Barbara Persing‘s latest book, Listen to Your Quilt, is here and offers a tight little process to Select the Perfect Quilting Every Time * 4 Simple Steps. In prepping to write this post, and having seen only the cover, I will say, the teensiest bit of skepticism had come up (terms like “Perfect” and “Every Time” and “Simple” all in the same place just do that to me sometimes). My trusty Bernina 1180 has seen me through piecing and quilting of several dozen projects, and I’ve “hummed along” through a scant amount of hand quilting pieces – some projects with design in mind, and some not. The majority of my time and energy has been spent on piecing, so I have a lot to learn about quilting. Well, guess what? The process of listening – in Persing’s suggested 4 steps – really is…simple!

By way of encouragement and inspiration, Persing shares her story and a few gentle reminders like this one, “Quilting is a form of self-expression, and as such, it doesn’t need rules. Rules are necessary in many places. For example, I have rules at home—but I am raising two children, and, without rules, there is conflict. For quilting, however, following good guidelines will help you be technically better. If you already have a method that works for you and that achieves the same result, stay with your method. There are no rules in quilting.” Delightful freedom? Yes! None of the suggestions call for marking? Fantastic! This can even apply to Traditional projects? Uh, whoa there, missy. Traditionals are the most challenging for me, so I had to put on the brakes and dig a little deeper.

Here’s what I found: Simple category breakouts plus chapters that follow Persing’s suggested process make this book a pleasure to page through….and practice.

Category Breakouts: Listen to Your Quilt is easy to navigate because of the categories: Traditional, Contemporary, Art,  and Children’s. In my own projects, I have strengths in some categories and weaknesses in others. Art quilt designs come easy for me, but ideas are always welcome. Traditional pieces just plain intimidate me, so I need more support, information and ideas in order for me take on a traditional project. The breakouts are simple and easy to identify and follow because she explains how and why she is identifying her categories (such as a Contemporary quilt vs. a Children’s quilt).

Chapters Are Full of Examples: The 4-step process is shown and spelled out for each project. It’s like being taken through Persing’s process quilt by quilt.

Test Driving the Process
I unearthed a quilt top that qualifies as Traditional, just to test drive her process. As I’m among friends, I’ll confide that I’ve been stuck on how to finish this for years. Like, almost 10 years. So, I cleared my brain about “You don’t know anything about traditional quilting,” turned to the Traditional chapter, read it and went through the process. In framing Persing’s simple steps around my own UFO (unfinished object), I found I was looking at this project and thinking about it in ways that turned out to be listening. Ideas came – and some went – but chances now are much better that I’ll actually finish it. HA! Who knew?

Now for the giveaway…one lucky person will win a copy of Listen to Your Quilt! (Yeah!) To enter, leave a comment on this post telling us about the types of quilting you most enjoy, which ones are a mystery, and which you are working up the gumption to try.
For a second entry, log in to your Amazon account and “like” this book,  then come back here to leave a separate comment saying you did so.
Deadline to enter is Sunday, 5/20/12. One comment will be drawn at random to win…the winner will be contacted via email and listed here as an update to this post. Good listening & good quilting to you!

Related posts:

1. Introducing Maverick Quilts by Alethea Ballard
2. Building a Quilting Sisterhood
3. Lone Star Quilt Project

Congratulations to Andy LaFaille who just marked his 20th anniversary with C&T! Woo Hoo! Andy is the Fulfillment Manager who supervises the warehouse to make sure that all the wonderful C&T products get shipped out on time and accurately. You couldn’t find a nicer guy.

Andy’s request for his celebratory lunch was a company potluck. Needless to say, we all loved that idea.

Lining up for the potluck buffet

Andy reading from the thank-you note that accompanied his anniversary gift

A delicious time was had by all.

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Then I have more good news: this means there is a job opening for someone new (perhaps you?) at C&T. We are searching for that certain someone who has editing, writing, and organizational experience and skills combined with quilting, sewing, and soft craft knowledge.

Visit our website, www.ctpub.com, and read the developmental editor job description. If you feel you’re right for the job, email me at teresas@ctpub.com. Be sure to share the details of your quilting/crafting life in your cover letter.

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This little girl is Isabella, the daughter of one of our sales reps, Tina. Isabella was one of the models in the new Stash Books release, Hat Shop, and this pose was from the photo shoot. The shimmery texture of the Lutradur treated with Iridescent Medium makes her look even more beautiful!

