Category Archives: Quilts & Quilting

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Jay McCarroll, Project Runway winner, debuts new fabric line at Quilt Market

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Jay McCarroll, the winner of the first season of Project Runway was at Quilt Market with two new collections of fabrics with Free Spirit.  And I had the delight of meeting Jay as well as have my picture taken with him.

I read more on the internet about Jay.  As a winner of Project Runway, he was awarded $100,000 but turned it down.  At the time, their contract said that they would own a percentage of all his professional ventures in perpetuality.  Wow, what a clause! It had to have taken a lot of courage to turn down the money and I admire him for it. (Project Runway no longer has this clause, thank goodness.)

Please check back as I have much more to show from Quilt Market as well as information on my newest fabric collection – coming soon – Its a Dog’s Life!

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“Quilt-opoly” and embroidered quilt blocks

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Quiltopoly Board Game

Quiltopoly Board Game

If you are a quilter or sewer, you will love the new “Quilt-opoly” board game from The DMC Corporation that debuted at International Quilt Market.  Its like Monopoly, (which by the way,  I’ve always loved to play) but features quilts and quilting.  The properties are all quilt blocks with escalating degrees of complexity.

Quilt-opoly board game for quilt lovers

Quilt-opoly board game for quilt lovers

I have a special love for “Quilt-opoly” – I designed the graphics for it, including the quilt block properties, the the actual quilt stitching properties shown in the center of each row, as well as some of the sayings on the cards.  It was a fun project to work on and I just love the way it turned out. And I can’t wait to play!

In addition to “Quilt-opoly”, I designed and created the quilt blocks in DMC’s booth featuring their fibers and threads for quilting.  I really loved working with the various textures represented in the various fibers of their product line.

Log Cabin Quilt Block

Log Cabin Quilt Block

Sunflower Quilt Block

Sunflower Quilt Block

Diamond In Block

Diamond In Block

Butterfly Block designed by Phyllis Dobbs for The DMC Corp.

Butterfly Quilt Block

As a special note, I want to say that The DMC Corporation is not going bankrupt or out of business.  Since I have worked with DMC a lot over the past several years, I occasionally get asked this question.  DMC-US is a separate entity and is doing just fine.  They have sold their other divisions and are concentrating on the fibers only and are doing extremely well, I’m happy to say!

Tomorrow, I will write about another “celebrity” that I met at Quilt Market as well as show come of the many gorgeous quilts that I saw there.  So, please check back!

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Houston Quilt Market – Personal appearance by Marie Osmond

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International Quilt Market is always such fun in additional to being such a beautiful show with all the colors of fabrics and quilts everywhere.  I have lots of photos and information to share with you from my recent trip to Houston for  Quilt Market and will be blogging all week with details.

Quilting Treasures, the fabric company that my fabric designs are with, also produces Marie Osmond’s fabrics.  I was asked to design a quilt with Marie’s new fabric line “Gypsy Breeze” for Quilting Treasures’ booth at Quilt Market. When I saw the fabrics, I knew I would love designing this quilt, especially with the blue, aqua, green and purple colors. (the colors are a little distorted in the right side of the photo by the show lighting).

Marie Osmond

Marie Osmond

Marie attended Quilt Market and spent time in Quilting Treasures booth meeting attendees.  I met and talked with her about the quilt.  She was very complimentary and pointed out her favorite parts of the quilt as well as posing for a photo with a hug!

Marie with Donna McKinney from Quilting Treasures modeled aprons made with other fabric collections of Marie”s.  Julie Johnson, editor of Sewing Savvy magazine, center in the photo, brought the 2 aprons made with Marie’s fabrics that will be in the book The Best Apron Book Ever.   (An apron that I designed will also be in this book and I designed another apron with some of Marie’s fabrics that will appear in the book Sew Special Fat Quarter Gifts.)  Both books are being edited by Julie.

It was an absolute delight meeting Marie! And she is a quilter as well.  She brought a quilt with her that she had just made before Quilt Market, but unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of it.

Check back tomorrow for another Quilt Market post with an exciting and fun new product!

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The Women’s Museum hosting exhibit “Partisan Pieces: Quilts of Political & Patriotic Persuasion”

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Partisan Pieces: Quilts of Political & Patriotic Persuasion
The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future, Dallas, TX
November 6, 2008 – March 29, 2009

Opening Reception – Thursday, November 6, time 6 PM – 8 PM.  The reception is free and will feature several speeches about the exhibit.  RSVP for the reception –  rsvp@thewomensmuseum.org

Beginning early November, The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future in Dallas, Texas, will host an exhibit entitled Partisan Pieces: Quilts of Political & Patriotic Persuasion as part of the city-wide Quiltmania II.  Curated by the International Quilt Study Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the exhibit features 15 quilts illustrating 19th and 20th century political life from the perspective, and from the needles, of well informed and patriotic American women.  In the days before women’s suffrage, these quilts served as women’s voices. The Women’s Museum is the only national women’s history museum in the nation and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.

Come visit us and read between the stitches to discover the political experiences of these incredible women!  For more information, visit www.thewomensmuseum.org.

The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future
3800 Parry Avenue, Fair Park
Dallas, TX 75226
214-915-0860
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. (closed Mondays and most major holidays)
Admission: $5/adults, $4 senior citizens/children 13-18, $3 children 5-12, admission is free for children under 5 and museum members.

