Williamsburg Medallion Revisited

Those of you who enjoy medallion quilts, as I do, will love seeing what Helen, from the UK, made using my Williamsburg Medallion pattern. She made some lovely changes from my original design.

Sue Watters sent me the photo. Sue taught the Williamsburg Medallion as a class in England, and has another class scheduled. Sue has a blog where she shows lots of her wonderful work, plus that of others. I know you will enjoy perusing her blog!

Also, if you go to THIS PAGE in my website, Patchalot Patterns, you can see  the many variations of this pattern that people have sent me. As you will see, my original design was simply a springboard to further creativity. Love it!

FIBRE JUNCTION

As I was blog hopping today I stopped at Carole's blog, Quilting Adventures. I followed a link on her blog to read an article about the shop she owns in Rouses Point, NY, called Fibre Junction. It was a very nice article, and on top of that I spied my quilt hanging on the wall in her shop! What a sweet surprise! Carole bought some of my patterns for her shop and I sent this quilt along for display. Carole's blog is always filled with sweet surprises and it appears as though her shop is as well! Stop by and say hello!

If you have been visiting my blog for a while you probably have seen this quilt. It is an alternate version of my Williamsburg Medallion pattern. You can follow that link to see how many of my friends have had fun changing the design to suit their own taste. I do love medallion quilts!

LOOK FAMILIAR?

Last week Mary at Quilt Hollow e-mailed me to say that she saw my Williamsburg Medallion quilt in the April issue of McCall's Quilting! Another friend in Minnesota reported the same thing. I have been running to the mailbox daily to no avail. I have been haunting grocery stores and other places as well--nothing! My copy of McCall's Quilting finally came in the mail today! I am very happy to see my own little quilt published in what is now my favorite quilting magazine. (I wonder if they want more of my designs?)

Here is the quilt that I designed over a year ago, when the Williamsburg Toile, by Windham, came out. I love medallion quilts and using that beautiful bird for the center was a no-brainer. The rest of it came together as I played with the fabric, looking for balance with the toile, etc. I was surprised and delighted to see how popular this pattern became. What's Your Stitch 'N Stuff, the LQS, always generously supports my patterns, and displays my quilts. They became quite excited about this one. They used up all their red and also the blue toile in kits and they have sold out of them. They may have one or two left in brown toile, also lovely. They now have kits of the scrappy version, including the wool for the birds.

(You can reach them at 757-523-2711 if you need a pattern or a scrappy kit -- they have chosen awesome fabric!)

So this is the issue, April 2009, page 60. Think of me when you see that bird, looking proud and pretty, and maybe even strutting a little. Give me that much, will you? I'll be back to earth soon enough, I'm sure!

P.S. I need to clarify that there are no directions for my quilt in the magazine. It is shown in conjunction with What's Your Stitch 'N Stuff as their most popular quilt.

PURCHASING POWER THROUGH PAYPAL, etc

I am excited to announce that I have finally added PayPal to my website! Being fairly computer inept, I needed someone to give me encouragement and walk me through it. Once again Karen, our Sew Primitive gal, came to my rescue. I have already had a few orders, and it works like magic! Just click on a button and you can pay with a credit card and PayPal handles the details. Silly me, I thought it was going to be a big deal! NO BIG DEAL!

Also, if you click over to Karen's blog you can see a beautiful quilt that a customer at Little Quilts made with my Williamsburg Medallion pattern! By the way, Karen has designed some darling punch-needle patterns that she is selling on her website, Folkart Children And if you haven't seen her Primitive Children, you really must take a look. The girl has talent!

Last week my son came for a visit. He is living, working, and going to school in Provo, UT, and doesn't get out to the East Coast very often. It was great having him here. I know he was bored silly at least part of the time, but that is the price you have to pay when you are young and you go visit "old-timers". On Monday he and I drove to Jamestown to see the sights. We visited the museum there, which is quite wonderful. Also, there is a replica of a small Indian village. The first picture, above, shows us inside a hut with a big bear skin hanging on the wall behind us. There were many furs on the walls and sleeping cots. Very authentic!

The ship is a model of the Susan B. Constant, one of the three ships that sailed from England in 1607. They actually came ashore right down the road from where I live. When they found the James River (I am sure the Indians didn't call it that) they sailed up it and established a fort at what later became Jamestown. Both named after King James, of course.

