The writer's conference is over. I'd made eleven little quilts to decorate the tables. The speaker, Jane Kirkpatrick, even brought a quilt. She writes historical fiction but has a coffeetable book about quilts. I asked that no one make a big deal about the decorations, but the woman who was the MC wanted to buy one, and she had to tell everyone that I'd made them, and the next thing I knew people were holding out money. I sold five of them in about fifteen minutes.
I've not tried to sell my quilts. Once someone asked me to make a baby quilt for her second daughter because the older one would not share her quilt. She paid me for it, but that was the only time anyone even offered to purchase. Yesterday was a total surprise.
The MC liked the little round one "Pieced but still Blue and Broken" because it spoke to an important experience in her life. Another person liked the colors of "October Hearts" and another wanted "Rose in my Heart" because she thought it was beautiful. One writer debated -- should she buy one for her daughter or be selfish and get "Heart in Woven Ribbons" for herself? She finally said, "I'm going to be selfish" and paid the higher price for the one she liked. Jane Kirkpatrick bought "Confetti Heart" because she "just loved it."
Funny, I don't do this to sell them, and while it felt good to make those sales, what was even better was the delight people had with their choices. Quilts make people happy, certainly for various reasons, but making people happy is incredibly delightful.
Now that the conference is done (and I am off the executive), I've already named my next quilt and haven't even started it yet!
One more heart mat done. This one is actually a wall hanging with a sleeve, but for the event, it will be used as a table mat. I did a quilting motif I'd not tried before in the wide border. It is a curved scallop thing, something like Ruth McDowell uses, was easy and seems to suit the fabric and style of this little quilt.
For some reason, the applique heart photographed darker than it is, and the letters reflected some light and look lighter.
It is cold and rainy here today, a good day for sewing. I will ignore the little poster a friend gave me that says, "God made rainy days so gardeners would get their housework done."
One more heart! This one is a simple design made with squares and half-square triangles. I put the binding on the back side first, then turned it and machine sewed it on the front side. My Bernina 1630 has this neat foot that runs a vertical piece at the edge of a fold and stitches close beside it wherever I set the needle. This is a quick way to attach binding that I often use for baby quilts.
Now on to the next one... but maybe I will finish another UFO first. I've a crazy reason. This Blue Heart was quilt #99 and I might want #100 to be something other than another heart mat. I started making quilts in 1996, so feel pretty good at having this many completed. Even though the number includes many small ones, I'm a busy person and 100 seems a huge number for me!
Three "Pay it Forward" packages are in the mail. That was fun!
Now it is time to finish all these heart motif mats/table centers. This is the latest one. It was lots of work, but I always wanted to try this technique. Never again, even though putting on the beads made me happy and the overall result is okay.
Finally, after a week's vacation and another week of putting my house in order (as if that will last long - LOL!) I have finished another heart mat for the writer's conference in September. It is about 14" x 14" and a standard pattern, but fun to make. I did the heart shape in CorelDraw X4, printed it and cut it copies in freezer paper. The applique is needle-turn. It takes longer but I like it better than raw-edge, at least on some things. I even hand-quilted around the hearts, but don't look too close. I'm not merely rusty; I've never been good at hand-quilting. Alex Anderson's method works best for me though.
The next heart mat is going to be a confetti-like project. I've never made one using the technique I have in mind, but it will be fun -- and hopefully quicker to get finished and will definitely use up a bunch of bits.
No photo of this one yet, but I have finished another mat for the writers conference. It is a paper-pieced one from a free pattern. I like the pattern but am not sure I should have quilted it as much as I did. It looked good plain.
If anyone out there has some heart block or heart ideas, I'd love to hear from you. This is a writers' conference based on the theme, "Out of the abundance of the heart the pen writes" and I'm doing small mats to put on the tables. Since
this is the chosen decor, they need to be colorful! After the conference, I'll be giving them away, so any contributors are in line for a small parcel in the mail!
This photo is one of the ideas that I already have lined up. The picture is a bit fuzzy, but doable. Send more via comments or email me.
I've been challenged to make some small heart-themed center mats for a few round tables... to be used at a writer's conference with the theme "Out of the abundance of the heart the pen writes."
Any ideas? I've a few. if anyone sends me an idea or pattern, I'll put their name on a list and after the conference is over (September) make a random draw. The winner will get one of the completed mats (not the same as their submitted idea). These should be fairly simple (I'm too busy now!!) and more elegant than 'cute' as the writers are mostly older adults.
Post your idea in comments, or link me to your blog with the idea or pattern, or post a link to an online idea, or email whatever you have to: query@inscribe.org.
Thanks!
The writer's conference is over. I'd made eleven little quilts to decorate the tables. The speaker, Jane Kirkpatrick, even brought a quilt. She writes historical fiction but has a coffeetable book about quilts. I asked that no one make a big deal about the decorations, but the woman who was the MC wanted to buy one, and she had to tell everyone that I'd made them, and the next thing I knew people were holding out money. I sold five of them in about fifteen minutes.
