I'm IN!!!!

UPDATE:  Lori L from Wisconsin was 

was chosen to receive the free copy of

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine. 

Yay, Lori!

Yes, that's right - I'm in the new Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine.  The magazine is on the racks now in your local quilt (or craft) shop - just look around for it.  It is FULL of block patterns -- one hundred of them, to be exact!  You can find mine there -- it's called Reel Roses.  It's simple... but it looks cool when set with alternate empty squares of background fabric, perfect for quilting in!

Pick up your copy of the magazine and check it out.  And go online and check out www.quiltmaker.com/100blocks. 

Here is my Reel Roses block...

And I challenge each of you -- choose a block.  Any block in the magazine!  And figure out how you can set it, sash it, colorize it, or whatever... to make it truly unique!  Or take a simple block and set it in a simple array.  Here's an example of my block, set with alternate chain blocks:

Here's my favorite example of taking a simple block - in this case, the Old Maid's Puzzle block and doing something unique with it.  Take a look - it's just some half-square triangles, right?  Kind of plain, right?  Doesn't do much for you, right?

Aaaaahhhh... but wait a minute!  I love this - if you take a block, twist it, turn it, and put lots of these blcoks together, sashed and set with fabrics that have different color values, you can change the whole look of the block and make it absolutely unrecognizable!  Here's a set of Old Maid's Puzzle blocks, which I made into a quilt.  Can you see the block?  Would you have ever guessed this quilt was made of Old Maid's Puzzle blocks?

So... are you tempted?  I'll give one of you a head start!  Add a comment to my blog within the next 48 hours... and I'll pull ONE of your names out of a hat.  You'll get a free copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks!  Feel free to add a comment about anything quilt-related, but I'd really like to hear what kind of quilt you'd like to see me do next.  I'm between projects (well... sort of... it's not like I don't have 50 UFOs in a line, waiting their turn to be finished....) and I'll be deciding in the next couple of weeks what kind of quilt I am going to make next.  What do YOU think?

And don't forget to click on the Quiltmaker link above.  Not only will you see some clever ways that blocks are used, but you'll have the opportunity to join a real Blog Tour -- each of the block designers in the magazine are highlighted one day this week - and my day is Wednesday, November 8.  You've obviously checked out my blog... but check out some others.  At the IQA Quilt Show in Houston this past week, I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Jan Krentz for a while - she's delightful!  So is her blog.  Check it out!

Until next month... happy quilting!

Sue

(c)Susan H. Garman 2011

Quilting is SEW MUCH FUN!

Oh my goodness - it was such FUN to find out that I had won first place in the Group Quilts category of the International Quilt Association (IQA) show in Houston this month!  The suspense just gave me butterflies in my tummy on the night that the awards were announced.... they started out with an Honorable Mention (not mine), then Third Place (not mine... tension rising!), then Second Place (not mine... oh my goodness - I GOT FIRST...), then FIRST PLACE.  Many thanks go to the IQA for hosting such a wonderful quilt show, to the judges for their hard work in choosing from amongst so many beautiful quilts, to the sponsors (APQS Sponsored Group Quilts -- these sponsors put their profits into promoting quilting!), and of course to my friends.  Some of you already know, but 5 blocks were made by dear friends who asked if they could each applique a block for me in order to help me meet a deadline.  They are Jerrianne Evans, Cynthia Clark, Pat Cotter, Georgann Wrinkle, and Marsha Fuller.  I have long said that the growth of quilting is founded in the fact that quilters form much-needed supportive communities - and this quilt is a small example of that.

And here is another of my quilts that was juried into the show:  Lily Rosenberry.  It did not win a ribbon, but that did not bother me one iota.  It is an honor to be juried into this show, and the judges have a difficult time selecting the winners from a select set of quilts -- I have no argument over any of their decisions, nor should others. 

In future blogs, I will be showing pictures of other quilts from the quilt show -- but here were two of my favorites.  The first, below, was made by Melinda Bula and is called And Our Flag Was Still There.  It brought tears to my eyes --  in her words:  "Attending my son's graduation from Marine Boot Camp in August, 2010, I was moved by the young men who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.  I consider myself patriotic, but nothing prepared me for that day.  This is for all the families like mine, who raised proud and devoted young Americans who have and will continue to protect the United States and what it represents, with their lives."  The quilt is phenomenal!

