I am so happy to be writing tonight, because I finally get to tell you all about my new online only pattern series with American Quilter Magazine!
We set this up back in November, when I made the Whirlpool quilt, and I have been working away since then on a 5 quilt series. The patterns are downloadable on the American Quilter website, just click here for a direct link. The pattern series will use a variety of techniques, from applique to paper piecing, and will cover a broad range of skill levels.
First in this series is Photobomb.
Photobomb is one of my favorite designs. Originally for the book that never was, AQS liked it a lot and agreed to use it as the first quilt in the series. It combines traditional lone star construction with raw edge applique and an improv layout. I always thought this quilt would look great resized as a baby quilt in rainbow colors, so I might have to make one and see if I am right!
The quilt was inspired by one of my favorite placed to take photos. The walkways are cement square tiles with inlaid rock mosaics spaced out around the center fountain. The fountain has a beautiful carved sunburst, which always appeal to me and my love of stars.
My good friend Joan at Maple Leaf Quilters did an amazing custom job for me. The white areas are all quilted in a freehand paisley, the black borders have a ribbon candy pattern, and the stars segments are filled with orange peel echos. I just love it!
The layout possibilities are endless with Photobomb. The background can be plain solid, or pieced with smaller sashes, the stars can be put anywhere you want, borders can be replaced with facings, the list goes on!
I am going to be offering this quilt as a workshop, so if you or your guild is interested, please feel free to contact me. I have a lot of tips and tricks to share and techniques to teach.
As usual, I want to see what you are making! Tag me on Instagram @staceyinstitches, #photobombquilt, send me an email, or upload your quilt to the Stacey Day Quilts group on Flickr.
Happy Stitching!
Back in October I was asked by Freespirit to come up with a quilt design for one of the new collections they were unveiling at market, Lulu Roses by Tanya Whelan. The quilt was made, it was displayed, and then the lovely people at McCall’s Quilting picked it up for a future issue.
Rose Medallion for Lulu Roses Collection By Tanya Whelan for FreeSpirit
Finally, I can tell you all that the Rose Medallion Quilt pattern is available! You can find it in the July/Aug issue of McCall’s Quilting magazine, and on the front cover no less! I probably don’t have to tell you how thrilled I was, but I will! And surprised! Rose Medallion was a lot of fun to make,and I am very happy with how it turned out, and the quilting. I did everything on my domestic machine. Pre-marked and with a walking foot. That crosshatching was painstakingly calculated and carefully drawn, then quilted so that it didn’t stretch the background. All those lines are stitched on the bias.If I had thought too hard about it, I might have done something different, but I am glad I went with it. It reminds me of a garden trellis, and the medallion is a giant flower on display. The mitred borders are the best feature of the entire quilt. The tiny inside border is actually 3D!
The magazine should be available very soon on your local newsstands, but for those of you who cannot wait, you can get the digital issue from the McCall’s website, just click here! The issue has some great projects for any style and skill level. There are a couple in there I want to make for H’s new bed, and for a lap quilt (though of course for me a lap quilt is pretty much a queen!)
You can see all the gorgeous projects, including my own Rose Medallion, in the Issue Preview video on the McCall’s Facebook page. And if you love the quilt just that much, McCall’s is even offering it as a kit! Woot!! You can pick yours up on their website, or clicking here.
I hope you all enjoy the magazine! As always, I love to see what you are making. Tag me on instagram @staceyinstitches, add your picture to the Stacey Day Quilts Flickr group, or send me an email with your Rose Medallion!
Happy Stitching,
Finally!!!
I have been waiting all month ( and some of April too) to share this quilt finish with everyone!
Way back last year I submitted some designs to the Modern Quilt Guild for the Quiltcon Raffle Quilt. The design they chose was superb and perfect to represent modern quilting. Then I got an email asking if i would be interested in repurposing my submission for the Pattern of the Month program. Of course I said yes!
Meet my newest baby, Sunshowers!
Sunshowers is my representation of the rainy days in Vancouver, where the sunbeams break through the clouds and you know that it won’t be raining forever. It starte as a QDAD design, but quickly morphed into something more personal as I worked on it.
Look at all those triangles!
