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Jenny K. Lyon has been free-motion quilting on her domestic machine since 1999. Her quilts have been exhibited at both the Quilt Festival in Houston and AQS Paducah. Here she gives you five tips for selecting just the right machine for you.

Jenny is a guest contributor to the Meissner Sewing Blog, and she is an instructor at the Sacramento and Folsom stores. Click here to learn more about Jenny.

 

Click here to read the 5 tips.

 
 
 

 

 

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Building a design using the fundamental shape of a square became the inspiration for Gyleen’s venture into the Modern world. But Gyleen, as always, has made the process more streamlined and completely her own. Take a peek behind the scenes of the taping of Gyleen's show and watch good sport Justin as he "works" through opening the show.
 

Star Members can watch Show 2012: Modern Scrappy Quilts when it debuts June 4, 2017.

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Leah Gravells of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, created "Summer Solstice" 43" x 52" using improvisational piecing. It was quilted on a stationery machine. The use of color and fabric should be looked at through the lessons you are learning about color in our Design to Quilt class. We have already shown you the 2nd place quilt by Barbara Oliver Hartman. It was the one that we couldn't figure out how it was made. This one is tricky too. Take a look.

Click the button to see the 2nd place quilt.  

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The Basket block is the fifth block for the Legacy Quilt Club.

 

"Laura and Mary picked flowers from the weeds, and they took the flowers to Ma.... She admired equally the flowers that Laura gave her and the flowers that Mary gave her, and she put them together in a tin cup full of water."
-- Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ch. 4 "Prairie Day," Little House on the Prairie

"Ma laughed when Laura and Mary...brought her bouquets of the blue flags and she put them on the table to make it pretty."
-- Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ch. 3 "Rushes and Flags," On the Banks of Plum Creek

The Legacy Quilt features twenty blocks. A new block pattern is available for FREE each month. Participants receive a 15% discount on all regular priced items at the Ricky Tims Online Store.

 

 

 
Here is the basket block in the four Blendables colorways. Each Blendables pack has six hand-dyed fat quarters. Each colorway is comprised of two coordinating Blendables packs (twelve fat quaters total) and a coordinating one-yard piece of background fabric.
 

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Our Quilt Roadies YouTube channel is about quilting on the road and showcasing the independent quilt shops we visit along the way. Which gives a front row seat into the life of the independent shops. It seems the brick and mortar quilt shops have faced some challenges in recent times. The closing of The City Quilter in New York City was huge news. And locally, when Greenbaum's in Salem, Oregon, and Hollyhill in West Linn closed, there was a collective gasp from the Oregon Quilters. The challenge of owning a brick and mortar store, when comparing it to online shopping, is overhead...OVERHEAD...as in rent, employee wages, utilities and time...all the stuff that comes with one owner and a building. I doubt there are many shop owners who are making a retirement-building wage and taking a yearly vacation to the tropics. Many work long hours and rarely quilt for fun. That is not to say that online doesn't have its place especially, for the brick 'n mortar who has been able to expand to include online. But, I think the big box online quilt shop has a price point that is based on sheer volume. There are home-based online shops where their work has invaded their home space...I don't know about you but there can't be much rest there! There is no right or wrong...no should or shouldn't in shopping for fabric, but if you are committed to having a local quilt shop...you must support it as much as you are able. 

In our little town we are lucky enough to have a real bookstore and quilt shop but they need our support. If every quilter decided to buy a fat quarter or half yard once a month I think it would have a huge impact on the brick and mortar store in your area. Just do the math, if there are 300 quilters in your area and each bought a half yard each month...WOW...a quilt shop might open in your area!!! LOL!  And, yes I know that the yardage at a quilt shop is more than what online usually has it listed for...but, we are only talking about a half yard...instead of one medium latte, LOL.

With all that conversation running around in my head I was tickled pink to hear that one of Oregon's favorite shops which closed last year Hollyhill...opened back up in a new location!!!  And, what a location it is!!!!
 
 

Just off of Oregon I-5 located in the Charbonneau area of Wilsonville, Jan (the mothership) and Brian (the son), have reopened Hollyhill!!!  It makes the quilting heart happy to see such a previously wonderful shop emerge in this new location. The drive to the shop was breathtaking as you will see in a future Quilt Roadie video. It is sweet, quaint, and happy with Brian's vignette touches, and the cherry on this sundae is a bakery right next door! That is if you get lightheaded with all the shopping :)
 



Christine Schultz & Jan Hill have been in non-stop mode, along with Brian and the gang, to get the shop in tip top shape for the Grand Opening on June 24th!!! As you can see they are off to a fantastic start! Thank you to ali ndependent shop owners for giving us a place to pet the fabric :)
 
 


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Use buttons in daily life but don't know how they are made? SAB Garment Accessories shows you the button manufacturing process with this factory showcase video.

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Laura at SewVeryEasy takes a floral panel, cuts it into four equal pieces, adds simple borders, and makes a beautiful radiant quilt.

This technique would work with any panel that can be cut into four equal quarters that can be trimmed to 17" high by 11 1/2" wide.
 

Click here for free pattern.

Confetti Corners is a free pattern by Osie Lebowitz, designed for Timeless Treasures.  

 

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Alex wanted to know why Teri Cherne selected the Innova as her longarm machine. Teri tells her about the selection process and just why she loves it.
 

Star Members can watch Teri in Show 2011: Building with Details, Interests, and Finishes.