Quilt Mania II, the largest collaborative exhibition of quilts, is planned September 26, 2008-April 1, 2009 at 18 Dallas area cultural institutions. More than 300 quilts, from all over the world, will be exhibited during the six month event. Each institution will feature works based on their mission and all the quilts will be compared and contrasted across the exhibitions.

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Create a pumpkin mini quilt for Halloween

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Mini Pumpkin Quilt

Mini Pumpkin Quilt

Sew a pumpkin mini quilt in time for Halloween and use it again for Thanksgiving.  Just 9 1/2″ square, this quilt is quick and easy to make.  Embellishments of yellow star buttons, rick rack, 3 strands of beads and beads sewn on the rick rack trim add to the charm of this quilt. Click for instructions with downloadable pdf.
(c) Phyllis Dobbs.  This pattern and instructions are for your personal use only.  It may not be used for commercial use without written permission of Phyllis Dobbs.

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Lincoln 2009 Celebration Quilt “Penny For Your Thoughts” by Leona Harden

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One of the nice things that comes from being a designer is hearing from someone who is using  my patterns.  Leona Harden contacted me a few months ago regarding a quilt block pattern that I had designed, “Pieced Eagle”

Leona was working on a quilt for an AQS (American Quilter’s Society) show that was held in Nashville in August.  Leona’s quilt “Penny for Your Thoughts” was juried into the show and was selected along with 9 others for the Lincoln 2009 Celebration to be on display at the Museum of American Quilter’s Society in Padacah, Ky.  The exhibit will run February 7 to April 6, 2009.

Abe Lincoln quilt

Leona did an outstanding job designing the layout of the quilt and combining blocks and techniques. The amazing story behind Leona’s quilt is that she has only been quilting for 2 years.  This is a pretty amazing and complex quilt for anyone to complete.

abe quilt closeup

Leona created her first quilt as a lap quilt for her husband to use during football season.  After that, she was hooked with quilting immediately becoming her passion.  In the past 2 years, Leona has completed 40 quilts.  She devotes 8 hours a day to either quilting or studying quilting.  Living in a remote area of Tennessee, she uses the internet for her instructor.

One of Leona’s other quilts was this beauty that was a 2nd place ribbon winner.

Family Quilt

Leona is a member of the Smoky Mountain Quilter’s Guild as well as the Bit’s n Pieces Guild. I can only imagine the beatiful quilts she will compete in the next 2 years! And if you are in the Paducah area next spring, be sure to visit the Museum and see “Penny for your Thoughts” up close.

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New fabric collection coming soon!

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New fabric line I was very excited to see the final art for my next fabric collection with Quilting Treasures.  Everything was perfect and the colors turned out just like I wanted so I was able to give my approval for each fabric in the collection.  I can’t tell you much about the fabrics yet, but I’ve included a small, tiny sneak peak!  And they will be a nice compliment to my Meow Meow cat fabric collection.

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New quilting designs – Quilted Chair Cover and Curtain

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I just received a book,  Sew It in a Weekend that features 2 quilted items that I designed.  Quilted Chairback

The “Simple-to-Quilt Chair Cover” adds a decorative touch to a room.  Easy to make, it ties onto your chair.  The quilt batting adds a little cushion to the chairbck.

The window curtain panel was created with the Sweetheart Ballerinas fabric collection that I designed for Quilting Treasures.  For the batting, I used Warm & Safe TM by the Warm Company, which is flame retardant and a big plus for window treatments.  Sweetheart Ballerina curtain

 Sew It in a Weekend is published by House of White Birches and is edited by Julie Johnson, the editor for Sewing Savvy  magazine. I really like that the pages are spiral bound so that the book lays flat when opened.

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Sewing away with new designs

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New sewing projects on the horizon!  I just completed a sewing project that I designed for a publication due out in a few months.  I can’t give any details but thought I would give a sneak peak of the fabrics I used.  I am a fabric junkie and just love bright colored fabrics. Fabrics for projectIts inspirational just looking at my fabric stash because of all the colors.  This is just a small part of my fabric stash.My fabric stash

 

I’m leaving Thursday for the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) trade show in Chicago.  I just read a comparison somewhere that its like the World Fair of craft shows.  I agree and wish I could remember where I saw that, but my brain is in overload right now.  I am displaying in the Designer Showcase at the show and am working on last minute preparations.  The show is so exciting to attend and check out all the new products available to the crafters of the world

Best wishes for a happy day to each of you! 

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Quilt Market and Meow Meow Cat Fabrics – Free Patterns for Quilt and Table Runner

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For the debut of the Meow Meow cat fabric collection that I designed for Quilting Treasures, I also designed a table runner and a quilt for their booth at the International Quilt Market trade show.  The table runner is shown in the photo with a cat pet carrier.   Meow Meow cat fabric

 

The Meow Meow quilt was displayed on the wall in the Quilting Treasures booth.   Meow Meow cat fabric quilt 

 

Both the Quilt and Table Runner patterns are available on the Quilting Treasures website for downloading.  While looking at these patterns, note the other patterns available.  I designed some of these as well – the Sophia quilt pattern and the Flintstones Nap Mat as well as the art and instructions for the Blanc et Noir quilt by Marie Osmond.  In addition, there is a free quilt pattern for the Sweetheart Ballerina fabric collection that I designed. 

Please enjoy using these free patterns – there are so many great patterns available for you to choose from.