Wednesday, December 13, 2017

12 Days of Christmas

 'Tis the Season....


Last year I had a lot of fun designing quilts inspired by favorite Christmas songs.

I've been thinking of what to do this year to celebrate the season on my blog and I think I've come up with a new idea for this year.

Who doesn't love the song "The 12 Days of Christmas"?


That song inspired me to come up with 12 different characteristics of the season (instead of turtledoves, maids a-milking, and golden rings).

Faith
Hope
Love
Charity
Kindness
Peace
Joy
Courage
Pride
Friendship
Laughter
Creativity



 For each of these 12 characteristics, I'm going to create a new quilt design.  Yay!

Beginning December 14th, I hope you'll come along with me on the 12 Days of Christmas.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

100 Quilt Blocks Vol. 16 Road Rally Winners

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

Here are the winners:


1)  Donna from Saskatchewan.........won a copy of 100 Quilt Blocks Vol. 16

Yay, Donna!!!!

2)  Diane from Michigan........won a copy of 100 Quilt Blocks Vol. 16

Hooray for Diane!!!

3)  Susan from Mississippi...........won my new pattern, Basket Weave.

Way to go, Susan!!!

4)  Lee Ann from Texas..........won my 2 new Rose Card patterns  plus a mystery surprise.

Wahoo, Lee Ann!!!

5)  Cheryl from Illinois.........won my 2 new Rose Card patterns.

Yippee, Cheryl!!!

Thanks for visiting my blog during the Road Rally.  I hope everyone had fun. 

I hope that you stop by and visit again sometime soon.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Carl Comes for a Visit

Good Morning!

While I'm waiting for all my Road Rally winners to send me their information, I thought you'd enjoy a little bit more about Carl the tortoise.

Carl actually came for a visit yesterday to celebrate my Mom's birthday.  I haven't seen him for a couple of weeks or so and he's really grown again!  My niece calls him her "shell puppy" and it is amazing that he really does act a lot like a dog.  LOL!


He had fun wandering around the house.  He was very curious about my dog, Gizmo and Gizmo was very curious about Carl.  When Giz finally settled down for a dog nap, Carl kept coming up to him and even grabbed some of Giz's fur in his mouth and pulled.  Boy was Gizmo surprised.  He also thought Annie the cat was very interesting.  She was equally fascinated with Carl, but preferred keeping her distance and watching him from the safety of the couch.


Here's a cute photo of Morgan and Carl.  They are quite a pair!


Well, hope you enjoyed a little bit more Carl today.  Stay tuned for the Road Rally winners.


Sunday, November 12, 2017

It's a ROAD RALLY! 100 Quilt Block Tour November 2017

Hi!  Sew glad you stopped by. 

I hope the traffic wasn't too bad.

Come on in and make yourself comfortable.

A cup of tea, perhaps?

I'm very excited to be part of Quiltmaker Magazine's 100 Quilt Blocks Volume 16 Road Rally Blog Tour.  My block, Tortoise Love, is Block #1540.


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Let me tell you a little bit about myself.  My name is Tricia Maloney and I'm a quilt designer, author, and teacher.  I've written three books and my designs have been published in many of your favorite quilt magazines.  I also teach at my local quilt shops here in lovely northwestern Pennsylvania and design/make quilts for fabric companies on occasion.


 One of my latest fun adventures is designing Rose Cards for Villa Rosa Designs.  Here are my first two designs.


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I had a lot of fun coming up with my Tortoise Love quilt block.  You'll have to keep reading to find out about my inspiration for this cute block.  I love that it is a multi-technique block featuring 4 pieced Drunkard's Path blocks and a little bit of applique for the head and tail.

I decided to play a little bit with my Tortoise Love block to see what I could come up with using my Electric Quilt 7 software.  (Did you know that EQ8 is out now?  I just found that out.)

Here's a fun throw quilt I'm calling "Tossed Tortoise."


Isn't this fun?  Can't you see yourself making this cutie for your favorite tortoise (or turtle) lover?  You could make the tortoises all the same fabric or even lots of different fabrics. The squares in the chain could all be different fabrics, too. This would be a great scrap-buster quilt.

I thought about playing around with a table runner design, but I wasn't sure that I would want tortoises on the table at dinner time.  LOL! 

