Green With Envy

I bet you were expecting to see some fantastically wonderful green quilt I'm working, huh?!  Nope…the only thing green around here is ME.  Totally envious of all the people who went to Houston Quilt Market over the weekend and the accompanying show Quilt festival this week.

I contemplated going when I first starting putting together a business plan for Gotcha Covered Quilting.  Then I used some maturity and wisdom (these are 2 newly acquired attributes, I might add).  Did I really need to go to quilt market to see every last wonderful gadget, pattern and newly announced fabric line just as I'm getting started in business?  Is that really a wise choice for someone who might possibly be a little impulsive and impatient?

No!  And so I opted to stay home this year.  I know it was the right decision.

 But I've been feeling a bit like this…

Totally feeling left out of all the fun and excitement.  The girl who wasn't invited to the party with all the cool kids.  Waaaah!!!

I could have hung with all the really popular bloggers and phenomenal quilters who I stalk regularly.


That could have been me in the picture with Tula Pink. >>>>
It could have, I just know it.  I'm certain we would have become immediate friends because I'm cool that way and she's cool that way (or so I've heard).

Oh gosh, and Kate Spain could have gushed about my Ka-Bloom quilt and I could have gushed about…well, about everything she has ever created.  We would be besties by now.

And after browsing all the machine quilting done by Angela Walters (Quilting Is My Therapy) and Natalia Bonner (Piece N Quilt), they would have offered up tons of advice and introduced me to some of the big wigs in the quilting industry as their new protegee.

*Big Sigh*

It really is best that I wasn't there with my hands fondling fabrics and threads because I'm certain my credit card would be maxed out and I'd have to jump start the other part of my business that I'm not quite ready to jump start.  I really am using my new found maturity to slow myself down (I think my mom just shed a tear of joy)

Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Instagram have been on Quilt Market overload just like my poor envious brain.

Here's a little taste (a very small taste) of what's caught my eye so far.

Fox Field by Tula Pink

Marcelle Medallion from Liberty Love

Garden Party Tango from Iza Pearl Designs and Windham Fabrics

Aardvark Quilts.  That quilt to the left
is the same quilt that I just made for KK

A little more Tula Pink

Dear Stella

If you want to get a glimpse of what we all missed, here are a few of the sites I follow on Facebook who have put together a nice array of photos.

The Fat Quarter Shop (She's my local favorite quilt shop…the nicest people you've ever met work there)

The Intrepid Thread

Pearl The Squirrel

Sarahs Fabric

Jay Bird Quilts

Piece N Quilt

Happy Monday to you all!

Until next time...

PS.  I hope I linked everything up properly, giving credit to those whose pictures I've borrowed for today's blog.  If I missed something, please let me know and I'll fix it promptly.

Ka-Bloom

Ka-Bloom - Pattern testing

I don't know if you guys have any idea what goes into designing patterns, but it's not as simple as just creating the design.  It requires MATH.  Holy cow!  No thank you.  Not only do designers need a sense of style, color sense, artistic ability, a slight affinity for math, they also need to be able to put their directions into word combinations that the rest of us quilters can follow…

…Enter Pattern Testers

Testers have the fun job of following the directions exactly and offering suggestions/recommendations, making sure all the measurements work and fabric requirements are accurate.  Of course that assumes no mistakes by the pattern tester (more on that later).

A few weeks ago I saw this Quilt ------>

Ka-Bloom by EvaPaige Quilt Designs

and just loved it.  Shortly after, the designer (EvaPaige Quilt Designs) sent out a pleas for help.  She needed testers for the sashing and setting triangles portion of her pattern.  We were even told we could use "ugly" fabrics.  She just needed us to check measurements and fabric allotment.

My uglies (which may be your faves, and that's ok!

Perfect!  I responded immediately.  I'm in!!  I love the design and I love to help.  This business of quilting really is about sharing and lending a helping hand.  It's fun to be part of someone else's creative process.

I gathered my uglies.  So excited to use them for something and get them out of my stash.  My intensions were pure.  I swear!

But then this...

Sunnyside by Kate Spain for Moda

...kept taunting me! 

I swear Kate Spain's Sunnyside was speaking to me.  "Please, Ka-Bloom is perfect for us.  Put us to good use.  Don't put us in a drawer.  Make something beautiful."  What?  Doesn't your fabric speak to you?  So, pattern testing one portion of Ka-Bloom quickly turned into making the entire quilt.  Squeeee!!!  So exciting!

The pattern by EvaPaige Quilt Designs seen here has easy-to-follow directions, can be quite scrappy (as I have done with FQs) and comes together fairly quickly.  

