It didn’t take long for a couple of our readers to make Marilyn Larson’s Any Witch Way quilt from the Sept/Oct ‘09 issue.

Bonnie Campbell’s version was made in less than a week! Her friend Carol McIntosh says that Bonnie is a very prolific member of their Sew Next Time quilt group in Mesquite, NV. Love how the extra outside border ties it all together. Great quilt Bonnie!

 

Nancy Ottaviano of Yorba Linda, CA made this version. A long running family joke made this the perfect project. Nancy is the “nice Witch of the West”; her sister is the “Witch of the East”. The sisters each have daughters and they have given them the honor of being the North and South Witches. Nancy added angelina fibers to the hair of each witch. Nice job, Nancy!

 

 

What have you made from a Quiltmaker pattern? Treat us to
your photos. Click here for details.

It’s a new contest from Quiltmaker and The Electric Quilt Company! You design a quilt in Electric Quilt 6 and use quilting designs from any of the Quilting Designs Volumes 1-7.

Grand Prize: Quiltmaker staff will select the winning design–we will make a quilt from that design and the pattern will appear in an upcoming issue. The winning designer will get to keep the quilt, plus will receive a $200 gift certificate from The Electric Quilt Company. There will also be an EQ Staff Choice and a Viewer’s Choice. Keep reading to find out more.

Great quilting designs can do so much to enhance our quilts. In every issue of Quiltmaker magazine, we give you several new, original motifs. We’ve been collecting these motifs into books for years, and have seven volumes of inspiring motif books.

EQ has been converting our motif books into software and just released volume 7 earlier in October. Read an interview from EQ staffer Andrea Bishop who has recreated each of the 4,425 designs in all seven volumes. Each volume of the software corresponds to a book volume of the same number. The Quilting Designs CDs from Electric Quilt can be used two ways:

1. First, no other software is needed. If you don’t own Electric Quilt 6, you can resize any motif and print it out.
2. Or the Quilting Designs software is compatible with EQ6. You can link the quilting designs to an EQ6 project–where you can combine, modify and resize the designs. Read more about Using Quilting Designs with EQ.

For the Quiltmaker-Electric Quilt Contest, design your quilt in Electric Quilt 6 and incorporate quilting designs from any of the seven volumes of Quilting Designs as described in #2 above. Designs will be judged on originality and the creative interpretation of the quilting designs. Entry forms are due by midnight on December 1, 2009. We can’t wait to see your creations!

Read on for more details, see all the prizes and find the entry form.

You may not be familiar with her name, but you’ve seen Peg’s work on the pages of Quiltmaker for many years. She is one of our home sewers and also designs patterns, most recently the crazy quilt stocking ornaments in Holiday Handiwork in our Nov/Dec ‘09 issue.

Hi, my name is Peg Spradlin.  I’m a home sewer for Quiltmaker and Quilters Newsletter magazines and have been for the past 20 years.  They’re great magazines and I’ve enjoyed every project sent my way—big or small, challenging or easy.

I’m a great believer in learning from other quilters and have sharpened my quilting skills by taking classes from some of the best in the industry—Hari Walner, Diane Gaudynski, and Sue Nickels to name a few.  I also teach classes nationally on all aspects of quilting, including machine quilting, foundation piecing and applique.  A complete list of my classes is available on my website at handicraftsbypeg.com.

Also available, for a limited time on my website, are decorative hooks made from

fine flatware that may be purchased and used to display the miniature crazy quilt

Christmas stocking ornaments (a design of mine) that are patterned in the Nov/Dec ‘09 issue of Quiltmaker.

I’ve also designed a quilt block, Spring Blossom, which is being included in the

new Quiltmaker publication “100 Blocks from Today’s Top Designers”  (on sale 11/17).

Look for my shadow applique calendar holder which will be featured in the Jan/

Feb 2010 issue of Quiltmaker.

More IQA show photos from Houston, along with something I have learned from attending for several years now.

I used to look at the show and be completely blown away by all the talent and skill on exhibit. I’d ask myself, “Why do I even try?”

But eventually I realized those thoughts were self-defeating and demoralizing.

Instead I have learned to be inspired, to greatly appreciate the talent and skill, and to aspire to discover more of my own creative path.

I have learned not to be intimidated by such a show of quilted wonder, but to let it pull me forward into freer thinking, more curiosity and lots of brave exploration. Let the inspiration begin!

This is an amazing quilt. I love its composition.

This quilt inspires me to use some of the gorgeous silk fabrics I’ve bought along the way. The colors in this piece are electric!

More to come!

