Kanuga Quilt Retreat

Kanuga Knitting and Quilting Retreat - Registration is now OPEN. We have a full workshop each year, so register early!
http://www.kanuga.org/conference-calendar/conference-calendar-details/kanuga-knitting-quilting-retreat

The 2014 quilting retreat at Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, NC. The retreat is always scheduled for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend so we get an extra day to sew.

Here is the quilt I designed for the retreat. It uses only one fabric jelly roll plus 1-1/2 yards of background fabric. I love this jelly roll with modern prints and every strip a bright color.

The Quilt is made using my new Hexagon Trim Tool by Creative Grids®. The tool is in manufacturing right now and will be available for shipping from my website www.jeanannquilts.com in October. It will also be available at the conference for quilters who are interested.

Cats Know Comfort!

Warning! This is going to be a long post because it includes the directions to make the featured quilt.

A few years ago Debby Kratovil and I discovered the Comfort quilt block. We found it is just perfect for using those yummy oversize prints. Between the two of us we have made a half dozen or so variations of this block.

Five years ago I was invited to give a program at the Textile Museum http://www.textilemuseum.org in Washington DC. This is an excellent smaller museum just north of Dupont Circle. It is well worth making the trip to visit if you happen to be visiting our nation's capital. This talk launched me back into giving programs about quilting to various quilt guilds and quilting venues. You can learn more about my programs and workshops by visiting my website: www.jeanannquilts.com

I stayed with my daughter, Heidi Eitel, who is an exhibits designer at the National Air and Space Museum http://airandspace.si.edu. Heidi came to the talk and fell in love with this quilt that features Amy Butler fabrics http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/. These same fabrics may not be currently available but Amy Butler has many exciting new fabrics that will sew up magnificently into this same quilt pattern.

To prove how comfortable this quilt is, Heidi's two cats, Annie and Andy, have chosen it as their #1 place to take their many daily naps. At night the quilt provides comfort for Heidi and Brian as it rests on their bed.

Here is the quilt that was featured in QUILT magazine the not long before I retired as editor-in-chief in 2006. You can see we made pillow cases, and an accent pillow to complete a full bed ensemble.

Here are the directions to make the quilt. It's so simple to make that you can figure out the sewing on your own after you have cut the the blocks. 

Mango Berry Pineapple Quilt

I spent the weekend sewing. I finished 2 quilts, one for the jelly roll book and another for the Pineapple Trim Tool. The pineapple quilt goes up to Checker Distributors for their quilted "wall of fame". This wall has a quilt made for the Creative Grids rulers designed by quilters like me. Here is my Mango Berry Pineapple Quilt, pieced, quilted, bound and ready to be mailed. I am preparing a Cut Loose Pattern for this quilt and it will be available about mid-August.

I used Andover's Many Eyes Looking fabrics for the blocks and a yard of butterfly print I found in my stash for the border (who knows how long it had been there). I was just happy to be using up something from my stash. Then I pulled out a bright gold rose print from the stash for the backing and when I read the info on the selvedge I was surprised to see the fabric was designed by my good quilting friend in England, Barbara Chainey. Happiness is a finished quilt and 2 pieces of fabric out of the stash and into a quilt.

The pineapple blocks are 10" and the borders are 5". I was able to use the backing fabric without having to seam it together. I quilted it on my new Brother sewing machine and used i cute little round, clear plastic foot with a hole in the middle (kind of like a donut) that is meant for echo quilting. I did a meander quilting pattern but the round foot is perfect for any kind of free motion machine quilting. I made the entire quilt in a week. Love that Pineapple Trim Tool www.jeanannquilts.com. No math, no measuring and NO paper piecing, and a perfect block every time. 

You will have to wait until the jelly roll book is out to see the other quilt I finished. We are tossing around names for the book. I like Jelly Roll Jambalaya. What do you think?