iHeart Chevrons quilt pattern is up!!

I'm very excited to have my new quilt pattern 'iHeart Chevrons' up on Craftsy!

The pattern contains instructions and templates for 5 sizes! 24", 36", 48", 60" and 72". 

With this design you can easily add rows to fit any bed as well.  

This is a sample I made using 18 low volume fabrics and 3 reds.

 I was introduced to the Low Volume fabric by Chelsea @ Patch the Giraffe and Michelle @ From Bolts to Beauty.  They hosted a wonderful swap last year and I ended up with 56 of the cutest little low volume squares I've ever seen!  

'iHeart Chevrons' contains Complete instructions, fabric needs, templates PLUS step-by-step tutorial on make multiple 1/2 square triangles and how to use the wonderful Bloc_Loc 1/2 Square Triangle rulers which saves you time and make the most accurate pieces! 

 Here's a link to the pattern.

 Special thanks to Susie for testing the pattern!!

MQG - Michael Miller Challenge!

Well here it is the last week to enter the MQG's Michael Miller Challenge.

I am delighted to show you my entry....  

The Improv Log

As you can see - it's bigger than me!  The quilt measures 70" square.

It is my original design which I plan to release the pattern for in the middle of August - so check back if you are interested!!

I had planned to quilt this one myself.  I knew exactly how I wanted to quilt it - Stitch in the Ditch around all of the multi colored fabric pieces then 'BUBBLES!' Everywhere else!! (Floating Log Cabin.... Bubbles!) But I ran out of time and still that it is exactly how it came out WITH the expert help of my good friend and long arm quilter Lisa Teichmann of Garden Gate Quilting!!

Heading over to upload the quilt to the MQG site.  If you have a chance go on over to see all the beautiful and exciting creations!!

I'll be linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday!  Stop by and see what everyone is up to!

WIP Wednesday #3

Added another project to my WIP list...  Actually it's a 6 month 'block of the month' quilt and I just received the THIRD month's package!  I'm only 1/2 through the first month so this one needs to get on AND move UP the WIP list if I hope to ever catch up :) 

This is a picture of the quilt when it's complete:

Sunflower Glacier Star - Quilting by the Bay

This is the first month's block - making 8 of them:

And this is what I have done so far - all 8!

OK,  sad...   But I also have the rest of block one cut out!

I also worked more on Mason's graduation quilt, back of the quilt this time.  I have all the strip pieces cut out and paired up for sewing the block tops.  This took a long time as I am using 30 or so of the Bali pops from the Sangria collections.  I found that some of the fabrics were too light.  I have also collected and cut out 20 or so different fabrics for the background pieces.  Will have some actual pictures of the quilt shortly  :)

 

WIP Update: (date) is when entered the list or last worked on...  8/17/11 is my starting point

Completed Projects:
Nothing completed this week. 
 
New Projects:
Sunflower Glacier Star 8/31/11

Ongoing Projects:
Mason's graduation quilt - Back - continued - cut out fabric and started to assemble blocks 8/31/11

No progress:
Berry Bliss Twin Quilt 2of2 played with several designs... still deciding pattern 8/17/11
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!) made multi-fabric binding strip  8/24/11
Snowman Quilt - top together awaiting borders, quilting, and binding 8/17/11
SVQG - Mystery Quilt month 1 of 4 (August) 8/17/11
Boat Log Cabin Quilt 8/17/11
Rose of Sharon wall hanging 8/17/11
Row Robin Sampler Quilt! have 5 strips of four blocks each... MoVeD the rows around... Still Thinkin...  8/24/11

This week’s stats:
New projects – 1
Completed projects –0
Currently in progress – 9

College Graduation! Creating to show how Proud you are of them!!

One year ago my daughter Kristen graduated from college.  Being the oldest, she was the first of our kids to graduate.  I began thinking of what I could make her that would show just how proud her Dad and I were of her...  At the same time I realized that this would become the standard as our other 3 children completed their education.  It didn't take me long to decide on a quilt! But I wanted this quilt to be special. Something to keep her warm, to hug her at the end of the day, and to remind her that wherever she is, we're still there for her. During this time she was setting up her first apartment and creating her first home so I wanted her to decide on colors and theme.

So off we went to one of my favorite Quilt Shops - The Quilt Patch :)
 


We walked in the door and Sue, the owner, greeted me by name. After introductions off Kristen went searching through the fabric and patterns for what would make her new apartment more homey.  Kristen is always very fun to shop with as she has wonderful taste and unique style!  She decided on a simple pattern named "Just Can't Cut It"  - but added her own flair with very exciting colors!

