Pressed Leaves and a Giveaway

With summer in full swing, it's hard to believe fall will be here before we know it! I want this beautiful summer in my Pacific Northwest to last forever, but I'm ready for fall for a couple of really good reasons - one of them is the upcoming issue of McCall's Quilting, September/October 2015 that will be hitting your mailbox and store shelves soon. One of my favorite recent projects is being featured - "Pressed Leaves" - and it even has its glamour shot moment on the cover!

It was such a fun project that used some of my favorite scraps framed by a really great neutral newsprint fabric. The one I used is from Collage by Carrie Bloomston for Windham Fabrics. If you can't find this one around, not to worry. Any great print neutral would be perfect for this project. Your favorite quilt shop probably has some already on hand, so check them out.

Pressed Leaves table runner

With so little actual snail mail these days, I'm always excited when something like this lands in my mailbox...advanced copies! So it must be time for a giveaway! Leave a comment below and share your favorite fall leaf color for a chance to win a free copy of the McCalls Quilting September/October 2015 issue. I'll pick a name out of the hat and mail off a signed copy to you!

Time for a giveaway! Leave a comment with your favorite fall leaf color to enter.

The other reason I'm excited for fall, of course, is because of this little beauty that I'm anxiously waiting for....

Just found out the release date has been bumped up from October 15th to October 6th. Nine less sleepless nights of anticipation for this first-time author. I can't wait to share it with you :)

Happy summer quilting,

Tonya

New pattern and a shop hop

So here's what I've been working on lately, a new pattern. Not for a magazine this time, just for retail sale in shops. Of course, I'm flying by the seat of my pants again so I'm never quite sure how these things are going to turn out. Producing a pattern is so much more work than I ever think it's going to be. Writing, editing, photography, graphic design, the list goes on and on. And that's without sewing a single stitch! But, I'm giving it another go. So this is Cavanaugh Crossroads...

Some of you in my neck of the woods may recognize the name. I started working on this during a retreat out at Lake Cavanaugh with friends not too long ago. The block itself is from a traditional block design from early last century called Crossroads. Nothing too clever - just putting the two together and I decided I liked the name, so there you have it!

Here are a couple of test blocks we did in alternate colorways. You know how much I love my Kaffes! I was playing with the photo editor app on my phone, inverted the colors, and decided I had to make it in Kaffe reds with a black background. The center is Moda Grunge Basics "Decadent". Not for the faint-hearted! Reminds me of flames! My lovely friend Verna made a test block in batiks, soft blue/greens with a melon center which turned out great (but I can't download the pic for - sorry!) Batiks are always a winner. She made one in 30's too - I love it. (That one I managed!)

Done in Kaffe Fassett's red "Lotus Leaf" fabric.

Super sweet in Verna's 30's too

The pattern, as shown on the cover, finishes at 54" x 54", a nice throw or baby quilt size. The blocks are BIG, 18"! The pattern also include size options for twin, queen and king size. I rate this as a beginner/easy pattern. A half square triangle is the about as tricky as this one gets, and you even make two at a time.

Availability is limited at the moment. I rushed this one into production so it could be available during the Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop, June 24-28. You can find the pattern at Fabric-Etc. in Bellingham. The original quilt top will be there on display, too. If you're not in the area, you can contact Carol and the crew to order. Shop owners and distributors - if you're out there! - feel free to email me directly and I'll hook you up!

Happy summer quilting,

Tonya

Fruit Bowl Bullseye

"And the first shall be the last"....at least when it comes to quilt magazine publications! I'm happy to finally share this quilt with you - especially since this was the first quilt I ever submitted to a magazine. I've learned a few things during the past two years about publishing. One thing I know for sure: nothing is for sure, until you actually see it in print!

This is Fruit Bowl Bullseye and it is currently featured in Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting March/April 2014 issue. The lovely quilting on this one was done by my good friend, Tracey Fisher. (It should also be noted that Tracey graciously listened to my hysterical squealing on the phone when I got my first magazine acceptance - and she even told me she was happy for me :)

Fruit Bowl Bullseye

Adding the binding

F&P's Love of Quilting March/April 2014

This pattern was a jumping off point for me because it was the first quilt that was inspired by something completely non-quilty and I just dove in without a pattern or a plan. It started with a string of beads....

