May 10 2012
Marty and Carol in our sarongs for the opening welcome dinner in Sanur Beach Bali. We are having an astonishing time. Bali looks just like the pictures I’ve seen in books and online.
Deb Roberts of World of Quilts Travel gave each person a welcoming gift of a sarong. We wore them to dinner and for a dance performance. Amazing. More photos to follow.
I’m having trouble working out the photo downloads and photo sizes but will post more asap.
Apr 19 2012
Doesn’t this make you want a piece of cantaloupe or a cream-sickle?
They are so summery and really make me want to pick a few almost solid Hoffmans to coordinate – maybe a lime and more intense orange like cayenne.
We have some Judy Niemeyer classes taught by Lucille Amos (certified teacher and teacher extraordinaire) coming up that would be so much fun to pick fabrics for!
I think I’m going to take both of them – crazy?
Why, yes, I’m quilt crazy; would you like to come along?
Friday, June 2 is Desert Sky and Saturday, June 3 is Dancing Batiks.
We will have a free cutting workshop to help people get ready on Friday, May 28, from 1 – 5 pm.
We can help with fabric any time. Or let us know and we will choose a kit for you.
Mar 25 2012
Aren’t these the bomb!
I love the fabrics from Westminster by the Kaffe Collective.
The Kaffe Collective includes Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably, and Phillip Jacobs.
Incredible designers all.
The Designer Rolls are 6″ wide strips cut across the width of the fabric from selvage to selvage.
There are 20 different strips in a roll.
Each roll has a color theme.
Designer Rolls are perfect to use in the Quickest Quick Step Quilt pattern.
It uses 6″ strips of cotton on the front and back.
It’s reversible! It also quilts as you sew.
The batting is cut in 6″ strips also.
Quilting is actually optional since the batting is secured in the seams.
Fabrics are sorted into two different looks with binding to complement both sides.
The Designer Rolls have enough strips for the lap size quilt, front and back! Just add borders and binding.
How cool is that? Cut and ready to sew.
What a perfect gift or a new look for the sofa or your favorite rocking chair.
The quilt pictured is made from batik (surprise!).
I have also used flannel very successfully.
Other Designer Rolls include two Designer Essentials Textures rolls by Free Spirit.
They provide some great blenders to use with the Kaffe Designer Rolls.
Designer Essentials Solids are also available in three color combinations.
The solids can be used alone or as blenders with the printed rolls.
As the Quick Step Quilt is made, extra quilting is done as you go.
This way you do not have to handle the whole quilt while doing the quilting in the rows.
The plainer the fabric, the more it begs for quilting.
This would be a good time to practice some machine quilting designs. Choose continuous border designs 4″ – 5″ wide.
Larger quilts can be made using the Designer Rolls.
The table below shows how many rolls are needed for different size quilts.
Additional fabric needed is noted.
Coordinating fabrics are available for borders and binding online at www.batiks.com.
You can tip the color by the choice of borders.
To use the design rolls, the first step will be to sort the fabrics for the front and for the back of the quilt.
In the larger sizes, different rolls can be used.
Some of my favorites for borders are shown below. More fabrics are arriving all the time. Yummy!
The Quickest Quick Step pattern is from Cotton Dreams patterns which is Carol Britt’s pattern company.
Carol is also the owner of Batiks Etcetera & Sew What Fabrics. I also write this blog.
I sell my patterns retail through Batiks Etcetera & Sew What Fabrics and many other quilt shops.
Quilt shops can order from Cotton Dreams by contacting Batiks Etcetera.
Feb 21 2012
Mi Pad byannie.com is simple and secure.
Another pattern I like for ipads and readers is by Terry Atkinson, the Reader Wrap.
For those of us who still like paper and pen, The Quilted Legal Pad Cover by Patsy Goodin from Cotton Dreams Patterns is a cinch. I love mine. I use both sizes all the time. Patsy is our sewing machine department manager. Cotton Dreams Patterns is Carol’s pattern company.
Feb 14 2012
Red is my favorite color. I like red foods (tomato, strawberries, cherries, etc), red heads (my husband, Marty), red sunsets, red flowers, red, red, red.
I don’t have a red wall in my house but do collect Ruby Red glasses from the depression. Red is the accent of choice in my life.
Red batik is hard to find and I really don’t let myself buy everyone I see – but it’s close!
Reds can be true red, red orange, or red violet. Pink is light red!
Red can be scary to a quilter or sewist.
I remember my white and red kettlecloth dress I made in 8th grade. I refused to prewash because I wanted it to wear tomorrow! Well, of course, when I washed it I was left with a pink and red dress.
Red dyes are more permanent these days but it never hurts to prewash your fabrics.
Most batik do not bleed. They have been through so much being dyed, stamped with wax, painted, dyed, and boiled to remove the wax, that very little bleeding is left to do. To be safe, prewash. I use Quilt Soap.
If the batik has no design on it, it hasn’t had the dye set as firmly as one that has gone through the wax removal process. I definitely wash this style of handpaint.
I will throw in a Color Collector that you can get from the grocery store just to be safe.
If I really don’t trust the fabric, I test a 2″ square in water and the microwave. If I see excess dye in abundance, I will set the dye with Retayne carefully following the instructions. With the Color Collectors, I rarely have an issue.
Our own red jelly roll goes from pink, to red, to dark red. All the values and shades. There are 40 different 2.5″ strips in our die cut batik jelly rolls.
We also offer a pink jelly roll. All the luscious shades of pink are there!
Know that there will always be red choices at Batiks Etcetera & Sew What Fabrics!
Happy Valentine’s Day, Carol Britt
