Spring Is In The Air - And In These New Quilt Designs Too!

Hi everyone:

I've been busily working away on new patterns in between working at my "real" job, videotaping (look for new videos soon) and making sure I keep the quilting industry in business. Yes, I do tend to spend some money when I'm let loose at a quilt show or shop.

Detail of Easter Brights pattern by Chatterbox Quilts

I'm excited to tell you that I have three - not one or two, but three new patterns available just in time for Easter. These designs all use fusible web appliqué and don't require binding, so there is no excuse for not completing at least one of these before Easter. I'm not listening - no excuses, remember?!

Easter Blooms design by Chatterbox Quilts

Two of these designs, Easter Blooms and Easter Treats, could be wall hangings or would be great as table runners to decorate your holiday table. 

Easter Treats design by Chatterbox Quilts

Easter Brights is a wall hanging that would be perfect on your dining room wall. 

Easter Brights design by Chatterbox Quilts

I finished the appliqué shapes on all of the designs with a narrow zigzag stitch and used the same colour thread for all of the appliqués on each piece, but you don't have to do this. You could decide to use a blanket stitch or satin stitch for your appliqués. You could even decide to not finish the appliqué edges if you were going to use these as wall hangings and weren't going to wash them. Shocking, I know, but I have fused on appliqué shapes without finishing the edges and they've stayed on for years without coming away from the background fabric. Certainly speeds up the project.

Flowers and Easter eggs - how spring-y!

All of these designs are available as PDF downloads to purchase on my website. Click here to purchase them today so you can have them finished for Easter. 

Quick like a (chocolate) bunny!

P.S. Check out my Youtube channel for helpful advice in completing these fusible web appliqué patterns.

Patchstitch - Stitchpatch - Stitchery and sore fingers

Hi everyone:

This past week I've been focussing (yes, I have been!) on a new stitchery project. I have several small stitchery patterns that I will be releasing soon, but I've also been working on some designs that are a combination of quilting and stitchery. I'm still trying to find a technique name for these patterns: patchstitch just sounds like something cobbled together and stitchpatch isn't any better. Perhaps they'll just have to be quilt with stitchery patterns. 

Patchstich or Stitchpatch pattern in progress

Since my patterns usually include fusible web appliqué, these new designs do as well. As you know, fusible web adds a bit of stiffness, as well as an extra layer, to the fabric. 

Lots of hand embroidery through 3 layers of thickness

This isn't much of a concern for those designs that aren't going to be used as quilts, such as table runners and wall hangings. Nor is it a problem if you're machine quilting the completed project. It is a concern if you're trying to hand stitch through fabric, fusible web and more fabric - as I was this past week. 

More hand embroidery stitches through
fabric, fusible web and more fabric

I often have problems with my fingers cracking due to dryness (it's very dry here in Calgary and this only worsens in the colder winter  months). I always have a generous supply of Curel in the house and use it profusely, both at home and at work. It's not very easy to continually apply cream to your hands when you're hand stitching. What makes matters worse is when you have to push the needle through the fabric, fusible web and fabric and then pull it out the other side. Since I use a no. 5 or no. 8 perle cotton in my work, I need an embroidery or chenille needle since they are the only ones that have an eye large enough for this type of thread. 

Ouch, split finger!

These are also big needles with not nearly sharp enough ends to pierce through the fabric, fusible web, fabric sandwich without some force. As a result, I have sore fingers with small cuts (splits) on them this past week. Usually a generous dollop of Polysporin and a bandage overnight helps to restore them. I suppose that using a thimble might be helpful, but I haven't been able to find one small and comfortable enough to work for me. Of course, stopping the embroidery until they heal might also work, but I really wanted to finish this one project - and I did, late on Saturday night.

An ouchy on the index finger on my left hand too -
probably poked myself with the needle to get this one

Now my fingers will have a rest as I'm working on the pattern on the computer and doing some machine sewing. I think the next hand stitching that I'll be doing will just be through regular, thin fabric and my fingers should be okay.

What's your best suggestion for minimizing finger damage when stitching through thick materials? I could really use any ideas. I thank you - and so do my fingers :)

Procrastination, procrastination - it's making me wait...

Hi everyone:

Anticipation Procrastination!

Okay, if you're old enough to know who Carly Simon is, you'll get the title reference - with a minor change!

It seems like the more I have to do, the more I procrastinate. Pattern instructions to type up - I think I should do some baking. A project just needs to be quilted - I think I'll watch the next chapter in that Craftsy course I started. Blog posts to do - well, I think you can see where I'm going with this. 

I have at least 3 dozen of these pumpkin cranberry
muffins in the freezer - not that I'm avoiding work at all.

I'm not sure why I find it easier to delay projects, because it would really be quicker to just do them, but that's just the way I am (a personality trait that my husband just can't understand). I really do work better under pressure and need firm deadlines to keep me on track. 

