Ballerina

Next up is Ballerina! I adore this pattern. These blocks are BIG. Each one is made from a fat quarter. Having Aliyah on the cover really helps show the scale of the blocks.

Here is the back. It has 4 sizes. All of them use fat quarters! Ballerina uses the 12" Finished Size Creative Grids 60° Triangle Ruler. It is the same ruler I used in Chopsticks & Varsity! It also includes full size templates as another option.

I have made three of this quilt already! It is really fast to put together.

Quilt #1 Details

Fabric is Night Shade by Tula Pink

Pattern - Ballerina

Designed by me

Quilted by Angela Walters

Started on 4/19/12

Finished on 4/28/12

Quilt measures - 54" x 73"

Quilt #2 Details

Fabric is Little Black Dress by BasicGrey

Pattern - Ballerina

Designed by me

Quilted by Angela Walters

Started on 4/10/12

Finished on 4/25/12

Quilt measures - 54" x 73"

Here is the Baby one hanging out with Ditto & Teacups! The Baby version will be hanging out in the BasicGrey booth at Quilt Market. 

 

Baby Quilt #3 Details

Fabric is Little Black Dress by BasicGrey

Pattern - Ballerina

Designed by me

Quilted by Angela Walters

Started on 4/10/12

Finished on 5/5/12

Quilt measures - 36" x 42"

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The cover photo shoot. 

I have over 150 photos of the Ballerina quilts. Some covers come together fast, while others involve multiple shoots at many locations over a few days. This was one of those quilts. Despite all the work it took I'm really happy with the cover. Here was the journey of getting there...

I started out with the Little Black Dress Ballerina by itself. I LOVE this quilt, but I just wasn't able to get a great cover shot.

We tried adding color by photographing with flowers.

We even went to a national reserve park.

I did want to share this photo since it really shows the quilting Angela did. I know I go on & on about the work Angela does, but I do it because I am constantly impressed and surprised each time I get a quilt back from her.

Shoot day #2 occurred at my brother's house.

I took a bunch of the Night Shade quilt by itself but still wasn't getting the result I wanted. {The quilting is different in this one, but also still amazing.}

I hung them together and started to like the results.

Hanging the quilts wasn't giving me the exact look I wanted, but we did try a while.

When I put them on the grass I knew that was the answer. I took 10 or so photos on the grass but one thing was missing. It was hard from these photos to see the scale of the blocks. These are BIG blocks &  I wanted to make sure the cover showed that.

 Getting this cover was a team effort! At first Aliyah wasn't sure what do.

Then Brad suggested that we lure her across the quilt with her favorite babydoll. Law would put her down & toss the babydoll to Brad. Brad would hold the doll next to me and convince Aliyah to come get it. Sometimes he even tossed it to her. 

This went on over & over again for a while. Her expressions were just priceless.

Near the end Aliyah sat down & gave us the "I'm done" look.

As soon as I saw this photo I knew it was the one. The only change I had to make was that her red skirt was stealing the show. A few clicks in Lightroom & Photoshop was all it took.

Aliyah just turned 2 this past weekend!! She has developed quite a personality & I enjoy spending time with her so much. Despite all the crazy Quilt Market preparations I'm taking a short break this weekend & heading up to LA for her birthday party.
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This pattern will start shipping on May 21st.

I will have copies of it available next week at Quilt Market during Sample Spree too! Quilt Market Info - If you are attending Spring Quilt Market please visit me in Booth #730. I will also be at Sample Spree & have a schoolhouse featuring my new book "Skip the Borders" on Thursday at 11:35-12:05.

© Blog post written by Julie Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/

I'm doing a lot of teaching over the next few months!

A quick look at my calendar shows that I'm gonna be busy over the next few months! As I add new events to my calendar I am also adding them to the EVENTS page on my site. That way you can always check up on where I will be. The events page is easily found in the top list of links right under my header image.

Here are my Upcoming Events for the next few months.

I hope you can join me at one of them!

