Giveaway

Mad for Solids Wrap-up 2018 and Giveaway

April 12, 2018September 6, 2018 Elizabeth E.102 Comments

Giveaway Thanks

I’m sure you have seen a version of this photo before, as I participated in the Mad for Solids 2018 for Painer’s Palette Solids. Paintbrush Studios, the people who manufacture this line of solids first contacted me about four years ago, asking me to make them a quilt for Quilt Market. Paintbrush who? was my first response. But I jumped in and made them a medallion sort of design. I was paid for this effort. But simply being paid doesn’t keep me coming back. I have also sewn for “free” for them.

Paint Chips Painter's Palette Solids

Why do I keep agreeing to do this? When they do send me fat quarters/half yards of a variety of colors — whatever they are setting up as their parameters — it challenges me to design a quilt using just those fabrics, and I use it as a design challenge. (Of course, if any of you have participated in any of the MQG challenges, you know that even if you get 3 fat quarters for free, you end up buying about more on your own. Typical, right?)

Paintbrush Studios Colors_chart

When I first was considering designing/sewing for them, I asked, “Is your fabric of a good quality?” Painter’s Palette was a new line, made with a bit tighter weave and finer threads, and while the first launch had 80 colors, they now have many more than that (latest card is above). I don’t need 500 colors to be happy; I need enough to make the designs I want to. My favorite part about this fabric is how it feels in the hand–almost silky, but with a good weight. I also like that if I have to “un-sew,” this fabric will hold up to the repeated picking out and re-stitching. It also steams into place well, if the block needs to be flat, or seams eased in. I’m not the only one who is in love with this fabric.

Here are the quilts I’ve made with Painter’s Palette Solids:
Starry Compass Rose
Cinque Terra Tiles
Northern Star (in progress)
Annularity

RedWhiteBlueStar_final1
Red, White, and Blue Star (free pattern)

Sky Rocket Variant

Guccilicious Block, above, and here too
(Note to self: I need to finish my ideas on this one)
Electra Magnetic

six-ways-to-blue_front
Six Ways to Blue (above)
Rose Window

focus_front

And this little one, Focus, made for their first booth at QuiltCon 2017 from scraps from the first quilt I made for them.

Mad4Solids2018votesign — *I make these little pictures on my phone, using the app Snapseed. Easy-peasy.*

Thank you all for your votes and support in the Mad for Solids 2018. I really owe you all a quilt or something, but I decided instead to have a little giveaway of Painter’s Palette fabrics, in the exact colors I used for my Northern Star (which is still in process), so you can try them for yourself.

I ordered these from Pineapple Fabrics, which is where — until I can persuade my local shop to carry them– I purchase my Painter’s Palette Solids.

I have two stacks of 8 fat quarters, which I’ll give away to two people. I will announce this on Instagram and on my blog, but only comments on my blog will count. (I will ship internationally as well as domestic, for those of you overseas who are wondering about that.) If you are a follower of this blog, leave an extra comment to double your chances (and thank you for reading!). I’ll let this run for a couple of days, and then draw a winner, who I will notify by email.

~~To enter the giveaway, please leave me a comment telling me if you’ve ever seen the Northern Lights in the night sky.~~

Giveaway now closed. Thank you for entering!

Quilts

Northern Star Quilt, in process

April 1, 2018April 2, 2018 Elizabeth E.8 Comments

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!

Creating

Northern Star Medallion, progress

March 29, 2018March 28, 2018 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

Northern Star Medallion v1 — 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

Mini-quilt

Mad for Solids 2018…Voting Time!

March 23, 2018March 22, 2018 Elizabeth E.3 Comments

March Madness 2018 FB Header

Basic RGB

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

Northern Lights_circular

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:

Northern Lights_pix

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.

March Madness 2018 FB Header

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!

Northern Lights_horizontal

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!

PBStudios Mad for Solids.jpg

Giveaway

March Madness 2018

March 18, 2018March 18, 2018 Elizabeth E.4 Comments

March Madness 2018 FB Header MM Bracket 2018-round 1.jpg

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.

March Madness18 Game 1 stacks.png

Have fun!!

200 Quilts · Creating · Quilt Patterns · quiltcon · Quilts

Annularity II

February 18, 2018February 18, 2018 Elizabeth E.18 Comments

Annularity1PBStudios

This is the story of the design of my quilt Annularity. It is also the story of Annularity II, which will hang at QuiltCon in Paintbrush Studios Booth.

Annularity II
Quilt Number 194
Designed and Pieced by Elizabeth Eastmond
Quilted by Natalia Bonner
59″ square

The story of this begins when I was contacted by the fine people at Paintbrush Studios, who make the ever-lovely Painter’s Palette Solids. I submitted one design for review, time passed, things changed; I thought the process was dead in the water.

AnnularityDesign_1fabrics

But I had all these lovely fabrics, so we started the process again.

Annularity Fail

I played around in QuiltPro, my favorite quilt design program and came up with the above design messes.

annularityfailalmost

I showed them to Simone, seeking advice, and she said, “Don’t forget the white.” Negative space is critical, but sometimes you get in the weeds of a thing and you can’t see your way clear.

Given that the Great American Eclipse was on my mind, I started calling my quilt Annularity:

Screen Shot 2018-01-05 at 11.11.41 AM.png

I began building the quilt top, remembering the white. But when I got to the outer edges, something still wasn’t right. A designer can do all the designing they want to, but then the fabric takes over and slowly, the outer edges morphed from the planned design to what you see at the very top. Then there was the problem of the center.

AnnularityOPQuilt Centers

I tried lots of combinations: yellow, aqua, violet, maroon but finally finished with periwinkle, one of my favorite colors in the Painter’s Palette Solids line-up. I finished it and when Paintbrush Studios told me that Natalia Bonner was going to quilt it, I was over the moon, because I quite admire her work. I bundled up the quilt, sent it off, and then waited. And waited. And waited. And I began to wonder, even though I’d tracked it to her address, if it had gotten lost. I worried, then did the next best thing:

My Annularity

I made another.

In the rush, I didn’t have all the correct fabrics, so some are pieced. But then I heard from Natalia that she had the quilt. Whew! Since it’s going to be hanging in the booth at QuiltCon 2018 in Pasadena, I gave the first one a new name, since now there were two in the world: Annularity II.

Pineapple Fabrics has the complete line of colors needed to make this design, and you can soon buy the quilt pattern from them. Come and see Annularity II in the Paintbrush Studios booth, #905.

But I’ll be quilting mine, Annularity, bit by bit, sharing that experience as I proceed. In the meantime, enjoy the photos of Natalia’s fine work: