Northern Star Quilt, in process

Posted on April 1, 2018 by Elizabeth E.

Well, this was supposed to be a real quilt, not just a mock-up in my quilt software. But when I got to the geese, I ran out of fabric. All of this, as you know, was inspired by the contest held by Paintbrush Studios. They sent us a bundle of half-yards, and maybe if I’d chosen a simpler quilt — like squares, or something — I would have had enough. But oh yeah, go for the glory.

HOWEVER…because of all your fine voting, I find myself in the Championship Round (little happy noise), and I promised you borders on a quilt. If you feel like voting for the last time, here’s the info:

Vote for “Northern Lights” on the following:

• Paintbrush Studios Blog
• Paintbrush Studios on Instagram
• Paintbrush Studios on Facebook

Thank you for letting me clutter your inbox one more time. And thanks for voting!

Frivols 3 Finished, and Frivols 4, and (oh, boy!): Mad for Solids 2018 Final Four

Posted on March 31, 2018 by Elizabeth E.

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Thank you to all who are participating in the Mad for Solids 2018 game, and thank you very much for your votes. I’m happy to announce that I’ve made it into the Final Four of this quilty March Madness. The penultimate vote in this process is today at 6 p.m. CDT, and if you wish to vote for my bundle, or vote for the bundle of your choice, please head here to cast your votes:

• Paintbrush Studios Blog
• Paintbrush Studios on Instagram
• Paintbrush Studios on Facebook

The Championship Game (love these terms) will begin Sunday night 6 p.m. CDT, and according to the Paintbrush Studio website:

We’re now down to just four color palettes, and the voting won’t get any easier! We’ve also raised the stakes! Everyone who votes in the Championship Game (starts Sunday at 6 pm CDT) will have a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of the winning palette. But even if you don’t win, you can still play with these colorful combinations!

After we announce the Champion on Monday, we’ll be selling fat quarter bundles of the four Painter’s Palette Solids color palettes that made it to the Final Four. Any of these Final Four palettes can be yours! Watch for more details Monday.

I was happy to see that, as I really love a lot of the bundles that quilters have put together. I promised another border, and it will come soon, but the fabric (I ordered more from Pineapple Fabrics) is on its way.

As fun as all this is, it’s time to go back to our regularly scheduled show, now in progress.

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And that regular show I’m working on is sewing my way through my series of Frivols tins. I finished up what I started about a month ago, when sewing on Frivols #3, with fabrics from Betsy Chutchian’s line titled “Eliza’s Indigo.”

What I did in between the last filled-up tin photo and the above quilt picture.

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I ditch-stiched in-between the squares, then quilted circles around the inner squares. Really imaginative, but hey–I always remember that quote I printed at the top of all my syllabi when I taught college English to incoming freshman: The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good. And in this case, The Done.

The back is a tea towel from Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee that my son brought back to me from his trip to London. The title is Betsy’s Quilt, borrowing not only from the name of the designer, but also from a childhood nickname of mine, and since I’m also named Elizabeth, I thought it was fitting. I came in from photographing it and set in on the kitchen table, which is next to our family room. Sometimes small quilts can hang around like this, adding a nice touch to the same old same old.

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This is the third Frivols I’ve finished, so that means I’m one-fourth of the way through my year-long quest to Make the Frivols. So I don’t completely bore you with my attempt to clear out those tins of their fabrics and finish them up, I’m combining Finish #3 with Start #4.

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Tin #4 is a collection by Brenda Riddle, titled Windermere, and there on the end you see the definition of Frivol: a quilt packed into a fanciful limited edition tin. Although you can still buy them on Amazon. Maybe I should stop sewing these up and just re-sell them? I suppose I could, but I follow Mary Poppins advice: “A job once begun is a job half done.” I’m pressing forward.

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Yeah, it only took me three tins to realize that I should look at the bottom of the tin for relevant info, such as additional fabrics and how big the quilt will be. I’m using Paintbrush Studio Solids in white from Pineapple Fabrics for my background. I ~~think I should buy~~ bought a bolt of this stuff. It’s really so great to sew with.

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The tins always have these things:

roll of 7″ squares
make-it card, with instructions
cardboard “frame” for the stuff inside
an extra…and this tin’s extra was two skeins of embroidery floss that accent the quilt’s colors. Maybe I should take the hint and plan on some hand-stitching? That is to be determined, as this quilt is bigger than the others, measuring about 50″ square when finished.

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All pieces cut. Now to start sewing. Thank you all!

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Northern Star Medallion, progress

Posted on March 29, 2018 by Elizabeth E.

Northern Star Medallion, version 1

As most of you know, I was asked to participate in the Mad for Solids 2018, hosted by Paintbrush Studios, using their Painter’s Palette fabrics. Thank you for all who voted for me to send me out of the first bracket into the second. Today is the day for the voting for the second bracket, so if you are inclined, the info is at the bottom of this post if you want to vote again in this second bracket, titled “Elite Eight.”

But as I really don’t like blogs that pitch one thing after another — and fearful that I was becoming one of those blogs — I decided to tilt this post a bit different way, and show you how having to choose my colors, then come up with a design led me to my progress on my medallion quilt, which I’m calling Northern Star Medallion.

