Thursday, July 31, 2008

HERE IT IS! The most unusall quilting contest you may ever see. We have carefully crafted an outline of what we want to do - but here it is in a nutshell. We want to find an unfinished project, change it, finish it, and return it to the owner. So...show us what lurks in your closets. We can't wait to see what we can do with it.

So tell your neighbours, and tell your friends, because we want everyone to join in the fun. (And YES, you can enter more than one un-finished project.)

Cori & Myra







































the concept

In the back of closets, hidden deep in drawers and tucked away from everyone’s sight, are unfinished projects that have gone horribly wrong. We all have them (Myra has a drawer full) and we all wish that they would go away. They seem like such a waste. These projects were once exciting and you were eager to dive in, finish and display them with pride. However…they went wrong and now when you come across them in your closet you cringe and try to ignore them. Well, we have a plan to help ONE of you!

During the 10 years that we worked in our local quilt shop, we spent a lot of time helping customers fix projects that were taking a wrong turn. Now, we want to offer the same help to one quilter out there. We have teamed up with a few of our favorite suppliers and together, we are out to fix one of the ‘hidden disasters’, and bring it out into the daylight.

the plan

We will select one unfinished project, change it, finish it, and return it to the owner as a finished project.

Submission deadline: Beginning August 1st, until August 31st.
The selected ‘winner’ will be announced on Sept. 1st
The project in its original form will be revealed by Sept. 20th.
The project will be broken down, and put into and EQ file. Alternate layouts of what could be done will be shown during the month of Oct.
The finished quilt will be reveled, and shipped to the owner Dec. 1st, and they should have it in their home in time for Christmas.

submissions
1.) Send us pictures of your unfinished project that is hiding in your closet.
2.) Send us a brief, less than 600 word paragraph telling us what was your original plan, why you stopped working on it, and why you want us to finish it for you.

3.) All submissions must have your full name, day and evening phone numbers and emails. (this information will be kept in our confidence, and will not be shared with anyone)

4.) All submissions become property of blue meadow designs and will not be returned to you. (so don’t send us your projects – just photo’s of them!!)

5.) Submissions are to be e-mailed to myra@bluemeadowdesigns.com Please do not send them to our other mail addresses, because the server may not be able to accept large image files, and it may be bounced back to you. Please try to keep the MB of the photo’s as small as possible.

6.) Submissions must be received by midnight, (central time in North America) August 31st, 2008 to qualify.

what we are looking for
Cori and I will be looking through the submissions, and we will choose a project based on what inspires us. We will love to read the stories of ‘what could have been’ but we believe that we will choose the final project to work on because it will reach out and grab us.


the rules
1). We will choose one entry, from all of the submissions. (only send photos please)

2). All submissions for entry must be made from 100% cotton. The quilt can not be vintage.

3). If you have extra fabric yardage from the original project, we may ask for it.

4). We will have the full right to change the project, take it apart, or only use portions of the original, in any manor that we see fit. We will also decide on what the finished size of the project will be. You will sign a waver/contract.

5.) The finished project will be your property, and will be returned to you by mid Dec. 2008.

6.) The owner of the selected project will be asked to give us additional information as to their personal style, color choices, and favorite quilts. This will assist us in making sure that what we create for you, will fit with your personal taste.


Sponsors

Electric Quilt Company
Working with EQ, and the programs that they develop, has enabled us to be better designers. Their computer programs allow us to ‘test’ designs, and find many of the flaws before we cut any fabric. It also lets us ‘play’ with different layout options, and color options. We will be using the latest version of their program EQ6, to show you different options of what we could do with the troubled project.

The Vintage Quiltery
When we found Jacquiline Pohl, we discovered one of the best machine quilters in the industry. Located right here in our province of Manitoba, Jacquie Pohl has created beautiful quilted projects for customers across Canada. You have to have a lot of faith in the machine quilter that you hand your quilt top too. We love working with Jacquie, because she is an artist, a skilled quilter, and she always has great ideas. We will be sending the completed quilt top to Jacquie for the quilting, and we will all anxiously wait to see how she will finish it.




