Book Reviews & Giveaway

March 10, 2021March 13, 2021 Elizabeth E.55 Comments

The linking went like this: teaching at Surfside Guild –> looking at their website to get to know them –> finding their Block of the Month page –> jumping up and down because now I could make a Freddy Moran quilter lady block –> to making one –> hunting down a couple of Freddy Moran books (one in the bookcase in the family room, and the other one online).

This has a lot of Freddy’s style in it, from bright intense color to more bright intense color and how to play in that paintbox. I really enjoyed it.

I’m not finished reading this, but right off the bat, I have to tell you it’s like getting two books for the price of one, because it has both Freddy Moran’s and Gwen Marston’s philosophies, which make you wish you’d could have been a part of the conversation they are having in this collaboration book. I had to hunt for this online, but am so glad I did.

Seeing these guidelines was worth the price of the book. It answered for me that question I always had when I see a perfectly produced and designed quilt in a quilt show, but for some reason I just walk on to the one that is less perfect, but way more interesting (see #3, above).

I used to have this book, but I lent it out somewhere. I watched her lecture at QuiltConTogether and once again recognized what a genius she was in her designs and vision for our humble walking foot. So I bought another one.

And I purchased this one, which I hadn’t had before. The review on both of these books: a good idea to have in your bookcase. I have probably purchased way too many books over the years, but I tend to like books that can spark new ideas for me, or give me a new technique or vision on using tools or fabrics that I already have. So yes-absolutely to the collaborative Gwen/Freddy book. And yes-absolutely to both to Jacquie Gering’s books.

I like my books unsigned (it’s a Creative Writing thing–you don’t want to know) but one of my books arrived signed. I contacted Jacquie and she immediately sent out a new one, and said I could do a giveaway on this signed book. So….if you don’t mind having an “Elizabeth” in the front of your book, and you’d really like to have a Walk book (her first one), I’ll use the Random Husband Number Generator to choose someone.

Leave a comment telling me what your favorite part of Spring is: the flowers? the rain? the weather warming up? the promise of summer? the mud? the shifting to daylight savings time? (If you say this, I won’t pick you because I hate Daylight Savings Time: you’ve been warned.) Easter candy? Eating chocolate bunny ears? Easter? Easter dresses? (I think I’m in a rut here.) Mother’s Day? Your birthday?

[For those who need a definition: Spring begins sometime after Valentine’s Day, and ends when the hot days of summer blow in and school gets out.]

Okay, that’s enough blathering–time to go. Or, as Jacquie says, “Walk on!”

~~Leave a comment!~~

UPDATE: Comments closed now. The next post will update you on the giveaway.

Giveaway! Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns

October 29, 2020October 31, 2020 Elizabeth E.54 Comments

The new edition of this classic — which every quilter should have on their desk — is a quilter’s dream come true. It has clean illustrations of the blocks, as well as a depiction of the same blocks in full color. I reach for my original version almost daily as I try to puzzle out a block, or dream up new combinations in making my quilts. While I didn’t think Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns could be improved, I was wrong. This new version will make it easier to find interesting blocks to make, to research the history of our work, as well as to link us to our rich heritage of quilting.

That blurb at the top is what I wrote for Electric Quilt, the publishers, when they contacted me earlier this fall. As long-time readers know, I’m an enthusiatic user of this book (my edition was published in 1993). When I need an idea for a baby quilt, I turn to the Nine-Patch section. When I am creating quilts for my classes, I peruse the more complicated sections, as well as the traditional Four-Patch. She has Wheels! She has Fans! She has uneven Nine-Patches! And the best part is that now it comes in color, AND in black and white, as you can see by the sample illustrations. That way the coloring can be suggested, or you can go hog-wild, coloring up your own blocks.

But the absolute best part (if there can be only one best part) is that now we can connect our blocks to those of those early quilters. We can identify them, linking all of us together with those women who drew their blocks out on paper, working their quilting in among their gardening, their laundry, the raising of their families, their teaching, their mending. Now you can use Barbara Brackman’s careful research to make your quilts, coupled with the updated and colorful version of this book. I am so excited!!

