Winners of the All in a Row Giveaway!

Thank you for participating in the Moda Fabrics and Martingale "All in a Row" blog hop on my blog. It was an honor to share the day with my friend and fellow Moda Fabrics designer, Sandy Gervais.

I appreciated reading your creative comments. This book has such a great variety of rows to create. I'm leaning toward trying all of them.

By random selection, here are the 6 of you (we found an extra copy!) who will be receiving the Moda All Stars "All in a Row" 24 Row-by-Row Quilt Designs Book, authored by our super talented friend, Lissa Alexander, the Marketing Guru at Moda Fabrics/United Notions and one incredible quilter.

Deb Girotti

Dody

Hildy

Janan

Tanya Quilts in CO

Tiffany

You will receive an e-mail from Pete today. 

I encourage everyone to check out the book and the amazingly prize-laden "It's a Beauty of a Contest" starting this Monday, February 1, and running through March 15. It's sponsored by Moda Fabrics and Martingale. For more on the contest and prizes, click here.  

All in a Row Quilt-Along

Are you following along on this fabulous blog hop!? What fun! I'm pleased to be a part of Moda Fabrics and Martingale's book Moda All-Stars: All in a Row: 24 Row-by-Row Quilt Designs by the talented author and quilter, and Moda's Marketing wiz, Lissa Alexander.

Learn more about the book on its page on  Martingale's site.
Like what you see and to win a free copy? We have 5 copies of the book to give away! We'll be randomly selecting from those of you who leave a comment to this post with your e-mail address. In your comment, just mention two rows shown on the Martingale site (link above) that you'd like to make once you get the book. And please, be sure to leave your e-mail address. Thanks.

What i love most about the "All in a Row" book is the collaborative spirit in which it was made. It's also great that when you buy it all royalties go to Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign to end "child hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day."

In joining more than a dozen Moda designers in celebrating the book through the "It's a Beauty of a Book!" blog hop, I'm sharing my version of this "Thread and Pincushion" row designed by my fellow Moda Fabrics designer, Sandy Gervais.

Here are a few photos of my rendition in Aria -- my soon-to-ship collection for Moda Fabrics. From start to finish, it took me a few hours to complete, and I had never sewed setting triangles before. Look at how cute this is when it's done:

I used Moda Bella Solids Graphite (9900 202) for the background because i wanted to bring out those colors in Aria.

My favorite part? This cute little dimensional pincushion. I plan to appliqué around the edges, once i learn to handstitch better!

Over on her blog, Sandy is making the He Loves Me row that i designed. Here is a peek at the row made with fabrics from my Paradiso collection. Can't wait to see what Sandy's looks like.

Be sure to check out the "It's a Beauty of a Contest" event and GREAT PRIZES, from February 1 through March 15, sponsored by Moda Fabrics and Martingale. For more on the contest and prizes, click here.  And if you want to be entered to win a free copy of the book, comment below and be sure to mention two rows shown on the Martingale site (link above) that you'd like to make once you get the book. And please, be sure to include your e-mail address in your comment.

Blog Hop is Hopping!

It's day 3 of the Moda/Martingale All in a Row blog hop!

In case you haven't heard about it, you can jump in anytime.

Here's the lineup:

January 18: Brenda Riddle & Carrie Nelson

January 19: Corey Yoder & Janet Clare

January 20: Me & My Sister & Barbara Brackman

January 21: Pat Sloan & Edyta Sitar

January 22: Camille Roskelley & Kathy Schmitz

January 23: Sweetwater & Blackbird Designs

January 24: Anne Sutton & Laurie Simpson

January 25: Lisa Bongean & Joanna Figueroa

January 26: Betsy Chutchian & Jen Kingwell

January 27: Me! & Sandy Gervais

January 28: Kaari Meng & Kansas Troubles

Have fun and see you back here soon!

~ Kate

Collaborator Spotlight: Janice Roy

Janice Roy is my special guest on the Drawing Board today. Janice is a talented (and local!) sewist who did the marvelous quilting work on the two quilts featuring my Aria collection for Moda Fabrics, shown in my last two posts – on Tina Egner and Crystal Stanworth.

Janice has some great family lore and photos to share with you today, so take it away Janice!

