Gorgeous Quilts from Spring Quilt Market Minneapolis

In part two of my photos from the Spring International Quilt Market held in Minneapolis, I want to show you some of the beautiful quilts displayed. Sometimes a picture doesn’t provide the detail that makes the quilt so spectacular so I took some close up detail photos that I’m showing with the quilt photo.

This quilt, “Happy” is by Robbi Joy Eklow of Third Lake, Illinois and used the technique of raw-edged fused appliqué and free motion quilting. In this quilt, she combined the purple, green, and orange rings with giant flowers from another quilt that she had not finished.

Robie Joy Eklow Happy Quilt

Wild horses inspired this quilt “One Fine Day” by Laurie Britt Piper of Bakersfield, CA.  The technique used was raw-edged appliquéd, fused and painted.  On a road trip through Utah, Colorado and Idaho, she had to stop in the middle of the highway to let a group of wild horses pass and turned that moment into inspiration for a quilt.

One Fine Day wild horses quilt

One Fine Day wild horse quilt detail

“Bentonville Square” was created by Karen Kielmeyer and the Van Go-Go Art Quilt Group of Bentonville, AK. They decided to do a slice quilt based on a postcard of an original painting by Jane Garrison Davidian of Fayetteville, AK. The techniques used were machine appliquéd and pieced.

Bentonville Square Quilt

Kathy York, of Austin, TX, created “Suburbs” used techniques of hand-dyed, batiked, discharged, over-dyed, fused appliqué, and machine quilted, and hand quilted. This quilt was inspired by the fires that ravaged Bastrop, TX in 2011. New houses were build with each unit individualized by color and pattern.

Suburbs Quilt

Suburbs quilt detail

“Bohemian III Rain” is third in a series “Rain” by Sandra Peterson of Muncie, IN.  The technique used were machine pieced, foundation pieced, hand appliquéd, and hand quilted. She wanted to create a three-dimensional design using the series’ original fractal wheels, and to develop a technique for curved foundation piecing. The motif design answer was umbrellas.

Bohemian III Rain quilt

Mary Ann Hildebrand of Comfort, TX, created the “Japanese Tea Garden” quilt and used the techniques of fused appliqué, free-motion quilted, threadpainted, painted and penciled. The Japanese Tea Garden, built in an abandoned stone quarry in San Antonia, TX around 1910, was the inspiration for this quilt.

Japanese Tea Garden Quilt

“Born Free” quilt is by Denise Sargo of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The techniques used were appliquéd, burned, hand-embroidered, inked, dyed, and machine quilted. The quilt is to portray the kind of animals, the proud, fierce-looking lion, that is vulnerable due to the loss and destruction of habitat.

Born Freen Lion Quilt

“Moody Beach, Maine, 1957” is the subject of this quilt by Margot McDonnell of Tempe, AZ.  The techniques were fused, machine appliquéd and quilted, and painted. This original design was inspired by a vintage non-professional black and white snapshot.

Moody Beach Main Quilt

“Sunflower Pilgrimage” by Susan Bianchi of Saratoga, CA, used the techniques of fused, couched, machine and hand-quilted. She was inspired by Annie Liebovitz’s photography technique of overlapping several photographs to make one imperfect but complete image.

Sunflower Pilgrimage quilt

“Rhythm & Roses” was created by Karen Echmeier of Kent CT, and used the techniques of topstitch-pieced, couched and hand-beaded. This quilt is from her book Layered Waves, and is part of a series of quilts with the theme of “Finding Center” to stay focused and maintain balance with the rhythm of life.

Rhythm and Roses quilt

 

rhythm and roses quilt detail

Marina Landi and Maria Lucia Azara of Sao Paulo, Brazil, used techniques of appliquéd and quilted to create “Summer Wind”.  A painting by Anna Bocek inspired them to dye silk and form the quilt with a great number of colors and shades and to reproduce the painting’s hair movement.

Summer Wind quilt

summer wind quilt detail

“Thunderstorm” by Brigette Morgenroth of Kassel, Germany, used the techniques of paper-pieced and hand quilted to represent the dark sky, pouring rain and the blue, green, orange and yellow umbrellas. The quilt is made with hand-dyed cotton and the elegant curves of the Twisted Log Cabin block.

Thunderstorm quilt

Thunderstorm quilt detail

“Prince Charming’s Shoe Sale” is by Pam Rubert of Springfield, MO and used the techniques of hand-dyed and stitched. This quilt is a contemporary version of Cinderella with her and her stepsisters as modern women who drove to the Charming Shoe Store in their own pumpkin cars.

