My, How Time Flies!

It's hard to imagine that we are well into 2009 already, and closing in on the end of the month. Has it really been almost two months since I posted something here? So much for being productive, eh?!

That's not to say that I have not been busy. I have been learning how to create videos to insert into blogs (stay tuned!); I have been designing new quilts (they'll show up soon!); and I have moved to a new house. So how do you design a new sewing room? I found that it helps to move a few boxes at a time -- if the movers had moved all of the boxes for me, it would have overwhelmed me. It was plenty of work to move the fabric over a few days... then the shelves with their myriad of tools, books, and notions... then the works-in-progress (doesn't that sound better than UFO?)... then the piles of quilts, desks, files, chests, and assorted machines. I found things I forgot I had made. I found tools I forgot I had purchased. I found fabric I haven't seen in ages. I found quilt tops that had been lost for years. I found a lot of things -- so many, in fact, that I wish I would start losing a few things! And that brings me to the message of this short blog entry: how do you get things done? Especially when there is chaos all around you?

For me, the answer is simple. I don't work well in clutter; it causes me to procrastinate; I prefer to look at piles instead of working around them, so cleaning up my work area is a must before I start a project. Having goals and staying focused is also key to getting things done. Every day I write up my "to do" list for the day. It helps me plan the day so that I don't end up running around in circles; I can dovetail some tasks, and I can focus on those that need to be done first. I usually make longer-term to-do lists so that I can look ahead and plan the week or the month, too - I review these on a weekly basis so that I'm continually aware of what I need to tackle and complete over the next few weeks or months. These longer-term lists also help keep me from saying "yes" to things that compete with existing project deadlines; overcommitting to projects or events can be very stressful.

Despite all the planning, there are times when life interferes and stress rises -- there are not always enough hours in the day. What do you do about that? Re-set your priorities and work on those things that have a short fuse. Occasionally, take a break and have a little fun - it will re-energize you. Get plenty of sleep; it keeps you fresh and creative. Eat well; it's healthy! And so is quilting. So... keep on sewing!

I'll write more soon - and share what I've been working on.
Sue Garman

Thanksgiving and Quilting

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It is a wonderful time to celebrate and give thanks for all of the blessings that fill our lives: loving families, good health, deep friendships, freedom and happiness... the list is endless. And somewhere on my list is quilting! Quilting offers all of us something. For some of us, it offers us creativity and art. For others, it offers friendship with fellow quilters. For others, it offers an opportunity to share one's talent with friends and strangers alike. No matter what your reason is for quilting, I hope that it gives you great satisfaction.

Over the past couple of weeks I have had the chance to work on finishing up several projects. Here is a sampling - enjoy!

Lily Rosenberry, 83 x 83 inches

This quilt was originally done in red and green on a warm off-white background. This version was done in bubble gum pink and soft green on a rich chocolate background. Denise Green and I collaborated on this quilt and made it together.

The Walkaway Star Quilt, 60 x 74 inches

I am going to teach participants how to make this quilt at the annual February 2009 Quakertown Quilts retreat on Galveston Island (and yes, the island recovery is going great -- lots of work ahead, but the retreat site is in great condition!). The block is one that I designed, based on an antique block. I call the quilt the "walk away" star quilt because the quilt really CAN be done in a day, if one stays focused. That pleases me; I do not think that I am alone in saying that I don't like coming home from classes and retreats with more UFOs!

The Walkaway Star Quilt (#2), 60 x 74 inches

Okay... I liked the first Walkaway Star Quilt so much that I made another one. This time, the blocks are made from a dozen different blue prints and a dozen different shirting fabrics. I like "scrappy" quilts.

The Walkaway Star Quilt (#3), 60-1/2 by 75-1/2 inches

In fact, I liked this block so much that I made a pint-size version of it (7" blocks) with 1/2-inch sashing between each block. I used a variety of civil war reproduction fabrics; the scrappiness of this quilt makes one's eyes dance across its surface. I also like making quilts that don not contain any "background" fabrics -- no white, off-white, taupe, or neutral fabrics, only colored print fabrics. As long as the fabrics contain a good balance of light, medium, and dark prints, the scrappiness adds a wonderful richness to the finished quilt.

So what else am I working on? There are a lot of ideas floating around in my head, following the great Houston quilt show -- I saw a lot of antique quilts that inspired me, and so I'm sure you'll be seeing some of those ideas reformulated into new quilt patterns. I met with the wonderful folks from P&B Textiles and I'm working on a new fabric line for them. Once again, it will have a juvenile flavor to it -- think nursery songs!

