After a long long vacation away from blogging.....LET'S START OVER WITH QUILT ADDICTION

I really don't have a knock-your-socks-off excuse for ignoring my blog for the last four months.  I could lie and say that my dog ate my computer.....but he's only a little dog and the computer wouldn't fit.  I could lie and say I volunteered for a risky mission to the moon.....but there's probably wi-fi there. 

So instead, I'm just going to start over. 

Hi, my name is Tricia Lynn Maloney and I'm a quilt addict.

This is me, Quilt Addict Extraordinaire! 



Maybe you're not a quilt addict, so let me tell you about the life of a quilt addict. 

A long time ago, I started collecting antique quilts, blocks, fabrics, patterns/books.  If it was about quilting, I saved it.  Of course, eventually I decided to teach myself to quilt.  Interesting experience.  Resulted in my first completed quilt -- hand stuffed with polyester fiber and hand quilted for that homey "biscuit quilt" style that's all the rage.....somewhere.  Blue.  Lots of blue.  Didn't matter what the fabric content was....it just had to be blue.  But the amazing thing is that after "Ugly Quilt" I kept right on quilting. 

I started making quilty stuff for everyone I know because I really didn't know any better.  Now I even prowl the streets at night looking for more "quilt victims".......  Okay, not really, but didn't that sound really scary? (I'm usually too busy quilting, of course.)

I found a job working in a great quilt shop and there my quilting life really exploded because I could work for FABRIC!  (If you work in a quilt shop, you know exactly what I mean by this.)  I learned all kinds of important stuff while working at the shop like free motion quilting, fabric dyeing, how to cut eight layers of fabric at a time without cutting my hand off.  But this still wasn't enough so I started designing my own quilts.  Then I started teaching quilt classes.  OH NO!  This is a terrible disease and highly contagious, I've learned.  I even found friends......friends who quilt.  This just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it?

Then one day, I decided that I wanted to write a book. It took a long time for everyonthing to fit together, but with the help of a -- shall I say it -- quilt friend, I finally got connected to a publisher.  My first book, ORPHAN BLOCK QUILTS, came out in 2010.   Every quilter's dream, right?  To see your name on the front of a book in print.  That felt really good so I begain to make plans to get my name on the front of another book.  Of couse, I kinda got sidetracked by the quilt magazines and started getting my work published in magazines and other publications. 

Then I went back to the second book idea and it happened.  Really.  My second book came out last year (2013) and was called A RUSSIAN JOURNEY IN QUILTS:  THE STORY OF NICHOLAS AND NINA FILATOFF.  This books is so very special to me because it tells a story shared by my grandma and it tells the story with quilts.  Who knew you could tell a story using quilts?

2014 has been an interesting year for me.  The last time I blogged -- back in May -- I was blogging from International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh.  It was so totally MY MARKET.  Of course, it helped that I live less than 2 hours north of Pittsburgh, so things weren't unfamiliar to me.  AND my dear friend (who quilts of course), Leslie, went with me -- which was good because Leslie is from Pittsburgh.  Of course, instead of a noisy uncomfortable hotel, we stayed with another good friend of mine, Isaac (who does NOT quilt....yet) in his very comfortable home. 

Anyway, Spring Market in Pittsburgh was an amazing experience.  I met a lot of great people and the inspiration that I took away from Market was staggering and a bit overwhelming.  Probably one of the most important inspirations was that I wanted to write another quilt book.  I decided that I didn't want to do a ton of research this time (like my first two books) and I wanted it to have fun quilt projects.  After I got home from Market, after a short procrastination period, I wrote and submitted a book proposal.  AND IT WAS ACCEPTED very quickly -- faster even than my second book.

So this is where I am at right now with my quilt addiction. Did you know that writing a book is a great way to explore your quilt addiction?  You get to spend time shopping for fabrics, petting fabrics, cutting fabrics.......AND YOU GET TO SAY "I AM WORKING."  Ha!

In my next blog I'm going to talk about who this book project is SO SO different than the first two.

What's New With You?

Well, again I've apparrently dropped off the face the planet for a while.  I've been thinking about blogging but when I'm on my computer, I'm usually feverishly writing quilt instructions for a quilt that has to be shipped like yesterday.  Seriously, I think I've made at least ten quilts since the beginning of January.  Most have been for publications, but a few were for the benefit auction for the library where I work.  Whew -- it's no wonder I haven't had the energy to blog for a while.

I know the Olympics have been over for more than a month now, but I just wanted to say that I fould them so inspiring.  It was amazing to hear about and see places that I only read about while researching and writing my book, A RUSSIAN JOURNEY IN QUILTS.  It really made me feel closer to Nicholas and Nina Filatoff.

