When I was at the Craft & Hobby show last week, I made sure to visit Allison Kreft Abad in the Hambly Studios booth…I just love their papers. I was oohing and aahing over these adorable wallets she had made by trapping Hambly scrapbook papers in between two layers of vinyl….such a fun way to use vinyl.

The designer of this wallet pattern, Kristy Boucher (aka Dear Suki), appeared on the Martha Stewart Show with this project…even Martha thinks it’s fun!

What we love about the wallet, of course, is the vinyl—our new and improved Quilter’s Vinyl is just the ticket…it’s the perfect weight for stitching up all kinds of cute crafts. This month we just released it in handy 1.5 yard rolls (which should be enough for a few wallets) plus it’s also available on the bolt.

Click here for Kristy’s tutorial and video clip on the Martha Stewart website – enjoy your wallet-making!

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Crazy in the Garden

Let’s get to know the author of Allie Aller’s Crazy Quilting a bit better, shall we?

What was your career prior to being an artist?

This sounds weird, but my husband and I were commercial dairy farmers. After 10 years, we sold the farm and he went on to become an airline pilot while I became a stay-at-home mom. The long years when he was away for four days of each week gave me a huge amount of time to devote to quilting. I spent 25 years honing my skills in quilting before I became a crazy quilter in 1999.

What was your first experience as an artist?

Making collages as a 5-year old with wonderful materials and supplies provided by my grandmother. My crazy quilting is a direct outgrowth of that.

How has your artistry changed over the years?

Because after all this time I am deeply familiar with my materials, I can approach my work quite intuitively at this point. I am enjoying using fabrics, supplies, and techniques that are way outside the range of traditional cotton quilting now, too. All the genres of quilting that I have passed through over the years—bed quilts, Broderie Perse, stained glass quilts, and landscape quilting—are now finding a new synthesis in my crazy quilts as well. I think that is what makes my work unique, this deep “sane” quilting background combined with breaking out into this rich and complex format: crazy quilting.

What do you love most about your work and your community?

I just love working. Being in the sewing room, engaged in the design and execution processes, bringing a project to fulfillment–this is supremely wonderful for me.  As they say in baseball, “I live for this!” Crazy quilters are extraordinarily kind, generous, funny, and warm people.  I love them, and getting to know many of them has been one of the joys of my life.

Summer Lake Day

What is your favorite project?

Probably Summer Lake Day, a large crazy quilt completed in 2003 (it’s in the Gallery section of my book). The reasons for this are:

1) This quilt came from very, very deep in my bones; the subject was hugely meaningful for me.

2) It was a major stretch artistically, my first attempt to combine both abstract and representational imagery in a crazy quilt.

3) I got to use a really wide and whacky combination of fabrics, and this was the first time I sewed rocks and sea glass to a quilt.  I discovered that I love doing that, finding inventive ways to incorporate necessary objects and strange fabrics.

4) I had done long term projects before, but the intensity of my relationship to this piece was way beyond anything that came before it.

I got two responses to it early on that I still treasure. One was from an architecture professor who, when examining it, said.  “It’s all there….everything…this is surface sculpture, you know.”  What a thrill that was!  I’ve thought of crazy quilting as three-dimensional work ever since. The other was from a pastor, who started crying as soon as she saw it.  I truly believe that she could tell where it came from in my soul. Also, the fact that it won First Place in the 2003 AQS Crazy Quilt competition was very validating for me.

Crazy for Flowers

Do you have a ritual for starting new projects?

I let a piece gestate in my unconscious for quite awhile, sometimes years.  Gradually it surfaces, coalesces in my conscious mind, and then I’ll start designing it in my head.  When it has to finally come out and get made, much of the work on it is already done. Then I completely clean the sewing room, start assembling my materials, and begin the discovery of how it will take physical shape. I am a serial monogamist, only outwardly involved in one project at any one time. I’ve learned to trust this process and stay sharp as a listener within.

What happens when you finish a project – do you celebrate?