We went on board the ship and walked around. Let me tell you it is so small! Those poor people were on board for four months!!! A year ago my friend, Joan, loaned me a really good book written by one of the descendants of a Jamestown family. The book is Dark Enough to see the Stars in a Jamestown Sky, by Connie Lapallo. I tired to order it from Amazon, but they didn't have it. I was so pleased to be able to find it in one of the gift shops up there. I had to have my own copy! The book tells the story of the women and children and how they survived (or didn't). Very interesting!

So that was my excitement for the week. Next post I promise something quilty. I have been sewing! Until then, have a happy, scrappy day!

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

These are a few of the happy people in my class last night. We had fun! It was class 2 of the Williamsburg Medallion. Everyone was zipping right along with very nice results. Peggy, in photo one, always keeps us smiling. Can you tell?

Heaven knows I am not the greatest teacher, so I sometimes bring homemade oatmeal-raisin cookies so they will think kindly of me. It seems to work.

I do enjoy classes, whether I am teaching them or taking them. It is fun to pass along tips and techniques. We all do things a little differently, so it is fun to learn how others tackle a project as well. When I teach a class I like to go over my method of construction and then let the class progress on their own and ask questions as needed. I also encourage them to follow their own instincts. New quilters are often hesitant to make their own decisions on fabric choices. As I was helping a new quilter with her fabric decisions last night, I was reminded of when I first began. My friend was a seasoned quilter and I asked for her help with every decision I made. After a while I realized that we had different ideas of what the quilt should look like and I began to make a few decisions on my own. Last night I watched two new quilters do just that. They both started out with kits for the project and as they progressed each made their own changes. For seasoned quilters this is never a problem, but when you are just beginning you don't always have the confidence to know if your choice is acceptable. Maybe we worry too much about how others will view our work. It has taken me a while to reach the place where I can say, "You don't have to like it-I did it the way I like it"! In the end, I think that is where the satisfaction comes from.

Charlotte, on the right in the photo, completed her whole top by the end of class last night! As you can see, she opted for a blue version. The photo doesn't do it justice. It looks great!

Another point of interest is that our LQS, What's Your Stitch N Stuff, kitted up Karen's (Sew Primitive) Tornado pattern! Doesn't it look cute! Check out Karen's blog to see the pattern.

LOOK WHAT I MADE!

Last night was so much fun! I took a class from Connie (of the Civil War Diary Quilt fame). I can't believe all that she does. She is such a sweetheart and I enjoy being around her and am constantly impressed with her talent. The class was for making the Bow Tucks Tote (designed by Penny Sturges). The first bag pictured with the sailboats is one that Connie made. (Whoops, the handles flopped over). Connie also has become very proficient at machine embroidery and is doing wonderful things on the pockets of the bags she makes. Everywhere she goes people admire her bags, so now she makes them and personalizes them for people. The purple one with the big embroidered W on the front is a baby gift that she made that includes a darling baby quilt inside. Connie did a great job teaching this bag. She has made so many of them that she made it very easy for the rest of us!

My bag (hasn't a button yet) turned out great too! We actually finished the bag last night, in our second class. We had some quilting homework, but that was simple, even for me! Notice how the bag has cute little ties on each side. The bag gets "tucked" in on the sides, and then you tie the "bows", hence the name Bow Tucks Tote! Everyone in my family is going to be begging me for one of these!

Also, let me direct you to Dawn's blog, in case you haven't seen it. She is working on her own rendition of Williamsburg Medallion, and you must see it! She also shows Libby's and Karen's quilts with links to their blogs. I love the way they think and then do it! I am so impressed and honored to have them make my pattern. And I love that they each show their own creative talent in the process.

MY FAVORITE BOOTH!

I know you are all sitting on pins and needles, and probably threads and fabric strips, waiting to hear how the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest was. Well here is a photo of me feeling very proud of the display at Nancy's Calico Patch booth with my Williamsburg Medallion quilt front and center! To the left is part of my Pioneer Trail quilt. The whole booth looked very nice with the overall theme being CW reproduction quilts and fabrics. I was happy to be a part of it. They sold a ton of my patterns, so I am really happy about that! My friends and I were there shopping and looking at quilts for the day on Thursday (2-21-08) and we had a great time.
I didn't take too many pictures, but I do want to share this one quilt that I loved! A huge variety of toiles went into the quilt, and the designer did a great job with it! I should have been better about getting the name so I could give her credit. If anyone out there knows, I will be happy to add it. Isn't it great?!
Apparently the HatBox quilt is a design by Kaffee Fassett.
Apparently the Hatbox quilt IS ACTUALLY Kaffe Fassetts!--Thanks Katie!

