Zu Beginn dieses Jahres gibt es ein tolles Angebot: Gewinne jeden Monat eine Aurifil Fadenbox im Wert von $120.00! Nimm am Block des Monats teil, nähe einen Block, poste ihn auf Flickr in der Aurifil BOM Gruppe und du bist mit dabei. Aurifil wird jeden Monat einen neuen Block mit kostenloser Nähanleitung, Tipps fürs Nähen und Quilten vorstellen, alle Blöcke zusammen ergeben am Ende des Jahrs einen Sampler.
Jeder Block wird von einer bekannten Designerin/Designer vorgestellt, die über sich erzählen und viele Bilder über ihre Arbeit präsentieren.
Hey - ich durfte den Anfang machen, jipii! Schau gleich mal vorbei in den Aurifil News und lass dich inspirieren, vielleicht wird dies dein Monatsprojekt 2014!

We have here something super exciting for you! A MONTHLY Aurifil thread BOX giveaway, VALUE $120.00!!!!! Along with 12 free quilt block ideas and instructions from various talented designers (may I say so or is that self-congratulation since I am part of the group). You can sew along with Aurifil Quilt Patchwork and Embroidery Threads and set all the 12 blocks together at the end of the year to a beautiful sampler. Hop over to that blog post, make the block of the month, post it at the Aurifil flicker Group page here for your chance to win and get lot of tips from the popular Pat Sloan who curates this project over the year and the very talented long arm quilter Natalia Bonner from pieceNquilt.
Good luck, peeps!

EACH MONTH Aurifil will pick one random winner that has made a  block from our 2014 designers and that random person receives a FULL BOX of Pat Sloans Aurifil thread box as the  prize!

This is my interview I had with Pat:

When was your FIRST quilt sighting? Did it inspire you to start quilting?

It was when I accidentally stumbled upon a book of Kaffe Fassett in a store. At that point I was already an experienced seamstress, but I had never heard of quilts before. These pictures sparked a desire to be able to make those quilts on my own.

Do you still have your first project you ever made? What was it?

My first patchwork project was a simple windmill table runner with half square triangles. I didn’t even know about something like a rotary cutter and cut out all triangle pieces with a pair of scissors. And I tried to get the seam as accurate as possible by placing two triangles on top of each other and feeding them through my machine. I think my technique back then was more like that of the American Pioneers. I gave this project to my mother who still uses it in her home.

When you go to a quilt show, what types of quilts are you drawn to?

There are two things I find irresistible: The one is skill in craftsmanship – no matter which style or fabrics the quilt has, an intricate quilting, a perfect piecing, an accurate appliqué has me oohing and aahing each time. The other thing is, of course, impressive modern design. It might be minimalist, or perfect choices of colors in a contemporary quilt that I find amazing.

This example shows my puzzle box quilt. Find a free tutorial on my blog CLICK HERE

 

We all have parts of the process we ‘prefer’ more than others. What part of quilt making do you ‘Prefer’ most and why? And which the least and why?

The most exciting part of my quilt projects is the planning. I love to ponder ideas and enfold one of them, choose the perfect fabrics and measurements, design the top virtually on my computer screen, and I even love to do the math of planning this all. This is such an enjoyable part, since you can do a virtual quilt in a very short period of time, you can play with color variations, and if the result doesn’t please you, you can click onto DELETE and it won’t hurt as a failed sewn quilt would have done.

 

The part of the process I like least is the binding. I don’t mind hand stitching of the binding after it has been sewn onto the quilt edge and I can listen to an audiotape while I work; but I really don’t care for the sewing of the quilt edge itself. The thickness of all layers and the relatively tight seam allowance make me always a little bit grumpy.

 

Did you have a career prior to making art, and what was it? Do you still do that career while having your design business? If you’ve always done art, did you do another type before quilt making?

I’d say I had a career in-between making art. I was always committed to be creative and studied Interior and Textile Design as a young woman. But life happened and I had three children, stayed at home for a while and worked at an office as an accountant to support my family and my creativity faded into the background. At the age of 40 I felt a deep desire to get this creativity back into my life and this was the time when I found quilting and got passionate about it.

 

What is your favorite place to visit in your hometown?

Actually I live in a very small town of Werther, Germany (20.000 pop) and there are not many spectacular things to visit. We have a little something and this is the famous flavor of the ice cream in our parlor here. People come from all over to get it and on hot summer days you will find a buzzing like in a beehive. That’s when I like to stroll to our market place and get myself a delicious scoop of ice cream.

 

Do you have a tip or trick to make your quilt making easier?

Today I sew my half square triangles much more efficiently and accurately, especially when I have to sew a whole bunch of them. I use the grid method. Now it’s just a piece of cake and I can do about 100 in just a bit more than one hour.