Here’s my True Story: while the bulk of my blocks in SHINE: The Circles Quilt come from a church in Slovenia, when I was just getting started on this idea, I turned to my Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns and found Feathered Star, block #3389. I made it, and when I visited that church, I was able to show the guard in the kiosk a photo of this block — “my art” is what I said — and he gave me permission to take more photos of the glorious art in that Serbian Orthodox Church. That quilt, which is still cooking along, had its genesis from this book, a block from around 1933, according to Brackman’s notes on its provenance. And one of you can win this book. Keep reading.

Electric Quilt, the publisher, is currently offering 30% off the book if customers “pre-order” it on their website by November 24 . I’m just telling you this, so that in case you are not the lucky winner, you can still have the opportunity to take advantage of the 30% pre-order discount. Details here: https://electricquilt.com/pre-order-and-save/
EQ expects to start shipping the book December 1, 2020. Perfect for holiday giving. (And yes, I plan to have a Christmas holiday this year, and although more kilos may join the Covid kilos, it will still be worth it.)
If you want any other information about the book, they have general info at their website, such as FAQs, a blog post, and reviews (maybe you’ll see mine there?) Click to head there: https://electricquilt.com/online-shop/encyclopedia-of-pieced-quilt-patterns/

Here’s the official details:

Enter to win a copy here, or pre-order the book through November 24th at ElectricQuilt.com.
Giveaway winner will receive one copy of the book shipped in December, 2020.
The Electric Quilt Company will ship to U.S. addresses for free, others will have the option to pay for shipping costs, so yes, international readers you can enter (but you’ll just have to pay for shipping–they will contact you).
The book will be shipped directly from Electric Quilt. I’ll forward them your info after contacting the winner by email.
You can also enter on my Instagram Account @occasionalpiecequilt It’s a slightly different set of guidelines; pay attention, so you’ll be in the running.

~~Okay, gushing over! Get ready, get set, go! I’ll choose the winner on All Saints Day (November 1st) because I know you’ll be too busy on Halloween to pay attention.~~

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

Leave me a comment below telling me what you want for Christmas. Get creative, get close to the heart, get wild, or shoot for the stars.

Books · Giveaway

Paint by Numbers, a creative approach to pictorial quilts

September 24, 2018September 5, 2018 Elizabeth E.25 Comments

Paint-by-Number Foster.png

I was recently asked to review Kerry Foster’s new book, Paint-by-Number Quilts, recently published by C & T, and I eagerly said yes. I’ve been a quilty-pal of Kerry’s for some time, and enjoy her style of quilt-making.

Her style reminds me somewhat of Edrica Huws. I love the energy this type of quiltmaking generates, as I trend toward the pristine and ordered, and am not as comfortable with the assemblage/collage. I always want to be better, but it’s like trying to straighten that errant curl in your hair–when you are not looking, it springs back to where it wants to be.
Red Door_1_small

So I thought I would give Kerry’s techniques a try in recreating this picture, taken when we were in Burano, Italy some years ago. I like the weather-beaten look and knew that it would be better served by Kerry’s Paint-by-Numbers approach. Red Door_2_small

I threw it into an image processing program and used a filter on it to highlight the edges, but you could just trace the strong lines using a lightbox. Red Door_3_small

I extracted all the color, so I could see the shapes, then printed that directly onto the dull side of freezer paper, cut to size and put through my color printer.

I trimmed the freezer paper to size, taped it to a piece of cardstock at the top edge and fed it through the printer. Mine has a rear cassette access, so the paper path is flow-through (it’s the reason I purchased this one). Since I’m making one of my tiny picture-stand quilts, there are two images per page.

4_drawing hashmarks

I did draw on lines and prepared it for construction, according to her instructions in her well-written book. All the information is clear and concise, with great photo illustrations to accompany each step.

I’m mid-process in the upper left photo, layering up the pieces as per Kerry’s instructions. Yes, it did dawn on me at this point, that I’ve hardly broken out into wild new territory, but I liked this door when I took a photo of it some years ago.

Tiny Quilt Red Door_4

In retrospect, I realized that some of the proportions are off a bit — like the doorway is kind of floating, but I am always learning. Next doorway will be better…and wilder!

Instructions for a tiny quilt on a frame are here.

