There’s still time to sign up for Saturday’s QUILTapestry:  Orphan Block Rescue Workshop at Fabric Inspirations in Englishtown, NJ.  732-792-0083

In addition to to the Pumpkin QUILTapestry I made earlier, here are two new samples I made up for the class.

My favorite is “The King and Me.”

I won these colorful and gold highlighted batik fabric fat quarters at a silent auction.  Disclaimer:  I did not start with an orphan block.  I made this block specifically for this project.   I thought Prairie Points would add a neat finish to the bottom.  It’s so easy to apply Prairie Points when you don’t have a binding to worry about!!!  I used the Prairie Pointer Tool by Susan Cleveland that I bought last spring (see my blog entry: Prairie-Point-Party)  Then I had fun experimenting with my machine’s decorative stitches and gold thread.  The QUILTapestry is hanging on a really neat hanger that I picked up at the AQS Lancaster show from a vendor called Hidden Talents but they’re made by Ackfeld Wire (www.Ackfeldwire.com).  It’s perfect for these mini quilts!  They have so many shapes and styles, I could have bought a dozen!

This next one:  “All Weather Friend” is an orphan block leftover from a block exchange which I paired with fabrics from my stash.  The other blocks were made up into a wonderful bed quilt “All Weather Friends” and is my memory quilt from the first quilt guild I belonged to in Plainfield, Illinois – Pride of the Prairie Quilters.   Perhaps someone will recognize their block!

In this case, I chose to piece the top border which also serves as the rod pocket and echoed it in the bottom border.  The block was originally 12″ square and so with the borders also fits beautifully on the wire hanger which has a 16″ clearance.

The QUILTapestry technique is a great way to use up those orphan blocks, try something new and have a finished project in an afternoon.  Making one and adding the wire hanger would even make a great gift!

Helle-May

P.S.  Please contact me if your guild would be interested in hosting this workshop!

Remember that quilt project I started with my son’s second grade class at the end of January?  (Happy New Year January 26, 2011 ) Well,  I finished it and the kids gave it to their teacher as their group present for her “Baby Sprinkle” in school on Tuesday.  What’s a Baby Sprinkle?  Evidently it’s the new term for a baby shower for a mom who already has a child.  Just a “sprinkle” of gifts for the new baby instead of a shower of gifts for the mom who is starting from scratch.

On one hand, the kids were so excited to have the party and present the quilt!   On the other, some were sad that she would be leaving for the remainder of the school year.  There were so many hugs, I was worried that the kids might accidentally pop the baby out!  I wish I could post a picture of the entire class, but without each parent’s permission, I didn’t want to take a chance.  So here is Mrs. Hale with her new quilt!

Each child designed their own block.  My only request was that each block have at least one square of the light colored fabric with the animal names.  Much to my surprise, the children took it upon themselves to increase their color selection by also using the backs of the fabric squares.  They placed the fabric squares on a griddded piece of paper which I had spread with a Elmer’s Repositionable Glue stick.  This allowed me to easily take the blocks home to sew together exactly as they had been designed.  Each block was completely unique.

I then quilted their signature in each block.

Knowing that the children would want to touch and love the quilt, I took the quilt home after the party and washed it one more time before bringing it back for mother and baby to enjoy!

Helle-May

I am so excited to tell you about some new classes that I will be teaching at a great little quilt shop in Englishtown, NJ.  The store is called Fabric Inspirations  (732) 792-0083 and when you walk into the store you’ll understand that the name truly fits!  As I’ve told Linda Eaves, the store’s owner, if I had the opportunity to stock a store with fabric, it would probably look just like hers!  The store is not big, but every square inch is filled with lots of color and quilting inspiration!

Now for more on the classes! 

On April 1st and 8th, I will be teaching a 2-part class:  Electric Quilt for Beginners.  The class is intended for two groups of quilters:

Group 1: Those of you who bought either Electric Quilt 6 or 7 and it’s still sitting in the box or untouched on your laptop.

Group 2: Those of you who are curious, but don’t know whether or not you’re ready to make the jump.  For this group, we can install a 14 day free trial copy onto your laptop (please call to make sure you have the right computer requirements).  This way you can take the class and see for yourself.  If you have enough interest to get this far, I’d be willing to bet that you won’t be able to resist once you find out how easy it is to design the quilt you’ve been wanting to make!