I celebrate for about 10 seconds.  Then I start immediately on the next project, which by then is ripe and ready to get made.

What memorable moment can you share from your travels?

When I was at the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska (in my capacity as a board member for the Alliance for American Quilts), we were given a tour of part of their storage facilities. There was a huge rack of shallow drawers for quilts that could not be folded. Our guide pulled out one of the drawers randomly and the quilt inside it was My Crazy Dream, a very famous and inspiring quilt which is on the cover of Penny McMorris’s legendary book on crazy quilting.  So there it was, a quilt I had studied minutely for hours and hours on the page, was now right in front of me, in all its glory. I just about died.

What makes you really happy?

Color, love, friendship, fiber, flowers, family…oh, and strong hot coffee with pain au chocolat.

Thanks, Allie!
Have a peek at a few more images from inside her book in our Flickr gallery.

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"Summer Rain" quilt

Wait until you see the quilts in Geta Grama’s new book, Shadow Trapunto Quilts! Your first question will be (at least it was mine), “How in the world did she make that quilt?” 

If you know what shadow appliqué is (appliqué on a background with a sheer fabric over the top), then you have an idea what shadow trapunto is. The secret ingredient…the fluffy white trapunto…is batting. It’s a simple supply we’re all familiar with, but instead of hiding it between the quilt layers, it’s the star.

"Day and Night" pillows

Geta has developed simple techniques for creating these amazing quilts. The book includes instructions for 30 projects (yes, 30!) and she even includes a gallery of more amazing examples, plus a CD of the patterns so you can easily print them on your home printer. Of course, the patterns are also included in the book.

I can’t wait to make one myself. This is the most excited I’ve been about a technique in a while. And, with all the great things floating around the office, that’s pretty amazing. I’ve been an editor here at C&T for 20 years and this is one of my all-time favorites! Click here to see more projects in our Flickr gallery.

Now for the giveaway! One lucky person will win a copy of Shadow Trapunto Quilts.

To enter, leave a comment on this post telling us your favorite brand(s) of batting.

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

Deadline to enter is Sunday, February 12, 2012. One comment will be drawn at random to win…the winner will be contacted via email and posted here on the blog next week. Good luck!

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Love this distressed heart!

Last week I taught a class on working with Lutradur^® Mixed Media Sheets at Art Supply Warehouse in Westminster, CA. Everyone had a great time painting on Lutradur with Liquitex^® Professional Acrylic inks!™ and Derwent Inktense Blocks. I just wanted to share some of their work with you.

Using water to remove color in areas of this abstract floral

What do I love most about using these particular mediums on this particular surface? The beautiful, intense colors you can get with water-based techniques, and how the colors can bleed and blend along Lutradur’s fiberous surface without clogging or obscuring its translucent texture. Whether you’re painting something realistic or abstract, if you’re creating a background or an all-over surface design…it’s just good fun for anyone and everyone!

The fibers add interesting texture and dimension to a lion's face

Your finished work can be used for just about anything…frame it as is, layer it into a mixed-media piece, use it as part of a handmade greeting card, sew it into an art quilt…the possibilities are endless.

Surface design

Mixing colors with both inks and blocks for a vibrant background

Bold streaks become a dragon

Experimenting with chopstick-style patterns!

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Original orphan blocks

Quite a few years ago, I took a design/improvisational piecing workshop presented by my guild. I made these three blocks, which have been sitting in my “I don’t know what to do with these” drawer since I made them. While editing Rayna Gillman’s book, Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts, I started thinking about applying her process to these blocks.  I sliced them up and started adding in other fabrics, following her “don’t think, just sew” advice. All of the piecing was improvisational, no rulers, just cutting and sewing. I made a bunch of units and put them up on the wall.

Individual units

Then I started sewing the units together. I was merrily sewing away and I realized, uh oh, too much. Way too much going on here. I put everything up on the wall again to take a look and think about what I wanted to do.

Way too much!

I took out the sashing that I had added in, and started working with the four “blocks.” One was still way too busy, so I ended up cutting it into 2 postcards and a little quilt for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative.

