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?

I’m introduced to designers in many ways—Quilt Market, other designers and also from our friends at the different fabric manufacturers that we work with. I’d like to thank Lissa Alexander, Marketing Director for Moda Fabrics for introducing me to Julie Herman. Julie is a young designer who also makes projects for the Moda Bake Shop. She’s fun and full of energy and ideas. You can find her pattern for Cornflower Fields in our March/April ‘10 issue. Read about Julie and leave us a comment for a chance to win one of the 3 prizes Moda Fabrics has provided: a Jelly Roll, Honey Bun or Charm Pack from the Nature’s Notebook collection by April Cornell, the same collection used in Cornflower Fields. I’ll randomly draw 3 names next Tuesday, February 2nd around noon.

Julie Herman

If you asked me 10 years ago what my creative “thing” would be in 10 years… quilting would have been the last thing I said!  I’ve always been artistic, but the quilting bug didn’t bite me until 8 years ago.  Prior to quilting, I painted, sculpted with clay, worked with beads, did graphic design and even a bit of needlepoint.  My mother has been sewing since well before I was born and so I naturally had no interest in doing the same thing as her!  Well eventually the quilting bug bit me and I’ve never looked back.  I always thought I was the first quilter in my family.  Recently I learned that I’m not upon the discovery of three quilts made in the 1930’s by my great great grandmother.

My style of quilting is all over the map.  I’ve made traditional to modern… detailed appliqué with hand quilting to simple and fast, no fuss.  Cornflower Fields is the largest quilt I’ve made.  At 96″x 96″ it may seem challenging but large pieces enable it to come together very quickly.  I normally start a design without color in mind but I worked backwards with this piece.  My goal was to come up with a bold design that would have a floating on-point appearance set within a standard grid.  All three borders were attached at one time using the same technique I show on my blog for mitering multiple borders. Mitering borders is much easier than most people think and gives a great finish to many quilts!

Unlike many quilters I love the math involved in quilting.  I find joy in calculating how big pieces should be cut and how much yardage will be needed for a project.  This skill comes in handy when working at a quilt shop, attending a show, or getting a phone call from quilter friends while they are in the middle of a project. Yes this has happened!  My background in design has also helped me tremendously. I attended Drexel University for design and had the pleasure of taking many great classes including one silkscreen class where I made a quilt as one of my projects out of custom fabric.

Blogging has been one of the best additions to my quilting life.  It has enabled me to share my work and meet a ton of new people.  In 2009 I was lucky to be able to design for the Moda Bake Shop, attend my first quilt market, as well as work and shop at 4 other shows.  I’ve got a lot planned for 2010 and I hope you’ll join along on my blog, where I post “WIPs”work-in-progresses, finished pieces, my weekly stash report, as well as all kinds of things!

Tune in to  Creative Talk Radio every Monday at 4pm est to listen to Pat Sloan’s new radio show. Her show will introduce you to creative people in quilting as well as knitting, crochet, paper crafts and more. Her guest today is Bonnie Hunter, and you’ll get a chance to call in and ask Bonnie questions during the second half of the show. There will be a drawing and Quiltmaker has provided one of the giveaways! Listen to the show and then leave a comment on Pat’s blog for a chance to win the 3 issues of Quiltmaker that feature Bonnie’s Christmas Lights mystery series or Bonnie’s first 2 books with the Kansas City Star.

One of the things I enjoy about my job is the opportunity to meet some of the designers we work with in Quiltmaker. I’ve had the pleasure of spending some time with Margo Krager at Quilt Market and here in our office when she shared one of her  antique fabric sample books with us. You can find her pattern To Market, To Market in our Jan/Feb ‘10 issue.

Margo Krager

Do you love the look of old fabrics? They are my passion! I love buying and selling them, designing reproductions, learning about their history as well as writing and lecturing about the chemistry, technology and skills that made it all possible.

Reproduction fabrics are the focus of my store in Bozeman, MT. We sell to quilters as well as costume designers from television, theater, the movies, re enactors and living history museums. Our website brings us customers from around the world. Recently, I did have to check the map for the exact location of Estonia as I was taping up the box.

Delving into the rich history of textile printing and design is my idea of a really good time! I try to include, in each order, a page of information about the fabrics in the box. That could be an essay on double pinks or violets, a listing of fabric colorations and styles popular during the Civil War or a short history on the advent of those much loved Depression Era prints.  

 My favorite lecture topics are Textiles of the Fur Trade Era and Indigos. Indigo dyed threads have been found in the selvedge of a 2000 B C Egyptian mummy wrap. A synthetic form of Indigo now dyes 1 billion pairs of jeans annually. From the 17^th century to the early 19^th century, North American Furs were a global commodity and exchanged for manufactured goods of all kinds. Merchant ledgers from New France detail an amazing list of products used for trade, including printed and plain cottons, woolens and silks.

Dargate book

Beginning in 1997, I started collecting antique fabric sample books. I now own nine of them; six from the 19^th century and three from the 20^th.  I have been designing reproduction lines from these books since 2002 and just recently signed a contract with Blue Hill Fabrics. We hope to introduce my newest line, Little Pink Stars, at Quilt Market in Minneapolis this May.

To Market, To Market

There is a local Bozeman company that prints Vintage Images on fabric. Their collection of antique post cards and other old art work has been my inspiration for quilt and craft projects recently. Designing the “To Market, To Market” bag was fun! The Royal Anne Cherries and Black Raspberry can labels caught my eye—elegant designs from the 1930s. I thought the dramatic brass and rich indigos were the perfect balance for the delicate coloration of these fruit cans labels.

People often tell me I have a dream job. I own a fabric business with great employees and wonderful customers around the world. I get to write on a regular basis for my blog and travel around the country lecturing and sharing my passion for the history as well as the spectacular art and craft of antique printed cottons.

 

We have had the pleasure of working with some of Scott Murkin’s designs in several issues of Quiltmaker. You can find his Flying Fishes quilt pattern in our Jan/Feb ‘10 issue. 

Hi, my name is Scott Murkin, and I have been designing and making quilts since 1994, when I first made a quilt for my daughter, aged two at the time. Little did I know that 15 years later I would have completed more than 350 quilted items, ranging in size from postcards to queen-sized bed quilts.

I grew up around quiltmakers on my Mom’s side–my grandmother, aunt and great-aunt.  I am primarily a designer, but I do love sewing and handling fabrics as well.  I see myself as following in a long line of quilters (and I don’t just mean my own family), and most of my quilts have visual links to the quilting tradition, some obvious, some less so.

While many quilters prefer to make quilt tops and have them quilted by someone else, the quilting is very integral to my designs.  I love selecting and/or designing the motifs that will work perfectly to bring each quilt top to life–it’s truly not a quilt until it’s quilted!  I sometimes tease my friends in my local guild that I make tops just to have something to quilt.

I am an NQA certified quilt show judge, and I love being up close and personal to the quilts on judging day.  I have judged for IQA, NQA, AQS, MQX and numerous regional and local shows.  You can see more of my quilt designs here or reach me at smurkin@triad.rr.com with any questions or information about having a judged quilt show.

Congratulations to Susan Wood of Shelley, ID. Her Bear’s Paw in the Cabin design won the Viewer’s Choice in the Quiltmaker/Electric Quilt Design Contest.

Viewer's Choice: Bear's Paw in the Cabin by Susan Wood

Susan wins gift certificates from both ShopQuiltersVillage and Electric Quilt.

Check out a larger image of Susan’s quilt and just the quilting plan in the Quiltmaker/Electric Quilt Contest Gallery.

Congratulations Susan!