Happy New Year! The Year in Review

Happy New Year! I've been an absentee blogger the past few months - maybe my New Year's resolution should be "I will be a better blogger in 2017". LOL!

When I look back on this past year, I'm amazed at all of the things that have happened, or changed, all in one year. Some of those happenings have been personally challenging, but I'll skip those, and just stick to quilty happenings!

First, in 2016, I published my book, Betsy's Scrapbag, the second in the Scrapbag Girl® series in March of 2016. Betsy's Scrapbag is near and dear to my heart, and if you've read the introduction to the book, you'll know why! 2016 marks the 240th anniversary of the year of this country's independence, and I'm so happy that I was able to contribute to the celebration of that very important year, in cloth and thread.

And, to go along with the publication, my registered trademark, Scrapbag Girl® was approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Yippee!

A collage of projects from Betsy's Scrapbag by Martha Walker

Next in 2016, my fabric line for Henry Glass Fabrics,  
A Prairie Journal, was delivered to quilt shops in June. When I returned from my big cross country trip in July, I was finally able to start making a bunch of quilts with the beautiful fabric. Some of those projects I've yet to show, and I'll be talking more about those after the first of year.

I have just recently added a free pattern for one of the projects, Prairie Flowers Table Runner, to the website to download. And, I have kits for the table runner, just listed as well:

http://www.wagonswestdesigns.com/shop/Kits/p/Kit-Prairie-Flowers-Table-Runner-x23145638.htm

Prairie Flowers Table Runner

Next up in 2016 came another big happening - --Wagons West Quilt Shop & Studio in Wickenburg, Arizona. I had been wanting to move most of my business out of the house and into a small space where I could teach classes, and house a small shop to carry some of my favorite materials for creating beautiful, quality works of art, in cloth and thread. The opportunity arose, when we stumbled upon a building that had formerly housed another quilt shop, M's Quilting Inspirations, in Wickenburg, Arizona.

If you've never been to (or heard of) Wickenburg, it's just a short drive northwest of Phoenix, Arizona. Here's a link to the Google map:

https://goo.gl/maps/jsrJpAX2sQT2

My husband and I were busy most of the summer getting the building ready to open the shop by November. We're open Fridays and Saturdays, and if you're in the area, please stop by!

Yes, we're small, but we have a very good selection of the hard to find Aurifil Lana wool thread, which I love for wool applique, and I just received a big shipment of beautiful Valdani hand dyed 3 strand floss and Perle cottons. Love! We also have the entire line of Mettler 60/2 cotton thread, which I use for both hand and machine applique, and many times machine quilting. We have wool fabric on the bolt, hand dyed wool fat quarters, and of course, quilt shop only cotton fabric!

I just added the classes that I'll be teaching in January and February of 2017 to my website, and you can register and pay for the classes online. Classes will be small, so please register early if you want to take a class! Click Here for classes.

Check back again to see if I made that New Year's resolution haha!

Until next time,
Martha

A Prairie Journal fabric arrival!

This summer I did something I've never done before - drive across the country - and by myself, no less! I had a very exciting destination. I was going to see my new (and first) grandson who was born in June! He was just about to turn 3 weeks old when I finally arrived. Of course, I could have flown to Virginia, but I wanted to see my sister in Oklahoma and my mother in the Kansas City area, so I thought driving would be in some ways easier. It was a great trip (except for the torrential rain on 3 of my driving days).

I left in June, and a month later was back home in July. While I was away, my Henry Glass Fabric collection, A Prairie Journal fabric arrived, so it was here when I got back. It's just beautiful to see on the bolts!

A Prairie Journal

Last week, I was finally unpacked, and ready to cut into the fabric and make my first quilt from the collection. I chose to make the panel quilt first, which is a free project to download you can find on both the Henry Glass Fabrics website and my website. This quilt is made using the panel from the collection, cutting out the large center portion, and the four small floral blocks for the corner sections. It's surrounded by plain borders and broken dishes blocks made from the red and blue coordinates. I'm just in love with the dark teal blue fabric!

Here are the pieces ready to put together:

And the top finished!

A Prairie Journal quilt

I have more quilts to make with the collection, so I'll post more pictures as I get them done.

Back to my trip - while I was in Kansas City, I did a trunk show at Quilter's Station in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Here are a few pictures that I borrowed from the many that their wonderful photographer took, and posted on the Quilter's Station Facebook page.

"Basket Quartet" quilt made from my Studio e Fabric line Elementary

"1776" from Betsy's Scrapbag

"Autumn Stars" from Betsy's Scrapbag

 

"Bricks and Boughs" table runner from my book Be Merry

 

And a few pictures from my drive cross country:

One of my overnight stays both ways was Paducah, Kentucky.

Downtown Clinton, Tennessee

I had heard that Clinton, Tennessee had some good antique shops, so I made a short side trip to do some shopping. I came home with some fantastic goodies from Corner Antiques.

And visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Oklahoma always takes me through the beautiful Cimarron country of Oklahoma:

Gloss (Glass) Mountains

We live in a beautiful country, and I loved seeing familiar places again, and places I've never been to before. It was a great trip, and I miss my new grandson already! But East or West, home is best, and I'm happy to be home and making quilts again!

