The highlight of my day is getting an email from a quilter with a picture of a quilt that was inspired by one of our designs. It’s always inspiring to see what different people do with our patterns and how new colors and fabrics can completely change the look of a quilt. I really love it when quilters use our patterns as a creative launch pad for their own ideas and come up with something that looks totally different from the original or is in fact a completely new idea all together. Making something that gets other quilters excited and inspired is the best perk of this job! Below: Santa Fe Scrap Salad Runner by Jennifer Padden.
Jennifer made the place mats to go along with our Santa Fe Trail Table Runner. The table runner pattern is ours, but the place mats are totally Jennifer’s design. I think it’s great that she used similar elements that were in the runner, but didn’t make the place mats “matchy matchy”. Very cool design as the place mats can stand alone without the runner and depending on the fabric, can be traditional or contemporary. Lucky for us Jennifer is going to be our guest blogger in April and share all the instructions – I’m hoping to have that info up next week, so be sure to come back and check it out.
Our next picture came all the way from Japan from one of our long arm quilters, Asta Dorsette. Asta is amazing, so good in fact, that when we have that extra special quilt we will send it all the way to Japan- just for her. When her customer, Rocki, brought Asta the quilt top she recognized “Star Struck” right away (originally published in Quiltmaker Magazine). Rocki put her own twist on the design by adding the center block with the military emblem which gave the quilt a totally different feel and great patriotic flair. This quilt isn’t an easy one to begin with and I have to give Rocki props for the changes she made. I’m sure it was a bear to figure out and involved some Y seams to get that block in there! Below: Star Struck by Rocki Rothacker
If Colleen and I were forced to choose a quilt as our all time favorite, I think it would be Free Falling. We met Sandra Hatch, former editor of Quilters World at Quilt Market in Houston for the first time in 2009 and she gave us our first project for the magazine… the quilt had to have some kind of bargello element, fall theme, wall or decorative size, be off center and she wanted sketches by Thanksgiving. If it sounds easy, let me assure you – it wasn’t – it made the guild challenges we’d cried about look like a dream! In spite of her persistence, Sandra never did get her sketches. I just kept stalling her and telling her to trust us, that we were cooking up something so wonderful we couldn’t actually draw it, the camera was broken so we couldn’t send a photo, the dog ate my home work etc… All the while we stared at the design wall that covered in ideas that were truly cringe inspiring. Finally one afternoon, about 2 weeks before the quilt was due as the magazine, it all just clicked and the quilt literally went together in a couple of hours. Joyce sent us a picture of her Free Falling which she’s put her own little flare on by changing the border which we both just love. She’s added teeny tiny maple leaf corner stones (right up Colleen’s alley – the smaller the better) and the big border is totally black except for the small pinstripe (right up my alley – the darker the better). Below: Free Falling by Joyce Brunsvold
Thinking Outside the Block, we know based on how many we ship out, is a customer favorite. It is a pretty cool quilt and can do some pretty neat things. I’ve actually made 3 of them, one of which doesn’t even use a color grade, but instead used traditional scrappy fabrics. In the last year we’ve seen quite a few black and white versions of this quilt (and posted them here if you look back through the blog) and like them so much, we’re actually having a new sample made in black and white and might offer it as a kit –see, the pictures you send us do get us thinking! Ellen’s black and white was the most recent one we received and if you’re familiar with the quilt, you’ll notice she did a little edit on it… She put a light color on the outside of the block instead of going with the traditional darkest color here. Very clever as it makes the blocks seem to float. Ellen also did Dimensions which is the on point version of Outside the Block. Do you think Ellen like contemporary fabrics and quilts? A girl after my own heart! Below: Thinking Outside the Block & Dimensions by Ellen Werner
The next one is a rarity. Miss Nancy made not one, not two but FIVE Bellingraths! I don’t think I’ve ever made a quilt five times and have to say that this is the ultimate compliment we’ve ever been paid by a quilter as you really have to love a quilt to make it that many times. She didn’t change any of the design elements but I she did play with the color and the fabric. I loved that she made one very similar to ours but then she went fearless on it and took some risks which gave the quilt a totally wonderful playful look. Ellen has to be a women with a huge stash and who loves color! Below: Bellingrath(s), by Nancy Martin
Anyway, that’s it for show and tell for now– If you have pictures of your Toad quilts please send them so we can have show and tell more often!
Blog Post written by Chloe Anderson © 2011 Toadusew Creative Concepts
Thinking Outside the Block Pattern featuring the “Tattoo” collection from Camelot sewn by Shelly Strange
Reflections Pattern featuring the Montage Collection from Benartex sewn by Karen Fisher.
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