I come from a very creative family. Early in my life I developed a love for needle arts. My grandmother would inspire me through her endless knit, crochet, tat, needlepoint, and braided rug projects. Given fiber in any state, my grandmother could create something from it. My mother taught me to use her sewing machine to sew clothes and to create many home decorating projects. When I was around age 10 I became fascinated with crewel embroidery.

Here's the quilt that we entered into the 2015 Nine Patch Challenge at the National Quilt Museum. 

Although our quilt did not make it to the finalist stage, our quilt did earn 3rd place at the Vermont Quilt Festival last summer. The top was designed and sewn by Janice Averill. The quilting was designed and stitched by me.

My interest in quilting developed in my twenties. I loved the mix of colors, prints and the endless quilt designs I would see in magazines. However, I waited to take a beginner quilting class after my 2 boys were old enough to be more independent. Once I started to quilt, I WAS HOOKED! I would sew every evening after my boys went to sleep. I found quilting very relaxing and redirected my mind from weekly work issues. I love all stages of quilting – planning the design, fabric selection, cutting and organizing the parts, sewing and assembling the top, the quilting and even the binding that I prefer to do by hand. Over the years I have taken classes in all types of techniques and love to learn new ways to create quilts. My friends and I even did quite a bit of fabric dying in my basement. Every load of fabrics we would get out of the dryer after a day of dying was just like opening a Christmas present! We loved the explosion of colors and designs we could invent!

Hoffman Challenge 2014. Top designed and sewn by Janice Averill, quilting designed and stitched by Janice Roy

In 2002, as both my husband and I faced losing our corporate jobs, we decided to open a quilting business. We ran a large quilting studio for 7 years and purchased 3 Gammill Optimum quilting machines. We named them Ying, Yang, and Jung. We provided a drop off and pick up service at 6 area quilt shops and would rent time to people on our machines. When the financial crisis hit in 2009, we decided to close the large studio and sold off 2 of our machines. I kept Yang who has become my best friend since. I learn something new with Yang every day. The versatility of a system that can be computer and hand driven affords me endless finishing flexibility. My husband is very talented at digitizing designs and so we work together to create patterns for the quilts that I work on. One of our first customers was Denyse Schmidt of Denyse Schmidt Quilts. It has been my pleasure to provide my machine quilting and binding services to Denyse more than 10 years. Many of her quilts have been featured in magazines and shown in many museums – including the National Quilt Museum!

I especially enjoy the opportunity to quilt pieces for others. I see many different quilts made with many different techniques and get to fondle fabric every day. My life is filled with color, design and the beaming faces of my clients when they see their quilt finished. What a life for a self-confessed fabri-holic and thread junky!

The quilt above is our National Quilt Museum entry for the Carolina Lily challenge.  Titled "Zen Lillies." The top was designed and assembled by my friend Janice Averill.  Quilting designed and sewn by me.

Thanks for stopping by to learn more about these wonderful women. It's such a pleasure to work with people who expand and strengthen the heart of the quilting community.

Have a beautiful day!
xo,
Kate

Collaborator Spotlight: Crystal Stanworth

Today, we are shining the spotlight on another sewing super girl. (If you missed yesterday's post on Tina Egner, you can link to it here.)

Today, please meet Crystal Stanworth.

Crystal at home in Texas

Crystal is a mother of four, ranging from 2 to 8 years old. Like me, Crystal played volleyball in school, but at a much higher level than i ever did! She was on the volleyball team at BYU-Hawaii, where she earned a degree in biochemistry. She went on to get her master's in biochem and cell biology at Rice University. 

According to Crystal, she picked up sewing after her first child was born in 2007, to fill in the napping hours. Soon after, she started quilting, "after a quilt shop lady said the perfectionist in me needed to just 'calm down' so I could enjoy making quilts." Her works and patterns are available at Frivolous Necessity on Etsy.

Crystal loves bright colorful fabrics (with an emphasis on orange -- my favorite too!), trying new quilting techniques, and all things appliqué. Her main hobbies are volleyball and piano, with a side of gardening, crafting, cleaning, reading, and decorating -- all while holding a diet coke. She's currently injured as she broke her ankle playing volleyball. She wanted me to add that among things she "covets" are a Model B Steinway piano and a Gammill Longarm Machine.

