First I’m going to tell you the short version.
Shine is going back out into the world again, this time in collaboration with QuiltMania Magazine. If you are a subscriber to their newsletter, you’ll receive access to the newly revised patterns, free, as a thank you for subscribing.
Now the long version.
When Covid-19 hit the proverbial fan, one April morning in my mailbox was a heartfelt letter from Carol, writing in her regular QuiltMania Newsletter about some of the difficulties magazines like hers were facing. I contacted them, offering my help in any way (you know I’m a fangirl).
After some correspondence, it was decided that they would release SHINE: The Circles Quilt out into the world, bit by bit on their blog, and after further developments, as a thank you for subscribing to their newsletter. I was happy with this, and thinking it would be released quickly, revised all the formerly free patterns on this blog into a new format. I sent them to back to QuiltMania where they were translated into French.
Wondering if they’d be out by July, I started work on another set of the circles, this time in Red, White, and Blue. You may have seen them here, here, and here. I am still working on them, but am borrowing an idea from my friend Carol, who is also working on a Red, White and Blue quilt. We hope to get these quilts finished in time for the Inauguration in January. That gives me a little more time.
So here we go on a new journey with SHINE! Underneath each block is the name, and a link to where it lives on this blog. Each of these posts has detailed instructions and photos, which may prove helpful in your sewing. The full set is up above, in my header, under SHINE: The Circles Quilt.
This is how it looked on their blog this morning.
Above is the teaser in their newsletter, which you’ll want to subscribe to.
Here’s the scheduled release dates of the free quilt blocks from QuiltMania:
September: Blocks 1, 2 and 3
October: Blocks 4, 5 and 6
November: Blocks 7, 8 and 9
December: Blocks 10, 11 and 12
In case you can’t wait, the complete pattern is coming soon to my PayHip shop. Currently up up on PayHip are the last four blocks of SHINE (13 through 16) and the quilt’s finishing directions, which are written in Hobbit Elvish. Just kidding (sort of), but certainly they are from my earliest days as a pattern writer and will soon be revised to my current format and standards. (When the new patterns drop, if you have purchased either of these, you’ll be able to download the new ones without additional cost.)
I used fabric from the Minick and Simpson recent lines of red, white, and blue, as well as other Moda and Riley Blake fabrics for the backgrounds.
Happy Labor Day this weekend. Here is a less-than-happy version of Work (Le Travail), by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (c. 1863) from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. I am happy that they worked in a woman in “travail” down in the lower right corner. I am beyond happy that my current work of quilting doesn’t resemble anything in this picture. (Okay, maybe sometimes.)
Keep stitching!
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
CRAZY!! I AM SO CRAZY ABOUT THIS!!! I did love the original Shine, but this version is oh so awesome!
Congrats on this! I wondered exactly what was in the works. Also, very glad we get to do our work fully dressed 🙂
That is so exciting! You know I love this pattern. Some day I hope to have time to sew all the patterns I’ve collected over the years — and use up all the fabric I’ve collected too!
Congratulations on the collaboration!
Congrats on the collaboration. I think the red, white, and blue version is going to be wonderful. The design just seems so fitting for those colors. Of course I love the bright version too.
Congratulations and kudos to you for contributing your efforts toward the survival of QuiltMania. I think sewing a red, white and blue quilt in anticipation of the inauguration is a great way to put some positive energy out there and keep hope alive. I heard an interview on the radio this morning where a woman, in no uncertain terms, declared that Democrats hate this country. Just for the record – I know you are someone who loves their country and happy to fly the colors as much as the next guy. Me, too. Checking the stash for what I have in my country’s flag colors….
I always loved the first version, but the RWB might be even better! Is that possible?
Glad my Labor Day won’t look like that, but look at those muscles! It pays to work hard. lol
I really love these circles. Great talent and inspirational
I love both versions of Shine! Your work is beautiful! Quilt Mania and Moderne have been my favorite quilt magazines for years.
Congrats on your collaboration with Quiltmania! This is so wonderful, both for you and for all of us! Just downloaded, I have never finished any of my EPP quilts I have started; I would like to think that eventually this will be the first. I have always loved this pattern. Thanks so much for your generous sharing!
My mom hung a copy of “The Gleaners” in our dining room, where she saw it every day before she started her shift at the hospital, where she was a nurse on the surgical (post op) floor. She told me it reminded her that although her job was hard, many people worked harder than she did. I always thought it was very much in keeping with her ethos of, “There but for the grace of God go I”, which did not mean God favored her, but that she could just as easily have been the person in need or the one on whom society looked with disfavor. (We didn’t know how to say ‘white privilege’ back then.) So many things remind me of her now. Thanks for adding another one, out of the blue.
I have always been in love with this quilt, and love the colors. “Shine” is certainly the perfect name for it. But now I might love the red, white and blue version even MORE, if that is even possible.
This is such a beautiful pattern and it looks challenging too. It’s great of you to partner with Quiltmania too!
I thought I heard a happy dance coming from the West Coast!!! This is such wonderful news about one of the neatest quilts ever – congratulations! You have partnered with the 2 best quilt magazines and I’m so proud of you. I have everything printed and ready to start ONCE I figure out a color scheme.
Congratulations! Your quilt is beautiful and I have forwarded your post to a friend who likes to take on challenges.
This is so amazing. Even the colors speak to me. And I am usually not so
colorful. I have missed the September newsletter from Quiltmania.
Is there a way to get the instructions for those three blocks?
Greetings from sunny NC
DAGMAR