Welcome to the Space Dust Quilt-along | Week 1

Welcome to week 1 of the Space Dust Quilt-along! All the details about the quilt-along -- including your hosts, the pattern, the fabric, fabric requirements, and kits -- can all be found here:

http://www.quiltdad.com/2014/07/the-space-dust-quilt-along.html?m=1

We'll be sewing along in rows, week by week, beginning next Friday. Week 1 is all about getting yourself and your supplies ready:

First, introduce yourself in the comments below! Let us know who you are, where you're from, and what fabrics you've selected for your quilt. Leave a link so we can visit and follow you back. Ask questions about the pattern and paper-piecing in general, and answer others' questions. We're all in this together -- let's help each other out.

Second, purchase and print out your pattern. Be sure to check that it prints out at the right size. Tula places each block on its own page, so don't print double-sided! And each block needs to be cut out along the dotted lines, so grab some scissors, put on a good movie, and go to town.

Brush up on your paper-piecing (aka foundation piecing). As I've mentioned, this is a GREAT pattern for beginners or first-time paper-piecers. Tula offers a great quick tute at the start of the pattern, and there is a wealth of great knowledge on the internet. Have a favorite? Share a link in the comments. My suggestion is to pick a sample block from the Space Dust pattern, print a few copies, grab some scrap fabric, and practice, practice, practice.

Get your fabric! Review the fabric requirements and collect what you need. Several of us are using the Indelible line, but this pattern will look amazing in many different styles. And even in the same fabrics it will look different based on fabric placement. Some people are even printing out the diagram and using colored pencils to plan theirs out.

Take lots of pictures and use the hashtag #SDQAL. Share, share, share! We want to see pictures of your fabric, your blocks, and your progress. Cheer each other on!

So who's ready to go?

Winners: The Sewing Party

I'm happy to announce the 5 randomly selected winners of my complimentary The Sewing Party passes:

1. Barbara Konkle from Suzy Homemaker
2. Karen from Where is my seam ripper?
3. Lori from Lori H. Designs
4. Celine from Espritpatch
5. Belinda from Stitching @ the Green Desk

Thanks for your great posts -- they were a lot of fun to read. And congrats to the winners! Please send me your best email contact information for me to pass along to the contest organizers.

If you weren't lucky enough to be a winner, remember that you can still score a FREE T-SHIRT when you register for The Sewing Party by the end of the day today, Thursday 7/31. Simply enter LETSPARTY in the promo code box when you RSVP and you'll be the proud owner of one of these:

Hmm. I wonder if it comes in my size. And shape. Which does not resemble an hourglass.

Hope to see you at the party. I'll bring the beer bong!

Official sponsors of The Sewing Party.

More book quilts

I'm back today with three more quilts from Beyond Neutral: Quilts Inspired by Nature's Elements.

This first quilt is from the leaves & grass chapter, and it's named Cascadia. Beginning quilters, take note: it doesn't get much easier than Cascadia. It's really just basic patchwork with a twist: rectangles instead of squares, and small pops of a coordinating solid that's strategically placed to create a structured, architectural effect. It was the perfect showcase for a favorite fabric line (Nature Walk by Cloud 9 Fabrics.) 

Next up is Cayucos, from the water chapter of the book. This quilt was inspired by the very popular zig-zag quilts that have been around for a few years, but I also wanted to put my own unique spin on it. Two things I love about this quilt: the arrowhead designs that emerge as a main design element, and the basic squares that evoke traditional patchwork and allow you to feature a favorite fabric range (mine is Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry, one of my long-hoarded collections.) This is a quilt I'd love to see made in all solid fabrics.

Our last quilt for today is Glacier Bay, from the wind and sky chapter. This was my attempt at creating a pattern where modern and traditional can merge. Glacier Bay is traditional in that, unlike most of my quilts, it comprises a single block pattern laid out in a consistent, repeating pattern. At the same time, its unique color palette and contemporary prints make it accessible for the modern quilter. I guess this was my way of saying "let's drop the labels and just make beautiful quilts!"

And finally, from the "made from Beyond Neutral" file comes a quilt top from Jill Evans, who took my class at Q First for Quilting in Lexington, KY last month. Here's her Pacific Crest quilt top. Isn't is gorgeous?

