Generation Q Magazine, Me, a Giveaway

I'm excited to share my first ever published quilt with you. It's called Flash Card and it's in the June/July issue of Generation Q Magazine.

Flash Card came about when I designed a block as part of Generation Q's Block Builder series. Each issue features a block starter which consists of a few lines. The idea is to take it from there and design a quilt block. The designer in me just can't resist playing along with these challenges. Below left is the starter block that gave birth to the Flash Card block and quilt.

The Block Builder challenge usually gets me thinking outside the normal quilt block approach and as a result, I end up with some pretty interesting ideas. Through the process,  I've also discovered that it's often the simple looking blocks that have the potential to turn into very dynamic quilts. I've had 3 of my blocks make the cut in previous issues so you can see I love to play along. When submitting for this round of Block Builder, the folks at GenQ asked me to make up my block into a quilt for their Spring Market issue. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. I highly recommend giving the Block Builder challenge a try. Maybe your block will become a quilt in one of their upcoming issues too.

Flash Card is an easy quilt to sew and great for using scraps. I used Kaffe Fassett scraps for the block centers. Karen Dovala of the Quilted Moose did the quilting and I just love how the overall floral pattern turned out echoing the floral prints. A light gray thread was just right to show up equally well on both the black and white solids and yet not distract from all the color centers.

As I worked on the quilt, I pondered what to do with the little left over HST. Couldn't let cute little scraps go to waste so I turned them into bean bags and sewed up a pouch to hold them all. Now you can use the quilt as a throw and a game too! The bean bags and pouch became a bonus project that was featured on Generation Q's blog. You can see that project here. My new kittens seemed to love the bag the most. I think it was the drawstrings.

Don't you think those scrap HST made cute little bean bags? I backed them up with 4 different fabrics from the quilt so 4 people could play at a time. 

There are so many different ways this quilt could be made and used. Here's just a few other ideas.

• Use novelty prints in pairs and turn the quilt into a matching/tossing game.
• Use different solid colors in place of the prints and have each player try to land their bean bags on a given color.
• Make the matching even more challenging by changing up both the block center colors and the triangle colors for multiple color combinations.
• Come up with your very own game plan.

If you don't know about GenQ or haven't seen an issue yet you don't know what you're missing. It's a great small format magazine loaded with quilty information. Here's a sample of what you'll find in this issue:

• Victoria Findlay Wolfe talks vintage poly quilts.
• At home profile with Melody Miller, designer of Ruby Star.
• Test drive basting sprays.
• Paper piecing basics.
• The next Block Builder . . . why not give it a try.
• Plus lots more including Flash Card by yours truly.

Starting with the June/July issue they are now publishing bi-monthly. Head over to their website to find out more and order your own copy. I think you'll like what you see. They are just the nicest people and have been most encouraging to me.

To celebrate my first ever quilt being published I'm giving away a copy. All you need to do is leave a comment and tell me what quilting magazine is your favorite and why. Become a blog follower for a second chance.

Comments are closed. The winner is Rachel at The Life of Riley. Congrats Rachel.

WIP Wednesday/Bee Block

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for another WIP Wednesday.

Here it is the end of the month and about time I get my Mid Century Modern Bee block done for Debbie at A Quilter's Table. She asked for a low volume block based on the tutorial over at Little Miss Shabby's blog. It was a fairly simple block to make but I'm not sure about the best way to press. The seams where the gray strips meet seem a little bulky.

I really like many of the low volume/light value quilts that are showing up online. I've even been playing around with an idea of my own but it hasn't made it past the designing stage yet. When Debbie requested this type of fabric I was excited to give it a try and to see what everyone else came up with too.

Pulling fabric from my stash made me realize I don't have a big selection of low volume or light value fabrics. Like many quilters, I have tons of mid values and few true lights and darks. Here is where I started. Several colored dots on white, a handful of leafy and bird related prints, and miscellaneous other prints. I can definitely see an excuse for fabric shopping . . . hehe. Just don't tell my husband.

It was hard to decide what to use for Debbie's block but I eventually settled on mostly grays with some blues and greens thrown in. It turned out a bit darker than I thought it would but hopefully it will work with the rest of the blocks she gets. After all, you need a lot of variety with scrappy quilts right?

The last couple of weeks have seen plenty of behind-the-scene sewing too. Just not things that have shown up on my blog. My new pattern is coming along nicely and I hope to publish next month. Check back often to get the first peek.  I've also submitted a couple of things to magazines and thus can't share.

These cuties are the biggest adjustment I've had going on in my studio. I never realized how easy it really was with our sweet old lady Shadow. She would drive me crazy at times but just as often was content to sleep in the chair while I sewed. No need to worry about her eating threads off the floor, eating pins off the design wall, running with scissors and generally tearing things to pieces . Hmmm . . . life with kittens is interesting, fun and challenging . . . just like human toddlers in the house.

But they are adorable. Opal and Leo (formerly LuLu until she turned out to be a he)
Head back over to Freshly Pieced for more quilty goodness and have a great week of stitching.

Old and Precious . . . New and Adorable

Many of you know my quilty kitty Shadow and all the fun and frustration she managed to provide in my studio while I worked. I even blamed her ("It's the Cat's fault") for one of my more challenging quilting experiences. Shadow always found every quilt I was working on no matter where it happened to be and made herself at home. Every quilt was Shadow approved. She sat on top of my laptop, on the keyboard (her typing skills were questionable), on the ironing board, on the cutting mat, on the fabric, and would have sat on top of the sewing machine if she could. Sometimes I was afraid her tail would flip under my rotary cutter or under the needle while I sewed like you'd expect on some silly cartoon . . .  thankfully it never did. She kept me company in my studio by day and on my lap in the evening while I read or sketched new quilt designs. I think she probably dreamed quilting along with me while she slept on my head by night.

Shadow . . . my precious baby!

On her last day with us, we were able to love and comfort her into her final sleep. Sad for us but a real blessing for her to be at home surrounded by love. This all happened in November and over Thanksgiving when our kids were home from college which was another blessing as well. It's taken me some time to be able to post about her. We had her for 15 wonderful years. She was and always will be my precious quilty kitty.

Needless to say there was a sadness around the house and we thought maybe by spring we might be ready for a new cat. School finished up and kids were once again home for Christmas break. Then out of the blue, I came home from the grocery store in mid December with loads of groceries and a brown paper bag full of not one but two little kittens. So very unlike me and so unplanned that it just had to be right.

Now a new saga begins and new challenges arise. Kittens like to play, and chew, and climb, and claw, and run, and eventually sleep. I see my studio now through cat eyes. How much fabric might be clawed. How many spools of thread might be unwound, how much batting might be batted about, will the quilt top on the design wall be pulled down, will a nose be burned on the iron or a pin swallowed? Yes, I've had to kitten proof my studio as best I can while still trying to be productive. And just when I think I have it safe for them and my quilting, they find something new to get into. I don't dare leave them alone in here . . .  who knows what would happen. I might even sit on them one day as they have taken to sleeping under the throw that covers my ugly studio chair instead of on top of it where Shadow liked to hang out.

They have won my heart. They are adorable. I'd like to introduce you to LuLu and Opal . . . my newest quilty kitties. I'm sure you'll get to know them as they learn the ways of becoming quilty kitties too. May they too live a long and purrrfect life.

LuLu (white face) and Opal (dark face) . . .
my adorable new babies!!