On April 16, I will be teaching an all day class:  QUILTapestry: Orphan Block Rescue

This class is for those of you curious about my technique for finishing a wall quilt without a binding.  We will “rescue” one of your 12″ orphan blocks and turn it into a mini wall quilt while learning my technique.  It’s fun and fast and you’ll have something finished to bring home!

Here’s an example of a block I rescued!

Contact the store for more information or to just sign-up!

See you in class!

Helle-May

If this cover isn’t eye candy, I don’t know what is!!!  This is my friend, Linda’s, new book out from AQS.  You can order your very own autographed copy (with free shipping!) from Linda’s website  www.froghollowdesigns.com  or pick one up from your local quilt shop. 

Linda has developed a technique to make those New York Beauty blocks nearly fool proof!   She shows you exactly how to do it with step by step directions and photographs.   

21 stunning quilts, all made with the same technique, yet all completely different looking.  Then she even gives you directions on how to use up the leftover scraps to make mini quilts.  You know how much “The Fabric Minimalist” (me) loves that idea!!!   And if that weren’t enough, there’s a gallery of another 18 quilts from which to draw inspiration! 

All of the quilts were quilted by either Linda or her talented daughter, Sarah.  They have compiled all of the quilting designs into a companion book, Dynamic Designs, also available from Linda’s website www.froghollowdesigns.com or www.QuiltWoman.com

Linda will be demonstrating her technique at the upcoming AQS Lancaster, PA show and teaching classes at the AQS Paducah, KY show, as well as Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA.  Check out her full schedule at www.FrogHollowDesigns.com

Just be forewarned…these quilts are addictive!

Helle-May

Ok – I know I’m a little late for that, but better late than never!  I sincerely wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year for 2011!

What a January we’ve been having! Snowstorm after snowstorm!  After several days of the weathermen not being able to figure out what we were gonna get this time – rain, mix or snow or when we were gonna get it, mother nature decided she was gonna give us snow – earlier and more than originally expected.  What a mess of a school day it has been!  Buses barely made it for pick up and by the time they reached the schools, they decided to make it an early dismissal day.  I feel most sorry for the bus drivers!  We’ve already had 3 snow days and added 3 days to the end of the school calendar and the winter is far from over!

I was going to go to school today to do a quilt project with my son’s 2nd grade class, but that is re-scheduled for now.  They just finished a unit in social studies on “Colonial Days”, they are working on shapes in math and the teacher is having a baby boy later this spring.  So…. what better time than to have the kids learn about quilts and help to make one.  The classroom is decorated with a jungle animal theme andI found this great juvenile jungle fabric for the backing and borders, a coordinating print with the names of all of the animals and some color coordinates. 

I cut the color coordinates and name print into 2 1/2″ squares and drew 16-patch grids (with 2 1/2″ squares) on 11″ x 17″ paper for each child.  I also experimented and found that the Elmer’s Craft Bond Repositionable Glue Sticks worked well to hold the fabric squares to the paper long enough for me get the papers home and sew the blocks together.  It doesn’t seem to leave a residue on and fabric came off easily.  So the children will design their own quilt blocks that I will later sew into a quilt for their teacher as a gift from the class for her new baby.

So the plan was to bring in a few quilts to show the kids, show them a book I found with pictures of a colonial quilting bee and traditional quilts, design the blocks and time permitting read them The Quiltmaker’s Journey by Jeff Brumbeau and Gail De Marcken, a story about the gift of giving and the meaning of true happiness.  We will have to re-schedule, but I am still looking forward to it.  I have done a school quilt project every year the boys have been in school and I never cease  to be amazed at how much the children enjoy it, both boys and girls.  I will post a picture of the completed quilt when it’s done.

I have a few hours before the kids get home, so I think I’ll clean up the sewing studio a bit and get ready for the next project!

Happy Winter!

Helle-May

It’s the time of year when we reflect on the past year, remembering all the people who have touched our lives, counting our blessings and looking with hope that the new year will bring continued good health and good fortune.  

With all that’s happened this year, it’s hard to believe this was only the second year of Helle-May Designs!  I can’t even imagine what next year might hold in store!  I am hopefull that I will have the opportunity to present more trunk shows and to do some teaching. 

At the end of the year, I was elected as Vice President of my guild, the Courthouse Quilters.  This position is responsible for the monthly speakers and workshops.  This is in addition to my role as co-chair of the 2012 Quilt Show.  So that’ll keep me busy!  I do enjoy positions like these. I have found it’s the best way to really get to know the members of the guild and truly feel a part of the organization.  I encourage everyone who is involved in a quilt guild (or any other type of organization, for that matter) to raise your hand and take a leadership position.  It’s usually not that hard and it truly is rewarding.

