Market Release #5 - Parallel Universe

This is my favorite of all of the quilts that I made for Market this year. It's a large quilt, clocking in at queen size. I found the border by accident and grabbed all that was left on the bolt. It is a Moda batik, and the first time I had purchased their batiks. I have used their regular cotton prints for most of my quilting life, but they only moved into the batik side about 5 years ago, and their selection of batiks is still small relative to their cotton line, and since I live in Southern California, just down the street from Island Batiks, and just down the road from Hoffman Fabrics of California, there aren't a lot of the Moda batiks on the shelves here. But this one.....This one is lovely. A navy background with multi-colored dots in yellow, red, pink, green and orange. I used the print to pull all of the other prints, in navy, lime, sun, turquoise, hot pink, tangerine, and a hint of red....

The blocks are big on this one, so the quilt works up really fast...I could easily see this one in other combinations : red and blue only for 4th of July, red and green only for Christmas, or purple, lime green and black for Halloween....or reproduction prints, or Bonnie and Camille's Daysail. The blocks are big enough to show off fussy cutting squares, and those larger prints.

I hope you will enjoy this one as much as I have.....Parallel Universe.....

The lovely swirly quilting was done by Kerry Smith of Escondido, under a super short deadline, and as always she came through and I love, love, love the quilting!!! The swirls are perfect on the angular piecing. Did I mention I love it?

Well, this completes my updates on all of the patterns from Market. International Quilt Festival opens today at 5pm, and goes through Sunday. Look out next week for information on the show and all of the people we meet...we are expecting 50,000+ quilters to descend upon Houston in the next few days.....If you are at Festival, stop by booth 1714 and see them in person.

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine

Market Release #4 - Starry Starry Night

Starry Starry Night was the first quilt that was designed for this market. I've had it on paper for a while, but didn't get around to making it until mid-September....it was one that just languished in a drawing form for a long time....

Here are the outtakes from the photoshoot.....

This quilt is a combination of batiks, the border print and background are by Robert Kaufman, and the stars are a combination of Hoffman prints and 1895's.  

Of all of the quilts that were made for this Market, this is the one that Penny the Dog kept trying to steal. At every stage she either stole blocks, laid on the middle of the blocks, or attempted to steal the finished quilt.....she seams to think that her cute face means she gets whatever she wants.....

See, that gleam in her eye.....

I hope everyone has a great week, it may be a little quiet here as we participate in Quilt Festival which runs from Wednesday night at 5, through Sunday at 4pm. 

Hope to see you all there, and have a great week in the meantime!!!

Happy Quilting!

Catherine

Make a List Monday

Make a List Monday is brought to you from Quilt Market. It is the final day of Quilt Market, the three day trade show to show off all the new trends, fabrics, notions, and quilting paraphernalia.....

I'm in booth #1714 and having a blast......I have a lot of blog posts to catch up on from Market, and prep for Quilt Festival, which starts on Wednesday evening.....so, for this week, no sewing. Just shows and travel between now and November 6th....so, here's a quick peak of what to expect this week....

This one is from a Sassafras...and was the newest hit....they were everywhere....in their own booth....

In the dear Stella booth....

In hoffman's booth....

In American Made Brand solids booth....

Simply stunning everywhere!

Stay tuned for a Judy Market Trunk Show.....at Anthology, Hoffman, RJR, Timeless Treasures, everywhere!!!!

See you soon!

Catherine

It's that time again -- Sew Along Starts November 15th

It's time to start thinking about the new edition of a Sew Along. I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks, trying to figure out which quilt to do next, and I've got it down to three, and it's your chance to set the priority...so, let me know which one you want to work on and I'll work on the schedule over the next few weeks, with the intention to start on November 15th...so far, the options are...

Option 1 - Flower's for My Wedding Ring - a classic wedding ring, with gorgeous corner appliqué.
Since we haven't done one with appliqué yet, I thought it might be a fun new technique to cover.....

Option 2 - Stormy Seas - A relatively new pattern for a table runner. This one might be a good option because of the time of year.....I know a lot of people have Christmas and Thanksgiving commitments, and this one has a lot less sewing that some of the others. New Techniques to cover include the S curve.

