Quiltmaker Shuffle! A new dance just for quilters!

In my May post recapping Spring International Quilt Market in Portland, I mentioned a dance that was taught and videotaped called the Quiltmaker Shuffle. Saturday morning at 8 a.m. before the show opened, a group of designers, myself included, got together at the Quiltmaker booth to learn a dance created by Gudrun Erla just for quilters.

Here we are learning the moves...

The dance includes moves to visualize the quiltmaking process - shop, cut, sew, press, quilt, sew and show and tell. For some reason, I had a hard time with the shopping move in the dance at first, even though I have absolutely no problem shopping in real life.

The video is now live on YouTube - take a look!

There is also a short video lesson,where Gudrun Erla teaches the moves, so that you can learn it too - the teaching part is at the end of the video below. Wouldn't this be great for guild meetings and retreats?

To read more about the genesis of this little dance and the whole shuffle story, go to Quiltmaker Magazine's blog http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/2013/06/the-quiltmaker-shuffle/ 

That's all for now!

Happy dancing!

Martha

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (just a little early!)

It's never too early to start working on projects for Fall, and I have five new patterns out, three of which are Fall and Halloween themed.

Broomstick Hollow quilt pattern

Broomstick Hollow is a quilt pattern, made up of lots of different orange and black prints.  Really quick, and fun to make! This was my #1 bestseller at the recent International Quilt Market in Portland. Judy Danz did the beautiful quilting on this quilt and I'll try to show you just a little of it with this close-up. She quilted stars and pumpkins in some of the houses, and the border has a wonderful pumpkin vine winding through it.

Broomstick Hollow detail

Pumpkin Party wool applique

Pumpkin Party is a little wool applique table topper, and I have included full-size applique placement diagrams to make placement really easy. I used Aurifil Lana 50% wool/50% acrylic threads for the blanket stitching and whipstitching. I love how these threads mesh with the wool!

Happy Harvest punch needle pattern

And the last of the Halloween patterns is Happy Harvest, a punchneedle (also known as needle punch,) pattern. I used mostly Valdani 3 strand floss, with the addition of Weeks Dye Works and DMC embroidery flosses.
Each pattern includes weaver's cloth with the design printed on it, so you can get started right away. That printmaking class I took in college finally paid off!

In addition to the Fall patterns, I have two quilt patterns for any time of year. One of my favorite childhood nursery rhymes was "Sing a Song of Sixpence", where those blackbirds were baked in a pie....

And here is my "Blackbird Pie" quilt ....

Blackbird Pie quilt pattern

Judy Danz quilted Blackbird Pie, and again, did a beautiful job.


And last, but not least, is Boy Crazy, a scrappy pieced quilt with optional appliqued buttons. Included in the pattern is a sheet of foundation patterns for paper piecing all of the hats, but templates for that segment are included for traditional piecing, as well.

Boy Crazy quilt pattern

I hope that wherever you are this summer, whether staying at home or on vacation, you have lots of time to do some stitching!

Until next time,

Martha