My Quip – And Sometimes You Never Know – McCall's America Quilts Together

Good Day,

Sometime in January McCall's Quilting invited quilters, throughout the United States, who quilted together in partnership or groups to submit a story of their partnership. McCall's was planning a special issue for 2012 with a quilting together theme.

Andy and I answered the call. I asked my brother, Ray to take a photograph of us. I wrote up a quick synopsis, submitted the information, and then filed it away in the constant growing stash of folders on my hard drive.

Earlier this week Andy received a message from a friend, Judy in Delaware. She had just opened her copy of McCall's Quilting magazine, the Autumn 2012 edition, and lo and behold, on page 23 there was Ray's picture of Andy and me, titled Quilts SB – Tampa, FL. Needless to say we were all pleasantly surprised.


In the photograph we are at one of our domestic sewing machines, Janome 6300. Included are two of our works in progress, since completed, our Tampa Lightning and Mondrian I. Both Tampa Lightning and Mondrian I will be on display, this October 5 and 6, at the A Splash of Color Quilt Show sponsored by the Cabarrus Quilters Guild, in Concorde, North Carolina.

Other of our works soon to be on display are our special exhibit Evolution and two new quilts, Who Did Desi Adore? And I Really Love Lucy. Our 28 quilts and wall hangings will be presented at the Machine Quilters Exhibition – MQX West 2012, October 16 through 20 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon.

Two of our quilts, Blue Chambray and AKA Kumquat's Lorax will be on display at the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens as presented by the Cypress Creek Quilters Guild, November 10 Show, A Garden of Quilting Delights, in Tampa, Florida.

Stay tuned to our progress and updates.

Enjoy,

Andy and Jim.

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My Quip – What to Expect From Quilts SB in the Short

Good Day,

And I can guarantee that the majority of our readers are busy trimming, wrapping, cooking, baking, and washing, and cleaning up for the upcoming Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa Celebrations. Many more than likely, you do not have time, because of being “extremely” busy, to breathe, and to read our Blog. Wrong.

It appears that of late there has been more and more readers and visits to Quilts SB… and we thank you very much. Last night Quilts SB received 3 ½ Stars at Top Listed.net and was ranked the highest ever at Rank 8 of the top 50 Quilting Sites. This morning, we received 2 Stars and a Ranking of 23. (It is almost like monitoring the Dow Jones number.)

I thought I would bring you up-to-date at what Andy and I are working on at Quilts SB and what Essbee projects are in the line.

1. The backing has been completed for Dogwood Steps. This California King-sized quilt has been now loaded to the Longarm and we are tackling the quilting. The next steps are the binding and the label. We are very, very pleased at what we are seeing.

2. As mentioned in my last Posting, Q93, Dino in the Window has made it to its new home in South Carolina. We’re waiting for the “Show and Tell” pictures.

3. All 63 blocks for Blue Diamonds, our original design inspired from a Paul Klee painting, have been completed. Now starts the placement phase of the individual and unique blocks. All I will tell you now is that the matrix will be a construction of 7 blocks wide and 9 blocks in length. This one we’re keeping a real mystery.

4. The top for our Civil War Reenactment 1 Quilt is completed. It is next in line to be quilted and in keeping with the tenure of the Civil War era we will be quilting the complete quilt with the Baptist Fan pattern. Next, and waiting to be quilted is Mondrian I. Our idea is to create a possible beveled glass effect in the quilting pattern. All-things-being-equal it should work.

5. And then there is Tampa Lightning. It, too, is waiting in line to be quilted. We are going to try something new with a horizontal quilting line pattern that should give credence to the Lightning effect.

6. Approvals have been received from Richard Tsosie - Silversmith, Goldsmith, and Lapidary Artist, to use one of his creations as the inspiration for our new quilt, The Amulet. The fabrics are spread on the table. Next starts the fabric scanning process and arranging to create our inspired original design.

7. I am now working on a new design based on the work of textile artist Gunta Stöltz. This one will be a trip, especially if I can sit still long enough to develop the parts of the construction and design.