Option 3 - Prairie Pinwheels - This pattern was released at Spring Market and is a really quilt strip pieced technique. I sewed one of the original samples in Reclaimed West in just a couple of days, so this one might be another good option given the time of year. 

 Option 4 - Ice Crystals - one of the newest released patterns, this one is a quick and easy one as well, based upon the glacier star center medallion, and is appropriate to the season.

SO, that's my four current recommendations...and I am looking for your input on which one to do next.....My plan is to start on it during the week of November 15th, and finish sometime in late December or early January, depending upon which one we pick.....I will also be doing some You-Tube videos to go with the weekly posts, giving you some more info on how to work on it....

Which one is your favorite???

Happy Quilting!

Catherine

Market Release #3 - Simply Strippy

This quilt was inspired by simplicity. I wanted something that would be quick, would use a bali pop, and would leave a small amount of scraps. This one is made of the new Bali Pop called Mercury -- a great blend of yellow, orange, and green 1895s, that has a great modern vibe. I will definitely be carrying this one in the store when they are delivered in February. Here's some outtakes from photo day....the quilt is 45 x 54.

The quilting was done by the amazing Kerry Smith of Escondido, CA, and the fabrics were provided by Hoffman Fabrics of California. 

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine

A Sneaky Day Off

Last week I got a chance to attend a class with Bonnie Hunter...She was the speaker at our guild this month, and she offered a number of classes (all of which completely sold out). I was lucky enough to get a slot in two of them -- Virginia Bound and Winston Ways, and I took full advantage. I picked her brain about her Scrap User's System (which I have started implementing in my sewing room over the last few months) and her approach to quilting. I love her use of scraps, and her approach to the more the better. While I love a good organized quilt, and love "color ways" I love prints and fabrics, and love to add options. If a quilt calls for 1 yard of blue, and look and see if I could do 4 fat quarters of blues, to give myself more options, and make it more mine. I look my quilts to be a reflection of me, and while I love putting kits together, I love to see students "own" their aesthetic, even if the quilt changes as a result. I am infamous for the more is better, and those who know me well know that I am a fabric collector...but more on that in another post.

So, back to class....

Virginia Bound

Virginia Bound is from the Scraps and Shirttails book, and is a string pieced block. I had never worked with strings before, in fact, before class I wasn't really sure of the difference between a strip and a string, much less how to classify which ones where.....Bonnie set us straight, and got us working on these right away. They are a great block to burn through odd shaped "strips" and bits and pieces that are not square, not straight strips, or just plain ugly.

I didn't get any pictures in my Virginia Bound class, but Bonnie has some lovely ones on her blog. I stole this pic from her blog...hopefully, she won't kill me, since they are my blocks....

Mine is the rainbow version, where each of the "wings" is a specific color family, rather than all mixed up. I haven't quite figured out what my plan is for the quilt. I was originally going to do each star in 1 color family, and I might still do that, but I need to pull some more color families (like turquoise and purple, and maybe a little less orange). We'll see how it ends up....after market.

Winston Ways

Winston Ways is from Bonnie's most recent book -- More Adventures with Leaders and Enders - the book explores the quilts that you can make using the leader and ender technique. I had never heard of this technique until I caught an episode of Quilt Cam a few months ago. It's genius....really. You have to try it! I started the Leader ad Ender Challenge last year which was made of Half 9 Patch Blocks. And I am also about half way through my Lozenge Leader and Ender from this year....Anyway, check out the technique and all of the quilts that she uses it on...including Winston Ways.

Here's my Winston Ways block that we made in class. It's 12 inches, and has 104 pieces in it. And it is Perfect!!!! It is assembled using some techniques that I hadn't seen before (which is always fun to learn something new). I love the color way, and the precision of the block. I generally don't work with strips that are less that 2 inches, but this one knocked through a bunch of scraps that were left over from 1 1/2" sashings. It was great to see that scrap bin hit hard. I can't wait to work on the remaining blocks in this quilt. I want to make it a king for my bed, so I need about 45 more blocks....which should make a huge dent in the pinks and greens, but leave plenty of purple and turquoise.....I suspect I will need to do some additional cutting into scrap user's to get the variety that I want - but that project was already scheduled for after Market, so now I have an incentive to get it done, and a reward for finishing!!!!

Do you reward yourself for getting things done in your sewing room???

