Pretty Plates – Dresden that is!

Dresden Plates are a lot of fun to make – they are a great way to use up scraps.  Here is a quilt that I made using a lot of different Kaffe Fasset Collective Fabrics.

Photo Courtesy of McCall’s Quilting

It is featured in the September/October 2014 issue of McCall’s Quilting.

Here are a few shots of the quilt as it was on my Handi Quilter Sixteen Longarm

I used the Marti Michell Dresden Plate templates to make the quilt.

I hope you enjoy it and might make one for yourself.

Photo Courtesy of McCall’s Quilting

 

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

Studio Update – Let there be light

As I had mentioned in previous posts I needed to do something about the lighting in my studio.  I am in the basement, and while I do get natural light, it is not really adequate.  Also there was only one fixture in the back end of the room (where my longarm is).

Here is what the room looked like before the new lighting

Here it is with the new lights

I purchased three fixtures at Home Depot that fit close to the ceiling.

I also used bulbs which simulate natural light. I must say they make a big difference.

Right now up on my design wall is a sample that is in progress for a class I will be teaching in January at Patricias’ Fabric House.

And on my cutting table is some fabric to make a sample for a class I am teaching next month (November 9, 2014 from 10 am – 4 pm)  at Patricias’ Fabric House in East Rocheter, NY

It is the Holiday Gathering Table Runner/Table Topper pattern I designed for RJR Fabrics.

You can download the pattern by CLICKING HERE.

I just finished this quilt and sent it off in the mail yesterday. It uses Kona Solids from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. I pieced and quilted it using Aurifil 50 weight thread and used Pellon wool Batting. My trusty Handi Quilter Sixteen did the task in fine fashion – I had lots of fun playing with my Rulers making all those straight lines.  Fingers crossed that it will be appearing in a magazine early next year – I will keep you posted.

Got to get back to work! What are you working on?

Tool Box Tuesday – Free Patterns!

Free patterns? Sounds too good to be true.  Well it is true!!!

Fabric companies provide free downloadable patterns to show off their new fabric lines.  The fabric designers themselves, or other designers work up a pattern that is based on a new fabric line to help show how it might be used in a quilt.  These patterns are free downloadable PDFs.  What you need to do is to look up your favorite fabric company website and then look at the navigation tabs – you should find one that says “Free Patterns” or “Free Projects”.

I have been working with Windham Fabrics for a few years and just recently started working with RJR fabrics.  Let me show you how how these two sites work.

If you go to the home page for Windham Fabrics you will see something that looks like this. CLICK HERE to go to their page.

Clock on the “Free Projects” tab (third from left) and up will pop the following page.

Search through the various patterns that are there – if you find one you like – download it.  YES – FOR FREE!!!!

If you know the fabric line, type that into the box  – just for practice type in Spin.  A page should appear that would have the pattern I designed for this line which is entitled Twist and Twirl.  Click on the pattern and the PDF for the pattern will pop up and you can save it to your computer.

If you type in Big Rig Quilting in the search box all the patterns that I have designed for Windham will pop up.

The Windham search box lets you search by Fabric Line, Fabric Designer and Pattern Designer.

RJR Fabrics has a slightly different layout. CLICK HERE – to go to the opening page for RJR Fabrics  On their opening page there is a tab that says “Free Patterns” (2nd from the right).

When you click on the tab you will get a drop down list that allows you to search by 1) New Arrivals 2) Designer (Fabric Designer) 3) By Collection 4) Pre-Cuts 5) All patterns.  Click on the New Arrivals tab and a page like this should appear (NOTE – if you are reading this blog several months from July of 2013 the page will appear differently)

Down at the bottom of the page is my pattern entitled Holiday Gathering.  Click on the pattern and the PDF for the pattern will pop up and you can save it to your computer.

 

As you can see there are a wealth of FREE PATTERNS that are available on just these two fabric companies web sites.  Explore other fabric company sites to find other patterns.

Happy Web Surfing!  I hope you find some great patterns that you can use.

Design Wall Monday – Ascot – August 8, 2011

I’m back! Sorry to have disappeared but vacations crept in and …. well you know.

Here is some fun shirting fabric from Windham Fabrics. It is from their new line Ascot which is shipping to stores NOW.

I created a pattern for them featuring this fabric that you can download for FREE from their website!  Here is a shot of a sample that I made for them for spring market in Salt Lake City which shows a miniature version (it is hanging over the railing in the far right side of the picture)

The fabric is a lot of fun, there are images of chickens, cards, keys, horses and horseshoes, umbrellas, bees, and anchors – great graphics printed on dark blue, cream, black, and a wonderful rich rich red. (I have a weakness for Red – it’s my “neutral” and Windham has some of the best reds on the market – especially in these shirting fabrics- if you love red fabric – you need to add these to your stash. By the way the blues are pretty good too!)

 

Here is the front page of the pattern which is called Bet Your Lucky Stars.

The finished quilt measures 58″ x 71″. You can easily upsize/dowsize the quilt by changing the number of blocks you use (finished blocks measure 12″) 

I am working on more pattern designs and would love to know what kind of patterns you are looking for.

And here is a page showing the fabrics used in the quilt.

If your local quilt shop doesn’t carry the line – get them to get it in. If they aren’t going to carry it – head on over to The Patchwork Co. – they should have it in stock soon and you can order it from them online. If they don’t have it up on their site yet – just send an email or give them a call and ask if it is in stock. The staff there is very helpful and friendly.

Head over to the Windham Fabrics Website to see the fabric up-close and to download this FREE pattern, and browse a lot of other free patterns they have. Also, have a look at some of the other great fabrics – their well-know reproductions to their great contemporary fabrics – which will be hitting stores soon.

Head over to Judy’s blog to see what everyone else is doing.

Design Wall Monday – 28 March 2011

Hi everyone – sorry to have fallen off the blog map for a little while.

I have been taking some time to recover and regroup after the McCall’s Design Star Contest. And something that has been keeping me busy is that I have designed some patterns for Windham Fabrics.  Here is the first one – The fabrics are from their new line Ascot.  It”s a fun line head over to their web site to see all the cool patterns that are part of this line.

I am still working on a name – but here is the quilt designed in EQ7.

Head on over to Judy’s Blog and see what everyone else is up to.