New Quilt and Holiday Wishes

I'm so happy that people like my new book. I've had a lot of people tell me about it on facebook and it is still the #1 New Release (quilt book) on Amazon!  There are quite a few simple projects in it, and as the saying goes "You have to learn to walk before you can run".  

My latest quilt is one for runners.  This week's blog will continue to show some of the steps and a bit of the process. My quilt is pieced and ready for applique.

Quilting Daily's Book Review and Progress on my Latest Quilt

I got another great book review! 

Quilting Daily gave it a rave review (see below) and it hit the #2 spot for quilt books on amazon. Plus it has held the #1 New Release spot on Amazon for nearly a week now!  That is awesome for an art quilting book!

I had to take some screen shots.

Book Review, Exhibitions and Happy Dances

Happy Dancing!

 I've had such a good week I'm like Joy Joy Joy!

First - my book Lovely Landscape Quilts gets excellent reviews from Quilting Arts Magazine!  Well, this is sort of last week's big news.

But....

Lovely Landscape Quilts - a Book Review!

My book - Lovely Landscape Quilts - front and back cover

 I was thrilled when I found out that the magazine Quilting Arts reviewed my book.  A friend of mine scanned in the image of the review and here it is!  They gave it such great reviews that I was jumping for joy when I read it. (And then I bought a subscription, lol.)

Since this is my book I thought I'd share it with you and then I thought I'd show you more of what is in it.  

Quilting Mountains

Detail, Mountain Seasons

 I'm working on a big quilt this week and hopefully I'll find some time to blog my in progress steps. In the meantime though, the subject of quilting mountains came up on my facebook page so I thought I'd share the same photos with you here.   This is the way I quilt mountains in my landscapes.  

Clicking on each picture will bring up a bigger image so you can see the quilting more easily.

Strip Applique Project

Dreaming of Summer

 Our Wisconsin winter has come early this year. RATS!  It has been a long gray week so my inner child wanted to make something colorful and fun. Plus, I'm getting another class together. The result is this little project with maybe a too pretentious name?  Sometimes I have the hardest time naming quilts! (Suggestions welcome!) 

Second 3 Hour Workshop Project/Small Tutorial

What are you going to do with that crayon?

 Ellie cat has been helping me finish up a second project for my 3 Hour Class/Workshop.  (I like to give my students at least 2 choices of kits in my classes.) This time I'll show you how I draw saplings in the background AND how I remove the ones I don't like. 

3 Hour Class Workshop Project/ Small tutorial

3 Hour Workshop Project

I've been working on a project  I'm submitting to the Wisconsin Quilt Expo next fall (2015) for one of their "Hands On" workshops.   This is a class I regularly teach at guild meetings, but since fabrics change so much every year or so I have to make the same sort of quilt again.

In this blog, I'll show you some of the steps I took making it.

Landscape Quilting with 'Challenging' Fabrics

3 Hour Workshop sample

 You may not know it, but I sell landscape fabrics - I have over 100 bolts!  (The link to my online store is on the toolbar at the top, just under my Material Girl collage.)

 I decided to invest the profits from my first book's royalties into opening an online fabric shop dedicated to help landscape quilters find the fabrics they (we!) need.  The thing is, we are completely dependent on manufactures to make the right fabrics and many times they don't quite get it right.  Soooo, in this blog I'm going to show you how I use the not quite "right' fabrics.  

Interwoven - Done!

Interwoven 

 I finally finished the quilting - let me tell you it was a rush job!  After being gone the last month or so, I had to finish the quilt in less than 2 weeks and for me that was fast!  

Fall! My Favorite Season for Quilting

Detail, a Touch of Fall

 Fall in here in Wisconsin is everyone's favorite season. Why? Well it isn't just because of Packer football, or because 99% of the biting flies and mosquitoes are dead, or because those days of 95 degrees and 70% humidity are gone. Nor is it just because fresh apples are plentiful and our homes smell like apple pies and homemade apple cider.  Fall is beloved because of the colors - such glorious colors as the maple trees turn bright red and the aspen and birch turn a warm golden yellow. 

Packing up and heading out

"What, you lay quilts down and don't expect me to make myself comfortable?!"

I'm heading out of town for a bit - I'm teaching in Tucson, AZ at the quilter's guild. On the way we are camping in Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Page (Lake Powell, so we can tour lower Antelope Canyon). What a great trip, yes!?

Interwoven - Progress, Problems and Challenges

Interwoven

 After a couple of months of sewing I have something to show you.  Sometimes I never know where I'm going to end up when I start a project and that leads to extra challenges and some sleepless nights! 

