VERY FRUGAL QUILTMAKING

I am frequently asked if I find the current pricing on fabrics makes it hard to make up-to-the-minute and inspired quilts.

My response is that if you know where to look you needn’t spend a whole lot on fabric, and free patterns are at your fingertips everywhere on the internet. If you have steeped yourself in traditional design and gathered in your files pictures of many blocks and inspired designs from the past it should be easy to draft a pattern for yourself and to draft one that is at your current skill level.

A case in point: I am an inveterate hoarder of scraps – I make a lot of quilts and buy my backing fabric by the bolt, so when I trim my quilts as I am completing them, I end up with several inches off each side of the quilt, and squirrel that plain ecru muslin away in a bag. Recently this cache has been growing and I’ve been wondering what to do with it .................

Enter a giveaway that the Alma and Barb at Blackbird Design hosted to publicise their beautiful new Moda fabric line – Antique Fair – (what’s not to love with this fabric) and when I won, it was for 4 lovely little 2.5 square sample packs – in total 168 luscious little squares of pretty and colourful fabric.

I did the math and figured I could make 84 four patches – and I could arrange them maybe 9 by 9 and with some sashing, maybe a border, end up with a sweet baby quilt of about 44 by 44 – no cost to me – right?

                               And the most recent line of Blackbird Design too! Win/Win!

You'll note that I'm piecing by hand - my supplies are limited to thread, a needle, a few glass headed pins and a two inch square of template plastic which I keep from project to project in a plastic sleeve for my templates.

I can piece a four patch in just ten minutes and tuck it away and get on with my other paying projects - this method works for me - the piecing is accurate and acceptable the first time round and can be picked up and put away without the time and effort waster of setting up and then putting away my machine.

Being still on dial up (groan!!) I can stitch a seam in the time it takes to load an image-heavy page, so I'm not sitting here twiddling my thumbs!

A big thank you to the gals at Blackbird Designs for that generous giveaway!
http://blackbird-designs.blogspot.com/  
Folks should bookmark this URL and check back often - Alma and and Barb have frequent giveaways and the prizes are always really great!!!

As I make progress I'll post more pictures of this project - I hope to have it ready to present at Quilts at the Harbour Show and Sale, and as well at my studio's series of Pre-Christmas open houses - "A Coastal Christmas"  http://www.acoastalchristmas.blogspot.com/

Bye for now - Janet

Stash Enhancement!

I have a confession to make! I bought 15 yards of fat quarters, yardage and two yukatas(lightweight summer komonos in cotton) from Japan. I did it and I'm shamelessly happy! My argument is that stash enhancement unleashes my creativity. The yukatas are stunning - I intend to unstitch them and make a full sized(queen) quilt using several more pieces that are winging toward me as we speak, combined with the indigo Kona cotton from http://www.equilter.com/ that is with it. I'm looking forward to this exercise.

Also shown are 4 yards of Jo Morton's "Fredericksburg" line in green - this is to top up my supply which has been dwindling. Since it's out of print I grabbed it while I could.

The fat quarters are a mix of Moda in the same colours as the 3 Sisters Chocolat line, and a good supply of plum fat quarters for my plum/smoky lavender stash and then some neutral, indigo and red civil war fabrics. A nice haul; keep an eye on this spot for what I will create from this great stash enhancement.

Above is a shot I took the other day just after it stopped raining for a moment. If you enlarge the picture you will even see the aphids on my hanging basket of nasturtiums - what do you do to get rid of them? Any suggestions? The view is toward the road in front of my house - you can't see it because the vegetation is so lush with all the rain.

We have been between a rock and a hard place for the last two weeks as one tropical storm lingered near Newfoundland and another beat its way up from the Carolinas. It has been muggy, foggy, too darned hot and impossible to dry laundry. The sun is weakly poking through finally, so maybe I'll get some laundry done tomorrow - I certainly hope so, otherwise I may have to resort to a laundromat and that doesn't bear thinking about as most of them are not air conditioned!