Of course, now there's been the Crimea sutuation with Russia, too.  Even that brings Nicholas and Nina to mind as they once lived in Crimea before fleeing Russia and eventually emigrating to the USA.

I am planning to attend Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh in order to promote the Block of the Month Quilt in my book.  As I've been thinking about this project and made the decision to create another version of the BOM Sampler quilt (thanks Mel!), my thoughts have been filled with Nicholas and Nina Filatoff.  We're planning a book signing and I am hoping to do a Schoolhouse lecture too, but haven't heard back yet as to whether I'm off the waiting list.  Hope to see you there!


Here's my book.....again!

Here are a couple photos of Nicholas and Nina Filatoff.  The first photo is circa 1915 and was taken in Kremenets, Poland (which in now part of Ukraine).  Notice the bandage around Nicholas's head.  He had suffered a serious head injury in 1914.  Nina was a Red Cross nurse in WWI and Nicholas was a Captain in the Russian Army.  The second photo shows Nicholas and Nina in their passport photo before coming to the USA in 1923.  Look how much they had aged in nine years.

 

International Quilt Market

Well, here I am at Quilt Market having a fantastic time.  On Friday, I had a schoolhouse lecture to introduce my new book, A Russian Journey in Quilts.  Although the room wasn't packed, there was a nice comfortable number of attendees who seemed really interested.  A friend of mine kindly recorded my lecture and I watched it later that night.  I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I was and how much energy I showed.  My schoolhouse was actually only 15 minutes and although I ran out of time, I told those attending that they had to get the book to find out the rest of the story.

Yesterday (Saturday) I had a book signing at the Kansas City Star booth.  All of my tickets were gone and more people showed up than there were tickets, but by the end of the signing I had several left over copies because not everyone came to claim their copies.  Apparently there were a lot of signing all around the same time.  Guess they had a better offer.  LOL!

Took some time to visit the antique quilt booths, of course, and marvel over the amazing treasures there.

I also made some great contacts that will hopefully help.

Well,  time to hop in the shower and get started on the day.  Talk to you later.

International Quilt Market

I know I know, I've been away from blogging for quite a while, but I do actually have a legitimate excues, or rather many legitimate excuses.  First, I've been doing a lot of events to promote my new book, A Russian Jounry in Quilts.  Second, I've been doing a lot of events to promote mt new book, A Russian Journey in Quilts.  :)

Back in September, I attended Quilting Around Chautauqua for I believe the eighth year in a row.  It was marvelous.  In the evenings, my friends and I had a Dwnton Abbey marathon because two of the four of us weren't really familiar with it at all, while the third hadn't seen the first two seasons.  Well, was I surprised at how great it was, although there were some historical glitches, but boy, were my eyes opened.  I'm looking forward to the next season starting in January.  Did you know that Downton Abbey quilt fabric will soon be available?  I've seen some of the ads in my quilting magazines and it looks very nice.  While at Chautauqua, I also did some book signings at my friend, Melanie's booth.  It started out rather slowly, but then a lot of people seemed interested.  Sold quite a few books AND met a lot of really great quilters!

One thing about Downton Abbey that really struck me was the overlapping of it with my new book, A Russian Journey in Quilts.  Downton Abbey focuses quite a few episodes about WWI in Britain and my book focuses on WWI in Russia.  Interesting connection between the two, I think.

Tomorrow I'm headed to my third International Quilt Market in Houston, TX where I will be promoting my book to the world, so to speak.  Looking forward to it, but nervous of course.  I'm also going to try to get connected to a fabric company again.  So we'll see how that goes.  Stay tuned.....if all goes well during the next five days, I might even have some time to blog about Market while I'm there and show you some of the cool things to see.

  I have a Schoolhouse lecture on Friday at 2:05 PM and a book signing at the Kansas City Star book at 2:45 PM.  Wish me luck.....maybe I'll see you there.

BLOG HOP DAY 6

Hello Once Again Everyone!

Welcome to Day 6 of Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop.  If you leave a comment on the daily post, consider yourself registered to win a copy of my book, ORPHAN BLOCK QUILTS.  Oh!  And don't forget to become a follower too!

I am one happy person today!  First, since yesterday I've had FOUR more quilts accepted to Quilter's World Magazine and for an Annie's (used to be House of White Birches) book.  Oh my word!  Luckily all four of them are wall sized or smaller.  What a fun challenge.  NOW OF COURSE, I GET TO GO SHOPPING!

Another cool thing that happened recently is that I found out that my oldest niece, Meg, recently cited my book for one of her papers in college!  Wahoo!  That's something you can't say happens everyday.

The icing on the cake of course, is that the robins are back which means spring is truly right around the corner.  I say this of course, while there's a veritable snowstorm outside right now.  LOL!

