More Quilt Acquisitions

I can't believe that June is almost over. Where did this month go?????

I finally connected with my design director at Northcott and everything is on track for my first fabric collection to launch in October at Quilt Market. Now I have to get busy designing quilts for the fabric line, not to mention more fabric collections. :)

My friend Leslie and I are planning to go to Quilt Market again this year -- I definitely don't want to miss when my first fabric collection debuts!

Earlier in June, I went to another garage sale and purchased two crazy quilt tops. One had some moth damage to the wools along the edges. The other one was in much better condition and even has some embroidered motifs inside some of the crazy quilt blocks like a fish, snowflake, flower, etc. I think they are both from the circa 1890-1925 era.




Last week I did a program for a guild as a last minute thing and wouldn't you know it, but one of the guild members brought boxes of vintage and retro fabrics/blocks for the taking. OF COURSE I came home with a stack of mid-century blocks and two boxes of precut fabric pieces. My nieces came over on Father's Day last week end and the three of us had a blast digging through the little squares -- even my young cat, Pip, got involved! I gave each niece a plastic sandwich bag and told them to stuff it!




Today I also acquired a really nice grouping of vintage fabrics from a friend of mine who was visiting from SC. If you're familiar with my quilt book or else know the story of how I got started making orphan quilts, tthen you'll recognize the name Louetta. My visitor was none other than Louetta's granddaughter, Nancy. Nancy is the one who had the garage sale that changed my life -- it was the one where I bought the first pieces for my Louetta collection (of blocks, fabrics, tops circa 1840-1960). Five years later, I'm still adding pieces. Thank you, Nancy!

I went to take a photo to show you, but the camera was dead so you will have to wait until my next blog.

The Busy Days of Summer

Okay I admit it -- this month I am being a lousy blogger. There's just so much to be done now that the weather is getting nice.

In the last week, we've been putting in our garden. We enlarged it this year so now we have to add some extra things such as corn and potatoes. Hopefully our fall harvest will be wonderful with lots of yummy fresh food.

I am also working on a new possible book project. This project requires extensive research so I've been spending lots of spare time working on that.

With the summer season finally in full swing, my program schedule is getting busier too. I am designing my very first mystery quilt for an upcoming guild workshop in the beginning of August. ANd I am still working on an occasional quilt design.

Of course, I am still working on fabric design as well. Right now I am on my fifth collection, but Northoctt is still on the first collection so I am taking a little break so we can get in synch with each other. I am planning to sneak in some Photoshop classes in July which should help me to understand the program better.

Did I mention that I'm working more hours at the library? And that I'm tutoring two children in reading in my spare time?

You know, looking back over my schedule right now, it's making me tired and I think I'll go to bed. G'night!

Alzheimer's Quilts

Check out the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative website, http://www.alzquilts.org/index.html, and get involved! If Alzheimer's hasn't touched your life yet, it will.

Yard Sale Finds

The Memorial Day week end means a different things to different people. Here, in my neck of the woods, in additon to visiting graves and planting flowers, the Memorial week end means Cochranton's annual community garage sale. Most years I miss it, but not this year.

On my way to work at the Library yesterday morning, I stopped at an interesting sale in the yard of a very old and battered house that I had driven past the day before. It looked intriguing. Of course the first thing my eyes saw was a tumbled quilt tossed on top of a worn out table that leaned. The young guy having the sale told me the "rules" -- fill a back for a buck, a crate for $3, or a tote for $5. My heart began to pound as my brain wrapped around that information. I asked him about the quilt and he said a buck! One single dollar bought me a circa 1900 quilt.

Of course, it's not a valuable quilt -- it's smelly and tattered with holes and wear, but it is an old quilt. It is simply roughly six inch squares sewn together. Hand quilted with black thread and not-so-tiny stitches, and backed with a once-lovely turkey red decorator fabric. Washed and folded just right, it would make a lovely decorative piece in a primitive pie safe. Or, I could salvage the useable bits and create something else -- a pillow, Christmas stockings, a jacket, a wall quilt, or?????? An antique damaged quilt can yield much creativity.

Additionally, as a new fabric designer, I spied several interesting fabrics that could provide inspiration for future fabric collections.




I didn't have enough time to dig in the tons of boxes before work, but a few hours later, my boss offered to watch the library so that I could go back. One my second trip, I adopted an upside down triangular little shelf painted apple green for $1. I also rooted throuhg boxes and suitcases and found lots of vintage embroidered linens as well as few pieces of interesting fabric. A whole back of goodies for a buck.

So what's the moral of this blog? Never pass by a yard sale outside a decrepid old house because you never know what you'll find. 'Nuff said!

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.

Fabric Designing 101

Well, after the craziness of the last four weeks, I'm finally getting back to designing fabric. My first collection, Louetta's Garden is at Northcott already and I anticipate it to launch this fall and to be in quilt shops in spring 2012. Hopefully soon I will be able to post digital images of the fabrics in the collection

In the meantime, I've been working on four more collections. Along the way I've learned how to create repeats, to reduce colors, and lots of other things that I can't remember the names of right now. But right now I'm trying to figure out how to separate my designs into different color layers. Luckily my design director sent me a disc with sample fabric files on it so that I can see what the correct format is (but now I'm trying to figure out how to reproduce the correct format).

I watched a few videos on youtube that gave me a little bit of a better understanding about the importence of separating color layers (it's kind of like creating the color screens for the printer). Then I checked my book, Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design by Chipkin, and got hung up on spot channels which are not the same thing as color layers.

I began to get a little frustrated so I started looking through the differnet pull down menus and playing a little bit. I think I might have stumbled onto the right thing and if I am correct, it's really quite simple.....I emailed the image file to my design director to find out if I did do it correctly. Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck!

Dianne's Orphan Quilt

Recently, a friend of mine sent me this photo. Dianne used the Art Deco Quilt Design from my book, Orphan Block Quilts, to create her own version of the table runner. She used a wonderful scrappy appliqued sunflower block and contemporary coordinating fabrics. Well done, Dianne!



If you've made any projects from my book or have designed your own orphan quilts, email pictures to me and I'll post them on my blog. My email is: littlequilts@windstream.net.

In the meantime, keep rescuing those orphan blocks and making more quilts!
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One last thought for today -- check out the newest issue of Quilter's World magazine. I have a placemat design as a web bonus that features the twist and turn ruler..... CHECK IT OUT!