Quilt Market 2013

Joel and I are back from quilt market!  The bags are unpacked, the laundry is done, and we have all the orders shipped.   Unfortunately the house and office are a disaster and we could both use some sleep.  Nonetheless, it’s great to be back home.

I just have a few pictures to share.  They aren’t the best, as I didn’t bring my good camera.  The iphone is SO much lighter to haul around!

Joel and I in our booth  – As usual, he was a huge help.  Not only does he come in handy when you need the heavy stuff moved or you need something cute to look at besides quilts, but he can also demo any block in the booth.  Just don’t ask him what a Y-seam is.  (yes, a quilt shop owner stumped him.  But just for the record, I don’t think you will ever find a Y-seam in one of my patterns).

As many of you know, I design fabrics for Henry Glass.  As soon as my market crate is back, I will show you the newest line I have coming out from them.

The Henry Glass booth had a whole new design this year, complete with demos, stewardesses, passports, and a whole new look.

Fellow Henry Glass designers Jill Finley and Linda Lum DeBono worked hard coming up with all the new ideas.

There were lots of Minnesota designers at market again this year.  I got pictures of a few of their booths –

Gudrun’s booth, from GE Designs

Linda’s booth with her famous critters, from Brandywine Designs

Terry from Atkinson Designs, along with the gals from The Granary.

A few other favorite booths and designers:

Tula Pink – Such a vibrant booth and the machine quilting on her quilts was amazing!

The booth by Emily Herrick  from Crazy Old Ladies, featuring her new line Technicolor.

The gals from Abby Lane – They had just finished up those pillows to the left using my Summer House line.

A few favorite Moda Deisgners:

Bonnie and Camille and their new line Scrumptious

Fig Tree’s booth and their new line Honeysweet

Sandy Gervais and her new line SoHo Chic.  I love the turquoise in this line.

We also enjoyed lots of fun meals after market was done for the day –

Frank’s Noodle House – soon to be featured on one of Guy Fieri’s upcoming shows.

A night at Jake’s Seafood with some of the Henry Glass people.  Karen (my design director) and Jill (of Jillily Studios) ordered the Bag of Chocolate for dessert, which was show stopper.  It literally was a bag of made of chocolate ganache, filled with white chocolate mousse and fresh berries!!  Joel and I are going to try to figure out how to make this one at home!

Portland’s famous Voodoo Doughnuts – which we didn’t even have to stand in line for.  They were delivered to us by Palmer Printing (they print our books and patterns)

But the best part, coming home to this little guy!

The Winners

Let’s start off with the winners of the new book and ruler!

From the first preview post, the winner is:

Donna Kurtz, who commented on April 30th, at 9:58 pm

From the second preview post, the winner is:

Ginny Worden, who commented on May 2nd at 5:39 pm.

Please send your shipping address to hmulder@wecnet.com and I will get the goods shipped out right away!

I just want to say a huge thank-you again for all the nice comments about the new book!   It can be so nerve-wracking to put yourself out there and I have been nervous about these projects.  I have been so back and forth because I know that at first glance they look a bit hard.  I really hope I have convinced you otherwise!  I think that is my favorite part of what I do – equipping people with the techniques and designs to do more than they thought they could, easier than they thought they could.

Well, that and collecting fabric – which brings me to answering some of your questions from my last two posts.

A common question from the last two posts was “How do you pick fabrics?”  I have to admit that I totally cheat!  I usually work from within one fabric line, so all the color coordinating is done by the designer.  The only thing I usually add is a high contrast fabric.

When choosing the high contrast fabric, I choose something that stands out from the rest of the prints, makes the blocks jump out, and makes the colors sparkle as much as possible.  Most often, it is used as the background color, as shown in the photo below.

In the next example, I used a dark brown as my contrast fabric, as it really made the colors pop.

After that, I usually choose a couple of my favorite prints from the line to use for a border.  It really is that simple – I don’t spend hours going through my stash trying to come up with 40 different pieces that coordinate.  All that work has already been done by the designer, so why not take advantage of it?

Several of you asked if I have help and how I get this all done, especially with having a little guy – Which bring me to saying a huge thanks to my two biggest helpers – my Mom Deb, and my husband Joel.

I have talked about my mom before and how much she helps out with my business (read about it here).  With this book, I once again needed lots of help.  It was a complicated book to write, which means there is a greater chance for errors.  Thanks to my Mom, this is one of my most throughly tested books!  I am so grateful for the help, as I feel like my “placenta brain” has become a permanent thing.  I don’t trust placenta brain, especially when it comes to writing books based on lots of angles, with lots of size options.  So Mom – I could never do this without you!  Thanks for helping make my work life possible!