Kristen immediately knew the color theme she was after and chose several fabrics right off.  With the help of Sue! a pro at putting different textures of fabric together, Kristen made her final fabric choices and ended up with these 6 - don't they just BRIGHTEN THINGS UP A BIT!

Funny, I have two of these fabrics in my 'stash' and NEVER would have thought of putting this combination together.  I love to work with other people and see new ideas!  Always learning new things.  :)
 
The finished quilt front come together beautifully and after adding the borders and multi-colored binding this is the quilt as Kristen received it:

Kristen's graduation quilt 2010

Kristen loved the quilt! but she was in for a surprise...  I designed the back to also be a quilt!  Using all of the fabrics she had chosen I decided to go with more lights so that she would have two different 'looks' to choose from.  Here are a couple pictures of the back.  Aren't the pinwheels fun?!

close up pinwheel design

Full back of quilt.

Here is the Quilt folded so that you can see both sides.

This past May our son Mason graduated and has just made his fabric choice and being a boy...  looked at the several! quilt tops in process and said 'that one looks nice' to a 9 patch design.  He chose Hoffman's Sangria Bali Pops for the fabric :)      I'm heading out for a retreat mid-September with my girlfriends from SVQG and plan on this quilt to be one of my projects.....  What shall I do with the back???.... 

Girl Friend and Quality Quilting Time!  Can't beat that...  

And I would have to say that I've never seen a Bali Pop that I didn't want to take home and play with!! 

There... admitted ONE of my guilty pleasures!!

Art Quilt

 I have always been fascinated by trees.  Since I was a small child I loved to draw trees, not that I'm very good at it, just that it is so amazing how the branches grow and head off in all different directions.

Maybe it's because I am ALWAYS in SO MANY DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AT ONCE!!


 
I wanted to play with the yarn in this picture and it just looked like a great 'bark' color so I decided that it would make a good 3-D tree feature.

I cut out a background piece for the tree top and two landscape pieces for the bottom and placed them on the blue fabric I wanted for the sky.  Using detailed embroidery stitches I outlined and attached the tree top to the background.  I then sewed the yarn into place to form the tree.

Once the tree was formed I used detail embroidery stitches and free-motion quilting to add dimension to the landscape pieces at the base. 

Stars sparkling in the night.

I continued free-motion stitching the sky then add small Swarovski Crystals for create tiny far away stars and larger shell buttons for closer stars.

And here is the completed Quilt

It's to be one in a series...

I better get creating!!!

MJ Art Quilt Tree Series 1 Fall Tree Night OOAK Wall Hanging

  This Art Quilt Mini measures 11" x 11 3/4"

To View in my Etsy Store

Log Cabin Pillows with Theme Fabrics!

As a follow up to my last post, I wanted to share some additional 

Log Cabin 

pieces.  

While log cabin is my favorite Quilt Square, working with Theme Fabric is one of my favorite design features.

 

This is a 15" pillow.  It was made using 4 log cabin squares plus the border.  

It has an envelope back that you slide the pillow into.

I used a theme fabric for the outside of the squares in this pillow for the  

Musician in your life!!

16" square over a 14" pillow form.

My second themed pillow is to celebrate 

Halloween!

Who can resist these Pirate Ghosts!

17"-18" square over a 16" pillow form.

By pulling out 3 of the main colors in the theme fabric you can nicely design a log cabin block that flows.  Making two different blocks, yellow-green-orange & orange-green-yellow 

gives the design a very eye catching feature.

Both of these items are available in my Etsy Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/MJJoerger

Log Cabin 'Barn Raising'

My absolute favorite traditional quilt block is the Log Cabin.

My favorite way of putting together log cabin blocks is to make the center the same on all the blocks then use 3 lights and 3 darks.  

I number the lights and darks 123 then on one block I use the fabrics in a 123 order and the other a 321 order.  

Make sense?  Probably not.

Above is the 123 order and below the 321 order.  Notice that the inside purple above became the outside purple below.  Doesn't look like much yet.

Next is a picture when you put 2 of each of these blocks together.

 And when you add another row all the way around?

This pattern layout of the log cabin is known as 'Barn Raising.'

I have a finished quilt! Actually there is also binding added that matches the center color and brings the whole project together. The quilt seems a bit rounded in it's lines, that is because I made the light strips a 1/4" thinner than the dark and that creates the 'flow'.

This quilt measures only 13 1/2" square.  Looks a lot bigger doesn't it?  This quilt was a birthday gift I made for my wonderful friend Anita who loves purple and green and flowers!  I made her a tote bag to match...  But that's another day!

When I googled 'Log Cabin Quilt Pattern Tutorial' I got almost 500,000 hits.  Below are a couple of links I thought did a great job of explained 'how to'.  

Enjoy! 

