My Quip – A New Quilt – Mystery Jelly

Afternoon,

And Happy Australia Day… which could have been yesterday, but then again it could be tomorrow, that is, where-ever you are located at this moment on this Globe.

And no I am not concocting a new dessert in the kitchen. Mystery Jelly is the preliminary title of our new quilt undertaking. This quilt is to be based on a design by Kimberly Einmo and a collaboration of two quilting blocks; a Star and a Chain block.

Here is a sampling of some of the completed blocks for Mystery Jelly.

Our fabrics are from Moda’s fabric line Maison de Garance designed by French General. The base colors are red and chocolate and variations thereof. This very popular Moda line can be seen at their Moda website as well as is available through many distributors and fabric shops, including Fabric.com and Hancock’s of Paducah.

We do not know what the final quilt will eventually look like, but you can see from my inserted images that this will be quite stylish and a quilt to have.

Stay-tuned to the progressions of NCBB, Mystery Jelly, She's Here,and DW’s… Check out our current available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy. Also scroll down any page in our Quilts SB Blog to our Grid. You will see a portfolio of all our finished quilts and wall hangings. If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

FMMS45MK9T8G

Click here to continue reading...

My Quip - Happy National Popcorn Day - New Quilts

Good day and Merry Christmas... Again.

Today, January 19, is Christmas Day for the Armenians of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

And Happy National Popcorn Day! It is on this day that we can make and eat popcorn and pretend we are at the movies… Or if you would like to go one step further, you can jump around and pretend you are popcorn kernels popping. (Certainly the day for all hyperactivity to break loose!)

It is time to provide a quick update as to our progress at, and present some introductory ideas for our quilts and quilting for 2011.

The top for NC Blue Bargello (NCBB) Quilt, without the borders, has been sewn. The approximate 6,200 mini-rectangles of 16 fabrics create a fantastic flurry of 16 waves. NCBB top’s dimensions, again without the borders, is at present; Width – 83” (210.8 cms) and Length – 94” (238.8 cms).

My calculation is approximately 54 square feet or the equivalent of just over 6 square yards of fabric. This is a big quilt. In other words, about every 21 mini-rectangles represents 1 statute mile of North Carolina coastline. (The North Carolina coastline is about 301 statute miles.)

Here is a current sampling of NCBB.

The fabrics are in for a new design, DW’s Quilt. The ranges of colors are turquoise, beige, and sand. The preliminary sketching has been drafted and I’m plodding along with CorelDraw with the possibilities. More on DW’s later.

Following up with the Jelly Roll and Mystery Quilt class, Mystery Jelly construction is taking place based on the fabrics of Moda’s fabric line Maison de Garance. The base colors are red and chocolate. Our deviation from the requirements of size as suggested with Kimberly Einmo, (see My Quip), has now been transformed from a matrix of 9 squares to a configuration of 20 squares.

The Moda’s fabric line Maison de Garance will be our next challenge and will incorporate a new series of quilts. This fabric line is available through Fabric.com, Hancock’s of Paducah, as well as many others.

I'm exploring designs for a new small quilt... The arrival is expected in about May.

Stay-tuned to the progressions of NCBB, Mystery Jelly, and DW’s… Check out our current available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy. Also scroll down any page in our Quilts SB Blog to our Grid. You will see a portfolio of all our finished quilts and wall hangings. If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...

My Quip – Only 349 Days To Christmas – NC Blue Bargello Progress

Afternoon,

Just think, all the new toys, gifts, decorations put away, and the tree is taken down… and now you have just 348 more days think about Christmas 2011. Damn, this one will be a big one for me!

And we’ve been busy with our makings of new quilts.

NC Blue Bargello (NCBB) is progressing nicely. As I mentioned the top of NCBB, excluding the borders will be made up of about 6,200 rectangles. Once they are all sewn together in strips, there should be 97 single strips. The top - 16 fabrics, 6,200 rectangles, and 97 strips. And here’s a puzzler - Will the center strip be a peak or a valley in the wave design? Ya gotta stay tuned.

And to those of you who have asked, I used Excel software to design the basic parameters of the design and pattern of NCBB. The Bargello in this case is a matrix of many, many rectangular pieces gridded together to form the top.

The inserted images are some of the pieced fabric strips that will make up NCBB. Please remember that there may be some color difference due to lighting, software, and browser capabilities.

Andy took another class this past weekend in Land O’Lakes, Florida. It was a Mystery Jelly quilt class given by Kimberly Einmo using the fabrics of a Jelly Roll plus. Our design, which will be revealed at a later date will be based on fabrics of the series designed by French General for Moda Fabrics, Maison de Garance. The fabric, at this time is prevalent and we were able to get our supply through Fabric.com. Kimberly’s best-selling 2010 book is Jelly Roll, Quilts & More. It is available through American Quilter’s Society, AQS Publishing.

And we have received another commission to work a quilt in the color Turquoise. I’ve got this one in the drafting stages, and the design and complementary colors are in process.

Stay-tuned to the progressions of NCBB, Mystery Jelly, and Turquoise… Check out our current available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy. Also scroll down any page in our Quilts SB Blog to our Grid. You will see a portfolio of all our finished quilts and wall hangings. If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...

My Quip – Happy New Year – NC Blue Bargello – A New Quilt

Good Afternoon and A Happy New Year…

Actually have another happy 361 days of 2011.

We’re working a new quilt, which we’ve titled at the moment, NC Blue Bargello, (NCBB), and we are most excited as to the design and work that we are undertaking. NCBB is and will be an adventure of our experience working with quilting Bargello techniques.

As you will soon see, the design of NCBB is based on our two previous quilts, Beige Bargello and Christmas Cosine.

But NCBB is a larger quilt. At first count the top will be constructed, not including the borders or the binding of approximately 6,200 pieces. The pieces range in size from ½” (1.27 cm) by 1 ½” (3.81 cm) up to 2 ½” (6.35 cm) by 1 ½” (3.81 cm). The pieces are cut from 16 fabrics of the colors and shades of blue, green, beige, sand, and white. The combined borders will approximate 12” (30.48 cm).

The inserted images are of the choice of fabrics that will make up NCBB. Please remember that there may be some color difference due to lighting, software, and browser capabilities.

Stay-tuned to the progression of NCBB… Check out our current available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy. Also scroll down any page in our Quilts SB Blog to our Grid. You will see a portfolio of all our finished quilts and wall hangings. If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...