Sugar Shack

So excited to have this beautiful book to share with you and thrilled to have my project "Sugar Shack" included in such a fun group of designs. If you love house blocks as much as I do, I'll think you'll love Blockbuster Quilts: I Love House Blocks now available from Martingale/That Patchwork Place and on the shelf at your favorite local quilt shop.

What is a sugar shack you may be wondering?

A sugar shack is also known as sap house, sugar house, or sugar shanty and is primarily found in Eastern Canada and the Northeast in the US. Like the name suggests, sugar shacks are small cabins where sap collected from sugar maple trees is boiled into maple syrup. 

common sugar shack - image courtesy of Wikipedia

My mom has fond memories of her uncle's sugar shack in western Pennsylvania growing up and making maple syrup "candy" or taffy by pouring hot syrup on snowballs. Yum! So the cabins and colors of my house blocks are a nod to those memories.

"Sugar Shack" by Tonya Alexander

The fabrics are a selection of Moda Grunge mixed with a variety of white/gray prints. Over sized 16" x 20" blocks with a simple graphic house design give this project a modern edge. Piecing is a breeze by featuring half square triangles for all of the roof lines.

Along with "Sugar Shack", you'll find 13 other fun and colorful designs from some of my fellow Martingale designers. It's hard to pick a favorite but here's just a sneak peek at a few that I love....all images courtesy of Martingale/That Patchwork Place.

"Log Cabin Houses" by Natalie Barnes

"My Hometown" by Christa Watson

"Suburbia" by Dana Bolyard

So how about a giveaway to celebrate this fun new release?! Leave a comment - do you have sugar shack memories of your own? Have you made a house block quilt before or is there one in your future? Be sure to include your contact email if you are a no-reply blogger! I'll draw a winner for a free eBook version of I Love House Blocks on Friday, June 30th!

Happy Stash Quilting,

Tonya 

I Love Churn Dashes!

For my first post in the new year, I am very happy to share my first collaborative project with you today with Martingale, Block Buster Series: I Love Churn Dashes. It was fun to be a part of this and I really enjoyed seeing how my fellow 14 designers started with the same traditional Churn Dash block and made such uniquely personal projects. In case you were wondering, we don't see each other's ideas or work before the book comes out either! It's amazing to me that it comes out the way it does, each project so individual and re-imagined by each designer.

Here's my project, "Little Boy Blue", 48 1/2" x 48 1/2"

I know, I know...not my usual color-palette, and it's even flannel! Sometimes you have to go outside your box and learn something new and boy, did I ever have learning opportunities on this one!

"Little Boy Blue" by Tonya Alexander
Quilted by Tracey Fisher

At first, I thought I would just share this project with you like any other, add some pretty pictures, some commentary, etc. etc. I have been dragging my heels on this post because there is so much more behind what started out to be just a simple little baby quilt.  Make no mistake, I love how my project turned out and I really love the book. I can also honestly say at this time last year I had just completed this project in the late night hours before the publisher deadline and truly thought it may be one of my biggest oops!

The design was good, the piecing was no problem. It's a nice weekend-sized baby quilt project and would be great in many colorways. I even loved my idea, but along the way, I had so many opportunities to learn from my own process mistakes. Humbling, yes. Discouraging, a little bit along the way. Satisfying in the end, absolutely!

Quilt testing in progress. This is the official quilt-tester in my house, Seamus.

Things I learned on the way to the finish line:

1. Pre-wash flannel in hot water and dry on high heat
This part I at least got right. I had the fabric colors/prints in mind before I actually found them and they turned out to be flannels. I hadn't really worked with flannel a lot before this project so I did some homework. The best advice I found, flannel can shrink a lot and at different rates. Working with flannel is not the time to forego the pre-washing step. You will save yourself a good amount of shrinkage in the end.