And the quilt below caught my eye -- the wooly bear was so realistic!  I make it a practice to take a photo of the page identifying the quilt, its maker, and the caption about the quilt but in this instance, I somehow failed to take that picture... so I cannot identify this quilt's maker.  Nonetheless, I love this quilt - and the fact that it has a very uneven border on it.  That takes skill!

As I said, I'll post more photos later - right now I'm in a rush to get back to the convention center to pick up my quilts!  Before I close though, here is just a quick breezy trip through what I've been working on this month.  First, I am continuing with the great block-of-the-week program offered by Homestead Hearth - but I'm making SEVEN of each block.  That means that at year's end, I will have over 350 blocks!  What am I going to do with them?  Two of them are being exchanged with a friend in the program, one will go to my guild's auction... and the remaining four... I will figure out how to set them all differently!  Here's the stack so far -- 38 weeks times seven...

and here are the past week's blocks.  They are easy and fun to make!

I'm also working on some 3-inch basket blocks.  They are so very fast to make.  I don't know what I'll do with these yet -- either set them in some nice array, or perhaps use them as sashing strips, or perhaps use them as a border around a set of basket blocks.  Time will tell me what to do with them, but they are mostly just a nice "take along" project that I can stuff in my purse and work on at my leisure.

Finally, I want to show you what I finished this morning.  You may recall that I showed a challenge that one of my bees decided to take on -- I drew a tulip vase design (12" square block), and the group agreed to each take the design and change it, colorize it, modify it, etc., in whatever way they wished.  When everyone is finished, I'll share the set - but so far I've seen it enlarged as a 24" block with a border, shrunk to an 8" block and paired with 3 others to make a wall quilt, set on point as a 12" block... and someone is even making pieced basket blocks and just using the tulips in the border.  Quilters are so creative!  My choice was to enlarge the block to a humongous 36 inches... And then to make four of them!!  So here's the quilt; it measures a hefty 84 inches square...

It's certainly different - but I love it's obnoxious colors!  One might wonder how I got all those blocks to be cut square and more-or-less "centered" in the 36 inches.  Well... my little pea brain had this idea!  Just take my 20-1/2" ruler and mark the vase on it with a dry-erase marker! 

I then marked the corner point with a pencil (don't forget to include the quarter-inch seam allowance!) so that if the ruler slipped, I'd know it. 

And for each block, I just laid the ruler onto the block, lined up the dry-erase vase marked on the ruler, and cut the block out.  Easy enough, I'd say!  I love it when a plan comes together!

Okay, friends - that's all for now.  I will be back in just a couple days... Quiltmaker's One Hundred Blocks Blog Tour begins in just a day or two and you'll be hearing from me again then!

Happy quilting...

Sue Garman

(c)Susan H. Garman 2011 

Three... Two... One... and a Half....

I'm pedaling as fast as I can this month, trying to get ready for the big quilt show that comes to Houston in just four weeks... wow! I have received notice that my Friends of Baltimore has been awarded a ribbon, and am honored. In addition to Friends of Baltimore, four other quilts of mine will be in the show. One is my bubble gum pink and chocolate brown Lily Rosenberry quilt. The three others are older quilts which are to be included in the Lone Stars III: Texas Quilts Today exhibition that includes some of the quilts in the book being published this Fall by Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes. One of those quilts will actually hang at the new quilt museum that is opening up in LaGrange, Texas - the city famed for its "chicken ranch house of ill repute" captured in the the old Burt Reynolds/Dolly Parton "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" musical/movie. But all of this aside... there is so much to get done... and so little time... So before the night escapes me entirely, I'll give you a quick tour of what I've been working on lately.

First of all, my Borrowed Roses quilt is now finished! I am just so happy every time I take a look at it -- I love the colors, the design, the quilting... and the fact that, believe it or not, it was so easy to make! The pattern is available from Quakertown Quilts (www.quakertownquilts.com) - but check your local quilt shop first!

Here is a close-up of some of the quilting in the quilt. I love quilting quilts -- it is the final step that brings them to life. I don't quilt for others (in general), as I just don't have time and honestly don't relish the responsibility. On occasion, I will trade binding for quilting with a good friend of mine -- and I consider that a fair trade, given that I really dislike binding quilts!

