Mad for Solids: 2017 Edition

I don't normally follow college basketball. Until March, that is.

Every year when it's time to fill out brackets for March Madness, I get that excited feeling. Can the underdog beat the number 1 seed? There are always surprising upsets--it happens every year.

I was invited again this year to participate in March Madness--the Mad for Solids 2017 edition, a fun event for Paintbrush Studios by Fabri-Quilt. Solids have become my go-to fabric choice for nearly all of my quilts.

A few weeks ago, while sitting in church and nearly at the end of the service, I suddenly focused on the shirt the man in front of me was wearing. It had beautiful colors and such a lovely sheen. I took out my iPhone and covertly snapped a picture.

When I received the invitation to choose  Painter's Palette Solids again this year for the Mad for Solids event, I knew exactly where my color choices would take me.

There are 16 of us altogether in the competition (you can follow everyone's progress on Instagram by using the hashtags #madforsolids and #solidsbracket2017).

Aside from choosing our eight colors, we choose the name for our palette, and I chose Magenta Madness.

My colors are:
(Top row): 121-046 Royalty, 121-030 Bordeaux, 121-150 Wine, 121-028 Red Violet
(Bottom row): 121-107 Wisteria, 121-085 Thistle, 121-021 Mauve, 121-018 Petal

I hope you will check out the competition--as always, there are formidable contenders. And please vote. More details are on the Inspired by Fabric blog and voting will begin on Monday, March 27, both on the blog and on Instagram (@pbstudiofabrics).  I will be in Round 1, Game 2. If I win, I move on to the next round, very much like the NCAA March Madness.

The winning bundle’s creator will receive an additional 6 yards of solids—in our choice of colors—in 1 yard cuts. Even more, two randomly drawn voters from the championship game will receive 1/4 yard cuts of the winning bundle. bundle. So vote for your favorite and you just might win some fabric for yourself. Go team!

The Name Game (a special edition) and a giveaway: Tokodots

One of the things I love most about social media is the unexpected connections you make.

This one started years ago when I started following Rita of Red Pepper Quilts. I have been a huge fan of hers and over this time, we have had several great email conversations. When she started posting her work on Instagram, of course I followed her there as well, along with countless other fans.

Some time last year, she posted pictures of a quilt she had made, and cited her inspiration as Jan Burgwinkle. Rita inspires so many of us, so naturally when she gave the name of someone who had inspired one of her quilts, I wanted to check out this person!

Jan has a fabulous Instagram account (as well as a blog), and I have had such fun going back through her feed. Being a grandmother myself, with uber adorable grandchildren, I noticed this cute little boy who popped up frequently in her feed. Somehow, Jan's pictures finally led me to her daughter, Molly Lam.

Molly sells her designs in her Etsy shop, Tokodots. If you are a quilter, you will fall in love with her designs. If you are not a quilter, you will fall in love with her bright images and clean lines. Don't be surprised if you want to buy one of everything!!

In addition to introducing Molly and her work, I thought it would be fun to have a special edition of the Name Game.

1. How did you choose the name, Tokodots?

Tokodots came out of a play on words in Japanese.  I came across a really rare word in my days as a Japanese interpreter (tokowaka) and my Japanese co-workers told me that I must have misheard it because it wasn't a word that any of them knew.  It was a proud moment when I found someone who could explain its real meaning, and I was reminded that I should trust my instinct.  The toko- part basically means "always" so paired with dots it made a lot of sense for me, and reminded me of a proud moment in my previous professional life. 

2. Were there other names you considered, and can you share them with us?

I wish I remembered more of the names I had thrown around, but one that sticks out is Dot Days.  I'm definitely glad that I didn't pick that! 

 

3. Now that you are known by Tokodots, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I couldn't be more happy with the name.  I'm sure it's confusing to some people, but I love that Tokodots is unique and often starts an interesting conversation about Japan and the world when I meet customers in person. 