8. A key task is the prep work that will be necessary to prepare our portfolio of Evolution for MQX 2012. Obviously there are critical deadlines to get Evolution ready for its journey to Providence, RI in April and Portland, OR in October.

9. We are also looking at deadlines for three competitions for the first half of 2012: MQX East, Providence – February; Under the Sea, IMQA, Kansas – March; and Star Spangled 2012, HMQS – April.

10. All thought and work has been completed for the announcement in the upcoming new publication of The Local Dirt. All-things-being-equal printed copies of The Local Dirt are targeted to be available December 29.

Our work is cut out for us, but we are enjoying it… And there is fabric in every nook and cranny of this house.

Also check out my new experimental format of my Blog, Quilts SB Test. Certainly would appreciate your feedback.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual Grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow or in red, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please check our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip – Blue Diamonds – Updates – Preparing for MQX 2012

Good Day,

Blue Diamonds is progressing very slowly. There are 1890 unique pieces. Each one of the 63 blocks is not, and I repeat not, a duplicate of each other. Hence there is one heck of a lot more time involved determining the color and shade combinations and mirror imaging for, and cutting and sewing each block.

Blue Diamonds is our original design inspired by the works of Paul Klee, especially his 1923 work "Twin Tents". At the moment, we haven't come up with a quilting design that would complement the embedding of the Blue Diamonds in each setting.

The above image is of scraps left over and cut from the fabric prepared for Blue Diamonds and settings. It looks like a deflated Piñata, or at least one that had had been its beatings.

Two new projects, currently underway, Dogwood Steps and Dino in the Window are in the quilting – waiting mode. The backings have been chosen and quilts – sandwiches are in progress.

The quilting design has been tossed around for our Mondrian I. Our hopes are to develop and affect that which will give the individual squares and rectangles in the design a quasi – beveled effect.

Our Civil War Reenactment I also is in line to be quilted. We will be developing and using the Baptist Fan method of quilting.

And of course we are creating our portfolio of quilts and wall hangings which we will be preparing for the Special Exhibit of our work at the MQX 2012 shows in Providence, Rhode Island and Portland, Oregon.

Christmas and Holiday Quilts are still available. If you are interested contact me by Facebook message or via email.

See My Quip or visit our Quilts SB Etsy site.

And do you need a new Quilt? Give a Quilt for the Holidays. Check out our posted On Sale and our currently available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy. Stay-tuned for an extra discount on Christmas Quilts available, after Thanksgiving. We are planning to start our 2012 Holiday line shortly.

Also check out my new experimental format of my Blog, Quilts SB Test. Certainly would appreciate your feedback.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual Grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow or in red, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please check our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip - Tampa Lightning Update - MQX 2012

Good Day,

I have been in a daze this past week, and haven't written anything to either of my Blogs, Quilts SB or A Genealogy Hunt.

And yes, I can see you nodding your heads agreeing that my being in a daze is just the norm, but this past week after finding out that Andy and I will be exhibiting at both Machine Quilt Exhibition (MQX) Shows in 2012, you can just imagine... April in Providence, Rhode Island, and October in Portland, Oregon. And the Special Exhibit, to be titled "Evolution" will be a display of a collection of 20-plus of our quilts. And you can just picture my minuscule pea-brain working overtime.

Well, the design and construction for Tampa Lightning top is continuing. We are both very pleased with the effect that the 21 fabrics are going to produce. It is appears that it is going to be a large quilt.

 

Tampa Lightning is an adaptation and inspired from a Kaffe Fassett quilt creation called Lightning Quilt. The Fassett Lightning is composed of 11 fabrics; his designs. Our Tampa Lightning will be a construction of 21 batik fabrics in an attempt to capture the dramatic shows of electric forks across the Tampa Bay sky. As previously mentioned, another comparative difference is that Kaffe Fassett's design is based on the use of templates. Ours isn’t.

Remember the cold of winter is fast approaching. The Holidays are just around the corner. Give a Quilt for the Holidays. Check out our posted On Sale and our currently available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy.

Also check out my new experimental format of my Blog, Quilts SB Test. Certainly would appreciate your feedback.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual Grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow or in red, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please check our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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