More Craftsy Goodness and Good news

This just in! I just saw a facebook post for Craftsy's Endless Summer Sale All classes are on sale for $19.99! Did I say ALL CLASSES? Wow! The sale ends Monday, September 17th at midnight so don't wait! I think I might have to take Wendy Butler Burns Machine Quilting: Free Motion and More class. Which one do you want to take?



The other good news is that I just got my quilt back that I designed for the McCalls Quick Quilts October-November issue. I am planning to blog (as in brag!) about it next week. You don't mind, do you? I am really proud of this design and a little nervous to share it with you. It is what I like to call 'traditional with a twist.' It is not what I would consider modern or post modern for that matter, but I am excited to talk about my design process and get feedback.

For now I am going to enjoy this gorgeous day, pick some figs and apples from my trees and sneak in some sewing.
Michelle

Inspired Modern Quilts with Elizabeth Hartman and Craftsy

What a treat to get up this morning, take my daughter to school. take my dog for a walk and then take Elizabeth Harman's Inspired Modern Quilts class on Craftsy! The best part? I got to take this class on my computer at home with a latte and some fresh chocolate zucchini bread (courtesy of my good friend Tanya.) Life is good!

Many of my fellow PDX quilters have taken classes from Elizabeth but I never have. I have followed her blog, Oh, Fransson! for a few years now and have been in several presentations she has given for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild. I always learn something new from Elizabeth and this class proved to be no exception!

The length of the video is around three hours. During each 20- 30 minute class I found myself thinking (more than once,) "but wait, there's more?" There is so much packed into those three hours! The ten lessons, including how to create a design wall and pressing board, great information on how to select fabrics for your projects and the seven patchwork projects are worth every penny (I seriously think this class should cost more!)

My favorite project by far was the Low Volume Tiles Quilt. Two friends of mine are having twins this winter and I thought this would be a great project to make for the four babies. With this clever design I could highlight a different color solid for each child. I also just got a package of low volume fabrics from the Big Ten Inch Swap run by Monica Nauart who blogs at Button Counter. The only challenge was that these fabrics were all 10" x 10" cuts. I decided I could change the measurements from Elizabeth's original pattern which used a larger size to start with. There were a few math problems to solve before I cut into my stack, but I made some quick design decisions and went for it. Here is the layout I decided on.


If you take this class you will notice I also eliminated a row. I didn't want to make the strips smaller than 1 1/2". This was a tip from Elizabeth from a different project and I thought it was sound advice. I also planned to work with a few less fabrics than Elizabeth's original design which would yield three less blocks in my finished version. It didn't take long to cut the pieces -- Elizabeth gives very thorough instructions in her class and it was fresh in my mind from just having watched it. Also, once you take any class on Craftsy it is yours forever. This is really cool - it never expires! I could watch it again as many times as I needed to. The written instructions are clear and easy to follow as well. They are in a downloadable pdf format and I had them up on my desktop to refer to as I worked.



I got as far as cutting all the pieces and laying them out on my design wall. I am really excited to finish this project and make it's 'twin'. I love how the low volume green and blue fabrics do their job and make the solid blue really vibrate in the composition. I was worried that they weren't neutral enough to get the same effect as Elizabeth had in her grey and yellow sample, but the beauty of Elizabeth's designs is that there are so many ways to create variations! She does a great job of showing this concept in her class, which is something I enjoy about her books as well.



One thing I will add about the Inspired Modern Quilts class is that it is somewhat cumulative. Elizabeth shares so many useful tips and techniques through out the class but if you start in the middle you might miss some really great stuff. One of my favorite things I learned today was a technique she showed for cutting matching angles during her Wonky Log Cabin Quilt. And she introduced a product in the Clementine Applique lesson that I had no idea even existed. I won't spoil it too much, but she does get points for saying the word 'lubrication' in a quilting video (sorry, had to go there!)