I tweaked the size of the design to make it suitable for a child’s quilt. Then I had all kinds of fun putting it together. I freely admit that pressing is my least favorite part of quilting. Thankfully I was at my parents for a weekend and my mom LOVES pressing, so she did it all for me.
Then when it was all said and done, I loaded it onto the longarm and had at it. I used a lot of the quilting techniques and styles I learned at Quiltcon. I love the varying straight lines, and I threw in some ghost shapes just for fun. I had intended to do just straight line quilting, but I very quickly got bored of it (after about 5 lines). Now I completely understand what Angela Walters mean when she says that she doesn’t fully plan quilting. I changed motifs on a whim, going with what felt right, changing it up when I got bored. Totally works for me. I may never be a Judi Madsen or Marilyn Badger, but “finished is better than perfect!” ( Thanks AW!)
I am so happy with how the quilt turned out!! Sunshowers is a free download for Modern Quilt Guild Members though the community forum. Members will have the link emailed to them. For those of you who aren’t, I will be able to have the pattern made available for download in a few months!
I used a selection of Cloud 9 Fabrics beautiful organic solids for Sunshowers. They are so super soft and pretty! And that’s without washing them!
Photo day was super sunny, but super windy! I tried a couple “in the wind” shots, but they almost turned into “gone with the wind” shots. There was also a 100% chance of Toddler, but I didn’t mind =)
Happy Stitching!
When you have children, you start to rediscover the world through their eyes.
The last two weekends I have taken H to quilt shows- Sunshine Coast Quilt Show and the Boundary Bay quilt show. At the Boundary Bay show, I let H run wild with my camera. He had so much fun and the show-goers got a giggle or two as well!
I always wondered what things look like through his eyes 😉
So many of you not might know, but I used to be a seamstress. I have a diploma in Fashion Production from Olds College, where I had the best two years ever! I started out with lofty goals, but as I settled more and more into myself, I realized that I was very happy sewing what I wanted to sew. I worked for a mascot company at the time, which was a fun job. I even modeled for them. Though you wouldn’t know it was me 😉 Unfortunately life (and a future husband) happened, and I had to leave the company, but I kept up my sewing skills by quilting more and more. Our small northern town didn’t have a garment fabric place, but there were some amazing quilt shops, one about a block from my house and another that was totally worth the scary drive down the back roads to the barn of awesome quilty goodness. I don’t know if it is still there, it was basically a plywood sign with an arrow that said Quilt Shop on the side of the highway.
Yup, that says Alaska Highway! The star is an approximation…
Garment sewing is a whole ‘nother thing compared to quilting. If you cut your quilting fabric off grain, you can usually steam it in place and stitch the heck over it to make sure it stays there once its quilted. If you cut a dress off grain, after about 24 hours of hanger time will leave you with an uneven hem. Gah! Hems!! And then there is zippers, buttons, holes, understitching, stay stitching, armholes, sleeve caps, pleats, easing, gathers the proper way….you get the drift. I fell away from garments for a while, picked it up here and there again, but for the most part I gravitated towards quilting.
A couple months ago my best friend started her blog about all the things she sews for herself and her daughter, and it really fed those embers of garment sewing that were laying dormant in my brain. I was super inspired, so just before Quiltcon I reached out to Windham Fabrics. I was making a quilt for their upcoming Flora Collection by Kelly Ventura, and they have a cotton lawn in the main print that I really felt the need to sew with. I was also lucky enough to receive yardage in the new Low Country Indigo linen. I figure might as well jump right back in with both feet. As I was sewing, I decided to jot down some notes, for when I finally got around to blogging about them.
For the Flora fabric I chose a classic skirt pattern that I have had for ages, McCalls M5430 Misses Wrap Skirt. The weight of the lawn was perfect for this pattern. I wore it 4 times on my 5 day trip to quilt con. Thats how much I love it! The pattern is relatively easy, my paper pattern cover says its a 1 Hour Easy project, but it certainly takes longer than that. Especially when cutting it out properly. 
I made version A with the pockets from C. One day I might make myself a normal C, but I love the front ruffle from A. It definitely takes patience if you aren’t a garment sewing person, the gathering was a little wonky on the pieces (as in, didn’t fit and I think it was a marking issue from this pattern. Again, its an oldie but a goodie!) Windham liked it so much that they took my little skirt and photographed it all professional like and put it in the Look Book for Flora! They have a much more flattering picture of it. I can’t wait to get it back and wear it again!
