Book Preview #1

I feel like the first thing I should do is announce the winners of last week's giveaway, so I'm going to do that super quick because I have a week's worth of previews to get to.
OK. The winners of the fabric bundles and free copies of my new Hex Pot Holder pattern are:
mcregan: I love all of your projects! Thanks for the giveaway!
mama: love it! those are beautiful... and what a great idea for gifts. i used to give people those ones made with loops on a loom when i was little, but this would show that i've come a long way in regards to crafts!
tropicslady: WOW, I've been eyeing the potholders since you first posted about them. I even asked if perhaps you had a tutorial for them! I gave them my best shot but mine didn't turn out too well. So glad to be able to get my hands on a pattern. Great holiday gifts, don't you think?
I have sent all of you emails letting you know you are the winners and asking for your mailing addresses. I hope you enjoy your goodies and thanks to everyone for playing along, especially those of you who kept up the food/cooking metaphor in your comments. They were delicious!

On to today's topic. I've decided to devote this week to previewing my new book, Fresh Quilting: Fearless Color, Design, and Inspiration because on Friday I'll be at the International Quilt Festival in Houston doing an Open Studios demo as part of the book launch.

 I got my advance copy last week and excited doesn't quite describe how thrilled I was to see it. I knew it was coming because the day before I got an email from Fed Ex telling me that Interweave Press had sent me a package. I'd already received the projects and a stack of lovely postcards to hand out to friends, family, and just about anyone who's palm might be in an upturned position, so I knew it was a copy of the book. I practically staked out the front door in anticipation and I'd like to take a moment to thank Interweave for sending it via Fed Ex rather than UPS. Don't get me wrong, both companies do a fine job of delivering to my neighborhood, but Fed Ex tends to deliver early in the day and the UPS guy never comes before 5:00 pm. I'm so glad I didn't have to wait all day with my nose pressed to the front window.
My plan in this space this week is to preview 4 of my favorite projects including pictures from the book as well as pictures I took myself before I sent the projects to Interweave last December.
I've decided to start with this quilt:

 It's called the Strips and Stripes quilt and it seemed a fitting first preview for a couple of reasons.

 First, it is not only one of my favorite projects in the book, it may be one of my favorite all time quilts I have made.

                                                                    (back view)
Second, I bought all the fabric for this quilt last year at Quilt Festival.

They're all Kaffe Fasset's shot cottons and the fact that they're all new fabrics, purchased specifically for this project and from the same designer is very unusual for me. I really love the simplicity and color focus of this quilt. Folks, this is such an easy, quick project to execute that you can really play with color. The element that unifies the vertical columns is the repetition of one color throughout that column. For instance, in the left-hand vertical column, the pale blue is repeated every other strip from top to bottom. You don't have to remake the quilt in these exact colors to tie the columns together, you just have to repeat your chosen color. You can adapt this quilt to your personal color palette and aesthetic.

Even the quilting is simple and simple to execute. It's just long lines stitched horizontally about 1/4" apart. I did mine free motion on a machine with a darning foot, but this could easily be done with a walking foot as well.
My version of the quilt measures 43 1/2" x 45". It would make a terrific baby quilt or lap quilt. But, because the elements of the quilt are so basic, enlarging the quilt to twin size or larger is easy.
Are you getting the point? It's simple to make, simple to use as a vehicle for your own creativity, and simple to enjoy. That's why it's one of my favorites.

For those of you who'll be in Houston this Friday, November 5, I'll be in the Open Studios booth form 3-5. I hope you'll stop by to say hello.

My Favorite Recipe

My favorite recipe calls for 1 part beautiful fabric,



mixed with 1 part easy-to-follow instructions for a beautiful and useful item,



Sprinkle in a wonderful new sponsor,



Top all that with a giveaway of both fabric and pattern as well as a discount code that gives you 15% off each item ordered through October 31 and you've got a treat that will have you loosening your belt and saying, "What the hell, I'll run an extra lap tomorrow."
Pretty tempting recipe, right? Well, I whipped it up in celebration of my new collaboration with The Fabric Quarter as well as the release of my latest sewing pattern, Hex Pot Holders. This wonderful online and bricks and mortar shop has an amazing array of modern, fun fabrics from Robert Kaufman, Moda, Cloud 9, and so much more.
In fact, the fabrics I used for these pot holders:



were chosen from the awesome selection of cottons available at The Fabric Quarter.

To spread the love that is great fabric at a great price and used in a fun and functional pattern, The Fabric Quarter has even created a kit that includes all the fabrics I used in my pot holders, heat-resistant batting, and my Hex Pot Holders pattern.
But wait,( I have long wanted to use this phrase), that's not all. The Fabric Quarter is giving away 3 of these 8, fat quarter(how appropriate is that?) bundles.



They are folded into these amazingly cute stars and topped with a tape measure. The packaging is adorable.
Now I'm regretting having said,"that's not all," already because there's so much more.
The three lucky winners of the fabric stars will also receive a free copy of my Hex Pot Holders Pattern and The Fabric Quarter is offering a 15% discount on all items purchased between now and October 31 to all my readers. All you have to do is include the code POTHOLDERS15 when you checkout.
Forget the recipe metaphor, this is a smorgasbord of good stuff.
So, if you'd like an opportunity to win all you have to do is leave a comment along with your email. The email serves two purposes: 1. I can easily inform you when you are the big winner(s). 2. The Fabric Quarter would like to be able to update you on all their terrific products and sales. Don't worry. Your email won't be offered up to anyone else and you can always unsubscribe if you find you don't enjoy browsing beautiful fabric.