I was working on a lanyard with these beads and was really taken with the design and the colors. Starting to see it as a quilt design, I found this fabric line called "Fruit Slices" by Anthology Fabrics (good luck finding it now, two years later - sorry!) and then it slowly came together. How do I turn that bead into a block? What about the seed beads in between? I originally had a different layout in mind but once I got the blocks up on the design wall other ideas won out.

Follow your quilt inspirations, wherever they may lead you!

Happy Spring stitching,

Tonya

Stamp of Approval

Sharing a new quilt - what a great way to start the new year! I can't believe we're almost in February already! This is "Stamp of Approval" and it will be featured in the April 2014 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. It's my take on a postage stamp quilt - well, half-ways anyway!

“Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2014 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.”

I love antique postage stamp quilts but find the million-plus little one inch squares a little daunting. Our quilting predecessors were champions of using every last scrap, right down to the little one inch squares that would be scrimped, saved and stitched together. A postage stamp quilt was a badge of honor reflecting its maker's frugality and resourcefulness during hard times and could take many, many years to make.

Mine, not so much. I came up with the center blocks that are inversions of each other so I would only have to make half as many! I also used strip-set piecing to make them go together a lot quicker. Lazy, maybe, but I do like the result. Originally, I only had planned to make the center but once I got that far I felt like it just needed a little somethin'-somethin' so that's where the leaf and vine border came in. It framed whole project and gave just enough curve and flow to an otherwise very linear grid design.

“Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2014 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.”

Just about any project that will eat up some of my scraps is sure to be one of my favorites and this one was no exception. After falling for the aqua blue in a previous project, I was bound and determined to use it again, this time in a big dose. I pulled out all of my 1 1/2" scrap strips (the smallest size I usually keep) and then filtered them down to just the ones that looked like colors you would find in an Easter basket. To up the scrap-factor in my quilts, I usually expand my search to a color category instead of a single color and I am usually pretty pleased with what the additional scraps bring to the party.

The finished quilt measures 63"x 63" and the lovely quilting was done by my friend and wonderful, long-arm quilter Tracey. Thanks also go to my quilting buddy Yvonne, who gave me the idea for stitching down the yo-yo "berries" in the border using decorative embroidery stitches on my machine. There is a nice detail shot and also a quilt diagram in the magazine spread.

I have been told that this issue hits the newsstands and goes out to subscribers the first week in February. So while "Stamp of Approval" is not a cover girl, she's still one of my favorites! Hope you enjoy it too!

“Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2014 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.”

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Pattern correction

Apologies and a pattern correction are in order! I found out today there is a measurement error in my Time to Sew clock pattern that appears in the Winter 2013 issue of Quilter's World.

The Dresden fan blades should be 3 1/2" not 5". Completely my fault. I used some leftover blades from another project and they originally measured 5". I wrote the directions a while after making it and forgot I trimmed them down to 3 1/2" so they would fit in the frame! Lesson learned!

If you are using the template from the magazine,  just measure 3 1/2" from the bottom of the blade and trim the extra from the top.

My sincere apologies!
Tonya

All dressed up for Houston!

First time to Houston! Well, kind of anyway...While it's definitely on my wish-list to get to Houston Quilt Market I haven't made it yet. This year for the first time one of my patterns got there without me. My "All I Want for Christmas" tree skirt was hanging in the QuiltWoman booth during Market. Yeah!

Quiltwoman.com booth at Houston Quilt Market

Of course, for such a fancy affair, I needed to jazz it up a bit so I added ***rhinestones***! Actually, this is a new product that QuiltWoman will be carrying and asked me to **bling** a sample of my tree skirt so here's how it turned out...


 

Super-cute if you ask me and I'm not usually a "bling-girl". I'm not sure of the name of the product since they were sent kind of pre-market but it's a fusible rhinestone product that comes in sheets and you can cut to size. I opted to go with all Kona solids and bling the ribbons on the packages with the jewel-tone colored rhinestones I received and I'm pretty happy with the result. Because my pattern uses a quilt-as-you-go method, I even fused the rhinestones through all three layers - top, batting, and backing - and it worked just fine. Easy-peasy.