Until next time,

Martha

A Prairie Journal fabric collection, Part Two - The Strippy Vine Print

Applique for Beginners and Beyond

 One morning while I was working on my A Prairie Journal line for Henry Glass & Co., I was thinking about applique. I designed the main panel of the line for those quilters who want instant gratification - and maybe those who will never try their hand at applique. With the Prairie Journal panel they can make a small quilt that will give them that look. Here is my free quilt pattern that incorporates the panel pieces and easy piecing ... a cute little 40" x 40" quilt! (If you click on the image, it will take you straight to the free pattern download).

A Prairie Journal quilt

That morning I was thinking about the quilters who DO want to try applique, but are just afraid to get started. And in particular, I was thinking about vines... beautiful vines in the border of a quilt are so striking. But the marking of the vine border can be intimidating, and patterns don't always provide full scale diagrams. So, I'm sure some quilters look at the instructions and say "Maybe not".

I remember that fear well. In 1999 I designed a border to surround a pieced quilt center. I had never before appliqued a vine border at the time. It was a fairly involved design, and it took me awhile to overcome the fear and take the plunge. Below is a portion of my first appliqued border with vine.

Detail, "Summer Cottages" 2000

But I wanted there to be an easier way for the beginner. So I designed this print as a part of the A Prairie Journal line. I call it The Strippy Vine Print:

A Prairie Journal 9919-44

I designed the print as a kind of blank canvas for the applique beginner or student. The printed vine is your template to add shapes such as flowers, leaves, berries, birds, etc.

Here is the paper version of the Strippy Vine Print that I used at my Quilt Market Schoolhouse to illustrate the "Before" and "After" of adding appliques to the yardage:

The printed vine is also meant to be the placement guide for applying the bias vine after your shapes are added. There are several methods you can use to make bias vines. The printed vine on The Strippy Vine print is 3/8" wide. In a previous blog post I explain how to make bias vines using pressing bars. If you are using the pressing bar method, cut your bias strips 1 1/4" wide x the length you will need to cover your vine. To review my pressing bar tutorial CLICK HERE.

Another way to make bias vines is to use a bias tape maker.  Cut your strips 3/4" wide when using this method. Below I am using a Clover 3/8" bias tape maker to press under the edges of the strip:

If you don't have a bias tape maker handy, you can make one yourself. Cut a 3/8" slit in a piece of thin cardboard or chipboard. Finger press the edges of one end of your 3/4" wide fabric strip to get started, so that the raw edges meet in the center.Insert through the slit and begin pulling the strip through the slit, pressing the edges as you go:

Add your appliques and stems first to the vine, using any applique method you like:

Then place your vine over the printed vine to cover your stems:

I have designed four free to use patterns using The Strippy Vine Print that you can find on the Henry Glass & Co. website. Click on the picture below to take you to the page.

The Strippy Vine Print can also be used for a horizontal strip quilt. Here is another of the patterns I designed for use with the print that is a free download on the Henry Glass website. 

Folk Art Strippy

You can even cut apart the borders from The Strippy Vine Print to add a touch of applique to any project. There are thirteen coordinates in the A Prairie Journal line and here are a few of the coordinates that look particularly good with The Strippy Vine Print:

I can't wait to get the full yardage in June and begin playing with The Strippy Vine Print!

Until next time!

Martha

Sentimental Stitches In Shops Now!

It's here! My new line of fabric with Henry Glass & Co., Sentimental Stitches has arrived!

The colors are wonderfully rich! And although not Christmas themed, the red and wine, olive green and gold prints would make a quilt or project that would fit in for the holidays, and beyond.

Here is the quilt I just finished binding, using Sentimental Stitches. This is the green version, and I have the red version done and ready to be quilted. You can find the free pattern download HERE.

Sentimental Stitches - Green Version

Machine Applique Versus Hand Applique

I've been using my strike-offs to get a start on making my Sentimental Stitches quilt in both colorways (free pattern download).

Sentimental Stitches Quilt - Green Version

Sentimental Stitches Quilt - Red Version

I love both colorways, so my plan is to try to make both after I receive more fabric. Each quilt is about 56" square with 6" appliqued blocks, so I'm hoping I can get both done.

Here are the blocks I've completed so far. Three blocks for the red version and one block for the green version:

Just for fun, I decided to have a little competition between machine applique and hand applique while making the blocks. I timed how long it would take to make one by machine with turned under edges, and how long it would take to make one with the needle turn hand applique method.  I held out a little hope that needle turn by hand would reign supreme, but unfortunately, it really lost big time. Of course, I have to admit, I was watching a movie part of the time, but during the parts when I had my nose to the grindstone, I would have already finished one by machine.

Why did I want needle turn to win out? Most importantly, I find it so relaxing, and love working with a needle and thread. Second, the preparation of needle turn is a breeze. But, I added the preparation time into the total time, so unfortunately, it didn't make up for the difference in how fast a machine can stitch around the shape versus my hand!

Luckily, they all look nice in the end. Can you tell which one I stitched by hand?

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