Here’s some “food for thought” for your next quilting get-together! What a cute idea, and not just for a kid’s birthday party….

http://weelicious.com/2012/01/19/quilt-pizza/

There have been a number of articles in local papers recently about the hot trends for 2012, and I thought I’d share a few ideas with you.
Decorating and quilting, of course, go hand in hand. So when I see information on the latest in home decor, I know it will be, or has already, translated to the quilting side of decor, including fabric lines and colours.
Here’s what’s hot for 2012:

COLOUR…

CIL Paints has identified RED as the hot colour for 2012. Red signifies good fortune (think Chinese culture and Feng Shui) and passion. Red is a lively and festive colour.

 

 

 

 

Also popular this year is ORANGE. Oh, what a shiny, happy colour orange is! Full of hope and optimism, orange will be showing up in decor throughout the year. Put a little of it into your next quilt and see what it does for you!

 

 

 

 

 

LARGE FLORAL PATTERNS

(SHOWN: Northcott’s Ambrosia Mintblossom Fabric, www.northcott.net)
Flowers are back (were they ever out in quilting?) but in a BIG WAY. Big, Bold, Bright and Modern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you have it. What’s ‘in’ for 2012. That’s not to say that you can’t use what you like, what you have, or what you want! Quilting is all about you and what you like. But you may want to incorporate something new along with your standard colours this year. Step outside the box a bit and see what happens….

As you may know, we share tips on the Quilter’s Connection Magazine Facebook page, and occasionally we ask our readers to share their tips with us when they enter a contest from one of our magazine issues. Here is a collection of our favourite tips – shared on our Facebook page and by our readers –  from 2011…

 

Remember to breathe! And enjoy yourself. There is only the deadline we give to ourselves, don’t make it work/stress! Only pleasure. - Cathy Raphael

Have several different size thimbles on hand for hand quilting/sewing – your finger size changes depending on the time of day/temperature!

A great way to remove creases from fabric is to spray with a mixture of water & vinegar (equal amounts). Put the mixture in a spray bottle and keep near your iron. – Gail Wiebe

Add an extra 1/4″ width to your border fabric, that way when you trim your quilt to prepare for binding, you won’t get caught short!

I LOVE this silly little tool – the little bamboo-like kabob sticks you can buy in packages at the Dollar Store. They are the handiest tool to flatten heavy, bulky fabric when stitching, to ease excess fabric when stitching and to save your fingers when feeding fabrics through the feet on your machine. I always have one right beside my
machine. – Carol Penman

If you find a fabulous fabric in the shop you just have to have, though no specific project in mind, purchase at least 3 metres or you’ll be sorry!

I save all my used dryer sheets for my machine appliqué. It works well for smaller, simpler items such as circles, hearts etc. Place your fabric right sides together with a dryer sheet and draw your pattern on the wrong side of the fabric. Sew on the line with a short stitch and then cut out 1/8″ approx. outside the stitching line. Slit only the dryer sheet down the middle and turn everything right side out and press. Your appliqué edges are now enclosed and you can pin the appliqué to your main fabric and attach it using your favourite method (blind hem, blanket stitch etc.). The dryer sheet is soft and smells good left in the quilt and it’s a green way to go. – Jean Lee

Empty pill bottles are great for dull needles, just toss in the trash when the bottle is full & no one gets poked!

I live in a very small house with limited storage. To store my quilts, I put them one on top of the other on my spare bedroom bed. When company does come to visit, I leave my most recent accomplishment on the bed as a bedspread or fold it at the end of the bed. The remainder of the quilts I fold over chairs/couch/whatever throughout my home, so that they can be seen and admired by my visitors. Of course, I just bask in the comments that I’m “Just so talented”. Who doesn’t like to receive compliments after all that hard work!!! – Lori Skerget

Keep a digital camera handy in your sewing room to check colour values of fabrics, record quilts, tricky sewing steps and design ideas!

