September BOM and Discount Patterns

The September free block of the month is ready and available to download from the 2017 BOM tab on my blog. It is an easy paper pieced block this month.  I would love to see pictures of your progress on these blocks.

Join my Facebook Fair Isle Winter Group to post pictures and get inspired by others.

The Free September block is Urban Star.

September Free Block of the Month
#9

Here is the sample block made by my intrepid pattern tester Sue Fyfe.  She does an amazing job each month interpreting the block in her own fabric choices.

Sample block by Sue Fyfe

The Bonus Block this month is super easy also.  Just two templates and three fabrics (if you count the background fabric).  It looks so fussy but it is really very easy to make.  You can purchase it on my website or get it free by subscribing to my newsletter.

I can never decide if I prefer the blue on a white background. . . . .

or the white on a blue background.  Both would go great as alternate blocks in a 4-block or 9-block quilt.  Maybe like this?

Does this quilt look skewed to you?  Its a funky optical illusion based on the directional properties of the blocks. . . .or something!  Or is it just me?

One of my favorite quilt patterns is on sale for half price this month.  September's flower(s) of the month is Morning Glories and Asters.  I try not to have favorites, because I don't want my quilty children to know I love one more than the others, but I kinda LOVE this table runner.

Two other favorite patterns are half price this month as well.  Black and Gray Reflections is a great man-quilt, and so is the bold colors of Twisted Argyle.  These would make great man quilt Christmas gifts and you could get either of these done easily by December.

Black and Gray Reflections

Buster really liked this quilt.  He thinks I made it just for him and was laying on it to try and blend in.  Anything that big and furry is not going to "blend in" no matter what!!!!

Twisted Argyle

You can shop all these half price patterns on my website at Morning Glory Designs

A few newsy notes:

Tomorrow the grandkids are coming for a week.  I love those babies like crazy.  How I wish I was 35 again and could keep up with them.  Even if I can't go back in time, they make me feel young just being around them.

Next weekend I start a marathon of vending at local quilt shows.  If you are in the area I hope you stop by to see my booth and say hello.

September 15-16 I will be at the North Kansas City Quilt Guild show at the Salvation Army in North KC.  This is always a great show with fabulous quilts and LOTS of vendors.

September 22-23 I will be vending at the Town & Country Quilters Guild show in Joplin, MO.  This is a new venue for me and I am looking forward to meeting a lot of new people down in the Joplin area in south-western Missouri and south-eastern Kansas.

September 30-October 1 I will be at the Quilt Show in Marshall, MO.  Another new venue for me I am excited to see some old friends and meet new ones out in north-central Missouri.

Stop in and see me to pick up a pattern or two, or just to say hi!  If I am still alive by October send a get well card.

Diamond Argyle Pattern is published

This month Quilter's World Magazine published my Diamond Argyle quilt pattern as a web bonus.

That means you will be able to download the pattern as a PDF file and print it out (if you have a digital or print subscription to the magazine).

If you buy the magazine at the newstand you will also be able to download the pattern!  You will find a code for accessing the download on page 45 of the August 2011 issue.

But please note that the download code is only good for 2 months (until the next issue comes out) so download and save the pattern or print it out while the issue is current.

Of course if you get a digital subscription you have access to all the web bonus pattern as well as digital copies of all issues going back to 2006.  That is what I do.  That way I have access to all the patterns, and the digital subscription is cheaper than the print subscription!

This was a really fun quilt to make.  I used all diamond shapes which were cut from strips and followed a chart to help me keep all the colors straight.

You really do need a design wall for this quilt, so you can lay the strips out on the wall as you go.  It goes together really fast by creating diagonal rows and then sewing the rows together.

This is a picture of my quilt getting started and up on my design wall.  I put together 4 rows at a time as I worked from the upper left to the lower right corner.  Then when all the quilt was made it was easy to sew the 4-row sections together.  If you make a mistake it is way easier to remove a section when only 4 rows are together, than if the whole beastie is put together!!!  LOL

And yes, I did make a mistake or two when I was piecing the top.  But it was easy to fix.

I cut strips of all the colors I planned to use, counted the number of each color I needed, then cut diamonds using the Marti Michell diamond template.  I love her templates because you can cut off the points and it makes lining up the diamonds to sew them together WAY easier.   Then I stacked all the colors for each diagonal row together in a stack so I could just pick up 2 diamonds and start sewing.

I would lay out the strips on my ironing board (I have a big board) and double check the position and color of each diamond against my chart so I was sure I didn't make any mistakes.

NOTE:  When using batiks for this project it is great because there is no right or wrong side!!  I loved that and it sure made it easier than trying to be sure I always had right sides together.

Once I had four rows completed I would sew them together and double check again.  Then they went up on the design wall while I worked on the next four rows.

