One morning over the weekend, I just felt the need to be creative. It didn’t have to be anything major, but I just needed to get the creative juices flowing.

I had some pin toppers I bought a while back for my daughter off of etsy. They come on these great little cards with delightful names, all packaged up nicely. I decided they’d make an even cuter gift if they were on an adorable pin cushion, so I set to work.

Started cutting and sewing, pulling pinks and reds from my scrap bag, and came up with this, before trimming:

Auditioned a few backings and decided on this one.

Sewed it all together, stuffed it and added the pin toppers. I think it’s kind of cute!

It does look like a Valentine, but I can get away with that because I was born on February 14. I have a thing for Valentines.

I just love these pin toppers.  I want them all! Silly little pretty things! I guess quilters in general like this kind of doodad.

If you received an email from Jane Flynn about two weeks ago, you need to return your affidavit to her today or tomorrow. (You can fax to 303-215-5601.) On Wednesday 3/17 we’ll pick replacements if we haven’t heard from you.

Quiltmaker’s Quilting & Embroidery is back with a Spring 2010 issue. It should be showing up in shops and on newsstands now.

Quiltmaker's Quilting & Embroidery, Spring '10

It’s filled with 10 inspiring quilts, from simple placemats to elegant cutwork embroidery. You’ll find quilts for spring and quilts for kids. Finish your quilts with wonderful embroidered labels and enter “The Finishing Touch Embroidered Label Contest” for a chance to win Janome’s DigitizerJR software.

Plus, we’re introducing kits for three of these projects as well.

The Summer Flutter Kit, with delightful Flora & Fauna fabric designed by Patty Young for Michael Miller Fabrics, makes a throw that works well with or without the machine embroidery.

The Festival of Roses Starter Kit includes the OESD embroidery software for the roses and bright batiks in similar colors for the backgrounds.

The Around the World Kit has beautiful batiks from Robert Kaufman plus the OESD embroidery software for all the little people.

Take a sneak peek at the Quilting & Embroidery issue and let me know which projects you want to make!

If you entered the 100 Blocks/100 Winners contest, notifications were sent out by email just a little while ago. Look for an email from Jane Flynn that contains an affidavit to fill out and return by 3/16. Winners will be announced after everyone has been verified.

Watch for more contests coming soon from Quiltmaker!

We’ve been so thrilled by your response to Julie Herman’s Cornflower Fields in the March/April ‘10 issue. Her design is fresh and fun–and she’s delightful to work with.

I deeply regret a mistake that QM made in the pattern. In the materials list the K’s are cut as rectangles. We had an alert reader ask how the K’s become the triangle shown in the pieced border diagrams. We forgot that step in the instructions. As we were reviewing the steps that followed in the pieced border, we discovered an error where we gave the cutting dimensions for the M patches 2” short.

Fortunately the yardage called for is correct and, if someone has already cut the M’s, it is recoverable with piecing.

It was simpler to rewrite Step 2 completely rather than explain where to substitute the new diagrams.

Download the corrected Step 2.

We work hard to give you accurate patterns, but will always ‘fess up and give you corrections when we discover errors. If you suspect a problem, check quiltmaker.com/corrections first. If you don’t see a correction posted, send an email to editor@quiltmaker.com.

Wiping the egg off our faces . . . and grateful this is recoverable. Still sorry that it happened.

We’re heading in to the last day for a chance to win one of the 100 Blocks! Identify the designer behind the block portions in this collage for a chance to win. Enter by 10 pm MST on 2/16/10.

Thank you Lissa Alexander, Marketing Director of Moda Fabrics, for introducing me to another designer, Scott Hansen. Scott’s pattern Lime Grape Fizz appears in our March/April ‘10 issue (No. 132). The inspiration for Lime Grape Fizz came from an interesting source. Read more from Scott to learn about one of our male quilt designers and how this quilt came to be.

Scott Hansen

Now to tell you a little bit about the inspiration for this quilt Lime Grape Fizz.  It’s design basically came from this old raggedy comforter “quilt” we found by the side of the road near home.

vintage print

It wasn’t great (actually it is pretty ugly), but it was freshly dumped, and it had an intriguing fabric.  I am a sucker for anything old and abandoned, and it needed a home, even if it was just for the car or emergency kit. We took it home, washed it, and it has been the base for a many a picnic or snuggling under while watching fireworks episode. The print on the fabric always reminded me of a quilt, and when I saw the colors in the Eva line by Basic Grey for Moda, I thought this is the fabric to make that quilt that had been stewing in my mind for many a year.  The name for the quilt was discovered at Fall Quilt Market last year by the attendees of Quiltmaker’s Schoolhouse Session, I am told…I could not even think of a name for this quilt, and I LOVE naming my quilts….but this one escaped me, and I think it was because it was meant to have this name!!

