Monthly Archives: March 2012

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Asymmetrical Quilts – my new book from Leisure Arts

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Its so exciting that my new quilt book Asymmetrical Quilts from Leisure Arts has been published and is ready for shipping. Instructions and patterns for 9 quilts are included in this book, all with an off-centered design. I created each quilt to be unique and all are made with wonderful fabrics. The designs use a combination of traditional and nontraditional blocks in nontraditional arrangements, with several of the quilts adorned with whimsy applique.

Asymmetrical Quilts book by Phyllis Dobbs

My copies are on the way to me and I can’t wait to get them. It was a lot of work putting this book together, but I enjoyed every second of it. The photographs were all taken in the wonderful studio of Becky Stayner.  I will be showing some of the photos I took of the photography sessions so check back to see these and her studio (hint – its in a really quaint house).

I owe a special thanks also to Lisa Mullins of  Wandering Stitches Quilting Studio for an amazing job in quilting the quilts. She added the touch of whimsy where needed to keep the theme of each quilt.

I hope you will check out the book and find that you can’t live without it!

Phyllis

 

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Summer Olympics Go for the Gold Fabrics – Free Quilt and Sewing Patterns

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The Olympic themed fabric collection Go for the Gold is one of Quilting Treasures latest fabric collections and is in time for the Summer 2012 Olympic Games in London. I  enjoyed designing several sewing and quilting patterns for free download from Quilting Treasures website. The fabric features the most popular summer games and is perfect for all sports lovers!

Go for the Gold Free Patterns for quilting and sewing from Quilting Treasures

The tote bag is extra large and is roomy enough to carry all your gym or workout clothes and accessories at 24″ wide and 20″ high. The tote is lined inside with the beautiful flag fabric showing the flags of all the countries. The roll up yoga or exercise mat cover is available in two colorways.  The yoga mat carry bag has a carry sling strap so that you can easily carry your rolled up mat and cover hands free.

You can follow the preparations for the London 2012 summer games that will be held in July and August – its actually not that far off. Start sewing and you will be all set to help celebrate the games!

Phyllis

 

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day and My Lucky 4 Leaf Shamrock!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day and luck of the Irish to you! I have a lucky patch of shamrock’s growing in a natural area close to my house and nothing says St. Patrick’s Day better than a shamrock. I love to look through patches of clover for a lucky 4-leaf clover and did so this morning.  I figured that finding one on St. Patrick’s Day would be extra lucky. Right?

St. Patrick's Day Shamrock patch Phyllis Dobbs

And I did find one. I didn’t pick it like I usually do, but left it to grow, hoping it will bring better luck that way.

4 leaf clover on St. Patrick's Day

After having good luck finding my 4 leaf clover, I’m now going to look for a rainbow so I can find the pot of gold. I know its out there somewhere!

Happy St. Patty to all of you!

Phyllis

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Quilt Designs in a New Quilt Book “Bed Runners and More”

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I just received a copy of a beautiful new quilt book Bed Runners & More and am trilled that I have 2 quilts featured in this book. Bed runners add such a dramatic decorative touch to a bed and bedroom! Published by House of White Birches and edited by Carolyn S. Vagts, this book has instructions and patterns for 9 bed runners with some coordinating shams for different looks for the bedroom. The theme of the book is seasonal, with bed runners for the different seasons of the year.

The runners made for this book are for sale in both my Etsy store and this website.

Bed Runners and More quilt Summer Blossoms by Phyllis Dobbs

I designed Summer Blossoms runner with 2 pillow shams. I adore and love these hot and spicy colors in the Penny Lane fabric collection from Quilting Treasures. They definitely say “summer time”! This runner is 81″ x 27″ and the shams fit regular size pillows. The fuchsia flowers are appliqued.

Bed Runners & More quilt Warm Splendor by Phyllis Dobbs

My other quilt is Warm Splendor made with the beautiful warm and cozy fall colors in the Cornucopia fabric collection by Quilting Treasures. The size of this bed runner is 77 1/2″ x 30″ plus the prairie points on each end. Both of these quilt runners are easy to make and make great projects for a beginner quilter as well as the experienced quilter.

