Show and Share Across the Pond!

Some mornings there are things I dread seeing in my inbox first thing --- bills, invoices, SURVEYS! 

Don’t even get me started on surveys---

Yes, Staples, I bought a $10 pair of ear buds, and now you want me to take 20 minutes to complete your survey on how I liked my shopping experience?  Leave me ALONE!

Does ANYONE enjoy those surveys?

Sometimes when on hold with some automated voice mail re-directory system, they even have the nerve to ask if I want to stay on the line LONGER to answer a “Short survey” at the end. 

Ummmmmm. NO.

Some places circle the number to call on the bottom of your receipt so you can take a “quick survey” and be entered in a drawing to win $5,000.00.  Does anyone ever win those things?

But there are days ---when I wake up to an inbox full of pieced wonder in a delightful rainbow of colors ---like the email I got the other day from Stephen in London!

He writes:

You seem to be an early riser, and I am most certainly not, but I hope the time difference will allow me to get this into your Inbox before you awake! 

These are some tops I photographed yesterday, and I hope you enjoy looking at them - three are to your designs, slightly reduced in size, and the colours tweaked to suit my taste and my stash.

As for the other two, well, the Monkey Tails quilt I just saw online (in blues and whites) and could not resist, although I DID get very bored making all those spiral blocks the same, and the Walkabout block comes from a book by Nancy J Martin, turned into a rainbow to use up the myriad of patches I received some years ago through a postal swap.  Enjoy!

Very best wishes,
Stephen

In my mind I’m trying to read this email with a very debonair accent, only I don’t recall whether it should be poshly  British because he is in London, or if it will be suavely South African, because I know his mum is down there.

Whatever it is, it beats my “can’t knock the Minnesota out of the girl no matter how long she has lived away from her birthplace” accent!

Let’s see these quilts!

Stephen’s Roll Roll Cotton Boll from String Fling.

I love the soft yellow greens he used.  Amazing how different it looks just by changing the color scheme!  But then – guys don’t have to sew pink.  They can choose their own color way!

Lazy Sunday!

Lazy Sunday ran through 4 issues of Quiltmaker Magazine in the past year as a Mystery.  You will also find Lazy Sunday featured in my new book being released this coming Spring 2014.  My colors were limes, purples, hot pink and orange and turquoise…but I am loving the rusty peaches and soft sage greens and golds in this rendition.  It’s truly lovely!

And did you notice that mitered inner border?  That's a touch that I didn't do on mine, but he went the extra step -- perfection!

I’m learning what colors Stephen likes to stash!

This is Orca Bay from String Fling.

The autumn tones are so reminiscent of the gorgeous fall leaves I saw in Colorado and around North Carolina over the past couple of weeks.  My colors for Orca Bay were Blue, Red, Black and Neutral.  But as with any of my mysteries you are not limited solely to the color choices I was working with.

I know I do mysteries a bit differently than other designers.  I love to play with color families.  I don’t really DO Light/Medium/Dark or choosing things from a focal fabric.  Just pick colors that YOU like together.  This quilt would have worked even if he had swapped the color positions because all the colors contrast with each other.  He could have used the rusty reds where the yellows are, and the yellows where the reds are ---as long as he is consistent, the design is going to work, so keep that in mind for Celtic Solstice coming up.

Most mysteries from other people also don’t tell you things like “make sure that your yellow and orange stand out against each other”.  I try to give you some clues so you have MORE to work with.  I hope that helps you make successful choices.  But please remember that this is STILL a mystery, so I can not tell you how many strips to cut of what size ahead of time, or exactly how many different oranges you should use.  It’s a mystery that will unfold one step at a time.

I have had many questions about the “smallest” strip you can use up in this project as that would help people when digging into stash what they could use.  So I will tell you.  JUST THIS ONE CLUE.

The smallest size strip you need for Celtic Solstice is 2”.  You will need some larger, and I’m not giving sizes yet – it’s a mystery for a reason, remember?  But I can tell you that we will not be sewing with anything less than 2” widths.

If you use the Scrap User’s System in your quilting area, and you have 2” strips on hand in the colors I gave you, you can include those in your yardage for the quilt.

More from Stephen:

I think this is a Shakespeare in the Park variation – isn't it lovely?

The golds are calling to me….such warmth!

A rainbow explosion!

I’ve never done a rainbow quilt like this but let your eyes follow over each diagonal row and see the subtle changes that occur as one color melds into the next ---brilliant!

Thanks for sharing your love of patchwork and color with all of us, Stephen!  I am gobsmacked to say the least!

This morning I am out the door for a Jamestown Landing workshop with the Rio Grande Valley Quilters!  It promises to be a fun day and I am ready to throw myself into it!

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