Day 100 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Blessed Home

It's finally here!!! The final post in our parade of quilts. There was a little pressure (from myself) as to which quilt I would save to the end. I could have chosen a traditional one, or a modern one, or something that was beautifully photographed, but I picked this one for a reason. Because I want quilting, the simple art of sewing and stitching, to bring a Blessing into your life. In these quilts are stories, and journeys, and times of quiet solitude. And they are a physical comfort that can be given to others, so that they will feel the warmth of your love and friendship.

This is the cover, and main quilt in our 5th book, called The Blessed Home quilts. It is a very unique sampler, and it is broken down into 'lessons' so that you can practice a wide variety of quilting techniques.


And I JUST decided (which means Cori doesn't know about it) that we have a nice bundle of quilting goodies that we should give away. So, to have this parcel of 'really good stuff' showing up at your door, simply leave us a comment, telling us which was your favorite quilt from the past 100. I must admit, I will be very interested to hear what grabbed your attention. And I will give you until next Thursday at midnight to enter.

At this late hour, I could write an essay on the journey of posting some of our quilts, but I will keep it simple, and say Thank You for letting us share what we love with you. It was good for us to 'stop and smell the roses.' We had forgotten some of the great projects, and stories, and because of this trip, we had a chance to remember all of the good times. So, THANK YOU.

Cori & Myra
Day 99 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Running Bear





















Yes - I am still digging through my pile of old projects, and shaking off the dust. I do remember making this one in the spring of 1997, and thinking that we were so cleaver, by putting a log cabin in the center of a bear paw. Now I know 1000 designers have produced a pattern like this one, but in my little mind, I still like to think that Cori and I came up with it first.

Cori claims that she has a large quilt done in this pattern, made in fall colors. It sounds so pretty....so why can't I remember it? I guess maybe I should be going through her stack of quilts

See you again soon.
myra
Posted by Picasa
Day 98 - of 100 Days of Quilts

How am I possibly going to finish the 100 Days of quilts by tomorrow? By posting several quilts in one day! I am sorry to rush to the finish line, but tomorrow is August 1st, and it's time to let everyone in on the big surprise.

So, last night I was running through the neighbourhood with a few quilts, looking for places to throw them down, and take some pictures. (Thankfully my neighbours have great yards.) And across the street I found these guys. Well, the color of these two little ducks reminded me of a quilt from WAY BACK when. I think that I might have made this quilt around 1995. I love making little nine-patches! The finished size of the squares is a 1/2", which means that they also have a 1/2" of fabric for seams behind them. Most quilters (I mean my mother) could never understand why I liked making these squares so small, but when they are this size, and your seam allowance is accurate, they fit together perfectly. Just try it sometime. Make a little 1 1/2" nine patch block, and see how much fun it is.

See you soon!
myra
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Turtle Twist update.

Thanks to a fellow 'Manitoban quilter' I was told that the cover of Quiltmaker, with our quilt on it, can be seen at http://www.quiltmaker.com/ So if you are like us, and you have not seen the issue on your local newsstand, you can always sneek a peek on the web site.

There has been a great response to this quilt, and Cori's phone has been ringing off the hook. And yesterday, we made a custom quilt for a little girl using this pattern, and it has the yellow and pink turtle print, with a pink turtle on it. So here is another chance to be creative, and envision a quilt in another way.

myra

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Day 97 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Turtle Twist - in Quiltmaker magazine...NOW!


