I am thrilled to announce that I was overwhelmed with responses to my shout out for participants in my latest group quilt making venture. I truly love quilters and how they are always willing to help out a fellow quilter, especially if it means getting to go fabric shopping. In fact, three of them immediately sent photos of the fabric they intended to use, and one even sent me her Fabric.com shopping cart for approval. I love enabling quilters in whatever manner I can. I ended up with 25 participants from around the US and Canada, which means not only will this project make a fabulous quilt, but it will also qualify for dual citizenship. Thank you to everyone who even considered responding, and stay tuned for a few more group projects I hope to run this year!
Yesterday I also announced on my business facebook page (link to it by clicking on the crown to the right of this post!) that each month of 2011 I will be doing a fan appreciation giveaway, ie the 2011 Giveaway Extravaganza. In a nutshell, on the last day of each month I will publicly welcome all new fans for that month and pick a name among them for a prize. That's my not so subtle way of getting more people to know and love me. For those who have been fans all along, believe me there is no shortage of appreciation from me for that as well, and there will be prizes for you to win later this year as well. But why, beyond fabulous prizes, should you become a fan on FB?
1. Get my random quilting thoughts almost daily rather than weekly or so on the blog.
2. Connect with other quilters who have some amazing ideas.
3. Get news of special projects and events before they are even posted here.
4. Because you cannot get enough of me.
Reasons 1-3 are really enough for me. I hope to see you over there!
Quilting Hottiedom. It's not a look. It's an attitude.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
2011 - The Year of the Diamond Dazzle group quilt
Two years ago I tried something new for me and ran a group quilt-making project using one of my original patterns, "Syncopated Ribbons". Fifteen quilters answered my call to make me four blocks each, and the resulting quilt, sewn together by me and quilted by yet another quilter, Melissa Heys of The Completed Quilt, is one of my favorite quilts ever. I am sure you can see why in this lovely photo, which is now also the pattern cover because I loved it so much:
All I did to get the project going was ask volunteers to make 4 blocks (of course I supplied directions), slice them in half (see how the blocks are all diagonally split down the middle in a cute sort of way? I went crazy and trusted them to slice them, and you know what - not ONE of them screwed it up! Quilters rule!) and mail them to me. The only rule they had to follow other than the sewing directions was that they could use only teal, purple, and lime fabrics. And did they ever. Every time I opened the mail and saw a fat envelope the week they were due I was in ecstacy. When I sewed all the blocks together I was truly amazed and awed by the sheer number of fabrics in this quilt, as not one fabric was ever repeated between two different contributors. I even once on a day when I apparently had way too much time on my hands tried to count the number of different fabrics but stopped at 120 because I was overwhelmed. Now that I think about it, that would be such a great project for my daughters on their next snow day - might glean me all of 37 seconds of free time before they started whining that they were hungry.
So it's two years later and it's time for another group quilt, this time based on a pattern that isn't even published yet, tentatively called "Diamond Dazzle" but I currently have two problems with that name:
1. It isn't dazzling enough for the prettiness of the actual pattern.
2. I can't say it without the image of Carol Channing on a white staircase getting stuck in my head. And for most people that might not be a big deal, but it is well known in my household that the worst possible event I could ever encounter in life would be coming upon Winnie the Pooh singing "Celebration" like Carol Channing while eating a blue hot dog, as this combines five of my biggest pop culture dislikes (blue being blue food). Thank God this isn't likely to occur, although my daughter Paige did draw me a picture of this melange of horror once that I still display over my desk to remind me at all times that things could always be worse. And because it totally cracks me up.
In any case, although the pattern will involve pieced diamonds, avoiding the word Diamond in the title will behoove me and my psyche, so we're still working on that. But for now, it's the title I have so I'll work through my issues. Somehow.