Prince charming's shoe sale quilt

Prince charming shoe sale quilt detail

“Furrealizm…Dali Has Gone to the Dogs” is by Pauline Salzman of Treasure Island, FL. The techniques used were fused and appliquéd. The design was inspired by Salvador Dali’s “The Weaning of Furniture”.

Dali has gone to the Dogs quilt

Dali has gone to the Dogs quilt detail

Quilt Market is always more fun in a vibrant city such as Minneapolis with a dynamic downtown area. This city was home of the iconic Mary Tyler Moore show. This statue is at the spot where she tossed her hat in the air that was shown at the beginning of each show.  In researching, I discovered that this shot was ranked as the second greatest moment in 1970’s television.

Mary Tyler Moore iconic hat toss statue

I hope that you enjoyed seeing some of the beautiful quilts from market. I apologize for the quality of some of these photos – the overhead lighting of a convention center is not always conducive to good quality photographs and accurate color.

It’s always a joy and delight to walk among all the quilts displayed during this show and I am already looking forward to next one.

Phyllis

Halloween Quilting with this Spooky Ghost Pattern!

It’s the time of year for little ghosts and goblins to ring our doorbell. I love to see all the cute little costumes, especially on toddlers. It’s also fun to decorate for Halloween and with that in mind, I designed this Halloween “Spooky Ghosts”  quilt that is easy to make and is a good size for a wall hanging.

Spooky Ghost Quilt by Phyllis Dobbs for Quilt Dash

This quilt pattern was designed for the Quilt Dash during the dash October 15 through 31, 2014. Its now available through the WhimsyColor online shop. Its also easy to dash through online quilt shops to obtain the pattern pieces and you will also find some great fabric and notions. If you have an online shop, there is still time to sign up to get lots of visitors to your stores.

This quilt is 41″ x 47″ and combines patchwork with appliqué. There are 8 ghost blocks and 1 pumpkin block.  A little embroidery is used to accent for the ghosts mouths and for the pumpkin lines.  Buttons add additional accents.  Tonal fabrics were used but you can easily substitute cute Halloween prints.

I hope you have a Happy Halloween and enjoy the little ghosts running through your neighborhood!

Phyllis

Create a Quilt for Music Lovers!

Does your heart hear the music when  you look at this quilt?  “Music of My Heart” is a free quilt pattern for dashing through this month’s Quilt Dash September 15 through 30, 2014.

Free pattern Music of my Heart quiltQuilt Dash is free to dash through online quilt shops to receive this pattern. This quilt, designed by Tammy K. Harrison, is perfect for music lovers and can be created with favorite fabrics.  The appliqué flowers are hearts joined together to form a flower like design and alternat blocks with music notes.

I hope to see you in the Quilt Dash!

Phyllis

Kitties and Yoga Combine for New Fabrics!

I always get excited with a new fabric collection and am extremely so with my next collection Purr-fect Balance. Created in bold colors, Purr-fect Balance has 16 cats in yoga poses along with some snarky names of yoga poses created in kitty lingo.

Purr-fect Balance Kitty Yoga fabrics

I designed this collection for Quilting Treasures. Since it’s still in printing, Quilting Treasures is taking pre-orders from quilt and fabric stores for shipping in November 2014. If you have a favorite fabric store, you can check with them on ordering this collection.

Cat Yoga quilt

A couple of months ago, I received small sample pieces of each fabric to review for approval. Not to let any scrap go to waste, I designed and created a small quilt to show at Quilt Market.  I don’t have a pattern available for this one, but will work up one soon. In addition, I will let you know about free quilt and sewing patterns to go with these fabrics.

My kitty was the inspiration behind these fabrics although his poses were mostly curling up in sleep. But he did have some great sleep poses and funny positions. RIP Kitty Kat.

I hope that you will add some furry love to your quilting and sewing!

Phyllis

Quilt Cutting Rulers For Beautiful, Fun Quilts

When I attend Quilt Market, I always go by the June Tailor booth and did so again at the Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. I love their range of accessories for quilters, including their unique rulers, of which they have many. And of course, I always enjoy chatting with the gorgeous Jill Repp.

Jill Tailor booth at Quilt Market

 

The June Tailor booth is always so well put together and full of color as well as new products. Two new quilting rulers caught my eye and will be a great plus for a quilter.