2. Baste, baste, and baste some more
Initially, I planned to quilt this with my walking foot on my domestic machine. I was going to do three large spirals that intersected and overlapped. Well, the first one was no problem. The second one started to bunch up and pleat as the circles came together. I pin-basted but not as much as I should have. I didn't take into consideration the give of the flannel under my walking foot and the amount of shifting and distorting the flannel was capable of. An let me tell you, it's capable of a lot, even with high-quality flannel fabric. Lesson here, don't take short cuts in basting. Whether you pin, spray or thread baste, take the time to be thorough and do it right.

3. When something isn't going right - STOP!
Or should I say, stop, re-evaluate and adjust. The quilting was turning into a hot mess on this and I just kept pushing along, thinking is would somehow work itself out. You can see even in the early picture above, the problem was already beginning. See that bunching up at the top? Yeah, well, that got a whole lot worse before I had the good sense to finally stop. I was so discouraged by my own stubbornness in not stopping when I should have, I didn't even take any pictures. You'll have to take my word on this one!

4. When the going gets tough, call in reinforcements
Your quilting peeps are one of your best assets and can serve you up equal parts of advice and encouragement. I called my good friend and long-arm quilter, Tracey. I told her my tale of woe and that I was going to give up and start over, considering my looming deadline, could she quilt it in like 10 minutes? She calmly talked me off the ledge. She said, "No, bring it over and let's see what we can do."

She finally convinced me we could pick out the quilting with a seam ripper and recover. I've known her a long time and she's an amazing quilter, but I did not believe her. Shows you what I know. We spent about an hour together "un-sewing" and then she took it into her capable hands and turned the quilting into something great - this time on the long arm. (So I will only take about 1/8 of the credit for quilting on this project. Let's just say there is more un-quilting to my credit on this one that actual quilting by me in the end!)

Tracey's final touch, beautiful all-over spiral quilting.

The best laid plans...

5. Be flexible and be o.k. with change

Even the final version didn't finish exactly as planned. Originally, I had designed it to be square but was forced into another design decision when it came time to square it up. Because of the shifting during the quilting, there was no way those corners were going to be square no matter how I trimmed them. Tracey suggested lopping off the corners. It solved the corner problem and added to the final design element of the corners mimicking the corners of the Churn Dash block. In this case the outer border is actually the largest Churn Dash and the angled corners made sense! Win-win! 

Quilt-tester comment: "It's o.k. Mom, I still love you..."

Presto, a year later, and I can now say I learned so much on this project and I am happy to share it with you. I share this with you in hopes to encourage you not to give up when things aren't quite going right. The project wasn't the problem - I was! But if you're willing to step back, accept some help, and be flexible and willing to change your plan, it's possible to have a happy ending. I hope you'll check out Block Buster Series: I Love Churn Dashes on the book shelf at your favorite local quilt shop or retailer and enjoy all the great designs.

Happy flannel quilting,

Tonya

Making it my own #mystashmystyle - round 2!

I've been having so much fun with the #mystashmystyle contest with Jeni Gaston. Have you started yet? Well, don't hesitate because the process is fun and the results may surprise you!

Today I'd like to share my second re-envisioned project from Jeni's book Primitive Style. Don't worry, you only have to do one to enter the contest, either from Primitive Style or my book, Stash Lab, but you will be tempted to try more!

So for this project, I started with Jeni's original project called "Cozy Home".

"Cozy Home" by Jenifer Gaston, image courtesy of Martingale.

The original is designed as a journal cover and that's what I started out to make. But as I was pulling fabric from my stash closet, I came across some flea market frames and had a light bulb moment! I decided to keep the design the same but trim down the size to be a framed project instead. Eureka!

Here are the changes I made to this project:

•  like "Resting Place", I used cotton fabric instead of wool. 
• Switched to fusible applique with top-stitching on my machine. 
•  I trimmed it down and framed it instead of completing it as a journal cover. I used a standard 8x10 frame and it fit perfectly.
•  This time I skipped the quilting step (so no batting) though because I thought it would be fine framed without.

Top-stitching in process...

And voila! Here's my version of "Cozy Home"...

I love how this turned out. Wouldn't this make a thoughtful house-warming gift? Hmmm...

