Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 8 Blog Tour winners

Thank you to everyone who joined me last week for the Blog Tour! It was a joy for me to read all of your kind comments! If you aren't one of the lucky winners from my giveaway, or those on the other designers' blogs, Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 8 should be showing up on the shelves of quilt shops this week, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

The winner of a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 8 is pasqueflower. For those of you who also entered the Facebook giveaway, I have the winner posted on my Facebook page - hint: Linda!

Until next time,

Martha

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from today's top designers Volume 8

Welcome and thank you for visiting my blog on this fun blog tour sponsored by Quiltmaker Magazine! I love to design quilt blocks and I'm so honored to be included in the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from today's top designers Volume 8!

Pictured below is my block, Martha' s Basket:

Martha's Basket

For a look at how it would appear in a diagonal set I've added the black triangles:

Martha's Basket block on point

My basket is named for my Grandmother, Martha. Grandma was an incredible seamstress and needlewoman, and my fascination for patchwork began with a beautiful Wedding Ring quilt that she made, and under which I slept in grade school. I don't have Grandma's sewing basket, but I do have a wooden cigar box in which she must have kept the paper and chipboard templates and piecing leftovers from working on that quilt:

When I chose fabrics for my block, I was in the middle of working on new patterns, which all had Fall and Halloween themes; hence, the orange and black color scheme But the block is very versatile, and has unlimited possibilities. Here are a few example of Martha's Basket using prints from Elementary, my new fabric line with Studio e Fabrics, which will be appearing in quilt shops this month.

Here is the block with a sweet pink and green color scheme:

And here it is with a more dramatic blue and red on gold:

So many possibilities!

Thank you for visiting today on the Blog Hop!

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 8, please leave a comment below by 11:59 pm PST Sunday, Nov. 17.

AND

For another chance to win a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 8 AND a bundle of Elementary fat quarters, just go to the West Designs Facebook page www.facebook.com/WagonsWestDesigns and leave a comment on my Quiltmaker Vol. 8 block post, again by 11:59 pm PST Sunday, Nov. 17.

Good luck and enjoy the rest of your blog tour! For a quick link back to the blog list on Quiltmaker's Quilty Pleasures CLICK HERE.


Until next time,


Martha

Basket Quartet

September and October are now history! Wow, that went fast! I was busy doing a number of things. I finished two Halloween/Fall themed punchneedle pieces, but unfortunately not in time for patterns for this year. So, it will have to wait until 2014, but I will have them ready for a big show I will be doing the first of February (Feb. 5-8). I'm going to have a booth at the first ever American Quilter's Society show here in Phoenix. I'm so excited! If you have some time to spare for a nice little quilting related vacation, you might want to think about a trip to Phoenix in February.

I was also fortunate to receive some sample yardage of my new fabric line, Elementary for Studio e Fabrics. The fabric turned out beautifully, the colors are so rich! I designed three different free to use patterns for the line, which are all posted on the website www.studioefabrics.com .

So I began working on Basket Quartet (Light) for an upcoming event I'm doing at Zoe's Trunk, in Chandler, Arizona. It should be fun! As you can see from the flyer, we will be having a hunt for the missing Elementary fat quarters - finders keepers! And Sherlock Holmes will be there leading the hunt!

Here is the quilt, Basket Quartet, that I am currently working on. A lot of applique!

Basket Quartet

As much as I love hand applique, in the interest of time I decided to do this quilt by machine, which is fun do as well. I prepare my applique pieces with starched turned-under edges like so:

I simply pin the pieces in place with tiny applique pins, and then stitch the pieces to the background using a tiny vari-overlock stitch in a color that closely matches my fabric. I use Mettler 60/2 cotton thread, Aurifil Mako 50/2 cotton, or DMC 50/2 cotton machine embroidery thread, whatever matches best! This is the method which I think best mimics the look and feel of hand applique. No glue, no fusing, just pure fabric!

I'll be sure to post a photo of the quilt when it's done. I have one block finished, three to go!

I hope you'll join me next week for the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from today's top designers, Volume 8 Blog Tour which starts Monday, November 11. My day for the tour will be November 13 where I will talk about my block and giveaway one copy of the Vol 8 issue. The block I designed for this issue is one of my favorites, I hope you like it too!

Here is quick link to start the blog on November 11 - www.quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures . Have fun!


Until next time!

Martha