I was allowed to choose eight fabrics, and as is my usual, I like to see what colors are trending, so I head to the Fall Fashion write-ups to see what colors are coming up on the runways. The range of colors was all over the map, but I really liked the collection from Emporio Armani for Fall 2018, as it was in icy crystalline tones, matching the images of the Northern Lights we’d recently seen in a movie.

So I called my collection Northern Lights. Then I wanted to use the colors to move me to the process of designing a quilt. Of course, it had to have a star in the middle. So when I was exploring in my quilt software, I noticed they had a grid that had an eight-point star. I loved playing around with it, and came up with the 24-inch star you see at the top of the post. I could stop there, but I still had more fabric, so I found out that I can design Medallion Quilts in my software. I’ve had that for over 15 years, and am now just getting to this? That idea — of running in a rut — can apply all over my life, so I’ll leave it right there.

So I thought I would, with each bracket I move up in (or not), add another border to my quilt. I added a teal band, then a light aqua dashed border, then a midnight blue band. I sat down last night and appliquéd on the four corner diamonds, and the center circle. So here it is: Version 2, all gussied up for publication. I am taking notes, so this may become a pattern, but for now, I just wanted to play in the northern sky colors.

It is kind of fun to see all the stacks people have chosen for their color schemes (some are repeated, and mine is really similar to a couple of other stacks). Good ideas for quilts, if you need some inspiration. If you want to send me to the next round (I promise another border on my medallion), please go here to vote:

• Paintbrush Studios Blog
• Paintbrush Studios on Instagram
• Paintbrush Studios on Facebook

Mad for Solids 2018…Voting Time!

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Elizabeth E.

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Today is the day! I’m over there on the right in Game 6, paired with the ever-lovely Rene.

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The name of my Painter’s Palette Solids bundle is Northern Lights. Because why? Because I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights, and because we watched a movie about surfing in Iceland, and well, because:

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So, if you like the colors of the heavens in the photo above, and feel like you want to vote to send me to the next bracket, head here:

• Paintbrush Studios Blog
• Paintbrush Studios on Instagram
• Paintbrush Studios on Facebook

Voting begins at 6 p.m. CDT [Central Daylight Time, or UTC -5] on March 23rd (today) and goes through to tomorrow at 6 p.m. CDT. I’ve timed this post to hit a bit early in the day, so please wait until the Paintbrush Studio posts go live to place your vote.

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You Can Be A Winner

More information on how you can be a winner is on found on a previous post. So here’s my story about this fabric and why you’re going to want some. I was at Guild on Tuesday night. In Show and Share, I showed my Improv Appliqué quilt that I’d demo-ed at QuiltCon. My seat mate, Angie, commented that the borders “were like black velvet,” so rich and saturated was the color. And that’s how everyone reacts when seeing these fabrics.

I participate in these little contests for one reason only: I love these solids and want them to be everywhere, on everyone’s stash and retail shelves. Come and join us in using Painter’s Palette Solids!

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I’ve been playing around in QuiltPro and making blocks with these colors. If I head to the next bracket, I’ll have a mini quilt to show. So, thanks!

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March Madness 2018

Posted on March 18, 2018 by Elizabeth E.

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For the last couple of years, the fine people at Paintbrush Studios have hosted a Mad for Solids Competition, where quilters create a stack of colors, give them a name & describe their inspiration, and they go up against each other. (Why should basketball fans have all the fun? Quilters need some play time, too!)

Above is the bracket where many beautiful colors of Painter’s Palette Solid fabrics will vie to reach the championship match-up. The first “game” is already up online, and it features two different stacks of fabrics (seen below). I hope you’ll take time to vote for your favorite each day.

Here are the links:

• Paintbrush Studios Blog: Introductory Post, where you can see all the 16 bundles and read about each quilter and their inspiration
• Paintbrush Studios on Instagram
• Paintbrush Studios on Facebook

You Can Be A Winner

You can also win free fabric by voting. They will randomly select four voters from the championship game to win fat quarter bundles of the winning palette. To make sure your favorite bundle is the winner, vote for the one you like best to get it to the championship game.

My game day is this Friday, March 23rd.

Please sure to check back here for info on how you can vote for me, and to see why I chose the grouping that I did.

But for today, head over to Paintbrush Studios to start your voting with two beautiful different stacks. You’ll only have one day to get your vote in, a 24-hour period from 6 p.m. on the day announced, when a new round will take its place.

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Have fun!!

Escape to Texas • March 2018

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Elizabeth E.

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We escaped to Texas last week, to visit our son and his family, as well as head to San Antonio, where my husband participated in a scientific conference. TexasMarch_1

Pico Iyer, a well-respected travel writer noted that “The urgency of slowing down — to find the time and space to think — is nothing new, of course, and wiser souls have always reminded us that the more attention we pay to the moment, the less time and energy we have to place it in some larger context. “Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for our miseries,” the French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, “and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.” He also famously remarked that all of man’s problems come from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” TexasMarch_2