Block 6 Tulip Tiles BOM Posted

I have posted the next Free Block of the Month in the Tulip Tiles series.  This block is actually a setting triangle.  You will need to make four of these.  They are large triangles with a tulip motif appliqued on them.  The Instructions and placement guide can be downloaded by going to the 2010 Block of the Month page or by clicking here.

You may be wondering when we will get to the sashing so that you can start to put your blocks together!  I know you are impatient just like me.  You will have to wait a bit however.  This month we do the setting traingles, next month we do the corner triangles, and THEN. . . we will do the sashing and set the top together.   I am having a lot of fun with this quilt, I hope you are too.  I would love to see pictures of your blocks when you get them together.

If you have missed the first four blocks you can purchase them for $2.00 each on my website - http://www.morningglorydesigns.net/.  Blocks 5 and six are still available for free.  Be sure to download them now because they are only available for free for two months.

Happy quilting!

New Quilt Designs with EQ6

As always, I have a quilt design in my head, but several actually found their way onto paper this week.  I have always been intrigued with the designs of ancient mosaic tiles, so I decided to use some of the motifs to design a quilt.  The small tiles are so like patches in patchwork that I couldn't help seeing the similarities.  In the illustration below, from the book Ancient Mosaics by Roger Ling (p 66) I was stunned to see the six-pointed stars made of diamonds and the hexagon between them filled with an amazing six-petaled flowers.  If it weren't for the intricate rope borders around the larger hexagons you would think you were looking at a quilt.  And to think some artist sat there placing each of those tiny tiles into some kind of cement which managed to last all of these thousands of years.  I only hope the quilt that this mosaic inspires is as time-worthy.

Look at these incredible motifs in this tilework.  It just blows me away.  I do a program on the Hexagon shape in quilting, and now I can see I am going to have to add a few more slides to my powerpoint!!  LOL

When I saw the Stonehenge line of fabrics from Northcott being advertised I knew I had found a great combination.  I downloaded all the Stonehenge fabrics from the Northcott website so I could play with the designs and the actual fabrics on EQ6.  Don't you just love EQ??  I played on EQ6 and came up with a lot of different designs.  Here is one of them:

I love how the design looks like marble and stone -- even in the computer generated drawing -- using the Stonehenge fabrics.  Of course I had to go shopping and order a huge pile of the fabrics to play with.

Here is another tile design that intrigued me.  This one was from a book called The Tile Book: Decorating with Fired Earth by Elizabeth Hilliard, page 141.  I loved the colors in this tile and the wild floral motifs in the central four-patch.  Did you ever see a tile design that looked more like a quilt???  I thought this one would be easy to adapt to a quilt design.  It took a bit more ingenuity than I first thought, especially to design the sashing and choose fabrics, but I think I am on the right track.  I need to play a bit more with fabrics, but I am liking the direction it is going in.  And here is the quilt design I have so far in EQ6:

Can't you just see this covering a huge floor in a church baptistry?

This is the sort of thing that is going to keep me jazzed for a long time.  Now I have to get away from the computer and go to my studio and sew!!  As always, thanks for visiting.

EQ7 Now available on my Website for a Special Price

I have received so many requests for EQ7 that I finally put it up on my website!  I am offering the full program for $125.00 plus shipping and the Upgrade for $55.00 plus shipping -- but only through May 31.  After that the program and upgrade will both be available on my website for the full retail price of $189.95 for the program and $89.95 for the upgrade from EQ6.  Check out Electric Quilt's  website for features and prices and you will see that I am offering for less during this pre-release promotion.

The new version includes a great new worktable for working with pictures and an improved custom set worktable with a grid to make creating your own settings even easier.   If you have a licensed copy of EQ6 you can purchase the upgrade.  And no worry about a limited number of activations as in EQ6.  EQ7 will have unlimited activations!

Please note, this is a pre-release price available only until May 31.  Electric Quilt will begin shipping June 7 and I will ship all prepaid orders as soon as I receive the programs from EQ.  This is a great product and a great price.

To order click HERE.

EQ7 is Coming Soon

If you have EQ6 and want to upgrade to the new version of EQ7 that will come out the beginning of June, now is the time to purchase it.  As an EQ retailer I can offer you a great price on upgrades from EQ6 as well as full programs. 

