FAQ's, plus my Deer Valley quilt

Before getting to the quilt blocks of the subject line, I wanted to get a few random thoughts out of the way ...

RANDOM THOUGHT #1
I absolutely love getting comments, and try to respond whenever possible ... but it never seems to fail that readers with specific questions have their accounts set to "no-reply"! I'd love to answer your questions, but often can't. However, I've noticed that two questions keep popping up over and over again, so I thought I'd answer them here:

1. What do you do with all of the mini quilts that you receive as part of the swaps you are involved in? Great question. I am planning a re-do of the room that currently doubles as our home office / sewing room, and would love to create a mini quilt wall like the amazing ones shown here, here, here, here, here and here. But for now, they are all neatly stacked near my machine, and I look through them OFTEN. Every now and then, my kids will swipe a few of them for their dolls ... and I am TOTALLY cool with that! : )
2. How can I find out about new swaps or quilting bees that might be open to new participants? I can only recommend following the same path that I did -- check out the Flickr groups and watch the discussion threads for open groups. Monthly swaps are a great place to get started -- I recommend the 6-12" Mini Quilt Swap Group, or Swap Til You Drop. Other mini quilt swaps, like the Doll Quilt Swap or the Mini Quilt in a Bag Swap, aren't quite monthly, but are usually open to new swappers. Finally, the best resource for info on quilting bees is Erin's Quilting Bee Blocks group. It has become the go-to place for both people who are recruiting and those looking to be recruited for a bee! And if all else fails, and you're feeling sad that you're not being invited to any groups, do what I did: start your own! That's how SewConnected was born!
   

RANDOM THOUGHT #2
Is anyone else as addicted to Pandora.com as much as I am? I LOVE it. However, the combination of Pandora + iTunes is EXTREMELY dangerous to my checkbook ... it's way too easy to discover new music and, one click and $1.29 later, it's yours forever. For quilting & sewing, it's usually a toss-up between "Josh Kelley Radio", the very similar "John Mayer Radio", or "Black Eyed Peas Radio". The Peas have been winning more often than not lately.

RANDOM THOUGHT #3
Any readers in AUS / NZ interested in a trade? I'd love to get my hands on this book. Let me know ...

OK, speaking of Material Obsession, I recently got the first book and I dig it. So much so, in fact, that July is my month to send out fabrics for Rachel's bee inspired group and I drew my inspiration from one of the quilts in the book.

I always admire pineapple quilt blocks, and "The Big Pineapple" quilt combines this traditional pattern with very modern, contemporary fabrics. It got my mind racing, and I quickly decided that I wanted the group to help me make a modern pineapple quilt.

First, I had to decide what fabrics to use. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am a huge fan of Joel Dewberry's designs and I've been anxiously awaiting his Deer Valley fabric line for quite a while now. It didn't take long to decide that this was the perfect fabric line to fulfill my vision.

I scoured the 'net for a free pattern that I could include with my fabrics, but could only find paper piecing patterns. And as y'all know, I don't paper piece ... so I'm sure as heck not going to ask 17 other people to do it for me! Some more searching and I found the perfect solution: Bonnie's Pineapple Blossom quilt pattern over at Quiltville.com. Great pattern, easy enough for the various skill levels in our group and, best of all, all traditional piecing.

I made four practice blocks to show the group just how easy it is ...






... and I am THRILLED with the result! I know that you lose the pattern somewhat with so many different fabrics going on, but I wanted the end result to be scrappy and I think (hope) that the pattern will come through when it's all together. Even if it doesn't, it will still be a kick-a** quilt.

I can't wait to see it all come together.



Anyone else working with Deer Valley yet?