New Colors For The New Year

Pantone has come out with their 2016 colors of the year...yes, that was plural!  They have selected two colors for 2016. Rose Quartz and Serenity.

Like many of you I was initially uninspired and disappointed in this selection.  Unless I am making a plethora of baby quilts this year, this didn't really stimulate my color palette.

To the rescue, the color gurus at Pantone have put together a color card that you can use to expand the options for mixing these two colors into your repertoire.  Click on this link to a PDF page for you to print.  It will help you select colors for your quilts that will be trendy for 2016.  A little "think outside the box" help for us.

Pantone Color Card for 2016

Check out Spoonflower.com for some new and exciting cutting edge designs that will incorporate these "new" colors. Search their site for Pink and Pale Blue and you will be amazed at the options to select from.  Give yourself a color exercise, dig through your stash and without a project in mind, just pull fabrics that work in these color schemes.  

Moda Fabrics.com has incorporated the colors into several of their lines.

Moda also has a great little Palette Builder. Upload your photo and it will automatically pick the colors for you. If you love the colors in your photo, you will love the colors in your quilt.  Below is a sample. You can save it to your computer and print it out to take shopping with you, even if you are only shopping your stash!

The Palette generator will even provide you with the Moda fabric suggestions for those colors. If you have trouble picking colors this will take the guess work out of the process for you.

Here's looking forward to a year of exciting creative quilting! Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year!

#GIVEAWAY 25 Fat Quarters - Update

UPDATE:  Our Winner is Terri Miller!  Congratulations Terri!

     We are giving away 25 Fat Quarters!  A surprise package stuffed with fabric and some special goodies just for you!  Don't miss out, here is how to enter:

#1.  LIKE our Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/SisterOfTheDivide.

#2.  SHARE our Facebook post on your page.

#3.  COMMENT, leave a comment on our Facebook post, let us know what you most want for Christmas.

That's it!  Yes, I know...EASY!  Nothing to purchase ever. Drawing will be held on December 20th, 2015.  Winner will be notified by announcement on our Facebook page also by reply to your post and by personal message.  You will need to provide your mailing address and that is all.  Your address will never be used other than to mail your gift.  No catches. Good Luck Quilters!!!

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I've been working on a quilt for my husband for Christmas, it's a former Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt...Celtic Solstice.  I printed out her pattern at the time she posted it but I didn't have time to stitch along with everyone else.  If you want the pattern, you can go to her website www.Quiltville.com and in her shop there is a download link which will take you to the pattern download. Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Pattern Link. 

I'm having fun. In my last post to you, I shared my selection of colors.  In this post, I will catch you up.

You may remember that these are the colors I selected with a black background.  Some of these have gone by the wayside as I wanted a jewel toned effect, so I opted for more depth of color in my selections.  As with other Bonnie Hunter Mysteries, she takes you on her personal journey, her inspiration as she develops the mystery and her design inspiration through the process of building the quilt. This is one of the things I enjoy most about her mysteries. So I jumped in! 

Pulling enough different fabrics to give it a scrappy effect without spending a lot of time digging through my scraps.  After all, Bonnie is starting a new mystery quilt Allietare on November 27th!  I have to dig through my scraps to get ready for that!  Whew, two of her mystery quilts back to back.  I will be using the Celtic Solstice pieces as leaders and enders in the hopes that I can keep up...lol!  I had been hoping to get it finished before she started but life gets in the way.  Bonnie's new mystery quilt pattern will be online and free until February 2016 at which time, it will be taken down and you will need to go to her store to purchase it.  This is your opportunity to enjoy this process!  If you are too busy, download the clues and make the quilt when your time allows!  

One of the FREE online programs I love is www.bighugelabs.com 

Using the mosaic maker program I can put my blocks in to see what the effect will be. There will be more color variety in the finished quilt but this gives me a good idea of where I am going.

Bonnie Hunter Celtic Solstice by Karen Meyer

So far I am happy with the results.  Fit for a King!

Definitely fit for my sweet husband!

Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice - Yes I know I'm a bit late!

When Bonnie Hunter started her Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt in 2013, I made sure I printed out all of her directions.  Her mystery quilts are always fun.  No time that year to undertake another project so this has been in my "Que".  So this year, before Ms. Bonnie gets started on her next mystery quilt, I am going to knock this one out for my husband for Christmas.  

I've made two of Bonnie's mystery quilts so far, Easy Street and Grand Illusion.  I totally love Easy Street!  It lives on my bed and it will be quite a while before it is replaced with another.

Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt Easy Street by Karen Meyer

Last year's quilt, Grand Illusion, was not my favorite.  The color palette didn't sing to me but it was fun to put together and after it was all said and done, I was satisfied with my work.

Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt by Karen Meyer

What I love about a Bonnie Hunter quilt designs is her scrappy approach and the ability to use up some fabrics that I might otherwise not be quite so enamoured with.  It's a great way to clear out some of your older stash, you know, stuff you may have purchased and then decided that it wasn't quite right for that particular quilt you were working on.  So you put it in your stash and it's been there for a thousand years, staring at you, taunting you.  This is an opportunity to clear it out and make room for something you love!