Materials:
-  Two pieces fast2fuse^® heavyweight (9″ x 11.5″ and 3″ x 3″)
-  One piece background fabric (9″ x 11.5″)
-  Two pieces Ultra-Light Lutradur^® (varied sizes as desired)
-  Two pieces contrasting fabrics to frame photo (varied sizes as desired)
-  One sheet Lutradur^® (8.5″ x 11″ –  70 or 100 gram)
-  Liquitex^® Iridescent Medium
-  Angelina fibers in coordinating colors
-  BoNash 007 fusing powder
-  Wonder-Web
-  Make It Simpler^® Fusible Interfacing
-  Silicone Release Paper
-  Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Glue
-  Foam adhesive squares
-  Decorative flower and coordinating buttons
-  Iron and inkjet printer
-  Rotary blade and cutting mat, small scissors

1.  To pre-treat Lutradur for inkjet printing, brush a thin, even coat of Iridescent Medium on one side. After it’s dry, insert the sheet into your inkjet printer and print out your image on the treated side. Trim photo to size (photo shown is 3.25″ square).

2.  Center and fuse small piece of fast2fuse to the back of the Lutradur photo, so the image pops against an opaque white background (use Silicone Release Paper underneath to protect your ironing board). Set aside.

3.  Center and fuse background fabric to fast2fuse (use Silicone Release Paper underneath to product your ironing board), then trim page to 8.5″ x 11″ with rotary cutter. Follow directions inside the fast2fuse package.

4.  For extra sparkle in your layout, use pieces of Ultra-Light Lutradur to trap Angelina fibers. Sprinkle BoNash powder liberally on top of background page, in the area you want to trap, within your desired size of Ultra-Light Lutradur. Lay fibers on top of the powder. Use your finger to brush excess powder inside desired area, and place your trimmed piece of Ultra-Light Lutradur on top. Hold it in place and trim away any stray fibers poking out (if you click on the picture to zoom in, you’ll see where I wasn’t very careful about my stray powder and fibers!). Place a sheet of Silicone Release Paper on top, then press with a dry iron on high heat for 5-10 seconds. Press a bit longer if needed to adequately melt the fibers and secure the Ultra-Light Lutradur in place.

5.  To finish the edges of your small fabric pieces for framing your photo, fold back and finger-press the edges about 1/4″ all the way around. Trim the corners of your “hem” edges at an angle to remove bulk. Fuse each hem on the back with strips of Make It Simpler Fusible Interfacing. Fuse each fabric frame and the photo in place, one layer at a time, with small pieces of Wonder-Web.

6. Stack three graduating sizes of buttons in alternating colors and glue them together with Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Glue (three separate button stacks shown here).

7. Adhere button stacks and decorative flower in place with foam adhesive squares. Your finished page is suitable for framing, or decorate both sides of the fast2fuse page (it’s fusible on both sides), and bind multiple pages together with jump rings or ribbon to make a chunky fabric scrapbook.

Related posts:

1. Ultra-Light Lutradur® Dandelion Pillow Cover
2. Outdoors In: Ultra-Light Lutradur Lamp Shade Project
3. Butterfly Wall Hanging Project with Ultra-Light Lutradur

Slice Quilt 2012 - 86" x 68"

Last year, a group of C&T staffers got together to create a gorgeous slice quilt based on Van Gogh’s painting, Bedroom in Arles. It was auctioned off at the NAMTA show as a charitable fundraiser for art education, grants, and scholarships.

This year our team did it again, using Van Gogh’s painting, Wheat Field with Cypresses as inspiration. Click the image above to zoom in on all the amazing detail. Our last post introduced you to the artists and showed just the quilt top, but now the talented Sue Fox has quilted it with incredible panache, and the quilt has been shipped off to NAMTA for the show next week.

You can purchase raffle tickets online until May 10th. Just $10 gives you a shot at bringing this baby home, and it’s for a really great cause!

Related posts:

1. Next C&T Group Quilt?
2. Our new slice quilt
3. C&T Group Quilt: It’s Finished!!

You may recall hearing about 

So you can imagine how thrilled we are to report that all four quilts have just been found in perfect condition and have each been returned to their owners. They had been safely tucked away all this time, just waiting patiently to be discovered offsite, inside a mis-marked long-term storage box. Oh happy day!

Allie Aller (far right) is happy to have her missing quilt (foreground) reunited with its "sisters" at a recent guild trunk show

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"Lemon Lime" by Lisa Fulmer (8.5" x 11")

I am so inspired by Rebekah Meier’s new book, More Fabric Art Collage…the sequel to her bestselling Fabric Art Collage. Between her two books, there are over 100 mixed media techniques! She shows how much fun it is to layer together richly textured surfaces like Lutradur^®, Ultra-Light Lutradur^®, Timtex^®, and bamboo batting. Tinting and printing everything with yummy colors and imagery is a blast, too!