I'm also one of those quilters who has several projects on the go at any one time. 
I admire quilters who can start one project and see it through to completion before starting the next quilt, but I don't think I'll ever be one of them. UFO's are the standard, not the exception, in my studio. 

A few of my projects in the works

I love designing the pattern, choosing the fabrics and even cutting up the fabric, but the enthusiasm starts to wane partway through the piecing and by the time I've come to the quilting part, well... This dwindling enthusiasm may be the reason that I have several drawers full of quilt tops and bins of partially completed projects. 

Teeka inspecting some of my UFO's

I need to conquer this procrastination so that I can be more productive, especially in finishing and publishing patterns. 

Winter patchwork and stitchery pattern partially completed

Here's how I'm going to do it:

1. Make a list of patterns that are pending.
2. Determine what remains to be done for each pattern.
3. Determine the appropriate time to publish these patterns. Ex. Christmas patterns should be released in the early fall.
4. Start to work on the patterns that I want to release next. 

I also find that I'm easily distracted by new design inspirations. I feel that I must work on this new idea immediately or I'll forget about it. Dropping what I'm currently working on - and may be almost finished - to focus on a new idea isn't very productive. I'm now writing down any information about the new idea and then putting it in a file folder where I can refer to it in the future - after I've completed the existing project.

New idea folders

I now have a plan - and can hopefully stick to it. I also need to limit disruptions and distractions, so am not checking my emails as frequently and am trying (!) to minimize my Facebook reading. Boy, do I find that difficult to do. 

So, if you don't hear from me or are wondering why I'm not commenting as much as usual, you can assume that I'm quilting or working on patterns. At least I'd better be...

If you have any hints for avoiding procrastination and focussing on one project at a time, I'd love to hear them. 

Black and White or Colour?

Hi everyone:

I was reading an article in the August/September 2012 issue of Quilting Arts magazine the other day about one quilter's design process. Lynn Krawczyk is an art quilter, which is not something I consider myself to be, being more of a traditionalist, however one of her statements struck a chord with me. She kept a design sketchbook (again, something I don't do), but limited herself to using only black ink on a white page. I found this interesting and opposite to what I usually do. When I create a quilt design, I already envision the colours that I'll use in the project. Lynn feels that this constrains her creative process as she would "fall into the trap of judging the real work against the image on the page. I was strangling the flow of creativity, defining it before it had a chance to evolve in its own direction." Huh, maybe she has a point. I find it difficult to imagine my design in any other colour scheme than the one in my head and I certainly find this limiting especially when I'm looking for fabric for the design. Sometimes I just can't seem to find the perfect colour in any fabric. Maybe working in black and white, or shades of them, might free me from focussing on the colours and help me to see other designs in my blocks and create other ideas for that particular project. Let's take an example and see.


Here's a pieced design that I've created in EQ7. It's fairly basic with a churn dash block centre and a fancy border. Looks rather traditional and country-ish to me. You'll either see pinwheels or churn dash blocks in this design, with the emphasis on neither block.

Churn Dash and Pinwheels

What does it look like if I take out the distraction of the colours so we can really see the design?

Churn Dash and Pinwheels without the colours

 Well, that looks quite different, doesn't it? Now we can play around with the placement of the darks and lights without worrying about how nicely colours play together. Let's try changing some of those blacks (darks) to whites (lights). 

Adding some more white (lights)

Well, that certainly looks different, doesn't it? The churn dash blocks are gone and you have triangles or a hint of pinwheels, depending on your viewpoint. I haven't touched the borders or cornerstones, just the centre of the quilt. While this certainly is different, I think it lacks depth and the pinwheels in the centre look a bit small for my liking. I'd like to do this quilt in more than two colours - possibly in three - so I'm going to add some grey to the mix.

Grey added to the borders

By adding grey to the two borders, the focus is now definitely on the quilt centre and those churn dash blocks pop out at you. Again, this is a bit more interesting, but I'm not really happy about it yet. Let's switch it up a bit more.

Grey added to the quilt centre, as well as the borders

In this version I've kept the grey in the border, to keep the focus on the quilt centre, and have added grey to the churn dash blocks. Now they are no longer churn dashes, but interlocked pinwheels. Again, more interesting, but I think there is still some tweaking to be done.

Grey distributed more evenly throughout quilt

I've distributed the grey more evenly in the centre and now it looks like pinwheels on a checkerboard background - at least to me. I'm really liking the look of this variation and think that this design is almost there. 

Final design

I've added a bit of black on a few pieces next to the first border and I think that this is it. When it comes to adding colour to it, I just need to ensure that I have a similar contrast between my fabrics and I should be able to achieve the same effect.

Shades of blue and green

Red, white and blue batiks

I think that this is a great way to approach designing and will be using this more in the future. It forces me to switch from fixating on colour and focus instead on the design, which is really the most important part.