I could pull some more quilts out of our archives for today's post...but I got this image this morning, and thought I would share it with you.
For those of you who live in the US, you may have already seen this quilt, but Cori and I have only received an e-mail of it. It is in the current issue of Quiltmaker, and it is another fun little kids quilt using our Completely Kids line of fabric. This one really is too cute! Cori and I designed it for the magazine, but it was made 'out there' so we have not seen the finished project. It is much more of a surprise when you don't see the quilt in every step of the process, and you are very relieved when it all works out, and there were no serious glitches. I even heard the rumor that this quilt is on the cover. Is that true? This issue will make it up to us in Canada (eventually) and then I can't wait to read through the whole magazine, and see what other great projects it holds.
So enjoy this project! And I will be scoping out the magazine racks.
See you tomorrow.
myra

Friday, July 25, 2008

Day 96 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Grandmother's Flower Garden from 'Traditional Quilts to Paper Piece'

Don't you just love Grandmothers' Flower Garden quilts! I do. My mother has an exquisite one that I hope to inherit someday, but for now, we have this little gem.
In fact, my mothers very first quilt that she EVER made was a queen size Grandmothers' Flower Garden, and she pieced it all my machine. Yep, by machine. I remember sitting in our home in Lancaster Co. and watching her every evening as she pulled out her sewing machine, put it on the dining room table, and slowly stitch rows of hexagons together. When the quilt top was done, she brought it to work with her, at the MCC Material Resources center. Amish and Mennonite women hand quilted it, and the finished quilt went to the MCC relief sale in Harrisburg PA. (there are MCC sales in many of the US states, so check out the one near you!) Anyway, her quilt was sold in 1983 at the sale...and I would give just about anything to know where it is now.
But I do love this pattern. The only problem is that it is a long process of cutting hexagons, preparing the papers for the English Paper Piecing method, and hand stitching every small piece together. So when we were writing our third book, we took a look at the pattern, and found a new way of putting it together. Instead of hexagons, the quilt is actually made up in rows. Every other row is paper piece, and every other row is pieced. Sew them all together, and they will look like a Grandmothers' Flower Garden. The best way to hide all of these vertical seams, is to quilt it in a traditional method, of outlining the blocks.
So why not play around with your favorite traditional block, and find a new way of putting it together.
See you tomorrow.
myra.
AND REMEMBER....this Friday starts our huge new contest! You will want to tell every quilter you know about it.....

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Day 95 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Labyrinth


























My, my, my! I am digging up forgotten projects. This little quilt was made by the RJR staff to showcase one of their new collections. When they showed us the fabrics, Cori and I came up with this design. It had clean simple lines, and in it you could use a multitude of cool funky fabrics.

We got a shot of this project when we were cruz'n the halls at the International Quilt Market. Trust me, at these markets, there is so much to see (fabric, fabric fabric!!) and it is a little funny to then turn a corner, see a quilt, and saying to your self 'That looks familiar - did we do that?' Which reminds me...I was going to update our quilt inventory this summer...I guess I better get on that!

See you tomorrow.
myra

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Day 94 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Country Thyme - from "Down In The Valley"

It feels like we are coming full circle! I found this picture of a table runner from our first book, and it made me smile, because lately Cori and I have been designing a lot of new table runners.

This project was from the first chapter of the book, which was called 'Prairieland'. This chapter was near and dear to us, because it represented where we live. I know that many, MANY people travel as fast as they can through the prairies - on their way to some other place, but when you live here, you can start to see the beauty of wide open spaces.

The buildings in this chapter also reflect our simple prairie dwellings. The old houses and barns have simple lines, and the church is small but quaint. What do the buildings in your area look like? In your next project, why not bring pieces of your town into your home.

See you soon.
myra

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Day 93 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Flying Dutchman - 'Traditional Quilts to Paper Piece'

I just have a little bit of time today to post a quilt - so I will post a little bitty quilt.

I have always liked the Flying Dutchman block, so we made up this little quilt with a few of the blocks. It was fun, and it is just a simple example of how you can make a quick quilt by just using blocks and sashings.

