Weekend Getaway

My husband and I decided we needed a little break from the Phoenix summer heat, and so we headed down south for an overnight stay in Bisbee, Arizona. Bisbee is an old mining town situated in the Mule Mountains. It is the southernmost mile high city in the United States, so the weather is a lot milder than what we're used to in Phoenix.

We stayed in the Copper Queen Hotel, a hotel built by the Phelps Dodge Corporation and completed after four years in 1902. We didn't have reservations, so we were offered a choice of three rooms, one of which has claims of being haunted. We took a look at each of the rooms, but when we returned, the front desk apologized, and told us that one of their reserved guests had actually requested the haunted room, and could they give us the room that they had set aside for them? You bet! I like to get a good night's sleep when I stay in hotels.

Our first stop when we arrived in Bisbee was The Old Corner Quilt and Dry Goods Shop, a new shop just under 1 yr old. I had met Debbie, the owner, at Quilt Market in Kansas City, so I was looking forward to seeing her shop now that's it's open. Wow! The shop is wonderful! Her displays are so creative, and she is even expanding into another room and working on more displays and eventually a loft. Here are some pictures, but you'll have to go see for yourself if you get a chance!

Debbie in front of The Old Corner Quilt & Dry Goods Shop

Front Door, with wonderful front window display

Vintage Christmas!

Cute Display!

Valdani Threads display in buckets - cute!

Homespuns - like!

Hand dyed yarns

Cute display with old window, door and tin roof with lights

Debbie and Martha

Debbie's shop specializes in primitive style quilts and projects, and by the way, she also carries Primitive Quilts and Projects Magazine. I'm a little late in posting this, but hopefully you've already picked up the Fall issue and seen my Scaredy Cats quilt inside --

Scaredy Cats

Right now I'm currently trying to finish another bunch of Halloween themed patterns. We'll see if I can get them finished before the big day!

Until next time,

Martha

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

2013 Spring Quilt Market Portland

I finally have a few minutes to sit down and write a recap of our trip to Portland, Oregon for the Spring 2013 International Quilt Market. I was lucky to have my husband, Thom, along with camera in hand to capture some of the moments of the trip. And, of course, he did so much more than take pictures.

We left Phoenix on Wednesday before Market, and it was fun to run into Nancy Shamy and Cindy Oates, two fellow designers, at Sky Harbor airport. Cindy's company, of course, is Taylor Made Designs, and she has been a pro at the business for over 20 years. This was Nancy's first market for the inauguration of her new pattern business, Kenzie Mac & Co.

The next day I was able to start showing the prints from my new fabric line, Elementary, for Studio e Fabrics, at a morning Schoolhouse for quilt shop owners. What a thrill, after nearly a year of hard work developing the line with Studio e!

 

 Studio e Fabrics Schoolhouse 

Quilt Market 2013

Banner for Elementary in the

Studio e Fabrics booth

The quilt on the banner is one of the quilt patterns I designed for the Elementary line. Here is another version of the quilt -- the instructions for making the quilts will be found on the Studio e Fabrics website soon.

One of my booth neighbors at market was Quiltmaker, and I was so excited to see my block "Simple Life" from Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 7 magazine framed and hanging in their booth.

Quiltmaker booth at International Quilt Market

Portland 2013

On Saturday morning of Market, a group of designers met at the Quiltmaker booth to learn a very unique dance created by Gudrun Erla of GE Designs, titled "Quiltmaker Shuffle". The dance was videotaped and will be edited and posted soon by Quiltmaker. Although I've never been any good at choreographed dance moves, I gave it my best shot. :)

I have more to share, but it will have to wait until another day!

Until next time,

Martha

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 7 winners

Thank you to all of you for your comments. I truly enjoyed reading about the color combinations you would use for your own version of Simple Life!

And the winner is #207 - Jodi. Congratulations, Jodi!

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 7 will start appearing on your newsstands tomorrow!



Until next time,

Martha

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 7 Blog Tour!

Hello, and welcome to day 3 of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 7 Blog Tour! It has been my great pleasure to be a part of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks series since it's inception. Here I am for the fifth time and on the cover too! 

My block is "Simple Life" and it's all applique!

Simple Life

I thought it would be fun to show you some different color options for Simple Life. How about using orange, black and green for Fall?

Simple Life

....Or, blue, black and red.

Simple Life

And finally, how do you like pink, red and green?

Simple Life

I took the last color scheme and drafted this table or wall size quilt using four of the blocks in a diagonal set.

Simple Life quilt

What colors would you pick to make your own Simple Life block?

Just leave a comment here by 5 pm PST Friday May 3rd for a chance to win a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 7, to be sent to you directly from Quiltmaker.  Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 7 will be arriving on newsstands May 7.

Thank you for visiting and now I'll give you a quick link to get back to the Quiltmaker blog for more touring and giveaways!

www.quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures  

Until next time,

Martha

New Fabric Line to debut at 2013 Spring International Quilt Market in Portland - Elementary!

I've been away from the blog for quite awhile, but I'm thrilled to show you a little bit of what I've been working on this past year with Studio e Fabrics. My first fabric line - 

Elementary!