The pattern I chose for the Low Country Indigo was from Butterick Retro, B5603. This pattern is one of my favorites, the only problem was how BIG that skirt is. The pattern is made for a crinoline to go beneath it and hold out the skirt. I was NOT making a crinoline (or buying one for that matter) and the linen was a heavier fabric than the recommended fabrics for the pattern. So I had to pull out my more than slightly rusty skills and alter it myself. I don’t recommend altering patterns unless you have either done it before or are with someone who has, it is really easy to jumble things up. You really need to keep an eye on the grain lines, make sure the lengths of the seams still match (not the outside edge, but the 5/8″ in from the edge where you actually do the sewing), and know where its okay to take the extra out. What I did probably constitutes as grading rather than altering, and i was running a lot off the little instinctive voice in the back of my head, but I was successfully able to remove just over 40″ of circumference from the skirt while maintaining the drape and shape of the waist, skirt panels and hemline. Woot!
I made version C, I love a crossover neckline. On me though, that particular neckline sits higher than I normally wear, so when I make this again I am going to tweak that as well. I also changed the wrap over back ( which looks just like the front) into a single piece to save fabric.
I Just love the top print!
I have a serger that I used to finish all my seams, and hid the rest by hand sewing the bodice lining over the seam of the skirt join. I love a clean look inside, even if no one will see it but me. I know it there, and along with clean underwear, clean seams are something you want in a garment in case you ever have to go to the hospital. No Sloppy Seamstress Syndrome! My serger was polite enough to ease the hem as I finished it ( a combination of tension tweaks meeting off grain hem) so that took a whole lot of work off the finishing.
Those hash tags!!! YES PLEASE!!!
I make a better mascot model, but here you go!
I love my dress and skirt SO MUCH! The Low Country Indigo also comes in quilting cotton on a white background, its pretty gorgeous. And Flora is going to be shipping out soon. I love it a lot! I have two patterns coming out with Flora, and the quilt I made will be hanging at the Windham booth at Spring Quilt Market! I will write about that quilt later, but in the meantime, here are the little notes I wrote while sewing:
-MOCKING!! Mock up are important to check the fit and structure of a garment. usually broadcloth works to mimic the lightweight to sheer fabric, and muslin for the heavier fabrics. Baste the seams of the mock up, and once it fits how you want, transfer the alterations to the pattern.
– Make the pattern for your bust size and then adjust the rest. The bust line dictated everything from where the waistline sits, to the armholes, neck size, and shoulders. So if your bust is a 12 and your waist is a 14, make the 12. Waist and hip are straight forward, you just add an equal amount to each seam to achieve the size you need (remember to split the amount between both sides fo the pattern piece. So a half inch to each seam means a quarter inch to either side of the pattern piece)
-Tissue patterns have stretch. Cure them before pinning by pressing them with an iron on the nlon setting. this adds a little static, so they cling to the fabric, reduces the wrinkles and you don’t get nearly as much stretching.
-If you use a rotary cutter to cut garments, use the smallest one possible and a straight ruler ( I use a 1″x 12″ grid ruler) The ruler will protect your fingers, and the smaller rotary wheel has less surface area, so the fabric won’t be pushed as far off grain as it does with a larger wheel, which has a larger surface area per turn.
These are some very basic notes, if you are a first time garment sewer, I would recommend finding tutorials or books to help. I still have all my books from college, but a really great resource is The Sewtionary. Tasia is a local Vancouver designer, and she has a great pattern line that is perfect for first time garment makers, Sewaholic. Each pattern has a how to on the site, as well as a sew along that you can follow to answer any questions. I have a number of her patterns, and I am going to be getting some more Flora to make the dress from for summer.
Happy Stitching!
Sounds like the title to a bad sequel doesn’t it? haha!
Nothing could be further from the truth.
For me, Quiltcon was an amazing experience! Learning, sewing, socializing, eating, the whole experience was inspiring and a breath of fresh air for my poor dusty brain. The new year was filled with a number of personal stressors for me. Being able to attend Quiltcon was the relief, the break from ‘real life’ I needed to recharge my creativity and take the step back that I really needed. I didn’t touch my laptop the entire time I was gone! I was having so much fun that I even forgot to take pictures. Luckily my friends remembered, so I relive the memories through their IG feeds and blog posts. (if you want to find me on Instagram, I am @staceyinstitches)
One of our daily coffee friends, Reginald. Reggie is an art collector from Sussex.