And why are we so busy? If you only knew the phone call we got yesterday!! But that news is under wraps for a little longer. I can tell you that I also sealed a few more details this week for our upcoming contest. We talked to a friend who is coming on board to help with one part of this contest - and she thinks it's going to be a really, really fun challenge. SO REMEMBER TO WATCH HERE AUG. 1ST for all of the details!

See you tomorrow.
myra

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Day 92 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Crayon Box

It's time for another test - to see how good is your memory. Do you remember this quilt? We've called it Crayon Box, because it is done with our fun kids line of fabric, but originally it was done in different colors, called 'Amish Bars', and we posted it back on Day 26. (we have some kits and patterns available for this quilt in the shop.)

I chose this quilt to talk about today, because it goes along with Cori's theme of changing up colors and layouts to come up with your own unique quilt. We love the original quilt, which was done in soft blue's and tans, but by changing the color, it suddenly has a completely different feel.

I know that it can be hard to get past the color of a quilt, to actually see the design, but here is a trick that I picked up when working in my mother's quilt shop. My mother has issues of Quilter's Newsletter magazine, dating back to the early 80's. Sometimes when I would look through these old copies, it was hard to see the great quilt, because you just focused on the glaring fabric colors. So what we did, is to take an old quilt from a magazine, and photocopy the picture into a black and white image. Suddenly you are more focused on blocks, and you are able to pick new colors for the quilt, because the old colors are not interfering. So the next time you need to pick new colors for a project, eliminate the old colors, and it will be much easier to make new choices.

See you tomorrow.
-myra

P.S. Jean asked a few question under our Day 90 quilt..so here are the short answers. The little girl in the picture is the daughter of a friend of ours. (we sometimes borrow small children from our friends!) And when I made the comment about fabrics that 'last longer' I made a grammatical error. I did not mean to imply that they have a longer lifespan, I meant to imply that they are available for purchase longer than other prints - which come and go from the shelves very quickly. If you have any other questions, Cori and I will be making a special section where you will able to ask us 'stuff ' when these 100 days of quilts are done. So stay tuned! Fun things are on their way.
Day 91 - 100 days of quilts

Cori's Log Cabin

Oh how this wash line has come in handy for taking pictures of these big quilts! This was my very first BIG quilt that I made. I was just married and my husband is a cowboy and that was how our first home was decorated, a little bit western (tastefully of course) I have never been a frilly kind of gal, so I didn't mind at all. I found the border print, which had a Navajo feeling and chose my colors around it. I think that Myra and I had seen this layout in a magazine at the time, but of course figured it out by ourselves.(Myra will correct me if I am wrong on that!) I used a log cabin block and the courthouse steps to create the pattern and used shads of purple, blue and of course beige. I also hand quilted this quilt and Myra and I spent a whole evening stitching on the binding so I could hang it in our local quilt show the next morning. I really enjoyed picking the fabrics and my favorite part was the hand quilting - I loved to stitch in front of the TV (oh the time I had before we had kids!) I must say this is bringing back some good memories of just being newlyweds :).

~cori

p.s can you believe that we are on the home stretch of our 100 quilts? I can't!


Posted by Picasa

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Taking it easy















I have been taking it easy these last two weeks (right now Myra is saying "No Kidding")as you can see. But I am back at it now. Designing, eagerly waiting to get started on the next sewing project, making plans for the fall retreat and our visits to Bluffton, Indian and Sioux Lookout, Ontario!

Our saying "inspired by the possibilities" is just ringing louder and clearer for me. There is always more than one great way to do a quilt, more than one great fabric collection to use and more sand more ways that I intend to "stretch" myself. (thinner would be good, but that's not what I mean in this case :)) Feed back from customers always puts new ideas in our heads, but sometimes "we" as "designers" have to listen to our inner creativity and just go with what we like, not that other influences are not helpful but each to their own, right? We can't all like the same things, that would be way to boring. We can however all be inspired by the same thing and create something unique from it. Our my ramblings making any sense? I guess what I am trying to say is by taking a break, relaxing and being no were near a computer or telephone made me ready to create again. Jump in with both feet and do what makes me happy, create from within my space and hope that when the project/pattern is complete, that someone else might enjoy it too.

