Snuggles Quilts

Snuggles Quilts

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What Color Should I Use?

Color Choice

Color…. I am asked every time I speak to a group how I choose my color palette for my quilts. It’s an interesting question. To me, the colors I choose breathe life into my designs. If I have a color in a quilt block that does not mesh well, the design can be lost. You need the right contrast between colors to enhance a design.

I am a scrap quilter at heart. So I like a lot of color in my quilts. Once a design is complete, I will decide how many colors I want in the quilt. Then it’s time to “audition” the fabrics!

Here’s how I store my fabric:

Sometimes, all those bins are spread out across my floor!

By laying out the fabrics like above, I can see how each color interacts with the others in the stack. If one of the fabrics sticks out too much or fades from view within the collection, I know that it does not belong with this group.

Here’s how I sort out fabrics when I am looking for lights mediums and darks for one project. By stacking the fabrics as shown in the photo, I can see what the fabrics will look like together and also pick out the ones that may not fit in.

Here’s a photo that shows how I get contrast. The photo on the left shows the first grouping I chose. On the right, you’ll see that by replacing 2 fabrics with a lighter version, I created some contract within the group that will help accent the design.

You do not necessarily need to stay within a fabric line or even with fabrics from the same fabric company. What I have found is that using fabrics from the same genre pretty much insures they will look good together. For example, I use Civil War Reproduction fabrics. In most cases, this is foolproof. However, if I find a fabric that is not from a Civil War collection but fits in well with the other fabrics chosen, I will use it!

What if You Don’t Like the Colors I Choose?

I’ve heard it before. Someone looks at a quilt sample of mine, and will say: “I love the design, but I just don’t like the colors!” Well, if that’s the way you feel about a quilt ….. use the fabrics you like! I’ve even done that myself with a design of mine. Here is a quilt of mine made with the fabrics I love:

And here is the same quilt, made for my son’s girlfriend, in bright colors that I never use! 

See how the design works for both? Many quilt patterns are like that. Substitute the fabrics you like and you will love the design and the fabric!!

So, it’s time to go shopping for some fabric, right? When do we actually need an excuse!

Now, it’s sharing time. Do you have some tips on storing your fabric and on color? Share those tips and win a copy of my pattern, Homestead Trail, so you can practice your color choosing! I will draw for the winner next Monday, November 20th.

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Fabric Conservation – Use those scraps instead of tossing!

Here is a tip that I call “bits and pieces” because it’s a way to use more of that precious fabric! I thought about this when talking with a guild member at a recent presentation. She said she didn’t like the fabric waste that came with making flying geese units the way I made them in my patterns. So it inspired this blog post.

Make Half-square Triangle Squares While Making Flying Geese!

Last week I was making several large flying geese units for a quilt. This tip works best if your flying geese units are larger ones, for example 3 1/2 x 6 1/2″ geese. Start out with the rectangle that is 3 1/2 x 6 1/2″ and two squares that are 3 1/2″ square. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the squares. Once you have the square placed face down on the rectangle, sew along the drawn line and then sew another seam 1/2″ away from the first seam. If you want to mark that line too, feel free.

Then, cut the unit between the sewn lines:

Press open the units:

Once you repeat this step on the other side and press the units open, you will have a flying geese unit and two half-square triangle squares. You can use the HST squares in the project you are making the geese for, or save them for another purpose!

A geese unit that measures 3 1/2 x 6 1/2″ will yield two HST squares that can be trimmed to measure 2 1/2″ square. A geese unit that measures 2 1/ x 4 1/2″ yields two HST squares that can be trimmed to measure 1 1/2″ square.

What can you do with these HST squares? Make a pinwheel block with four of them or sew them together in a chain for an interesting pieced border. Or, just toss them in a container just for those HSTs. Then you can pull them out and whip up a small project with them. A candle mat, a small table runner or anything you can think of!

So, there you go! You won’t feel guilty about making those geese units and having to throw away expensive fabric. You will use every little bit and piece … eventually!

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

To market, to market ……

Greetings from Houston!

 

It’s time for fall International Quilt Market. To add a twist, the World Series is also here this weekend. Houston is hopping! First task is to unload the car and haul it all inside.

Here’s a cool “bird’s eye view” of the sales floor set-up:

 

Now the work begins. I always am amazed that I can get everything pulled together in my booth. It seems to me that I have too much, but it magically falls into place!

Finally, here’s my “sneak peek” out in the lobby so shoppers can get a taste of what they’ll find in my booth.

Now it’s showtime! The show begins tomorrow at 9:30 am and runs until Monday at 4 pm. I’ll share more photos of things I see around Market through the weekend.