I liked the remaining blocks and decided to keep them as separate units. I also decided that even though I usually don’t do hand quilting, these needed big stitch quilting with perle cotton thread and embroidery floss—it would add line and texture without being distracting and competing with the piecing. I didn’t want them to have individual frames, so I finished each with a facing instead.

My finished blocks

My next challenge will be to decide how to hang them…keep them as individual units or group them on a backing? Stay tuned.

Related posts:

1. This week’s giveaway—it’s all about free-form!
2. A taste of free-form quilting
3. Wednesday Night Live – replay!

Lisa Fulmer (left) and Rebekah Meier inking and stamping on mul•tex

I’m visiting the Craft & Hobby Association’s Winter Conference and Trade Show this week and there’s so much to see and do! Connecting in person with so many designers, resellers, and manufacturing colleagues is always such a treat. This show just oozes creativity and inspiration—from sewing to quilting to knitting to papercrafts to scrapbooking to mixed media to kids’ crafts—there is something here for everyone.

Rebekah Meier and I demo-ed at the R&M Distributors booth, showing off a very cool new art surface that we are releasing this April called mul•tex™. And we were so delighted to see that everyone loved it!

Rebekah has done some gorgeous work with mul•tex, it’s such a versatile surface. You can paint and stamp on it, stitch through it, distress it, fuse it to fabric or paper. It’s translucent and looks quite delicate, but it’s actually tear-resistant. It has a lovely mulberry tissue texture on one side, with a glossy coating on the other side. We’ll be sharing lots of great project ideas and tutorials using mul•tex here on the blog next month – watch for it!

Journal and patchwork sampler made from mul•tex

We gave folks a sneak peek of Rebekah’s new sequel book, also coming out in April, More Fabric Art Collage. Get your own sneak peek—click here for the Flickr gallery.

The show lasts a couple more days…I’ll be taking lots of pictures of the people, the products, and the booths to share with you soon!

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Today I have a very special Valentine…just for you! It’s a fabric envelope filled with sweet-smelling heart sachets stuffed with some of last summer’s lavender from my garden. Super easy and super fast – your favorite fat quarter, a fast2fuse® Craft Pack, and a couple sheets of Lutradur® will get you started.

These would also make great party favors or thank-you gifts. And don’t forget the men in your life…just swap out the lavender for some cedar shavings.

Not only is this fun and easy to make, you’ll also get to enjoy a little aromatherapy while sewing….making it the perfect project all the way around! Read on for the project instructions…

1. To make the envelope sheet, cut two pieces of your favorite fabric and one piece of fast2fuse each to 9” x 18” (approximately). Sandwich the fast2fuse between the wrong sides of the fabrics and fuse the fabric to both sides of the fast2fuse with your household iron, following the package directions. I raided my stash for this cute black and white heart print.
2. Trim your envelope sheet to 8” x 17”, making one of the short edges come to a point like an envelope. Then make a tight zigzag stitch all around the cut edges of the envelope. Fold up the straight edge roughly 6″ toward the pointed edge, then use a straight stitch to sew up both sides of the envelope, just inside of the zigzag edging.
3. For the sachets, cut out 2 hearts (approx. 4″ wide)  from a couple sheets of 70gm Lutradur. Sew the hearts together, leaving a small opening to pour in the lavender, then sew the opening closed. Four of these puffy hearts will fit nicely in your envelope.
4. Glue a romantic embellishment or diecut to the front of each heart and handstitch a length of red embroidery floss through the top as a hanger.
5. Place your hearts inside your envelope and tie the entire treasure closed with some ribbon; I place a vintage velvet ribbon rose beneath my love knot.

Have a happy Valentine’s Day!

Related posts:

1. Fabric and fast2fuse Heart Ornaments
2. Caged Creature—free Halloween project
3. Skulls Deelybopper Headband Halloween Project

Christina's daughter, Lylia

Our staff always throws a baby shower for our expectant parents (really it’s just an excuse to eat cake).