So instead, I went totally crazy and came up with the following design, "Rainbow Tortoises."


What do you think of this one?  I'm not quite sure I love the rainbow tortoises concept, but I do like the movement that's created by the tortoises holding hands (or paws? or feet?).

But if you're not a tortoise lover, you might like this version instead:


Cool, huh?  Interesting shapes that connect add a lot of interest to this version of the design.  Here it is as a big bed quilt:


Isn't this version interesting?  By limiting the fabric choices, you get a bold unique repeating design.

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Okay, now let me tell you about the inspiration for this fun and versatile quilt block.

Meet Carl.


Isn't he just too cute for words????  Carl is a 2 year old African Sulcata tortoise.  When my niece, Morgan, adopted him, he was about the size of a toy car.  He's really grown.  Of course, he loves to eat.  Strawberries are one of his favorite treats.

He'll grow to be gigantic and will outlive Morgan, so she will have to make plans for his distant future.  But in the meantime, Carl loves to go on family vacations, walks, and meet new friends.



There's nothing better than a tortoise and his girl!



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NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

The Prizes:

1. One lucky winner will win a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Quilt Blocks volume 16.  YAY!

        2.  Another winner will receive my first 2 Rose Card patterns and a mystery surprise.  WOW!

        3.  The final winner will win a copy of my new pattern, Basket Weave. SUPER DUPER!

And who knows?  I might add a few other prizes if I get lots of encouragement!!!!


 Here's how it works:
 You have up to 3 chances to win.  Lucky you!

1.  Leave a comment on this blog and tell me what you would name your pet tortoise if you had one.
2.  Become a blog follower and leave a comment on this blog telling me you that you're a blog follower.
3. Follow me on Instagram @tricia.maloney and leave a comment on this blog telling me you're an Instagram follower.

Ready!  Set!  GO!

You have from Monday, November 13th until Saturday, November 18th to participate. 
 Winners will be selected randomly on Sunday, November 19th.


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



Saturday, November 11, 2017

Are You Ready? Quiltmaker 100 Quilt Block Volume 16 ROAD RALLY Starts Monday, November 13th




I'm getting pretty excited to share my latest 100 Quilt Blocks Volume 16 block with you!  The Road Rally Blog Hop starts this Monday, November 13th.  Stop by the Quiltmaker website every day to see the blocks and visit the designers' blogs for a chance to win great prizes!

Stop back here at my blog on MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13th to see my block, here about my really cool inspiration, and to sign up to win prizes!!!!!

It's guaranteed to be a lot of fun!!!!

See you on MONDAY!!!!!

Monday, October 30, 2017

Quilt Market Withdrawal

As I sit here looking at the dreary rain outside and wearing fuzzy socks and a sweater to stay warm, I wish I was in Houston at Quilt Market.  Right now I would be making my way up and down aisles filled with eye candy for quilters.  Maybe I'd stop and chat with vendors that I know or other wanderers.  I'd be pulling my small suitcase along behind me and it would most likely already be stuffed with wonderful inspiring fabrics, thread, and other quilty goodies.  I'd be exhausted, but energized by all of the things that I see.

Yes, I am having Quilt Market withdrawal.  Maybe you have it too?

Here are a few pictures of the floor at Market in Houston from some of my past trips.  In the top photo, towards the center you'll see me standing on the red carpeted aisle between the vendor booths. 



The Market show floor is HUGE!  Usually something like 30 aisles with many vendors in each aisle.  Of course, some vendors like fabric companies take up multiples spots, but the size of it is mind-boggling.  

Next to the show floor is a gigantic quilt show with many different smaller displays.  Looking for inspiration or a quiet spot to think?  This is the place.  Here are a few quilts that I admired from past shows.








Thanks for walking down Market Memory Lane with me.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

At Market

Although I couldn't make it to Quilt Market in Houston, I'm happy to say that I have 3 different quilts on display there.

Last week, I did a super fast quilt for Camelot Fabrics to showcase their new Mixology Fabric Line.  Here it is before I shipped it off overnight to Houston.






Isn't it really really cute?  Hopefully, they'll send me a couple photos of the quilt in their booth so I can show it off some more.  This design is actually an update of a design I did for them last year, called Spare Change.  I checked the website but it's not available as a free download anymore.  :(