Many quilters make a sample block before starting a quilt to help them solve any problems. I have an additional purpose for those blocks. Once I have my project done and ready to be quilted, I make a sandwich of the sample block, backing it with the same fabric that I used in my project. I use this block to work out my quilting (top stitching) design and machine tension. The blocks are then either bound and given to my church for hot pads or put together with sashing to make a quilt as you go sampler. – Anna Branch

Make your own row markers by writing numbers with a felt pen on flat flower-shaped quilting pins!

Be sure you use the same ruler if you are cutting with your rotary cutter. There can be a slight variation in measurements between rulers and it can be enough to make piecing difficult. – Salli Rice

To keep your rotary cutter in tip-top shape, take it apart and clean off the lint after cutting all the fabric for a quilt project.

When I see a good quilting motif in one of the magazines I own, I make a photocopy on a clear transparency. I tape a second transparency over top of the first so that when I am marking a quilt I won’t get any ink onto the quilt. All of my transparencies are in a three-ring binder so that I have an easily-accessible library of designs. – Millie Cumming

If your local shop offers free classes when you purchase a new sewing machine – take them, even if you are an experienced sewer/quilter. You’ll learn something new, guaranteed!

Always read ALL of the pattern instructions before cutting or sewing. – Brenda Kish

To help with free-motion quilting, doodle in a notepad for practice!

Attach a small suction cup (the kind with a little hook on it) to the side of your sewing machine. Hang your thread nippers or small scissors on it to keep handy. No more looking around for scissors! – Adrienne Forsyth

Always iron your fabric before cutting. Wrinkles will distort fabric, resulting in inaccurate cuts!

If you’re having trouble removing the paper backing from appliqué pieces, score the paper with a pin to split it. Removal should be easy! – Kim Jamieson-Hirst

Southwest Ontario Barn Quilt Trails has created a newsletter.
Click HERE for the link and to sign up!

The British Home Child in Canada Memorial Quilt is on display in the Royal British Columbia Museum.

A subject close to my heart, as several of my grandmother’s siblings were Home Children.

Read more:

http://www.timescolonist.com/Quilt+Royal+Museum+honours+Home+Children/5884082/story.html#ixzz1h6HpsElb

 

Congratulations to Carol Smith of Ontario. Carol was randomly chosen from all the wonderful quilters who commented on Susan Purney Mark’s interview in Quilter’s Connection Magazine’s November Loose Threads newsletter.

Carol will be receiving Susan’s Christmas Table Runner in the mail shortly – Merry Christmas to you Carol from all of us here at Quilter’s Connection Magazine!

I have known Susan for a few years now, and was thrilled when she created a pattern for our Fall 2011 issue. The pattern, Shattered Angles, is based on Susan’s technique outlined in her latest book, Accent on Angles – Easy Strip Set Quilts (Martingale & Co.)

Susan is a quilt designer and teacher from Victoria, British Columbia, and has co-written several books and numerous patterns with Daphne Greig. Although I know Susan is a wonderful designer, I really didn’t know much more about her. So, I decided an interview was in order. Here, Susan shares with us her story…

 

Heather: What brought you to quilting?
Susan: I grew up with a mother and grandmother who both sewed, knit, embroidered and more. They made clothes for me – mostly for special occasions – and by age 12 or 13 I was sewing my own clothes.

My quilting journey began in May 1967. Funny how I can remember the date exactly! This was an important year in Canada as we had the World’s Fair in Montreal (there was even a song written about the big celebration). My parents and I drove across Canada to Nova Scotia to visit my great aunt and uncle in Shelburne, who still lived on the family homestead that had been given to our ancestors in 1783 when they fled from the American Revolution. My ancestral home didn’t have electricity and we went to bed with coal oil lamps and the beds were piled high with quilts.

I was an impressionable 14 year-old and thought this was all very magical. My aunt gave me some scraps and showed me the basics of quilting. Although I don’t think I ever did anything with the scraps, the love of quilting had been planted in my brain and my heart.

I also spent time studying art and design in many places where we have lived, including the City and Guild Institute in England. These opportunities have given me a broad exposure to art and design, with the influences of many disciplines and teachers, and this has strengthened my skills in quilting.

