Field Trip - Capital Quilts

It isn't warm in DC but at least it's not snowing. Yesterday I made a field trip, driving 11 miles north to Gaithersburg MD, to visit my new and nearest quilt shop, Capital Quilts www.capitalquilts.com. The occasion for the trip was to visit Hilary Hastie's Circle of Nine Workshop using our latest book, Best of Circle of Nine.

Hilary's quilt and pattern is Teddy Bear's Picnic. She used preprinted panels for the main squares or blocks and simple squares for the spacers. Capital quilts sells my books and rulers so if you live in or visit the area, you must visit! They have two huge rooms full of fantastic fabrics, all kinds of notions and they sell my favorite sewing machine, Janome. 

Jean Ann and Hilary

Here are some photos of the class and the quilts they made using Hilary's pattern. 

Cathy's quilt using a warm bear/brown for the spacers.

Nina's quilt using a delightful juvenile panel print of jungle animals.

Class snapshots - Capital Quilts, Gaithersburg MD

More spring!

My friend Debby Kratovil - www.quilterbydesign.com - has made a number of quilts using my trim tools. Here is her Sunshine Butterflies quilt using the 6" Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tool. Debby made her quilt with in natural hues for garden butterflies. Debby has featured both of these quilts on her blog...another interesting blog for quilters to follow.

Here is another version of the same quilt using bright colors for spring. Debby has featured both quilts on her blog, with this comment "A Wisconsin quilt shop, Quilting Divas Sewing Boutique, sent me their finished quilt that they are featuring during their shop hop in June. Isn't this just the cheeriest?" The Wisconsin State Shop Hop is in June, so those of you who live there are in for a treat. Here is the info for the Quilting Divas:  quiltingdivassew.com/

The 6" Curvy Log Cabin Trim tool and the pattern for this project can be found on my website www.jeanannquilts.com

Quilt Blocks for Spring

I can't believe that Spring has finally come to Washington DC. What a dismal winter we had. But now the sun is shining and the sewing machine is humming! Here are the first 2 rows of blocks for a new quilt I am making. I am calling the quilt Rainbow Mountain. The blocks are 6" and made with my Log Cabin Trim Tool Two.

I am using the Riley Blake textured solid fabrics. I really love this collection because the solids have a slight color variation that adds depth and interest. There are 7 blocks in a row and the finished quilt with have 10 rows. Seventy blocks may seem like a lot, but they sew up really fast cutting the strips with Creative Grids© Stripology ruler to cut the strips and the Log Cabin Trim Tool for the blocks.

Done at last - Pineapple Rings

The Pineapple Rings quilt is finished at last. After I made most of the blocks I decided it was just too white and the "rings" didn't show enough. So I took off all the white corner triangles and replaced them with bright colors. Now you can see the Pineapple Rings clearly. My best memories of actual eatable pineapple rings are the Pineapple Upside Down cakes my mother used to make. It was one of her favorite family desserts.

I am not sure about the quilting. I think I should add some more quilting to the overall design. Look at the bottom of the quilt for the best view. Two of the rings show the most clearly in that row. 

The quilt design is easier to see in the quilt diagram that I created in Adobe Illustrator. Here it is....

I love doing quilts like this with subtle design elements that have to be "discovered" after carefully looking for the design.