After placing my first order, an idea started percolating. I contacted Molly, asking whether she would consider allowing me to use her designs to make a series of mini quilts. I was thrilled when she said yes. I have the fabric already chosen, so look for my part of the collaboration to start unfolding over the coming months.

However, the thrill of interpreting Molly's designs into fabric didn't come close to matching my excitement when she asked if she could turn one of my quilts into a design for note cards.

She chose Delta Breeze, one of my most favorite designs. Ever.

Here is Molly's interpretation. Aren't they fabulous??

Individually:

I might have ordered over a dozen sets myself. :)

And now you have a chance to win a set for yourself! Molly and I are hosting a giveaway on Instagram beginning tomorrow, March 22, and you have two chances to win--leave a comment on Molly's account, @tokodots, and also on mine, @liveacolorfullife. The giveaway will be open until Friday, March 24, at 11:59 p.m. CST.

I hope you will have a look at all of Molly's fabulous designs in her Etsy shop (you can read about the Delta Breeze notecards here). Not only does she have sets of note cards available, she also has individual cards and art prints suitable for framing. Her series of origami prints has really captured my heart--wouldn't those make great mini quilts? Hmmmm....

I hope Molly and I have many more collaborations in the future.

Bella Skill Builder: Orange Peel

It is month 2 of the Bella Skill Builder series, sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop. This is a free monthly series designed by Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life.

This month's block is the classic orange peel with the petals in two sizes.

While the block is fairly simple in construction, I had forgotten how many steps are involved. There are YouTube tutorials for each block. I happened to have the book, Playful Petals by Corey Yoder (another brilliant Moda fabric designer) handy, and I followed her technique for fusible applique.

I used Lite Steam-A-Seam 2. After tracing the petals and cutting them per Corey's instructions, which involve cutting about 1/8" around outside of the traced petal and then cutting out the center of each traced petal, leaving about 1/4" (this reduces bulkiness), and then removing the paper from one side, I finger pressed the Steam-A-Seam onto the fabric. At that point, you are supposed to remove the other side of the paper and be ready to fuse the petal to the background. However, I always had difficulty removing the paper and found that with a very light once-over with my iron, the fusible was adhered to the fabric enough that I could then cut the shape, remove the second side of the paper and it was ready to fuse to the background squares.

I chose to machine blanket-stitch the petals to the background squares.

Once I got going, this process didn't take as long as I had anticipated. And I'm really happy with the results.

Here are my completed blocks. This month I also decided that the overall quilt would benefit from some pops of a pretty turquoise here and there. I already had this color in my stash and I think it will really liven things up.

I hope you join in. You can find information here, along with other participating bloggers.

Bella Skill Builder: Kaleidoscope

Welcome to month 1 of the Bella Skill Builder, a ten-month series courtesy of Fat Quarter Shop.

This quilt was designed by Sherri McConnell, and the free, yes free, blocks will be released on the first of each month, starting today and running through November.

This month's blocks are the classic kaleidoscope block, in two sizes.

I have made quite a few kaleidoscope quilts over the years, and the first helpful hint I can offer is to get a specialty ruler to help you out. Of course, you can definitely make these blocks without the ruler, and templates are included in the pattern. But, in my opinion, you will be much happier using the ruler. There are several to choose from. If you happen to be partial to Creative Grids rulers, get the Spider Web Ruler.

I have used Marti Michell's Kaleido-Ruler for years and it's another great option.

I'll be using Moda Bella solids for the entire quilt, and there are so many luscious colors so I had the hardest time choosing colors. Kim of Persimon Dreams chose to make a scrappy solids quilt, which I think is going to be fabulous. In the end, I went with a "Figtree Quilts" palette. The plan is to donate this quilt to the annual quilt auction at the West Coast Mennonite Relief Sale in 2018, with proceeds going to Third World relief.

(This picture is for my granddaughter, Charlotte, who loves to turn nearly every picture on my phone into a watercolor via the waterlogue app. Hi, Charlotte....)

Does this sound interesting to you? Join us! The Fat Quarter Shop will walk you through all the blocks with their video series. You can get all the information here, along with a list of participating bloggers.

