that I've organized.  It was a lot more stressful than I thought it would be, but a lot more fun too.

Today, winners were contacted and as soon as everyone has confirmed, I'll announce the winners.

If you didn't win, you can still get your own copy of I Love Precut Quilts! 

You can ask your local shop owner if he/she isn't already carrying the book. 

You can visit my website:  orphanquilter.com to order your very own signed copy. 

Or visit your favorite online shop such as C&T Publishing or Amazon.

I am really quite pleased how the blog hop went.  Sure, there were a few bumps along the way, but we got things figured out and kept moving forward.  The one thing that I did learn, though, is that not only is it important to have participant blogger email addresses and blog addresses, but a phone number would be helpful too.  All in all, though, not bad for my first planned blog hop.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO EITHER PARTICIPATED AS A BLOGGER OR PARTICIPATED AS A HOPPER.  Without both of you, this blog hop would have never succeeded.


Thursday, February 2, 2017

I LOVE PRECUT QUILTS! BLOG HOP FINALE AND GIVEAWAY

WOW!  This has been such a fun week.  I'm sew very thankful that I've had this wonderful opportunity to share my new book with you.  Thanks for coming along! :)

Of course, I couldn't have done it without my awesome bloggers!  I want to send out a GREAT BIG THANK YOU HUG to  Bea of Beaquilter, Mark of Mark Lipinski's Blog, Julie of The Crafty Quilter, Sandy of  Upstairs Hobby Room, Camelot Fabrics, Generation Q Magazine, Joy of Am I Shouting Yet?, Cheryl of Cheryl's Tea Pots 2 Quilting, Bernie of Needle and Foot, and my publisher C&T.  Yay!   I really appreciate each of you taking the time to participate in my blog hop.

I'm a little sad that it's time to wrap up my blog hop, but what a fun time it's been -- 

kind of like a week long book party!  

 

PSST!  Don't forget to read all the way to the bottom for a GREAT GIVEAWAY!

_________________________________________________

Since this is the last stop, 

let me tell you why I love my book,

 I Love Precut Quilts! 




IT'S ALL ABOUT THE FABRIC! 


Whoever invented precuts was absolutely brilliant!

Fat quarters were my first introduction to precuts.  I loved my fat quarters so much that I infected both my nieces when they were quite young -- I can still remember taking my oldest niece, Meghan to the quilt shop and encouraging her to pick out  fat quarters from the sale suitcase. (Meg, I still can't believe that you picked out that hideous pink and blue big polka dot fabric -- what were you thinking? I guess as a 2 year old, you probably didn't have a sophisticated fabric sense yet....)  I guess if I had to have the fabric bug, then I wanted everyone else around me to have it too.

Then I discovered 5'' charm squares..........be still my beating heart. Now I could buy an ENTIRE fabric collection for a small amount of money.  Charm squares were an easy transition for me into all sorts of different precuts. It wasn't long before I started cutting my leftover fabrics into 5'' squares, 2 1/2'' strips, 10'' squares, 2 1/2'' squares -- you get the picture.

Now that I had this terrible precut addiction, what was I going to do????  Too much fabric and not enough time.

VOILA!  Time to write a new quilt book with projects featuring all my favorite precuts.  The funny thing is, I didn't originally start out to write a precut book, but strange and wonderful things can happen when you least expect them.


FAST AND FUN PROJECTS = DONE PROJECTS

  I am a quilter with a short attention span.  I like fun projects that I can get finished fast so that I can move on to a new project.  Precuts have really helped me with this whole concept.  But it's more than just precuts -- the projects have to be designed to go together fast too.  When you add precuts to fast projects then you can make more quilts in less time.  Who doesn't want that?????

Here's one of my favorite SUPER FAST projects from my book:

It's called "Big Bow Ties" and you can literally make this bed-sized quilt top in a matter of hours with matching layer cakes and charm squares,  a collection of fat quarters, or even your stash.  The blocks are HUGE and there's only 16 of them to make.  
Add a couple borders and you end up with an 88'' x 88'' square quilt.  WOW!

Here are a couple more QUICK QUILTS from my book:



It's called "Around and Round" and you don't even have to cut up your charm squares!  
Choose a coordinating fabric and get sewing -- you'll have this cute throw done before you know it!


 This one is called "Breeze" and boy is it a breeze to put together.  It's big enough for a
 twin-sized bed, but you could easily add more rows to make it larger.  Or subtract rows to 
make a baby quilt or a throw.  Whatever size you make it, the hardest part of this quilt is deciding where to place the blocks!


MORE OPTIONS

Be honest.  Who doesn't want more????  I love that we had room in my book to add a lot of USEFUL EXTRAS.  Like "Tricia's Crayon Box" where I show you two additional colorways for a quilt.  Or how about TIPS scattered throughout the book to help you get the most out of your quilting?  There are alternate sizes for the quilt "Bounce" and a discussion about color theory for "Spritely."  I even threw in an extra project for a coordinating throw pillow. 
   
