First of all, Rebecca has been busy! They look great, wouldn’t ya say?

[Editor’s note: you can now see the blockswap update images over in the flickr gallery]

If you’re like me and waiting for the mail man to bring your fabric, then you’re probably brainstorming block design ideas. There are some of us who are ready to just take the plunge and do our own thing (like Rebecca up there). Others of us are beginners and need a pattern to follow to help us out. The Quilters Cache has a gazillion free block designs. The 10 inch block designs are what you need. (they will be 10 1/2 inches from raw edge to raw edge. 10 inches + 1/2 for seam allowances) They are all very traditional, but the size is right, and if you use the right fabric they’ll work for the block swap.

But, what if you want something a little more modern and funky–like some Drunk Love squares from Denyse Schmidt’s book? Well, all you need to do is adjust the percentage at which you enlarge the patterns from the back of the book and you’re in business! I put my math skills to the test (with a little refresher from my computer/math genius husband) and did some figuring. So…

Wanna swap?

Ever since I got home from the workshop with Denyse Schmidt I’ve been stewing and brewing the idea for a quilt block swap. I’ve worked out logistics, made graphics, picked some fabric colors (which match my website beautifully) and now I’m ready to say, “Come and play!”

If you click on that button up there you’ll be taken to the not-a-secret-anymore page on this here site. All the details are there for how to have a really good time, do some service for the world, and make some collaborative “soft art” from crafty friends everywhere. There is so much talent, creativity, good taste, craftmanship, and camaraderie out there in the craft world that I want some tangible evidence. Tangible as in a nice snuggly colorful quilt to wrap up in. Anyone else?

Well, what are you waiting for? The sign-up window for Block Swap opens today and closes March 8th (or when I get 50 people, whichever is first).  And if it sounds like a fun idea to you, spread the word.  I have had a little help from Denyse (who’s been giving me feedback and sent an invitation to former workshoppers) and a few craft-blog friends, but the more the merrier!

Here’s a project I’ve FINALLY finished. I’ll have to post more details about it later…

I was hoping that I would be posting amazing photos of my bed adorned with a new Denyse Schmidt quilt beneath a wall of freshly framed Karl Blossfeldt photogravures, but alas… my quilt is backordered. Which is okay, but I wish they had told me that fact when I ordered it and not over a week later when I was expecting it to be here. What a let down!

and now the wait…

I designed the pattern for a plush toy how-to book being published by Lark Books and in stores this spring/ summer. I got my check in the mail last week and this morning I clicked away at shopfosters.com (thanks for the heads up Dayna) and got this:

I’m plugging away at my nesting and beautifying. My room is the 1st place I see when I wake up and the last place I see at night, so that’s my starting place. I’m filling it with things I love, that are beautiful, that mean something… so that I’ll have a refuge.

This is the week of recovery, and discovery

I don’t write much here about what I do in service to my church– partly because I don’t want to be all, “Look how nice I am,” because a lot of what I do should be kept confidential, and also because I’m not in this position because I campaigned or earned it, but because I was asked to and feel like that’s what Heavenly Father needs me to do. But, the load is getting heavy and today has been a crappy day.

We have a welfare system which is amazing a very inspired, and so as Relief Society President it is part of my job to assess the needs of people in our ward and help order the food and stuff they need. A truck comes from the Bishop’s Storehouse in Columbus every other Tuesday. Anyway, I sent one of my counselors to the truck devlivery today because I wasn’t feeling up to lifting and loading, and 8 families’ orders weren’t on the truck! I started writing this in frustration and bewilderment, not knowing what to do, but now we’ve figured out that there wasn’t enough postage on the order forms, that they didn’t get there in time, but that copies of them have been found, people can head up to Columbus to get the missing food and it will all be okay.

As I was sitting here near tears because 8 families were going to have to be without food and it was probably somehow my fault, my e-mail inbox dinged and I had a message from Denyse to make me smile.

I wasn’t sure it was okay to post pictures of her new fabirc line, but she said it was just fine to start the buzz. The fabrics she designed are so fun– with her great color sense and vintage charm. Here’s the picture I took at her studio:

But even better is the picture she just sent me of “Flea Market Fantasy”

I sure can’t wait to get my hands on those browns and blues, how ’bout you guys?! Okay, the orangey yellows and greens are great too… Keep your eyes peeled in the quilt stores this spring/ summer

I’m back from my trip. I had an amazing time. It was a real confidence booster for me to go all by myself and successfully navigate the roads, trains, and subways on my own. Being by myself is not something I get to be very often, but I’m such a sit-and-thinker that I really need it every now and then. I imagined that I would be really productive and draw a lot, knit up a storm, do some serious reading, but I decided to just do what I felt like and ended up watching a lot of HGTV (we don’t have cable at home, so it was a novelty) and going to bed early.

Now, about the highlight of my trip– the whole reason Barry sent me on this adventure– the workshop with Denyse Schmidt. (I’ll post about my trip into Manhattan another day.)

I got there super early because I wanted to make sure I could find it. It was a little tricky. Bridgeport is an old industrial town, and the place where Denyse’s studio is located is just one old red brick industrial building after another. The workshop started at 11:00. I left my hotel at 9:30 and even after circling the block several times and calling Barry to have him re-read me the directions off of my e-mail, I was sitting in my rental car outside of Denyse’s building a little before 10:00.

