Tag: Quilt Patterns (Page 7 of 10)

image of hovering hawks

River Heritage – Hovering Hawks

August 13, 2018 /

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Table of contents

The Hovering Hawks quilt block is the featured design for month eight of the mystery quilt, River Heritage.

The Hovering Hawks quilt block is another classic quilt block that’s been around a long time.

Variations on the history of this quilt block.

Of course, it’s easy to understand why hawks would be commonly seen along the river. But the meaning of this block has numerous variations. Some accounts simply say the block pays homage to the common bird of prey scene in everyday life.

Additionally, the Hovering Hawks quilt block is considered to be from the family of the Jacob’s Ladder block variations.

Finally, another explanation of this block relates it specifically with the Civil War. It is said that the facing triangles symbolize the foraging soldiers on each side of the war.

There’s an interesting history lesson by Barbara Brackman HERE about the block and it’s symbolic meaning with the civil war.

The past months of the River Heritage Mystery Quilt has given you seven blocks that each have some connection to life along the river. Such is the case with this one. Image of Hovering Hawks Month

I think you’ll find this quilt block is fun to make. 

Photographing actual hovering hawks proved to be quite a challenge!

First, the red-tailed hawk (which is likely what lives here) doesn’t actually hover, according to the experts. They may appear to do something similar, but experts say it isn’t actually a hover.

Furthermore, the hawk is usually a loner, not flying in groups like turkey buzzards. I’ve learned a lot on the adventure through the River Heritage quilt! I hope you have, too!

 Image of Hawk

Here’s the overall description of the Hovering Hawks quilt block.

Hovering Hawks is made from sixteen squares, ten of them made from half-square triangles. This block has been made over the years using lots of different fabric and value combinations. I played with my fabrics quite a while before making my final choices for this block.  Use your own color scheme to make your block. Remember to check your values by taking a black and white picture of your fabric choices.

Image of Hovering Hawks Quilt Block
Hovering Hawks

First, you’ll arrange half-square triangle blocks with single blocks. Therefore, the piecing is easy and familiar.

Use your value tests to help determine placement of fabrics.

The challenge for me was deciding where to place my fabrics. However, testing the values really helped me have confidence in my fabric choices.

Click here for printer-friendly version: River Heritage Month 8 Hovering Hawks

Share your block using #riverheritage on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

In summary, like the glimmer of “river” in my “Eagle’s Nest” photos, we’re gonna say that the bird shown above is a hawk and it is hovering!

Most importantly, have fun making this Hovering Hawks quilt block!

River Heritage Month Nine

SHOP more than 50 patterns that use BOTH beautiful sides of fabric HERE!

Deer Quilt Pattern

Meet Jack-the Deer Quilt

July 30, 2018 /

It’s a boy! Jack is a deer quilt made with BOTH camouflage sides!

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Table of contents

JACK (buck) is deer quilt wall hanging that’s made with both sides of one camouflage fabric on a scrappy background.

The focus fabric for this deer quilt is camouflage.

I found this Mossy Oak fabric at my local quilt shop. I tested the value of both sides, auditioning the fabric right there in the shop.

First, I made sure RIGHT side was plenty dark, so the deer head shape would be crisp. Next, I checked that the REVERSE was light enough to use as antlers and highlights for the ears, eyes, nose, and throat.

Deer Quilt Pattern
JACK (buck) Quilt Pattern

Fortunately, camouflage fabrics seem to be a staple in the fabric market every year.

Some camouflage fabrics aren’t the normal quilting quality. It’s okay for this type of quilt hanging. I thought this one was a stiff when I pulled it off the bolt, but after a quick wash and dry, it was great to work with! (I normally don’t laundry the fabric for a wall hanging.)

The backgrounds are scrappy.

Additionally, having a wide variety of background fabrics is key. This helps draw the eye through the quilt. Also, it adds an element of interest. This deer quilt sports a variety of fabric types including beige batik leaves, grassy geometric, beige stone, white on white floral, sandy batik, and painted grass.

Image of deer quilt
Hunter Orange spots JACK (buck)!