~cori
Posted by Picasa

Monday, July 14, 2008

Day 90 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Little Lady - baby size

We only have 10 more days of quilts left to show you! It has been fun going through our old files, and remembering so many of our projects, but we hope that you will enjoy what we have planned next.

This is one of the baby quilts that we designed using the RJR handsprays. It's great to use these fabrics in a project, because they will stay around for a longer time, and it is easy to make new and exciting color combinations.

Like many of our baby quilts, this one (which is reversible) is a simple design so that it is appealing to new quilters, or young mothers trying to make their first project.

See you soon,
myra

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Day 89 - 100 days of quilts

Vintage baby quilt

This is a quilt that is near and dear, about 35 years old and made by my grandma Braun. Well...not exactly. The blocks are hand embroidered by her but the sashing was warn out. She had never quilted the blanket, it was a blanket cover made for me when I was a baby. My mom has not kept much of my baby stuff so a few years ago when I came across the blanket I was excited about it. I took it all apart, boiled the blocks, yep, you heard me. Boiling old linen's takes out stains and was a tip from Myra's mom. Then I searched out some thirties fabric in keeping with the old look of the blocks. I hand quilted around the embroidered motifs and cross hatched the sashing. Can you believe I had time to hand quilt??

I am glad that I have this quilt and my Grandma has long passed and she never knew that I would have an interest in quilting. I always say that it is because of my Grandma that I have this quilting thing in my blood. I used to play with her "scraps" box, play with her wooden spools and sit under her treadle sewing machine and pump the foot pedal as hard as I could. My mom has never sewn, so I am sticking to my story that it must come from my Dad's side of the family. There you have it...a little tidbit about me. Maybe you have a treasure somewhere that needs refurbishing?

~cori


Posted by Picasa

Friday, July 11, 2008

Day 88 - 100 days of quilts

Lane's quilt

This is a modified project from our "Town and Country" CD for Electric Quilt. I made this quilt for my son's 3rd Birthday. Being the country boy that he his, I thought that this paper pieced farm quilt was perfect. But what if you don't have a farm boy to make it for? Well here are a few more ideas on customizing this quilt.

Cottage theme - instead of the farm house and silo, make a couple of cottage's, turn the fields from gold to shades of blue and add a boat instead of a tractor.

Another farm variation - change the fields to shades of green and add a spray plane (the plane was in the original design)

Neighborhood theme - a row of houses and instead of the railfence block just use a package of charm squares.

See how easy it is to modify a quilt to suit your style? Happy customizing.

~cori

Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Day 87 - of 100 Days of Quilts
North of the 49 - from 'All Through the Woods'