I was fortunate to have met Crystal through my dear friends, Joyce and Sarah Ely (shown below). Their Cleveland quilt shop, JEllen's House of Fabric, had been selected to be a part of American Patchwork and Quiltings' Shop Hop in Quilt Sampler magazine. I had just finished designing Sunnyside, and Crystal kindly agreed to design an exclusive pattern for the magazine feature. The deadline was tight. Crystal was far into her pregnancy. The timing of getting finished fabric to make the sample was a bit frantic. But Moda was so helpful in moving things along swiftly. It turned out that on the very same day that Crystal delivered her twins that everything was completed. Great teamwork made it happen. The photo to the right shows Crystal standing with her quilt "Tile Twist."

Just a few months ago, I reached out to Crystal and she replied to my Quilt Market S.O.S. She whipped up the first Whirlwind quilt , from that pattern which i designed to accompany Aria, my newest fabric collection for Moda fabrics.

Crystal did an ooh-ahh-mazing job!

Janice Roy worked her quilting magic (more about Janice tomorrow). Because the design of Whirlwind reminded me of whirligigs from when i was a kid, i wanted something evocative of a breezy afternoon. Janice had the perfect idea, and i love what she did!

It's a joy to have some of Crystal's work in our home. It reminds me of the team spirit she exemplifies both on the volleyball court and in the quilting community! I am thankful for her help.

Aria will be shipping to stores in February; it's already available in Australia and New Zealand.

Come back tomorrow and meet creative maker extraordinaire, Janice Roy.

Have a beautiful day!

xo,

Kate

Collaborator Spotlight: Tina Egner

If you've ever been to Quilt Market or read blogs that describe how much {fill in favorite sweet-treat weakness here} gets consumed while prepping for the show, you already have a sense of how much work is involved. I usually make at least one quilt myself, but last October i just didn't have enough time, so i sent out an S.O.S to two amazing sewists and one wonderful longarm quilter for their help. I'm incredibly grateful for their time and talents, and i would never have gotten the quilts made without them! Over the next few days, i thought you might enjoy getting to know a little more about these women behind the scenes, because really, they deserve to be in the spotlight.

First, i'm delighted to introduce Tina Egner.

Tina on her porch in New Jersey

Tina takes lovely photos and makes beautiful things, which she describes as "handmade and designed with love." After seeing her work in person, I know that this woman pours her heart into everything she does. Truly. See for yourself over at Tina's Etsy shop, on her Instagram feed @EmilyAnnsKloset, or on her heart-warming web site where you will learn so much more about Tina and all the joys in her life, including her beautiful children.

Tina and i "met" on Instagram and discovered we have a mutual quilter friend, Jessica Bloomberg (aka @craftycop on IG). In the weeks leading up to Jessica's birthday, Tina was looking to do something special for her and thought i might have some out-of-print fabrics to surprise her with. Jessica and i have met a few times at our local quilt shop, Christie's Quilting Boutique, and she's so nice that i thought it'd be fun to send her not just one out-of-print fabric but a bundle of them! Few things can beat the fun in conspiring with a fellow sewing enthusiast to make someone else happy! And i'm pretty sure we did.

So, after all that fun, Tina graciously agreed to help me by making the Atrium quilt that i designed to go with Aria, my latest fabric collection for Moda fabrics.

The Atrium quilt hung in my booth at the last International Quilt Market in Houston, and is now back home with me.

 The quilting was done by local "quilt master J" (as i like to call her), Bridgeport, CT native, Janice Roy. We picked a simple vining leaf edge-to-edge quilt pattern that coordinated perfectly with the leaf motif in one of my prints. More about Janice and her beautiful work, soon! Here is a close-up in all its crinkly loveliness...

So as if making this enormous quilt wasn't enough, sweet Tina took all the scraps from this project and made this adorable mini surprise for me! I will treasure it, always. 

Tina's beautiful work speaks for itself right down to the tiniest detail. I'm so happy to have gotten to know this shining star and hope you will too!

Keep your eyes out for Aria at your local quilt shop. It will be shipping to stores in February and is already available in Australia and New Zealand.

Come visit tomorrow when i'll introduce you to Crystal!

Have a beautiful day!

xo,
Kate