Our new product coming out in May, Artful Fiber—A Mixed Pack of Fibers & Surfaces, makes it so easy to experiment with tons of different ideas. I’ve been working a lot with the Artful Fiber pack over the past few months, designing projects and filming technique tutorials for my new Artful Fiber Video eBook that will be releasing in a few weeks…more on that soon!

Detail (click the pic to zoom in)

All my color tinting was done with Liquitex^® Acrylic inks, custom-blended from primary colors to create water washes that I brushed on. I also edged each collage piece with Copic markers and used Beacon’s 3-in-1 Craft Glue to adhere everything. I stabilized the batting with Shape-Flex^® on the back, then glued a wide strip of double-thick cardstock (with a hole punched) on the back for hanging. The diagram below gives you some more details so you can create something similar in your own signature style and colors – have fun!

1.  Bamboo batting
2.  Lutradur (100gm) – inkjet printed with a photo I took of the gravel in my yard
3.  Timtex interfacing
4.  Lutradur (70gm) – distressed with a heat gun
5.  Lutradur (70gm) – 2 pieces with a narrow hand-rolled bead made from a strip of Ultra-Light Lutradur, plus a handmade spiral polymer clay bead
6.  Timtex interfacing – ink was blended with Liquitex Iridescent Medium
7.  Lutradur (100gm) – inkjet printed with a photo I took of the leaves on a loquat tree in my yard

Related posts:

1. Where would we be without TAP?
2. Wednesday Night Live – replay!
3. More Fabric Art Collage – and a giveaway!

Materials:

- 2 sheets of TAP
- 2 sheets of ivory craft felt, 8-1/2″ x 11″
- 3-4 yards of 1″ or 1-1/2″ twill tape
- One 6″ wood embroidery hoop
- Pinking or deckle-edge scissors
- Brown embroidery floss and embroidery needle
- Vintage or sepia-toned photos
- Brass jewelry findings:  6 bead caps, 1 yard large-link chain, 3 large oval necklace rings, and 1 large round necklace ring
- 2 pairs needle nose pliers and metal ring cutters
- Additional brass filagree findings or other embellishments
- Fabric glue and clear heavy-duty craft glue

1.  Scan and prep your photos in a photo editing program to lay out several images together (about 1/4″ apart) on to one 8.5″ x 11″ sheet. Print out two sets of photos on to two sheets of TAP and then transfer each set on to a sheet of felt using a dry iron at high heat (follow the instructions inside the TAP package).

2.  Trim out each photo from the felt allowing for a 1/8″ white border. The TAP’s clear polymer surface in between each photo will give you nice crisp edges on the felt when you trim.

3.  Cut six 18”-20” long strips of twill tape and lay them out on your table, side by side. Decide how you want to stagger your pairs of photos in position against each strip. You will be sandwiching each strip between the pairs, with photos facing out.

4.  For one pair of photos at a time, apply 2 very thin strips of fabric glue with a brush on to the back of each photo at the top and bottom (to prevent the glue from bleeding through the felt into the image area).  Sandwich the twill strip in between the pair of photos and press into place; allow to dry.

5.  Adhere your filigree findings and embellishments in between the photos on the twill with small amounts of clear heavy-duty craft glue; allow to dry.

6.  Add a straight stitch around the edges of the photos (through the twill) by hand with embroidery floss.

7.  Separate the two rings of the wood hoop. Fold the top edge of each twill strip (about 3/4″) around the inner hoop, space the strips apart evenly around the hoop, and glue. When dry, secure the outer hoop around the inner hoop (the twill edges will be concealed in between the hoops).

8.  Glue 3 sets of 2 bead caps (each pair should be only 1/16″ apart) to the outside edge of the outer hoop, centered in-between the twill strips, with heavy-duty craft glue. Glue one set of caps on at a time, so you can prop up the hoop vertically while they dry (otherwise gravity works against you).

9.  Clip through each of the 3 oval necklace rings, spread each ring slightly apart and place over the hoops in between each pair of bead caps.

10.  Clip the yard of chain into 3 equal lengths. Slip the last link of each length on to each oval ring, then close the rings using needle nose pliers.

11.  Clip through the large round ring and spread it slightly apart. Slip the top links of all 3 chains through it, then close it. Your mobile is now ready to hang – enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Free Project: Summer’s End fabric postcard
2. Let’s go camping!
3. What is the Creative Troupe up to?

Delaney (my 4-year old) is becoming quite the artist!