We attended 2 family weddings (here and in Estonia) and one very significant birthday party in 2010.  In addition to 2 more family weddings in 2011, my younger son will make his first Communion, my older son will be Crossing Over to Boy Scouts, and a few of my cousins from Estonia have promised to visit this summer. 

So… I don’t think there will be a whole lot of down time in 2011.  The only thing I put on my list to Santa this year was “Time.”  Let’s hope  he comes through with that one!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and a very happy and healthy New Year!

Helle-May 

Back in May, my mother-in-law started planning a birthday party for her mother-in-law’s 90^th birthday(my husband’s grandmother).  A friend of hers had told her about their family tradition, where for significant birthdays, they made a poster with quotes equivalent o the number of birthday years that was being celebrated.  My mother-in-law wanted to adapt the idea and solicit 90 ideas from all of the family members as to what each loved about Mom, Grandmom, Mom Mom.   Having recently attended a lecture by Cheryl Lynch, who has made beautiful tribute quilts for special occasions, I immediately exclaimed, “I could make that into a quilt!”  Grandmom’s quilt was born!

Let me interject here that Grandmom is one amazing woman.  She is 90 years young and still very full of life.  After her husband died two years ago, she moved into an independent living residence and is now more active than even before (if that’s possible!)  She swims or exercises every day, plays bridge several times a week, volunteers with several church related organizations, including an adult literacy class and loves to socialize.  She has to check her calendar when you want to visit!  Her wit and sense of humor are as sharp as ever!

Over the summer, we collected 90 quotes and combed through family photos that would be representative of Grandmom’s life.  In May, I had acquired my EQ7 upgrade with its new photo capabilities and new grid feature on the custom quilt layout screen.  These new features would prove invaluable in designing this quilt! 

I used MS Publisher to turn all of the quotes into standardized text boxes and printed them all out onto EQ Printables Premium Cotton Lawn Inkjet Fabric Sheets.  Wanting the quilt to have a random feel, the grid feature on the  Custom Layout screen allowed me to to easily arrange (and rearrange) the text boxes (inserted as plain blocks) and photos.  It was wonderful to be able to import the photos into EQ7 and adjust their sizes to make everything fit.  I also printed the photos onto the Printable Sheets, once I was certain of the sizes. 

After many iterations, I was finally satisfied with the layout and began to sew everything together using the Custom Layout as a guide to cutting out the fabric pieces in between the text boxes and photos.  Because of the randomness, I worked on one section at a time, creating segments that were roughly 8” x 12”.  Each section was sewn together with one of a handful of gold fabrics that I had selected to blend together.  Of course, because the text boxes and photos were all different sizes, the sections ended up being irregular shaped pieces.  It created what I called a giant Chinese jigsaw puzzle with lots of partial and inset seams. What was I thinking when I thought this layout would be a good idea!  When the last two pieces came together perfectly, I breathed a huge sigh of relief!   The finished quilt measures approx. 41” square.

Once the quilt was done, I created a label similar to the heart in the center, telling Grandmom that although there were countless reasons why we loved her, we wanted to share 90 of them with her and then listed all of the contributors to the quilt.  Realizing that the label would be hidden behind the quilt when it was hanging in her home, at the last minute I ran to the store and bought an 8’’ x 10” frame and framed the label instead of sewing it to the back!  I did however sew a label on the back with the quilt’s complete provenance.  I am also planning to attach a separate label that identifies all of the people in the pictures so that future generations will know who everyone is.

This past Saturday was the big birthday party at my mother-in-law’s house.  With all of her children(4), grandchildren (8) great-grandchildren(2) and respective spouses and significant others present, we first gave her the wrapped frame to open.  The tears started to flow and this wasn’t even the real present!  Next came the quilt and a request for more tissues!  After Grandmom had time to digest it all, we temporarily hung the quilt for all to see.  Since the family members had only seen their own contributions, much of the night was spent with everyone taking a turn to read “90 Things We Love about Peg, Mom, Grandmom, Mom Mom!”  

Love you, Grandmom!  Helle-May

Some exciting news to share today!

• Did you receive your Connecting Threads catalog in the mail yet?  Turn to page 39 and you will see that they have made my Treasure Chest pattern (HMD-103) into a kit using their Midnight Garden fabric collection.  The colors are slightly different than the original, but it’s stunning, nonetheless!  If you didn’t get a catalog, go to www.ConnectingThreads.com and look under Kits.  Order yours today!  (Sorry, couldn’t resist!)