I was planning on posting a different quilt, when I got an e-mail sending me over to this site. http://anniesquilting.blogspot.com/ and to my surprise, the quilter is making our North of the 49 quilt! Seeing other quilters enjoying our projects is something that really makes us happy. Quite often we publish books or fabrics, and send them off into the 'great beyond' and we never really know what happens to them. So finding this blog, has made my day.
So maybe I should tell you the story behind this quilt. It was designed, almost, exactly 8 years ago, at 2:00 am. No, I don't usually know when I design a project, but in this case, I have strong memories tied to it. My son was about 2 months old, and I was still trying to cope with the fact that I hadn't slept in over 2 months. My son never slept, and he ate A LOT. He usually had a full bottle every 2 hours, so during one of these middle of the night feedings, I had him propped up on my lap, and with one had I was holding his bottle, and with the other, I was sketching out a quilt. I wanted to make a quilt, just for my son. I wanted it to represent the nature of Canada, and I wanted it to be scrappy and fun. I started with the moose, and I had the quilt about half way drawn when I finally got a chance to go to bed. When I woke up in the morning, I looked at the paper on my table, and had a couple of different thoughts. "Did I do that?" "What was I thinking?" and "This might actually work!"
With the help of my mom, we cut and stitched this quilt together, and I instantly loved it. Looking back now, it shows a time when Cori and I were starting to do very different styles of quilt design. It was never ment to be published (because of the large applique shapes) but Martingale & Co. took a very big chance on printing it. But they told us that if we wanted the book to be published, we had 6 weeks to write it, draw the hundreds of illustrations, and make some supporting projects. They did not anticipate the book selling too well, because it is 'theme specific' which means that quilters in Miami are not going to buy a book with a Canadian moose. So a small run of 9,000 books were printed - and they sold out in 6 weeks! And from then on, the book kept being re-printed. (It turns out Canadians live all around the world, including Miami.) So we are thrilled when quilters in Minnesota, and Washington, and New York also find a fondness for our projects.
And what's with the name? Do you know how hard it is to name all of your quilts! We struggled trying to come up with a name for this quilt. But since it mainly represents western Canada, we named it after the longitude line that runs along the border. We live just north of the 49th longitude. (I live 9 1/2 miles north - to be exact, and my mother's farm was actually on the 49th parallel.)
Well, that's the story for today. Cori's out of the office, so I better go and take care of all of the e-mails this morning.
See you tomorrow.
myra

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Day 86 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Feathered Flying Geese - from 'Traditional Quilts to Paper Piece'

Cori just called me tonight, and told me that her and her family are heading up to Kenora for the weekend, and she needed directions to the new quilt shop we found on our last trip. She's going to a shop without me! That's OK, I've been fabric shopping lately too...

So in honour of her being up in the Kenora area, I am posting this quilt. WAY back in 2003, we went up to this area for the first time, and we taught this project in a class. I believe that we had 26 students in the class...so I am wondering how many have finished their projects? (No pressure Karen - it's only been 5 years) And I know how daunting all of those little triangles can be. If you would like to make one for yourself, this little quilt is found in our third book. I can say that I have seen a few of these finished quilts, which always makes me happy, because when we teach a class, we do hope that the quilt is finished, and not just tossed into a corner.

You may not realize it, but I have just given you a clue to what we will be doing after our 100 days of quilts. Cori and I have had many great strategic meetings, about all of the new things that we will be doing this fall. And the BIGGEST news will be a contest that we will announce on Aug. 1st. Which means that we will cram in all of our quilts before that date. This contest is unlike anything that has EVER been done before. It's not a draw. It's not a raffle. It's a contest you can win, and you don't even have to do the work of it. Intrigued? You won't have to wait long...but you will have to wait....

See you tomorrow.
myra
Day 85 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Crazy Patch from ' Traditional Quilts to Paper Piece'

What was the idea behind today's quilt? We just needed to add a twist to a really traditional block. When we were compiling traditional quilt ideas for our third book, we naturally thought of a crazy patch block, because it would be easy to paper piece..but it needed something else in it.
So we dusted off an idea of a quilt that we made in our community in 1999. To celebrate the new millennium, my mother's quilt shop was involved in a local project. We designed 10 different crazy patch blocks, and each of them had a center 'element'. They each had a heart, a tree, a house, or 'something' in the center, and then surrounded by pieces of fabric. Each crazy patch block had 25 pieces in it, and different people from the town would come to my mom's store to sew a block. When all 80 blocks had been piece, the quilt contained 2000 pieces - to represent the new millennium. And when the quilt was done, it was raffled off to one lucky winner.
So we used one block from that millennium quilt, and downsized it, and made this much smaller, but just as charming version.
See you tomorrow.
myra

Monday, July 07, 2008

Day 84 - of 100 Days of Quilts

Townhouse Tablerunner from 'Down In The Valley'