I'm sitting around alternately quilting and writing this post and finally getting my first coffee of the day into me at 5:30 PM. Wondered why I had a headache until I realized I was in coffee withdrawal. I left for town very early this morning so didn't bother, but hey - look at all the lovely stash that was waiting at the post office.

The last three pictures are of projects I've been working on recently. One is called Janet's Indigo Baskets and these are the trial blocks I just finished this afternoon. Doing a little happy dance because I thought I might have made an error but I haven't so I will go ahead and cut the rest of the blocks out in the morning. This one will be fun. I'm going to be posting it as a new project on http://www.simplequiltmaking.com/ as soon as possible.

This is the first block in another project for http://www.simplequiltmaking.com/ . It is called Civil War Friendship Stars and I have to finish up the rest of the blocks - they are cut out and I have a couple more of them pieced. The fat quarters to the left of the block are a sample of the fabric choices I'm using.More pictures later.

And finally, a corner of my quilt studio, showing several of the projects I have already posted on http://www.simplequiltmaking.com/ - full instructions are available to members. Check it out.

Now back to quilting some more on a sweet little vintage 1972 Paragon Hollie Hobby crib quilt kit I am finishing for my inventory and to display at the 10th Annual Quilts at the Harbour Show that is coming up in late September - will have a picture of it soon. Soft spot for it as my daughter was 2 years old in 1972 and had several Hollie Hobby dolls, nighties and so on.

Catch you all later - warm wishes and hugs!

Janet

WWW:SIMPLEQUILTMAKING.COM

ANTIQUE INDIGO AND DOUBLEPINK HONEYBEE QUILT

Announcing a new concept in learning to quilt. This is a minimalist, low cost approach to acquiring quiltmaking skills; or a renewal for quiltmakers who are tired of the current emphasis on the "fast, fast, what's new and popular" approach currently found in the industry.
Here(http://www.simplequiltmaking.com/) you will learn to approach quiltmaking with only a pencil, pins, a ruler, and a pair of scissors plus needle and thread. To begin with you will only need to know how to thread a needle.
At http://simplequiltmaking.com/ you will find the satisfaction of learning to confidently design and construct your own quilts, seeing them through from the initial stages of fabric and colour choices to piecing, applique, handquilting and binding. You will design and make quilt labels to document your quilt and you will also learn to make an invisible hanging sleeve that is an integral part of your quilt.
This is a website devised to empower women everywhere (with a special emphasis on those quiltmakers who are either far from centres where they might learn or whose family commitments are such that they cannot easily get away for classes or retreats)
I want to support quiltmakers to feel confident in their developing capabilities and to rely on their own artistic experience and judgment, while at the same time spending as little or as much as they want to develop their skills and artistic expression.
It is planned to have an ongoing instructional course on quilt design and the skills needed to finish a quilt of any size; a monthly update of pattern ideas along with 2 new projects a month: buying tips: where to find the best books, patterns and tools at the best prices; and how to shop for the best prices on a variety of first rate, quiltshop quality fabrics, backings and batting. Best of all http://www.simplequiltmaking.com/ is planning a members picture gallery and a forum for comments, queries and exchanges.
ABOUT ME: I live in rural eastern Canada, and I have been doing needlecrafts of all kinds for over 60 years. I have had a business website presence at http://www.novascotiaquilts.com/
for over 10 years now, and set up my blog a few months ago at http://www.quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/. I have been making quilts for sale through my quilt studio for about 12 years now and am represented in quilt collections in North America and Europe.
I feel I have a very good grasp of trends in the industry, of quiltmaking in a historical context, and the requisite skills to make quilts that are very much in demand.
My life before "retirement" involved a career as an educational psychologist, and I have both the skills to know how to teach a complex subject like quiltmaking and the desire to empower women through the medium of textile arts. Best of all I am using an information management system on http://www.simplequiltmaking.com/ that enables me to post directly, so there is no waiting for a webmaster to load content, and your questions are answered in a very timely manner.
Come on this journey with me over the next little while - I know you will not be disappointed! You and I will exchange lots of ideas at http://www.simplequiltmaking.com/.
I have a one month trial, moneyback if you are not satisfied and decide to cancel membership within the first 30 days. You can't go wrong!