Zen Chic Aurifil thread

What are your 3 favorite colors of Aurifil thread?

 

That’s difficult to say. Of course, I could not manage without white, black, gray, or off-white. But that’s probably not what you wanted to know. My favorite colors? Actually I find the entire palette of intense hues very beautiful and well chosen; and whatever matches with my current collection soon becomes my favorite color. At the moment this means all the colors matching my new collection Sphere: blue, turquoise, and yellow.

I love also the new thread assortment especially created to accompany one of my newest patterns “Lemon Halftone”. Isn’t it just perfect, when you appliqué one project and you have all the colors in the perfect amount handy?

 

If you want the pattern also as quickly, you can get an instant download PDF here http://bheitland.wix.com/zenchic#!buy-your-pdf-pattern

  

What does your studio look like, and what would you change in it? 

I am happy to say that there is not one thing in my studio I would change. I did a make-over last winter, and now everything is exactly how I have always wanted it to be: an inviting and inspiring space, well organized with a place for everything I need, a large cutting island, fresh colors – in other words, it’s my dream studio

 

If you could train with, or work with, or follow one person for a day… who would it be?

Naturally I have my idols among the Quilt-industy with whom I’d like to spend a day, because I would like to get to know their personality and their work methods. Denyse Schmidt has always been one of my idols and I would be really curious to spend a day with her.

 

Anything else you’d like to share?

Since we have mentioned quilt idols, I think it is natural to have more than one role model or idol who inspires us in our work. There are so many interesting people, all with their own distinct artistic approach to quilt making. Just this past fall a new book has arrived on the marking featuring twenty interesting artists along with their workspace and their work. I was pleased and honored to have been invited to be part of this book; It is called simply “Quilters”.

What woman inspired your Quilt Block? 

My quilt block is the block “Spools”. First of all, because it is easy to sew, since it can be done with Precuts (which I find very appealing), and secondly because it can be sewn in a traditional style as well as in a fresh and modern style.

Beyond that, I picked this block because the old spools reminded me of the woman to whom I owe my passion for sewing, namely my grandmother. When I was just a little girl she patiently showed me how to sew. I think it would make her really happy if she could see today how the seed which she had planted all those years ago has blossomed in such wonderful ways (the picture below is a drawing my daughter made for me as a memory of how I started sewing).

*****************************************

CLICK HERE to download the instructions for Chez Claire pattern

*****************************************

Zen Chic version of the Block of the Month – a table runner featuring the newest line Sphere.

Find more at

www.brigitteheitland.de

https://www.facebook.com/zenchicquilts

http://www.pinterest.com/brigittezc/

The very talented Natalia Bonner has a Machine Quilting tip for you each month. Natalia will be quilting the final top for the Aurifil Gallery in Milan Italy!

Visit Natalia at http://www.pieceandquilt.com/

We have had a few questions on Supply list. Since the blocks are being made as a mystery we can’t figure out a supply list in advance. We suggest you

buy 1.5 yd of a basic (like the cream the designers have) or use scraps
1/2 to 1 yd of 4 main fabrics (this will be more than you need but it’s stash building.. wink!)
then add in a sprinkling of your scraps ***************************

JOIN our Aurifil Family 

****************************

Sign up for the Aurifil Newsletter…

Become a member of the AURlfil fan page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aurifil.quilt.thread

EACH MONTH we will pick one random winner that has made a  block.. that person will receive a special Aurifil thread prize! Winners are all contacted via Flickr email and posted at our FLICKR PAGE CLICK HERE

The Elven Garden: Beach Ball - a jelly roll quilt tutorial (and give...

This is a reblogging of Jess Frost's post about her tutorial for a Jelly Roll and a giveaway

The Elven Garden: Beach Ball - a jelly roll quilt tutorial (and give...: After finishing up my DUDQS mini quilt last week, I jumped straight in to making a larger version. I bought a jelly roll of Zen Chic's r...

This is the perfect thing for a Layer Cake…

…even if you are a beginner. But also the more experienced quilter will have fun with it, just because the result is so successful that you will make more than one project with this block.
I did a quick demo together with the friendly film team of the fatquartershop how to make a block.

It features my pattern OPEN YOUR WINDOW, which uses a layer cake of the brand new collection Sphere.


By the way – did you know that you have an instant access to all of my patterns as a PDF-download? You even save yourself the shipping costs. They are on my website, go to the menu PDF Download, where you will be guided through and get the pattern in your email box. Just in a minute!

This is the direct link for the OPEN YOUR WINDWOW pattern.
There were some snippets left over and they went onto the backside.


Have fun and happy sewing!

