The Modern Blocks Quilt Along is starting today! You can join in at SeamedUp.com. Stop by each day to find out what that day’s block is, learn more about the block’s designer and fabric, and see what color and fabric choices other members use when they make the blocks. (That’s always one of my favorite things about quilting: seeing what colors and fabrics other people choose.)

The blocks for the Quilt Along come from the book, Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers. These 12-inch blocks are fresh, fun, and beginner-friendly. So come quilt along with us!

What is SeamedUp, you ask? It’s a new online fabric crafting community where you can keep track of your fabric stash, patterns, and projects, discover what’s new in the world of fabric, as well as share photos and ideas with fellow fabric enthusiasts. Sign up at SeamedUp or take a video tour below with founder BryeLynn.

Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers is available on Amazon or as an eBook download from C&T Publishing.

Penny Candy, by Julie Nutting

I’m excited to announce an all-women’s art exhibit at the Fontana Art Center (8536 Sierra Avenue, Fontana, CA (909) 823-6036), now through December 11, 2011. Featuring:

• Terri Mobley, acrylics
• Julie Nutting, collage
• Becky Peck, ceramics
• and of course, moi,
  Laura West Kong, quilts

If you’re local to southern California, please join us for the artist reception, November 12, 7-9 pm. For those of you too far away to attend the show, stay tuned for an online virtual art show!

Enter to win a copy of Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers (Giveaway ends Sunday, November 13, 2011)

Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers

Really. Fun. 12-inch blocks to mix, match, and make your own. Piecing, applique, paper-piecing, and embroidery. Beginner friendly. Something for everyone.

Check out my block from the book below, Quarter-Cut Daisy. I’ve finished the center panel, and am now contemplating what to do with the borders. I’ve got 8 extra sashing strips, so I suspect that once upon a time I had planned to make 4 more blocks for the corners of the quilt. Hmm…

Here’s a peek at a few of my favorite blocks from the book:

After Hours
by Louise Papas

Fungus Family Portrait
by Amy Sinibaldi

Missing Your Kiss
by Penny Michelle Layman

Mondrian
by Jamie Moilanen

Besides being a wonderful collection of quilt block patterns, this fun book also dishes up a generous serving of eye candy. You can find Modern Blocks on Amazon or as an eBook download from C&T Publishing.

I’m also giving away one eBook copy to a lucky reader! Just leave a comment telling me your favorite kind of quilt block, currently. After all, a quilter has the right to change her (or his) mind from time to time. If you want to add a link to a photo of one of your favorite quilt blocks, that’s even better. One can never have too much eye candy to enjoy! The giveaway begins Friday, November 4, 2011 and ends Sunday, November 13, 2011.

Happy quilting!

Find “Collage Couture: Techniques for Creating Fashionable Art” on Amazon
Visit Julie Nutting’s website

Here’s a swatch (8″ x 8″) of a fabric I designed and had printed recently at Spoonflower:

What fun to design your very own fabric! Just don’t get so distracted that you never get around to actually making a quilt.

Here’s my Pandamonium Collection so far:

It’s a bit pricey, ($18/yard to shop other designers and $16.20/yard with designer discount when buying your own designs) but not a bad deal considering that you get to design your own fabric, exactly the way you want it.  Now I just have to design a quilt to go with it!

Here’s a link to the Spoonflower website and to my fabric at Spoonflower.

What kind of fabric would you like to design?

The hat above is part of the quilt top that I worked (ahem, played) on while on quilt-cation. (Photoshopped for secrecy. I’m not ready to reveal more just yet…)

I used the same painting with fusible fabric technique that I used on No Paints Were Harmed in the Making of this Quilt and Magritte and Me. Now I’m back to work, even in my quilting studio, so I’ll continue on this particular quilt Labor Day weekend for a mini quilt-cation.

A very important detail when planning a quilt-cation is fabric. Here’s my suitcase of quilt-cation fabric. I hand-carried it with me onto the plane because it would definitely be a disaster if the fabric got lost along the way.