BLOG HOP DAY 3

Oh What a Beautiful Day in Northwestern Pennsylvania!

Today is DAY 3 of the Blog Hop with the Quilting Gallery.  Remember, if you leave a comment on the day's blog from March 8 - March 14th, you will be registered to win a copy of my first quilt book, ORPHAN BLOCK QUILTS.  The drawing will be March 15th and the winner will be notified then.  Good Luck! 

OH!  I almost forgot!  Please become one of my blog followers so that we can stay in touch and you'll know when my new book comes out and any upcoming events!

Anyway, back to this beautiful day in NW PA.  It was a balmy 64 degrees F today with lots of sun.  Would you believe that I washed a couple loads of laundry and hung them outside to dry?  Me neither, except that I actually did it.  Oh, how wonderful my clothes smelled when I took them inside and put them away.  Ahhhhhhh.

Spring must be on the way because the animals are coming out to see what's going on -- woodchucks, squirrels, chipmunks, Canadian geese, and other assorted bords.  Sadly, I haven't seen my first spring robin yet, but I know it's just a matter of time.  I've even noticed the buds starting to swell on the trees.  What's spring like in your neck of the woods?

Today I did manage to spend some time in my studio although I was wishing it was outisde instead of down in the dungeon!  I put the binding on a small quilt that I've been commissioned to make for a neighbor as a memory quilt for her granddaughter which includes fabric salvaged from her father's (the great-grandfather) red plaid flannel shirt.  I designed a medallion setting and feature a photo of the granddaughter and great-grandfather in the center.  It's rather sweet, don't you agree? I'm very pleased with the quilting.  Have you ever made a memory quilt?

I'm also working on a fat quarter tote bag for an upcoming book.  It's going to be really quite mod with fabrics in black, cream, grey, and taupe.  Pretty fabrics, huh?

I haven't heard from my editor for about a week now.  I'm guessing that no news is actually good news.  I do need to check to see if the quilts arrived at the office, though.  They should have been there last Wednesday and I haven't heard anything so I'd better check on that.

Well, I guess that's enough for today.  Until tomorrow!

BLOG HOP DAY 2

Hello Again!  Welcome to Day 2 of the Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop.  Don't forget to leave a comment to be registered for the drawing of a copy of my book, ORPHAN BLOCK QUILTS.  If you leave a comment on the day's blog from March 8th to March 14th, your name will go in the drawing hat.  I plan to draw the winner on March 15th.

The weather was so beautiful today and the sun was so bright that my antique-loving parents and I played hooky and went to one of our favorite places -- Lisa's Indoor Flea Market in Greenville, PA.  Here are some photos of quilt and textile items that I saw there.

This photo shows the assorted quilt blocks that I scored today at my favorite booth.  Five Dresden plates from the 1930's, a ca. 1910 single wedding ring, a ca. 1940 stripy block,  a ca. 1910 unidentified block, a ca. 1900 pinwheel variation, a ca. 1900 nine patch variation, and of course over 100 little nine patch blocks from the 1930's/1940's.

What did you do today?

Catching Up

So sorry -- it's been almost two weeks since I last blogged. I have a good excuse, though -- I've been working very hard to get completely caught up on projects. I finally completed my two projects for the Dec 2011 Quilter's World magazine issue AND the instructions. Sent them earlier this week and they arrived safely at the office today. Whew -- I always get a little nervous when shipping quilts.

The two quilts really took quite a bit of time to finish -- particularly the miniature quilt. I put as much time into the mini quilt as I do several larger quilts -- the piecing alone took over nine hours (not all at once, thank goodness!).

Of course, writing project instructions is nothing to sneeze at either -- it's exacting and time consuming.

Then of course after the projects are done and the instructions are written, then it's time to prepare for shipping the quilts. This process takes some time too -- printing ALL instructions/patterns, emailing ALL instructions/patterns, completing submittal forms, packing slips, addresses, inspirations......Are you as tired as I am yet???

I just wanted to show a little bit that goes into the planning and execution of quilt designing for those of you who might not know the process. It's a lot of hard and challenging work, but of course it's fun and rewarding too. Hopefully the next time you look at a quilt project, you might take a second to think about all of the work put into it. Perhpas it's something you'd like to try for yourself....

To change subjects, I'm still diligently working on fabric designs. My design director has been travelling all over going to all the big shows and hasn't had a chance to get back to me with feedback yet, but I still keep plugging away, hoping that I'm on the right track.

I think I see a distinctive style evolving -- my designs are grounded in actual antique, vintage, retro fabric designs, but with a little extra something....Can't wait to post images of my first collection for Northcott, Louetta's Garden, as soon as they are available.