My husband has been consulting with me on the color selections for "his" quilt.  He loves purple and black so I am pulling fabrics that will give me that black read for the background and swapping out royal jewel colors for the ones in the original color palette.  I'm thinking the wild purples of the English heather...

The emerald greens of the bracken...

Of course there will be sapphire blue...

red garnet...

And gold...

Here is my initial pull, there will be tons of scraps that get worked in.

On to the cutting board we go for round 1.

Millefiori La Passacaglia Quilt Along Link Up 1

Here we go!  Time to start linking up.  If you don't already have the book and materials to get started, I will refer you to a prior post which lists what you will need to get going. Click on the link and you can get together the items you'll need.

La Passacaglia Quilt Along Begins

Some rules for the link up:

1. You may post once during each link up.

2. You must link back to this post.. 

3. Advertisers, please be respectful and don't post unless you are quilting along with us.  If you do, you will be removed and blocked. Should you wish to advertise on my blog, please contact me directly and we can discuss that separate from this link up.

Each month as we move along, you can join in anytime!  I am excited to see what you are putting together.  If you have hints and tips that you feel will be helpful, please send them along to me at SisterOfTheDivide@gmail.com

My first tip to you is, in additon to obtaining Willyne Hammersteins's book Millefiori Quilts, if you are just learning English Paper Piecing, I would strongly suggest that you also purchase Diane Gilleland's book All Points Patchwork.  It is an excellent resourse to help you with how to manage your fabric around your paper pieces. You can get a digital download pretty inexpensively $9.99 on Amazon.com.

Tip two: if you are not going to purchase the acrylic templates from PaperPieces.com then I suggest that you purchase some inexpensive template plastic, you don't need a large sheet, from your local craft or quilt shop and create some templates for yourself.  This will help you to fussy cut your fabric and to keep your pieces neat.  It will ensure that you are cutting a piece large enough to actually properly encompass your paper piece.   

To do this, I put a little dab of glue on a template, placed it on the plastic and used my ruler to draw around it with a fine point indelible marker, then measure again, 1/4 inch away from your paper piece and draw another set of lines.  This will be your selvage and will fold over your paper piece.   By using template plastic you can easily mark key points on your fabric to line up your pieces for fussy cutting.  Mark your templates with the pattern piece alpha letter so that you are using the proper template.

Tip three: I have never used the glue method before, I am a convert!  The pieces for La Passacaglia are so small that it really makes it fast and easy to get your pieces pasted and ready to stitch together. Drawback, removal and reuse of the papers is not really practical. Here is a picture of the backside of my starting rosette. You can see that it makes for a very neat and tidy result.  

There is a great group of folks on Facebook and I would encourage you to join that group, lots of inspiration and good camaraderie. You can find them by searching Millefiori/ La Passacaglia English Paper Piecing.

On their site is a great little link for The Flat Back Stitch a tutorial which is posted here: The Flat Back Stitch on the DIY Addict Blog.

Alrighty then! Open for link up!

Walk In The Park

Labor Day Weekend, staying off the road and enjoying my time working on a "Walk In The Park" designed by Debbie Caffrey.This quilt pattern is published in 4 installments in Quilt Maker Magazine, with the first installment being published in their March/April 2015 issue.

If I'm working on a detailed pattern and I'm switching up the colors from what is illustrated, it helps to have a little guide next to me as a reference.  On this paper, I glue swatches of each of the fabrics and number them to correspond to the fabrics in the pattern. Just an inexpensive glue stick works fine.  I list the name of the quilt, who designed it, the finish size, quantities of fabric needed for both the top and the backing.  I slip it into a plastic sleeve and I'm ready to go.  It helps to keep things straight when there are lots of pieces.

It would be helpful to list where you purchased your fabric, incase you want more.  In this instance I am shopping from my stash.  

One of the gals on my Facebook page says that she copies her pattern and puts it in the sleeve as well, thus preserving her magazine copy. 

Friday afternoon was spent selecting fabric and cutting.  Saturday I started sewing in the evening and decided to stay up into the wee hours. I think it was about 1am or 2 by the time I finally got to bed. The basic components were assembled. Installment 1 was completed and all was right with the world. 

Sewing at night is the best.  It's quiet. There are no interruptions. The cool night air was drifting in through the window and it was perfectly still outside.  We live in the woods and you would think it's normally very quiet at night, but actually it's not. There is a lot going on out there most nights, deer, raccoon, bear, skunks, owls, squirrels...etc.  They are a busy bunch!  But last night it was very quiet, just the sound of my sewing machine as I chain pieced the segments.

Today I spent time with my husband, made some cookies and worked on the second installment.  Tomorrow I will be finishing up installment 2 and moving on to installment 3.

If you want to make this quilt, you can order past issues of Quilt Maker Magazine here: http://www.quiltmaker.com/issues/index.html

I hope you will check back for updates to this post as I finish each segment.

#La Passacaglia Quilt Along Begins

Willyne Hammerstein has created some breathtaking quilts in her book Millefiori Quilts. I thought it might be fun to do a Quilt Along of her La Passacaglia quilt. This post will contain links to obtain the book and materials so you can play along.  