For this project, I am looking for between 15 and 20 quilters who would like to make 20 strip pieced diamonds each using directions I will supply and the colors of hot pink, blue, and orange ONLY. Like in the last group quilt project, the diamonds will all be mailed to me once they are sewn. But here's the cool part - this time, I am only keeping 6 or so from each participant. The rest will get divided up by me, and everyone who made diamonds will get a packet back from me containing enough diamonds to hopefully make the baby size quilt from the pattern that will by then (mid to late March) be published. So not only am I getting a group quilt out of this project, so are you if you decide to participate! It's kind of like winning the block of the month at your guild meeting, except it won't cost you a raffle ticket, and you KNOW you are going to win.
Did you also figure out that participants will be helping me test the directions for making the diamonds? Hee hee. I'm pretty sneaky.
The timeline for this project is a bit fluid on my end (I won't lie to you, I can't always stick to deadlines due to situations beyond my control - ie I have three small children) I hope it may work about like this:
- From this minute onward - Taking volunteer names until I reach 20.
- 1/28 (or earlier if my daughters have school on Wed - dare to dream) - All volunteers sent directions for blocks and more details of the project.
- 2/10 - Blocks and any comments on the piecing directions due back to me. This would give participants a week to make their blocks and 3-4 days to let the USPS get them back to me. Sounds like I am being a hard ass, I know, but trust me, these blocks are cut from long strips and you can make 20 in about 1 hour, 2 hours tops.
- 3/31 or before - Participants receive their blocks and the completed pattern in the mail, which may be used to put the blocks together or may be sold on ebay.
I'm really excited about this new project, and hope many of you will be as well! If you are interested in participating, please contact me at evapaigequilts@charter.net, and start gathering 6-8 fabrics, 1/8 to 1/4 yard cuts, in blue, orange, and hot pink (no scraps or fat quarters, please - you'll need "width of fabric lengths" for the piecing).
Who's up for it? I promise I'm usually pretty fun to work with!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Believe it or not, I still prefer winter over summer
No, hotties, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I've just been a victim of January....stomach bugs, too many snowdays, and several scheduled days off of school (just what they need) that all combine to make this month just a little midyear reminder of how the end of June and my next stint of playing Julie McCoy 24/7 is really just right around the corner. I know it's been a tough winter all over the country, so I imagine many moms out there understand thoroughly. Add in that my 8 year olds have never bought into the half birthday party idea, which would allow me to put it off til June, so that planning takes up some time this month, and I have not only not been blogging like I should but I also haven't been able to meet my goals for designing this month. So irritated. But my children are awfully cute, or so I tell myself as I am listening to Mylie Cyrus blare from the family room. And no matter what, I still really strive to do my 20 minutes minimum of sewing a day. Unfortunately, lately some of that has been sewing 16 fleece scarves as birthday party favors. But thankfully some has not.
In any case, just wanted to update you that a. I am not dead and b. I have a really fun new project coming up that you just might want to take part in. Stay tuned....it's my hope that I will be able to post the details by Monday at the latest. Stay tuned! Stay warm! Stay sane!
In any case, just wanted to update you that a. I am not dead and b. I have a really fun new project coming up that you just might want to take part in. Stay tuned....it's my hope that I will be able to post the details by Monday at the latest. Stay tuned! Stay warm! Stay sane!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Card-carrying member of the Posse
At some point this fall, when I was doing my normal whirlwind of activities related to getting back to a daily routine that would include time for design and quilting after a loooooong summer of playing Julie McCoy, I agreed to take part in Patchwork Posse's latest Round Robin project, which is why you may have noticed this little icon off to the left there.
The basic jist of the project was that Becky, the fabulous Posse Boss at www.patchworkposse.com/blog, would create a round robin center, then several other designers would create either a top and bottom or right and left border every two weeks until the end of January. I picked the date for my border directions to be revealed as January 10, because at the start of the project in early October, it seemed so far away. I then told myself I would not put this project off too long and have to create the entire thing including all previous borders in less than 15 hours as surely that would take away all the fun.