Thanks, Jill. If you've made anything from Beyond Neutral, I'd love to see it. Please send me photos and I'll share them here on the blog. And if you're enjoying the book, Amazon reviews are always appreciated!

You're invited to The Sewing Party

Are you ready to party?

I'm really excited to be part of the team announcing The Sewing Party, the first-ever all-day online sew-along!

On November 8, 2014, thousands of DIY-ers will gather for a fun-filled day of sewing and crafting classes taught online by leading bloggers and educational experts. It’s all about connecting, crafting, and creating.

Attendees will have access to more than 30 online classes available on the day of the event and for an additional 90 days. There is truly something for everyone. Classes include home décor, fashion sewing, quilting and upcycling, crafting, costume design, techniques for turning your craft into an entrepreneurial venture, and more.

For a one-time fee of $40, The Sewing Party participants can attend classes, chat with participants from across the country, interact with top bloggers and educational experts who are teaching; and explore the latest crafting and sewing tips, techniques and products in our marketplace.

This is just a partial list of bloggers who will be partying along with everyone, and the exciting list of teachers can be seen HERE.

As a friend of The Sewing Party, I have 5 free passes to give away to Quilt Dad readers. All I ask is that you leave a comment on this post answering one of the following questions:

• What class would you most like to take as part of The Sewing Party?
• What project will you work on when you have an uninterrupted day of sewing for The Sewing Party, November 8th?
• What is the favorite project you've completed in 2014? Please leave me a link to where I can see it!

I will select 5 random winners later this week.

Also, Quilt Dad readers who register for The Sewing Party before July 31 will receive a free The Sewing Party t-shirt! The t-shirts are SUPER cute and valued at $20. Simply enter LETSPARTY in the Promo Code box when they register. (You will be contacted directly about your t-shirt and t-shirt size.)

For more about The Sewing Party, here's a fun video to watch:

The Sewing Party is brought to you by its sponsors:

Three more quilts from Beyond Neutral

Let's continue on our tour of the quilts from my book, Beyond Neutral: Quilts Inspired by Nature's Elements. So far I've shown 6 of the book's 16 quilts, and today I'll reveal three more.

(ICYMI, you can catch up on previous posts here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.)

The quilt pictured above is Glimmerglass. Eagle-eyed readers may recognize this quilt as Carousel, a quilt I designed in 2011 for Fat Quarterly. Carousel really worked well as a juvenile quilt, but when it was time to start pulling the book together I wanted to give it a new life. I brushed off the pattern and remade the quilt using Tula Pink's The Birds and the Bees line. As I suspected, the fresh fabric choices breathed new life into the quilt and allowed it to feel right at home alongside the others in the book.

This is Fallen Timbers. Fallen Timbers is actually another pattern reissue. It was originally published as Sanctuary in the second issue of Fat Quarterly. Again, I felt the pattern deserved an update and the quilt a refresh. Now Fallen Timbers sits comfortably in the Grass chapter of Beyond Neutral. I don't think I could love this fabric combination more.

And introducing perhaps my favorite quilt in the book, Pinnacles. It was designed to feature a large amount of negative space and to showcase a select few favorite prints. I chose a mix of Alison Glass' fabric paired with some whimsical Japanese prints, all against a stone grey. I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

As always, I am not above asking for some help. Amazon reviews really do help with book sales so, if you're enjoying the book and are so inclined, please consider leaving a review. I truly appreciate it. And if you've made anything from Beyond Neutral, please send me photos of your quilt tops. I'd love to feature them in future posts!

Link to purchase at Amazon.
Link to purchase at the Fat Quarter Shop.
Link to purchase at Barnes & Noble.

#NGAQB Mr. May: Paul Hallinger

May was my #SDQAL partner-in-crime's month in the No Girls Allowed Quilting Bee. I've had the pleasure of getting to know Paul (blog: Evildemondevildog Quilts) since the bee started several months ago, and I am awed by his talent and creativity.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Me But Were Afraid to Ask (and probably shouldn't have) 

Paul Hallinger, born in New Jersey.  I am the product of a very nuclear family - dad, mom, me, and my sister.  I am the older brother.  Just a rather mundane childhood of growing up watching Japanese cartoons and Dr. Who.  Oh, and Monty Python.  And I was one of those 'studious' types who would much rather take home a 100 book reading list for the summer.  And if my aunt would lend me her books on UFOs, psychic phenomenon, and otherworldly things, I would fit them in alongside The Great Gatsby. 