I was one of the lucky few who manage to get every class I wanted, and ended up with a waitlist bonus. I spent two days learning Piece-lique techniques with Cristy Fincher (@cristycreates) She is the daughter of the immeasurable Sharon Schambers (who is one of my personal quilt heroes). Starch and glue baste are my new best friends as a result. The first day I learned the Paper less Paper piecing. This has definitely changed my life! I cant wait to finish the rest of this quilt!
My paperless paper piece block.
I managed to finish up a mini top in the second days class. It was great to be able to learn the technique the first day, then have the second day to practice the technique. I plan on adding a border around the mini to make it a larger wall size. Off center and quilted using the techniques I learned in my other classes of course!
I was super lucky to have gotten into an evening class with Angela Walters. She is practical, down to earth, and I thought she was a great teacher. I had a lot of fun in her class, and wish I could have been in an all day with her. I also won a box of her Drift Aurifil thread! Woot!
The next day was spent with Krista Withers, another amazing quilter. Her style is different, but I was able to find a happy place where I felt like I Was stitching well and I was happy with my samples. I took her Compositional Quilting class in the morning, and then Ghost Shapes in the afternoon. Definitely another set of classes that feed well into one another, and ones that I could have done every day!
The best part of Quiltcon was being able to meet everyone in person. From QDAD to Moda to Windham, being able to shake hands and hug the people I interact with online on a regular basis was just tremendous. Kim Anderson @iadorepattern and I were roommates, and we sure had a great time. I also met up with Amy Garro @13spools and we lived it up. And went boot shopping. I love my boots and left a pair of old shoes in Austin in favor of my new kicks! I also developed an addiction to Tex-Mex. I recreated one of the dishes last night that tasted like it should, woo hoo!
The highlight of the trip was our QDAD at Quiltcon meetup! We had so much fun. Amy @Badskirt wasn’t able to attend, but she was definitely there!
QDAD at Quiltcon!
In Anne’s defense, I may have been doing something with Amy’s head a split second earlier…
The entire experience is hard to explain in typing. I left feeling inspired, refreshed, brimming with new ideas and confidence and friends. I may never be back to Austin,(Quiltcon is now split into a yearly show that flips coasts each year), but I will never forget it!
So to summarize what I learned:
1. Tex Mex is the best food ever
2. Spray baste is awesome
3. Cowboy butts boots are awesome
4. I need a long arm
5. No, seriously, I need a long arm
6. Margheritas are acceptable lunch fare
7. Everybody likes buttons
8. Its okay to wave your arms and yell like a crazy person at someone you recognize (except maybe not in the TSA line)
9. 49.5lbs Checked bag= Winning
aaaaaaaand
10. Quilty people are the best kind of people! EVER!
Happy stitching!
Last year, I wrote a book.
You won’t find it in any quilt shop, or at the bookstore, or online.
Back in October of 2013, I read an amazing blog post about one bloggers experience writing her first book. I had been sketching and playing with ideas for a while, and I was so inspired that I finally wrote up a proposal and submitted it to a publisher. The Aquisitions Editor at the company was wonderful. She was encouraging, friendly, and very helpful. She took my proposal to the submissions team, and came back with some suggestions and changes. More designs, and a change of topic. My first idea, while solid, was too niche. They asked if I could adjust the topic. So I did. After a month of back and forth, I has a contract, a book to write and 15 quilts to make. In 6 months. It was a very short time, given that most books are given 12-18 months for a deadline. But I had lots of support, lots of energy, and agreed.
Fast forward to May 2014. My manuscript was done, the quilts were in the binding stages, and I had planned my trip to bring everything to the publisher and finally meet everyone in person. My deadline had come, and I had met it.
And then I got the phone call.
During the months that I had been busy writing, sewing, writing, and sewing some more, the company had been purchased by a larger book publisher. Which meant changes to the direction of the company, replacement of almost all of the upper management , and a slash to the number titles being produced that year. Unfortunately, my book did not fit with the new image and direction of the company. It was cut from production.