I may be a bling convert!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Sunny Side Up

Here we are at the end of September and the weather the last weekend just confirmed that summer is long gone in my corner of the world. The wind was blowing, the rain was back in full force and summer is just a sweet memory now. To celebrate the beautiful summer that was, earlier this month I decided to dive into all the yellow fabrics I picked up during summer vacation and got to cutting.

All the lovely yellows cut into 2 1/2" strips

I have had this quilt in mind for at least a couple of years. Here's the photo inspiration I've had tacked to my bulletin board for a while. It's an ad for a luxury hotel somewhere but there's something about the tile pattern that I am just really drawn to. What's not to love about a log cabin variation?

Design inspiration - hotel advertisement from a magazine

First, I tried using a solid yellow and solid white just like the tile in the picture but it didn't do anything for me. Disappointed, I put it in the closet and it's been sitting there for a couple of years. Fast forward to this summer and my yellow fabric shopping spree while on vacation. I wasn't ready to give up on this quilt. Like everything else, I figured it just needed to be "scrapped up" for more interest. Now I am loving it! Not content with a little reasonable wall hanging, I went all out and went full bed-size. Big surprise. Going big and going down hard! Here's a sneak peek:


Work in process

Now that the Crock-Pot is back into Fall dinner rotation, I'll have time to get my new summer bed quilt ready! I think I'm going to call it "Sunny Side Up".

Happy end-of-summer stitching,

Tonya

On the Dot

My modern baby quilt goes retro! I call it "On the Dot" (because all babies arrive as expected, of course!)

"On the Dot"

The inspiration for this quilt design was actually from a silver tinsel Christmas tree my aunt had back in the 70's. It had a color light circle that rotated and reflected off the tinsel to turn your tree four different colors. Very groovy and fun! Did you have one of these? You never know where your going to get and idea for your next quilt.

The quilt and pattern is currently featured in Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting September/October 2013 issue that is available now. Believe it or not, there is no curved piecing in this quilt! I used a window-pane fusible applique technique and then sliced and diced my way to these mixed up circles of color. I love black and white checkerboards just about anywhere but I thought they would be a little too strong for a baby quilt so I opted for grey and whites instead. This was a quick and easy project and I had fun making it.

Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting September/October 2013
 

 Happy stitching,
Tonya

Christmas in July and a new pattern

I really wonder sometimes why I feel like working on different projects at odd times of the year. Halloween quilt in February, sure. Red, white and blue in April, yep. Christmas in July, you bet! This project actually had some other deadlines attached so that may explain part of it but I am thrilled to show you my first pattern design!

It's a Christmas tree skirt pattern called "All I Want for Christmas" and it's in stores locally now and available nationally through QuiltWoman.com for retail and wholesale distribution (Pattern #TA-101). Here's a link to Fabric-Etc's blog post about it with a picture of the sample that Tracey made for the shop and to help me test the pattern. (Thanks Tracey!) Check out my pattern page for more info on where you can find it.

It was a really fun project to work on although I have to admit that I procrastinated on actually finally making it! My sister had asked for a tree skirt (about five years ago...) and I hemmed and hawed until the idea came together. Like most of my designs, the idea comes first and then I have to figure out how to make it work!

I tackled this project like eating a pie - one slice at a time! It's broken down into 8 wedges that you piece and quilt individually and then sash them together at the end. It's pretty big - measures 60" in diameter for the very simple reason that we have really big Christmas trees in our family! Also, I figure if I'm going to make such a cool tree skirt I want to be able to see it, not have it shoved all the way under the tree!

If you're new to paper piecing or free motion quilting, this may be just the project for you. The paper foundation piecing is very basic and suitable for a beginner. Also, it lends itself to experimentation with FMQ because you are always working with very manageable sized sections - and let's face it, this will end up under a tree on the floor so cut yourself some slack and have fun!

Happy stitching,

Tonya