Layer Cake Lemonade Fun

at Fatquartershop.com
You for sure are familiar with what to do with a Layer Cake and have already gathered a bunch of ideas.
But sometimes a genius idea comes along which is just to good to miss – I love this very simple and quick but great looking idea from fatquartershop and happily joined the blog hop about this pattern fun.

It’s a free downloadable pattern using – as the name reveals – a layer cake. What I really love about: I can just buy my favorite collection in a bundle, have a precut format which saves me lot of cutting time, the pattern is so easy and quick that I did the entire quilt in just two hours, it looks great although it is simple, all my layers of the bundle are used up (actually some are not used on the top, but I incorporated them into the backside), no waste here – this all summed up makes me to want sew another and another and another one: for the baby my friends daughter is expecting, as a birthday present for my nice, as a welcome gift for my sister coming for a visit from San Francisco, and so much more ideas.

I mean $39, two hours of sewing – and a nice quilt is ready – that’s in my opinion kind of genius.
There are some more designers participating in this “pattern festival” and every designer will show you the quilt in  her current collection. Mine is SPHERE for Moda, a fresh, graphic and modern group with colors ranging from white, grey, blue, turquoise and teal to yellow.

Precuts from Sphere are already available, and yardage will be shipped to stores in February.
So where to get the miraculous pattern? Find the free download right here. Grab your assortment of fabrics, your ruler, rotary cutter and your cutting mat, and off you go.

For those of you, who are new to quilting and love to have some guidance – here is a wonderful video showing exactly step by step how simple to sew this quilt is.

You sew together all the squares and get – tataaaa! – your (Sphere) version of the Layer Cake Lemonade quilt.

which will make a cute baby quilt or a throw on a sofa

A close up of the quilting shows the spiral design.

  

There are so many different appealing fabric groups available as Layer Cakes – it will be hard to choose. But all make this pattern a success!

 

I guess now your fingers itch just thinking about this – so why not klick below to get a super deal? This week (only) Fatquartershop offers a 20% discount on all layer cakes! (psst – spread this to your best friend)

Happy Quilting and Enjoy!

Designer Tidbits: Zen Chic - An interview from Fatquartershop

Take a trip to the vibrant city of Barcelona. Zen Chic will show you around with her new collection for Moda Fabrics. Modern prints and bold colors will energize you and leave you feeling like you just returned from a Spanish getaway! Brigitte of Zen Chic is here today to tell you more about Barcelona. Keep reading for a closer look!

Designer Tidbits: Zen Chic

Moderne Quilts mit Kreisen, ein Kurs bei Cotton & Color in der Schweiz

Der Quilt Quiet Haven aus der Stoffdruckserie Barcelona stand Pate beim Kurs am Wochenende in der Schweiz.
In einem früheren Blogbeitrag habe ich diesen Kreisquilt und die Nähtechnik schon einmal vorgestellt, und nun ging es in unserem Kurs darum, die eigne persönliche Variante zu entwerfen.








Cotton & Color ist ein herrlicher Ort zum Shoppen, neue Dinge lernen und sich wohlfühlen. Am besten sieht man es auf diesem Video.


Wir hatten viel Spaß miteinander und sicher zeigen die Bilder, dass es die Ergebnisse erfolgreich waren. Noch sind die Quilts in Arbeit und müssen erst ganz fertig gestellt werden, aber ich hoffe, ich kann die fertigen Ergebnisse auch noch hier präsentieren.

A new book of wonderful inspirations…

… is coming these days.

Quilters, Their Quilts, Their Studios, Their Stories   - a picture book full to the brim with impressions of all kind of different and unique personalities.

You get to know stories of your most favorite quilters – Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, Tula Pink, Kaari Meng, Tina Givens, you name it. You will have a look inside their studios and they will chat about how they organize their craft space.

The book includes really beautiful pictures, it’s a feast for the eyes, and the graphic layout is so appealing. Each personality tells about her(him)self and her/his journey to the place where they are nowadays, this alone was worth for me to have the book.

Each of them will share 4 quilt patterns and if you buy the book you will get access to the online download for the pattern instructions.

See whom you can find between the pages:

Can you imagine how honored I felt when I was invited to be part of this book? It is just great to be in-between a group of my own favorite designers and celebrate with them our passion!

Now I was curious how the pages telling about Brigitte Heitland might look. And they turned out just gorgeous! It’s just so me and it reflects the sense and the feeling of my work, my passion for quilting, I love everything of these pages where my things are featured and am really happy to be part of such a book!

You want a sneak peek of my pages? I’m happy than I can reveal a snippet of it…

The book was edited by Jo Packham, who publishes the bestselling magazines Where Women Create and I am sure this book will become a bestseller too!

QUILTERS will be available by 1st of October so you can be one of the first to have it in hands!