The deer quilt comes to life.

When quilting this deer quilt, I added “scribble” quilting with black thread to the eye areas. However, even before that, the features of his face just appeared, almost magically. VALUE is key for using BOTH sides of fabric, especially for JACK (buck)!

deer quilt in mountains
JACK in the Rocky Mountain National Park

See The Marine Behind the Quilts.

The Jack quilt pattern comes with:

  • Complete, detailed instructions.
  • Full-size paper template.
  • Guide for auditioning focus and background fabrics.
  • BONUS: Prairie Point Hanging Method.

SHOP JACK and more than 50 patterns that use BOTH sides!

Image of Sea Turtle Quilt

Meet Sandy, the Sea Turtle Quilt

July 16, 2018 /

Sandy, the sea turtle quilt, is super fun to make!

Table of contents

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

This sea turtle pattern is for those who love summer and salty air, the sound of sea gulls and crashing waves. And, of course, sea turtles!  

Sandy the sea turtle quilt is made with BOTH beautiful sides of fabric.

Image of sea turtle quilt
Sandy the Sea Turtle Quilt Pattern

The first reason Sandy is so fun and easy to make is the focus fabric! You only need to pick ONE. The RIGHT sides makes her shell and the binding. The REVERSE makes her legs, tail and head.

Add a fun, scrappy background.

Secondly, the background fabrics can be bold and fun. A variety of background fabrics can make this quilt sparkle with interest!

Audition BOTH sides of fabric.

image of turtle quilt
Sandy Sea Turtle Quilt Pattern

Furthermore, you learn HOW to audition BOTH side so fabric. You’ll start with your focus fabric. Next you’ll audition your background fabrics with BOTH sides of your focus fabric. The guide in the pattern tells you what to look for and how to use value to make your choices. See How to Use Both Sides.

About Sea Turtles

Did you know? Cooler sand temperatures produce more male and warmer sand produces more female sea turtles.

The sea turtle eggs hatch almost simultaneously, making the sandy nest look like boiling water. Instinctively, the babies find their way to the water with the help of the slope of the beach and the moon and star reflections on the water.

The large number of turtles hatching and moving to the sea all together helps protect them from predators. That’s why its a good idea to remove chairs and umbrellas and fill all holes at night during hatching season so they have a better chance at making it to sea safely.

Image of Seahorse Quilt Closeup
Learn about the Sally Quilt Pattern.

Shop for Sandy on www.etsy.com/shop/CreativeBeeStudios

Enjoy YOUR quilting journey.

image of eagles nest view

River Heritage – Eagle’s Nest

July 9, 2018 /

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Table of contents

The Eagle’s Nest quilt block gives you a bird’s-eye view!

The Eagle’s Nest quilt block took us to high places! We traveled to a look-out called Inspiration Point. See photos from our adventure below.

Month Seven of River Heritage is the Eagle’s Nest quilt block.Image of Month Seven Ad

Firstly, here is an overview of the Eagle’s Nest quilt block.

This block has a few more pieces and variety than the last two months’ blocks. This block has a nine-patch in the center which is set on-point and is surrounded by flying geese sections. However, like the “inspirational” pictures accompanying this post, this block will have a high perch in the River Heritage quilt setting!

Here is a digital view of the block.

Image of Eagle's Nest quilt block
Eagle’s Nest

The Eagle’s Nest quilt block for Month Seven of the River Heritage Mystery Quilt has more pieces in it than our previous blocks. However, they are not difficult to make.

One step at a time.

If you work with one section at a time, you’ll master what might appear to be the most difficult block in the quilt. My guess is you’ll get it right the first time around!

Check values for the Eagle’s Nest quilt block fabrics.

Follow the instructions for value (light, medium, and dark) and use your own color scheme to make your block. Remember to check your values by taking a black and white picture of your fabric choices.

Learn more about VALUE here: The Tricky Traits of Value.

Image of Eagle's Nest Quilt Block

River Heritage Month 7 Eagle’s Nest (printer-friendly version)

From the eagle’s view.

