Confessions of a bad Godmother: a few months ago I completed a quilt top in Red Sox colors for my 11-year-old Godson, a devout Red Sox fan, but I’ve been procrastinating on the quilting because I have been waiting for that brainstorm for the perfect quilting motifs that will give the quilt a clean, masculine look–one that a budding baseball star would be proud to have in his bedroom!

Johnny at a Red Sox game (I think) when he was about seven.

 Fortunately for me, Catherine Redford has come to my rescue with her new DVD for walking foot quilting:

I bought a walking foot last year and I can’t rave enough about it–it has made my quilting so much easier– but there was a lot I didn’t know I could do with walking foot quilting until I watched Catherine’s DVD.

In the DVD she discusses:

Having had Catherine as a guest on Quilting Arts TV as well as being a seasoned demonstrator in Open Studios, I can vouch that Catherine has a natural, easy-going teaching style that takes the fear and stress out of quilting, (including quilting those pesky perfect spirals).

After watching the DVD, I have decided to use plaid quilting for this Red Sox quilt. The quilt wont be done by Christmas but it WILL be done by Opening Day!

Go sneak over to Catherine Redford’s blog as she is going to be giving away a copy of her Modern Machine Quilting.

I am so glad it’s Friday and I am more than ready for a weekend quilting poolside! Weather report says that’s a go…

To celebrate the upcoming weekend, I thought to kick it off with a quilt book giveaway. I have a jewel of a book on hand that is terrific for both the beginning quilter and those wanting an easy, no-brainer book brimming with colorful patterns that will take no time to stitch up.

Bright & Bold Cozy Modern Quilts by Kim Schaefer C&T Publishing

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All you have to do is answer the question below, and I’ll randomly choose a winner this upcoming Monday.

Question: What are your quilting plans this weekend? Are you going to make pet postcards? (That would be a good answer.)

Me? I have absolutely no plans other than to haul my machine out onto my back porch (heat index permitting) to finish a baby quilt and make pet postcards for our Festival Pet Project.

You?

Have a great weekend,

Tomorrow my little brother turns the big 37. (You are getting ever so closer to the Fab 40’s, Lil Bro’!)

The Chatham cousins (This is probably the last time I will ever see my brother in a suit.)

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For years, he’s been asking me for a quilt, and it’s my bad that I haven’t made one for him yet, so I’m sending him a promissory note tomorrow letting him know I’m on it. We both have fond memories as kids watching TV, huddled under one of the numerous quilts my great grandmother lovingly hand stitched.

Challenge is, he’s of the rugged, hunt/fish, Bass Pro Shop variety. Owning and running a farm and cattle ranch in Washington state, he spends his days wrestling rattlesnakes and irrigation woes, harvesting fruit, and herding cattle. (One time while talking with him over the phone, he put his cell down to tell some guy, “Dude! Watch out! That bull isn’t castrated!”)

In his free time he fly fishes, camps, sails, hunts, and actually broke a horse in (that he delivered) and now gallops on all over his property. Get the picture?

So it’s time I make him a quilt, but it needs to be something more macho than say, maybe grandmother’s flower garden (although it would be a fun challenge to make that in taupes, greens, grays, and blues). I have been looking at a few patterns, and think something with a more modern quilt aesthetic would most likely work for him.

What do you think of the following?

Bachelor Quilt #1

This Asymmetrical Diamond Quilt inspired by Lisa Roddy’s quilt on her blog, Shiner’s View, came up in my Instagram feed yesterday from Robert Kaufman. The color scheme is perfect for Davy with the sandy beiges and watery blues, a throwback to his professional sailing days.

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Bachelor Quilt #2

I bought this pattern from the Jaybird Quilts booth at Quilt Festival in Long Beach last summer. Looks like I could whip this quilt up pretty quickly, and I like the positive/negative interplay in the pattern.

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Bachelor Quilt #3

Also by Julie Herman of Jaybirdquilts.com, I think Varsity would be fun to make in a variety of beiges and blues.

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I am leaning towards Varsity but would love to hear what you think. And have you made quilts for the men in your life? Share in the comments area and if you have pictures on blogs or websites, please link!

Oh. And Happy Birthday, Davy…

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was busy: I adopted another furry creature (more on that tomorrow), did some QA TV prep for our upcoming taping, and stitched a market tote for a friend who recently underwent surgery. Essentially I was closeted in my studio with my animals and a stack of DVDs, and that is how I like it.

To kick off the work week, I thought to giveaway a recent book I got from Stash Books, an imprint of C&T. It’s called Sunday Morning Quilts coauthored by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison. In it you will find 16 quilt projects to use up all those colorful scraps in your stash that you can’t bear to throw away. These projects are pretty easy and straightforward, so they are great for the budding quilter and the art quilter alike who may want to stitch up something pretty quickly.

To be in the running for this book, all you need to do is answer the following question, and I will randomly select a winner tomorrow.

Question: If you could watch a quilter in action in his/her studio, what process, technique, project would you want to watch them do? In other words, if you could watch quilt demonstrations, what kind of demos would you like? (And yes, I am asking for a reason!)

And congratulations to Wanda Myers! You are the winner from this past Friday’s fabric giveaway. Please email me at pokeyb@quilts.com with your shipping address, putting “Fabric Winner” in the subject line, and I will get these fabrics to you shortly.

Happy Monday,