A Love Affair

Remember this quilt?  From this previous post?

It's called Zig Zag Beach and it was selected as a winner in Gyleen Fitzgerald's Challenge to our local quilt guild.  I'm now thrilled to share her new book with you, and if you check out page 89, you'll see my quilt!

It's the first time any of my quilts have been published, so while it's not earth-shattering to the general public, it's a big deal for me and I just had to share it with you.

The other two quilts were made by two fellow members of our quilt guild, Betty Maxwell and Deb Dom, and I'm sure they are as excited as I am to see their quilts published as well.  Congratulations!

Gyleen's new book is called "Polygon Affair, So Easy You'll Fall in Love" Contemporary Quilt Designs for the Modern World.  If you haven't read it yet, you should.

This isn't your ordinary quilt book of just quilt patterns.  It is also filled with love stories.  The entire book is built on and around LOVE.  Stories and pictures of LOVE, quilts about LOVE...  Better than a romance novel, especially if you're a quilter.  And it's hard cover, to boot!  A great addition to any quilt lovers library.

All of the quilts in this book were made using Gyleen's Polygon tools and I'm amazed at all the different things you can make with these rulers.  And without the dreaded "Y" seam!  Learning Gyleen's Butterfly Seam technique is worth the price of the book in itself!

If you live in my local area, you can find the book at Needles Quilt Shop here in Wellsboro, or you can find it on Gyleen's website, Colourful Stitches.

Cheers!

Challenge Quilt Results Are In!!!

Back in June, you may remember me mentioning that I was making a Challenge Quilt.

Gyleen X. Fitzgerald of Colourful Stitches, was a guest speaker at our local Quilt Guild, and she threw out a challenge to the guild members.  Make a quilt using a fabric specified by her and her new Polygon2 ruler.

The original deadline was extended from July 1st to August 1st, so I've been patiently waiting for the results for weeks.  Yesterday I got an email from Gyleen - and I WON!!!  The judging was based on the

"most creative use of the ruler and challenge fabric to design a quilt" .

I spoke with Gyleen on the phone yesterday and she gave me her permission to post pictures of the quilt, so here it is...

I've named it "Zig Zag Beach" and it will be published in Gyleen's next "Polygon Affair" book, due out in February 2014.  That's a first for me - it's so exciting to realize that one of my quilts will actually be published!  I'm thrilled speechless - almost...  :)

It is made entirely of Pyramids, fussy cut so the challenge fabric follows the zig zags.  The solids are all complimentary colors of Kona Solids.  I quilted it on my Juki TL98 with 60 degree cross-hatching to follow the angle of the pyramid blocks, using a light gray Aurifil 50 cotton thread.  Love that Aurifil!!!

Besides having my quilt published in her book, Gyleen also gave me a gift certificate to my LQS, Needles Quilt Shop, so I went on a bit of a shopping spree.  Besides stocking up on some favorite fabric staples, I also picked up some handy dandy new tools...

I'm now the proud owner of:

• Gyleen's Polygon2 ruler (this is the one I used in the challenge)
• Gyleen's smaller Polygon ruler
• Gyleen's Pineapple Ruler
• Creative Grids Quick-Trim Ruler
• Creative Grids 4.5" Ruler (perfect for my Paint Box Baby Quilts!)

The Polygon Rulers are great!  You can cut Pyramids (like I used in my quilt), Hexagons, Diamonds, and Cones.  The "dog ears" are already trimmed so they fit together perfectly.

I can't wait to try her Pineapple Ruler next!

Thanks Gyleen, for hosting this challenge, giving me this opportunity, and selecting my quilt as the winner.  I'm humbled and thankful.

Cheers!