I hope you look for this book for the other fabulous projects included. It was fun designing my projects as well as sewing and quilting them, so I hope you will give them a try!

Happy Quilting!

Phyllis

 

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March is National Craft Month with Lots of Crafting Opportunities

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Get out your craft supplies!  March is National Craft Month. To celebrate, many of the craft companies are planning lots of activities and specials, so click to see these activities all listed on CraftPlace.org.

National Craft Month

I’ve always loved crafting and have created crafts from childhood. Oh, all the crafts I have worked with – drawing and painting, sewing, designing doll clothes, batik, macrame, stained glass (this was my only drop out due to too many cuts and blood), decoupage, paper crafting, embroidery, cross stitch, beading (both jewelry and sewing), crochet, needlepoint, quilting, crewel, rug hooking, and mosaics. I know there are plenty more that just didn’t pop out of the top of my head. I love taking classes and whenever a class was available on a craft technique, I took it.

Let me know what you love about crafting. Me – I love how relaxing it is and how little everyday life stresses fade away when crafting. You can come home from a hard day at work and let a little crafting soothe you. As a designer, I can get stressed by deadlines creeping up, but when I start working on the projects, I’m in heaven! I also love the creative aspect – no two craft projects are the exact same, so you’ve created something totally unique. Its also something that you can do with your kids for some really good times together. The list of perks from crafting just goes on and on!

Seriously, let me know about your crafting loves or experiences!

Phyllis

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Book Review – a Fabulous New Needlework Book by Linda Wyszynski

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I love, love needlework and have collected needlework books for years. I just added The Complete Photo Guide to Needlework by Linda Wyszynski to my collection and have to say that along with it being a beautiful book, its also the most comprehensive book I have. Needlework is so versatile. In addition to all types of needlework projects you can create, you can also use needlework to add beauty and detail to quilts and sewing projects. A few embroidery stitches can also make such a difference with your favorite craft technique, even paper crafts.

The Complete Photo Guide to Needlework by Linda Wyszynski

This book has photos and diagrams for 200 stitches you can use for creative embroidery, crewel, silk ribbon embroidery, bead embroidery, cross stitch and needlepoint. In addition to all the photos, the book is filled with easy to follow diagrams. With this book, you will have all the information to get you started with needlework – stitching equipment and supplies, canvases, charts, fabrics, threads, ribbons and much more.

Included in The Complete Photo Guide to Needlework, published by Creative Publishing International, are projects to use with the different techniques. You will love this book whether you are a beginner or an experienced stitcher.

A little bit about Linda – I’ve known Linda for at least 20 years. She is the most talented needlework designer I know and designs for numerous magazines and books as well as correspondence classes for The Embroider’s Guild of America. She worked very diligently on this book to insure its completeness and to design the beautiful projects. She was aided by her husband Dennis, who created the graphs, illustrations and took the photographs – a winning combination to produce a beautiful book!

Put a little stitching in your day!

Phyllis

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PS to my “Pinterest – Love It and Do It Right” Post

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Pinterest does seem be paying attention to all the bad press its been getting in the last few weeks.  I wrote the “Pinterest – Love It and Do It Right” post a few days ago to give tips on how to pin an image to avoid copyright infringement as well as to provide a clear link back to the image source.

Copyright issues are at the heart of a big problem with pinning and repinning images. After a photographer, Kristen with DDK Portraits, wrote a blog post on why she was tearfully deleting her Pinterest boards, she received a phone call from Ben Silbermann, the owner of Pinterest. A REAL LIVE PHONE call. Please read the blog post on Kristen’s phone “Date with Ben Silbermann“. It does sound like he genuinely wants to address and correct the problems with Pinterest.  Yea!  DOUBLE YEA! Fingers and toes crossed because I do love Pinterest.

So stay tuned and to quote Bob Dylan with a word change – “the Pinterest, they are a-changin”! (We hope!)

And remember – protect you images always with a watermark, an id with your name or url, or all of these.

Phyllis