Design Wall Monday – 31 January 2011

Still trying to figure out what to do with my project from last week – so I decided to create another project to add to the UFO pile. I had some striped fabric – so I cut triangles and had fun putting them back together –

This is as far as I got – not sure how I am going to set them.

Not sure what I will call it.. It sort of makes me a bit dizzy – so…

Eye Test

Hangover

or?????

Head over to Judy’s blog and see what everyone is up to.

And – only 3 days left to vote in the McCall’s Design Star Contest Click and vote – I will let you know the results on Friday. And all y’all have to get your design engines geared up – the McCall’s blog says they are going to do the contest again! Give it a try – there is a lot of great design work happening in this group – think about entering, you never know what might happen!

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McCall’s Design Star Update – the final week!

Here is an update on the McCall’s Design Star Contest.

Voting continues through next Wednesday, February 2, 2011. McCall’s will be posting the notification of who won on their website on Friday- I will also post a note both here and on Facebook.

To celebrate the end of the contest McCall’s will be holding a Quilt Design Star™ party on their website from February 4 through Sunday February 6, 2011. Make sure you check it out  at www.McCallsQuilting.com . They will be holding a one-time celebration give-away that includes items similar to a prize package that I received. All of the finalists challenge pages will still be up so that you can leave comments, and continue to enjoy all of the quilts.

 

 

And lastly – the winning designer will be featured in McCall’s Quilting July/August 2011 issue.


So —- keep the votes coming – get your friends to vote!

Design Wall Monday – 24 January

I played around with my half-square triangles from last week.  This is what they looked like last Monday.

After some shifting around they turned into this.

I am not sure if I am going to leave it as it is and turn it into a wall hanging, or add some borders and turn it into a throw.

Or… should I turn it on point, square it up and finish it this way.

Or, there might be other options, not sure yet what those might be.

Inquiring minds want to know – what would you do.

And head over to Judy’s Blog to see what everyone else is doing.

And thank you for all of your support and encouragement in the McCall’s Challenge – Voting continues through February 3 at 1am Mountain Time. Click on the link in the right margin to see the quilt and to vote

Design Muse Thursday – Border Ideas – Columbus Circle

The subway stations in New York are adorned with wonderful mosaics.  Border designs abound – here are some shots of the mosaics at the Columbus Circle Station.  I hope they might spark an idea or two for your own work.

Toolbox Tuesday – Book Reviews – January 18

I have to admit – that besides collecting fabric I am a sucker for books. I see a new quilt book that looks good, I buy it. Sometimes I realize that I haven’t looked at some books for ages – but “you just never know when you might need it” and if you don’t buy it now “it might not be there when you need it.”

Two books from C&T Publishing that were extremely helpful in creating my quilt Polaris for the McCall’s Design Star Competition were Drafting for the Creative Quilter (C&T 2010) and Borders, Bindings & Edges (C&T 2004) – both by Sally Collins.(Both are still available from C&T!)

These two books are, in my opinion, “MUST HAVES” on your quilting bookshelf. Yes, on first glance you might say – these look too technical, too complex, too precise – but there really is something for everyone. (If you are a Virgo you will LOVE these -I’m not -even with the shift in recent re- calculation in Zodiac Signs – and I still love them!)

In Drafting for the Creative Quilter (C&T 2010) Sally shows you how to analyze various blocks, how to re-size, how to design with blocks of different sizes, how to take a block and re-design it/adapt it/alter it, etc… the list goes on.  On the broader level – this is a great book solely for design inspiration. It can help spark your creativity to think differently about your quilt designs and block designs.  I don’t know that I would have been able to draft the 8 point start block that I used in Polaris.  Each of the star points is measures 11 inches from the center point out to the tip!

In addition to drafting blocks she has wonderful insights into color placement, scale, and other design elements that can be used in creating any quilt.

The second book Borders, Bindings & Edges (C&T 2004). In her thorough fashion – Sally deals with I think just about every border possibility that is possible – including how to put a 1/8th inch border on a quilt to make a section pop. (YES – 1/8th of an inch). I didn’t put an 1/8th inch border in – but I did adapt her technique for putting in some 1/4 inch highlights.  The white in both of these borders is1/4 inch and it really helps the central square-on-point pop.

If I didn’t have then small white border the central medallion would loose it’s impact. If I put a bigger border there the effect wouldn’t be the same AND my border that squares up the quilt wouldn’t fit! The information in this book helped me figure out how to, as Tim Gunn on Project Runway  would say “Make it work”

She provides wonderful instructions on how to figure out what size spacing strips you need to include to make your borders fit, what to think about when deciding “how wide do I need to make that border – should it be 3 inches, 6 inches or ???). There are great ideas different border designs and on how to take those designs around the corner. Again – the technical person will love this book – but if you aren’t the “precise piecer” – you will find loads of info that you can use. How to make borders fit, how to make bindings, how to caclcuate bindings, how to apply different finishes ……. the list goes on and on.

If you don’t have these books in your library – get them – you won’t be sorry!