I sort of listened to myself, since I did start sewing the project itself about a month ago - only about 7 weeks late. Could have been worse. I think it was one of those dreams I frequently have where I have been taking a class at college or in high school all semester and then all of a suddent realize I haven't even gone to even one class and it's finals week that got me to snap-to in a somewhat timely manner.
It just so happened that I had a set of 9 amazing batiks I bought at spring Market last year and still hadn't done a thing with them, so they became The Chosen Ones for this particular project. Not being a purist who refuses to mix batiks and cottons, I raided my stash for any and every fabric that even remotely coordinated with the batiks, and found a selection of about 20 fabrics total and prayed it would be enough because I didn't feel like going quilt shop hopping when I was just about to get my sewing groove on. (Aside - I am also not a purist in that I am unabashedly not a prewasher. When I want to sew, I do not want to wait to wash, press, and starch my materials. I'd rather take my chances. But does this really suprise anyone?)
Once I had all the previous borders together, I had to create the next two, which were a top and bottom border. One interesting thing I had not anticipated when I started this project was that when several different designers are working on the same piece, not only are they going to have all different styles, which is awesome, they are going to have all different ideas of what a 1/4" seam is, which is not so awesome when you are one of the final designers. I admit to having a lot of trouble getting some of the borders to fit - although granted I am not a perfect piecer and generally don't do a lot of fussy piecing like some of the borders called for, so this is likely due mostly in part to my idiocy - and wasn't even sure what measurement we were at before I started my own border. But lucky for all the participants - I am a pro at creating fuss-free borders, ones that don't need to be exact or perfect, and I think I did a pretty good job creating something that would work. I incorporated a block style I use quite a bit in my designs, that being a sort of funky piano key, and added some sashing using my background fabric. Really the only thing that HAS to match up is the right and left most sashings with the previous border. I feel fairly confident most quilters can handle this without swearing at me.
If you haven't checked out this and other projects at the Patchwork Posse site, click on that icon at the top of this post or on the left side of your screen and see what they have to offer. My border directions will go live on Monday. Consider yourselves special that you got to see it here early!
I sort of listened to myself, since I did start sewing the project itself about a month ago - only about 7 weeks late. Could have been worse. I think it was one of those dreams I frequently have where I have been taking a class at college or in high school all semester and then all of a suddent realize I haven't even gone to even one class and it's finals week that got me to snap-to in a somewhat timely manner.
It just so happened that I had a set of 9 amazing batiks I bought at spring Market last year and still hadn't done a thing with them, so they became The Chosen Ones for this particular project. Not being a purist who refuses to mix batiks and cottons, I raided my stash for any and every fabric that even remotely coordinated with the batiks, and found a selection of about 20 fabrics total and prayed it would be enough because I didn't feel like going quilt shop hopping when I was just about to get my sewing groove on. (Aside - I am also not a purist in that I am unabashedly not a prewasher. When I want to sew, I do not want to wait to wash, press, and starch my materials. I'd rather take my chances. But does this really suprise anyone?)
Once I had all the previous borders together, I had to create the next two, which were a top and bottom border. One interesting thing I had not anticipated when I started this project was that when several different designers are working on the same piece, not only are they going to have all different styles, which is awesome, they are going to have all different ideas of what a 1/4" seam is, which is not so awesome when you are one of the final designers. I admit to having a lot of trouble getting some of the borders to fit - although granted I am not a perfect piecer and generally don't do a lot of fussy piecing like some of the borders called for, so this is likely due mostly in part to my idiocy - and wasn't even sure what measurement we were at before I started my own border. But lucky for all the participants - I am a pro at creating fuss-free borders, ones that don't need to be exact or perfect, and I think I did a pretty good job creating something that would work. I incorporated a block style I use quite a bit in my designs, that being a sort of funky piano key, and added some sashing using my background fabric. Really the only thing that HAS to match up is the right and left most sashings with the previous border. I feel fairly confident most quilters can handle this without swearing at me.