I recently joined the team here at C&T Publishing in February and was thrilled when the staff call-out came to review our new releases for April. I love working with crafts, such as jewelry, scrapbooking, and cardmaking, plus I also enjoy baking and cooking.

Rebekah Meier’s new book, More Fabric Art Collage, looked really exciting! I took it home and instantly fell in love with it. But then I got a bit scared, truthfully…everything was so amazing and so much more intricate than I am used to. I got a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to make a good piece.

Collage on Timtex® - by Rebekah Meier

I read through it a couple times and then thought about what my kids might enjoy trying with me. The pictures and the step-by-step details that Rebekah gives are so straightforward and helpful, especially to a real beginner like me! She gives great tips all along the way. I like that images of the actual supplies are included, too, so you can take the book into the store to find exactly what you need.

I sent my kids on a scavenger hunt through the house to find all the basic supplies we needed for some practice sessions, like stencils, wax paper, and foam brushes. I brought home some Ultra-Light Lutradur, a set of Inktense Pencils, Liquitex Flexible Modeling Paste, a pack of TAP, and some acrylic paints.

We used the modeling paste and stencils to embellish some Ultra-Light Lutradur with butterflies and flowers, and then once dry, my daughter painted them. I also tried my hand at using TAP to transfer photos to fabric and then color them with the Inktense pencils. I’m thinking of creating some ATC’s (artist trading cards) like Rebekah suggests. I thought those might be fun to send to family members this year! A work in progress…

Thank you, Rebekah…for making so many artistic techniques easier to try than this mom thought they would be! A little more practice and we’ll be making beautiful art! Click here to see some more of Rebekah’s gorgeous work.

Now for the giveaway—one lucky person will win a copy of More Fabric Art Collage!  To enter, leave a comment on this post telling us about some creative technique you’ve been wanting to try.

For a second entry, log in to your Amazon account and “like” this book, then come back here to leave a separate comment saying you did so.

Deadline to enter is Sunday, 4/29/12. One comment will be drawn at random to win…the winner will be contacted via email and listed here as an update to this post. Good luck!

UPDATE: Our winner is Amanda E. – congrats!

Related posts:

1. Artful Fiber collage
2. Wednesday Night Live – replay!
3. Mixed media journal cover

When I was first asked to explore my creativity with a new product called mul•tex, I was thrilled with the possibilities. Of course, my first inclination is to play with paint…and play I did. I created some wild designs and some even wilder designs. However, I finally settled on a beautifully glamorous stenciled damask design. mul•tex is perfect for stenciling as it is absorbent and textured enough to grab the acrylic paints without bleeding. That is a big win for stencilers!

Supplies

• mul•tex - 1 yard length
• Stencil (an older Ralph Lauren damask stencil was used here)
• Black acrylic paint and a 1” stencil brush
• Paper towels and a foam plate
• Elegant Sole and Haute Tote patterns by Adela Rossol

Lay the mul•tex on a protected and absolutely flat surface, like a drop cloth on a table (any bumpiness will cause paint to run under the stencil). Attach the stencil with blue painters tape on top of the mul•tex.

Place a small amount of black paint on the plate. Dip the stencil brush bristles down in the puddle of paint. Rub it gently. Lift out of paint and place on another part of the plate and make some circles with the brush. This forces the paint up into the bristles and makes it uniform.

The most important part of stenciling is off-loading the brush. Place your brush flat against the paper towel at a 90-degree angle. Press your brush perpendicular to the paper towel and make at least three circles larger in diameter than your brush. Stenciling is a dry brush technique, so most of the paint needs to be removed first. Never go straight from loading your brush to the stencil. That will cause paint to run under the stencil.

Then place your brush perpendicular to the stencil and start by making small circles over the openings. Effective stenciling is not done quickly, it’s a slow build-up of paint.

Keep making the circular motions until all the paint is used, then reload and offload the brush to repeat until the stencil is finished. Periodically pull one of the stencil edges back to check the pattern to see if you missed any areas.

Once the paint is dry, cut your stenciled mul•tex for the outsides of the shoes and bag. Cut the same pieces from decorative scrapbook paper for the insides, then assemble the shoes and bag per the pattern instructions. The translucence of the mul•tex allows the colored paper underneath to show through…beautiful!

The shoebox is an origami-style box and lid folded from paper…check out this eBook, Fun with Folded Fabric Boxes, for some great ideas to showcase your miniature handmade treasures!

Related posts:

1. Free project: Three hearts – a mini art quilt with mul•tex
2. Thank You Card TAP™ Project by Lesley Riley
3. Free project: Zippy mul•tex pouch