Christina's shower

One  of our sales reps, Tina, recently brought home a second foster daughter, Elizabeth, to join her first foster daughter, Isabella. Elizabeth and Isabella are biological sisters too…fingers crossed for Tina and her husband as they wait for the final word on being able to adopt these two  little girls!

Tina's foster daughters, Isabella and Elizabeth

Another of our sales reps, Shirley, has two adorable new additions to her family, too!

Shirley's granddaughter, Ava

Shirley's great-grandaughter, Leilani

We try to make a quilt for new C&T babies…and two more are on the way this June…congrats to our Production Manager, Kirstie and our Accounts Receivable Coordinator, Sara!

Maybe we should get a head start and start flipping through Special Delivery Quilts #2 with Patrick Lose now. So many delightful baby quilt designs in this book, hard to choose!

Related posts:

1. Special Delivery Quilts #2 with Patrick Lose — and a giveaway!
2. Ever hear of a “humility block?”
3. Great quilting upgrades a “Super Simple” quilt

In a follow-up to her first book, Quilt Blocks Across America, Debra Gabel takes us on a continental tour in Quilt Blocks Around the World. Her new appliqué pattern designs for exciting places like Tokyo, Sydney, and Venice are sure to make you long for a life of travel and exploration. Her signature poster-style blocks would be wonderful as part of a souvenir quilt commemorating your vacation, or as part of a dream quilt to map out the favorite spots on your bucket list.

Here’s some of what Debra had to say about her journey into this book…

The whole concept of destination quilts started at Spring Quilt Market in 2009 where I launched my new Zebra Patterns line. It was well received – especially my stamp patterns which are unique renditions of extra-large postage stamps from different cities and states. The popularity of the stamp patterns made it clear to me that quilters want to make quilts that reflect their lives and travels.

That initial spark led to my first book, then naturally progressed to these world block designs. I cannot tell you how many people asked if I thought I would do other countries! I did not think I could do a whole country justice in one quilt block, but I felt confident that I could capture the flavor of world destinations by focusing on notable landmarks. That is the intention of this book: to capture the flavor of each destination in six inches of cloth.

My sincere hope is that your journey with the patterns in this book is a fun and exciting way for you to respond in cloth to the question, “Where ya been?”

Look for our new Eco Wheelie Tote coming in April that features lots of Debra’s block designs! Visit our Flickr gallery to see a few more designs from this book, and check out Debra’s website, Zebra Patterns, for details on other designs she offers.

Now for the giveaway! One lucky person will win a copy of Quilt Blocks Around the World.

To enter, leave a comment on this post telling us where in the world you have been or would like to visit. For an additional entry, log in to your Amazon account and “like” this book, then come back here to leave a second comment saying you did so.

Deadline to enter is Sunday, January 29, 2012. One comment will be drawn at random to win…the winner will be contacted via email and posted here on the blog next week. Good luck!

Congrats to Jenny S. – she won a copy of Kim Schaefer’s Skinny Quilts from our last giveaway post.

Related posts:

1. The story of the stamp

We had an occasion to commemorate—Carolyn was retiring from C&T! Well, not retiring exactly; more like transitioning into retirement. She went from being a very-valued full-time employee to a very-valued freelancer. But we were going to miss seeing her in the office every day. She’d worked for C&T for 13 years and was a great resource as she knew everything a technical editor needed to know, plus some. Carolyn is the type of person who is not only a co-worker but a friend, too.

So what do we do at C&T when someone retires? (Or has a baby? Or gets married?) We make them a quilt, of course!

Here’s Carolyn with the quilt after we presented it to her last week.

Oh, and just for fun, here’s my dog, Ollie, loving the quilt, too. I had the quilt at home to sew the label on and thought I’d snap a photo.

In case you get the urge to make a quilt like this one—it’s from the book Super Simple Jelly Roll Quilts with Alex Anderson and Liz Aneloski.

Related posts:

1. The Editorial Team: Technical Editors
2. My Oldest Sister’s Quilt
3. Almost Woven, Super Simple Quilt