Tiny Quilt Red Door_4a back

The back. I’ve finally wised up and am using some of my favorite fabrics in quilts, instead of leaving them on the shelf. I can enjoy them that way, instead of never seeing them.

Okay, back to the real reason for this post: letting you see a couple of the fun things that Kerry has in her book for you to make:

Foster Book Review_2.png

Foster Book Review_1 — Grizzly Bear quilt

Kerry, and C&T Publishing would like to for you to have a copy of her book. There are many others who have reviewed Kerry’s Paint-by-Numbers Quilting book; I’m one of the last. Each one is running their own giveaway, if you want to visit them:

Monday Sept 17 – Kerry @ PennyDog

Tuesday Sept 18 – Deirdre @ C&T Publishing

Wednesday Sept 19 – Anita @ Daydreams of Quilts

Thursday Sept 20 – Sarah @ Coopcrafts *

Friday Sept 21 – Krista @ Poppyprint *

Monday Sept 24 – ME! Elizabeth @ OPQuilt

Tuesday Sept 25 – Wendy @ The Crafter’s Apprentice

Wednesday Sept 26 – Angela @ Heart of Charnwood *

Thursday Sept 27 – Leanne @ She Can Quilt *

Friday Sept 28 – Katy @ The Littlest Thistle

Tiny Quilt Red Door_2

To enter to win a digital copy, please leave me a comment below. Thanks to you, and many thanks to Kerry and C&T!

Quilts

Not All That Wanders Is Lost • Traveling Threads Bee Quilt is Finished

August 4, 2017August 4, 2017 Elizabeth E.16 Comments

Not All That Wanders Is Lost
47″ high by 56″ wide
Quilt No. 186

In March 2015, Megan asked me to be a part of a Traveling Threads Bee. My initial post about the process is here…

…and shows my package (including little book, above) that was sent off to the person in line next to me, the idea being a circle — from one to another to another, roughly every month.

Monthly was probably too ambitious, and at one point my package skipped a quilter because of time pressures, so in the end I had six lovely quilters make a block (or blocks) for me: Megan Evans, Amber, Emily V., Marci Debetaz, Toni Lovelady and Lisa Johnson. Our group on Instagram was #travelingthreadsbee and we all made such different quilts (click on their names to see their groups of blocks).

I love that it is a meeting of far away and close, new and old, friends.

I put my signature blocks on the front of the quilt, and in the lower right is the signature of the fabric designer, Alison Glass; all are contributors to this quilt. I put the label and a statement about the quilt on the back:I liked the idea that the quilt wandered, and then came home. This was the first project I started quilting this spring, using its beautiful qualities to help propel me back to my groove in free-motion quilting. I posted each block on my Instagram feed as I finished it. I took it on the back patio, in the setting sun, so the slanting rays could amplify the quilting lines.

Luckily I caught the un-quilted section (blue triangle) before finishing it up with a faced binding. I like to put that invisible binding on busy quilts, as it gives a clean finished edge (tutorial is *here*). Okay, it’s the OPQuilt Summer Book Giveaway Time.

Third book is gone, given to Simone according to the guidelines of the Husband Random Number Generator. I’ve already contacted her via email and it will go off tomorrow. So, let me tell you about the next book, the Simple Simon Guide to Patchwork Quilting:

I took this photo from their site, a fun place to go and read and get great ideas for all sorts of homemaking-type projects. Their tagline is “Two girls. Same name. One mission. Teach the world to sew.” and this book is a great example of terrific projects made simply, with a lot of pizazz. To enter the giveaway for this book, please leave a comment below. I’ll let it run for a few days then I’ll notify the winner by email. By the way, this is a signed copy (both authors!).

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Household Crafts

Hot Mitts • July 2017

July 28, 2017July 27, 2017 Elizabeth E.23 Comments

HotMitt_7

It was time. When I last made hot mitts, it was 2013 and now, many hot pans later, I was in desperate need of new hot mitts. Scary picture of old mitts, below.

HotMitt_0

I made it really small so you wouldn’t faint.

HotMitt_1 — DON’T DOWNLOAD THIS for pattern!

So I looked up my tutorial about when I first made these oven hot mitts. I printed out the pattern at 100%, checking that picture of the ruler to make sure it matched 1″ on a real-life ruler. I taped the two parts together (shown above…again DON’T use that photo as your pattern!–refer to the tutorial), and set them aside.. Layer up the fabrics, according to the directions in that original post.