Image of Rock Cliffs
Approaching Inspiration Point
Image of View from Inspiration Point
Love the reflection of the tree below.
Image of Adjacent Rocks
Image of Rocks

We ventured to Inspiration Point, in the rolling hills of the Shawnee National Forest. We found a breathtaking panoramic view of the Mississippi River valley. Inspiration Point is located about 30 miles from Cape Girardeau, MO, near Wolf Lake, Illinois.

First, the hike to the viewing rocks is short and pleasant from the upper lot. (The lower lot looks like a pretty tough climb.) However, if we hadn’t seen other people on the outer rocks, I’m not sure we would have ventured onto them ourselves! Fortunately, the path isn’t as treacherous as it looked from the trail.

Image of Matt and View
My darling hubby taking me on another adventure to get pictures for River Heritage.
Image of View from Inspiration Point

The mighty Mississippi must be there somewhere for this Eagle’s Nest quilt block photo!

Somewhere in the distance, one of those glimmers of water is the mighty Mississippi River, I am SURE of it! Since we made the trip and the climb to get these pictures for the Eagle’s Nest quilt block, despite a bit of fear on my part (snakes and heights), we are going to go with that assumption!

Share your block using #riverheritage on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

River Heritage Month Eight

Be sure to Catch The BUZZ and join this blog!

SHOP more than 50 quilt patterns that use BOTH beautiful sides of fabric HERE!

SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel!

Image of Lighthouse Quilt

Patriotic Decorating with Quilts

July 2, 2018 /

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Table of contents

Patriotic quilts are often on display in my home.

Beyond patriotic quilts, quilted delights of all genre are the general focus in any room in our house. Rarely does someone ask, “Are you a quilter?” when they walk into our home.

Suprisingly, I only realize that this might not be the norm when I see my house through a non-quilter’s eyes.

Granted, there is sometimes the fleeting thought, “Do I have a problem?”  Surprisingly, “Bloop!” -that thought’s gone! Without a doubt, this is why I surround myself with fellow quilters. Summarily, if I have a problem, they do, too!

Back to patriotic quilts.

Perhaps you are aware from previous posts that I lost my dad. He was a World War II veteran.

I and my sisters hosted a memorial open house in his honor. I had the task of decorating the church hall.

Accordingly, patriotic décor was an easy choice. Patriotic quilts were assumed. I asked my friend, Nancy, to bring a few of her quilts. Between the two of us, we were able to decorate an entire fellowship hall with mostly quilted pieces.

Who knew we had that many patriotic quilts?

It sure made easy work out of decorating for a challenging day.

Without a doubt, honoring my dad was the best part about using the patriotic quilts.

Here are just a few pics:

Image of Quilt of Valor
Dad’s Quilt of Valor on display.

Moreover, the quilting friends who helped make and present food and drink for the day are treasures. You can’t beat quilter friends!

Image of Patriotic Quilt and Crosses
Nancy’s quilt with the Wall of Crosses.
Image of Flag Quilt
Image of Three Quilts on Tables
Image of Quilt and Lantern

From full-size, table toppers, table runners and centerpieces, we had a variety of quilts to work with. They made the task easy with a few decorations on hand.

Therefore, I’m so grateful that Nancy shared her quilts!

Finally, A neighbor once asked me where I intend to hang all of my pattern quilts in my house.  Well, with now more than 50 patterns that use BOTH beautiful sides, I would definitely need another house!

(By the way, I only had 16 quilt patterns when she’d asked!)

Liberty Quilt Pattern

Image of patriotic lighthouse quilt
Liberty Quilt Pattern

This lighthouse quilt is made with both sides of one patriotic stripe by Kaffe Fassett. The background is made from a wide variety of fabrics, including numerous patriotic designs.

See more than 50 quilt patterns in my SHOP that use BOTH beautiful sides of fabric!

SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel!

Image of Bee

Quilting with Etsy

June 25, 2018 /

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Table of contents

If you love to quilt and don’t have enough time, maybe this How To is for you!

Firstly, this “how to” is meant to explain some the of mystery of shopping on Etsy. Secondly, I hope it saves you time, to boot!

If you are like me, sometimes you’d like to wear a button: “I’d rather be quilting”.

Obviously, if you are a quilter, you already know that quilting is time-consuming. Personally, I don’t consider myself productive when I’m doing something like laundry, housework, or even computer-work! Obviously, I know that these are necessary things to do and are valuable. But the way my mind works, do things other than creating beautiful quilts is kind of like buying tires. I just don’t want to do it!

Shopping online can be annoying and even scary.

So, I get it when quilters who aren’t familiar or comfortable shopping on-line get frustrated. Not only does it take time, it takes time away from what we’d all rather be doing!

Hopefully, this little How To guide to Etsy can save a quilter some time while introducing some fun quilting options.

To keep things simple, I’ll use my own shop for some how-to examples.

Five things to know about how to use Etsy:

  • Etsy is an online global marketplace for all kinds of unique goods. It features handmade items, supplies,  or vintage goods from little shops from all around the world
  • Etsy is easy to use. Simply type the name of the item or shop you are looking for in the search bar at the top of the website. If you don’t get a result you are looking for, try a “key word”, like “quilt patterns”, “bee” or “seahorse quilt pattern.
  • When you find something you like, click on the heart and it becomes one of your Favorites. All of your favorite items and shops are accessible through the simple “Favorites” button.
  • Also, you can to browse a feed that Etsy provides based on your searches and your favorites.
  • *Purchasing on Etsy is easy and safe. The Etsy company handles the monetary transaction completely, so the shop-owner never gets your payment information. For example, when someone places an order in my shop, I only get that person’s name and shipping address so that I can fill their order. That makes Etsy a place where you can shop online at many different boutiques while only providing your payment information to one company.

Etsy reviews and ratings are different!

Image of How To Shop on Etsy
Creative Bee Studios Etsy Shop

Like many companies, the Etsy review system is based on stars. You can rate one, two, three, four, or five stars. Moreover, most people still consider three stars to be good or average; a four is even better; and five is perfect. However, on Etsy, any star rating below a FIVE hurts that shop. Keep that in mind when you are giving reviews on Etsy!

How to consider the content instead of the stars.

You can also easily read reviews to see how other customers like a shop and the goods they’ve received. This is highly motivating for shop owners since they only want top ratings and reviews. You are sure to get good service! In the same fashion, consider that a 4-star rating (which Etsy considers bad) by I customers who states, “I LOVE IT!” is likely a fantastic review by someone who simply doesn’t ever give 5-star reviews.

What can you find on Etsy?

Quilters can shop for all things quilt related. Besides patterns and fabric, look for notions, fusible web, tools and rulers and even Featherweight machines!

How to search in Etsy
Sally the Seahorse Quilt Pattern in Etsy.

Use the Easy-Link SHOP button to get to my Etsy Shop found HERE.

Hope you’ve learned how to have fun on Etsy!

Want to learn more? Click here to learn how to use both beautiful sides of fabric!

SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel HERE!

Enjoy YOUR quilting journey!

Introducing…Bubbles & Bonus Tips

June 18, 2018 /

Choose background fabrics that add sparkle to your quilts!

To take a look at background fabrics, first let me introduce you to (drum roll): The Bubbles Quilt Pattern!

Image of Bubbles with scrappy background fabrics
Bubbles

Notice the varied background fabrics in this quilt. The baby whale is made using both beautiful sides of Kaffe Fassett’s Paint Pots fabrics!

You might think that once you’ve chosen a good focus fabric, your work at auditioning fabric is done. But really, you’ve just begun to have fun!

Secondly, it’s important to know that background fabrics for #usebothsides quilts are what make the quilts really sparkle! When you attend one of my classes, you learn that there is a certain “feel” you are trying to achieve in the relationship between your focus and background fabrics.

First pick focus fabrics. Then background fabrics.

It DOES truly begin with your focus fabric choice – you have to pick that first and foremost. (I’ll discuss focus fabric auditioning in another post. Tips for choosing focus fabric are included in each pattern.) Once your focus fabric has been chosen, you want to achieve a balance between your focus fabric and your backgrounds.  I encourage using a mix of fabric styles and to use this quilt as an opportunity try something new. I figure, it is a fun quilt– so use fun fabrics  which may not be appropriate in your more “serious” quilt work. I’m going to use two quilts as examples. Below are Phoebee and Bubbles:

Image of Bee Quilt
Phoebee Quilt Pattern

Phoebee really makes a statement.

Notice that the bee is made from very bold fabric. She’s not one bit shy. The background fabrics can be bolder for her because her focus fabric and her character allow it. Some of the background fabrics are darker in value than I would use with my other patterns, depending not just on the focus fabric, but also the subject matter and what I want you to feel when you look at the quilt.

Image of Bubbles with background fabrics
Bubbles Quilt Pattern

Now looking at Bubbles.

I hope you see a sweet, endearing “fellow”…youthful, happy, maybe adventuresome… maybe up to something. This baby whale can be a boy or a girl and you can change his or her attitude just by choosing a different focus fabric! What I am hoping you have noticed by now is that the background fabrics also have a different feel. In fact, most of the accent strips I used  are reversed to keep them from overpowering this sweet whale friend.

Once you’ve chosen your focus fabric, lay the fabric out, loosely shaped for the pattern you’re making– but with a twist. Literally, twist the fabric so that half of the fabric shows the reverse side. Audition BOTH sides of the focus fabric with your background possibilities. Each #usebothsides pattern gives detailed instructions for how to audition fabrics.

My husband and “silent” business partner just happened to name the two above quilts.

Next, compare the focus and background fabrics of these two quilts:

  • cauldron quilt
    Something’s Brewing
  • image of red truck quilt
    Merry

In conclusion, don’t want to get too serious about your fabric auditioning, because these patterns are designed to be fun, fast, and easy quilts. Plus, they make great quick gifts.

For more fabric auditioning fun, book a class or program for you next group event! Click here for more information.

SHOP more than 45 patterns HERE.

 

image of port and starboard

River Heritage – Port and Starboard

June 11, 2018 /

Port and Starboard

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Table of contents

The Port and Starboard block is our newest design for Month Six of the River Heritage Mystery Quilt!

Quilts Ahoy!

I knew from my Girl Scout canoeing days that “port” means LEFT and “starboard” means RIGHT. It’s easy to remember that the words “port” and “left” both have four letters. The same is true when looking out the front of your boat, vessel, ship, or even kayak, I guess.

Image of Port and Starboard Photo
View from the ferry ride across the Mighty Mississippi for River Heritage!

How Port and Starboard came to be.

What I didn’t know was how those terms came to be.  Here’s what I found out:

Starboard

Initially, boats were controlled by a steering oar (before the rudder was centered on the boat) which was usually on the right side of the stern. Sailors would call that side the “steering side”. Eventually, the two Old English words “steor”  and “bord” combined, which mean “steer” and “side of the boat”. 

Port

The opposite, or left side, of the boat was usually used for docking and loading the boat. Therefore, it was known as the “larboard”. Apparently, “larboard” was too easily confused with “starboard”, so the term “port” was adopted to refer to the side that faced the porters who loaded (ported) supplies onto the boat.

So there you have it! Port and Starboard.Image at Ferry Dockign

Now for the ferry ride!

While brainstorming for ways to photograph the river for this fun mystery adventure, I thought of the ferry crossing in Ste. Genevieve. I have vague memories of crossing the ferry as a kid and I remembered that my Uncle Elmer piloted the ferry for a number of years. My cousin, Bonnie, shared with me that he and 4 other men purchased the ferry in 1975 to keep it running for farmers who lived in Ste. Genevieve and farmed in Illinois. He would pilot the boat on the weekends during his retirement. 

Uncle Elmer loved the river and spent a lot of time there. If my Aunt Alice didn’t know where he was, she could find him at the river talking to fishermen and farmers. Before he married Aunt Alice, he was a river boat pilot pushing barges from St. Louis to New Orleans. Now his grandson, Jeff, pushes barges from Tower Rock in Ste. Gen. down the river as far as New Orleans.

Image of Elmer Wichern
Uncle Elmer piloting the ferry.
Image of Young Man Working the River
My dad.

Elmer’s younger brother, Bill (my dad), also worked the river as a young man. The only story I remember from my dad about working on the river is that once while in New Orleans he got an anchor tattooed on his arm. Apparently, this brought a lot of trouble from his siblings when he got home! I loved tracing that anchor with my fingers.

Watching the maneuvers of the ferry first hand made me realize just how important are Port and Starboard!

Image of Orville Wichern
My dad.
Image of River Crossing

The Port and Starboard quilt block is really fun to make!

Similar to the Trail of Tears block, this block is made from sixteen half-square triangle blocks. The difference is the layout.

River Heritage Month 6 Port and Starboard Printer-Friendly

image of quilt block

Remember to check your values.

Here you see both the color and black and white versions of my block. This is how I check the values before stitching my block together.

Image of Black and White Port and Starboard Block
Image of Port and Starboard block

Additionally, you’ll continue with your own color scheme for your fabric choices.

Image of river in Port and Starboard
View from the ferry.
Image of Vehicle on Ferry

Share your block using #riverheritage on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

SHOP more than 50 quilt patterns that use BOTH beautiful sides of fabric HERE!

River Heritage Month Seven

SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel HERE!

Traveling Quilts

May 30, 2018 /

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Table of contents

Traveling with quilts is part of my life.

Technically, I’ve had one traveling quilt in an actual show that toured the AQS circuit for a year. That was exciting!

Mostly, I’m talking about taking quilts with me when I travel.

First, do you travel with quilts? Guilty! I take quilts on vacations, retreats, and even short hotel stays. I like to have them around for warmth and beauty. Maybe I’ll take one along to bind, to photograph, or to just enjoy.

Putting my own quilt on a strange bed makes me feel more relaxed.

Image of Car Sign
Click Here for Website

This wasn’t my idea, though. A long time ago, I roomed with a friend at quilt retreat who always brought one of her quilts along. I loved seeing which quilt she’d bring to decorate her bed. When I started bringing quilts, I found I rested easier the first night, because I’d claimed that bed as my own with my signature quilt. I decided Donna had a great idea; I never apologized again for packing a quilt!

Traveling quilts hit the guild meeting circuit!

I have the pleasure from time to time to share my story and quilts with quilt guilds during their membership meetings. These trips usually require about 50 quilts. In addition to the large trunk show, I integrate a power point presentation to make sure everyone has a front row seat. It’s lots of fun. Most especially, I like meeting all the new quilters and watching how each guild operates.

One such pleasure was with the PUPS (Pickin’ Up the Pieces) Quilt Guild in Cordova, Tennessee (near Memphis).

I find it fascinating to see the differences between different quilting groups. Size alone can change the dynamics of a group. Meeting location is another factor. Personalities of the members can change how a guild operates. What seems to be constant, though, among all guilds is that the love of quilting, creating, and discovering new opportunities outweighs any of the challenges brought to a group of women (with a sprinkling of men).

Below are a few memories from my visit with the PUPS guild.

Show and Tell

Image of Traveling Quilts
Image of Show and Tell Quilts

The large auditorium allowed the quilts to be on display on the floor!

As you can see in the photos, this was a fantastic way to get a close-up view of each work of art! And just look at those fantastic quilts!

Interestingly, the guild had a master list of projects that the members had registered earlier in the year. When a show and tell item from that list was completed, that quilter got credit for the completion and was entered into a drawing for retreat funds (money)! How cool is THAT?

Look at all this SHOW AND TELL from only 22 members present!!! I really liked being able to go around and look at each quilt closely during the break!  However, I did later find out that this particular meeting was their LAST CHANCE to complete those projects and that may have contributed to their prolific quilting!

Talk about traveling quilts! These quilters put on one heck of a show and tell!

Image of QuiltsImage of Patterns

Block-of-the-Month

Myself having been in charge of Block-of-the-Month for my guild in the past, I was surprised when their quilters showed up with their blocks dutifully completed for that month and laid them in a pile on a table. This guild had a different way of handling their BOM program. The PUPS gals collect those blocks and make them up into quilts for their community. It’s a really nice way to help the community while quilters  learn new techniques.

Virtual Retreats

I thought this sounded like loads of fun! You just pick a weekend (pretty far in advance for planning purposes). Choose your projects, your favorite jammies, and snacks and have your own retreats at home – but shared with pictures and videos on the guild Facebook page!

Prep for traveling with quilts.

Finally, though I try to be over-prepared, I’m always a bit nervous before giving a presentation. While everything went off without a hitch, I was thankful that I didn’t know who they had just hosted! Thankfully, I didn’t know before I got to town that I had SUCH BIG SHOES to fill.

Marie Bostwick had spoken the month before. Had I known that, I would’ve driven there a month earlier! Thankfully, it didn’t sink in until the next day that I was following that awesomeness. I’m pretty sure Marie and I would be besties, if she actually knew me!

You’ve got competition, Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman! (Click here to learn how to have Ree as your best friend!)

A big shout-out and thank-you to the PUPS Quilt Guild for their hospitality!

Wondering about the 50 quilts? Click here for my Etsy Shop!

Image of traveling quilts
Sally Quilt Pattern

Enjoy traveling with your quilts and enjoy your quilting journey!

Check out Spooky Quilts-A-Brewing for some bubbly quilt class fun!

Visit Home Sweet Home to see class projects on display where I was raised!

See Heartland Quilts for more class projects.

Image of Quilt by Pool

OKLAHOMA! Backroads in South Dakota

May 21, 2018 /

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Table of contents

Oklahoma Backroads is a great quilt for someone in OKLAHOMA! or South Dakota!

In 2014, I made this Bonnie Hunter quilt called “Oklahoma Backroads” (click here for pattern link) for my daughter’s graduation from high school. The quilt had the dual purpose of commemorating her role as Laurey Williams in the musical, OKLAHOMA!. Image of Quilt

First, like most Bonnie Hunter designs, this one had lots of pieces.

Secondly, I used lots of scraps (as one does in a Bonnie Hunter quilt). I LOVED that many of these scraps were from my late mother-in-law’s stash. One of those fabrics was from matching colonial dresses she had made for Jacquelyn and her and their American Girl dolls, Felicity! See the Felicity tea pot quilt HERE. Additionally, I used fabric and lace on the borders which were used on Jacquelyn’s costume for the role of Laurey. 

Image of Quilt Label
Notice I named Jacq’s quilt using all caps with an exclamation point – as the musical is named –OKLAHOMA!.
Image of OK! Poster
Image of Dancer Spinning
Image of Quilt by Pool
Image of Scene from OKLAHOMA!

As a college graduate with a major in musical theatre, Jacquelyn was excited to land a real job, straight out of school!

When she accepted a three-month run in South Dakota, I was happy to know she was taking her quilt with her. We were all excited that she’d landed the role of Laurey Williams for Black Hills Playhouse! As you might guess, our vacationed to South Dakota for opening night!

Image of Theatre
Image of Theatre Inside

I love that there are meaningful fabrics in the quilt she’s packing for her first time so far from home.

We’ve never been to this area of the country. In addition to seeing the beautiful new landscapes, I gained a quilt shop featuring my patterns! Click here to see The Quilt Shop.

Back to the Oklahoma Backroads quilt…and value.

When I made this quilt, I separated my scraps into lights, mediums, and darks. However, I really hadn’t discovered that the values change, depending upon what values surround them. I would have achieved more defined primary and secondary patterns had I paid attention to that. Discover the nuances of value as you learn to audition BOTH sides of fabrics for my own patterns! Click here. I’ve learned a lot with #usebothsides quilts when it comes to VALUE!

Image of Buffalo Moon Quilt
Buffalo Moon

Enjoy YOUR quilting journey!

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