I'll take comments through October 31 and announce the winners on November 1. Good Luck!

Tidbits to Share

Just a couple little bits to share today.
Remember these potholders?



The potholders that spawned the Great Potholder Swap. Well, more than a few of you have asked if I was planning on offering the pattern. The answer has always been yes, but now I can add a date to that yes. This coming Tuesday, I'm going to be celebrating the pattern release with a great, big giveaway. The giveaway will not only include free copies of the pattern but additional goodies provided by my new, fabulous sponsor The Fabric Quarter. And, that is by no means all. So, I strongly suggest you check back here Tuesday, October 26. Trust me. You won't be sorry.

The second tidbit is this little image:



I've added a few more challah covers to my shop.
That's all the bits I've got.

The Benefits of Reading Email

If I had not read my email yesterday I would have missed out on a lot more than the latest Nigerian diplomat needing my help with a banking transaction. I would have missed out on this:



Like many of you, I subscribe to the Quilting Daily email written by the fine folks at Quilting Arts magazine and Interweave Press. Imagine my surprise when I opened yesterday's email and learned that my quilt, Hexagon String Baby Quilt, was on the cover of Quilt Scene magazine.
Obviously, I knew the quilt and pattern were going to be in the magazine and I knew the magazine was slated to be released soon as it's release coincides with the International Quilt Festival in Houston, but I had no idea that my quilt would grace the cover.
I was pretty psyched about that for a couple reasons. First, it's the cover and that is definitely exciting and second, I figure if the quilt can be featured in an email that goes out to thousands of folks than I have the green light to share my image of the quilt taken back before I sent it off to the magazine.



I've been interested in the idea of super sizing traditional blocks for a while. There's this quilt, created for a tutorial I wrote for Sew, Mama, Sew and this baby quilt that was a byproduct of that tutorial. There's also a super size block quilt and pattern in my new book. This super duper sized hexagon made out of six, string-pieced, super sized hexagons was so fun to design, make, and especially quilt which I did in concentric circles from the center. And I'm pretty pleased with the way limiting the color palette enhances the geometry of the quilt. Plus, I seriously love gray and orange together.
I'll be at Quilt Festival in early November(more about that in a later post) and plan on picking up a copy or two of this magazine. If you want to get yours sooner than that you can pre-order it here.

I seem really enthusiastic

I've watched this video a couple of times and if there's one thing I notice it's that I am super enthused about the projects in my new book. So enthused in fact that I don't seem to let Pokey Bolton get a word in. Well, my apologies, but, honestly, that's how excited I am. I am so proud of the projects in this book and I'm totally sincere when I say I can't wait for you all to see them.
In the meantime, watch the video and you'll get to preview quite a few of the quilts, pillows, scarves, and other goodies featured in Fresh Quilting: Fearless Color, Design, and Inspiration.

It's the small discoveries

For a while now I've been trying to figure out a way to standardize the way I make letters for my challah covers. In the past I've improvisationally pieced them like this one:



I love this design, but it's pretty much impossible to make two that are the same or even similar. That might be part of what makes them attractive, but it's also what makes them not the most cost effective item to make for my store. I want to be able to offer beautiful, handcrafted items, but the items can't be so labor intensive that they're not affordable for the customer. The alternative is to price them so I think they'll sell, but the price is such that I'm essentially working for nothing.
I don't know that I have the solution for every item I'd like to offer, but I think I've come up with the solution in this case.
First, I found a way to print the letters using Hebrew letter cookie cutters, potato stamps, and wax resist.



What's sort of amusing is that I have been trying to puzzle out how to use these cookie cutters for a while. I planned to press the cutters into potatoes, slice away the non-letter parts, dip the potato stamps in wax, and print. My problem was that the sharp end of the cutter yielded wrong reading letters. I really couldn't figure out how to get the letters to read in the right direction. And then it dawned on me that the fabric is the same on both sides. Unlike many commercial fabrics, there is not right or wrong side to a batik. Eureka! All I needed to do was use the opposite side of the fabric and I would instantly have right reading letters. By the way, this would apply to English letters as well. Can you see that the wheels are turning.
Anyway, with the letter quandary solved, the design really started to come together. I decided to combine the letters with the 2 1/2" patches of hand dyed fabric that I accumulate as I make fabric and voila:



I'm officially dubbing this design the Patches Challah Cover.
I've made a few for a Hanukkah Gift Bazaar I'm participating in this Sunday and I've already come up with a variation that uses shibori created symbols instead of letters. Anyway, after this weekend I'll definitely be adding these to my store. For those who live in Austin and would like to see them in person, they'll be at the Jewish Community Center on Hart Lane from 9-5 this Sunday.

Reason # 1,565,232...

...that it's good to have interaction with other crafty people: they often have great suggestions. Take, for example, a recent request by a customer for fabric in a chartreuse/red/white color way.
She specifically asked for a couple patterns in those colors. So, I created this:



and this:



based on her suggestions. But then I also made this:



because I felt that the pattern really lent itself to this color combination.
Now I have three new fabrics to offer both to her as samples and to you as quarter yard pieces.



Which I guess brings me to reason #1,565,233 why it's good to have interaction with other crafty folks: someone to share with.