 

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This week, as we continue our study of color, we look at the triad color plan. The triad color plan is very pleasing to the viewer and as such are often those fabrics that grab out attention when strolling through the fabric department.Triad, meaning three, is composed of three colors, that at first glance seem to be selected at random, however that is not the case, as they are actually equal distance from each other on the color wheel. While the colors are lower in high contrast than the Complementary plan, creating harmony in your quilt is easier to achieve.

Within the Triad color plan there are eight possible combinations on the Essential Color Wheel:

 

Yellow, Cyan/Turquoise, Magenta
Chartreuse, Cerulean Blue, Blue-Red
Yellow-Green, Blue, Red
Spring Green, Blue-Violet, Orange-Red
Green, Violet, Orange
Blue-Green, Red-Violet, Yellow-Orange
Aqua-Green, Purple, Orange-Yellow
Aqua-Blue, Fuchsia, Golden-Yellow

 

 

 

             

Of the eight plans, the most often used, and the group that offers the widest range of colors is the Primary Triad Plan (Yellow, Cyan, Magenta).  By mixing any combination of these three colors, one can create all of the 24 colors on the wheel. The Secondary Traid Plan (Green, Violet, Orange), while not used as often, they too can be used to create quilts with stunning results.  To achieve the best resuilts, it is best when you blend each of the colors with its partner.

As with other plans, everyone can't be the star, so to avoid things becoming too tense between the three colors, it is best to select a "lead actor" with two "supporting actors". One easy way to remember this when selecting fabrics for your work is to use the 60-30-10 rule. Sixty percent should be your lead color, thirty percent, the supporting color, and the remaining ten percent acts as an accent.

For example, on our Essential Color Wheel, the primary color plan is made up of yellow, cerulean blue, and magenta. The lead actor in Faultlines: Markings #19 by Lisa Call is magenta, with yellow and cerelean blue playing supporting roles.

 

                     

 

                      


Another way to have everyone in the cast get along, is to include multi-colored fabrics that feature all three of your selected colors. Notice Taeko Iwashita's stunning use of multi print fabric to keep the viewers attention and interest in her Double Wedding Ring quilt Forever. Yellow is the obvious star, while blue and red play the supporting roles. But, other members of the cast are prints that include a blend of all three colors.

 

 



 

 


Need ideas? Let's look at some more examples of quilts using the triad color plan.

Variations on Cyan, Magenta, Yellow plans:   

 

   

 
 
Variations on the Purple, Orange-Yellow, Aqua-Green plans:

 

   

 Works combining every color along the wheel:

 

  

 

 

 

Do you still not trust your instincts? Use the Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool to help solve the mystery. Each of the twenty-four pages illustrates the pure color, tints, shades and tones of a family, allowing you the opportunity to select from a wide array of fabrics to make a quilt more interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

Triad Color Plan
by Frieda Anderson

Frieda Anderson (Show 705) is known for creating luscious hand-dyed silk quilts featuring botanical themes. Green (above) is no exception. Creating this level of eye candy for the viewer not by accident. Frieda shares her method of inspiration, which you can use as well, when it comes to designing a quilt using the Triad Color Plan.

Triad 
A triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel.
Triadic color harmonies tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues.
To use a triadic harmony successfully, the colors should be carefully balanced - let one color dominate and use the two others for accent.

    

I often take pictures of things I like in nature - trees, leaves, flowers, birds, water, animals. You name it,  I’ll take a picture of it if it catches my attention, particularly if the colors are interesting. I take the images as reference for quilt ideas, but also for color ideas. If you look closely, nature will give you all the color ideas that you can ever need.

 

The idea for this little wall quilt came after walking in a small woods near my home in the early autumn. The leaves on the trees were turning beautiful combinations of orange and red, with stark green stems running down the center of the leaves. I came home and pulled out scraps of my hand dyed silks that were already fused and started playing around to create the center of this little leaf quilt. Once I had the center finished, I knew that I needed to really set it off with a great contrasting color. So, I got out my trusty color wheel and started looking at color combinations to see what would make my idea really sing. If you don’t already own a color wheel, they are a great addition to your quilting equipment. A color wheel will always tell you which colors are going to work well together. Since I had the center leaf motif worked out in orange and green, my color wheel told me that purple was the perfect color to set the leaf off and make my motif glow. That completed my triad color theme perfectly - orange for the leaf and border, green for the stem, and the purple accents to create drama.

This quilt is a raw edge fused creation using my hand dyed cotton and silk fabrics and fusible web to create it in what I refer to as a collage technique. I finished the quilt using a pillow case technique to complete this small 8” x 14” quilt. A stitch in the ditch around all of the design motifs in rayon thread completed the composition nicely.

You can view a pattern similar to the Orange Leaf design, Emerging Leaves, and many other quilts on my website at www.friestyle.com

 

 

 

Practice Exercise: Build a block

Use these two blocks to try out your own triad color group. Build the blocks using fabric, construction paper or colored pencils.

Click here to download the Quilt Block Square .pdf file.

Click here to download Quilt Block Star .pdf file.

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Kathie R. Kerler of Portand, OR, won 1st Place Small Quilts - 1st Entry at AQS Paducah. "Z in for Zinnia, C is for Cosmos" is a 32" x 42" stunner using a movable machine for quilting, machine appliqué, couching, embellishments, and hand embroidery. Take a look at the close ups and enjoy the wonderful work.

Here are the 2nd and 3rd Place Quilts