This great price is only available until May 31 and then the regular price of $89.95 for the upgrade and $189.95 for the full version will kick in.  If you are interested in pre-ordering a copy of the new EQ7 at the reduced price please send me an email and I will give you the prices and shipping details.  I will accept checks and pay pal but only until May 31.  EQ tells us they will ship starting June 7.

If you have ever wanted to purchase Electric Quilt design software, or want to upgrade, you will never get a better price than the pre-order price EQ is offering to its retailers.  Email me at reezehanson (at) hotmail.com if you are interested or want to know prices.

Thanks!

Current Projects

I have completed several projects in the past few weeks, but have not posted much since I have been sick with pneumonia.  I am finally starting to feel a bit better and am ready to try to get back to my normal schedule. . .hmmm, do I have a normal schedule?
Recently I did a commission for a blue willow table runner.  I just love making these and this one was especially fun to make and quilt.
You can see the McTavishing I did in ends in the first photo.  I really love doing that.

In the next photo you can see the whole quilt.  I don’t have much blue willow fabric left, but I still have lots of the stripe medallions.  I bought a bolt of that last year from a quilt shop in Texas. but the regular blue and white print is pretty scarce.  Last time I saw some on eBay it sold for $150.00 for two yards.  Egad!
I have also been working on the next two sets of blocks for my Sylvia’s bridal sampler quilt.  I will post those pictures as soon as I get the blocks finished and pictures taken.
My April Sweat Pea quilt just came back from Keepsake Quilting Catalog so watch for that pattern being offered in their next issue.  I am very excited to finally get one of my patterns in their catalog.  Also watch for another of my patterns coming in the October issue of Quilter’s World magazine.  It will be a great fall sunflower pattern called Spinning Sunflowers.  I am finally getting some of my work published in magazines and books this year and trying to finish up my Charming Botanicals Series.  I just sent the March pattern off to the publisher and will start working on the last two, May and June this month. 
Before I got sick I had planned to have all my pattern quilts professionally photographed to redo my pattern covers.  That got derailed when I went into the hospital.  Now that I am recovering I am going to get back to that project and have those quilts photographed by a local photographer whose wife is a quilter!!  Look for lots of new things coming in my blog including the next BOM block coming soon!

Block 5 Tulip Tiles Free Block of the Month is Posted

Block 5 is now available for Free on the  BOM page of this blog.  See the tabs at the top, and click on the Tulip Tiles BOM page.  Be sure to download and print the pattern while it is available for the next two months.

This has been a tough week for me.  I started feeling bad last weekend and thought I had the flu.  It turned out to be first bronchitis and then pneumonia, 2 trips to the ER later.  I went into the hospital Thursday evening and finally managed to come home Sunday morning feelling weak as a kitten, but slightly better than before I went in.  Despite a whole week off of work, I was not able to get any sewing done.  Not sure this week will be any better as I am taking it very easy while I recuperate.

But spring is here, everthing in my yard is in bloom, and I am determined to at least enjoy the weather while I am home. 

Heatland Quilt Network

Yesterday was a really good day!  I attended the Heartland Quilt Network Annual Meeting in Lenexa, KS and had such a good time networking with other professional designers and teachers, and meeting people from Quilt Guilds in the region (Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska).  Nancy Wakefield does a wonderful job as President of this group, and so many talented and dedicated quilters participate.  Wow, it was wonderful to connect! 

This organization is a networking group to link up speakers and guilds, quilt shops and teachers, quilt professionals and clients.  No vending takes place, it is just to share information!  I got four bookings from

quilt guilds to lecture at their meetings, and several teaching opportunities as well.

Lots of people asked what I lecture about so I thought I would put my list here in case any of you were curious.  Blogs are great networking tools as well.

EQ6 - Designing Quilts and Blocks on the Computer

The Hexagon and Beyond:  Its not just your Grandmother's Flower Garden

Color Confidence for Quilters: Or How to Trust Your Hunches

The 21st Century Quilting Bee:  Online Quilt Communities

You Said WHAT!?!? Communication for Quilters

Odd Blocks: Settings that Rock with Blocks That are Different Sizes

Here is a picture of my Booth at the Meeting.  I really didn't know what to bring since it was my first time attending, and I got lots of great ideas from other booths all over the room.