On another note, I heard from Nicola in Australia that she was making Bonnie's Bargello quilt, so I added her to the list on the side. I don't plan to leave the list up too much longer, so be sure and take a look at what she has done. You may want to see what progress has been made on the other blogs while you are at it. Unfortunately I, myself, have done nothing more on mine. I plan to make it bigger and have lots of strips cut, so enventually I will get it done! For me it is a good project to pick up when there is a lull in the work at hand. Again, thank you Bonnie for all the inspiration and directions.
I hope I can sew today. I am all charged up to create after going through so many inspiring vendor booths! Happy weekend!

WELCOME TO MY WORLD

How many of you out there are going to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest this week? It takes place at the Hampton Roads Convention Center beginning on Thursday, Feb. 21 through Saturday. If you are going I hope you will check out Nancy's Calico Patch booth (#412). My new quilt, Williamsburg Medallion, will be on display there. I made a model just for them. This one consists primarily of the fabrics from the Windham line.
Nancy is devoting their booth to Civil War era reproduction fabrics this year, and focusing on the Williamsburg fabric from Windham and the Jamestown fabric from Andover. I am excited to be able to participate. They will have a couple of my other quilts displayed as well, so stop and shop and say hello. Well, I won't actually be there except in spirit, but say hello to my quilts and Nancy!

Also, I am very excited about the quilt that Libby made using this pattern! If you know Libby, you know she loves all things primitive. Can you believe this is the same pattern??? She appliqued a pineapple in the center (ala Linda Brannock), added the Welcome, and there you go---it's a Libby quilt! This stuff just never gets old, does it?

When I was trying to think of seven things about me for my previous post I was talking about it to my husband. He suggested that I write about how I am really into quilts. (Turn on laugh track). I told him that everyone already knows that. It is why I have a blog. "But do they know how much you are really into it?" he asks. "Honey", says I, "They are ALL really into it"! This is what keeps us hopping to the computer between seams---so we can see if our friends posted any new quilts today!

Addendum: I didn't mean to imply that I won't be at Quilt Fest. I will be there all day Thursday browsing around quilts and vendors. I am not working the booth or anything like that. But I will be there! If you recognize me please say hello!

MY MEDALLION QUILTS

I have been playing with scraps again this week. I decided that I wanted to see what Williamsburg Medallion, the quilt I showed a few posts ago, would look like in scraps. I replaced the toile center with a star that I felt complimented the design, and dragged out the fabrics for auditioning. You know what that does to a sewing space! I actually had just sorted through little mounds of fabric and put each in its own container according to color. I really whipped through it, so it wasn't exactly pristine, but that's why I have cabinets with doors on them! Anyway, suffice it to say that my room is back to "normal". This was lots of fun to make, by the way! I would love to see what Libby would do with this! She has such a flair for the primitive look!

Now I have a question for you. Do you think all medallion quilts look the same? I have had two people look at Williamsburg Medallion (#1) and comment that it looked like another quilt I made. One said it looks like Homeport (#2), and another said it looks like Chesapeake Star (#3). I do like medallion quilts, it's true! Am I just making the same quilt over and over again? I thought I was making different quilts with interesting borders that I can change each time around. I am finding that I really have to defend myself lately!

QUILT SHOP OPEN HOUSE

Well, did I catch your attention with the photo? It's my granddaughter. Doesn't she look happy? She is learning a lot in her freshman year of college. Photoshop, for example. I think I will try and get me a date like that! Oh why bother. I don't even like to go out anymore!

I did go out this afternoon though. The local quilt shop, What's Your Stitch N Stuff, had their Open House today to intoduce new classes. The shop was busy and quite a few people signed up for classes. My new quilt, Williams-burg Medallion, was very well received. In fact, the shop is going to make kits using many of the same fabrics that are in the original, including, of course, the Williamsburg Toile. I don't have the pattern ready yet, but if anyone wants a kit, call the shop and get on the list! (757-523-2711)

A lady e-mailed me the other day saying she had seen my blog and is from Virginia Beach. (Hi Joyce!) I mentioned the Open House to her and she came over and we met. That was really cool! I haven't ever actually met anyone as a result of blogging. I e-mail with several bloggers, but so far no face to face meeting. Meeting at the quilt shop was on pretty safe ground. She had never been to the shop before and I think was a little amazed. It really is an awesome shop!

My friend Connie brought her Civil War Diaries Quilt to show me. She has all the blocks pieced and sewn together into a top. It is amazing! I will post some photos of it soon. (That is supposed to be a little teaser, like they always do on the news. "Did Jeb make it across the tracks in his old pick-up truck before the train? News at 10:00").