The Sue Patten Collection, part of the Upper Midwest Quilt Show 2014

Sue Patten

Hi again! I'm almost ready to blog about the string pieced quilt I've been working on all summer, but in the meantime I thought I'd share with you some quilts that were part of a special exhibit at the Upper Midwest Quilt Show.  These quilts are all made by Sue Patten and are thread painted or embroidered!  I thought they were amazing.

Upper Midwest Quilt Show 2

 Above the Timberline by Kathleen Hughes

This is another beautiful quilt from Machine Quilting Today's Upper Midwest Quilt Show last weekend.  I thought I'd share more of these quilts with you and some detail shots. I hope you like them.

Upper Midwest Quilt Show - Ann Horton

Ann Horton's quilt "Nine Lives Animal Shelter"

 I'm not the best blogger I guess... This week I'm too busy with everything NOT quilting except for this morning. Instead of coming up with an informative technique blog, I'm just going to show you one of the quilts I saw today at the Upper Midwest Quilt Show in Oconomowoc, Wiscsonsin.  I hope you love this quilt as much as I do!
I have lots of detail photographs because I was so charmed by this quilt.  (I have a kitty and a dog which were rescued at animal shelters.)

Ann Fahl Quilts

University of Wisconsin, Madison  July 2014

 I had a tough tough time this week and as a consequence I did absolutely nothing on any of my quilting projects.

Birches and Virginia Creeper

Birches and Virginia Creeper

Today I'll show you some of the steps I took making this quilt.  Out on the fabric market right now is  a GREAT birch tree fabric. (I sell it in my store, it is by Kanvas). BUT, when I made this quilt, I had to invent my own trees and this is how I did it.

This project is one from my new book which is out in November 2014 and called Lovely Landscape Quilts. I'm showing you extra bits that I couldn't put in the book.

Watchman

Watchman

Since I'm still sewing bits and strings of scraps together on my current project and don't have much to show you yet, I thought I'd share with you a bit of the process behind making Watchman.  The quilt was an experiment, I wanted to see what happened if I combined vertical strips and horizontal strips in the same landscape.  I had a lot of  desert colored fabrics in my stash plus I'm going to Tucson, AZ  in the fall to teach and these things kind of came together in this quilt.

Shipshewana Quilt Festival II

Detail from Audubon's American Robin by Marilyn Craig

 Isn't this a glorious piece of fiber art? I was so impressed with this quilt. This week I've been The String Piecing Queen. I'm not ready to show you anything yet... but I do have the last few quilts from the quilt festival. If you want to see more, follow the link in last week's blog to my facebook album.  Here are my favorites from the show.

Shipshewana Quilt Festival I

Hi everyone! I'm back from the Shipshewana Quilt Festival and I'm beginning to upload some quilts for you.  I'm starting with the big ribbon winners and some gorgeous traditional quilts. I've also given you some closeup shots of the quilting. (Amazing stuff!)

Progress - and Lack Thereof

Ellie Cat

 My cat loves the back of my old computer chair, thankfully it isn't a very comfortable chair so when she destroys it completely I won't miss it.  I have a really good high resolution image of this photo and have been playing around with it to maybe develop a quilt pattern.  Ellie is one reason I'm such a well practiced procrastinator. 

Just Keep Sewing

I feel like Dory of Finding Nemo. Remember all those strips and scraps from last week? 

In Between Quilts

Ugh. I really don't like being in between quilt projects. The start of a new project is the toughest thing for me... coming up with inspiration, maybe being tired from the last quilt, trying to decide if I feel like something simple or complex... so many stumbling blocks.  And GUILT - did I mention guilt?! 

Squaring up and trimming your landscape quilt

First cut

 Now that my quilt is dry and flat, it is time to trim it. This blog entry will show you how to square up your quilt and cut off the edges.  We want nice 90 degree corners and equal dimensions from side to side and top to bottom of your quilt top. 

Blocking your Quilt

Blocked and drying

I finished the quilting and will show you how to block strip pieced quilts in this blog entry.  Usually I soak my quilts in the washer and spin out the excess water before I block it, however I didn't want to do this because of the bright and dark colored fabrics and BLEEDING. Yuck.  Even when working with quality red fabric prints I've had them bleed after washing! I was taking no chances with this one. 

Dealing with the blues and discouragement...

 A week or so ago I received the comments from the judges at the Mancuso quilt show in Denver.  Fairy Godmother's comments from Shrek came to mind almost immediately... 

Making confetti patches

Yay me - I finally got some work done on the tree part of my sunset quilt!  I'll show you all the steps I took to make it in this blog entry. Then it is time for coffee! (I was awake at 3 am worrying about making this tree - ugh!) 