Well, if you have made it to the end of my super long post (seriously I could write another thousand words on this class!) I am happy to remind you that you get 25% off this class if you sign up from the link at the beginning of this post. This will be available until the end of next month, so I hope treat yourself to this class. You will be happy that you did!

Back to School Craftsy Style!

With all the excitement about going back to school I decided to enroll in a few classes too. We recently had a presentation at the Portland Modern Quilt Guild about the on line classes at Craftsy and I got inspired! I am going to take Elizabeth Hartman's Modern Quilting class on Monday. You might know Elizabeth from her popular quilting books The Practical Guild to Patchwork and Modern Patchwork. She is also a founding member of our quild.
I'd love for you to join me so we can have a fun chat about it! Here is the link to sign up.

I also am happy to tell you that anyone who signs up from this post gets a 25% discount on the class. How cool is that! Craftsy has a ton of really great online classes and it is free to join. Hope some of you will join me over there!
I am planning to take the class first thing on Monday morning and I will write about it and post my thoughts and blocks I make on Tuesday. I pulled all my fabrics and am looking forward to going to class in the morning!

And the winner is...

Comment 10, Connie!

Congratulations Connie who writes the blog Freemotion by the River and thank you to everyone who commented and participated in this giveaway. It was super fun to read all your comments over the last week. It took a while to delete all my replies so I could get an accurate count to put in the random number generator (oops! I'll know for next time!) and the final count was 104!

I will be sending Connie this collection of Pendleton Eco-wool scraps from my Go-Retro quilt that is in the Winter Woolen Issue of Stitch Magazine. And she gets a copy of that magazine too!

And this is exciting -- the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store has generously put together a few kits with all the fabrics you need for this project for -- wait for it -- $55! That is less than a yard of Eco Wool! And if that wasn't good enough, they are putting it on sale TODAY for their annual Fall fabric sale, so it will actually be 40% off and only cost $35. Thats really affordable! Whoot Whoot! They ship anywhere too, and they also carry Stitch Magazine there!

I am looking forward to chatting with all the new happy campers who joined my site. I have hopped over to many of your blogs and have had fun exploring them. Well, off to finish sewing a project for the spring issue of Stitch! After I go get something I forgot to pick up last trip to the fabric store. Typical me!
Have Machine, Will Travel,
Michelle

Go-Retro Scraps + Stitch Magazine Give-away!

I've been looking for a fun way to do a little give-away to celebrate my Stitch Magazine Go-Retro quilt project and came across this Blog Hop Party on the Quilting Gallery today. So without further ado, here is the skinny:

Leave a comment below to enter a chance to:
1. win a bag of Pendleton Eco-Wise scraps from my Go Retro Quilt
2. and a copy of the Winter 2012 Stitch Magazine with the instructions to the project (and a ton of other amazing projects and articles!).
*For a second chance to win, follow my blog and mention in your comments that you are now a "Happy Camper!"

The give-away will be open until September 3rd and I'll pick the winner using the Random Number Generator on September 4th. The scraps are indeed my scraps from the project. You will get a small piece of each of the colors I used, but it won't be enough to make the entire project. I know the winner will make something wonderful with these scraps and I can't wait to see what they create! I won't be able to ship internationally for this give-away.

Make sure to check out all the other amazing give-aways on the Quilting Gallery website from quilt bloggers from around the world. It is quite the extensive community over there with directories for quilt guilds, blogs, shops and tutorials.

Good luck!
Thanks for visiting :-)
Michelle

PS
For fun I checked out who else from Oregon had blogs linked to the Quilting Gallery and there are 89 of you there! I hope to be the 90th! Here is the link to check out my fellow Oregonians' blogs.

PSS
This is my 25th post! I won't mention the numerous other blogs I experimented with before I landed on this format. Happy to be here. I plan to stay for awhile!

Go-Retro Wool Quilt in Stitch!