Great Online Step by Step Log Cabin Pattern by Quilt.com

This one is for Strip Piecing - A great time saver from quiltingboard.com

Something New!

I fell in love with a game table years ago at Jordan's Furniture.  When my husband and I closed on our lake house last fall we went back to Jordan's looking for the table which would be perfect for our new place.  

Unfortunately the table was no longer available.  Bummer...  

Several weeks later, my husband, the ultimate shopper in our family, phoned me saying "I found your table at a local consignment shop! It's not exactly the same but come and see."  So off to the consignment shop I went!  The table was just what I wanted and had 4 chairs!  Yeahhh!!! This table boast four game boards: Backgammon, Checkers/Chess, Scrabble, & Monopoly, Plus a plain wood piece which makes it just another beautiful piece of furniture.  The set even had all the game pieces intact!  This was quite a find and is even better than the original one I fell in love with....   

Way to go Eric!!

We took the set up to the camp and I gave the wood a thorough cleaning with Murphy's Oil Soap.  Amazingly it looked almost like new with just a few marks for character.  

Only one problem - the chair pads were stained. 

and this was the nicest one!!

 

This brings me to my 'Something New!' 

I learned how to upholster this weekend  :)  I searched for a striped fabric with bright stripes to go with the theme we are decorating the camp with.  I found just the right fabric at Joann Fabrics.  

 

The chair on the right is the BEFORE and 

the chair on the left... the AFTER!!

 

The first chair took an hour or so but the other three went much faster.  The hardest part of the process??  Taking out the old staples!  They were a bear to grab hold of but luckily my hubby jumped in to help :)

 

Don't you just want to sit down and play???

SVQG Row Robin! FUN!!

I had an exciting week this past week!  

My Quilting guild has had a Monthly Row Robin going on which I was lucky enough to participate in :)   http://www.nhquilts.org/

In case you don't know what a Row Robin is: You pick fabric and basic design ideas for a quilt then set do's and don'ts for what you are looking for. You make the first row then hand your quilt off to the next person not to be seen by you again until each person in your group has made a row for your quilt.  Each month you receive another group member's quilt and add a row to theirs passing the quilts until you have worked on each persons.  My group is the 'sampler' group, we have five people and they are all very talented.

I got my quilt rows back on Thursday!  My list of wants for my quilt were: use only my fabrics, each block be different, use the black sashing provided between the blocks in the row.  

WOW!!   This is a picture of my five finished rows (going across).

Thanks for the great picture Annick! Fourth row down is my starter row.

It has been so long since I made the first row that it took me a minute to figure out which row it was!  Thank you so much to Lisa, Sue, MB, and Ruth for making me such wonderful rows!  

Now ALL I have to do is add the sashing between the rows and the border, quilt and bind.  Sounds easy - right?! 

Bright Flying Geese! Mini wall hanging

Welcome to the latest addition to our lake house.
(Pattern - slightly different - is now available)

I have always loved 'flying geese' but this is the first time I have designed a pattern using them.  This mini wall-hanging uses the paper piecing technique.  I love the flow of this piece and of course it's full of color!  I have once again gone with the Hard Candy rainbow color group from Tonga Treats!

Where else will these colors bring me....

Flying Geese - It must be Spring!

Well I was up at our lakehouse at Lake Sunapee over the weekend.  Last weekend we got over 2" of snow and were still seeing ice on the lake.  This weekend there were boats on the water and flying geese in the air.  Both sure signs that Summer's on it's way.

The geese got me to thinking about using the flying geese quilt design and I would like to use the design with the Hard candy bright color scheme for a mini-wall hanging.  Love to work with this bright rainbow of colors!  Will be back shortly with how I made out.

Played with the Rainbow Colors... A little!

Wow - I really love working with this colors!  They are so far from what I would normally introduce into my home space.  Fortunately I have a NEW SPACE to decorate and COLOR! Lots of color! Is what I am going for.

I used the 2 1/2" strips plus a black with tiny dots and a white to make the center of this Rainbow Quilt.  I used a wonderful black fabric that I have had for years for the border and I love! how this came together :)

 AND! it wasn't as hard as it looks!  I actually created 9-patch blocks with four different bright colors and black dot as the center...  cut the 9-patch into four pieces AND this was the result!  The shortcut idea came from the book:

Two from One Jelly Roll Quilts [Paperback] -Pam Lintott (Author), Nicky Lintott (Author) 

Their website is:  http://www.quiltroom.co.uk/

 

Their sample was this quilt:

 

Adorable in pastels but I have to say...  I like the brights better!  Interested in a "how to"?  Let me know and I'll post it!!

Have already begun cutting into the 10" blocks...  Be back soon :)