Kitsap Quilters’ Guild 30th annual quilt show

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Maggie Ball

Our 30th annual Kitsap Quilters’ Guild show will be held on February 19th and 20th at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in East Bremerton. Typically we display 200+ quilts and it’s well worth coming to view them. Our guild members are talented and the quilts range all the way from traditional through to modern. We always show case the work of one guild member in a special exhibit and this year it will be Jaxine Anderson. Here’s our beautiful raffle quilt, pieced by guild members and machine quilted by Marybeth O’Halloran. The pattern is by Judy Niemeyer.

The quilt will be displayed at the show where you will have the opportunity to purchase tickets for the raffle. Here’s a detailed shot showing the exquisite quilting. The drawing for the raffle will be at our quilt guild meeting on February 23rd.

The magic of Color Catchers

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Maggie Ball

I made this large Bargello block quilt for my nephew and there was almost a catastrophe.

On my way to quilt it on my friend’s long-arm quilting machine, my water bottle tipped and spilled slightly onto the quilt. When I got to my destination, I discovered to my horror that the red dye from the small red squares had bled. This should not have happened – all the fabrics were pre-washed before I pieced the quilt and the dyes should have been stable.

We dried the quilt top by ironing it and decided to go ahead and quilt it. After quilting and adding the binding, I washed the quilt. Color Catcher to the rescue!

The Color Catcher is a white sheet that goes into the washing machine with the laundry load. It traps the loose dyes that are released during the washing cycle. As you can see, it worked its magic when I washed the quilt. The red that had bled onto the surrounding fabrics was released and gathered up by the sheet, which changed color from white to dark pink. Color catchers come in boxes of 24 and are available at grocery stores.

Portable design wall

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Maggie Ball

When I was teaching in Spokane, WA, one of my students brought an ingenious portable design wall to class. She said that quilt teacher Pat Speth had given her the instructions. I contacted Pat and she kindly agreed to allow me to share these with you. See Pat’s blog for more pictures.

Pat developed this design wall back in 1995 and has been sharing it in her workshops ever since. It’s lightweight, inexpensive, and very portable. Here are the supplies you will need:

Dressmaker’s cardboard cutting board (the kind that folds up for storage), when folded measures 14″ x 40″
Two curtain rods that extend to at least 72″ (the white metal ones that curve on each end)
Piece of flannel 44″ x 80″ or a flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth
10–12 large binder clips 2″ size (from the office supply store)
Double sided carpet tape

Cover the backside of the design wall with the flannel – it will fold up with the grid side on the outside so the flannel will stay cleaner longer. With the backside facing up, apply the double-stick carpet tape along one long edge at a time. If your flannel is wider than the design wall, apply the tape to the grid-side and attach a couple of inches of flannel to the front (or whatever you need to make it fit). Press the flannel onto the tape, allowing it to extend past the cutting board at the top and bottom by a couple of inches.Tape both sides, then turn the board over. Apply tape to the top, press the flannel into place, and repeat on the bottom edge.

When all the edges are taped down you are ready to attach the curtain rods. Extend curtain rods to 6′ and lay them under the long sides, one side at a time.Attach binder clips to hold the cutting board to the curtain rod.

Use five or six binder clips along each side. Finish attaching the clips to one side, then do the other. If you are short of wall space for a permanent design wall, you can create the wall space by leaning these up against almost anything, blocking windows or doors. For larger quilts, simply set two or three of these design walls next to each other.

Rushin’ Tailor’s Quilt Alaska, Skagway, AK

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Maggie Ball

During my quilting cruise to Alaska, we visited the Rushin’ Tailor’s Quilt Alaska store in Skagway. Oh my, what a treasure trove! If you are in Skagway, it’s well worth a visit. The store is located in downtown historic Skagway, an easy walk from the cruise ship dock, at 370 Third Avenue. Here’s a visual tour.

The ceiling of the store is high and every space on the wall is covered in quilts, most of which are Alaska themed. The space is tight because there’s so much crammed in. There are Alaskan wild flowers and animals, scenes, Native American art style animal appliques to name a few, and a whole section of patterns. It was a bit of a zoo when all of us quilters descended!