My Design Wall Today

This "Staircase" quilt is made from the October "Block of the Month" for Empire Quilters. Coming up with block ideas is one of my little jobs. This is my third year doing that. It keeps me thinking and drawing little designs on napkins and envelopes. Haha.

The block can be seen in the upper left corner, black and light pink. But some of the blocks seems to spread into a non-square shape because I used leftover units in between the blocks. See the photo below. My 27 yo son asked me to make him one of these. No flowers, he wants 1960's style geometrics. I'll show you when I make it.

If you'd like to see how simple this block is to make, take a look at the Empire BOM blog.

Block of the Month - Red and White, Quilter's Choice.

You thought that was it for red and whites for a while? Not quite. I had to come up with a Block of the Month for my guild, Empire Quilters in NYC. We won't all be making this block, the design is quilter's choice. But we'll all use red and white to make any block we want, as long as it measures 8 1/2" square. The result will be a sampler quilt. I'm tempted to make more like this one and do a whole quilt. Here's how this block was made: DIRECTIONS: The strips were cut 1.25" wide. Sew 6 strips together. Then cut this new piece into 1.25" strips. Flip every other one so you have a checkerboard, and sew them together. Add a white border. Cut 4 red triangles by eye and sew one to each corner. Then add a red border. Trim to 8.5." Voila! Do this 64 times for a quilt! Haha. We'll see. It might happen.

BOM Tile Quilt - Giveaway Winner Announced

The Empire Quilters guild Block of the Month a few months ago was a raw-edge applique tile block. Pauline Hazard won the blocks and here she is with her finished quilt. Her 11 year-old granddaughter loves this quilt, so of course it belongs to her now. The backing is a soft cuddly flannel fabric. You can see that Pauline added two borders along the outer edge. Terrific job Pauline!

The winner of the Mickey and Minnie fat quarters is Christine of the Once Upon a Quilt blog in Queensland, Australia! She'll use them to make something for Sophie, her little grand-daughter, so Sophie is really the winner. :)

More giveaways coming soon.

Empire Quilters Raffle Quilt

The Empire Quilters made this fantastic quilt called "Subway Series" to be raffled at the Quilt Show in NYC coming up on March 26 and 27. Isn't it a beauty? The scenes are from New York City subway stations. Click here for more info or to buy a ticket.
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Pineapple center medallion work in progress: Some of you asked how wide the strips are in my pineapple block in yesterday's post. The strips are 1 inch wide (so about 1/2 inch finished).

Design a Flag - BOM

Have you ever felt a little disappointed that Betsy Ross got to design our flag and not you? Well I know how you feel. So for the January 2011 Block of the Month for Empire Quilters we'll be making our own flags. Shown here are my first two flag blocks. They measure 12" high by 15" wide. (In the finished quilt, the flags will measure 11.5" x 14.5.") Click the link for more info.

If this idea appeals to you, help yourself. If your guild makes a bunch of blocks, please send me some photos. I think this BOM will make a gorgeous quilt, don't you?

"Stamp Collection" Tile Quilt (Empire October BOM)

One of my "jobs" is to design the Block of the Month blocks for my guild, Empire Quilters in NYC. This raw-edge machine applique block is our block for October. I made this tile quilt as an experiment to see what would happen when it was machine washed and dryed. I know it's pretty big for an experiment, but I was having so much fun.

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I should have used a zigzag stitch to applique the patches, or sewed a little further away from the edge (more than 1/8"). A few of the "tile" edges came loose in the wash and needed repair. The quilt also needed a trim to remove lots of frayed edge threads. But that's okay. It has a soft, shabby chic look now, and I like it. I think it looks fabulous from a distance! Haha.

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If you like the look of tile quilts, you might be interested in a book called: Tile Quilt Revival: Reinventing a Forgotten Form by Carol Gilham Jones and Bobbi Finley, published by C&T. The quilts in this book use the needleturn applique technique rather than raw-edge.

Call for Quilts! Group Quilts

Do you have a quilt where the blocks came from numerous quilters? Maybe a Block-of-the-Month quilt or a birthday quilt made by a group of friends? Quilts that result from the work of many different hands are tricky. Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get!

If you'd like to share a photo(s) of your group quilt for exhibit in the up-coming "Online Quilt Museum" please email them to karengriska@optonline.net. Include the name of your group, who assembled the quilt, where you're from, and the title of your quilt. Thanks!

The quilt above was made by Margaret Cibulsky, Ellen Foster, Helen Beall, Karin Eckert and Linda Andrews, members of Empire Quilters in New York City. It was inspired by the December 2009 Block-of-the-Month, "Amish Buggy Quilt." I really like this one!

Asterisk Design Spotted in New York City!

I was in New York City on Saturday for the Empire Quilter's guild meeting and I saw this billboard for Liberty of London/Target Stores in the area of 27th Street and 7th Avenue, the Garment District. Doesn't it look like our Block of the Month from last September? We called it Candy Stick, but Quiltmaker (May/June 2010 issue) renamed it Asterisk. If you'd like to see how to make this easy block, check out the current issue of Quiltmaker magazine.

See My Asterisk Quilt in Quiltmaker!

Keep an eye out for the new May/June issue of Quiltmaker...but here's a sneek peek of one of my favorite quilts!