I would love to know if there are any other networks like this in the quilting community in other regions of the country or even in other countries.  It is such an incredible resource.   Here are some pictures of some of the other booths at the meeting.

Deanna of Rose Cottage Quilts

Barb Eikmeier "A is for Applique"

Libby Wallis and Petunia (in the hat)

Amy Barickman of Indygo Junction & The Vintage Workshop

MeadowLyon Designs

New Look!

How do you like the "New Look" of my blog?  I thought it needed something lighter, and more spring-like to reflect all the great projects I am working on.  I would love your feedback on it.  The best part is that there is now a separate page just for my new Block Of The Month.  Won't that make it easy to find?  And I have lots of other great ideas planned for the blog this spring as I get back in the swing of things after being a way for a few weeks.

I just got back from a wonderful Quilt Retreat and you can see pictures of all the incredible projects that all the girls worked on HERE.  Wow did they ever get a lot done.

I nearly finished work on my next pattern:  March Daffodils!!  I am so excited about it.  Quilt Woman.com will be publishing it this spring, so look for it on her website in the next month or so.  Here are a few glimpses at the work in progress!

It turned out to be HUGE for a table runner.  About 24" across by nearly 75" long.  It will take a mightly long table to accomodate this beastie.  But I just love the yellow and green.  It is just like the daffodils blooming in my yard today.  These pictures show the completed top.

Here is a closeup of the daffodil block.  It is super easy to piece traditionally or to paper piece.  The daffodil trumpet is appliqued and the ruffled edge is ric-rac.  It was so much fun to make.  And the cool thing about it is. . . .it was super easy to do.!

Most of the quilt is just stitched in the ditch, but I had fun designing and quilting a vine and daffodil border.  Here is a little glimpse.  I quilted in in a wonderful variagated lime green thread.  You can just see the fun daffodil patterned fabric I used for the backing.  I am working on the instructions now and hope to finishe them this weekend! 

And guess what?  I am really excited about this.  One of my quilt patterns will be featured in the Keepsake Quilters Catalog!!  As soon as I get the final word on that I will let you know.  Want a hint?  Look at my April Pattern on my Website. Hehehe.

Much more to come soon!!

So Much News. . . So Little Time

Wow, where do I begin.  It has been quite a month for me with dramatic ups and downs.  Most recently I have been in Ohio with my sister.  My father passed away on March 10 from the complications of Alzheimer's disease.  He had been stricken with this condition more than 6 years ago and my sister was his primary care giver.  I went back whenever I could to give her a break.  Dad was almost 90 and in remarkably good health right up to the end.  Thanks to hospice he was able to stay at home with my sister and go peacefully in his sleep. 

So after nearly 2 weeks away I am finally back home and re-adjusting to work, and getting caught up on quilt projects.

First of all, I am late on posting the next block in my 2010 Free Block of the Month, so without further ado, here is Block 4 of the Tulip Tiles Quilt.

Go here to download the
Block 4 Instructions and Applique Placement Guide.

This blocks will be available for free until April 30.  After that time it can be purchased from my website at http://www.morningglorydesigns.net/ for $2.00 and $.75 shipping.

Block 3 will be available for free for a few more weeks.  Blocks 1 and 2 can be purchased from my website.

There is so much more to tell but I will have to add more tomorrow when I have time.  Off to retreat for a much needed break, and work on finishing another pattern!  I will post pictures soon.  For now, enjoy this month's block.  I can't wait for some of you to send me pictures of the blocks you have made so far.

Block 3 Triple Tulips Block of the Month Posted

I just got home from a wonderful four-day retreat and feel refreshed and invigorated.  And the four+ hour nap I had this afternoon after I got home didn't hurt either!  So I jumped on my computer and put the finishing touches on the instructions for BLOCK 3 of my New 2010 Block of the Month Quilt. 

This block will be available for free until April 18 so be sure to print a copy while it is available.  After that is will be for sale on my website.

You can go here to download the block and the applique placement guide.

I hope you enjoy this month's block.  I would love to see pictures of your blocks.  Please send them to me at reezehanson (at) hotmail.com and I will post them.