If you haven't checked out this and other projects at the Patchwork Posse site, click on that icon at the top of this post or on the left side of your screen and see what they have to offer. My border directions will go live on Monday. Consider yourselves special that you got to see it here early!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Resolutions Schmezolutions
By this point in the year, ie the end of the first week, we're all sick of eating nothing but carrots while we demonstrate Herculian acts of patience with our spouses and children and smile more and balance our checkbooks.
I personally don't make resolutions per se. I found out long ago that for me it works better to have smaller, more doable goals than a resolution for the year hanging over my head. In living the dual life that I do, I try to set one personal goal for the month and two or three EPQD goals for each month. Baby steps is what it is all about for me. For January, I have set "Clean the linen closet" as my personal goal. Doesn't that just sound delightful? I hope to find the long lost travel pillows and maybe some extra rolls of paper towel. Score! Quilting resolutions are always a lot more fun to make. It seems this time of year a lot of my friends like to set the resolution of "use up more stash/buy less fabric/patterns/tools" which as a totally cheap person I applaud on the surface, but as a part of the quilting industry I am thrilled to see normally fall by the wayside come March or so. Stay tuned to find out some of the goals I have ready to go for January and February as far as EPQD is concerned. I'm loving some of my new projects and I hope you will as well. Even if they do mean having to buy a new pattern.
One goal I had to set was to update my calendars both here on the blog and also on my website with all my current bookings and other important dates. I did manage it here on the blog, but will have to locate my Moveable Type password to get the website current. Maybe "get studio organized" really should be a resolution for 2011, but I do work better in controlled chaos. So anyway, half of the goal is accomplished, and feel free to check out the schedule for 2011 and see if I will be in your area! And if not, go ahead and ask. I might just say yes. Then your resolution of "Meet this Quilting Hottie in person" can finally come true.
So did you make any resolutions or goals for the month or year, quilting or otherwise? Tell me about them. Maybe you will inspire me!
I personally don't make resolutions per se. I found out long ago that for me it works better to have smaller, more doable goals than a resolution for the year hanging over my head. In living the dual life that I do, I try to set one personal goal for the month and two or three EPQD goals for each month. Baby steps is what it is all about for me. For January, I have set "Clean the linen closet" as my personal goal. Doesn't that just sound delightful? I hope to find the long lost travel pillows and maybe some extra rolls of paper towel. Score! Quilting resolutions are always a lot more fun to make. It seems this time of year a lot of my friends like to set the resolution of "use up more stash/buy less fabric/patterns/tools" which as a totally cheap person I applaud on the surface, but as a part of the quilting industry I am thrilled to see normally fall by the wayside come March or so. Stay tuned to find out some of the goals I have ready to go for January and February as far as EPQD is concerned. I'm loving some of my new projects and I hope you will as well. Even if they do mean having to buy a new pattern.
One goal I had to set was to update my calendars both here on the blog and also on my website with all my current bookings and other important dates. I did manage it here on the blog, but will have to locate my Moveable Type password to get the website current. Maybe "get studio organized" really should be a resolution for 2011, but I do work better in controlled chaos. So anyway, half of the goal is accomplished, and feel free to check out the schedule for 2011 and see if I will be in your area! And if not, go ahead and ask. I might just say yes. Then your resolution of "Meet this Quilting Hottie in person" can finally come true.
So did you make any resolutions or goals for the month or year, quilting or otherwise? Tell me about them. Maybe you will inspire me!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Another day, another Quilt Pattern magazine subscription winner!
Well hotties, if you didn't win the first time around, one of you has been granted a reprieve. Tich, who was my winner of the year's subscription to QPM, actually won on FIVE different blogs. FIVE! Which begs the question - did Tich do anything in December other than read through the blog tour and comment? And honestly, how on earth was she randomly selected FIVE TIMES? I am going with Tich (who's name is actually Rosemary) is magical. It makes as much sense as anything.
