New Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks - GIVEAWAY!

Here it is: Vol. 14! It will be on the stands soon, but you can win one now. See below.

See my block: Beach Umbrellas? Like all my favorites, it looks a little tricky, but it's easier than pie.

I love being called one of "today's top designers." Haha. Right next to Bonnie Hunter too! Cool.

Your comment on this post will be your entry into the drawing. Tell us what your favorite kind of quilts are. Random drawing will be held Saturday Nov. 12. Two prizes will be awarded. Prizes will be mailed anywhere in the world.

A Gift for Your Pastor - Day 3

Elegant red silk clergy stole makes a great gift for the new seminary grad or for your pastor at Pentecost. Visit Shadrach's to see more.

Modern Raw-Edge Quilt Tied With Wool

This is my latest project, a raw-edge quilt using 5" Moda Charm Packs. It's tied with wool. The edges didn't fray as much as I'd expected, and I just realized that's because the squares were cut with a tiny pinking shears zigzag. Normally you don't want the edge to fray, but in this case I did! Haha. 

I like how the little balls are nice and round. The pattern is almost finished. Most of you don't need a pattern for this, but I think it would help new quilters. 

Have a nice long weekend! It's raining here today. I hope to exercise, make Irish soda bread, and sew. 

Welcome to the Fall Festival Quilt Exhibit

Yesterday I had the great honor to exhibit 35 of my quilts at my church, the First Congregational Church in Litchfield, CT during the Fall Festival. There were many quilters and non-quilters who visited and I had the best time hosting this event. Thank you to all my blog buddies who were able to attend. For everyone else, here is a virtual tour via photos. 

See My Quilts on Saturday in Litchfield CT

I'll be exhibiting about 35 of my quilts on Saturday (tomorrow) at the First Congregational Church in Litchfield, CT. It will be part of the annual Fall Festival. You are invited! Come and say hi.

The foliage is beautiful now, and there's also a Garlic Festival in Bethlehem (at the fairgrounds) on Saturday, just 10 minutes away. (Come see the quilts first, haha!)

I'll take photos of the quilt exhibit to show you.

 I wish you could all be here.

Aren't these clouds fearsome? I took this photo last week. 

Yes, this is where I go to church. 

Today on My Design Wall

This is my latest quilt top "Diamond Dishes." It's the first time I've used bright orange since the 1960s, I think! I like it with the retro fabrics, and the yellow inner border calms the orange down a bit. 

I think I'll make a pattern for this while I still remember how to make it. 

It has Y-seams, but it's not too tricky. This quilt measures 45" x 58." No foundations.

Do you remember this pincushion named "Endurance?" It originated a long time ago in Japan and was recently rescued in Connecticut and given a new silk cushion and two pretty pinsies. It has just been purchased by a woman in Victoria, Australia! What an exciting life this little guy is having! If only it could talk!

I've had a computer virus which has kept me off the Internet for a few days, but I'm back now.

See My New Book! Fat Quarters Giveaway Starts Today! (4 Winners)

My new book is out today! It features eleven fabulous versions of the Stairstep quilt.

 It's easy enough for new quilters, but it has design options that will tempt experienced quilters too.

I'm really excited about it!

The book is a pdf, so you get it immediately via email. Print it if you like. Take a look. Then come back and leave a comment. You'll be automatically entered in a random drawing for a package of 4 fat quarters by Kaffe Fasset. Four winners will be announced on Sunday Feb. 5.

If you "Favorite" it, tell your friends, or blog about it, etc., please enter 2 comments.

My Quilts in the Litchfield County Times!

Scroll down in the sidebar of this blog for the link to the Fandango quilt.

Winners Announced!

Quilt by Riel Nason, author of new book: The Town That Drowned.

The winners of the 4 little vintage bowls for pins are:

1. Danielle Villano
2. Sandy
3. Amy
4. Debby

The winner of Riel Nason's new book The Town That Drowned  is:

1. The Cozy Quilter

Stay tuned to Riel's blog for more book giveaways coming up!

I'll email you for your mailing addresses. Congratulations!

Selvage Quilt in American Quilter

This is my selvage quilt in the new issue of American Quilter magazine (page 14). You can download the directions here. It's quick and easy to make.

New Asterisk Quilt for my Mom's Alumni

I just finished this Asterisk quilt which will be raffled to benefit my Mom's nursing school alumni association. I designed this block which was the Empire Quilter's Block of the Month last year and appeared in Quiltmaker magazine too. The link to a tutorial is in the sidebar at right. (I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this one!)

One of the nurses made this label. Didn't she do a great job? She also made another little one with my name on it, and I put it in the other corner of the quilt.

My friend Jackie Kunkel of CV Quiltworks in Canton, CT did the machine quilting. Isn't it beautiful? Jackie is a fabulous quilter; one of her customers sends her quilts all the way from Spain to have Jackie quilt them!

