We Have A Winner!!!

Congratulations Amy...you are our first giveaway winner.  You'll be seeing the fat quarters soon.

Thank you all for commenting.  We found your definitions of modern and contemporary intriguing.  (And they happily added to our overall confusion.)

So here goes with our own thoughts.  We feel that modern and contemporary are often used interchangeably.  The terms both work well when discussing methods.  An example would be very traditional method quilters utilize scissors, templates, hand piecing & applique versus modern/contemporary quilters making use of rotary cutters, rulers and machines.  Both words are being used as descriptors for a time period (current.)

So we can say we are modern/contemporary quilters.  We feel the terms have slightly different meanings from one another when discussing design/style.   Modern more literally relates to the modern design era--modernism--simple geometric forms, open, clean, clutter free, often with a sense of linear design.  Whereas contemporary is current, but not necessarily referencing a previous style.  So we are confused.  Take a Denyse Schmidt pattern.  She uses her own fabric lines which do reference the past and reinterprets traditional settings.  Her result is contemporary in our eyes.  So while it is of our time it is referential, and many view contemporary design as nonreferential.  Still open for discussion.

So what are current contemporary colors?  Do you know our color choices in available fabric are forecast by color marketing groups?  Click on this to read an interesting color forecast for 2010.  It is helpful to be aware of color trends and the availability of other product lines when designing.

We welcome any comments or any further discussion.  
Our Flickr site is still under construction.
See you next Tuesday.

First Giveaway Final Chance

Thank you to those who have taken the plunge and entered our giveaway!  The contest is still open.  Just submit your thoughts on "modern" and "contemporary".   What defines these for you personally?  We will be discussing the comments next week, and will add our own thoughts as well.

Needs a home!

Marny…..So the odds for winning the fat quarter bundle are very favorable right now,  get in there and comment!  The comments we have already received are most intriguing.  They show a lot of thought and they also illustrate the wide range of personal definitions of “modern” and “contemporary” quilting.

As promised we will explain how to add a comment.  Anyone can add comments to our posts.  You do not have to have any special account or email address.  It is a simple process.  We would love to hear from more of you. 

So here goes:

·          Click on the word “comments” at the end of the post.

·          This will send you to a comment box.

·          Type in your comment.

·          You then select a profile (that can be anonymous)

·          Click on the words “post comments”

·          There may or may not be a distorted word you retype on command, but this is simply to eliminate the chance of spammers.       

·          And voila!  You’re done.

Now to explain how to become “Followers”:  you can see this section on the right hand side of our blog.  “Following” is not the same as commenting.  It shows us that you are a fan of our blog.  To follow you will need to have one of several different accounts—Google or Yahoo or others.  It is free to have these accounts.  You can see that some of our followers have photos associated with their id and some are just blank.  You can click on a follower and check out their profiles, other blogs they follow, their own blogs or whatever other information they choose to include.   We’d appreciate having you as a Follower too.  Here is a URL for giving you a bit more information from the official Google blogger site.

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=104226

Next week we will explain more about our Yahoo Flickr site.   It is a photo site that we have plans to make available for those interested in posting their modern/contemporary quilt explorations. 

Please comment.  Our giveaway will end at midnight central time, June 28^th.  We will announce the winner in our post on June 29^th.  Good luck to you all.

See you Tuesday.

Our First Giveaway!

Jill……Starting a quilting blog has been technologically challenging:  good brain exercise.  We’re followers of a few other blogs and enjoy both the artistic and sometimes personal statements.  There is sometimes a connection, identity with certain life happenings and processes.   So we’ll try to keep this focused on design with brief connections to our personal lives.  Perhaps you’ll relate (or not).

The last couple of weeks have been full of the personal processes.  Both Marny’s and my youngest have each graduated and moved really far away.  I turned 60.  For me, the numbers are a reflection of fewer years ahead than behind!  The time is NOW to make a design statement.

We love helping customers with fabric selection.  At the Quilting Connection, we sell a lot of kits but like to encourage more personal choices, making one- of-a-kind quilts.  This site will encourage that same individuality.  We hope that ideas presented here allow you to discover your own vision.

So as we search for our vision, we ask you to join in the process.  We would like for this site to be interactive.  Next week, we will inform you on how to become “friends” and publish your photos on Flickr.  (Just in case you don’t know.) Our partnership involves discipline, just like exercise and healthy eating.  Find a buddy and meet as often as you can: encourage and offer constructive comments.

