Lynda Quilts

Happy New Year! 2012 was a wonderful year, filled with new and renewed quilting friendships. I look forward to the same in 2013.

This year saw the demise of Webshots, and with it the Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler Block of the Week photo albums. It’s difficult to see them disappear after all the hard work that we put into them. I don’t know the complete history, but I know that the previous facilitators (Debbie and Debbie) handed them over to me in great shape.

Webshots shut down for good on December 1st and I was able to save all the photos in separate albums; unfortunately the names of the albums and the names of the files were lost. There was a huge outcry from Webshots users about this; it didn’t make any difference and we were all out of luck.

I’ve spent the past month setting up a new gallery and matching up each album with the quilter. I was not able to add the names of the blocks; there are over 7,000 photos and it’s just too many. Going forward I’ll be adding block names as usual.

Rather than depending on an outside service for photo storage I set up a dedicated website – www.sbsbow.com – so that we would never be in this situation again. My husband, Jeff, was invaluable in setting up the gallery software and tweaking it for our needs. Please check out the website and your album and let me know if there is anything amiss. I’ll try to address any concerns as quickly as I can but bear in mind that my little vacation has ended and it’s back to work as usual.

Our first block assignment for the year will come out on Monday, January 6th and will be due on Sunday, January 13th at midnight. We only have eight blocks left in this series; when we finish those eight we’ll start all over again.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year!

The results of Challenge 2 were announced and unfortunately I didn’t make it to Challenge 3. I was pleased I got as far as I did in the contest and thoroughly enjoyed my participation. I’m looking forward to supporting my fellow contestants in the third challenge and can’t wait to see what they come up with.

To see the nine quilters who made it to the final round, visit http://www.mccallsquilting.com/contests/Quilt_Design_Star_2012_Amateur.html.

Thanks especially to McCall’s Quilting magazine for sponsoring the contest, and to all of you who voted and encouraged me!

Now it’s back to work on quilts for friends and family!

Voting for Challenge 2 in the McCall’s Quilting 2012 Quilt Design Star contest has ended and we should know the results later today or tomorrow.

I so appreciate everyone’s support, votes and encouragement as I make my way through the contest.

I’ll let you know as soon as I know!

Thanks again!

My Challenge 2 quilt in the McCall’s Quilt Design Star contest has now been posted on their site and you can vote by clicking the image in the right column. As always, all of your votes and comments are appreciated.

Our challenge in this round was to use a particular fabric in a quilt, any size larger than 24″ x 24″, in any style we wished. The featured fabric had to be at least twenty percent of the quilt. I’ve included a swatch of the fabric, which is a busy paisley print from Timeless Treasures.

I’m used to using smaller prints or solids, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. After I stared at the fabric for a while, I did get several ideas and eventually decided on the quilt you see, called Paisley Party.

I got wonderful support from my quilting buddies – especially Jan, Kathy, Becky, Maryam and my SBSers who are too numerous to name - my family, and Jeff was there as usual cheering me on. He did keep telling me his opinion didn’t matter, but I happen to know he has excellent taste. He did, at one point, label the dining room table with a sign that said “Sewing Annex”.

Feel free to mention the contest to all your friends and relatives; I can use all the votes I can get now that we’re in the thick of the contest. There’s one more round after this one, and I’d love to make it through.

Thanks!

Voting has now ended for the Challenge 1 round of the McCall’s Quilting 2012 Quilt Design Star contest. We’ll find out sometime on Tuesday, July 10th if we’ve made it through to the next round.

Thank you all for the support and the votes! I appreciate the time you took to view my quilt and place your vote.

I’ll let you know the results as soon as I know them!

My quilt has been posted on the McCall’s Quilting site and voting is now open for the first Challenge round! Click here to see my quilt and those of my fellow contestants. Our challenge was to use an Amish Star block in a quilt that was larger than 24″ x 24″. The rest was up to us!

Click on the image for a larger version and to vote for me if you like this quilt.

I’ve won my first ribbon and I couldn’t be more thrilled. More on this later…

I was asked to post my explanation of the difference between Half Square Triangles and Quarter Square Triangles. Here it is:

Half square and quarter square triangles differ in the number of times you cut the square diagonally. A half square triangle is cut only once; a quarter square triangle is cut diagonally twice. How many times you cut the square not only affects the size of the triangle but also determines where the bias edges of the triangle will be. When you cut a square in half, the two sides that form the right angle of the resulting triangle are on the grain line. When you cut a square in quarters the only side on the grain is the long side opposite the right angle.

Why are grain lines and bias edges so important? When piecing you want to make sure that the sides of your blocks are not made up of bias edges. This will cause your block to stretch and you may not get the precision you are looking for.

To make each, take the finished size of the square you want and add:

For half square triangles, add 7/8″
For quarter square triangles, add 1 1/4″

Hope this helps!