And just for fun and because it's spring, here's a sneak peak at the fabric bundles that will be included as part of the prize pack for #mystashmystyle - straight out of my stash...will you get a chance to win?! I hope so!

Happy stash stitching,

Tonya

Making it my own #mystashmystyle

I'm so excited to share this project with you today - it's part of the #mystashmystyle contest I'm co-hosting with my fellow Martingale author, Jenifer Gaston. We're using each other's projects to re-imagine and re-style with our own stashes.

My inspiration project came from Jeni's book, Primitive Style. On the book cover, the pillow on the left of the bench is her project called "Resting Place". Isn't that sweet?! So perfect for Spring. I loved it and decided to make it over in my style.

My helpful hint for changing up fabric selection on a project: pay attention to value as you make your substitutions. So for example, my background fabric is grey - not beige as in the original - but the value (in this case, lightness) of the fabric is about the same. I did the same when picking the alternate fabrics for the leaves, bird, flowers, etc. This way you'll still end up with the same effect... but in your own color-way.

My fabric pull for my project...of course I have my seam ripper out, just in case!

Since I wasn't using wool like the Primitive Style project, I made three major changes to make the project work for me - yes! you really can do that!:

First, I decided to use fusible applique and top-stitch on my machine.

Fusible applique with top stitching in progress...

Second, because I was using cotton and I wanted to include batting for a nice finish on my pillow, I layered the batting behind my appliqued pillow top and quilted the two layers together before finishing the construction of my pillow. Here's what the quilting looked like from the back side - you can see it a little better than on the finished project.

Quilting shown from the back...

And third, I decided to change out the penny rug curved edges on the original project with nested prairie points so I would still have a similar design element with a nice finished edge. Prairie points let me do that. They are super easy, here's a link to tutorial on prairie points. And just fyi - for my pillow, I kept all of Jeni's original cutting and instruction sizes, I just started my nested prairie points with 5" squares.


And here's my finished project in my style!

Front

Envelope-fold back

I have to share these last pics because I thought it was pretty funny. I didn't realize I was even re-creating the photo from the book until I was all done!

Original book image from Primitive Style...courtesy of Martingale.

My amateur photo shoot image of my project...:)

Well, I hope that gives you some ideas and gets your stash mo-jo rolling about how you can take a project and change it up to make it #mystashmystyle ! This project was so much fun!

It's not too late to jump in on the contest - we're just getting started. Here's the link to the original post with all of the details. You can also follow along on Instagram or Facebook with #mystashmystyle.

Also, be sure to check out Jeni's blog post about her first #mystashmystyle project that she re-made from my book, Stash Lab. I love how her's turned out. It's beautiful. We look forward to seeing yours!

Happy stash quilting,

Tonya

My Stash, My Style contest and giveaway!

Have you ever looked at a project in a book or in a magazine and passed it over because you thought, it's just not your style? If you're anything like me, probably about a thousand times! How about changing it and making it your own?

I recently had the pleasure of meeting the lovely and talented Jenifer Gaston, author of Primitive Style. And while you would think at first glance, our styles are from opposite ends of the spectrum, think again! The truth is, you can take any project and change it up as much as you want to make it uniquely your own. So we set out to make some of each other's projects to reflect our own styles and see what we came up with. The opportunities were endless - and the results were great!

We had so much fun playing, we're hosting the My Stash My Style contest and giveaway along with Martingale/That Patchwork Place to give you a chance to stretch your creative muscles, share your projects, and have a chance to win some awesome prizes to boot! Jeni and I will be sharing our own projects in the next few weeks on our blogs and on Facebook and Instagram.

Here's the skinny:

1. Choose a project from the book Stash Lab by Tonya Alexander OR the book Primitive Style by Jenifer Gaston. (The further a project is from your typical style and stash, the better!)

2. Reimagine, redefine, and remake that project in your own style, using your stash, your point of view, and your creativity. Change the colors, change the dimensions—even change the purpose of the project. It’s entirely up to you!

3. Post your finished project to Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #mystashmystyle and share how you changed it up. We can’t wait to see what you  come up with! 