I'm really excited to tell you about this quilt. This year I designed the Blocks of the Month for my guild, Empire Quilters in New York City. This was the block that we kicked off the year with in September. I called it "Candy Stick," but I like Quiltmaker's name better, "Asterisk."

My challenge was to design a block that looks difficult, but is actually easy and fun to make. Those are my favorites. It also had to work as a scrappy quilt and have wide appeal. Many quilters participated and we had a great time. (I made this quilt in advance to show the guild how it would look, and it's one of my favorites. I like how Quiltmaker photographed it too.)

The Empire Quilters Block of the Month can be seen at: http://www.empirebom.blogspot.com/.

Meet the Empire BOM Squad

We are the Empire Quilter's Block of the Month Committee. Left to right: me, Lisa Belle, Lisa Kehrle, Helen Beall and Shirley Clark. We are standing in front of a beautiful quilt by David Taylor who presented the program at the September meeting in NYC at the Fashion Institute. There is so much going on in this friendly guild: lots of talent and energy, special interest groups like the Elm Creek Quilters block of the month, trips, charity projects, workshops, free fabric swap table, vendors, library, quilter of the month, raffles, shows, and a huge show-and-tell.

Take a look at our BOM projects: http://www.empirebom.blogspot.com/. Do you live near NYC? Come join: http://www.empirequilters.net/. Or visit us when you're in town. See website for details.

Columbus Day Treat

On Saturday I went to Manhattan for the Empire Quilter's guild meeting. Now that I live in CT it takes me 3 hours traveling time each way, but it's worth it. I never know what I'll see in NYC, but I'm never disappointed.

Curiously, the best part of the day was after the meeting. I walked from the Fashion Institute to Grand Central Station with Empire member (and Selvage Blog reader) Diane Schneck. We had such a good visit talking about our first quilts, urban myths, Sept. 11, and I forgot what else.

At Grand Central we saw this exhibit of Italian Glass and leather shoes in honor of Columbus Day. I particularly liked the glass NYC taxi (above) and the stars and stripes figure (below). They even had a wine and cheese tasting area. Delicious. What a nice surprise.

The collection of ornaments on this tree was truly amazing.

Most of the Italian shoes in the photos below are each about 4 inches long! The variety is incredible. We had fun savoring the huge variety.

Take a close look at the pink shoe below.

What kind of footwear were we wearing? Comfortable sneekers for walking!

Hanging out with quilters is so much fun!

Selvage USA Flag

Diane Rode Schneck of NYC made this cheerful selvage version of a USA flag. I like how the color windows suggest stars. I also like how she used fringed selvages to add a shabby chic flair.

Diane is a talented quilter, quilt teacher and much more. See her website "The Virtual Quilt Diner" at: http://www.geocities.com/quiltdiner/

World's Widest Selvage!

Diane Rode Schneck, a member of Empire Quilters in NYC brought the world's widest selvage to our last meeting. It's 5 inches wide! Look at the size of those color windows. Under each window is "OK - (Not?) OK." Someone wrote "No" on this selvage. There's even an arrow pointing in the direction of the warp. You wouldn't need many of these babies to make a selvage quilt!

June Calender's Latest Selvage Quilt

June Calender is a member of Empire Quilters in NYC. She is always up to something interesting like traveling to Africa and creating beautiful things with selvages. She made a reversible selvage quilt, a pretty selvage jacket and a big series of selvage postcards. Click on "June Calender" in the Index to see all these projects, or visit her blog at www.calenderpages.blogspot.com. Nice job, June!

Urban Inspirations Quilt Show - Part 1

This weekend the Empire Quilters quilt show "Urban Inspirations" was held at the Fashion Institute in New York City. The poster above features the amazing raffle quilt called "Broadway Jane." This area of NYC is called the Garment District; I thought you'd like to see this sculpture.

The quilt below won the "Viewer's Choice" award. Mindy Wexler-Marks made this "Generation Doily Quilt" using crocheted doilies made by her grandmother, her mother, and her aunt. It really was lovely.

The quilt shown below is "Housetop - Nine Block Variation" by Katie Iscol. She loves the Gees Bend Quilts, and this is her tribute to them.

I think the quilt below was made by Susan Knaster for her mother-in-law's 90th birthday. It really is dazzling in person!

Urban Inspirations Quilt Show - Part 2

Above: This quilt by Jo Anne Powell called "Rubber Duckie" was beautiful! The pearls in the baby's hair glistened in the spotlight. Prettier in person than in the photo.

Above: "Kiirtan - Dance of Surrender" by Ligaya Siachongco. Indian origin, about pure bliss.

Below: Brenda Papadaikis of "Dear Jane" fame gave a humorous lecture in which she admits that she hasn't made a Dear Jane quilt herself. In the background you can see one that was made for her by friends. In the foreground were 4 Dear Jane quilts made by members. The quilt being held up was made by member Diane Schnect (shown at left, holding her quilt).

Paula Nadelstern of NYC lectured about her wonderful kaleidoscope quilts. If you get the chance to attend one of her lectures, don't miss it! She is funny and interesting, and very generous about sharing her methods.

Urban Inspirations Quilt Show - Part 3

Above: "The Beauties of New York" by Bernice Caneill won first prize in the Miniature Pictoral category.

Above and Below: "Fortune Wheels" by Anna Sinitsyna.

"Grandmother's Hexagarden" by Mary Anne Ciccotelli (above and below). She says she is obsessed with folded hexagons. This one was beautiful.