Heather: How did you and Daphne Greig come to publish quilting books together?
Susan: Daphne and I met over the cutting table at Satin Moon Quilt Shop in Victoria. I worked there part-time, and Daphne worked in an office up the street. She would visit the shop during lunch breaks, and as we chatted and got to know each other, we realized that we had many common interests.

Heather: How do you find your inspiration for new designs?
Susan: Anywhere and everywhere! I spend time researching, reading, taking photos, sketching and designing all the time. Remember, there’s a lot of work done prior to cutting into that first piece of fabric! Isn’t that exciting!

Heather: What was the inspiration for your book, Accent on Angles – Easy Strip-Set Quilts?
Susan: Have you ever experienced a light bulb moment when you did one small task as part of your work and the lights went on and you could see the path ahead so clearly? When that happens, it’s so exciting to envision the possibilities of your work, the ideas rushing out and you can’t wait to get busy.

My light bulb moment flashed brilliantly when I played with some Ricky Tims fabric. I had cut the strips and rotated some to create blocks. I was so excited to see the black strips form angles that my first Shattered Angles quilt was finished that day.

Heather: What’s next for you? Any more books in the works?
Susan: I have an advanced certificate in Textile Design and Decoration, so I dye, paint and screen print a lot of my own fabrics. I’ve been working on a series [of art quilts] that I need to get back to for further exploration. Interesting that you should ask about another book, I taught a class in Houston, Texas where the students all said that the content should be in a book… so maybe that will be a focus for next year too!

Heather: Speaking of students, what’s the best advice you can suggest for quilters?
Susan: Keep exploring, keep being excited about your work, keep asking, “What if I change the colour… make it bigger… make it smaller – keep asking, what if?”

Heather: What is your favourite class to teach?
Susan: I just finished writing and designing a new workshop brochure with descriptions and lots of pictures, so I only listed the workshops I love to teach! I think my favourite class is both the one I just taught and the one that I’m teaching next. Excited, creative students make every class a delight!

Heather: What was the last show you attended?
Susan: I’ve had a very busy autumn teaching in Toronto at the Creativ Festival, Canada’s premier show for fabric, sewing and needle arts. Then home again to Victoria for laundry and a quick change and on the plane to Houston for International Quilt Market and Festival. I presented my new book at Market and then taught for five days at Festival.

Heather: What tool can you NOT do without in your quilting room?
Susan: Tough one! I think I’d be lost without CBC Radio Two!

Thanks for the interview Susan, and the opportunity for all of us to get to know you a little better!

Susan is offering a 10% discount on all orders of her book Accent on Angles – Easy Strip Set Quilts, as well as all other purchases from her website at www.fabricimagery.com. Just enter code QC11 when checking out. The discount is available until December 15th, 2011.

 

 

 

Now, on to the contest… Susan has kindly donated her beautiful Christmas Table Runner from the Shattered Angles pattern in our Fall issue (click on the image for a larger view). One lucky winner can display this lovely runner on their holiday table this Christmas!

It’s easy to enter. All you have to do is post a comment here on our blog. Contest ends at 5pm Pacific Standard Time on Friday, December 9th, 2011. At that time, we will randomly choose a winner and contact you personally. (If you are not currently receiving our newsletter – where this interview originated from – we would love to send you a sample. Simply unsubscribe if you do no wish to receive any more newsletters from us).

Good luck, and happy holidays!

This just in from the Canadian Craft and Hobby Association:

“There is a movement amongst several prominent CHA Canadian members in the sewing industry to duplicate the National Sewing Month, which is promoted in the U.S during September. Recognizing that this will be an ongoing process to have this event celebrated in Canada, a group of key companies, including manufacturers, distributors, retailers, media and consumer show producers are meeting this month to discuss ideas, suggestions and an overall plan to get this project moving. CHA is collaborating with the Sewing & Craft Alliance, who are the organizers of the event in the U.S.”
More details on the U.S. National Sewing Month can be found at www.sewing.org

Thought we’d share this easy little pattern – something to liven up your mantle, dining room table, headboard or just about any spot in your house!

Visit our Free Patterns Page to Download Pattern!

Hmm, quilting and runway fashion in the same sentence? Are you as intrigued as I was?
Check out this article…

Women’s Quilting Fashion Trend