Complete steps 1-3 by May 2nd and you’ll be officially entered into the My Stash, My Style contest! So, what prizes are up for grabs?

Prize pack includes:

 A free one-year subscription to Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine, co-owned by Jeni Gaston, author of Primitive Style

•  A specially curated bundle of fabrics from Tonya Alexander, author of Stash Lab
•  A beautiful bundle of wool from The Woolen Willow
•  A $50 gift certificate from publisher Martingale to spend at their website, ShopMartingale.com

Ready to play? We'll kick off the contest with a giveaway this week of an electronic copy of Jeni Gaston’s book Primitive Style and one of my book Stash Lab.  To be entered for the giveaway, leave a comment below about your stash style or a style you would like to try. We'll draw a winner on Wednesday, March 23rd so you can get started on your projects right away. A winner will also be drawn over on Jeni's blog, so be sure to stop there for a visit for two chances to win!

Follow along anytime on Instagram #mystashmystyle @tonyaalexanderquilts @jenifergaston

We hope you'll join us in MY STASH, MY STYLE! We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Happy Stash quilting,

Tonya

Book Review and a Giveaway - Splash of Color

One of the best things to come out of my first time author experience has been the chance to meet some really fun folks in my quilting world this past year and today I'm happy to share one of those and her book with you...Splash of Color: A Rainbow of Brilliant Black and White Quilts by the awesome Jackie Kunkel.

You may know of Jackie through Canton Village Quilt Works or through Quiltworx as a Judy Niemeyer certified instructor - she's a really busy gal! I had the pleasure of meeting her at Fall Quilt Market and quickly found we are two peas in a pod when it comes to our love of color and bright, bold fabric. I was thrilled she shared a copy with me :)

All images courtesy of Martingale/That Patchwork Place.

Her book Splash of Color is beautiful! It has 13 different projects that focus on the use of brights with black and white fabrics as the neutral...right up my alley! Here are some of my favorites...

Star Bright, by Jackie Kunkel

Proud Mary, by Jackie Kunkel

Jackie had many of her quilting buddies contribute to the book and do their version of her quilts in different colorways and with their own twist as well. The ideas just keep coming. I love that.

One thing that I really wanted to try was Jackie's technique for curved piecing, something I really haven't done a lot of. A little scary - but not when Jackie shows you how easy it is. She has this great youtube video to show you how.

Let's celebrate that successful curved piecing with a giveaway, shall we? Just share a comment below about Splash of Color, curved piecing, or anything colorful to be entered to win your very own signed copy of Splash of Color. I'll draw a winner on March 5th.

And if that weren't enough, you can hop over to Jackie's blog where she's reviewing my own Stash Lab: Simple Solutions for Scrap Quilts this week for a chance to win a signed copy of that one as well!

So two thumbs up! Thanks Jackie for a great addition to my bookshelf and my sewing room.

Happy Splash Quilting,

Tonya

Book Review - Machine Quilting With Style

What do you do when you love quilting but don't actually like to do the quilting part? I have to admit it's not the part of the process I enjoy the most and I'm often stumped on what to do with my completed tops. I like the fabric, design, piecing and even binding! The quilting itself can be a challenge for me and definitely an area with room to grow. So I was very happy to get my hands on fellow-Martingale author Christa Watson's book Machine Quilting With Style: From Walking-Foot Wonders to Free-Motion Favorites.

All photos courtesy of Martingale/That Patchwork Place.

You may know her from on-line as Christa Quilts or the Precut Store. She has so many great ideas for quilting with both the walking foot as well as free motion.

The book includes 12 complete projects that provide not only beautiful projects themselves, but great ideas for some very do-able quilting ideas that you can do on your own domestic machine.

I really appreciated all of the info Christa shares about batting types and thread. Hints for successful basting (often another challenge altogether) as well as some really beautiful designs.

I love this scrappy project called Facets. The best part - she's even doing a quilt-along on this pattern as we speak!

