Look Both Ways

Wohoo! Time for a trip down the magazine aisle to hunt up some more copies of the new issue of Quilts and More magazine, Fall 2017. It was just released and it features my project "Look Both Ways".  I'm super excited to share more about it with you. Do you have some low volume scrap strips laying around your sewing room? Perfect! Pull them out, this may be just the project.

Used with permission from Quilts and More™ magazine.

 ©2017 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

When you first look at this quilt do you see the white arrows or the gray arrows? Did you notice there were both at first? Our eyes play funny tricks on us. At first, I naturally see the white I think because they follow the direction of the orange arrows but once I focus on the gray ones going the opposite direction, that's all I can see!

Used with permission from Quilts and More™ magazine.

©2017 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

This project features 1 1/2" wide scrap strips sewn into strip sets. To achieve the contrast between the white and gray arrows, it's important to be selective when sorting your scraps. I tried to be pretty strict about white backgrounds on all the fabrics in the white arrows. With the gray scraps I was more willing to include a wider variety of tones, as long as they were gray (but don't be afraid of little pops of color!) You can choose to mix your scraps up a bit more but your arrows may not be as prominent.

Used with permission from Quilts and More™ magazine.

 ©2017 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

The orange row was my favorite scrap dive into the bins. I had fun picking them all out and many friends contributed their scraps as well so I had a great selection. I highly recommend scrap sharing with friends! Once I had enough orange strips, I arranged them all lightest to darkest and made multiple strip sets to achieve the light to dark affect across the quilt. Not a fan of orange or making it for a special baby with a differently themed nursery? (It's a great size for that, by the way...) Pick your favorite. Any color will work well with the white and gray.

I had fun with the quilting on this one, borrowing a friend's long-arm machine and getting some great tips from my two favorite long-arm professionals, Nikki and Tracey. Squiggles in the gray arrows and a squared off meandering loop in the white and orange with matching thread.

and one more quilt-in-the-wild shot just for fun!

So that's all for now. I have some more projects coming out soon so I'll be sure to share. That and a new website!!! It's my big summer project...stay tuned (and wish me luck!), it's quite a stretch for me :) Until then...

Happy string quilting!

Tonya

Playground

Maybe I'm a teensy bit behind on posts this year - what can I say? But I do have stuff to share today and a few minutes committed to actually getting something written and posted so let's do this!

I have a fun little project being featured in the new Quilts and More magazine, Winter 2016, available in your favorite quilt shop and on newsstands now. This is "Playground "...

"Playground", by Tonya Alexander, Images used with permission by Meredith Corporation and Quilts and More magazine, copyright 2016.

This project was inspired by a couple of things - first, trying to use a couple of charm packs in a single project. The fabrics used here are from a line called "Radient Girl" by Lecien Fabrics. The fabrics were playful and fun and I was pretty sure a kids quilt was going to be the result.

"Playground", by Tonya Alexander, Images used with permission by Meredith Corporation and Quilts and More magazine, copyright 2016.

Second, my inspiration came from here...

Have you seen these? (not the sewing machine, but the little metal etched silhouette!) Maybe your grandma had something similar. Mine did and I remember it being on her wall my whole life. It was mounted on a plaque along with all my cousins', with our names etched on each one. When she passed away, my mom and aunt split the big one up and framed them individually so all of my cousins and I got our own silhouette. It's so special to me. It kind of makes me sad because I miss my grandma, but it also makes me happy because it reminds me that I am actually just one small part of a big, wonderful family. 

Other quilty details, this project took two packs of charm squares and about a yard of solid white. Fusible appliqué was my method of choice on this project and each silhouette was cut from a charm square. The nine patches in the center were also made from cut up charm squares. I quilted it on my domestic machine, stitched in the ditch through the center and echo quilted around the silhouettes.

Quilts and More, Winter 2016

So, if you have some spare charm squares hanging around your stash and need a quick and easy baby quilt or child's wall hanging, "Playground" may be just the thing!

Happy Stash Quilting,

Tonya

Tri-monthly blog post update!?

Wow. Don't blink! Three months just flashed by since my last blog post! Lest you think I have been completely slacking off or fallen off the face of the earth, let me give the short list version of what's been going on and then some pics:

In a nutshell:

• Celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with my super supportive and fabric-tolerant husband
• #1 son graduated from high school
• Hosted the out of town family for mini reunion (for said graduation)
• #1 daughter wrapped up her freshman year of high school
• Year end dance weekend performances (for said daughter)
• Broke down and bought a new car (the week before graduation, because you know, I had lots of free time)
• Murphy's law, washer and dryer broke down a week after the car purchase so ended up buying those too (the Friday of graduation)
• Fiscal year end at my day job, always fun and exciting

In my quilt world:

• My Stash My Style giveaway completed
• Cleaned out and rearranged my sewing room
• Had one project published in a magazine
• Shipped two projects off for publication
• Shipped another project off to France (super excited about this one, more to come!)
• Went on annual retreat at the lake with great quilting buddies 
• Two guild presentations and workshops

Here are some quick pics I'll offer up as evidence for my blogging absence:

Fuzzy focus, but proof positive it happened!