Here are the winners from Julie Herman’s guest blog:

Nature’s Notebook Jelly Roll: #70 Christine

Nature’s Notebook Honey Bun: #66 Alicia

Nature’s Notebook Charm Pack: #7 Cyndi

Congratulations to all.  I’m sending each of you an email for your mailing address. Thank you Lissa Alexander from Moda Fabrics for the giveaways.

Our latest issue (March/April, No. 132) features a calming quilt by Julie Herman called Cornflower Fields on page 52. The Nature’s Notebook fabrics are from Moda Fabrics, and are available in local quilt shops.

Cornflower Fields by Julie Herman

A while back it was my job to find an alternate color scheme for the quilt which would create what we call a “color option.” You’ll see color options near the end of most Quiltmaker patterns, and they’re meant to expand your vision for a project by presenting a completely different look using different fabrics in the same pattern.

An interesting thing happened as I was thinking about another way to present Cornflower Fields.

Instead of the usual colored quilt diagram (above), I had a diagram with only the lines of the quilt, and no color (below).

I was surprised by how much this opened up the possibilities! Jumping right off the page were trees, trees and more trees. I couldn’t see anything but trees. And so began my inspiration for Hoo’s in the Forest?

A search through our fabric room, which is well-stocked with the latest fabrics from many companies, brought me to Robert Kaufman’s “On a Whim” owl print. Perfect! I wanted the owls to take center stage, so plenty of tone-on-tones from Robert Kaufman’s basic lines such as Mixmasters Dot to Dot and Fusions fit the bill. For the border, a fun plaid with all the right colors from Flower Child framed the quilt nicely. I left off the border sections in this version, which made it a “design option.” A design option goes a few steps past a color option by changing not just the fabrics, but also how and where they are placed.

Hoo's in the Forest?

Hoo’s in the Forest?, an abbreviated version of Cornflower Fields, is now a free online pattern. We’re excited to offer timesaving kits for Hoo’s in the Forest? as well.

I started thinking about how often I look at colored diagrams or even photos first, and I’ve decided that I’d be much more open to the infinite possibilities if I’d look at only the lines. In a future post I’ll expand on this idea and show you more examples.

Last year I set a goal to finish 12 UFOs–one each month seemed doable. I stuck with it pretty well for most of the year and in the end, had a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. I did scramble some in December, but that’s how life goes.

Here are some of my finished projects.

I started this in a class with Peg Pennell from Nebraska, on which I wrote an article/pattern called Floribunda in the May/June ‘08 issue of Quiltmaker. I used it to practice machine quilting/thread painting and a new binding technique. It could still use a few beads and I think it looks like it’s floating in mid-air, but it was my goal so I’m counting it as finished. I did buy a vintage doily that I’m going to paint hot pink and maybe I can use that to help it stop floating.

I made these raging pink blocks in a Margaret Miller workshop and decided to sew them into a baby quilt. I was working with mostly fat quarters so I had to get creative with the borders but I like the result. Again, practiced machine quilting on it.

This adorable wall hanging, Little House in the Forest, ran in Quilters Newsletter’s Quilt It for Christmas 2007. Art Director Kath Wright designed it. I pieced mine during a retreat with friends. It was quick to finish. I love how that little house is tucked under a tree.

This might be cheating because I started and finished this one, a selvage purse for my daughter’s birthday. I used a pattern called the Swing Bag by Amy Butler. My daughter has not yet carried it. Ahem. If you’re interested in selvages, be sure to visit Karen Griska’s blog, selvageblog.blogspot.com.

These are little windmill blocks that I make constantly when I’m too tired to be really creative. I have hundreds of them. Grabbed a bunch of mostly green and blue ones and put together this baby quilt. Used it to practice machine quilting with a technique called Just Leaf It by Kim Stotsenberg. It’s a great technique, easy to learn and very forgiving. I highly recommend it.

“Happy” is a small wall piece I finished up to give as a graduation gift. I started in on a play day with friends: stamped on it, thread painted, added beads and buttons and watercolor pencil. Just freeform fun!

Coming soon: part 2 with the second half of One Dozen UFOs. How about you? Any UFOs to be finished? Have you set a UFO goal for 2010?