Have a great week, and happy Thursday!!!

Catherine 

Market Release #2 - Crossroads

This quilt was inspired by a student. She brought in a lovely Kaffe Fassett lanterns quilt (the courthouse steps quilt) in these colors, and I loved it! I'm not traditionally a fan of his fabrics, as I struggle with them. I finally realized that when it comes to Kaffe, it's go all in or go home!!! Seriously, use them all, or not at all. So, all in, I was, and it was a great result. You can use as few or as many prints as you want, as long as you stick to your color families.

I could see this quilt in a million different variations, from alternate Kaffe colorings, to batiks, even to modern solids....pick your three color families, and pick all shades in each family.

It's a fairly quick quilt to make, and because it is on point, it is a great way to make a bigger quilt without the hassle of a million blocks. So, pick you theme, and off to the Crossroads you go...

This quilt was a challenge to photograph given the day -- it was windy and bright, a deadly combo when attempting to photograph something that tends to turn into a sail....hope you enjoyed some of the outtakes....

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine

Market Release #1 - Meteorite

Meteorite was inspired by the Mineral collection by Hoffman Fabrics of California. The collection is lovely, rich and deep and a little bit moody. And it needed something simple and quick and easy to finish in a weekend. I uses 10" squares and 2 1/2" strips, and was a quick and simple finish. I used the "leftovers" on my back, and managed to put only a 15" piece of binding into the scrap bag, which is quite an accomplishment for me.


Here's the quilt....

and the back

This one was quick and easy, and makes a great weekend project, or a great beginner project.

Hope you enjoy this one.

Catherine

Make a List Monday

Welcome back to make a list Monday....In an effort to keep myself accountable, I try to post here every week what I want to get done, or plan to get done. Life doesn't always happen the way we plan, but this gives me a way to be accountable, and a running record for what I was working on when....

I've been a bit remiss lately with the blog. It seems to be the first thing that gets dropped when I get busy...the non-essential item that doesn't get done if life gets crazy. Hopefully that will end this week. While it will be crazy as we approach Market this weekend, I will have some down time in the truck to plan some blog posts, and even work on some new projects....

SO, for this week, here's my list --

1. Market Release Posts -- highlight on each pattern
2. Posting calendar for the rest of the year
3. Website updates -- new tutorials live
4. Youtube -- video tutorials coming soon
5. Market activities - Saturday through next Monday....

What are you working on this week???

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine

And the crazy continues...

I keep saying, " as soon as xxx, I'm going to take a day off and do absolutely nothing".... I think I have been saying that since June....as soon as 4th of July is over, as soon as Labor Day, as soon as Market, etc, etc etc.....I feel like tomorrow is Christmas. Not really tomorrow, but soon. Very soon. I'm not going to count, it might freak me out!!!

On a serious note, Market opens next Saturday, and Festival the following Wednesday evening, and this week is all about a 3 day drive to Houston. We leave tomorrow morning in the early hours and will arrive sometime Wednesday. 20+ hours in the car. I hope I have packed enough things....and by things I mean snacks....I have granola, and a collection of almonds (cocoa dusted, vanilla prailened, plain, and dipped in coconut and chocolate), and some chips, and granola bars, and of course a lifetime supply of diet coke. In an effort to keep boredom at bay, I have a variety of activities as well....several books, some knitting, some hexes, some binding, and of course some games on the iPad, and some puzzles. Hopefully, I have enough stuff to keep me busy and occupied and not bored....we'll see how successful I am on that front.

So, forgive the next few final weeks of crazy...because I am taking a day off after. Maybe even a few....

Market Releases Fall 2014

Can you believe it??? It's almost here. Market opens on Saturday, October 25th....Here's a sneak peak at the new patterns that will be released.....I'll give more details next week on each one, but I thought you might like a quick peak of some of the outtake photos.....

Meteorite...

Parallel Universe

Starry Starry Night

Crossroads

 Simply Strippy

That's it for sneak peaks!!! I'll do an in depth intro and provide fabric information next week.

Until then -- Happy Sewing!!!

Catherine

A Quick Update

Well, it is here. That is right, Market is now just a handful of days away....technically it's a little over a week, but since we are DRIVING to Houston (read that as 30+ hours EACH WAY)....we leave in just a few days. Monday to be exact.