I chose my thread, using a variegated So Fine for the Amy Butler floral, and quilted the fabric layers together by just scribbling and swirling all over it. I’ve also used my walking foot and done straight lines. It really doesn’t matter what you do; just get those layers secured together.

HotMitt_5 HotMitt_6

I cut out enough for two mitts: that’s four hand-shaped pieces. Remember to reverse the pattern when cutting a pair (as shown in the top photo). Then it was make bias binding time.

making-bias-tape1 I followed the instructions, as before (old picture, above), but if you need a more detailed refresher on how to make bias tape, head here, to the Dritz website.. (Or download their PDF file here, if that link doesn’t work: dritz-tutorial-how-use-bias-tape-maker)

I now have some handy-dandy new hot mitts. Reminder: they are a little big until you wash them a couple of times. I built in that shrinkage to the pattern.

HotMitt_7a

Mitts in action. Recipe is my go-to Summer Pasta Salad, found on ElizabethCooks.com, my recipe blog (see below).

summer-pasta-salad-with-asparagus-and-tomatoes

Now I can cook in style.

The ongoing OPQuilt Summer Book Giveaway is still going on: you get a new book and I get more shelf space in my sewing room.

OPQuilt Summer 2017 Book Giveaway

Here’s the total stack of books I’m giving away. The first two titles are lined out as they are all finished, and next up is the Denyse Schmidt book. I’ll let this one run until August 3rd, and will notify the winner by email. I’m letting you know what is coming up so you can either enter all the giveaways, or just the one you want. I’m still very happy to receive your comments, though! This week’s Intentional Piecing has been given, in accordance with the strict rules of the Husband Random Number Generator, to Andrea in Florida.

4-in-art_3

The penultimate Four-in-Art reveal for 2017 is coming up on Tuesday, with the Challenge of Stained Glass. Join us all then to see the quilts our group makes.

Denyse Schmidt Book

Leave me a comment below to enter the giveaway for this week.

Creating · Gridsters · Quilts

July’s Gridster Bee Block

July 24, 2017July 27, 2017 Elizabeth E.18 Comments

Here’s the block I made for the July Gridster Bee, for Carol. It was a fun make, made easy by this tutorial from Sara Noda. (She also has a blog post on her completed flag quilt.)

I also dragged out my hexagon quilt, and got started again. Here is Rosette #7, isolated (above), and below as it looks sewn into the quilt. I took the blocks and quilt rosettes with me on our recent family trip — since we had a lot of driving time — and was able to get the rosettes sewn together and one more completed.I’ve totally revamped Rosette #8, because frankly, everyone on the Facebook page was having real troubles with it, so I thought I would have a go at creating my own hexie arrangement. I’m choosing fabrics for it now.

I also picked my classes for Road to California 2018 (above)…

…and my classes for QuiltCon 2018, too. Anyone else going? Are we in the same classes?

And in case you think you only need fabric to create quilt patters, Sabrina Gschwandertner acquired a collection of old instructional films on the textile arts and has been creating quilt works of art. I will spare you the mumbo-jumbo about quilting from the LA Times, but here’s the article if you want to read it.

Film Quilt2 — *(PS Ignore the random “A” up on the right side)*

I actually wanted to see the movies, after reading about her and seeing images of her work. Now it is lost forever. Will we feel that way about the millions of YouTube videos? I doubt it. There is something about the tangible presence of film being cut up, the scarcity of that resource being destroyed to begin again. But I do like looking at her works. If you are in LA, the article has info about how to see this in the gallery, but the show closes soon.

And today is six months since my shoulder surgery. I’ve seen the surgeon for the last time, finished my formal PT. Now just the challenge of walking, getting back into some semblance of shape after sitting around, and doing the PT exercises on my own.

LASTLY, thanks to all who entered the OPQuilt Summer Book Giveaway (snazzy title, don’t you think?).

Here’s another:

Amy Friend’s Intentional Piecing, a look at using fussy-cutting to make spectacular quilts. She has a range of stellar projects, plus some fun paper-piecing designs to sew into various quilts and hand-mades. It’s signed by the author.