The cool thing about this pattern is that you can use any size diamond!  So your quilt can get bigger or smaller just by changing the size of the diamond template!  As I was cutting all the diamonds for my quilt using 3" strips I cut any remaining strips in half, to 1-1/2" strips and then cut the same number of mini diamonds!  I plan to make a half sized version of the quilt as well.

Since the is a "CHARM" quilt = all the pieces are the same size and shape -- there are no blocks to sew together.  Once the diamonds are cut you are putting the quilt together as you go.  It is fun to see the results come together on your design wall with each seam!!

You can also increase or decrease the size of your quilt by making more rows or fewer rows of diamonds.  That requires a bit a graphing it you want to make it bigger.  I used EQ7's one-patch layout feature and that made it really easy to make it bigger or smaller.

Now I know you are fretting already about binding those ziggy zaggy edges.  I found a great video tutorial the other day on how to do those and it is really really good.  Go here and take a look at this great resource by Marci Baker for Alicia's Attic.

Scroll down to the 4th video tutorial to see this one.

She demonstrates how to do both "innies" and "outies" on diamond edges, just like the kind you will find in this quilt.  And yes, it really is easy to do.  She also talks about how to do it in her book "Not Your Grandmother's Log Cabin."

Hope you have fun making his quilt!

And -- hold the presses -- I will have a quilt in the December issue of McCall's Quilting called Civil War Stars.   Watch for more info on this quilt in my next post.

Have a great quilty day!!!!!    Reeze

Argyle quilt finished

I got my Diamond Argyle quilt back from the quilter this week and put on the binding and label.  It is ready to send off the Quilter's World first thing Monday morning.  

The binding was slow going, but I put in a book on tape and finished before the book was over!  It is hard to see black binding and black thread against a black quilt.  I had about three ott lamps shining on my work so I could see what I was doing.  I probably absorbed enough radiation from those lamps to glow in the dark! 

Hmmm, or maybe that is why the quilt is so big.  My DH couldn't even hold the whole thing up it was so big.  I never make big quilts!  What was I thinking????

Now I am working on my next pattern called Bath of Apolausis.  It is based on a tile pattern in an anciet Roman Bath.

I played around with the elements in this design and created a quilt design that is a bit more symmetrical without the portrait.  I used the Stonehenge fabrics by Northcott, that look like rock and stone.  It is starting to come together and I will post some pictures when I have a bit more of it put together.

  For now, back to my sewing machine.!!

New Quilt I am working on

I had the fun of working on a new quilt for the past two weeks, -- thus my relative quietness on my blog -- and got the top completed.  It is now at the quilters have magic worked on it.  I will post a pic of the quilting when it comes back from Brenda, the incredible quilter who works magic on my quilts!

Here is what it looked like before I started.  I cut 3" diamonds and stacked them up in the order I would need to use them.  I think that took longer than the sewing!!

Here is my design wall with the first few rows completed and lined up.  This was actually really fun to make as long as I followed my color chart!!

This was my color chart. . . only blown up really big so I could see what the heck I was doing!  LOL  Let me tell you that I kept this baby close the whole time, as I had to refer to it over and over!  I made relativelyl few mistakes, but got myself good and confused a few times when I put the right strips in the wrong order!!  LOL

I worked in rows that ran from upper right to lower left.  Once I completed a row I put it up on my design wall to make sure that I had my colors in the right places.  I added the black border diamonds after I was sure the color placement was right.

The trick to  putting the diamonds together easily was trimming the points.  You can see how I trimmed them in the first picture.  I use Marti Michell's 60 Degree Ruler to do the trimming.  I just love her Hexagon H set of templates for doing diamonds also.  Any of the templates can work to trim diamonds (thanks to you Barb Eikmeier for the great lessons!!!).  I used the H52 template a lot of the time because it was small and easy to keep near my cutting table.  And I used one of spinning cuttin mats so I could stack up diamonds and cut the tops and spin them to cut off the bottom points without disturbing my pile.  (Another trick Barb taught me!!  Thanks Barb, you totally rock)

 I got most of the strips made and up on my design wall last weekend thanks to two snowdays off work and a weekend sewin with the girls in my small group.  They gave me lots of encouragement to get it done!

Once I completed the top I added the color triangles to the top and bottom along with a black border strip.  The sides will remain zig-zagged (you can sorta see that in the left side of the picture.)

I hope these pictures got you tempted!!  The pattern will appear in the August issue of Quilter's World!

I can't wait to see what magic Brenda is working on this. . . oh boy I love the excitement of a new pattern!

                 And this whole quilt came from my stash!!!

And the next block of the month will be posted Feb 1 and the winner of the January BOM giveaway will be announced.  There are some great entries in the JewelsBOM Flicker Group so be sure to go and take a look.