What is your name? My name is Cheryl and I'm a stay at home wife and quilter (and Baylor grad/fan). I'm new to the whole online part of quilting but I blog at
Texas Quilting Gal, Flickr at
mrscwatson81 and IG at
texasquiltinggal.
Where do you live? I live in Katy, Texas, outside of Houston. I'm originally from Texas, but have moved quite a bit. I've also lived in San Antonio, Waco, Dallas and Plano, Texas, Denver, Colorado, and Louisville, Kentucky. My husband is an engineer contract worker so we move wherever the jobs are.
Tell us about your family: I've been married to my hubby for 10 years last month!!! We have no kids, yet, but do have pets. We have a German Shepherd, Max, which we swear is part human! He's my first dog and I can't imagine how I ever lived my life without one before! We also have 2 birds, Bailey and Izzy. They do talk a little, in which we realized very early, we have to watch what we say around them!
Tell us about how you got interested in quilting: My mom has been quilting for 20+ years. While she is more of a traditional quilter, I got the sewing gene from her. I remember making my first quilt top in middle school with her. Just last year, we found that top in her sewing room, so I took it and added it to my UFO pile! My mom gave me her old Bernina 1090 when she upgraded about 8 years ago, so I've been sewing since then. At the time, I was working as a surgical nurse, so I really only made little projects (table runners, aprons, lots of scrub hats for work). My hubby encouraged me to take some time off the end of 2012 and ever since then, I've been quilting like CRAZY!!! I'm sure he's thinking twice about wanting me to stay home now!
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| Our retreat quilts from September 2013 |
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| My first International Quilt Festival with mom in 2013 |
How do you organize your fabric stash? Well, since I've just recently begun quilting more regularly, I've not got a huge stash! And I'm a little embarrassed by my lack of a cute quilting space! But, it works, for now. Since we are moving a lot, I've got a portable closet set up with my essential supplies. Fabric is in a hanging shoe organizer, large cuts of fabrics/panels/quilt tops are hanging, and batting is on the bottom. I still need to organize my notions and books better on the shelves. Our dining room is my "quilting studio!"
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| Sewing in the dining room, cutting mat on the kitchen island, and fabric in a portable closet! Don't judge me! :) |
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| My "design wall" is blocks and projects over finished quilts! |
Who is/are your favorite fabric designers? I LOOOVE Joel Dewberry, Anna Marie Horner, Kate Spain, Denyse Schmidt, Bonnie & Camille, Kate & Birdie, and Michael Miller, just to name A FEW. HA!
What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting? #1 Change your rotary blade more often! Why on earth did I chew through my fabric for so long? It's so nice when you have a sharp blade! #2 My quilts aren't going to be perfect and that's OK! If you can't see the mistakes as you're galloping by on a horse, others probably won't notice either! I'm quite the perfectionist, so this is still a struggle, especially when trying new things.
What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it? FriXion pens! They write like a regular pen and iron right off! Genius! I used it a lot in my block to follow!
Who is your favorite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.) Ummm...I'm not a huge reader. I mean, who has time with all the quilting, right? I love (my husband says I obsessively watch) reality TV. I know, totally embarrassing, but I can't help it! I also enjoy Big Bang Theory, Pretty Little Liars/Ravenswood, Blacklist, and NCIS.
OK, onto the tutorial!
I've been inspired by Pantone's Color of the year, Radiant Orchid (see
here and
here for the beauty in fabric and fashion!) So, here's what I've come up with!
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| Scrappy Nickel Dutch Rose Block |
Double Nickel Quilts has done this
tutorial that simplifies the block a ton AND gets rid of some unnecessary seams! YAY! It also makes a smaller version at 16" finished (please don't worry about squaring up or trimming at the end). I'm wanting a scrappy block of purples and greys with an off white background (I've used Kona Snow). I also love low volume texts and if you have some that would coordinate, you could throw a little of that in, too (maybe corners or center star points). Keep all the background OFF WHITE. You also don't have to do colors in the same spot as me. You could have purple center square with grey points, all the same fabric of purple for the large flower around and grey corners. Mix it up, be creative!
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| Examples of Purples/Greys/Off White/Maybe low volume texts |
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| Here are my block's cuts |
Tell us about your family: I've been married to my hubby for 10 years last month!!! We have no kids, yet, but do have pets. We have a German Shepherd, Max, which we swear is part human! He's my first dog and I can't imagine how I ever lived my life without one before! We also have 2 birds, Bailey and Izzy. They do talk a little, in which we realized very early, we have to watch what we say around them!
Thanks so much! Hope to get started soon! It's great learning about you!
ReplyDeleteLove your color choices and block! I hope I am able to do it justice! :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this tutorial! I've been looking for one for this block for a while. I also have to ask you what the quilt pattern is called for your 2013 Retreat quilts. Or if you have the size of the finished blocks? I have a friend who is very interested in making this quilt but doesn't have any of the information on it. Any would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks!
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