Sitting on the other end of the line, trying to stay positive and keep the frustration, confusion, and sadness out of my voice was one of the most difficult things I have done as a quilter. Fortunately, the call came during one of the rare visits I am able to have with my grandparents. My Grandma, who taught me to quilt and encouraged me to try anything and everything, stood there and held me as I cried.
My son came running over at that moment and gave me a huge hug. And just like that, tears turned to smiles. We started brainstorming about what I was going to do with 15 full sized quilts.
My awesome Grandparents and little H
It still took time to regain some of my confidence. Although intellectually I knew it was nothing personal, because we put so much of ourselves into our craft as quilters, it was hard not to sometimes think why wasn’t I good enough. It was when I started actively looking for the silver lining that must be there somewhere that I started to really grow as a quilter and a designer. During my writing period, I was put into contact with several fabric companies. I reached out to them again, this time asking about designing the free projects used to promote new fabric lines. I also started shopping the patterns around individually and basically cold calling other fabric companies about designing for them as well. It was a HUGE learning curve. I suddenly found myself awash in technical writing, trying to produce professional quality illustrations and drawings, and full scale templates from scratch. I purchased the Adobe Creative Suite and learned to use Illustrator and InDesign. Am still learning to use them. And along the way, I found my creative voice.
A huge boost to my personal growth was joining the Quilt Design a Day facebook group, and meeting a wonderful group of creative, talented, like minded individuals. On a bid for advice, I opened a group chat with four other individuals from QDAD. That chat group now has almost 51,000 messages in it between the five of us. Everything from technical support to just shooting the breeze, we have covered almost everything in that chat. We have all gotten to know each other very well, and are looking forward to finally meeting at Quiltcon this year. I have been able to build a good reputation with the fabric companies- you can find many free patterns on the affiliate sites. Just look under the Free Patterns on my menu bar. And I have a few patterns coming out in magazines throughout the year.
I have been able to pull myself back together, but I never did get the chance to properly thank those who were a part of the process when I wrote my book. I want to take the time to do this now.
My wonderful husband for his unwavering support, taking care of the laundry and cooking, and reminding me to eat and sleep on occasion.
My grandmother for teaching me to quilt, and being the first person to tell me there are more ways than the “right” way to sew something.
My parents for being my biggest fans, cheerleaders, babysitters, and personal PR reps. (If a strange lady on the street hits you in the face with a quilting magazine, its probably my mom!)
Christine Osmers of Michael Miller Fabrics, Hayden Lees of Timeless Treasures Fabrics, and the team at Warm Company batting, for their support and for not fainting dead away at my requests.
Holly Broadland, Felicity Ronaghan, Amy Dame, Matt Wheeler, Stacey Murton, and Arita Rai, for making quilts and testing out my patterns and providing some very valuable support and feedback. I never would have made my deadline without all your help!
Joan Nicholson of Maple Leaf Quilters, for taking on the huge amount of quilting in such a short time, being there last minute when I really needed it, and continuing to be there for me.
Finally, my son, who inspires me so much I can’t put it into words.
Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for your love and support and inspiration on this journey.
I also wanted to pay back the support and sponsorship shown to me by Michael Miller Fabrics, Timeless Treasures, and Warm Company. They provided most of the materials for the book quilts. So I have decided that any quilt made with the sponsored materials will be a FREE PATTERN. I will be releasing them throughout the year. The first will be today.
Linked In- Fabric provided by Michael Miller Fabrics, Batting from the Warm Company
Linked In is a beginner friendly quilt that uses rotation in the blocks to create the interlocking squares. I love interlocking blocks and was so happy to be able to come up with my own.
Quilting by Joan Nicholson of Maple Leaf Quilters
The pattern is available for free in my Craftsy Shop. I am working on a platform for patterns here on the blog, but for now, enjoy! Just CLICK HERE.
Thank you to all of you as well, for reading along with me over the years. I look forward to the next few, they are going to be awesome!
Windham Fabrics blog is currently having a giveaway with the new Sarah Fielke collection Snippits. I love the Snippits collection, and had the opportunity to design not one, but TWO lovely quilts that are going to be free patterns on the Windham Website.