Thanks to Julie Herman, Jaybird Quilts for a little plug on her blog yesterday. As a result we had many more people leave comments about their favorite method of making triangle-squares. I used random.org to pick a winner, and #15, Mary Ellen is the lucky winner of the new Friendship Triangles book by Edyta Sitar along with the  autographed triangle-squares from the Moda Fabrics designers. I’m going to email her for her address and get her prize on its way.

If you weren’t the winner today, keep checking our blog often. We’ve got many more giveaways planned, including one that Diane just posted today.

Ever since Executive Editor June Dudley mentioned Jan Morin in her last edit letter, readers have been asking us for more information. Seems like a perfect topic for a blog post. Jan lives in Pine Grove, California and has found a way to be green with her quilting scraps and contribute to a worthwhile cause at the same time.

Jan makes pet pillows and donates them to her local SPCA. Here’s how:

Using stash fabric, cut two squares or rectangles of the same size. They can be any size that is roughly appropriate for a pet to lounge on. Place the pieces right sides together and sew around the edges, leaving an opening on one side for turning. Turn the pillow right sides out.

Use your fabric scraps and thread clippings to stuff the pillow.

Jan says the scraps don’t have to be extremely small, just not extremely large. After stuffing, sew the opening closed.

Jan says the pillows are used for dogs and cats, who love them! The SPCA loves them, too, and even gives them to new pet owners for their newly adopted pets.

To find an animal shelter in your area, visit aspca.org. If you’ve read this far, please leave a comment about something you’ve sewn for a good cause and we’ll have a giveaway! The winner is Prairie Quilter, comment #18 and she has been notified. Congratulations!

This beautiful bundle holds nine fat quarters of brand new Benartex fabrics in a line called Playful Pups. It’s so new, stores don’t have it yet. We’ll draw for a winner on Friday, Oct. 30 about noon MST.

Another view of the fabrics included:

How cute are these?! Our thanks to Jan for sharing her good cause with QM readers.

Here are a few more photos from the IQA show in Houston recently. The theme of this group is bright colors. There’s a lot of energy here!

Fiesta by Norma Schlager, Danbury, Connecticut.

And a detail of Fiesta, quilted swirls galore:

After the Rain by Sandra Gregg, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The composition of this quilt really appeals to me. Definitely some shibori going on, too.

Tropical Radiance by Rachel Wetzler, St. Charles, Illinois.

And a detail of Tropical Radiance:

I love the details of this next quilt.

It’s called My Stash at 50 (aka Log Cabin with an Attitude) by Karen Eckmeier, Kent, Connecticut. My question is fifty what? Fifty different fabrics? Fifty years old? Stash weighs 50 pounds? Stash consumes 50 yards of space? Or possibly, all of the above?

Detail shots:

And this is All Good Things by Leslie Hall of Longboat Key, Florida:

The subtlety in the light areas of this piece is amazing. Here’s a detail:

That’s it for today. More to come!

Today we picked two random numbers using random.org so that we can give away the Coneflowers from Paul’s Metal Petals. The winning numbers were 44 and 11. The winners are Jean from Council Bluffs, IA and Carole Howard; each has been notified. Congratulations! More giveaways next week here at Quilty Pleasures!

Today, a few photos from quilts currently exhibited in the IQA show during International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston. These are all by Asian quilters.

Father’s Whistle by Chung Su Lee from Korea

And detail shots of same:

This piece has tremendous visual impact and interesting fabric choices.

This quilt is made from zillions of tiny squares and holds a nice surprise for the viewer. It’s called Time by Satoko Okamura of Japan.

And a detail shot:

The surprise is that when you get close up, you see that each patch has five tiny white cross stitches. They seem to unify the whole piece–just delightful to behold.

This quilt of hexagons is The Endless World II by a Japanese quilter named Noriko Kido. This is not just another hexagon quilt. Her use of the prints is amazing, drawing the viewer in for a closer look.

I love it when a quilter knows how to let the fabric do some of the work. This quilt received an honorable mention in the Handmade category.

This is Spring Field by Akiko Kawata. How can dandelions be seen as a nuisance when you see this?!

I especially love the leaves–so much fun!

There are lots more photos of the show to come–until I run out, and that will be awhile. See photos of all the show’s winners here.

Just a quick note to let you know EVERYTHING at QuiltersVillage.com/store is on sale: books, patterns & magazines.

Columbus Day Sale – Oct. 12 & 13
30% off ENTIRE ORDER • Use promo code COLU-1492-1DAY at checkout

Sale ends Tuesday; does not include the new Quiltmaker kits.