But HERE is the quilt I really want to show you: Sarah's Revival! I almost called it Murder on Queensburg Lane because 1) I live on Queensburg Lane, 2) there is a lot of blood-red fabric in this quilt, and 3) I watched so many murder mysteries while I appliqued the blocks in this quilt. Ha! This quilt is still in process; I have yet to add a couple of flowers, finish the corners, and then baste, quilt, and bind it. But it excites me to see it at this point already. I used an entire spool of red thread to applique this quilt - no surprise there, eh?! This quilt will be sold as a block-of-the-month after the quilt show -- and after I finish the pattern-writing. What fun it was to make -- it went together so quickly and so easily!

One of the fun parts to make was the cornerstones and top center medallions; they are entirely appliqued, which meant that they went together so easily!

In the meantime, since I never work on just one project at a time... here is a rather poor picture of a really lovely quilt. It is a bed-sized extended 9-patch quilt with a border of 3-inch evening star blocks. I just love the black bars separating the blocks and the outer border from each ohter -- they really make the blocks stand out. This quilt was not made by me; it was made by Becky Stephenson as a fund-raising quilt for The American Cancer Society's annual Relay for Life. This is the third year I've quilted the raffle quilt for Becky; we all know people who have been affected by cancer, and this is one way I can contribute to helping find a cure. Becky's work is impeccable -- which makes it a joy to quilt her quilts!

Here is a close-up of the blocks in the quilt -- the stars are quilted in the ditch, while the 9-patches and setting triangles are all quilted with feathered wreaths.

I liked Becky's quilt so much... that I decided to make my own version. It took part of a day to do each of the following steps: cut the units, sew them together, assemble the quilt top, and quilt it. In the photo below, you can see my quilt, and though the binding is sewn on, it is not sewn down yet. Whee! It's fun to make quilts that come together in such a short time.

At Quilt Market this year (the wholesale show that preceeds the Houston Quilt Show), I will be doing a schoolhouse for vendors on what I believe is a trend among quilters: they are working out of their stashes, with the price of fabric now topping ten dollars a yard. They want to make quilts that use their stash, are a bit more complex than "yellow brick road" types of quilts, but don't take forever to make. I will be showing several new quilts that meet those criteria... and you'll eventually see those quilts when I update this blog. So for now.... the countdown has begun and I need to get back to sewing; time is flying!!!

Happy sewing to everyone -

Sue

(c)2011 Susan H. Garman

Sometimes... You Just Run Out of Time!

I love quilting - it is my absolute passion. It draws me in, it defines a part of me, it soothes my soul, it is therapy, it is a creative outlet, it is fun, it represents friends and community, it is a source of income, it is beautiful to look at... I could go on and on and on. But... no... I don't have time! This past month, I worked harder than ever - on quilting, on family issues, and more... and so only now have I forced myself to update my blog... which I committed to update by the 1st of each month. So much for commitments! And so now I'm rushing through the evening, trying to throw things into my blog so that I can cross updating it off of my list and get it out of my job jar. I usually show you what I've been working on over the past few weeks... or show you sets of quilts that have lessons in them. Tonight... it's mostly what I've been working on over the past few weeks -- starting with Borrowed Roses. Here is the quilt, just as a reminder... the photo is poor, but you'll find a nice one here next month, once I totally finish the quilt. Right now, I'm in the midst of machine quilting it. So here goes.... Above is my quilt; below is a photo of the original 1929 quilt.... notice the detailed quilting in it. Rose Kretsinger, an extraordinary quilt designer who designed this pattern using classic blocks and motifs, designed all of the quilting patterns for her quilts, though she never quilted the tops herself; she hired out that job. I like the quilting patterns she chose, so my quilt is quilted much like the original.

First, I quilted in the ditch around all of the appliqued pieces. Then came flowing feathers...

With cross-hatching joining everything together. In the photo below, you can see the flowery backing fabric that I chose. I needed something that would hide all of the cream-colored thread used in the background, along with dark green, gold, and red thread; the print needed to be fairly busy.

And here's another picture that shows the feathers and the cross-hatching. My guild has chosen to make a quilt using this pattern for its annual raffle quilt (and so you can see a gorgeous picture of their quilt at www.lakeviewquiltersguild.org after September 19th...), which will be unveiled at the next guild meeting.

And yet another photo. Can you tell that I love feathers that knock your socks off?!!!

One item that has been under wraps is the next issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks; it will be out in November, but I'm going ahead and ringing their bells NOW so that you'll be on the lookout for this issue. They have included another one of my blocks in it - one that I call Reel Roses.