June Tailor Charming Circles Quilt ruler

This quilting ruler, Charming Circles, can be used in a variety of techniques to aid in circle and curved quilting.

Closeup of Charming Circles Quilt

Here’s a close up of the sample techniques you can easily use with this ruler to give a fabulous quilt or other sewing project – raw edge piecing, regular piecing, and appliqué. Circles are hard to cut and sew so this will be a huge help!

Twist N Stitch Quilt tool

The other new ruler that I loved is Twist ‘n Stitch. I’m a fan of pin wheels so I will put this ruler to use a lot.

Twist N Stitch quilt ruller

With this ruler, you can create 5 sizes of blocks, from 3 1/2 inch blocks to 10 1/2 inch blocks. I love the way the blocks fit together and it reminds me of a puzzle. Without this ruler, it would definitely be a puzzle to put together but is so easy with the steps below.

Step 1 Twist N Stitch Quilt

You can see by the step-out boards that Jill is showing, how simple it is to use the Twist ‘n Stitch ruler!  The basic step is square block pieces sewn together. Now, how easy is that!

Twist N Stirch Quilt Ruler step 2

You then use the ruler to cut out your squares aligning the cut out areas as show above with the easy ruler guides.  The board on the left shows the blocks that were cut out in the black area and then lined up on the board on the right side.

Step 3 in using Twist N Stitch Quilt Ruler

Then in the last step, all you have to do is straighten the blocks side by side and sew together.  So while this quilt looks complicated, it’s not. This would also make a good quilt for guilds to make for their charity quilts. Thanks to Jill for showing me the ins and outs of these great rulers!

To see my earlier posts on the beautiful quilts displayed at market, check out Part 1 Quilt Market quilts and Part 2 Quilt Market quilts.

While I’m late in posting about spring Quilt Market, fall market in Houston is rapidly approaching. I hope it cools off a little before then as Houston can be hot. But I’m looking forward to it, whether hot or cold.

Stay cool!

Phyllis

Quilts Display at International Quilt Market – Pittsburgh

I wanted to post, finally, some of my pictures from the Spring International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. I know you will enjoy seeing some of the spectacular, fun, colorful and whimsy quilts that were displayed. It’s hard to believe that Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh was almost 2 months ago. It seems like only a few days since I was walked off the plane to return home.

Gutermann both spring quilt market

First, I want to show you the booth that I was working in during Quilt Market – Gutermann of America. I helped with the decorating of the booth with my quilts (made with my fabrics for Quilting Treasures and sewn with Gutermann thread). For a sneak peek of my next fabric collection due out this fall (Purr-fect Balance), check out the small turquoise and red quilt shown on the left side. I had received small pieces of the fabric for approval the week before Quilt Market, so I whipped out a small quilt with the pieces.  Please check back as I will post more about this fabric shortly.

You are what you eat Kathy York Quilt

“You are What You Eat” by Kathy York of Austin Texas. Kathy was inspired to create this quilt because of the deers in her neighborhood and that they must be made of flowers because they eat all of hers. The techniques used include hand-drawn batiks, bleach discharged, overdyed, machine pieced, fused appliqué, machine and hand quilting.

Tutti Frutti Main Street Susan Bleiweiss

“Tutti Frutti Main Street” by Susan Bleiweiss of Upton, Ma is part of her ongoing series of art quilts celebrating the use of vibrant color and whimsical imagery.  Sue’s techniques include raw-edge fused appliqué and machine quilted.

Its a Crazy Life Gail Thomas

“It’s a Crazy Life” by Gail Thomas, of Vernon, BC, Canada. She created this quilt with the techniques of hand-pieced, hand-appliqued, painted, machine quilted and hand-embroidered.  Gail worked on this quilt during and after treatment. As her world started healing, she decided the name “Its a Crazy Life” fit with all her stories and the “wow” moments in her life.

House in the Valley #5 Larua Wasilowski

“House in the Valley #5” by Laura Wasilowski is a view of her house by a busy body bird.  The techniques used were fused appliqué, hand-embroidered and free-motion quilted.  This quilt is available for purchase.

A Bright Sun-shiny Day Terri Stegmiler

“A Bright Sun-Shiny Day” by Terri Stegmiller of Manadan, ND is her original design of whimsy, girls, cats and birds. She thinks of this as a self-portrait as she is outside on sunny days watching birds with her cats. Her techniques include hand painted, whole cloth, and free-motion quilted. This quilt is available for purchase.