Lilabelle Lane

Paper Pieces.com has the book in stock, as well as pre-cut paper pieces for you to use. You can cut your own, there is a pattern in the book, but it can be time consuming and personally, I would rather spend that time sewing.

To get the book: http://www.paperpieces.com/shop/c/p/Millefiori-Quilts-x4861341.htm

paperpieces.com

To get the pre-cut paper pieces: http://www.paperpieces.com/module/search_content.htm?form_version=2&showSearchResults=1&search_keyword=la+pass+pack&btnSearchSubmit=Search

Note: there are several packs available, you can get a small pack for as little as $25. and as you create your rosettes, you can remove the papers carefully and reuse them. Or, you can get a starter pack for $56. or get the complete piece pack for $116.

photo by Flossie Tea Cakes

They also have acrylic templates available for you to fussy cut your fabric pieces. Now, before you go out an purchase those I want you to look at this alternative by Flossie Tea Cakes that will show you how to fussy cut your fabric bits. Check out her post here: http://flossieteacakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/how-to-fussy-cut-fabric-for-english.html

Photo by Flossie Tea Cakes

Okay, we have the book, we have the papers...what else do we need? This is where you can vere off, some people like to stitch their English Paper Pieces (EPP) some people like the glue method. 

I will include tutorial links for both methods and you can decide for yourself which you prefer.  

Julie Zaichuk-Ryan from Button Button

EPP hand basting method will require a needle, thread and some small scissors. It is portable, you can put it all in a little plastic baggie and take it in your purse with you anywhere. Here is a link to a tutorial for EPP basting method: http://www.sewmamasew.com/2014/01/star-hexies-tutorial-english-paper-piecing/

Julie Zaichuk-Ryan from Button Button

With this method, you will need to remove the basting stitches to retrieve your paper pieces after you have stitched all your pieces together.

Hexie Tutorial by Sister of The Divide

Here is a link for the way I do my EPP: http://sisterofthedivide.blogspot.com/2015/07/giveaway-quick-tutorial-on-epp-hexagons.html

Hexies by Sister of The Divide

Here is a link for the glue method: http://www.thehomemakery.co.uk/blog/sewline-glue-pen/

Homemakery

Check with your local quilt store, they should have the Sewline glue stick in stock, if they do not, they you can google it online and there are about a gazillion places that sell them. They run somewhere around $7.00 Fons and Porter also makes one. I will be using an Elmer's Glue Stick, you can buy them at the grocery store or most office supply stores and they run about $2.00 for three sticks. They work just fine. 

I'm going to try the glue method this go around and I'll let you know what my thoughts are.  

Here is another fabulous link for ideas and inspiration on Fussy Cutting for your La Passacaglia: http://www.lovepatchworkandquilting.com/downloads/la-passacaglia-quilt  They have a great free download with lots of ideas.

lovepatchworkandquilting.com

Okay, I have my book and I can't wait to get my paper pieces in the mail so I can get started! I hope you'll join in the fun!

Next month I will put up a link on the blog so you can link up and share your progress as well.  Let's spur each other to the finish line!

Giveaway and A Quilt-Along !

Yes, hexagons!  They are so much fun!!!  This month we are giving away Katja Marek's book The New Hexagon published by Martingale/That Patchwork Place. 

To Enter the giveaway:

#1.  LIKE our Facebook page.  Click here it will take you right to it! https://www.facebook.com/SisterOfTheDivide?ref=bookmarks

#2.  COMMENT on our Facebook post.  

#3.  SHARE our Facebook post on your Facebook page.

That's all.  Nothing ever to purchase.  Random drawing will be held August 31, 2015.  Winner will be notified via Facebook messenger and will be announced on our Facebook page by September 1, 2015.

If you haven't seen the amazing creations that are being made with the instructions in this book...check out... http://www.katjasquiltshoppe.com/the-new-hexagon-millefiore-quilt-along.htm

Join Katja's Quilt Along.  Each month a new block.  Her requirements are simple.  Buy her book and register on her site to receive your updates. Here is a link to purchase her book: http://www.katjasquiltshoppe.com/shop/Books/p/The-New-Hexagon-x4601955.htm

You can also find it at Martingale Publishing here: http://www.shopmartingale.com/the-new-hexagon.html

Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/New-Hexagon-Blocks-English-Paper/dp/1604683848/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440167446&sr=8-1&keywords=the+new+hexagon

Your local quilt shop may have a copy as well, check with them first if you need it right away.  (I know, sometimes I don't like to wait for the mail, especially when I get excited, I want it now!)

Block Kits are available from PaperPieces.com for each block. Precut paper pieces if you don't want to cut your own.  Go to: http://www.paperpieces.com/katja-mareks-the-new-hexagon-quilt-along.htm

AND...there is a Facebook page where you can share your progress and look at other's blocks for inspiration!  Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1481806698762201/?fref=nf

Okay, I am off to have some quilting fun today. Be sure to take a minute and enter the giveaway...the drawing will be soon!!!