I am just giddy! I have two quilt projects in magazines that just came out. This is so cool! And a bit terrifying... Okay, drum roll please: Here is my Go Retro Wool Quilt!

This was such a fun project to make. I was over at Susan Beal's house one day and was telling her about my idea for a retro-inspired quilt I was planning to submit to Stitch 2012 for their Winter Wool issue and noticed the vintage Cannonburg Temporama cup she had served me coffee in matched the colors of the Pendleton Eco-Wise wool that I was working with. I knew that was what I had to make, I also had that china at home and had always loved the pattern on it. I went home, drew out the pattern and planned the design.

Eco-Wise wool is amazing to sew with. I joke at work that it 'sews like butter' but it really does! The Pendleton Woolen Mill blog gave this a really nice shout-out as well. Susan has two terrific articles in it, one about the history of wool in America and another about pattern making with Portland designer Colette. There are tons of great project, one by another local Portland designer, Daniella Caine, that also uses Pendleton wool. I am so proud to have a project be in this issue among all the other terrific designs!
My Go-Retro Quilt is on p. 53 of the magazine, the project instructions (which I wrote and illustrated) start on p. 98 and you can download the template for the pattern pieces for free on the Sew Daily website. I will admit, I have butterflies in my stomach: it is one thing to be close to a project and feel really proud about it and another thing to put it out into the world and hope that other quilters like it too. Let me know what you think! And let me know if you make one - I'd love to see some creative versions of this project out there!

Modern Quilt Guild Meet-up Weekend

I find the ferry culture in and around Seattle so intriguing. I'm sure it must get old for those folks who depend on it for getting places everyday, but as a tourist it really is quite wonderful, especially on a day like it was last Saturday morning: crisp, bright, the fog layered on the water. The bonus was that I got to spend a whole day quilting on Vashon Island at Island Quilters for the first ever PNW MQG Quilt Meet-up!

I hitched an early ride with Jen (aka bettycrockerass) and Amber, and even in my coffee-deprived state the buzz of the room when we arrived did wonders to motivate some serious sewing! It was fun to sew surrounded by quilts from the PMQG, which Island Quilters had displayed in their bright gallery space. It was also fun to hang out by 'Park Blocks' which hasn't been home since Sisters!

I met so many new people from Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. and really enjoyed 'sew'cializing with them. All together we made six quilt tops for charity. I really enjoyed working with Katie Pederson, the president of the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild and the author of the blog Sew Katie Did. We made 'stitch and flip triangles' from her book Quilting Modern. (And seriously, I am so sorry for stepping on your bare feet in my clunker Danskos... I owe you a drink for sure next time!)

Another group worked with Susan Beal the president of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild and author of the blog West Coast Crafty. They made four modern cross quilt tops from her book Modern Log Cabin Quilting. It was a treat to watch them go together on the design walls. (And I'll add that I also got to share a room with Susan, who is super kind and generous and I win the bad room mate award for waking her up at 6am. Sorry Susan!)

I also had the pleasure of hanging out with Holly from Holly's Red Bike. She is the president of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. The good news was that I didn't step on her toe or wake her up too early!
A group of us went to dinner that night. I can't get facebook or twitter or instagram on my phone right now so I got to watch everyone posting around the table. It was funny to feel so old fashioned, but I ended up having fun talking with the folks I was sitting next to who also weren't hooked up to the internet.
The next day was a shop hop and as much as I tried, it was just impossible to go home empty handed. I bought a few goodies at Drygoods Design that I couldn't resist. I'm stealing this photo of me hugging my fabrics from Monica's (aka Happy Zombie) instagram.

On the ride back to PDX we stopped at Patricia Belyea's home. She collects and sells Japanese Yukata Fabrics. Susan, Petra, Heather and I were absolutely smitten with the beautiful prints and rich colors of these fabrics and I'm certain you will see us sneak them into a project or two soon!
There are lots more photos over on the PNW MQG Meet-up Flickr page. I can't wait to do this again!