So I was happily inspired to drag out a project I had been procrastinating on and give some of her tips a try. I pulled out my completed top for Cavanaugh Crossroads and decided to give the serpentine stitch on my machine a go for some nice, overall texture.

And success! Super happy with it. The quilt measures 54" x 54" and took me about 7 hours (split into two days.)

The best news yet is that Christa has another book coming out later this Spring with Angela Waters that I can't wait for - The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting....to be continued! Christa is super involved with the Modern Quilt Guild and you can also find her on Instagram @christaquilts .

And guess what? You can find me there too! @tonyaalexanderquilts.

Happy stash quilting,

Tonya

Behind the quilt - Sunny Side Up

O.k., on to our next project, with a little peek behind this crazy little creative brain of mine! We may be no closer to figuring out how it works, but we'll take a look anyway...

Also from Stash Lab, this quilt is called Sunny Side Up...

Sunny Side Up

I love geometric patterns and I see them everywhere! Hotel carpets, upholstery, tile, a brick walkway - pattern is everywhere! This quilt literally jumped off a bathroom wall! Here's a magazine ad for some hotel that I ripped out of a magazine (I'm sure it was mine!) It was begging me to be made into a quilt. Really, a traditional quarter log cabin block, just made bigger and brighter!

Inspiration on my bulletin board in my sewing room...

That torn out picture lingered on my idea bulletin board for at least a year or so before I got the urge to go shop-hopping while on vacation through sunny California searching high and low for all things yellow. Before this project, my stash had virtually no yellow to speak of so this was a fun fabric hunt. It was addictive!

I have to admit, before I decided to go with the yellow, I considered making it in a bunch of different colorways (red and white, blue and white, etc.) because there was this old quilt color "rule" I had heard someone say that a quilt should never have more than say, 5% yellow or it will be ruined. Well, that was like throwing down the gauntlet for me - it had to be yellow now!

I didn't actually even draw this one out because I really figured on replicating the tile pattern pretty closely. Everything got cut down to 2 1/2" strips and this is what it looked like mid-way through up on my design wall.

Tracey added the most beautiful, modern quilting to it - way too big for me to tackle on my home machine with a deadline. This one is so cuddly and soft, it just begs you to curl up in it for an afternoon nap. I love it, one of my favorites for sure. Simplicity itself.

Happy stash quilting,

Tonya

Behind the quilt - Pixie Sticks

I thought I would share a little backstory on some of my quilt projects. I always find it interesting to find out where others get their inspiration for their creations and more about their process. It can just as often be very similar to mine - or completely the opposite.

I'll start with one of the projects from my book, Stash Lab - first up, Pixie Sticks, which is the smallest project in the book, a table runner. I have one drawer in my sewing room that has leftovers or orphan blocks from other projects. It also had leftover strip sets from other projects that I just couldn't bear to toss. I just needed to find them a new home. Cut down and paired with a simple steel gray solid with a linen texture, I came up with this...

Pixie Sticks table runner

Quilted straight lines with the walking foot

This one was so fun and easy that I decided to make it a second time - something I almost never do!

Pixie Sticks #2

I started with some beautiful scrap strip sets gifted to me by my friend Tracey - I love her scraps :) These were actually from another project of hers using Sew Kind of Wonderful's Quick Curver Ruler. I decided to work around the curves because the fabrics were just too beautiful to go to waste. Double score - the backing fabric was from her too! Here's where it started...gifted curved strip sets on the left.

Cutting down the curved scraps

1" wide scrap strips needed for the project

These scraps were more coordinated than in the original. The first time, I used leftover strips sets from several different projects to make the "sticks". This time, I paired the sticks with some plain unbleached osnaburg fabric. Have you tried osnaburg? I love it. It gives a nice, simple contrast to bright scraps with a beautiful woven texture. Ask for it at your favorite LQS, they probably have it. It can be a little stretchy because of the looser weave, so starch away!

A little big stitch hand quilting added the perfect touch to this project. Simple, modern and scrappy!