Until next time... happy sewing!
Sue
(c)2008 Susan H. Garman

What's New for Me?

The International Quilting Association's grand show in Houston closed Sunday night -- and my feet were so thankful! Quilt shows are always so much fun for me. I love seeing the quilts on display, meeting the makers, visiting with friends old and new, and hunting down antique quilts and blocks that can serve as inspirations for new quilts. The Houston quilt show definitely fulfilled my hopes: my brain is just buzzing with ideas for new quilts! I saw so many wonderful 19th century quilts; I just need a few more hours a day to get them made... don't we all? And the daylight savings time change only gave me ONE hour. What's with that?! So until I get those new quilts designed and made, below are some quilts that I recently finished.

Stars for a New Day
83 x 83"

At the Houston quilt show, Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims hosted a booth for The Quilt Show, their online community for quilters. Alex and Ricky are warm and genuine people. They had invited me to design and make the 2009 Quilt Show block-of-the-month. And so my quilt, "Stars for a New Day," made its debut (pictured above). The quilt patterns for this block-of-the-month are free of cost to anyone who signs up for a year's membership with The Quilt Show at http://www.thequiltshow.com/. Each month in 2009, a new pattern becomes available online and members print it out. The quilt pattern is a bargain if you join, but there is so much more. Go to The Quilt Show website, take the "tour," and see one of the online video shows. Membership is a lot of fun!

By the way -- I also started making a second version of "Stars for a New Day" using Alex Anderson's "Never Enough Romance" line of fabric -- I love how it is turning out.


And so what else have I been working on? I finished Ruffled Feathers -- I love the blocks in it because they each have a "halo" around the star. The blocks are easily made and the pattern, as are all of mine , is available from Quakertown Quilts (http://www.quakertownquilts.com/).

Ruffled Feathers
69-1/2 x 85-1/2 inches

I also finished my chocolate and bubble gum colored "Lily Rosenberry" quilt. As soon as it comes home from its visit to a local quilt shop, I'll post a photo of it. I love brown and pink fabrics together.

And so what am I working on now? I am leading two workshops and giving a lecture down on Galveston Island in February. One workshop will be aimed at teaching applique techniques and skills, using an antique rose pattern (pictured below). The other quilt will be a delightfully simple pieced quilt with no critical seamline intersections -- I'm looking forward to a fun day with that class, because there is nothing frustrating about the piecing. Pictures of that quilt will be forthcoming! If anyone is interested in the Galveston Retreat, it is being organized through Quakertown Quilts -- we always have a lot of fun at this gathering, and winter is Galveston's best-kept secret!

The Antique Rose Quilt
69 x 86 inches

That's all for now -- I hope you are enjoying the Fall weather.
Until we meet again, happy quilting!

Sue
(c)2008 Susan H. Garman

Have You Hugged an Energy Worker Lately?

When you don't have electricity for a week or more, you really appreciate what it provides: lighting, air conditioning, refrigeration, medical care, stop lights... the list goes on and on. For those of us who "weathered" Hurricane Ike and the damage it wrought, getting power turned back on was a big deal. The power company workers continue to exercise heroic efforts to get power back to folks in Texas. In addition to those workers, the first responders across the Gulf coast have been incredible in bringing supplies, services, and support to those in need. My heart goes out to those who suffered losses from the storm. Whether it was the loss of a loved one, a home, irreplaceable personal items, or a sense of safety and security, the storm placed enormous physical and emotional burdens on people. Nobody along the Gulf coast is a stranger to hurricanes or hard times, though - those in the Lone Star state know that even a storm like Ike cannot break our spirits. Things are tough right now, but I am so thankful that things were not even worse.

Following Hurricane Ike, the big job was removing storm debris from the yard (and the oak tree from our roof). I found that when I needed to rest and rehydrate, quilting was my respite. It felt like the only "normal" thing in my life for a while. I haven't blogged for a while, so here are a few pictures of what I've been working on. I don't work on a single project; I seem to thrive on working on several projects at a time... including some that aren't even in the photos. The items pictured will eventually show up as patterns, so be on the lookout: when I finish each of them, I'll post new pictures. Quiltmaking makes me so happy!

First, here is the second Bouquets for a New Day that I am quilting for Ricky Tims' and Alex Anderson's online quilting community, The Quilt Show. I needed a second quilt that could hang at the Houston quilt show, because the first Bouquet quilt resides at my local quilt shop. Cross-hatching across all of those stems and berries may not have been my brightest idea - it is incredibly slow work.






