Guess who decorated the gingerbread house this year? I usually decorate with my sons, but they’re growing older and not as enthralled about doing crafts with mom as they used to be. So that meant I got to be really compulsive with my colors! Normally I’m totally hands off and let them play and put [...]
Posts under ‘Artist Dates’
Thanks and a Winner
I’m overwhelmed by all the wonderful comments and votes of confidence ya’ll gave me over on Facebook for Tory Johnson’s Spark and Hustle conference. I’m thrilled to say I won! I’m now on the speaker’s lineup and I’ll be presenting at the conference July 20-23, 2011. I’ve not ever attended Tory’s conference in the past, [...]
Video Review of Inspired by Tradition – New Applique Book by Kay Mackenzie
Welcome quilters to Day One of Kay Mackenzie’s blog tour for her newest book, Inspired by Tradition: 50 Applique Blocks in 5 Sizes. If you’re new here, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Maria Peagler, author of the Benjamin Franklin award-winning book Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts. I’m a workshop instructor and [...]
Maria Peagler Reveals Another Quilting Exclusive on Pat Sloan’s Creative Talk Radio
What a big finish to 2010 we had with the Quilter’s Favorite Things giveaway! We had so much fun with that contest and we had five lucky winners. This Monday, Jan. 10, I’ll be Pat Sloan’s guest on her Creative Talk Radio show. You won’t want to miss this interview, because I’ll be [...]
Blessings Tree Table Runner
Creative Quilters, I’d like to introduce you to Blessings Tree, the November edition of our year-long color-of-the-month enhanced e-pattern series:
Every Thanksgiving I long for a way to permanently record our blessings. As often as I teach my children the lesson of gratitude and try to practice it myself, the daily carpool, school, work, [...]
Orange: September’s Color of the Month
Orange is a bit of a conundrum: it harkens fall like no other color, yet quilters have a love/hate relationship with it. More than any other, orange is the most challenging and disliked of all colors when I survey my workshop students. However, those quilters who love orange do so with an unwavering commitment to [...]
Arbor Lane Initial Sketch
Arbor Lane’s humble beginning started with this lovely rough sketch. Every one of my quilt designs starts with my own hand, pencil, and paper. I spend so much of my day at the computer, I welcome the back-to-basics of sketching and playing in my journal. And that’s exactly what I was doing here: dreaming of [...]
A Big Debut
I am thrilled I can finally announce my big news: this beauty is mine. Arbor Lane, JoAnn’s 2010 QuiltBlock of the Month quilt design, is mine. My goal for this quilt was for it not to look like a Block of the Month. I wanted to develop a design that had never been done before. [...]
Petite Pineapples Table Runner
Creative Quilters, I’d like to introduce you to Petite Pineapples, the August edition of our year-long color-of-the-month enhanced e-pattern series:
August’s featured color is blue-green, the hottest color of 2010. Petite Pineapples combines tradition with trend, juxtaposing 19th century-style hand applique with trendy blue-greens of 2010. This sweet runner uses a clean color palette [...]
Confused about Color?
I put together a list of the many resources I’ve created over the Color Mastery journey and put them into one place for you. Wow. No excuses not to have outstanding color in your quilts any more!
Color Tips for Quilters by Maria Peagler
Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin [...]
Studio Tour
We”re doing a virtual studio tour over at the Color-of-the-Month forum, sharing photos of our creative quilting studios, and I thought I would share mine with you. My own studio is the bonus room over my garage, and I share it with my husband, who has his office here too. He often jokes that I [...]
Sunflower Summer Table Runner
Creative Quilters, I’d like to introduce you to Sunflower Summer, the May pattern update to our year-long color-of-the-month series.
May’s featured color is yellow, which so many quilters find to be challenging and avoid using. No more! Sunflower Summer shows you how to make yellow play well with others, giving yellow a chance to mingle and [...]
Secrets of Accurate Half-Square Triangles
The Spring Tulips table runner uses a lot of half-square triangles (HSTs) in the pieced tulips blocks. In fact, every table runner I’ve designed so far uses them. For much of my early years as a quilter, cutting and piecing accurate HSTs was a mystery to me. I followed all of the instructions, tried the [...]
Girls’ Day Applique!
My buddy and applique guru Kay Mackenzie (Easy Appliqué Blocks) has a brand new book out called Dolls & Dress to Appliqué and it’s just perfect for the mom, grandmom, or woman wanting to play with fabric paper dolls! Here’s my exclusive interview with Kay about her newest offering:
Q: What was your inspiration for [...]
Colorful Quilt Inspiration
One of the questions I’m most often asked is “Where do you get your inspiration?”
My short answer? ”Everywhere.”
That’s usually not the answer people are looking for. They want specifics, like publication name, date, and page number, so they can see it too. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.
I don’t rely on any one source for [...]
Red-Violet: March’s Color-of-the-Month
Welcome to the March Color-of-the-Month slideshow, offering tips on using red-violet in your quilt palette and featuring the most diverse range of fabrics, quilts, and accessories so far. This month I host Patty Young of Michael Miller fabrics, Marcus fabrics, art quilter Michele Hardy, LazyGirl Joan Hawley, and me, sharing fabric designs, traditional quilts, art [...]
One More Peek at Pink
February is almost over, and I’ll miss our look at everything pink this month. Being the only woman in a household of boys and men, it was delightful to play with pink fabrics, thread, pomegranates, baskets, and paints. I don’t want to say adieu, but March calls.
A couple more peeks at pink. I’ve shared this [...]
Watercolor Inspiration
Great art often inspires great art, and I’ve been inspired by my Color-of-the-Month table runner patterns to capture them in watercolor. I’m delighted to create in both media, as they complement each other. Quilting is a precise, geometric discipline, whereas watercolor is a loose and often uncontrolled process. Watercolor has a mind of its own, [...]
And the winner is . . . Sandra!
Congratulations to Sandra Davidson for winning the exceedingly tall FQ bundle from Robert Kaufman! Over 20(!) FQs will be arriving in your mailbox soon as a thank you for subscribing to my blog. Isn’t a big bundle of pink fabrics a lovely surprise to find in your mailbox during February’s cold days? We missed the [...]
Pink: February’s Color-of-the-Month
In the month of hearts, roses, and valentines, pink is a natural for February. Being the only woman in my home, I enjoy touches of pink here and there, so I had a blast putting together this month’s show. Nine terrific designers and fabric companies offer their tips for using pink in a [...]
Love Apple Table Runner
Creative Quilters, I’d like you to meet Love Apple, the February update to my new Color-of-the-Month pattern series:
Learn by Doing
This month’s color lesson is all about value, and you’ll learn how to work within a single color palette and still get enough lights, mediums, and darks to make your baskets and pomegranates stand out. Then [...]
All Dressed Up . . . .
The cupcakes were baked, decorated, and ready to be nibbled on in a ladylike manner. My studio was sparkling, ready for the Mom & Me Quilter’s Tea guests to take a tour. Their parents won the experience at a silent auction for my son’s school. Books autographed, check. Camera, check. All done a day before.
My [...]
January Newsletter
The January issue of my newsletter is out and it’s filled with promise for the new year. While some resolutions are drudgery (losing weight and going to bed earlier), I personally like to cloak mine with fun opportunities. Like exploring a new aspect of my creativity. My latest newsletter helps me and [...]
Top Ten Habits Revealed
Look what the post man delivered today to my mailbox! My Top Ten Habits article is on the cover of the Feb/Mar Quilter’s Newsletter magazine above the masthead. Woo-hoo. I’m thrilled, proud, and humbled all at the same time. My husband and I are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate. In the [...]
