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 [...]
Posts under ‘Learning from the Masters’
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. [...]
Boost Your Own Economy
The latest economic news is a bit glum, especially when you consider we’re about to begin the major quilting season. Fall holds great promise with terrific quilt shows and conferences, cooler weather, new projects, and guilds getting back underway after a summer hiatus. What’s a quilter on a budget to do? Don’t despair – it’s [...]
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
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
Behind the Scenes
After I shot this video at Dragonfly Quilt Shop in Watkinsville, GA, I gave a lecture to the Cotton Patch Quilt Guild in Athens, and drove home for a late-night arrival. The same day, my elder son attended a workshop at the local Apple store on how to use iMovie.
I’ve been the computer expert in [...]
Julie & Julia: Bon Appetit!
This weekend after my younger son’s eye exam (not ready for glasses yet, but soon) we had dinner at Provino’s, a delicious family Italian restaurant. I had the Spinach Tortellini, David enjoyed the Shrimp and Scallop Fettucine, and the boys both got something equally rich and delightful. It was the perfect meal to precede our [...]
Quilt Camp at Willow Ridge Press Studios
This week I hosted six children in my quilt studio to make Quillows. They were practically giddy they were so excited! We planted the seeds of lifelong sewers and quilters, and they were beaming with pride and tightly hugging their Quillows when they left.
On Monday we started by making a mini-Quillow. This turned out to [...]
Art Week: Gee’s Bend Quilts
Today’s the final day in the Quilts & Creativity Art Week, and I’m concluding with a bang: quilts from the Gee’s Bend quilters. I’ve featured works of art from the Big Canoe Fine Art show in honor of my own art quilts that are on display at the Ann Litrel gallery in Woodstock. Previously I [...]
Art Week: Wood
It’s wood day in the Quilts & Creativity Art Week. I’m featuring works of art from the Big Canoe Fine Art show in honor of my own art quilts that are on display at the Ann Litrel gallery in Woodstock. Previously I featured sculpture and glass.
The wood pieces in the Big Canoe Fine Art show [...]
Art Week: Glass
It’s glass day in the Quilts & Creativity Art Week. I’m featuring works of art from the Big Canoe Fine Art show in honor of my own art quilts that are on display at the Ann Litrel gallery in Woodstock. Yesterday was sculpture and you can see it here.
The glass-blown artwork in the Big Canoe [...]
Art Week: Sculpture Day
It’s art week here at Quilts & Creativity, in honor of my upcoming talk at the Ann Litrel gallery in Woodstock. I dropped off the quilts today and got a behind-the-scenes tour from Ann, and her gallery is gorgeous. Her paintings are luscious and color-rich.
I’ll be talking about my color inspiration, how I [...]
A Real Book’s Lasting Value
I want my work to last. Longevity is one of the three main goals I have for my books. The other two? A post for another day.
I realized long ago that it took just as long to write a book that was trendy and out of print after two years as it did to write [...]
Color Mastery Gallery Talk
Ann Litrell, a local painter in Woodstock, Georgia, invited me to speak at her gallery event to raise funds for charity. Here are the details from Ann:
Gallery Show and Fundraiser – The Colors of HOPE: Author and quilter Maria Peagler, with local quilter Mary Litrel, will show selected quilts from their collections at the gallery [...]
Top Ten Ways I Budget for Quilting in Tough Times
Even with the tough economy, I’m still spending money on two things: quilting and books. I can give up eating out, pedicures, car detailing, my housekeeper, and Starbucks without feeling deprived. But you take away my quilting and reading, and you’re messin’ with my priorities. My inner Madea might just come out.
I’ve long had a [...]
Some Good Financial News
As I climbed onto the elliptical machine this morning, my neighbor Sue was on the adjacent machine watching a financial news network. I couldn’t help but quip, “So what’s the good financial news?” We both had a good laugh, which is about all you can do when all you hear around you is “meltdown.”
I actually [...]
Quilt Project Runway: Katie Pasquini Masopust
Katie Pasquini Masopust has a new book on creative quilt design called Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter: Easy-to-Follow Lessons for Dynamic Art Quilts. All about taking inspiration from photos and artwork and using them as a source for your quilts. Katie professes not be good at drawing realistically, so she takes her photographs and [...]
Behind the Scenes at Fall Quilt Market 2008
Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Colorful Quilter.
I’m in Houston, TX this week and I’ll be giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the giant trade show to the quilting trade: Fall Quilt Market. From this show come the new fabrics, books, patterns, and designers you’ll be seeing in your quilt shop in 2009. And you’ll hear about them [...]
From Sketchbook to Art Quilt
(You’re gonna want to scroll down for this one.) So what does all this stuff about sketching have to do with quilting? It prepares you for the single moment that inspiration strikes. I want to make a quilt of a house, a bird, a cup of coffee. I want to make [...]
Art a Key to Happy Life for the Aging
Thanks to Alyson over at ArtBizBlog for the heads up on this great NPR story on Aging Artists. I was intrigued enough to read the more detailed summary of the study, and was delighted at the attitude of these artists, who struggled financially but were elated with life and their art.
“Art is what makes [...]
Cool Tools for Your Blog
I’ve got an article in the upcoming issue of Professional Quilter magazine called Developing Your Blog as a Marketing Tool. I love blogging. I get to write daily posts that let readers know a little about me and my work and connect with people not only in my own community, but across the [...]
I’m On Mary Lou’s Blogroll!
I feel like I’ve arrived. Mary Lou Weidman has added me to her blogroll. Wow. I’m so honored. Mary Lou is one of my all-time favorite quilters, not only for her courageous use of bold colors, but also for her gracious and optimistic attitude.
I have all of Mary Lou’s books, and [...]