Roses in the Window Carol Morrissey

 

“Roses in the Window” by Carol Morrissey of Double Oak, TX.  Carol’s techniques fused applique and machine quilted.  She was inspired for this quilt design by a photo she took of some roses that were sitting in her kitchen window. This quilt is available for purchase.

I have many faces Natalie Carlton

Nancy Carlton of Stuart Florida created “I have Many Faces”  and it is available for purchase.  The technique used by Nancy is fused appliqué. She posterized the photos, printed them out and used them for her pattern for fusible appliqué. Available for purchase.

Aren’t these quilts wonderful!  But I’m not finished! I’m working on another post to include more of these wonderful quilts. So check back Monday.

I indicated which of these quilts were for sale, but have no way of knowing if they are still available. They are all so wonderful!  I also provided links to the websites of these quilters. I hope that you check them out – these are some pretty amazing women.

So have a nice weekend and check back Monday for more beauties!

Phyllis

Ducks A Waddling Quilt – Ready for Spring

Spring is a great time to watch ducks waddling and splashing in the puddles left by April showers. My newest quilt pattern for the Quilt Dash, Ducks A Waddling, is inspired by the spring ducks.

Ducks a Waddling Quilt Pattern

 

This quilt consists of 12 pieced duck blocks  separated by sashing strips. The finished size of this quilt is 54 1/2″ x 69″. This pattern is available through the WhimsyColor shop.

Shops, sign up to participate and have avid quilters visit your online store.

Please check out and like our new FB QuiltDash page. We will be offering prizes from this page.

In designing this quilt, I used the fabric from my latest fabric collection from Quilting Treasures, Wild Flower.

We have a lot of ducks and geese in our area and I never get tired of watching them. Its not uncommon, when driving, to stop and wait for a parade of feathered friends and family to finish their march across the road.

I hope you are having a wonderful and colorful spring.  Its very welcome after the long, long winter!

Phyllis

Dash to receive a Free Irish Quilt Pattern!

For love of the Irish, this quilt “Memories of Mike”  celebrates Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day with the greens of Ireland and the blues of the surrounding water. This pattern is free for dashing through the online Quilt Dash game.  The Quilt Dash starts today and runs through March 31.

Irish quilt pattern

 

“Memories of Mike”, designed by Tammy Harrison, is 71″ square. Although the center blocks are made with the traditional log cabin block, the arrangement gives a celtic knot look to the quilt or can be interpreted  as a lucky 4-leaf clover.

To Dash and receive this free pattern, sign up for the Quilt Dash.  You will visit a few online quilt stores and locate your pattern and instructions. After that, you can have fun quilting this charming pattern.

Enjoy and happy quilting!

Phyllis

Say Merry Christmas with a Christmas Tree Quilt!

If you are like me, you are wondering how Christmas got here so quickly.  The weather turns cold and for some of you, snow arrives, then the seasonal colors of red and green appear everywhere. Its also a perfect time for sewing and quilting while you stay snuggled inside to stay warm.  My newest quilt for the Quilt Dash online game is “Christmas Delight – Christmas Trees”, designed with a flurry of red and green with the yellow of candle light or fire flames.  This pattern was designed for the Quilt Dash.

Christmas Tree Quilt Pattern

This pattern is now available through the WhimsyColor online store.

The Quilt Dash starts on December 13 and runs for two weeks to give you plenty of time to complete the dash. The online shops participating will have a great selection of quilt supplies and notions so you may find something for your Christmas stocking!

This quilt is approximately 55 1/2″ square and is appropriate for beginners to advanced quilters. I used the red, yellow and green fabrics from my “Celebrate” fabric collection from Quilting Treasures.

So, stay warm, enjoy the holiday festivities and try a little quilting!

Phyllis

 

And the winner is……(Give Thanks Blog Hop Give-Away)

Thanks to each of you who visited my blog, entered the Give Thanks Blog Hop Give-away, and signed up for my newsletter. I sincerely appreciate your visits!  It was fun to read your comments on what you sew or make for Christmas. You women (and maybe a man or two) really do a lot of sewing for gifts!!! And I know how lucky those are who receive these gifts!

I assigned each comment a number as well as assigning a number to those who signed up for my newsletter and put them in a tin for a drawing.

Phyllis Dobbs Blog Giveaway

 

My husband did the honors of drawing and the winner is….

Kathy M Boice!

Congratulations Kathy!

Thanks to Michelle at Quilting Gallery for hosting this blog hop!

I wish you each a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving and hope that you are with some loved ones, whether family or friends.

Phyllis