Vinnie Loves Maude Quiltalong INTRO - Time to Open a Tinder Account for These Crazy Kids!

 
What do you do with a great pattern with lots of piecing, tons of options, and cool extras that wouldn't fit in the pattern? Start a quiltalong! In five sessions, we'll go from a pile of scraps, or yardage pulled from your stash, or the fodder from your latest trip to the quilt shop all the way to a finished quilt, with tips, tricks, size and design options, color theories, and yes, plenty of butt kicking to keep you going along the way.


Vinnie Loves Maude is one of my favorite patterns I've designed. When I first designed it, I had in mind a very modern looking quilt - imagine my surprise when the pieces of the cover quilt all came together with a bit of a "vintage" vibe. Cue the chickens and feed sacks!

Vinnie Loves Maude. Sometimes Tinder works out.

This block is so versatile, it can be made in different sizes, and a different color scheme can give it a whole different look. Different settings and sizes for the finished product make this a pattern you might just use more than once! Until you dig into the pattern, you just won't know what it is capable of! And that's where the quiltalong comes in - to fill in all sorts of extras that just won't fit into an 8 page booklet pattern.

Those of you who know me in any capacity (online through this blog or my EPQD FB page, you've heard a lecture or taken a workshop with me, you've tested for me, or you know me in person - and aren't you the luckiest of all?) know that I can chat. I can expound. I can actually teach stuff. But I can't do all that in a pattern and still have it be something I can print for less than a bazillion dollars a printing. So I've decided to take Vinnie Loves Maude, one of my newest (as of this second, which is midnight May 18, 2016) patterns, and turn it into a quiltalong and something of an online workshop.

Questions? Here are the answers:

How Much Does this Cost?: Yes, let's get that one out of the way immediately. The only cost to you for this quiltalong is a copy of the pattern. Buy the pattern on my website or Craftsy, or please ask for it at your local quilt shop, where I also encourage you to go to buy some fun fabrics to include! The actual delight of taking a virtual class with me is completely free, and the best money you will spend all year!

Where and when can I find all the tutorials? See the "Vinnie Loves Maude Quiltalong" page up there on the main bar of this blog? Hit that and it leads you to the main page, which will include the following schedule and links to each tutorial as they become available.


Schedule:

May 18 - Intro and Official Launch - You're here!
May 31 - Fabric Selection
June 14 - Cutting
June 28 - Piecing Blocks
July 12 - Spacers and Borders
July 26 - Quilting and Finishing

Bonus table runner - it's not even in the pattern, but it will be discussed in the QAL

What Can I Expect to Learn? Vinnie Loves Maude was my group quilt project for 2016, which means that the blocks were tested and swapped and the pattern written based on input from 45 people. As you can imagine, 45 quilters participating means 569 things coming up I never thought of. This quiltalong will address many of the items brought up, such as fabric selection for different looks to this quilt, cutting techniques to get the most out of your scraps, yardage, and focus fabrics, dealing with some of the smaller pieces without stress, fabric placement within blocks and efficient piecing of blocks, optional layouts or projects, and even quilting ideas. No "Quilt as Desired" for you! Also, you'll get butt kicking. A project with so many blocks can be daunting. I'll keep you on track and finishing blocks as fast as you are willing to stay with me. Sometimes just knowing someone is out there wanting to help you finish will do it for you. Let me be that person; let's face it, it makes me feel powerful. All will be presented in a lively manner as you've come to expect on my blog, and with any luck will be just like you are taking a class from me, but on your own time. It's like my very own online course.

What If I Don't Start On Time? On time? What is this odd concept of which you speak? While I'm known for being early to stuff in my real life, when it comes to quilt timing, I'm always late to the party or falling behind. The schedule above is when the tutorials will be released (all in 2016 dates, BTW, for those of you arriving here from the future), but starting and finishing "on time" is really just all relative. Yes, part of my plan is to do some virtual butt kicking so that you really CAN finish this quilt in five sessions. But I'm also not planning to travel around to your places of residence and do any ACTUAL butt kicking. You've found this QAL, so why not start now, finish when you can? The tutorials will be here forever and ever amen.

Do I HAVE to Buy the Pattern? While I will have no way of knowing if you do for real or not, I guarantee you that without it, you will be making things needlessly difficult for yourself. I will not be giving measurements or amounts in the tutorials for any aspect of this quilt because they are already in the pattern; the tutorials will enhance and expound upon the information in the pattern, and it will be referred to frequently as well as being the best source of information between tutorials. And the diagrams I slaved over are to die for, if I do say. I mean, we are talking frame-worthy. For those alone you'll want it.

Plus they are really cute.

Sticking with the QAL will allow you to finish this lovely quilt along with others doing the same. Wouldn't you rather have the fun and learning of working on this quilt with all the info at your fingertips rather than spending hours upon hours trying to figure out how I created this pattern, how big the pieces are, how many to cut, etc just from photos? As the designer, I already spent hours upon hours and weeks upon weeks figuring out all the details (as well as editing, testing, and writing it all) FOR you. Please respect the work designers put into patterns and use them rather than try to recreate them. We love doing it for you and appreciate your support!

Where Can I Share Photos? Am I Allowed to Blog About This? 

Share away! I've started the IG hashtag #vinnielovesmaudeqal, and share any time on your own FB pages or any other social media you like. All I ask is that you use the name of the pattern and/or my company name (EvaPaige Quilt Designs) in the posts. If you have a blog and want to write about your fun with this QAL, go right ahead! There's even a blog button (top right column of this blog) you can grab and post on your own blog. Link it to http://evapaigequiltdesigns.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html and everyone will be sent right to the main page to join in.

Also I have started a FB group, and if you care to join and share your photos, chat with others doing it, or get notifications from me about tutorials going up, etc, please join us!


Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm. It's going to be fun, so come on along! If you need the pattern, once again it's on my website, on Craftsy, or maybe even at your LQS. Pick it up today and be ready to go May 31 with the first tutorial - all about fabric selection and cool looks for your future quilt!