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Trunk Show

When: Tuesday February 12

Where: Surfside Quilters Guild

San Clemente, CA

What: Trunk Show, Lecture and Book Signing

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Teaching

When: Saturday February 23rd, 10:30am-5:30pm

Where: Sew Modern

10921 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90064

What: Teaching Chopsticks

Chopsticks - JBQ 111

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Teaching

When: March 20-23, 2013

Where: Block Party with Quiltmaker

Portland, OR

What: Teaching 3 Classes. 

Visit Quiltmaker's site for more information.

Thursday - Hex N More Workshop

Friday - Three in a Box

Three in a Box - JBQ 121

Saturday - Boxed In

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Teaching/Lecture/Book Signing

When: April 12-13, 2013

Where: Quiltique

Henderson, NV

What: Teaching 3 Classes. Giving a lecture & hosting a book signing. 

Visit 

Quiltique's site for more information.

Friday - Chopsticks

Chopsticks - JBQ 111

Saturday - Candy Dish

Candy Dish - JBQ 125

Saturday - Ballerina 

Ballerina - JBQ 120

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Teaching

When: July 8-12, 2013

Where: Quilter's Affair at Stitchin Post

Sisters, OR

What: Teaching 5 Classes. 

Monday - Chopsticks
Tuesday - Hugs & Kisses
Wednesday - Raspberry Dessert
Thursday - Chopsticks
Friday - Hugs & Kisses

Chopsticks - JBQ 111

Hugs & Kisses - JBQ 106

Raspberry Dessert

For more information on any of the classes please contact the shop, guild, or event sponsor.

© Blog post written by Julie Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/

Learning from my Quilter

I often say I'm a Quilter, but more accurately I'm a Piece-er these days. {Yeah I know it isn't really a word.} I have quilted, and still do quilt on occasion, but most of the time these days Angela is doing my quilting. Raspberry Dessert was the first quilt we worked on together and I haven't used another quilter since. {Raspberry Dessert will be re-published in my upcoming book, Skip the Borders!} I didn't give Angela and direction on the quilt, and haven't given her much since then. She knows quilting, so I trust her to make the best decisions for the different designs with my quilt tops.

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I talk about Angela often, but for those who don't know who I'm talking about, I think it's time for a formal introduction. Angela Walters is a professional Long-Arm Quilter. For those reading who aren't quilters, this means that she takes the pieced quilt top I've made, batting & the backing I've pieced and does the actual quilting of the three layers.

These photos will help show what I'm talking about. They show the before & after on one of my Ditto Quilts.

My Quilt Top Before Angela's Quilting

After Angela's Quilting

Quilting is the second to last step in creating a quilt. Binding is the final step. The quilting holds the top, batting and backing together. At the core it has a practical purpose, but also can have an amazing aesthetic one.

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Angela & I in my booth at Spring 2012 Quilt Market

As a Quilt Designer I use a professional Long-Arm Quilter for various reasons.
1. Time! It takes lots of time to design, sew,write patterns, and run a business.
2. Ability. I'm sure I could become a great quilter if I put the time & effort in, but I've always been happier piecing than quilting. Because of that I've never dedicated a lot of time to the quilting stage and Angela is much more talented than I am at it!
3. Collaboration. Sometimes two heads are better than one. It has been rare that I have a quilting plan to send to Angela, and when I have she usually changes parts anyway. The result is always more than I could have imagined in the first place.
4. Friendship. I didn't know when I met Angela that we'd become great friends, but I'm incredibly blessed to have her in my life. She's more than just a quilter to me. She's encouraged me to work outside my comfort zone and some of my pattern designs wouldn't exist without her having pushed me. I'm getting better at designing and piecing all the time and I owe a good part of that to Angela.

Lately I've been learning a wealth of information from Angela's blog. She has been posting about many of the 50+ quilts she did for Quilt Market. In each post she talks about what she quilted & why. I'm really excited for her new book since it will finally give me the language I need to talk to Angela about quilting, even though I'll probably still just let her go for it! Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters: Choose & Use Quilting Designs on Modern Quilts.

Angela also recently started a Forum on her blog!! I joined & I see this as a place to learn, share, and get inspired. You really should check it out.

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Today on her blog, Angela talked about doing the quilting on Ballerina. She actually quilted 4 of them before market! Three for me and 1 for the Robert Kaufman Booth! The post focuses on quilting designs that help with movement.