Friday Finish: Briar Rosary

The story of this quilt began back in 2013 when Amy from Diary of a Quilter invited me to design a block for a series she was running called the Virtual Quilting Bee (the series is available here).

There were 16 designers and we each had to come up with a block, and then make it in both solids and prints.

The block I designed is called Chiral Music (named by our son, Aaron), a rather quirky name. I had texted him a picture of the block and said I felt it needed a better name than "In and Out" or "Hello-Goodbye," and he immediately texted back "chiral." I wondered if he had meant "choral" because I had never heard of the term "chiral." He said that chiral refers to a molecule that appears to be a mirror image but actually is not exactly superimposable (he knows a lot of scientific information). I liked the name a lot, and added "music" as kind of a play on words since I had originally thought he meant "choral."

I really liked the block. It is basically just a 9-patch, with a frame, and finishes at 8"x8". I had a fat quarter stack of Heather Ross's line, Briar Rose, so I made another Chiral Music block.

Then I decided to play around with it, basically turning the four sets of half-square triangles in a different direction, and came up with this block.

 At about the same time, I had a stack of Cherrywood hand-dyed fabrics in beautiful blues and greens. I made a quilt to submit to Modern Patchwork for possible publication and it looked like this. I really liked the graphic element of the chain seeming to connect the blocks together, and named it Chain Link.

After all these years, I have finally completed the version done with the Briar Rose fabrics. I thought of beads on a string, and named it Briar Rosary.

The one Chiral Music block was added to the back.

I love the way the quilt turned out, and it was beautifully quilted by Darby.

Name:  Briar Rosary
Quilt Size: 40" x 40"
Block Size: 8" x 8"
Designed and Made by: Cindy Wiens
Quilted by: Darby Myers

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF, Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Have a lovely weekend.

Sweet Rebellion: A Mini Quilt Tutorial

Are you familiar with Ink & Arrow Fabrics yet? I had a chance to work with a couple of fabrics from their Sweet Rebellion line, thanks to Courtney from Wives of Westwood. Sweet Rebellion is pretty and edgy at the same time. How many times do you see bike chains and peonies combined in the same fabric?

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I had designed a block for the the Summer 2015 issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks called "Off the Rails," a variation of the classic rail fence block.

While I was really happy with the block, I never made anything more than that one block which I sent to the magazine.

As I have had three blocks published by Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, one of my goals in 2017 is to actually make a project with each one of them. The beautiful fabric provided the perfect opportunity to start meeting that goal.

The block is super simple. There are four blocks in the Sweet Rebellion mini quilt (this is the information for one block):
Black Dot and White Dot:
from each:
4 rectangles 2 1/2" x 6 1/2"
4 squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Center Rail:
4 rectangles 2 1/2" x 6 1/2"

This block uses the "stitch and flip" technique. For the black and white dot rectangles, align one of the 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares on a corner of the rectangle. Mark a diagonal line from corner to corner as shown. Sew on the marked line. Trim the seam allowance to 1/4" as shown.

Flip the patch open and press.

Add one of the center rails and sew together.

Each block requires four of these units. I really loved the Peonies & Chains in light pink, so for each block I made two units those, one unit with Chain Scroll in Fuchsia and one unit Packed Lily of the Valley in pink.. All four units are constructed like the photo above. Then you just rotate them like this and sew the units together. 

I made four blocks to complete the mini quilt. But since I had never sewn more than one of the blocks, for some reason I hadn't visualized the cool secondary design that popped up in the middle of the block--like a reverse block right there in the center.

Here is the completed 24" x 24" mini quilt. I'm so happy with how it turned out that now I want to make a lap-sized quilt using this block.

The Sweet Rebellion line has the Square Dot Blender in several other colors as well. And the Chain Scroll comes in a black or white background--SUCH a fun print! 

Many thanks to Wives of Westwood and Ink & Arrow Fabrics for giving me the opportunity to play with this fun line of fabric. 

And three cheers--this is my first finish of 2017!!