I think I am ready....hopefully I haven't missed anything.

1. The patterns are printed or being printed presently (the final one will arrive here on Friday, because, you know how close I like to cut these types of things). This was the big thing. the main thing. Okay, basically the reason for going to market, so nothing like a little pressure to get it done scenario.
2. The bills are paid. Through November. Because, while I leave on the 20th of October, I won't be home until mid-November, and a lot of things happen in that span.
3. Thanksgiving has been arranged. Dog sitter, tickets, rental car, etc, etc etc.
4. The other last minute things have been arranged, planned, scheduled -- dentist appointment, packing, fabric cutting, pattern stuffing, clothes washing, dog grooming, carpet cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, oh and because of all of the frantic trips to the printer, and the store, an oil change is in order for poor Agnes the Accord.
5. Did I mention I think I am ready.....but I also am confident I have forgotten something....I have no idea what, but something. Oh well!!! If I don't figure it out by Sunday at midnight, we'll have to get it at Walmart, or not at all.

Did I mention I am super excited about the new patterns??? Because I am. Totally excited. and tired. very tired.

What are you sewing on this week???

Happy Quilting!

Catherine

Hello Fall!!!

Well, fall is here, and market prep is coming to an end....patterns are written, and final photography is in process (i.e. editing). I can't believe we're at that point again. In just a few weeks we will be getting in the truck and heading to Houston. Time is barreling at us at full speed....

In terms of sewing and quilting, I have and haven't gotten much done this month. I spent most of the month doing market prep, aka super secret sewing. The patterns will be released on the 21st, and available for shipping the following day. They will make their official debut in Houston on the 25th. As a result, there was very little Judy sewing completed this month....though I did get some quilts back from Montana...

So, on that note, back to the project list....

The goals as stated at the new year are in black, amendments (changes/additions, etc) are in blue, and status is red....

Piecing
1. Captain's Wheel complete and sent to the quilter in February.
2. Celtic Wave (Queen) - Piece Along to start in mid-February! complete and sent to the quilter in July.
3. Flower's for My Wedding Ring - Didn't make much progress on this one this month.
4. Scrappy Trip Layout completed and labeled, just need some time to sew.
5. Osprey's Nest Done. Closed.
6. Hawaiian/Prairie Star - Added in April, I have cut it all out. and I will be taking it on retreat this weekend. So fingers crossed a lot will get accomplished. Got nothing accomplished on this one.....
7. Fire Island Hosta Queen - Added in April. I have cut this one out as well. I should take it to retreat, but that might mean I get neither done...so we'll have to see. Done. Hanging at Cozy Quilt Shop in San Diego for a class that starts in September.

Quilting
1. Winter Wonderland - I got it back and I love it. I posted some pics, and did a blog post.
2. Glacier Star - Handed over to the quilter while I was in Montana. Headed back my way.
3. Mariner's Compass done. Quilted and bound.
4. Compass Rose - done. and blogged. 
5. Meandering Star - done. 
6. Captain's Wheel - at the quilter
7. Celtic Wave Queen - sent to Montana for quilting
8. Flower's for My Wedding Ring - 
9. Scrappy Trip
10. Osprey's Nest - Done.
11. Feathered Star Queen - sent to Montana

Pattern Writing
1. 2014 Block of the Month - starts on January 13th! - Done. started February 13th. whole year worth of patterns have been scheduled!!! We found an issue with these....all of the posts that had been scheduled before the July 1 blogger update were corrupted, so once I get back from Market (or maybe while I am there), I will get these reposted!!! Sorry folks!!!
2. 5 new patterns for spring market - all done!!! 
3. 5 new patterns for fall market - all done!!!

Other projects :
1. Amazon Star finished
2. Pepperdish finished - no change
3. Crackers finished - complete
4. Feathered Star Queen finished - complete
5. Project Destash - current total is --57.25. I should be a lot better on this, but I bought a few things while in Montana, including a couple of large pieces for backings and borders, so I didn't take as much advantage of these as I should have.....


October Sewing Plan
Due to all of the travel plans this month, there will be very little quilting going on, other than some hand work in the car....
I cannot wait until November, and a return to "normal" sewing!!!!
How are you doing on your quilty goals for the year???

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine