Pack Your Bags

My Patchwork Treffen group has a small little trip planned this fall to go to Denmark for a quilting weekend. As far as projects go, it really takes a lot of planning to have enough to do, even though at such get-togethers you never accomplish as much as you think you can. Seeing as how I can't take my sewing room with me, I really want to make sure that I carefully plan all my projects because there's no going to the favorite stack for a forgotten snippit.   As far as my my quarterly goals list goes, my bee quilt has not exactly taken top priority since I am working on my second and third patterns right now. But it is actually the perfect kind of project to put together when we are...

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I've Got A Notion

My earliest memories of sewing was with my mom. As a trained home economics teacher, her desire to teach was there, but she had a "student" who was not only willing to learn, but quite eager. At the time I did not value her contstant urgings to do things the proper way, and iron each seam... for me that took too long. But the deeper I got in the craft, the more I came to appreciate her good advice. Walking hand in hand with those memories of learning to sew, are the  memories of me digging through her notions boxes. I had favorite buttons, and bobbins, thread, and what-nots... and there was nothing more delightful than to dig and dig, making one new discovery after the next.  I...

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Jeweled Kaleidoscope + Fabric GIVEAWAY on Instagram

Don't miss out... I'm celebrating the release of my Jeweled Kaleidoscope quilt pattern with a GIVEAWAY on Instagram! (link here) Be sure to hop on over to win these fabrics and my newly released pattern: 8 - 1/4 yards/meters of #modernbackgroundfabrics sponsored by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic a downloadable PDF copy of my Jeweled Kaleidoscope quilt pattern and 40 pre-cut favorite fabric triangles in jewel colors as seen in my quilt. NOTE: Unfortunately blog comments do not qualify for the giveaway. For details how to win, see my post on Instagram! (this giveaway is open internationall...

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2016 FAL Q4 Goals

On the surface it looks like I only finished about half of my quarterly goals list for Q3 because I am only checking two things off my list. The behind the scenes reality of it is that I was able to finish THE goal that I didn't think would happen, plus a  finish of an old WIP that never got listed, because I wasn't even planning to work on it at all! But all in all, I don't think it's too bad especially when you consider that we moved, our oldest started school, and I released my FIRST quilt pattern! So, for this quarter: 1. My Churnstile quilt makes it back on the list, and it won't take that long to finish, but my first quilt release has kind of taken the front burner. I'm am nearly...

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Pattern Release + Payhip SALE!

It's hard to believe that I've made it to the finish line. My pattern is now finished, tested, revised, and ready for sale... so, without further ado, may I OFFICIALLY introduce to you my Jeweled Kaleidoscope quilt pattern? You can find my pattern on Payhip, and I've actually set up my shop so I can offer the pattern in two different format sizes:  US Letter format downloadable PDF Non-US DIN-A4 format downloadable PDF AND to celebrate the pattern release, I am offering a 20% discount code on all sales this week! (through October 19th) Just enter the code: JKLaunch. I would love to see what you are making... share your Jeweled Kaleidoscope creations under the #jeweledkaleidoscopequilt...

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Color Options Part III - The Optional Version

My Jeweled Kaleidoscope pattern, to be released this week, October 12th, comes also with the option to be made without the center circle appliques. I shared my pillow that I had made with a simple graduated color palette, but I wanted to share a few layout variations that could also be used for larger quilts.... and the amazing thing is that the change in design all comes from simple color placements. For this first layout, I'm still stuck on these soothing cool colors using Basic Grey grunges mixed with some of my favorite printed fabrics.  ... for this next layout, I wanted to have a little more negative space to show off the pinwheels. For the free motion quilter, so much negative...

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Jeweled Kaleidoscope Color Options Part II

I really love what my pattern testers have come up with so far for my Jeweled Kaleidoscope pattern, and several have not only explored various color palettes, but also design variations. My first pattern tester, Mareike, really pushed the limits in exploring the kaleidoscope possibilies of this pattern. Read her blog post about finding the kaleidoscope structures in a soft color palette. I wanted to explore additional options with the same layout... and of course with lots of color! Somehow I have really been drawn to the cool color palette, but also wanted to think about how this might translate into a warm color palette. I've seen so many projects using a simple grey and citron colorway,...

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Jeweled Kaleidoscope Color Options Part I

Next Wednesday, October 12th, is the official launch of my Jeweled Kaleidoscope pattern and I couldn't be more excited! Over the next weeks I wanted to share with you various projects and color options for using this pattern. Last week I shared the mini version without the center appliques, and it's amazing how a pattern changes with mere color changes. It has been helpful for me to shuffle colors around, and for comparison, first here is original version in cool colors paired with a soothing grey. Next I changed the outer fabrics to a dark grey, and used the same soft grey for the center circles. I love how this looks with the center circles taking the backstage, and the background becoming...

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