It's challenging to make a quilt that you think will appeal to a large group of people that you don't know. But I like how the solids go with the bright Kaffe prints and the quiet background prints. I think it looks modern, but not too wild. Mom likes it too.

Today the Blog Tour takes us to Amber Carillo's blog: One Shabby Chick.

One More Day to Email a Photo for the Quilt Challenge

"If you were a quilt, what would you look like?"

Have you made a quilt in response to this challenge, or do have a quilt "that's really you?"

Email a photo to me today or tomorrow at karen@onlinequiltmuseum.com. Put "Challenge" in the email title. Include your name, the state or country where you live, the name of your quilt, and a few words about how you and your quilt are alike.

I'll post them here, and create an exhibit for the Online Quilt Museum too.

This should be interesting!

*****

Today is Day 4 of the Blog Tour and we're visiting Jacquie Gering's fabulous blog: Tall Grass Prairie Studio. (You'll remember she made the mint green spider web quilt shown here.)

I made the quilts in the above illustration, but my entry isn't there. Stay tuned.

Quiltmaker Magazine's 100 Blocks, Volume 2!

This collector's edition of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks just went to press two days ago! It'll be on the stands November 16. And yes, there will be a selvage block, designed by me! :)

In volume 1, I contributed a pieced block called "Candlestick," but this time I decided to make a selvage block. I think it will look challenging to newbies, but you selvage quilters will easily see how it goes together.

I like the block on the left in the bottom row. And the block with 4 shoes too. I wonder who designed them. We'll have a giveaway of this magazine when it's available.

Special giveaway coming tomorrow. Guaranteed.

See My Asterisk Quilt in Quiltmaker!

Keep an eye out for the new May/June issue of Quiltmaker...but here's a sneek peek of one of my favorite quilts!

I'm really excited to tell you about this quilt. This year I designed the Blocks of the Month for my guild, Empire Quilters in New York City. This was the block that we kicked off the year with in September. I called it "Candy Stick," but I like Quiltmaker's name better, "Asterisk."

My challenge was to design a block that looks difficult, but is actually easy and fun to make. Those are my favorites. It also had to work as a scrappy quilt and have wide appeal. Many quilters participated and we had a great time. (I made this quilt in advance to show the guild how it would look, and it's one of my favorites. I like how Quiltmaker photographed it too.)

The Empire Quilters Block of the Month can be seen at: http://www.empirebom.blogspot.com/.

C V Quiltworks Podcast and Book Giveaway

Yesterday Jackie Kunkel (of Canton Village Quiltworks) and I did a podcast about selvage quilting! Her free podcasts are called "Jackie's Quilting Chronicles" and can be heard on her website or on iTunes.

Jackie and I are having a Giveaway of two autographed copies of "Quilts from the Selvage Edge." Visit her blog to hear the podcast and enter the Giveaway: http://www.cvquiltworks.blogspot.com/. The winners will be announced March 23. Good luck!

BTW, Jackie quilts customer's quilt tops, and she has an online fabric store and an Etsy store...she is one busy lady and lots of fun!

Selvages in "Down Under Quilts" Magazine

Have you seen the new issue of Down Under Quilts from Australia? They're featuring selvages! Erica Spinks' authored the articles, and her beautiful selvage quilt is on the front cover. She used a solid beige fabric with her selvages, and she added hand quilting with black thread to echo the selvages. Terrific idea. This is the first selvage quilt to appear on the cover of a magazine!

Above, do you recognize my Tree of Life selvage quilt and Jodie Carleton's selvage frock? They also show Jodie's selvage chair on another page. Below see the selvage shopping sack by Linda Robertus.

Below, see my "Twilight Star" selvage quilt (left) and Linda Robertus' "Salvaged Selvedges" (right).

You can get a free digital edition of this magazine at: http://www.creativelivingmedia.com.au/.

See My Fan Quilt in Quiltmaker Magazine!

Photo above by Tim Benko.

Quiltmaker magazine has included my fan quilt in their January/February issue! It's very exciting to open Quiltmaker and see a quilt that I thought up. And this quilt is one of my favorites too. They named it "Fandango" (the fast Spanish dance using castinets). I used to call it "Firing on All Cylinders," but I like their festive name better.

The article has a good description about how to make this quilt. It's string-pieced by eye, not foundation pieced. Scraps are cut 1 inch wide. The key to making the fan is: when you sew two strips together, start with a regular 1/4" seam allowance, then gradually increase to about a 1/2" sean allowance. Repeating this with each strip creates the fan. Finally, place a square template on the block and trim to a square shape. Quiltmaker did a good job showing how to do it.

Click here to see an interniew with me about the quilt: http://www.quiltmaker.com/articles/Karen_Griska

Happy Quilting!