 

Meanwhile, here’s the other activity in Houston:

Until later this weekend …… happy quilting!
Deanne

New Patterns – Quick & Easy Wool Applique Projects!

My next featured new patterns are my mini wool appliqué patterns I call “Snugg-lets”. These are quick and easy! There is a simple pieced background and a cute wool appliqué motif to finish it off. Here’s the first on called “Bless this House”:

The next one is called “Simple Blessings”:

Mini wool applique seasonal panels pattern

And finally, we have “Simple Life”:

The first two minis measure 12 x 14″ and make cute wall hangings. The last mini measures 14 x 14″ and can be a wall hanging or a small table topper/candle mat.

What inspired these? Well, I have been creating wool appliqué on fabric patterns for a while now, but all those patterns have been larger projects. I thought it would be fun to create something on a smaller scale and with a smaller price! These patterns only retail for $7.00. The other inspiration is that I have found that I love creating cute motifs in wool and, since wool appliqué tends to be easier than needle-turn hand appliqué, these minis appeal to busy quilters.

So, check out my Snugg-lets and let me know what you think! Tell me your favorite thing about wool appliqué and win one of the patterns along with this little package of wool appliqué supplies:

5 wool charms, 1 Valdani Perle Cotton ball and a package of chenille needles size 22, my preferred needle. Be sure to comment to be in the drawing! The winner will be chose next Tuesday, October 24th. Stay tuned!

**We have a winner! Carol Shaw, congratulations!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

New Pattern Inspiration: Sewing Seasons

It’s not hard to figure out where my inspiration for Sewing Seasons comes from. My sewing room! Specifically, I am inspired by some old sewing tools and antiques in my sewing room. First, here’s the pattern:

Mini wool applique seasonal panels pattern

#250 Sewing Seasons

You can make the large wall hanging or just make the mini wall hangings for each season and display those separately. The following are close up photos of each panel and what inspired me.

First up is the spring panel:

This was inspired by these old threads I inherited from my mother-in-law. I keep them in this pretty jar as a decoration. Most of them are wooden spools. The pretty colors of the thread still on the spools makes this decoration beautiful!

For the summer panel, I was inspired by these large wooden spools I have laying around the sewing room:

Now here is the fall panel:

The inspiration for that came from this basket of old sewing supplies I have displayed. I took liberties with the color, as you can see, and made the basket in the panel blue to add some color.

Finally, my winter panel:

This was inspired by this fun old ruler I found at a garage sale. I immediately thought it would be a cute Christmas tree!

So there you have it! My inspiration for the new pattern, Sewing Seasons. Do you get inspired by things around the sewing room or other places that inspire your quilts?

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

New Pattern Inspiration – Homestead Trail

This next pattern was inspired by a vintage quilt I found in a book. Here’s that quilt:

Have you ever wondered how one of my quilts begin? First, of course, I get inspired by a vintage quilt like above. Then the design process starts on my computer. Once I have come up with the design, I figure fabric needed and what has to be cut. I write the pattern as I go. Below is this quilt in pieces!

The key to making this quilt successfully is labeling all your pieces with the letter in the pattern and keep the pieces separated by color. That way you can pair up the colors you want to make the block. The first step in making the block is making the center star:

Next, add the outer border of the block to make the unique design.

So after making all the blocks, it’s time to lay them out on a design wall or large floor space to get a distribution of color pleasing to you.

Now it’s time to add the sashing and the piece border:

Finally, I am trying to proof the pattern I’ve written ….. with a bit of help from Addie!

She’s always looking for a soft spot to land when she enters my studio! Here is a close-up of the quilted block to show you detail and the beautiful quilting my quilter did. This quilt was quilted by Annette Ashbach of The Quiltmaker’s Nest.

So, here is the completed quilt, Homestead Trail!

Traditional scrappy lap quilt

In other news ….. I have a new pattern in the Nov/Dec issue of Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting!

If you would like to win a copy of this issue, comment below on what inspires your quilting! I will pick a winner next week when posting my next new pattern!  **Contest closed. We have a winner! … Marcia!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

From Saw Tooth to Fan Dance!

My next new patterns is a variation on the Saw Tooth block pattern. Here is a piece of the quilt that inspired my pattern.

Most Saw Tooth blocks I have seen have the small half-square triangle squares that frame the larger square on two sides facing as shown in the block below:

I really liked the version in the antique quilt so I built my design off of that one. I like the antique version also because I could create a “pinwheel” design with my blocks. I called my block “Fan Dance” because I think the blocks look like fans. So here is my pattern:

Of course, I needed to add some stars and applique into the pattern to put my “signature” on the design. The flowers are inspired by some floral applique I saw on an antique quilt as well.