Here are two quilt variations that I put together to demonstrate that I Love Precut Quilts! isn't just a project book -- it's a springboard to more ideas and inspirations --YOURS!



This striking wall quilt is adapted from the "Divide and Conquer" bed runner.
Red, white, black, and grey is one of my favorite color combinations.

This cute little table topper is adapted from the wall quilt/children's quilt, "Bounce." 
Don't you love the batiks on solid black?

It never fails to amaze me how changing fabrics and adding/subtracting blocks can give
you an entirely new project. 

What project will you make first???

 

Now that you're as excited about my book as I am --

  

THE FINAL 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:

1.  A copy of  I Love Precut Quilts!   (International winners please note that you will receive an ebook version)


2.  A pastel collection of hand-dyed fat quarters. 



3.  A bright collection of hand-dyed fat quarters.


4. A set of 42 hand-dyed 5'' charm squares.

Here's how it works:

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

1.  Leave a comment and tell me the craziest thing that ever happened to you while quilting.
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 Friday, February 3rd through Saturday, February 4th to participate. 
 Winners will be selected randomly on Sunday, February 5th.

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS 
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN!

If you are not selected as a winner, don't be sad -- 

you can still get your own copy of my book  :)


1.  Ask your local quilt shop owner to carry my book.
2.  Order your very own signed copy on my website:  www.orphanquilter.com
3.  Visit C&T Publishing, Amazon, or your favorite online retailer.
  

Thanks for coming along on my Blog Hop!  It's been fun. 

 Let's do it again sometime.




 

 




Sunday, January 29, 2017

I LOVE PRECUT QUILTS! BLOG HOP KICK OFF



Greetings!  


My name is Tricia Maloney and I'm the author of the new C&T book, I Love Precut Quilts!  I'm here today to invite you to come along with me on a super fun quilt blog hop to celebrate my new book from January 30th - February 3rd.




WHAT'S A BLOG HOP?

A blog hop is a group of bloggers who are all writing about the same topic -- in this case, my new book.  Each blogger is assigned a day during the hop and decides what he/she will write about. For example, some bloggers might decide to create projects from my book to share with you, while others might do a book review, or even an author interview.  Blog hops generally run for a specific number of days and often include fun giveaways.  This blog hop runs from January 30th - February 3rd and you will be able to register at each blogger's blog to win a copy of I Love Precut Quilts! (international winners will receive an ebook copy of the book).

HOW DO I PARTICIPATE?

Below, you will find the I Love Precut Quilts! blog hop schedule along with links to all of the bloggers who are involved with the hop.

All you have to do is click the links each day to go to the featured bloggers. Once there, read the blogger's post and follow the instructions to register for the giveaway.  It's that simple to get in on the fun!

BLOG HOP SCHEDULE

Monday, January 30th
            C&T Publishing
            Quilt With a View 

Tuesday, January 31st
             Mark Lipinski's Blog 
             The Crafty Quilter
             Beaquilter  

Wednesday, February 1st
                Upstairs Hobby Room 
                Camelot Fabrics 
                Cheryl'sTeapots2Quilting  

Thursday, February 2nd
                Am I Shouting Yet? 
                Needle and Foot  
                Generation Q Magazine   

Friday, February 3rd
                Quilt With a View

NOW THAT YOU KNOW HOW THE BLOG HOP WORKS, LET ME TELL YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY BOOK

I Love Precut Quilts! is a fresh collection of 16+ beginner-friendly and intermediate quilts ranging from table runners and place mats all the way up to big bed quilts.  ALL of the projects feature precut fabric bundles -- fat quarters, charm squares, jelly rolls, layer cakes, and even half yards which makes fabric selection a snap!  You can even use your stash or scrap collection because each quilt project includes a detailed shopping list with the number of squares or strips needed to make the quilt.

Here are a few of the projects featured in the book:





I'll share more about I Love Precut Quilts!  on Friday, February 3rd on my blog, Quilt With a View.
Until then, please use the links in the blog hop schedule, above, to participate in the I Love Precut Quilts! blog hop.  Good Luck -- hope you win!

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY

Today you can win a copy of my new book,  I Love Precut Quilts!
Stop back here on Friday, February 3rd for more prizes.
  

Here's how it works:

You have up to 3 chances to win.

1.  Leave a comment and tell me what your favorite precut is.  
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 Monday, January 30th until Saturday, February 4th to participate. 
 Winners will be selected randomly on Sunday, February 5th.
Please note that international winners will receive an ebook version of my book.

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS 
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN!




Let the Blog Hop Begin!





Be here on Monday, January 30th to join in the fun for my book blog hop!  

Hope to see you here!!!!