Challenge:  We’re searching for definitions of both MODERN and CONTEMPORARY.  Please don’t look it up in the dictionary (we’ve already done that)!  What defines these for you personally?  Share your ideas.  We will be giving away a fat quarter bundle of Robert Kaufman’s organic Free To Grow.  To enter our giveaway, make comments to this post within the next two weeks.  We will announce the winner on our June 29 post. (For those who don’t know how to post comments, we will give the instructions next week.)

Until next Tuesday!

More Process Along the Path

Projects started in the Path of Least Resistance blogs from May 11^th and May 18^th have evolved.  Take a look.

Marny…..lots of construction decisions were made up on the design wall since the 18^th.   The pieced blocks with unequal sashing were placed into several trial positions.  The aqua fabric with the lasso type print was the most active.  To “balance” the blocks in a column this fabric was distributed “evenly.”  Block 1,3, and 5 have two pieces each of that fabric and blocks 2 and 4 have only one.   Block 3 has the largest pieces of it so it was placed in the center.  The blocks were spun around to get a “path” of curves established without repeating the shape.  Repeating the arc was too distracting.

The blocks were sewn together with background sashing in between staggering their placement much like the original little sketch.   The excessive fabrics were trimmed off.  The edges were then folded under at a variety of widths to test which would look best.  This is what remains. 

Quilting lines, thread color, and  binding or no binding are a few of the decisions remaining in the process.

Jill...   We pick up after the blocks are sewn together.  Square them up.

Most of my blocks measured close to nine inches.  My goal is to make strips 7 inches by 2.5 inches. The following photos show the cuts. I trimmed off edges that weren't very interesting to make a 7 inch length then I looked for complex design patterns and cut accordingly. Save the scraps.

To finish the project, I purchased plain white and cream cotton and double-sided fusible interfacing. Adhear the cotton to freezer paper with a hot iron.   I cut the fabric and interfacing in the same 2.5 inch by 7 inch pieces.    I wrote inspirational sayings or messages on the cotton with a permanent marking pen.  Remove the freezer paper backing and make a sandwich with the pieced strip, interfacing and cotton.  Press together.

Stitich around the edges.  I used just a plain stitch but it could be decorative.  These can be used as bookmarks, gift tags or whatever....  Embellish as you like.

The following photos show other fabric selections.  Squares could be made into pins.  The designs are the surprise and can be repieced however many times you heart desires.

Until next Tuesday.....

Market Floor Maze

The vendor floor opens the second day at 9:30.  It seems like miles of exhibitors, all with more than the eye can see or the brain can absorb.

Jill had seen a striking quilt pattern in an Aboriginal fabrics presentation M+S Textiles Australia hosted at Schoolhouse. We sought out Aardvark Quilts to find the pattern.  Pam Dinndorf and her husband Pat were happy to show us their booth.   We admire her philosophy of "simple patterns - simply exceptional quilts."  Her upcoming pattern, Matrimony, is pictured here.

A recent issue of Quick Quilts Magazine has this pattern called Aboriginal Underground.

Our friends from Blue Underground Studios Amy Walsh and Janine Burke had lots to show us.

In their own booth we were particularly attracted to Rear Window, one of their newest patterns.  It is on the table behind Amy. (With the random blue object and the fresh flowers.)  Rainy Monday is hanging on the wall behind her.

Blue Underground patterns are also included in luscious silk kits from Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies.  The first is In and Out So Red and the second is The Gift Silk Collection. 

Our timing was great in Valori Wells Designs booth.  We were very pleased to meet Jean Wells who inspired our original Tuesday explorations with her book Intuitive Color and Design.  Our early blogs discussed some of her techniques and our use of them.  She was very gracious and supportive and we encouraged her to write another nontraditional book.  We were intrigued by Valori's large scale line of fabric, Nest, and the patterns she has designed to use them.  Their innovations in the industry are to be admired. 

The Robert Kaufman booth was inspiring.  Two patterns made up with new fabrics really attracted the eye.  The first is designed by Elizabeth Hartman and is called New Wave.  The second is Unfurnished by Ashley for Robert Kaufman and it will be a free pattern.  Both are very graphic and enticingly modern.  Check out their blogs and the Robert Kaufman site.

We were often happily sidetracked by fantastic purse, wallet, and zippered pouch patterns, clever and cute kids clothes, knits reappearing in clothing and quilts, felted wool embellishments,  and cuddly soft crafts.  It was a wonderful two days!

Till Tuesday.