I sat staring at the gray door, listening to Car Talk on the radio, and doodling in my sketchbook. Then a Honda Accord pulled up, a woman with dark hair, a camel colored jacket, big bags and jugs of water got out– and unlocked the gray door to building 4. *Gasp!* That’s Denyse. It’s just after 10. I’m so early, what do I do? I sat and listened to Car Talk for quite a while longer, but before 10:30 I got out and climbed the 4 flights of stairs to her studio and went on in. By then a couple of other people had arrived and were staking claims for table space, so I put down my stuff, introduced my self to Denyse, and offered to help carry water etc. up the 4 flights of stairs. We chatted. She remembered e-mailing me about finding fabric, she thought my blog was beautiful, she was so happy I was there. *Breathe, Jess!* I asked about her recent trip to Guatemala and I don’t know what else. At the risk of sounding really silly and sappy I just have to say that I felt an instant connection with her…

Her assistant Richard pulled out some quilts, so I got to see “Tulip Tree”, the orange “Drunk Love Two-Tone” used in her book, and “What A Dish” in real life. Way cool, so cool, in fact, that I forgot to take pictures. (And I am kicking myself right now as I write.) Richard talked about making the quilts, about the Amish ladies who quilt the corture quilts, the Indian business that does “What a Dish” (and others, for places like Maine Cottage and Crate and Barrel), and stuff like that.

Once everyone got there we got down to business. She told us the rules of the game. She had 3 bags full of fabric scraps, small, medium, and large. Grab a small, eyes closed, grab another, no peeking, and sew them together. That’s the start. She demonstrated our assignment, pulling out random pieces and piecing them together. No cheating. Even if you HATE the fabric you draw, use it anyway. So, it forced us to create color combinations we never would have picked ourselves, to see how prints and solids play off of each other, to see how the size of the pieces made a difference in the block as a whole. We worked quickly, freely, intuitively and it was a lot of fun. Toward the end of the day we were allowed to incorporate bits of our own fabric that we brought, but still had to go back to the bags most of the time. I learned a lot about what I like– the shapes of pieces that appeal to me, color combinations, that a little print goes a long way– and about what I don’t like at all (3 of the 6 blocks I made were blech!). We put the blocks up on the flannel wall and talked about them.

The light in her studio was beautiful, especially as the sun got lower in the sky as afternoon began to turn into evening. We got to see her new fabric line with Free Spirit(which will probably be out in stores by summer) and shop her paper goods from Chronicle books. (I got a set of journals so I could get her autograph. Silly, I know, but I forgot my DSQuilts book to have her sign.) Best of all we were in a room full of creative people making stuff– like art school again– and I have really been longing for that lately.

This was the first time I’ve ever met someone I’ve really admired and watched for a long time. I still have the Martha Stewart article I found about Denyse back in 1998 (I think) and was immediately taken in by her style and sense of humor and tie to tradition. She was an artist with a vision and she fought and worked hard for the opportunity to share it. I want to find my spot someday too.

And the coolest thing about it was that, not only did I learn a little bit about how she works and gets inspiration and struggles sometimes, but I left feeling like I made a friend.

Thanks Denyse! I love you!

Here’s “One Tote Fits All” from Denyse Schmidt Quilts. I made it for my mom for Christmas, and finished it just in time for the mail man to deliver it to Idaho on Christmas Eve. I had other bags in the works for other recipients, but this is the only one that got finished… and is still the only one finished.

Last time my mom came to visit she had a big nylon tote bag from some computer conference my dad went to. It was good sized, fit her purse, had a pocket for a water bottle and the various other things she needed to carry on the plane. I decided she needed something much cooler, though. So, here it is. I altered the pattern a bit and made a separate lining so that I could put in some pockets. Now she can carry all her stuff, water bottle and all, in style.

Maybe I’ll get the other one I started done so I can carry it on the plane to Denyse’s workshop this Saturday.

Probably not, though–because that would mean I would have to wade through and tidy up my craft room. Hmmm…

I forgot to say: The lighting in the picture is bad. The bottom fabric is a dark brown, not black. And the blue–it was my first try at hand dying fabric, and I like how it turned out. I couldn’t find the color I wanted, so I made it with Rit and it worked.

Guess what I got for Christmas? Barry signed my up for a class with Denyse Schmidt through Make studio! I get to go to Connecticut all by myself, rest, relax, and MEET DENYSE SCHMIDT!! Oh–and spend 5 hours in her studio learning from her. AWESOME! (Did I mention that she commented here on this blog? If you don’t believe, take a look.)

So, I’m going to go a day early and go into New York City to look at art. What museum(s) do you guys suggest I go to? I’ve been to the Met, kind of. I think it would take months to really see it all, but I did love the old Greek stuff. Loved it. But, what about the Gugenhiem? Isn’t there a folk art museum too? Oh–please help any one out there with experience visiting New York. What would be the best use of my one day?

I’m actually working on something! Actually two things.

Here’s the beginnings of “One Tote Fits All.”

And I decided I needed a bag based on “Big Zig.” I’m very excited about the fabrics. Brown corduroy, pink cotton, and an Amy Butler lining!

Since I just haven’t been able to fit in a big quilting project, though I really want to, I can do these bags in between hexapi

All my quilt books are posted for sale. I’m pretty excited about them. I love the texture of the soft crinkly quilt with stiff hand torn pages. I’ve always loved drawing on Barry’s engineering paper(it is my favorite color–green), so I added a few pages of it to each book for quilt or knitting pattern designing.

It seems like I’ve been working on photos all day. I had to get my camera manual out so that I could figure out what has been wrong with all my pictures. Everything has been turning out too dark. Now I know all about “exposure compensation.” I’m much happier with my pictures now