This is the cover of the color card showing just a few of the 19 beautiful fabrics in the Elementary line. It will be debuting at Spring International Quilt Market in Portland in just a few weeks. I'll be back to show you more as soon as I can!

I will be having a booth at market, as well, and I'll show you what I made this weekend as a possible prop for my booth. Three of my new patterns are Fall and Halloween themed, so I thought I would try to make something I've always wanted to make, and here it is.....

We had a big branch from one of our trees break off a few weeks ago in a big windstorm, so it was timely, as the branch was perfect for cutting off a piece for my pot. I spray painted it black, and found this neat metal pot to "plant" it in. A foam insert covered in black Spanish moss is fitted inside.

We'll see if it survives shipping to Portland, and then try it as a prop with the new patterns.

Another idea I have, that I just don't know if I'll have time to get to, is to use my pattern for glitter birds from my book Vintage Christmas:

Glitter Birds from Vintage Christmas

Using black fabric, black clips, and no glitter, I think they would make perfect crows to perch on the branches of my potted black tree!

That's all for now!

Until next time,

Martha

Quilt Appraisals New and Old

It has been busy, busy around here. I've been working on quilts, wool applique projects and just recently finished a pretty cute Halloween themed punch needle. One of those quilts will be published in one of my favorite magazines this year. It's ready to be shipped to the publisher, but before that can happen, it needed to be appraised.

There are a variety of reasons to have quilts appraised. In this instance, for insurance purposes, my new quilt needed to be appraised for it's value in the case of loss or damage. My biggest concern when I ship my quilts off to their various destinations is what happens in transit.

Look at these photos of a box of my quilts, shipped back from a magazine photo shoot in France, when they arrived back to me. 

Gasp! When I saw the postwoman struggling to get this box out of her truck, with foam peanuts falling out onto the street, I thought I would be sick. Luckily for me and my quilts, the publisher shipped my quilts back in the heavy duty vinyl bags as I had requested of them. The vinyl bag was the only thing protecting my quilts after this box was practically destroyed during shipment! Even the peanuts wouldn't have been any protection. Thankfully, my quilts survived!

Here is another example of a box in which one of my quilts was shipped back to me:

Unfortunately, this time, my quilt was not shipped back in the heavy duty vinyl bag in which it had originally been encased by me to the publisher. In fact, it was not even wrapped at all! Again, somehow, my quilt was okay.

Yesterday, I had my new quilt appraised by my friend and local certified quilt appraiser, Karen Housner. We met at my local quilt store, 3 Dudes Quilting, who graciously loaned us their classroom for the appraisals.

In addition to appraising my new quilt, Karen also appraised an antique quilt I had purchased maybe six years ago. Yes, high time I had it appraised! I was curious, too, if I had made a good investment. If not, I really love this quilt. It's a redwork quilt, in very good condition, hand quilted, with a date, and the name "Mary" embroidered on it. The maker or the recipient, I may never know.

Karen Housner measuring my redwork quilt for appraisal

"1908"

A closeup of the cute little gnomes

"Mary"

Each day of the week is represented by these hard-working teddy bears.

Yes, according to Karen's appraisal, I had indeed made a good investment! Although it's an added expense, having my quilts appraised definitely gives me a little bit of peace of mind in the unthinkable case of loss, theft or damage. I think it's also important for those around us to know the value in dollars and cents of these precious pieces of art!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of my 1908 redwork quilt!

Until next time,

Martha

How to hand applique skinny stems

Below is a detail of the skinny stems on the Be Merry Journal Cover from my book "Be Merry: Quilts and Projects for Your Holiday Home". These stems are 1/8" wide, and I'm going to show you how I make and applique these stems.  I use a method in which I prepare the stem with a 1/4" bias tape maker. After making the bias stem, I trim one pressed-under edge of the stem. The remaining pressed edge gives me a nice sharp edge to stitch in place first. The other side, which is now a raw edge, I needle-turn applique.

To begin, you will need the following items: 

Your marked applique background
1 - 1/2" bias strip
a 1/4" bias tape maker
needle, thread, thimble, scissors, pins, iron (not pictured)

Following the manufacturer's directions, pull the 1/2" bias strip through the bias tape maker, and use a hot iron to press the seam allowances as you go.

Pictured below is another method for making the bias stem if you do not have a bias tape maker available. Use a long straight pin and pin it into your ironing board cover in such a way that it leaves a 1/4" opening for the fabric strip to be pulled through.

Do-it-yourself bias tape maker

 Next, cut off one side of the pressed under seam allowance.

Baste the stem onto your applique background (I generally use applique pins for expediency). First, applique the pressed-under side of the stem.

The opposite raw edge is next. Needle turn applique this side. You will find how easy it is to turn.

Needle turn applique the raw edge under to complete the stem

Be Merry Journal Cover

And here is the finished "Be Merry Journal Cover" with skinny stems.  If you try my method for making skinny stems, please let me know what you think!

Well, we got our Christmas tree up yesterday, so today is the day to put on the tree lights - not my favorite part. But putting on a little Christmas music can make even putting on the lights a little bit fun. Cookies baking in the oven wouldn't hurt either!

Until next time,

Martha