I am pleased to introduce a new young quilter, meet Brittany Anderson.

Brittany is 21 and will be graduating from collage in May, 2011. She is the daughter of Lorie Anderson. (Lorie is in my quilt club and craft club groups - I featured her T-shirt quilt on an earlier post) Brittany brought this quilt along to quilt club a few weeks ago and I thought it was terrific for a newbie quilter. I hope you agree. You can read the interview below. Enjoy!

How long have you been quilting?
I have been making my own quilts for 3 months now, I first made a quilt for my boyfriend for Christmas, it was a simple 10" x 10" block quilt, but I have been helping my mom for about 4 years now.

What made you want to start quilting?
I wanted to start quilting because my mom does it and I thought it would be easy to start since she has a wide selection of fabrics and patterns. I also love being able to make something for someone else that can be used over and over.

Earliest quilt memory?
When I was about 8 my grandma made me a purple quilt for my twin bed. It is big blocks with petals of all different colors and in the center of each is brown circle that is hand stitched and filled with stuffing to make it raise from the quilt.  (Its hard to explain but I hope you get the picture)   

What part of quilting do you enjoy the most?  Like least?
I enjoy picking out the colors for a quilt while I dont really like cutting the fabric.

Do you have a favorite style or technique?
Appliqué is pretty fun but I like to explore and try new things with patterns my mom already has to make it one of a kind.

My dad owns a 6 head embroidery machine that we used for the quilting. Him and I set up a circle design with lines going through it to allow all the appliquéd pieces to be stitched down, instead of going around each piece. We had to hoop up and sew each of the nine circles separately because the hoops are only 20 inches square. The top thread is a turquoise and we made our own pink bobbin for the back.

"Birdie Big Blocks" is the pattern by Barbara Brandeburg
Her website is www.barbarabrandeburg.typepad.com

Brittany thanks so much for sharing your quilt with me and allowing me to share it with my readers. Wishing you a long, happy, sewing life!

Tangletown Tote Bag Available in Six Different Kits! Ricky Tims Fabric!

Did you know you can purchase kits (6 different ones) for my Tangletown Tote Bag? The kits should be available in your local quilt shop in a few weeks. If you are interested in one, check with your local quilt retailer and see if they are getting them in. They can special order a single kit for you if they have not already ordered! Once again, don't be shy . . . ask them. This Tote features: Easy tote construction with fusible applique' leaves plus a column stitch stem detail.

CLICK PATTERN COVERS FOR A LARGER VIEW

NOTE: TO QUILT SHOP OWNERS -

This is a low risk offer with a MINIMUM ORDER of ONE!

Delivery is set for March.

How to order WHOLESALE -

#1 - You can order these kits from me via email or phone and I will forward the order to Red Rooster Fabrics.

#2 - You can order direct from Red Rooster online at their Website. They have a form that makes ordering this way very easy!

#3 - You can order from your Red Rooster Rep.

#4 - You could also check with the distributors that carry Red Rooster Fabrics. (However, I am not sure which ones are carrying the kits)

Tangletown Tote Bag Kits Available!

 

Here are two Tangletown Tote bag samples that are at Aunt Annie's Quilts and Silks in Avon, MN.

Lucy has them kitted up and ready to ship so contact her directly if you want one. I think she did an awesome job with her fabric choices!   Click on any photo for a larger version.

Below- Example of satin stitch with solid (left) or variegated (right) threads. Leaves are fused.

 

Here is the contact info 

for Aunt Annies!

Introducing the Tangletown Tote Bag Pattern from Scrap-bags™!!!

"She's a beauty", if I do say so myself and I am very pleased and excited to bring this new tote bag pattern to you! The simple bag construction allows time for using your fusible applique and hand or machine quilting skills. Tote this bag around town and you'll have people stopping in their tracks, you'll be pleased!

The bags shown below are made from Ricky Tims Collections by Red Rooster. Red Rooster will be selling kits wholesale of this pattern along with the coordinating fabrics. This means that quilt and fabric shops will have kits available for you retail in the near future, so ask your favorite shop owner about it!

"Create Something Unexpected!"- Fabric Appliqued Collage

You know our motto, right? "Let our patterns be the canvas for your creativity!" Well this post is just one of many examples. (Below) Is a photo of the Triple Squares Pattern made straight from the pattern directions . . .


(Belos) This photo shows the same bag pattern, jazzed up a bit. I've taken some of the fabric from my shiva paintstik play day, and used a fusible applique technique to create a mini fabric collage on the large pocket of this pattern. I added a few decorative buttons and viola!

And you know our other motto, right? "Create something unexpected!"

Embellished Yin-Yang handbag from Scrap-bags™

Bag Front


Close up of the fused fabric applique'.

Close up of the fabric bead detail.

Online resources for making fabric beads (below):

Fabric and Paper Beads
Knotted Fabric Buttons and Beads
Fabric Beads Book

Bag Back

Vintage Applique!

About three blocks from my studio in the heart of Elk River is Antiques Downtown. Yesterday I paid a visit and found some lovely things to share with you. If I were rich and a collector, I'd have bought these things . . . but for now I simply photographed them. If you are interested in anything here, you can contact them to see if they are still available. Antiques Downtown.

More Fusible Applique' this time with Amy Butler's Midwest Modern Collection from Rowan

I purchased some Amy Butler Fabrics from my local quilt shop. It's been laying around for a little while, waiting for inspiration to strike . . .


Today, I took the Adobe Illustrator image that I had designed for Pam Ring (Previous post) and recolored it to work with the Amy Butler's Midwest Modern Collection from Rowan. This time I used a fusible, printable fabric from Avery, called Personal Creations Printable Fabric. It's heavier than the Printed Treasures I used earlier which is fine for a bag. Also, the color was much more vivid!

The teal dots you see are decorative stitches from my sewing machine.

Fusible Applique' Art on Scrap-bags Triple Squares Pattern

I met Pam Ring at Surtex, she is a mixed media artist. The poster below is an example of her work. We agreed to do an artist swap at the show. I took inspiration from her work to design a bag for her.

I created the house image (on the bag) in adobe illustrator and printed it onto printable fabric, the fabric brand was Printed Treasures by Milliken.

Pattern: Scrap-bags Triple Squares pattern.
Bag Front

Bag Back

After creating the bag for Pam. I was intrigued by this Fabric Inkjet printing technique and so I took one of my gouache portaits and scanned it into my computer and then printed it on the fabric and created this bag.

All of the fabrics shown in this post are from Lonni Rossi's Paint Box Collection from Andover fabrics.

Scrap-bags™ Fat-Quarter with appliqued hexagons

This bag is made from our Fat-Quarter Scrap-bags™ pattern.

It is embellished with hand pieced hexagons that are appliqued
with a blanket stitch.