THE FABRIC I BROUGHT

Most of that is what I packed and brought, although I did order 8 or 10 yards online and had it shipped to my destination. I bought some irresistible batiks at Quilt Lovers’ Hangout in Fort Myers, Florida as well.

There is a delicate balance when packing fabric for a quilt-cation. You don’t want to be in the middle of a project and realize the exact piece you need is still in your stash at home, but you don’t want to pack your entire stash either, even if you could fit it all into a suitcase. And you definitely want to leave some room for the fabulous fabric that you will find at the local quilt shops near your destination.

Luckily there was just enough room in the suitcase to fit all my fabric for the return trip. Expandable suitcases are great for this, but in case of fabric shopping overload you can always mail your extra fabric back home.

But the real question is, how much of that quilt-cation fabric did I actually use?  For my quilt-cation project, 8×10 inch pieces, not 1/2 and 1-yard cuts would have been more than sufficient. I’ll know better next time…

THE FABRIC I USED

Happy quiltcation!

How do you pack for a quilt-cation? What kinds of projects do you like to make?

Beaches in Southwest Florida are full of seashells. Some people spend hours searching for perfect specimens. After a storm you can sometimes find shells from waters hundreds of miles away. Sifting through the sand I discovered these seashell fragments.

I like the bands of soft colors. They remind me of strip-pieced quilts. Maybe a seashell-inspired quilt awaits, or maybe a walk along the seashore…

What inspires your quilt-making?

Read more:
Quilt-cation
Quilt-cation fabrications

Quilt-cation, all I ever wanted.
Quilt-cation, had to get away.
Quilt-cation, meant to be spent a sewin’

Every quilter needs a quilt-cation every now and then, a getaway full of fabulous fabric and fun. Here’s a great beginning to my quilt-cation, a quilt-inspired piece of art at the Southwest Florida Airport.

Yep, that’s a quilt made from old record albums. Remember those? Here’s a closer look at the stitching:

Whether you spend your quilt-cation at home or in the wild blue yonder, here’s wishing you happy quilting!

What’s your favorite quilt-cation destination?

And now for the quilts (IQA Long Beach 2011)…

I love this fun tree quilt from the West Coast Wonders 2011 exhibit. It’s neat how you can peek through the leaves. Scroll down to see the wildlife on the back side.

California Beauty
by Felisa C. Lyons
La Habra Heights, CA

From the Hands All Around 2010: International Quilts is a candy-colored applique picture quilt. What a yummy stash Rachel must have!

Village in Galilee
by Rachel Covo
Ramat Hasharon, Israel

And here’s an amazing yo-yo quilt from the Festival Gallery of Quilt Art: Wonders of the World. Be sure to take a look at the detail below the quilt. Painting a picture with yo-yos would be a fun and challenging technique to try. Making all those yo-yos would also be a great take-along project.

Grace
by Shin-hee Chin
McPherson, Kansas

This year I white gloved at the SAQA exhibits, Creative Force 2010 and Sightlines. On my two-hour shift it was my privilege to not only share these beautiful quilts with visitors, but also to get to know the quilts better myself.

Sometimes at quilt shows we get so caught up in seeing everything that we don’t really see what we’re looking at before we snap a photo and rush on to the next wonderful thing so we can take it all in and finish our shopping before the bus leaves. It’s refreshing to take a deep breath, relax, slow down, and examine each detail with your own eyes.

Here’s a video from Luana Rubin of eQuilter.com showing some highlights of these two SAQA exhibits when they were at IQA Houston 2010. See more quilt show videos on the eQuilter video webpage. Or you can check the SAQA exhibitions webpage to find out if these exhibits are coming to a venue near you.

And finally a quote from quilt artist Desiree Habicht, whose quilt was displayed in The Space Between exhibit (Like the SAQA exhibits, no photography was allowed, but the quote is almost as lovely as her quilt).

“In art, the space between allows us a place to rest our eyes. In life it can be the calm between the storms or events. The space between can refer to a positive or negative or a reflection of what is really there.”