And so here is a sneak peak... of Reel Roses. It is an easy block to make, though I admit it has a lot of applique perimeter! The nice thing about the Quiltmaker 100 is that you get patterns for all of the blocks in the magazine. Wheee!

And so what else have I been working on? Aaaahhhhh... I'm glad you asked! I am reviving a quilt made in the mid 1800s by Sarah Holcombe; it will be called Sarah's Revival. It has 36 appliqued papercut blocks in it. Here are nine....

And another nine....

And yet another nine...

I've actually finished all 36 blocks and 1-1/2 borders and one cornerstone. How did I get all of that done in the last 5 weeks? Easy! I set a goal: applique one block per day, come heck or high water... and so I did. I have finished all the drawings for the patterns, including the borders and the cornerstones, and I have precut all of the sashings... so now it's only a matter of finishing up those last 2-1/2 borders and the cornerstones. I'm on a roll here... this quilt is growing on me, so when you see it, I think you'll like it too. At least I hope so! If I had more time, I'd photo the blocks and the borders that are laid out on my floor, ready to be sewn together. Yes... if I only had more time. Sometimes, you just run out of it!

Until next month (which will be sooner since I'm so far behind this month!), happy sewing --

Sue

(c)2011 Susan H. Garman

It's All About ANIMALS!!!

This month, I seem to have misplaced my battery that goes with my new camera... and my camera that goes with my old battery pack. What's a gal to do? Well... not take pictures, that's for sure. Rather than waste another day hunting down the missing culprits, I am going to go ahead and 1) post pictures for your wandering eyes (along with a few comments I have about realistic pictoral quilts) and 2) tell you what I've been working on this month.

What better way to start off a picture foray than with some cattle? Texas is known for its longhorns - and though these are not longhorns, they are still beauties! I want to point out that most pictoral quilts leave a rather plain background (save for a few hills) - yet this brave quilter managed to incorporate a wonderfully complex background by giving you illusions of trees with foliage and branches - that are complex without being extremely detailed. I know that many of us (myself included) often forego illusion in attempts to be very detailed. There's a lesson here in simplicity...

The Girls of Tyrone Farm was made by Beth Miller based on a montage of three photographs taken on Tyrone Farm on the south coast of Australia.
Native Americans are one of Denise Havlan's favorite subjects. In her original design, Moonlit Mirage, she sees a mirage of what used to be. Notice the wonderful binding on this quilt -- it picks up the colors of the work therein, and holds it all together very nicely. I love this next quilt - but what animal does it represent? Aaaahhh... but of course! It's a "river of bats cascading across the sky," according to Vivian Mahlab of Austin, Texas. Anyone who has seen the bats fly out from under the bridge in Austin where they nest wil recognize the breathtaking view! Vivian's view, though, is called Bat Tide - Annadale, Texas - so perhaps these bats are from another part of Texas!

Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs, from Chantilly France, are well-known for their realism in quiltmaking. In Angling, they illustrate "the meditative qualities of angling."
If you live where grackles reside, you may or may not appreciate the next quilt. Grackles tend to congregate in very large groups - in Texas, they are usually in populated areas where there are phone lines and trees juxtaposed - and they emit raucous cries that are not the most pleasant. In Return of the Grackle, Diane Rusin Doran of Glenelg, Maryland, displays her view, saying, "each year, as we slog through the remnants of February, I search for signs of spring. Some people look for robins, but I look for the grackles. Their brash iridescent exuberance tells me that spring is surely near. This digital collage contains numerous photographs and a painting." What I love about Diane's quilt is it's freshness -- and the evidence of a grackle arriving with a fierce announcement of spring!
Pictoral quilts often include the American icon: a bald eagle. Here, Rosalie Baker of Davenport, Iowa, shows us an eagle soaring above the Mississippi River in the Quad City area. I truly appreciate the fact that Rosalie made this quilt only after getting permission fromm the photographer, Ron Hodgson, who snapped the photo of the eagle as seen in Where Eagles Soar. Respecting copyrights is so important to all of us who express ourselves through art.

In Wind Racer, Cassandra Williams (Grants Pass, Oregon) whose us a horse "struggling to escape the violent storm pursuing him. Could this be the horse's nightmare?" Cassandra has used cotton and lame in her original design -- and the lame sparkles against the dark sky. What a great use of embellishment!

