Melinda Bula class

My quilt guild offered a workshop with Melinda Bula last week, and this is my version the Summer Rose pattern she taught (you can see her finished version in her shop) so far. I picked the dots mainly ’cause they were the only type of fabric I had several shades in, and I’m pretty happy with how the rose came out. Melinda was a great teacher—I learned a lot, and she kept us laughing all day. If you’ve got a chance to take a class with her, sign up! I’m loving her California School of Fuse.

I’m looking forward to trying out her quilting techniques when my machine comes back from the shop (please come home soon!), but first I have to get the leaves fused together. I’m just not sure what color to make them to work with the grey background. I’m not sure green would be right—what about brown?

Giveaway winners

Congratulations to Shawn, winner of Through the Keyhole, and Silka, winner of Slash/Backslash! You should both have an e-mail in your inbox with instructions for downloading the patterns.

Winners were selected at random by the independent accounting firm of The Other. Thanks to everybody who entered—those who didn’t win should have an e-mail waiting with a coupon code for a discount at my pattern shop. (louise r and knottygnome, I couldn’t find your addresses! Drop me a line so I can give you the coupon code too.)

New patterns—and a giveaway!

Observant readers may have noticed two new patterns quietly added to my website the other day. Thought it was about time I put a few pictures of them up here! Details about the giveaway are at the end of the post.

This quilt, Through the Keyhole, is an “I Spy”-type blankie. I had tonnes of fun picking out monsters, aliens, farm animals, and other novelty prints I don’t get a chance to use very often. It’d be cool made up with prints all in a particular theme, too—maybe all pirates, or a Halloween version with cobwebs instead of wood grain for the sashing. The keyholes can be appliquéd by hand or machine (the pattern gives instructions for both). Probably best to do it by machine if its juvenile recipient will be dragging it round on their adventures!

 

 

Slash/Backslash uses a special technique to make the front and back of a reversible quilt at the same time (or two quilt tops). The pattern includes two sizes; the front and back of the wallhanging size are shown above, and the throw size is shown below.

 

These are just a few of the ways you could arrange the blocks—the pattern shows several other possibilities for each size. I taught a workshop at my quilt guild using the pattern, and they came up with lots of clever settings…

Anne, who made the Christmas quilt at left above, and Snow, in the middle of the previous photo, both used the “back” blocks as a border around the “front” blocks. Great idea! You can see a few more shots from the class on Flickr (dimwit here had the autofocus off and spoiled most of the pictures—drat!). Anne took her quilt to In Between Stitches in Livermore, and they took a photo to include in a “mini quilt show” post on their blog!

By the way, congrats are in order for In Between Stitches on two fronts: first, they’re celebrating eight years in business this weekend (and one year in their bright new space). And second, they’re going to be in the spring issue of Quilt Sampler! A while back, I wondered out loud to shop owner Melissa when Quilt Sampler was going to come knocking—they seemed like a perfect candidate for the magazine—and she sort of evaded the question. Now I know it’s ’cause they already had come knocking but she had to keep her lips zipped! Congratulations, you guys deserve it.

So, giveaway time! Leave a comment on this post, and you could win a free download of one of these new patterns. Just make sure to fill in your e-mail address when leaving the comment (or make sure it’s accessible in your Blogger profile), and mention which pattern, Through the Keyhole or Slash/Backslash,  you’d be most interested in. I’ll pick the winners at random on Friday, February 19, so make sure to comment before then! There might even be a discount in it for those who don’t win…

See my project in One-Yard Wonders

In all the holiday hullabaloo, I didn’t get a chance to mention that I got my contributor copy of One-Yard Wonders! If you haven’t already, go check out a the book—it’s full of patterns for everything from pet beds to aprons, including my Hanging Wall Pockets pattern. Each project is made from a single yard of fabric, which handily eliminates cutting-counter fretting over whether a pattern called for 3 yards or 4...or was it only 2? The book’s an especially great resource for browsing to find gift patterns.

Here are the wall pockets just before they flew the nest for their moment in the spotlight. They were actually quite handy for corralling all the sewing-room paperwork, so now that I’m settling into a new sewing room in a new house, I’m thinking of making up another version with a different fabric for each pocket panel. But Princess Fluffinstuff may need a bed sewn from one of the book’s other patterns first, as Felis Domesticus has taken over the poor dog’s bed....

If you make anything from the book, upload a photo to the One-Yard Wonders Flickr pool—and if you make the pockets, add it to my Feed Dog Designs pool too. (I already spotted Emily’s version in the OYW pool—it looks great and she has some good tips for beefing up the pockets!)

Had to run—and have to run again!

Usually when my blog posting goes quiet it’s ’cause I’ve got busy, lazy, or some combination of the two. But this time there’s an actual, real reason. On November 11, fellow crafter/sewer Youngest Brother was in a serious car accident and has been recovering from a brain injury ever since. To spare all the gory details, let’s skip from there to the present: he’s came out of inpatient rehab yesterday! He’s walking, talking, eating, and joking, and continued outpatient rehab should help with some remaining memory and strength issues, but we’ve been told to expect a pretty full recovery. It’s an incredible turnaround considering the initial prognosis and really gives us something to celebrate this Christmas. The Other and I are flying out there again today to join Middle Brother, his wife, the Mother, and the Father, so we’ll all be able to celebrate together.

In the meantime, there’s lots to catch up on here, so I’ll try to post as I can. But we’re finally moving out of this cruddy apartment and into a house in January, so it’ll still be busy!

I hope you all have a happy and especially a safe holiday season. Am at the airport, so have to dash!