So because she is a good sport and not at all wishing to win so many times and leave others out has graciously allowed her subscription she won here at Quilting Hottie Haven to be put back into the pot and I have been requested by QPM to randomly pick another winner. My daughters being at school today, this time the selection falls entirely to me and let me tell you, I am feeling the pressure.
And the new winner is......
Grandma Coco. Forgoing all numbers this time as I kind of suck at math, I chose Grandma Coco because her comment - "You had me at "studly specimen"!" - made me spit tea all over my keyboard. Which was fairly messy. She is from Ontario Canada, right across the border from where I grew up in Western NY, and says on her blogger profile that she possesses "a basic Singer sewing machine from the 70's and a fierce desire to push it about as far as it will go." You go, GC! She also has several blogs of her own, including www.grandmacocosdesigns.blogspot.com.
Congratulations!
So because she is a good sport and not at all wishing to win so many times and leave others out has graciously allowed her subscription she won here at Quilting Hottie Haven to be put back into the pot and I have been requested by QPM to randomly pick another winner. My daughters being at school today, this time the selection falls entirely to me and let me tell you, I am feeling the pressure.
And the new winner is......
Grandma Coco. Forgoing all numbers this time as I kind of suck at math, I chose Grandma Coco because her comment - "You had me at "studly specimen"!" - made me spit tea all over my keyboard. Which was fairly messy. She is from Ontario Canada, right across the border from where I grew up in Western NY, and says on her blogger profile that she possesses "a basic Singer sewing machine from the 70's and a fierce desire to push it about as far as it will go." You go, GC! She also has several blogs of her own, including www.grandmacocosdesigns.blogspot.com.
Congratulations!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Un-bate your breath....the winners are revealed!
I have no idea if this is even legal, but because I don't want you to wait any longer I am going to announce the winners of our Quilt Pattern Magazine blog tour giveaways before I even know their actual legal names. All I have are the names they left on my blog, and they are as random to me as the ones I personally often leave as blog comment aliases - either Quilting Hottie (obviously) or Sherm, a name my husband gave me during the 1998 football season. It's a long uninteresting story unless you are somewhat drunk, so I will spare you. I've read the fine print a few times and QPM never told me I couldn't announce aliases as winners, so here I go. If you are one of these people, you will receive a real email from me requesting your true identity. With luck, you will not be part of the Witness Protection Program and will be allowed to provide it to me in order to claim your fabulous prize.
Well, here I go after I stall by explaining my selection process. So as to keep it fair and unbiased, I had each of my three daughters pick a number between 1 and 54, the number of comments the post in question received. I then randomly selected one of those numbers out of a hat to be the grand prize winner of the magazine subscription, and the other two are being given the runner up prizes of a copy of my book (signed and/or imprinted with a big old lipstick stain kiss - whichever you prefer) and a complete kit of fabrics, pattern, and beads to make my "Sunflower and Sky" quilt. Before I was able to get these vital numbers out of my daughters, I was made to answer about 93 questions such as "Is this for your quilt guild?", "Are we winning a prize?", "Are you giving away the cinnamon rolls you just made?", "What if we all pick the same number?", "What is a blog?", "Do you know these people?", "Why do they want to win something from you?" and I seriously never thought we would make it to the number selection. Much like you are seriously thinking you will never hear who the winners are.
So here we go. For real.
Grand prize of a one year subscription to Quilt Pattern Magazine - Tich. Or more accurately, tich. All I know of her is she is very adorable in her profile photo and is from Scotland. My maiden name is Kerr, which is very Scottish, and I even had a Kerr plaid scarf in college, and yes, I was way cool. Even though I am Danish and it was changed from Kjuar at Ellis Island. Details, really. But I also love the Outlander series, so I am thrilled, seriously thrilled, to give this prize to tich. (Number 49 chosen by Eva because "49 seems like it is right in the middle of 1 and 54." Mental note: ramp up the extra math homework for this one.)