• Did you see the December/January edition of Quilters Newsletter?  Turn to page 21 and you will read the nicest story about The 17-Year Cicadas, written by my good friend/ pattern editor/blog commentator Constance (Connie) Vanni!  I only wish they had also printed a picture of the quilt!  It’s absolutely beautiful!  (Maybe she’ll read this and send me a picture that I can post!)

• Finally, if you been putting off the purchase of any new patterns, here’s your opportunity!  www.QuiltWoman.com, pattern publisher of my and numerous other talented designers’ patterns is having a FREE SHIPPING sale!  Now, through November 18, put in the Coupon Code: FREESHIP and there will be no shipping fees on orders of $20 and over!  Sorry, US retail customers, only!  Don’t delay – you know you’ve been meaning to do it!

That ought to keep you busy for a little while!  Back in a few with pictures from Grandmom’s 90th birthday party and the special quilt I just finished making for her!

Helle-May 

OK, this is it, finally!  Last post about the show!

On Friday, the first day of the show, we had some very special guests!  Jodie Davis, host of www.QNNtv.com  and Mark Lipinski came to shoot some segments for their www.QuiltOutLoud.com show.  We had only found out about their interest about a week prior, so natually we were all in a tizzy! 

They filmed a segment about the Bra Brigade exhibit. My crazy bra, “Booby Trap” got a close-up shot!

Jodie interviewed member, Jayne Stoll, in our Storybook Quilt exhibit.  The interview took place as they were seated at a children’s table and chair set, which belongs to my boys – who no longer fit at it!  The Storybook Quilts is a collection of 18 quilts which were made by members to accompany the children’s books they are pictured in.  The books and quilts travel around to local schools and libraries for the children to enjoy.

They also filmed a segment with Mark interviewing 5 guild members (yours truly included) about the reasons someone would want to join a guild.  We had to make several takes – it was just like a real film set, with director, camera man etc.and it wasn’t easy!  Can’t wait to see whether or not if I ended up on the cutting room floor!  The segments are due to start airing on www.QNNtv.com right about now.  Unfortunately, it’s one of those sites, that you have to be a paying member to watch, kind of like having to subscribe to HBO.  They also have a show about longarm quilting which I’ve been wanting to see – so maybe I should join now and see if I made it in the show!  Let me know if you see the show and you see me!

So that marks the end of my posts about the show – 23 months and counting until the next one!  Better get started!

Helle-May

I can’t believe it’s November already!  Fall is flying by!  No sooner was the quilt show over than I had to resume work on 2 projects that are due very shortly.   First I’m working on a quilt commissioned by my husband’s family to celebrate his paternal grandmother’s 90th birthday.  Grandmom is an amazing woman.  I swear she’s more active at 90 than I am at 46!  The idea for the quilt came from my mother-in-law.  On it are 90 reasons (solicited from all the family members) why we all love Grandmom!   I have a week and a half to finish it before the big birthday party!  So I better get back to work.  I’ll post pictures as soon as it’s done!

At the same time, I am working on a sister quilt to Driftwood which was commissioned by American Quilter Magazine.  It will be published sometime next year.  Unfortunately I will not be able to publish pictures of it until it’s published.  All I can say is that the colors are absolutely yummy!  Stay tuned!

 So that’s why I haven’t gotten around to post more pics from the quilt show as promised – but here are a few more images:

As you enter the show, you walk through our Member Boutique with lots of handmade items to purchase.  Here is the Christmas section.

A glimpse of just some of the 200 amazing quilts that were on display.  The show is not judged, but we do award Viewer’s Choice ribbons.  It was a very difficult decision!

The 2009 Bag Challenge.  Members were challenged to make a quilt to reflect any kind of bag.

Attendees stuffed the cans at our Tricky Tray of Mini Quilts.  We had 50 to choose from in all different styles.

Finally, here is a small sampling of our October 2009 Bra Brigade Challenge.  That’s mine with the yellow and black caution tape wrapped around the midriff of the bust.  It’s called “Booby Trap”  I used a nursing bra with a mouse trap under the right flap and a heart under the left flap.  Breat cancer – Keep Out!  We sold 2011 calendars made from professional photographs of all of the quilts to raise money for the local Cancer Center.  There may still be a few left.  Contact me if you are interested.

There will be one more posting on the show!  We had some very special guests on Friday!  Back in a few days!

Helle-May