Citrus Belt Quilters

Yea, my first workshop of the year was at Citrus Belt Quilters in Redlands.  A city in the citrus belt  located near the San Bernardino mountains which were capped with snow while I was there.  I loved looking at the snowy mountains with the ubiquitous Southern California palm trees in the foreground!  I meant to take a picture but???

As usual, we had fun in the workshop with a variety of blocks produced. 

The Starry Orange Peel offerings:

And the Lotus blocks. 

Great work everyone!

The designer of the first Lotus block with the butterflies was so inspired she went home and designed and stitched a whole quilt top and brought it back to the guild meeting the next day to show me!

 

She did tell me in class that she didn't do needle turn applique and one reason she managed to accomplish this in one night is because she did fuze and machine applique the blocks.  That said, it is wonderful and I was so pleased and proud that she was so inspired with the tile quilt process.  And that she used the blocks in the book but also made them her own by the variations she made. 

And here are some of the participants showing their blocks at the meeting.

Quirky Star

Bobbi's Quirky Star
42.5'' x 42.5''

 When co-author, Carol Gilham Jones, and I were selecting quilts from the International Quilt Study Center collection for our book, Fresh Perspectives, we loved the star quilt which is simply called "Stars".   As Carol pointed out in the book,  the viewer's focus is constantly switching between the four-pointed stars and the bold diamonds with the green eyes.

Carol and I were both working on quilts from the selections we had made and she made up the Star quilt first, and then Kathe Dougherty made another interpretation.  Kathe developed a foundation machine piecing pattern which is published in the book.  

Here is Carol's quilt and then Kathe's.

Well, we didn't need three versions of this quilt and I'd already made my share of quilts for the book so I put the idea aside with the intent of making one "someday".  Finally in 2012, I found some time and wanted to get started on my version.  I found some fabrics in my stash that I thought would work though I knew there was not enough of any of them to make the more formal version Carol had made with just four fabrics.  I made about four blocks and then had to put it aside for another project but recently, finally found time and it is finished!

Mine turned out to be more like the original as I ran out of one fabric and improvised to find another.  In some cases I had to sew scraps together to make a large enough piece to fit the pattern.  I started with the old Pilgrim/Roy brown and gold woven look print, the pink and gold twiggy print that I'd purchased at Rosie's in San Diego in 2010, the raspberry print left from the a quilt of years ago and the maroon solid. When I ran out of the weave, I added the leafy print.  Soon I ran out of the twiggy print and substituted the pink botanical which I'd actually bought along with the twiggy print at Rosie's.  Then I ran out of the leafy print and really had to go looking in my stash.  I found the subdued paisley and decided it would work fine in the center blocks.  I barely made it with the raspberry print, having to sew leftover strips together to make it.  And, in the end, ran out of the maroon and had just enough of the raspberry print to substitute.  

I am quite pleased with the result, shown at top.  Here is a closeup to show the fabrics.

 It was a really fun pattern to work with and with Kathe's pattern for foundation paper piecing, it was a snap to piece.  I think it lends itself to all sorts of interpretations from Carol's orderly version to really scrappy and in many different types of fabric.  I'd love to see your version!

House Quilts

Check out Darra Williamson's blog, "See How We Sew". http://seehowwesew.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/housing-projects-part-2-a-free-block-pattern-and-more-wonderful-quilts/ 

Darra has included my Happy Houses quilt from our book, "Fresh Perspectives" along with some other wonderful house quilts.   It's a two part post so be sure to check both if you love house quilts as much as I do.

Happy Houses was so much fun to make.  Thanks, Darra for showing it on your blog!

EBHQ Workshop

My last workshop for the year was several weeks ago and I'm finally getting the photos up.  I had to buy a new camera and then figure out how to work it!  Sixteen members of East Bay Heritage Quilters gathered to learn about tile quits and produced some lovely blocks.

First a very nice variety of Orange Peel blocks.

 

Next some wonderful Lotus blocks.

 Ne  

 

This block is a pattern from a quilt in Tile Quilt Revival called All in A Dream. 


Two original designs (I'm always happy when students design their own blocks).  The first is based on a Dogwood blossom.

Another original design.

 Great work and a fun day.  Now I get a break in classes until February but I might find something else to talk about!

On the radio again!

Pat Sloan has invited Carol and me to be interviewed on her American Patchwork & Quilting radio show next Monday to talk about our new book, Fresh Perspectives.  

We'll be on at 1 PM on the west coast, 2 PM Mountain time, 3 PM Central time and 4 PM on the east coast.  Here is the link to listen,

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/radio/index.html

Piece By Piece Quilt Guild

We had a great class yesterday at the Piece By Piece Quilt Guild in Morgan Hill (though we were actually in Gilroy for the workshop!)  Thanks to May and Carol for inviting me.  I think everyone had a good time.  As usual everyone brought a wonderful variety of fabrics. 

I have to apologize in advance for the quality of these photos.  Last weekend I was in San Diego seeing that favorite singer of mine, Alfie Boe from the UK.  I couldn't miss the chance to see him here in California.  Well, I dropped my camera at the theater but it didn't appear to be broken so forgot about it.  I was fortunate to get my picture taken with Alfie after the concert and I did think that it looked a little weird.  Not him, but the picture in general.  Not the best but I was happy to have it and thought maybe it was the lighting or the curtain behind us.

Well, when I started taking pictures of the blocks in the workshop, there were horizontal lines across them all that I couldn't seem to get rid of.  Then I remembered dropping the camera at the theater and how strange the photo taken with Alfie looked.  When I left class I went and bought a new camera.  But, since these are the only photos I have from class, I'll have to use them so please forgive the quality.

First the Lotus blocks:

And the Orange Peel blocks:

And seeing Deb Rowden's "Hot Mama" quilt in the Gallery section of Tile Quilt Revival, one participant drafted a pattern in class to make her own version of Deb's quilt.

 


As usual, these blocks are all works in progress but soon to be stitched up and finished!

Thanks for a fun day and a great class! 

Elvis Tile Quilt Block

Remember the Elvis block in process at the Petaluma Quilt Guild workshop? 

   Well, here is is all stitched up.

Elvis lives!  

Melissa H. sent this along and she has another block all stitched up and ready to go.  She said she really enjoys the technique.  Thanks, Melissa!