Big stitch hand quilting done with #8 perle cotton thread

Happy scrap quilting,

Tonya

Quilt Market decompression in 3, 2, 1,....

Ohhhhh my! It's so good to be home. I just returned from my first trip to International Quilt Market (held the week before Quilt Festival) in Houston after 6 days of fun, fabric, and everything Stash Lab! Wow, what an experience.

My weekend started with a bang with a Schoolhouse presentation on Friday- Schoolhouse is for shop owners and retailers to see and hear about new products, fabric, books, etc. that are coming on the market for their shops. It was the fastest 20 minutes ever! Basically, my book in a nutshell, share the quilts and why shops should be interested in offering it to their customers. No small amount of stress for yours truly, but it went well, the feedback I got afterwards was very positive and it was a great start to a very busy 4 days.

I also did some demo time in the Martingale booth, chatting with shop owners and talking all things quilty. Also, very fun. Much of the rest of the time was spent just getting to walk around and meet and talk to some of the quilting world's most creative and awesome people. I'm such a fan! I tried to not be too much of a crazy quilt groupie - but it was hard! I can honestly say every person I met was friendly beyond belief and a thrill to meet and chat with. I would do it all again just for the chance to meet these wonderfully creative people.

Clockwise from top left: Tula Pink and Tracey, Jo Packham (Where Women Create), Lisa and Bethany from APQ, the Master himself - Kaffe!, Valerie Wells, Katja Marek, Sandy Klop (American Jane), Jackie Kunkel, Laurie Simpson and Polly Minick  (Minick & Simpson), and Kathy Doughty.

Another highlight was the Moda 40th Anniversary dinner on Saturday night. I was a lucky guest of Two Thimbles Quilt Shop (thank you Lee!). I am sorry to report my phone battery was completely dead by that time of night so I have not a single picture of the event, but believe me, it was a treat. More about this in a future post I think. Met some wonderful people there.

I tried to post a bit on Instagram @tonyaalexanderquilts while I was there but it was a challenge. Or, I should say, I was technically challenged! Wi-Fi was not my friend but that's o.k. Inspiration is everywhere you look and it's impossible not to be completely overwhelmed. Here are just a few peeks at things that I loved...

So, a few things I learned while at my first market...
1. Drink water.
2. Inspiration is everywhere and creativity is endless.
3. You can never pay too much for comfortable shoes.
4. Quilters are awesome people (I already knew this but it was happily confirmed!)
5. Drink more water!

In a nutshell, QuiltMarket 2015 was an awesome experience, Texas was lovely (even with the humidity, heat, and passing hurricane :) My special thanks to the crew at my publisher Martingale, Lee at Two Thimbles, my awesome travel partner-in-crime Tracey and to my friends and family who sent me packing with more love and support than my luggage could hold. I really, really hope I get the chance to go again. I would do it in a heartbeat.

Happy quilting,

Tonya

Look, look! A book, MY book!

Wow, I thought this day would never come! I am so excited to share this great news with everyone. If you were wondering what the heck I've been doing with all my free time, this is it!  I have my first book coming out with Martingale Publishing in October 2015. And here it is!



Many of you know that I have been a quilter for quite some time and have had a lot of fun publishing my quilts in various magazines over the last couple of years. I started to look at my projects in a different light and thought, hey! I might have something here! So I took the plunge, wrote up a submission proposal, sent it in and that's it. No, not at all actually! It takes a lot of w-o-r-k! But what they say is true, if you really love what you are doing it shouldn't feel like work at all and I love to quilt. Write, proof, edit, and edit some more, maybe not so much, but I'm ready for the real fun to begin!

 

Truly, I can't believe it myself. It has been such a great learning experience so far. I have been working with a great group of professionals at Martingale and I won't lie, it is really cool! The first time I saw the cover concept they came up with, I could hardly breathe!

 

So, as this project is coming closer and closer to it's official birthday on October 15, 2015, I'm looking forward to giving you some more sneak peeks at all the goodies inside! But for now, join me in a big yippee and let's go sew something!

 

Happy Quilting,

 

Tonya