(I don't think he'll read this so I think I can sneak this pic of me and the graduate!)

Me and hubby selfie at graduation - being unknowingly photo-bombed by my #1 nephew.

"The mess" in progress - maybe a future post with more before, during and after pics.

Student work from a recent string workshop - super fun!

My "So Charming" table runner, featured in Quilts and More - made with a pack of charm squares (I used Hello Darling by Bonnie and Camille for Moda plus a solid) quick and easy summer project.

Here's where you can find it - Quilts and More, Summer 2016

The only shot I can show you of the project off to France. LOVE the Tula Pink wide back and amazing quilting by Tracey. I can't wait to share more of this one with you.

My Stash My Style with Jeni Gaston finished up. 

Congrats to our drawing winner Laura of Slice of Pi and her wonderful project.

Well, at least I feel a little caught up now and cleansed by my confessions :) While I'd like to promise more regular blog posts, I know I may not live up to that. I can only say I will try. BUT you can always find me and my happenings more regularly on Instagram and Facebook. Now I'm ready for some new projects! I do have some ideas in mind and I've been having fun adding to my stash to make them happen.

Happy summer stash quilting!

Tonya

Star Shuffle giveaway winners!

O.k....random number generator spit out #2 and #6...

so Bunny and Dena.... congrats! You are the winners of a copy of the Winter 2015 Quilts and More and mini-bundle of flannels from my stash! Please email me at tonyaalexanderdesigns@gmail.com with your mailing address for your goodies.

And thanks to all of you who played along and shared your recent recipients of your quilt gifts. It's great to see where you are all sharing your love and talent.

Happy stash quilting,

Tonya

Star Shuffle and a Giveaway!

My quilting cup runneth over at the moment! So many good things to share with you and be thankful for and one of those this month is my quilt "Star Shuffle" that is currently featured on the cover of Quilts and More, Winter 2015. My ever-supportive and patient hubby was due for a quilt just for him. This was my attempt at a "guy quilt", if there is such a thing. No flowers, no fru-fru. Just some very manly grey/black/red combos in flannel, just in time for the fall/winter season.

Images used with permission from Quilts and More
 magazine and Meredith Corporation. Copyright 2015

 If you click on the images, they should expand and you can see the detail on the quilting.


Images used with permission from Quilts and More
 magazine and Meredith Corporation. Copyright 2015

Here's the flat shot of the whole quilt. I often like to vary the scale of a single block within the design. It just adds a little somethin' somethin' that I tend to like. The big star in the lower right is pieced in five segments and then appliqued on as a one piece. Very easy to do. Same shape, just bigger.

Images used with permission from Quilts and More
 magazine and Meredith Corporation. Copyright 2015

The fabric shopping for this one was fun. I love a fabric hunt! Once I decided the direction I wanted to go and had a handful of fabrics from my stash,  it was time to hit the shops to find some more to make the project complete. Many of them were Woolies Flannels by Maywood Studio, but not all. The background squares are all flannel, not something I usually work with but this quilt was going to be made to cuddle up on the couch in the winter with my honey so it was the go-to option. The applique stars are done with regular cotton fabrics.

Some of the flannels for the background squares.

Some of the cottons for the stars.

So a couple of things about working with flannels if you haven't before. First of all, I definitely recommend that you pre-wash your fabrics and dry on high heat. Flannels shrink like crazy at very different rates and you don't want that to happen after you have your project all sewn together. Also, flannel is super-linty (not sure that's really a word :) so prewashing helps cut down on the lint a bit. Even so, after you sew a flannel project together your machine is going to beg for a lint cleaning in the bobbin casing and a new needle!

I would also suggest using a generous 1/4" seam allowance. Some people even choose to use a 1/2". Whichever you choose, just be consistent throughout your project so all of your seams will match. And remember, if you use a wider seam allowance, your finished project will finish a bit smaller, too. I almost always press seams to one side and still did with the flannel, but some people find it preferable to press the seams open. Again, take your pick.

As for the applique, I used cotton fabric for the applique star shapes themselves. I chose to do needle-turn applique because I was toting these blocks around with me at the time and posted about that method previously here. You could also use fusible web and the directions in Quilts and More include directions for both methods. So do what you enjoy!

Many kudos go to Tracey who did a lovely job of quilting this one and made the stars really shine with the straight line echo quilting around each one. She carried those lines out into the borders as well and I think it fits the design perfectly! Thank you Tracey :)

So let's share some goodies, shall we? I have a couple of copies of the magazine to give away and I'll even throw in a mini-bundle of flannels from my stash to share with you for your project, how's that? If you'd like to win, just enter a comment below and share with us who the lucky recipient of your last quilt gift was. Easy enough? I'll draw two names next Friday, lucky November 13th! It will be lucky for a couple of people :)

And with that, happy quilting!

Tonya