Mine is not exactly like this flower …. but close enough!

So there’s the story of Fan Dance. I hope you will enjoy making this pattern if you choose it!

What inspires you when you quilt?

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

What’s the Story of the Snowball Block?

Hello!

Yes… I know! I was supposed to post my next feature on my new patterns on Wednesday. But, I was on the road teaching and lecturing so I thought you might forgive me!

Have you ever wondered about the history of the snowball block? It’s such a fun, simple block that adds dimension to a quilt whether it’s the only block in the quilt or it’s combined with other blocks. It is one of those blocks that creates an optical illusion when you look at the quilt it’s in. If you stand back, they look like circles! Here’s the snowball blocks in my new pattern:

Did you know that this is an Amish quilt block? Until I did a little research, I had no idea either! It is a traditional block of theirs that can be found in many quilts, Amish or not, from the 19th century.

Believe it or not, my table runners were inspired by this quilt:

It can be found in this beautiful book called The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort 1750-1950.

So here’s my pattern! It’s called Carnival Time and has two unique table runner patterns that use the Snowball quilt block.

I’m going to offer a give-away for my two new patterns that have been featured here so far. Share you favorite quilt block in the comments below and I will pick a winner next Wednesday, 9/27/17, before I post my next feature!

**Update: We have a winner!** Congrats to Lewcrese S.!

Monday Musing

Hi there! Hope you had a great weekend. Summer is beginning to wind down here in Iowa. We had a warm end to last week, but Sunday was sunny and cool. I took the opportunity to do a bit of fall decorating.

I enjoy decorating for fall and I love fall …. just hate what comes after it!

Another thing I like to do is organize and straighten out my studio. Usually, it’s a mess by now since I’m in my final planning for fall Quilt Market in Houston. So, since I have been getting things in order, I thought I’d give you a little tour of my studio.

First, here a few wide shots showing the whole area from different ends:

It’s a lot bigger than my old work space, but I have managed to fill it up. Not sure what I did in the smaller spaces!

Now for fabric storage. I store large pieces of fabric in this old cupboard:

The smaller folds of fabric, like 1/2 yards, 1/4 yards and fats, are in the lower cupboards in tubs with my scraps of wool in the drawers above:

I like to use antiques and other old items in my studio. My fabric storage for large pieces of fabric above is an old cupboard. I re-purpose other items to store sewing or office supplies. Using them in the studio joins together two loves of mine: antiques and quilting!

Here’s an old pie safe that stores all my books, magazines and some treasured quilts.

Always hunting for those scissors while you are stitching? Here’s a handy tip: attach a Command hook to the front of your sewing machine and hang the scissors there! You will never lose them again.

So, I hope you enjoyed the tour of my studio! Keep watch here because on Wednesday I will have another feature on one of my new patterns for fall of 2017.

Happy Quilting!

Deanne

Inspired by History – New Pattern Feature

Each week on Wednesday, I will be featuring one of my new patterns here on the blog.  I want to share my process in making a quilt design and I will also try to share my inspiration. I hope you find this interesting and inspiring yourself! Most of the time, I am inspired by antique quilts or vintage blocks. This week’s pattern is one of them.

This week’s pattern is Scrap Basket Duo.

This pattern was inspired by the vintage Album Cross block. Here is the block:

The quilt that this block is based on was an album quilt made in the 1840’s in New York state. These quilts were usually presented to someone who was leaving a community. Friends and family of the person who received the quilt would write in the “cross” part of the block. The signer would sign their name with the date and sometimes add a nice sentiment as a message to the receiver. This style of block is only one of the many types of blocks used in album or “friendship” quilts. These quilts were very popular in the 19th century when many people were leaving family and friends to move west.

Of course, I do not make my Album Cross block the traditional way, with set in seams ( or “y” seams). I cheated 🙂 and created this unit below. And when you make 4 and stitch them together, you get the look of the vintage Album Cross without the stress!

Here are the blocks laid out and also the two different table runners I made using those blocks.

So that’s an example of the journey I take in creating a pattern for Snuggles Quilts.

Interested in quilt history? Barbara Brackman is a quilt historian who has written many books about quilts from the 19th and 20th centuries. A quick google search will bring up a long list of her fantastic books. I highly recommend them if you love quilt history! One of my favorite books of hers is Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.  Here’s a photo of my copy.

I have fun looking through this book and seeing all the different names for blocks. Some blocks have been known by many different names throughout quilt making history.

So go forth and stitch!

Happy Quilting, Deanne