Lately I have come across a few of our old projects that have given me some new inspirations. and this happens to be one of them. It has been a long time since Cori and I paper pieced an entire collection of houses for our first book - and I think that I am wanting to go back, and re-invent some of those ideas. Even with a few different color choices, or a little tweaking in the styles of the houses, you could make them look very unique. Our friend Karen once did a row of houses in the bright colors of homes in the Bahamas, or you could add some more 'gingerbread' to them, and make them look like the row houses of San Francisco. Some days, I just have too many ideas of what I would all like to do. I guess I better take better care of my health, so that I can live to be 100, and get all of these projects done.
See you tomorrow.
myra

Friday, July 04, 2008

Prairie lap Quilt #2

I am on a bit of a rampage again. I am sewing just for the pure fun of it! I have finished two quilt tops and about to start a 3rd. As Myra mentioned, I had dropped by her house the other night to show her what I had come up with and to pick up a few more fabrics for my next project (I swear her neighbors must wonder why I come and go so often!) Yes, I am going to be doing the Prairie lap quilt in this selection of fabrics; Amy Butler, Bohemian Rhapsody, Cape Cod, 3 sisters and two from art gallery. I just love mixing up collections! I can hardly wait to show you the finished project! Here's to hoping that you are all having a great summer and maybe you too have time to just enjoy sewing and creating something uniquely yours.

~cori
Posted by Picasa
Day 83 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Prairie Lap Quilt

Happy 4th of July!! We hope that all of our American friends will have a great day - and enjoy a day off. Cori and I both forgot to wish everyone a great Canada Day (July 1st) because we were all out with our families. And to my wonderful husband - who never reads my blog - Happy 11th Anniversary! We usually go down to the States for our anniversary, to enjoy the fireworks, but this year, work keeps us in Canada, so I hope the rest of you enjoy the show for us.
Today I picked the simple Prairie Lap quilt that is in our 5th book - The Blessed Home Quilts. I thought I would talk about this quilt today, because I have a funny feeling Cori is making another version of it this weekend. When she was photographing this quilt, she studied the structure of it, and was re-inspired. She popped by yesterday with an armful of modern fabrics, and I know that her mind is spinning with possibilities.
Anyway, this is actually a great teaching quilt. It covers the basics of strip piecing, and half-square triangles, and it is a wonderful beginner project.
See you tomorrow.
myra

Thursday, July 03, 2008

an anwer to your questions...

Let me address Myra's question about the small version of this quilt....NO! And then there was Carol's question about a pattern... there is a very good reason that this quilt was titled LOST crows pass, because the pattern got very LOST after I was done. Never say never though, this might just be a pattern some day...:)

~cori

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Day 82 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Lost Crows Pass
Now here is a blast from our past! This is another quilt from Cori's personal collection. It was one of the early quilts that we designed - hence the million triangles. If you listen closely, you still might be able to hear a few cuss words falling off this quilt. This was NOT Cori's favorite project. I am scratching my brain, trying to remember what was problem with this quilt. I think that one of the fabrics (maybe the background) was a lot stretchier than the others, and it was a mess to try to piece together. And then of course, Cori had to hand quilt in the ditch of all of those triangles. I was proud of her for actually finishing this quilt, and not tossing it out when it was done.

And it is another quilt, that I think would look really good if it was done in half the size. Hey Cori - would you mind making me one of these?

See you tomorrow.
myra
tiny tall timber

This is a tiny version of Tall Timber, it measures 22" x 14" which is about a quarter of the original size. As Myra and I have said countless times before, we would love to do all of our projects "pint size"! Yeah, I know not enough hours in the day :). I just thought I would share this with you as Myra has just posted the original project. Maybe you can find a project to do "pint size". A fun little idea for a summer project.

Look for another post a little later on in the day. I am going outside for a walk with my kids now, see you later!

~cori
Posted by Picasa