The first, “A Great Notion” is available soon! I have links to each of my free and off site patterns in the menu bar above under Free Patterns.
Coming Soon!
A Great Notion
After a long night of sorting, cleaning, and purging, my sewing room is finally where it need to be! Clean, organized, and ready for anything! Last year I purged many fabrics and donated it to a worthy cause, Victoria’s Quilts, and organization that makes quilts for individuals going through cancer treatments. It was an amazing, freeing experience. This past weekend my friend Lyn Marie from Sew Out Of Control came over for a sewing night that turned into a sorting, purging, cleaning spree that finished up what I avoided the last time-patterns. I have oodles and oodles of books, magazines, and patterns all over the place in here. And notions. Oh good gravy the notions were EVERYWHERE!! In short, it was clutter, and my poor bookshelves were so bowed out of shape from the weight that when I flipped them over to try and let them relax back into shape, I couldn’t actually get any books on the shelf, there wasn’t enough height! Yikes!!
A very scary before…
I managed to get the books and magazines under control. I am donating many of the magazines to a thrift shop by Lyn’s place that caters to an older crafty/sewing clientele. She was nice/smart enough to take them from my house that night so they didn’t migrate back into the shelving. A few choice pieces of fabric may have made it into the bags too, but who’s counting. She may also have a super special, out of print fabric in enough yardage to make something amazing waiting for her after the holidays. *wink* There will also be a smorgasbord of books and magazines and notions at my next guild meeting on the free table for anyone who wants them, and the rest will go back to the same thrift shop. Many of the books have sure, solid techniques and patterns that could just use a little updating to bring them up to date, so I hope they find good homes.
A very happy after!
I also discovered just how many quilts I have. It’s a scary number. Not just UFO’s, which are much more numerous that I would like, but are pretty well all tops in need of quilting with the exception of a single set of blocks for a pattern I am developing. I have a set of quilts that are just in need of binding, probably another dozen UFO’s, 2 of which are actually basted! and in the finished quilt category the pile was probably another dozen high.
Now, I know what you’re thinking- holy cow woman, how-why-how-when-how?!? The quilts span a decade or more of sewing and quilting. I have my very first quilts from back in 2002 when I started to quilt. I have my very first original designs, pattern quilts, challenge quilts and show quilts. It is a biography in fabric. Each quilt tells a story, and holding each one, running my fingers over the seam and stitches, I can remember where I was, what I was doing, how I was feeling with each one. I put a little of myself into each quilt, and that i probably why I still have so many.
Circa 2002 Dragon and Phoenix
When I first started out, I would give away everything I made. I spent a lot of time making the good ‘ol Stack and Whack. I still have the book, (the author bears a remarkable resemblance to an ex boyfriend from around the same time and I think I want to try the technique with a bold modern print, maybe an Amy Butler or Joel Dewberry. Ooh, or Tula! You can never go wrong with Tula!) and as my skills progressed, more and more of my quilts started staying close to home. If I didn’t have anyone in mind for something, it just made its way into my finished pile and there they sit. I finally decided that it is time to give them to new homes.
Circa 2009 Flights of Fancy. The fabric is Tula Pink Nest., and those are 3D flying geese!
It comes down to the core of why we are quilters and makers: we make to use and love. If no one is using or loving the quilt, why bother making it? (I don’t include show quilts in this, those are works of art in fabric and thread and really should not be balled up on a couch) With the help and support (and a little tough love) from Lyn, I have carefully folded each and every quilt and earmarked them for people. I am going to start handing them out after the holidays. It feels great to finally have homes for some of these quilts. There are a couple that need binding (thus the after the holidays, I may be crazy but I am not completely nuts!) but each one has a name and a new home where it will be used and loved and appreciated. Some I am going to offer as raffle quilts, and a very select few are going to be featured next year in a new blog series I am intending to write. My mom gets to take an armload home with her as well, and she doesn’t have to try and hide them in a suitcase this time! Love you Mom!
The Long Road Home
It is an amazing feeling, walking into the room. I know everything is done, there is room again to create, to breathe, to be my best creative self. There are many amazing things happening in the next year, and I feel prepared and ready. This room is a clean slate, and I cannot wait to fill it!
Happy Sewing, and a very Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! I will see you all next year.
Thank you so much for taking part in my journey!
Stacey