Joel doesn’t test quilt patterns for me, nor would you want him to.  However, he is really good at helping out with all the orders, shipping, book work, returning emails and all the other officey-type things that take me away from designing.  I SO appreciate having help taking care of those things so I can focus on my designs.  You may also remember that he helps out with the photography, which isn’t always the funnest job.  Lastly, he is a great help at market, as sales is much more up his alley than mine.  I have a tendency to be tired and overwhelmed by the time I get to market and he helps hold everything together.  It is just what I need after the long haul of getting the book from start, to finish, to market.   So a big thanks to my DH as well!

Lastly, I do have a some help with Carter.  I have a couple of neighbor girls come twice a week for a few hours – that way I am guaranteed 3 hours twice a week where I can get caught up on a few things.  (like blogging, as one of them is here right now)

Those answers were probably a little more than you were asking for, but I really wanted to have a chance to say thank-you to my great helpers!

On a side note, it’s my favorite day of the year.  The lake is open!  Every year I post the day that the lake opens.  I have usually been waiting about 5 months for that day, but considering we have had a very long winter, it has been longer than that – two months later than last year, to be exact.  Now I can’t wait to get back from market and start enjoying evenings on the deck.

Angles With Ease Preview – Part 2

Back for Part 2!

Thanks for all the wonderful, encouraging, generous, supportive, and funny comments on the last post!  The “winner” or favorite quilt from that post had to be Spin Cycle, followed closely by Rising Star.   I always love hearing which ones you like best – because after working on the quilts for so long and doing all the math, writing, proofing, etc.,  I can no longer see or think clearly to know which ones are the cutest!

Today I want to share the non-strip pieced quits from the book.  In addition to all those spinning and star quilts from yesterday, the book and ruler can be used to make lots of other fun shapes.  Here is a link to the first post, in case you missed it.

Shapes #1 and #2:  Diamonds and Trees – as shown in the “Juniper” quilt.

The fabric line is Blitzen by Basic Grey for Moda fabrics.   The pattern can be made from Fat Quarters, Fat Eighths or 10″ squares.  (I forgot to mention in the first part of the preview that most of the patterns in the book are made from Fat Quarters and Fat Eighths)

One of the size options for this design is this little runner – “Baby Juniper”.

It’s so simple and quick to make.  It would make a great Christmas gift and can easily be made longer to fit any size table, kitchen island, etc.  I made this one from the scraps from the Winter Solstice quilt – though you can also make if from 10″ squares or scraps from your stash.

Shapes #3, 4  and 5 – Tumblers (and hourglass blocks, bow ties or lava lamps), as shown in the “Hourglass” quilts below.   Most often the tumbler shape is made into quilts like these – which you could do, but I chose to add sashing for a more modern look.

I also chose to pair my colors in my tumbler blocks so they look more like bows, lava lamps or an hourglass, depending on how you see it.   You can use the ruler to cut tumblers and put them into any number of options – but I didn’t have time to make them all (yet).  That’s the problem with deadlines – they sometimes interfere with my fun!

I really like the runner size option too – This one was fun to quilt.

Shape #6 – Kaleidoscope Triangles, as shown in the “Windsor Knot” quilt below.

This next quilt is a modern take on a traditional kaleidoscope quilt.  Both the red and aqua triangles are cut with the ruler.  Remember the little circle that I appliqued in the center of the Spin Cycle block from my last post?  This one uses a small square appliqued in the center to cover where all the points come together.  Not only does it make the quilt easier, but I like the way it forms a chain between the red pieces.   All of the other seams in the quilt nest – as long as you follow the pressing arrows in the instructions (the other patterns have this too).

I just finished a color option of this quilt with my Here Fishy Fishy fabric.  I love how different it looks!  Can you believe they are the same pattern?  Instead of the chain, I see circles and X’s in this version.

I am so anxious for this fabric to arrive.  It matches Carter’s room just perfectly!

This isn’t related to the new book, but I wanted to show you how I used the panel print on the back.

Shape #7 – Right Angle Triangles,  as shown in the “Calypso” quilt below.

This quilt is made from the scraps of my Cosmo quilt (from the first part of the preview).  You can also use scraps from your stash or 10″ squares.

Shape # 8 – Almost Hexagons, as shown in the “Honeycomb Bloomers” quilt.  I say almost hexagons because a true hexagon is a 60-degree angle and when you use my ruler it is a 67 1/2-degree angle.  This makes for a slightly elongated hexagon and allows you to flip-flop the blocks for a more interesting layout.

This is probably my personal favorite – because as many of you may know – I have a huge crush on hexagons.

So there you have it!   I feel like I could go on and on with all the things that you can cut with this ruler.  In fact, I have lots of options that didn’t even make it into the book!  If you have a favorite from this grouping too, I would love to hear what it is.  Just leave a comment and I will draw a winner (of a book and a ruler) from this post too.   I will announce the winners from both posts here next week.

BTW – Books and rulers are available to start shipping now – either from your local shop or from our online store.