                                      

STAR WARS DAY - May the 4th (be with us) lol.

Star Wars Day is here.   This blog is what you get when you cross a procrastinator with a geek; an epic battle between good and evil and quilting competition. 

Sunset continues and continues...

Yay! It is all pieced now. Whew.

Pieced and pressed.  And now I finally decide that that white strip is too white, lol.  Not to worry, I believe in tulle.  Yellow tulle. 3 layers should do it. 

Crazy Quilters, Mukwonago Wisconsin Quilt Show 2014

I wasn't able to go to Paducah this year after all. I did get to Mukwonago, Wisconsin though for the Crazy Quilter's Biannual quilt show.

 

Sunset continuing...

Instead of working today, I'll just blog about working.

Actually, the Fold/Sew rows are done on the top part of my sunset quilt so let me share with you the steps I took to get this part done. 

Ellie approves

 In my last blog I showed you some of the steps I took to get the strips on a foundation.  Now I'll show you what to do once you get there.  *Hint*  (It involves folding and sewing along those rows you drew!)

Sunset still in progress

I am making progress - slowly but surely! This blog entry will show you a bit of how I use a tear away foundation to piece my quilt tops.  I call it the Fold and Sew technique and I invented it in a moment of desperation years ago. (I have a patent on it, if you can believe it!)

I use a foundation to piece long strips.  It makes a huge difference keeping those straight rows straight! HUGE difference.  What you are seeing is the top part of my sunset quilt; it is all the strip segments sewn together and transferred to a tear-away foundation. I use a simple glue stick for paper to glue the strips to the foundation and will fold and sew along some lines I drew on the foundation earlier.

I explained the technique much more in depth in my first book and it will also be part of the subject matter of my second book.  And maybe a third?!  So, let me show you some of the steps involved in using a foundation to piece. 

Quilts, Spiders and Snakes

Ok, so maybe not spiders... lol.

National Quilt Museum

I bet you are wondering about me and my sanity about this time! (You wouldn't be the first.)

Hubby and I decided to head down to Paducah, KY to see the big show this year. 

I really should be working today.... but I'm feeling lazy so I was poking around old pictures - it is National Siblings Day today - and found this.  THIS is the little magazine article which gave me my business name.  A friend of a friend had written it up and submitted it to a  Christian church magazine and this is the title they gave the article. 

New quilt in progress...

Sunset - not sure of the name yet!

This is my progress after a couple of days.... I don't work steadily so maybe I worked 8-10 hours total?  I can show you the steps I've taken so far though.  :)

Architecture and Light - Creating Dimension

Detail from "A Floral Vista" by Cathy Geier

I'm in between quilts and I'm bored! Sometimes the hardest thing for me to do is decide what to make next.  Am I ready for a BIG project I can sink my teeth into - one which will take me a couple of months?  Or do I want something fast and simple.  I just don't know.  In the meantime, I'll show you an older quilt and explain a bit about lighting and shading.  This is a detail photo from "A Floral Vista", I made it in 2006 or so.

Making Night Hunter

Night Hunter by Cathy Geier

I've been thinking about the Holy Spirit lately and about the more predatory aspects of His character.  We usually see Him represented by a white dove, coming to us in peace... which He does.  But sometimes I think of Him as a predator, coming after me when I stray and invading my dreams and my heart, always drawing me closer to God through His love.

Here is how I put the elements together to make this quilt.  

Roses and Ivy

Roses and Ivy by Cathy Geier 

This quilt always conveys a sense of peace to me, probably because of all the soft blue fabric. I had the rose fabric in my stash for years and finally found the perfect setting to use it. When I went to add the leaves however, I couldn't find the perfect color so I made my own using the wrong color but the right leaf shape. It was easy! 

Playing with Bright Floral Scraps

Scrap Garden by Cathy Geier

Do you have bright floral scraps? I have an idea for you! It was a long hard winter here in Wisconsin and as I look forward to Spring and flowers and all colors except white, gray and brown, I thought I'd bring out this wall hanging I made using squares of scraps. I have lots of leftovers from the days when I made watercolor quilts. LOTS. 

Making Blue Ridge Mountain Sunset

I thought I'd post a few pictures I took along the way making Blue Ridge Mtn. (This is the quilt they chose to be the cover of my book!) It has all my favorite colors and someday I'd like to make a large version of this quilt! How many 'somedays' are there do you think?! Especially for us quilters... we have more ideas than we have time.

  

After the storm - my sewing room!

My Sewing Room