I took up some levels of sewing and crochet in my teens, mostly because I lived next to my grandmother and aunt, both of whom spent time doing these things.  I took a sewing class at a local fabric store (yes, they existed back in the Stone Age) and made a really cool for the times patchwork denim vest.  Someone in my family still has it! 

I graduated from high school and went off to college.  Well that was an interesting thing to do.  I lived in a co-ed dorm, found more fun than I could possibly ever want to experience, and decided that if majoring in forestry meant I had to learn latin, well, that was not going to happen.  So after a fun filled year at a small liberal arts college in northern New Jersey, I dropped out. 

And then I just explored new and fun experiences.  I worked at various jobs, hung out at clubs with friends, got into CBGBs, became enamored with punk, double pierced my ears, got a tatoo, and colored my hair a lovely shade of blue after spending months looking like Rutger Hauer in Bladerunner.  I would not trade those life experiences for anything.  And Doc Martens ruled. 

I eventually went back to college (I think I was 26 or so), working full time and going to school full time.  I majored in sociology with a minor in psychology and I am that person in the room who doesn't say much but is intrigued by everything going on around him.  And then off to grad school in the wonderful land of California.  I spent two years getting my masters, buggered off the phD (eternal studentdom was not for me) and took a job with the Federal government in 1991.  Been there as a day job ever since.  I have lived in Jersey, California, Missouri and am now back in Pennsylvania. 

What, too impersonal?  Not a big sharer, but here you go.  

I have been with my one true love for 26ish years now - our first date involved a trip to the dump.  A true romantic that one.  We both remember the movie we went to see and the fact that I didn't go home.  And never left much after that either! 

I took up quilting in 1992 or so - I had gone to Europe on a wonderful two week adventure and upon returning to the states blew out a couple of lumbar discs when I grabbed a suitcase out of  the trunk of a car.  Cross country flight and pain, not a good mix.  So I was out of work for a few months and was going absolutely bonkers counting the ceiling tiles when a friend showed me how to cross stitch and then how to do quilt stitching by hand.  I then asked her to show me how to make a quilt.  I was using a lovely White sewing machine that I had bought at a 'school over-ordered' sale.  I took it in for service and was amazed at the Bernina sewing machines, so I bought one!  and then another.  And then another.  I have three.  Two embroider (another favorite of mine).  And then I bought a Juki (I like it for the more industrial needs!) 

My quilting is like my musical taste - punk funk other junk, classical jazz industrial pretty much anything I listen to and like.  So I quilt things I like - I don't confine myself to any particular style.  I do tend to be a little 'matchy' with my fabric choices and tend to stick to one or two choices in a quilt - I personally feel that the fabric designer did what they did and I should let their expression stand relatively sound.  When I look at some stuff produced by other quilters I just start hearing "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong...".  My own personal aesthetic.  I need some level of cohesion. 

Paul's block request was wide open: he asked us to make any 8" block at all that represented us as quilters. A signature block, if you will. He is sure to have a wonderfully eclectic sampler quilt at the end of the bee!

I decided to make Fancy Fox face blocks from Elizabeth Hartman's fantastic pattern. For two of them I used part of my coveted Liberty of London stash, and for the others I used a new Anna Maria Horner print and a Joel Dewberry woodgrain in a lovely shade of deep purple.

Hope you like them, Paul!

Soccer kids

You can't really get a glimpse into my world without understanding just how much time we spend on sports fields. My children are all developing into exceptional athletes, and while they dabble in basketball, flag football, and volleyball, the sport of choice for all three is soccer.

This summer, we're thrilled that all three of the kids have been chosen for their respective traveling soccer teams. This means that they'll be on teams that compete outside of our local YMCA branch, and they'll begin playing some of the more competitive teams throughout the region. It also means that they'll be playing on the team for a full calendar year, and the amount of time I'll be sitting on the sidelines has increased dramatically.

I don't mind in the least, though. Watching my children play sports is by far the thing I love to do most in this world.

Here are a few recent pictures to show just how quickly they are growing up!

And now for a little throwback fun. Here are the girls 5 years ago, playing their first season of soccer in 2009 (5 years old.)