You've seen this quilt before - it's Lily Rosenberry. I'm making it in pink and green on a chocolate background -- I am a glutton for punishment with all those berries! The only thing I have left to do is to sew the berries on two borders and then assemble the blocks and borders. It will be a thrill to have this one finished!





Here's a brand new quilt that I've started -- I saw an antique quilt block that had a ring of triangles around it; it was very eye-catching. Naturally, I sat down and designed the block so I could reproduce it in today's fabrics. This will be a paper-pieced quilt and it will be fast and fun to make!







And finally, another quilt that I've started is an Antique Rose quilt. I designed a variation of an antique whig rose block and will put a dozen of these blocks, already basted and ready to applique, on point. I designed the pattern earlier this year and one of my guild's bees made the quilt for the guild auction (see photo on the right); the only problem was that I liked the quilt so much that I decided I needed to make one for myself! I had no sooner cut out all the pieces for the blocks, than the purchaser of the auctioned quilt made me an offer I couldn't refuse: she would give me the quilt if I would quilt a couple quilts for her. I was thrilled - so now I'll have a pair of Antique Rose quilts!


Take care, hug your loved ones, and thank your energy company for power.
Sue
(c)2008 Susan H. Garman

The Washington Medallion Quilt

As promised, here is a photo of the finished Washington Medallion Quilt. It feels great to finish a quilt, doesn't it?! After I finished the quilt, it took two long days to machine quilt and another 3 hours to bind. A sleeve remains to be attached, along with a label. Quilters, please don't forget to label your quilts; when I look at vintage antique quilts, I always wish I knew their story... don't let the next generation of quilters wonder the same thing about your quilts!

Happy stitching -

Sue Garman

(c)Susan H. Garman 2008

Medallions Galore!

I love medallion quilts -- the quilts that have multiple borders surrounding a central block. Today, The Quilt Show (Ricky Tims' and Alex Anderson's online quilt community - http://www.thequiltshow.com/) aired and a long-secret announcement was made: Alex and Ricky have asked me to design the next block-of-the-month for The Quilt Show. Their 2008 online block-of-the-month, "Bouquets for a New Day" was designed by me and is being shared in monthly installments, with the final one to be posted online in December. The "Bouquets" quilt has a dozen appliqued blocks in it. For 2009, I was asked to design a pieced block-of-the-month; I just finished making it this week (except for the binding!). It is a medallion quilt, with a feathered star in the middle, surrounded by borders and blocks; the monthly patterns have a ton of tips in them, along with many photos to show how to make the quilt. While everyone who is reading this now knows the secret about who is doing next year's block-of-the-month design, I will still wait for Ricky and Alex to debut a picture of the quilt. So... what the quilt looks like still remains a secret!

In the meantime, I have been working on another medallion quilt called "The Washington Medallion Quilt" that my distributor, Quakertown Quilts (http://www.quakertownquilts.com/), will begin offering as a block-of-the-month in September. This quilt is unique in that I made this quilt as a "learn to quilt" block-of-the-month. Each month, there are lessons on precision piecing, accurate measuring and cutting, different techniques for making units, etc. An adventurous beginner should be able to make this quilt.

So where is the photo of this quilt? Well... I confess that I haven't taken a picture of it yet! I have a couple of "teaser" photos for you to see -- a close-up of the center star, and a photo of the first four months of stitching. You'll see the remaining 8 months of additions when I post again, soon!


Until then,
happy quilting!

Sue
(c)2008 Susan H. Garman

The Quilt Show Debut!

Today, the taping I did with The Quilt Show aired. The Quilt Show is Ricky Tims' and Alex Anderson's online web community; if you haven't explored it and have some time, you'll find that joining gives you a pretty good "bang for the buck." Their web community has "shows" with a wide, diverse range of quilters, as well as "classes" with Ricky and Alex, free mini-projects, a quilt gallery with thousands of quilts posted by members, a free block-of-the-month pattern, blogs galore, and lots of online friends who offer their experiences, ideas, and support. If you check out their "take the tour" pages and go to page 4, you can watch a part of one show and learn a cool way to make flying geese with one seam line, how to do great photo transfers, and how Jean Wells designs and makes her lovely quilts. Check it out at www.thequiltshow.com.

Being an introvert, taping the show made me a nervous wreck, but Ricky and Alex put me at ease in a nanosecond. They are wonderful people, as are John Anderson, Justin Shults, and the entire TQS film crew. In my taping, I demonstrated how I do as much pre-work as possible when making a quilt -- it makes quilt-making go so much faster! In the show you'll also see some close-up photos of some of my quilts.

Enjoy!
Sue
(c)2008 Susan H. Garman