Runner up prize of my book, "Once Upon a Time:Fairy Tale Puzzle Quilts": linwintx. It really could not be more fitting that linwintx has the word "win" right in it. And from her (or his) alias, I am guessing he/she is from Texas. My grandfather's name was Lin(wood), so I am feeling a connection here. With luck, linwintx has a young girl in her life so that the book will be welcome. Otherwise, she can sell it on ebay. (Number 32 chosen by Paige because she "likes even numbers better than odd ones.")
Runner up prize of "Sunflower and Sky" kit: Melissa. According to her blogger profile, Melissa is from Ohio, enjoys recycled crafts, appears to have a very adorable dog, and is a Scorpio. (I sort of feel like I am trying to get her a date.) Melissa also apparently follows about 700 blogs, but mine is not one of them. I feel hurt and betrayed and it is not beneath me to consider this prize a bit of bribery that she might follow me. (Number 33, chosen by Greta because let's face it, she's the little one, Paige had just chosen 32, and she couldn't be more creative than choosing the next number. So lucky Melissa that my kid is not more interesting in her number selections.)
Thank you all for participating in the blog tour. It was really a lot of fun and I look forward to hearing what you think of my first few submissions, which are scheduled to come out in the May and June issues.
Well, here I go after I stall by explaining my selection process. So as to keep it fair and unbiased, I had each of my three daughters pick a number between 1 and 54, the number of comments the post in question received. I then randomly selected one of those numbers out of a hat to be the grand prize winner of the magazine subscription, and the other two are being given the runner up prizes of a copy of my book (signed and/or imprinted with a big old lipstick stain kiss - whichever you prefer) and a complete kit of fabrics, pattern, and beads to make my "Sunflower and Sky" quilt. Before I was able to get these vital numbers out of my daughters, I was made to answer about 93 questions such as "Is this for your quilt guild?", "Are we winning a prize?", "Are you giving away the cinnamon rolls you just made?", "What if we all pick the same number?", "What is a blog?", "Do you know these people?", "Why do they want to win something from you?" and I seriously never thought we would make it to the number selection. Much like you are seriously thinking you will never hear who the winners are.
So here we go. For real.
Grand prize of a one year subscription to Quilt Pattern Magazine - Tich. Or more accurately, tich. All I know of her is she is very adorable in her profile photo and is from Scotland. My maiden name is Kerr, which is very Scottish, and I even had a Kerr plaid scarf in college, and yes, I was way cool. Even though I am Danish and it was changed from Kjuar at Ellis Island. Details, really. But I also love the Outlander series, so I am thrilled, seriously thrilled, to give this prize to tich. (Number 49 chosen by Eva because "49 seems like it is right in the middle of 1 and 54." Mental note: ramp up the extra math homework for this one.)
Runner up prize of my book, "Once Upon a Time:Fairy Tale Puzzle Quilts": linwintx. It really could not be more fitting that linwintx has the word "win" right in it. And from her (or his) alias, I am guessing he/she is from Texas. My grandfather's name was Lin(wood), so I am feeling a connection here. With luck, linwintx has a young girl in her life so that the book will be welcome. Otherwise, she can sell it on ebay. (Number 32 chosen by Paige because she "likes even numbers better than odd ones.")
Runner up prize of "Sunflower and Sky" kit: Melissa. According to her blogger profile, Melissa is from Ohio, enjoys recycled crafts, appears to have a very adorable dog, and is a Scorpio. (I sort of feel like I am trying to get her a date.) Melissa also apparently follows about 700 blogs, but mine is not one of them. I feel hurt and betrayed and it is not beneath me to consider this prize a bit of bribery that she might follow me. (Number 33, chosen by Greta because let's face it, she's the little one, Paige had just chosen 32, and she couldn't be more creative than choosing the next number. So lucky Melissa that my kid is not more interesting in her number selections.)
Thank you all for participating in the blog tour. It was really a lot of fun and I look forward to hearing what you think of my first few submissions, which are scheduled to come out in the May and June issues.
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