Ballerina Quilt Pattern Cover

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Last week Angela posted about Ditto. Angela discusses quilting both of my ditto quilts, and specifically addresses quilting fast for deadlines.

Ditto Quilt Pattern Cover

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Last but not least is Varsity. Angela posted a short tutorial on how to do Frame Quilting and used my Varsity quilt as an example. The original Varsity quilt had busy fabrics so the quilting doesn't stand out as much at first. In the second smaller sample I made the white background gave Angela a great space to show off her work.

Varsity Quilt Pattern Cover

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So are you mostly a Piece-er, a Quilter, both?...or do you have another name!


© Blog post written by Julie Herman
© Photos by Angela Walters & Julie Herman
 For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/

Hashtags 101

A hashtag is a word or a phrase that begins with the # symbol. They are commonly used throughout Social Media to group & search common items.

For example you can use the hashtag #JaybirdQuilts on Instagram whenever you post a photo of a project you are working on from one of my patterns or rulers. 

Hashtags can also be used on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Flickr & more!

Each of my patterns will now have its own hashtag printed on the back of the pattern.

For example here is the back of my Seaside pattern. You can see that the hashtag is #SeasideQuilt

Capitalization does not matter with hashtags. #JaybirdQuilts is the same as #jaybirdquilts or #JAYBIRDQUILTS and so on.

Each of my new patterns has a bubble of info containing its hashtag now printed on the back of the pattern. As I go back to print with each of my older patterns I'll add the appropriate hashtag as well. At the bottom of this page you'll find a list of all the hashtags for my patterns.

With Instagram you have to put the hashtag in the caption or a comment on your own photo. 

For example: If I write "I love what you did with the #sidekickruler & those fabrics!" on your photo it will not show up in the search of #sidekickruler. The hashtag in my comment will become a link, but it will only show up in the searches if you add it to a comment.

Below you can see the caption I put on this photo. All of the hashtags are blue because they are now links to searches for that hashtag. @annkelle is also blue because it links to her profile.

Here are some screen shots from Instagram on my iPhone of my hashtags. I love seeing what you make & hashtags make it so easy to follow along!

Toes in the Sand has the hashtag #ToesInTheSandQAL because we started the hashtag as a Quilt Along. Feel free to join in at any time or post photos of your finished quilt!

Pattern Name	Hashtag
Opposites Attract	#OppositesAttractQuilt
Dance Floor	#DanceFloorQuilt
Dot Party	#DotPartyQuilt
Unwind	#UnwindQuilt
Firecracker	#FirecrackerQuilt
Hugs & Kisses	#HugsandKissesQuilt
Fast Forward	#FastForwardQuilt
Carnival	#CarnivalQuilt
Plaid Parade	#PlaidParadeQuilt
Off the Rail	#OffTheRailQuilt
Chopsticks	#ChopsticksQuilt
Taffy	#TaffyQuilt
Jawbreaker Pillow	#JawbreakerPillow
Biscuit	#BiscuitPincusion
Come What May	#ComeWhatMayQuilt
Radio Way	#RadioWayQuilt
Varsity	#VarsityQuilt
Yummy	#YummyQuilt
Ditto	#DittoQuilt
Ballerina	#BallerinaQuilt
Three in a Box	#ThreeInABoxQuilt
Teacups	#TeacupsQuilt
Northern Lights	#NorthernLightsQuilt
Wonton	#WontonQuilt
Candy Dish Pillows	#CandyDishPillow
Tasty Table Runner	#TastyQuilt
Traffic	#TrafficQuilt
Lotus	#LotusQuilt
Science Fair	#ScienceFairQuilt
Toes in the Sand	#ToesInTheSandQAL
Snack Time	#SnackTimeQuilt
Tiny Dancer	#TinyDancerQuilt
Giggles Baby Quilt	#GigglesQuilt
Seaside Table Runner	#SeasideQuilt
Rock Candy Table Topper	#RockCandyQuilt
Hex N More	#HexNMore
Sidekick	#SidekickRuler
Skip the Borders	#SkipTheBorders

© Blog post written by Julie Herman

For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/