It has a nice combination of strip piecing,

applique (done as easily or intricately as you'd like),

 and set on a diagonal with triangles corners and triangle setting border.  

Assembling Ka-Bloom was great fun!

And here's the really important part of my pattern review…this tester, ahem, was a little over anxious in creating this quilt.  Sometimes she does get a little ahead of herself and doesn't follow directions in order.  So said tester just might have mistaken a 12-1/4 inch cut for 12-1/2 inch and then found that sashing strips didn't quite match up and triangles had to be trimmed down.  I'm just saying…something like this may have happened.

Happy Days…because of Ka-Bloom's scrappy sashing, it was absolutely no problem to make adjustments and have my seams come together beautifully.

Check out those corners :)

I love a pattern that allows for some wiggle room.  A few nips and tucks later, the quilt came out perfectly aligned.

I give Ka-Bloom a huge thumbs up for design, flexibility, clear instructions, and as it so happens, Beth, owner and designer of EvaPaige Quilt Designs, is really, really sweet.  Bonus!!!

Please visit Beth at EvaPaige Quilt Designs or on Facebook if you're interested in purchasing the pattern for KaBloom or just to say hello.

Disclosure:  All opinions are my own and I was in no way compensated for this review.  In fact, I wasn't even asked to do a review (surprise, Beth!).  I'm just excited about this beautiful quilt pattern and want to spread the word.

Happy Quilting...

Welcome to Gotcha Covered Quilting!

Woot Woot!!!  My blog is officially up and running.

Welcome everyone and thank you for keeping me company here.

So what will you find with my blog?  A lot of quilting…ideas, projects, tutorials and inspiration with a spattering of life spread around.  After all, quilting doesn't occur in a vacuum in the real world so it won't here either.

For some of you who know me personally, this jump into quilting may seem a bit dramatic.  It isn't a leap though.  I started quilting back in 1998 when I moved from Santa Barbara to the San Francisco area.  After spending most of my life crocheting, needlepointing, and cross stitching, I had always been intrigued by quilting.  The move was the perfect opportunity to give it a try as I wasn't established in the community (ie: I had no friends and thus lots of free time).  Within my first week in this new town, I joined the Pacifica Quilters guild, and although I was the youngest in the group by about 25 years, the Pacifica Quilters took me under their wing and encouraged me on.  There's nothing like a group of older women oohing and ahhing over everything you make to feed the fabric and quilting addiction.  A passion was born.

After hand quilting my first few quilts, I really needed to speed up the quilting process in order to keep up with the pace I was making quilt tops, so I taught myself to machine quilt.  I quickly fell in love with the process and shortly after started a small machine quilting business.  I absolutely LOVE quilting for others, creating the finishing touches for the beautiful quilts they have put so much time and energy into creating.

And then came a back injury.  If you have ever hurt your back, you are very much aware that it will stop you in your tracks.  Oh yes, everything came to a screeching halt, including my quilting.  And then life took a few twists and turns and before I knew it, six years had passed.

A Few Of My Favorite People

Katelyn (aka "KK") age 22 and graduate from Chico State

Brody, age 18 and in college

Ally age 13 (with her friend's dog, Skylar)

Super Mark, my wonderful boyfriend of 3 years.

So here I am, many years later, finding myself immersed into the world of quilting once again.  Although much in life has changed, my passion for quilting hasn't, in fact, it's back with a vengeance.  Apparently my addiction to fabric hasn't slowed down one bit either.  My love for machine quilting is just as strong as ever.  What has changed though is the outside world of quilting.  Boy oh boy has that changed.  There was no social media when I stopped quilting.  The most fabulous and daring fabrics were batiks.  The concept of modern quilting was really "out there."  And now?  The sharing of ideas is only a click away.  Shopping for fabric (much to my dismay when my credit card bill arrives) is also as easy as a click away.  Written tutorials, video classes, quilt photos, endless ideas, online swaps and quilt alongs, sharing, encouraging, celebrating, helping, giveaways and blog shares…all only clicks away.  I'd be lying if I didn't say it can be a bit overwhelming.  So much quilting, so many quilting friends, beautiful quilt fabrics, new fabric lines coming out almost daily...Seriously, this new world of quilting is amazing and I am beyond thrilled to have jumped back in.

I'm so happy that you've decided to join me here.  I hope to make this a culture of community, sharing, and quilting fun, so please join in freely.

(Coming up next week…a look at a brand new pattern and what I've done with Kate Spain's Sunnyside).

Until next time...