March 2022

Springtime greetings, quilting friends. And a special welcome to my new followers! I have event news: I will be the featured quilter at the Pine Tree Quilt Guild show April 30 and May 1, at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley, CA. I'm very busy working on new quilts and wearables—a "good" kind of pressure, yes? I would love to meet you in person, so if you're within driving distance, please consider a quilting field trip. The setting is gorgeous, the weather will be great, and the vendors will tempt you with fabulous fabric and more. Also, Artistic Alchemy will have a booth featuring Sandra's polymer buttons and earrings, Heidi's patterns and wearables, and Jane's kits and hand-dyed fabric. Hope you can come!

I'm really enjoying teaching on Zoom! It's a great way to stay in touch with quilting and my quilting friends, especially far-away guilds. Email me if you're interested.

More news: I've posted a list of selected newsletters (with a small photo, short description, and link for each) on the Tutorials page of my website; scroll down to "Newsletters."

p.s. If you missed the newsletter on the making of my "Cut Flowers" quilt, here's the link: https://conta.cc/3EsxcYs

In the Beginning . . .

There was an idea, a treasured collection of handpainted fabrics by Elin Noble, a stash of yummy solids, and other favorite fabrics.

I had in mind placing the dreamy handpainted fabric in the center of each block. I isolated the areas I wanted to feature using a chalk marker.

It was a happy mess!

One of the first blocks. Something was missing. . . .

When in doubt, introduce a black-and-white swizzle stick into the mix!

I had quite a collection of "ingredients" for the blocks.

A few more blocks. I couldn't resist the ikat plaid and the Grunge for the one below.

Or a Kaffe Fassett stripe in this block.

So there I was, with nine blocks—and no clue as to how to set/arrange them. I didn't want them to march in rows, and sashing strips seemed too predictable.

And so they sat in a bin for several years—and I forgot about them. Not long ago I put a few blocks on my white design wall, randomly. (Sorry, no pic of that moment.) I liked them "aired out," but they seemed visually heavy, so I trimmed each block off center to a set size.

They still needed something, connections perhaps, so I added a Tula Pink B&W stripe and the gray dots I created through Spoonflower. I was getting there . . . .

After MUCH shifting of the elements, I settled on a layout, pieced it all, and left the quilt top in the talented hands of longarmer Sandra Bruce. What you see below is the finished quilt, bound in the same white solid as the background

A detail shows Sandra's masterful quilting.

I entered the quilt, now named "City Grid," in QuiltCon 2022 . . . and was rejected! (How dare they?) That's OK with me; I will turn it into a paper pattern for my website Store and a PDF pattern for my Etsy Shop. But that won't happen until ATQS (after the quilt show).

I'm working on several other quilts and wearables. Sawtooth Star is one of my favorite blocks because you can showcase a favorite print in the large center square. A warm, darker-value fabric in the corners (as opposed to the traditional approach of making the corners light background), changes the design completely. (I like he way the blue in the center fabric bleeds a bit into the blue/red dot.) This will also be a pattern—you guessed it—ATQS!

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and look at my latest work. I'll be in touch with more ideas/inspiration, again, ATQS :-). In the meantime, indulge your passion for fabric and your love of quilting!

p.p.s. Seven of my patterns are available in my Etsy shop. You save $$$s on the pattern and pay no postage, a win-win!