Joanne Baeth of Bonanza, Oregon, shows us some sandhill cranes in Sunset and Sandhill Cranes. She says they actually fly over her house every morning and evening on the way to the fields and wetlands. The barns in teh quilt are what she sees out the window of her sewing room - her own special world of beauty. Sandhill cranes are lovely birds - they also live on Galveston, and I love seeing them when they arrive on the island, with their clucking calls and gentle beauty.

This quilt, by Diane Steffen of Lake Ozark, Missouri, is really a two-quilt work called Rare Catch - note that the background is pieced in strips. It's nice to see that kind of subtle designwork inserted behind realistic pictoral quilts. According to Diane, "blue lobsters are very rare genetic anomalies and their color is an extraordinary cobalt blue. They are a one-in-5-million occurrence..." I like when we know what the maker says about her quilts!

In Ruffled Feathers, Roxanne Nelson of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, reflects her love of birds, color, and quilting. She sees fabric as paint, using it as a pallet wherein she blends fabrics perfectly, with each fabric "stitched to match the texture of the feathers." Her quilt was inspired by a photography taken by Gayle Reeder. Please note on this quilt that Roxanne very carefully appliqued her pieces and did not resort to digitally printing or painting her feathered friend. We can all learn a lot from experts like Roxanne. Her quilt is also on the cover, with an article, in this month's AQS magazine.

Here's another quilt; it is called Punda Milia and was designed and made by Pat Drennan of Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It was featured in Gail Garber's book Flying Colors (C&T Publishers, 2010).  Look at the zebra's stripes. Many of them are actually long feathered geese strips. What a novel way to use geometric piecing in a pictoral quilt! Ideas like this are what often sparks creativity in someone else's next quilt.

And here is another zebra, Wild Stripes, made by Melanie Marr of Houston, Texas. She was inspired to make it, based on a photo she took of a zebra at the Brownsville Zoo in South Texas. Melanie chose the background color to add intensity to the quilt - which it most definitely does!

This little owl is a cutie. Ruth Bloomfield of Atherton, Queensland, Australia, calls it Waiting for Dinner. What I want to point out on this quilt is that the owl and branch are made mostly from scraps sewn together, while the background is a busy batik print -- an overall stippling gives the background a wonderful leafiness, though! In addition, having leaves on the branch extend across the inner border gives the quilt some really nice dimension.

I love pictoral quilts like the one below - you can almost feel the emotion in the dog as it trots along in Run! by Hiroko Miyama of Tokyo, Japan. What a great quilt!

Here is another quilt with intense emotion in it - the tiger's eyes burn right through you! This quilt, below, was made by Patt Blair of Mt. Baldy, California. Patt is an accomplished teacher, author, and award-winning quilt artist. We can see why in her Tiger Eyes.

Now here is yet another "animal" - Our Divine Miss Beetle by Sonia Grasvik of Seattle, Washington. The wonderful beadwork makes the beetle sparkle - and the lovely quilting in the background makes the quilt just "sing!"

In Let's All Spring Forward by Rosalie Baker of Davenport, Iowa, we see red-eyed tree frongs from the rain forests of Central America "where spring is eternal." These frogs are often used to promote the cause of saving the world's rainforests - even though they sometimes have a comical air about them because of their coloration and funky looks. Rosalie has done a great job of capturing them in their habitat.

Last but not least is SHH! She's Sleeping by Barbara McKie of Lyme, Connecticutt. She saw these seagulls watching a sleeping baby sea lion and managed to make it a quilt using disperse dyes, trapunto, free motion emboridery, and free-motion machine applique. Barbara is obviously a student of many different facets of the art quilt world, and a master of many! Take a look at the quilt - and the close-up below.

That's all I have in terms of photos this month. Next month I will show you what I've been working on, assuming that I find either a camera battery (new) or camera (old)! I'm on block ten of a 36-block red and white applique quilt. Once you see it, you will probably recognize that it is based on an old 1847 quilt you have seen - one that sold for $8,812 in 2010. That's enough information to tantalize your mind... I'm also working on quilting my Borrowed Roses quilt (the pattern is now available at Quakertown Quilts!). Quakertown closed one of its retail outlets, but it is still alive and well and doing a booming internet and wholesale business at www.quakertownquilts.com. I will confess that they are my distributor, of course!

So... until next month, when I catch up a bit and show you more, I hope you are having a great summer!

Happy sewing --
Sue

(c) 2011 Susan H. Garman