Orphan Block Palooza! Episode #1

Here's a story of some sweet little orphans who became a family!  Orphaned quilt blocks, that is!

In preparation for our daughter and her family's visit this summer, we decided to finish a room in our basement so they could have their own bedroom.  We had to move the contents of that room to the garage, which also meant making space in the garage!  So, BONUS!  We found several quilty boxes that I have not seen in years, as we have moved nine times in this town (my husband is a Carpenter).  One of those items was an old suitcase full of miscellaneous quilt blocks!  

These "Orphan"  blocks were all made over the past 22+ years of quilting!  Some were made in classes I'd taken, or were samples from tutorials or classes I taught.  Some blocks were collected in a "Friendship Block Exchange" with my local guild, and others were leftover blocks from quilts already made.  Some blocks were just experiments and never went beyond one block.

I started sorting and organizing the blocks.  Here's a peek at my Design Wall.  

This was just the beginning.  I will make that ↑ wonky house quilt sometime in the future.  Those cute blocks were from a "Wonky House Block" exchange from years ago, as well!

Blocks kept showing up in the same colorway and theme - funny how that happens!  Then a tutorial for a free improv-style bird block by Lynne Tyler @patcheriemenagerie popped up on the interwebs, so of course, I had to try that too.  

Can you tell I have a thing for birds?  Chickens too, based on the number of orphan chicken blocks...

I began making pieced elements in the same colors not only to grow the quilt, but to tie in the elements for a more cohesive look; checkerboard strips, flying geese strips, and other triangle-shaped units that could fill in the empty spaces.

Then new blocks showed up!  Turns out, the print in the center of those Sawtooth Star blocks was the color inspiration for my original Circle of Geese and Flying Geese Pinwheel blocks (opposite corners). Both blocks were made years apart, but both have colors based on that one particular piece of fabric that I apparently liked.

There were a few stray items that did not make the cut.

Once I was happy with the layout, I worked in sections, filling in with a couple more pieced units and a few coping strips so the math would work and the quilt top could lay flat.  

Yep, it's a hodgepodge!  I am pretty sure I could have put it together 100 different ways, and could have added a border to the quilt, but it was the right size for a fun lap quilt.

Chicken wire quilting and a black-and-white striped binding finished it off perfectly. 

And now, it's done!  All the orphans have a home!  And just like any family with such different personalities, common elements tie it together. ♥♥  I love it!

Here is a sneak peek of my next batch of "Orphans"!  

This process has added a little excitement to my quilting.  With a summer filled with all of its busyness, it has been fun to take a few minutes here and there to play with whatever shows up on the design wall!

Can't wait to see what happens next!

Happy Quilting!

~ Deonn

 

Kansas City, here I come!

 

Looking forward to spending this week with Quilty Friends in Kansas City at the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo!  This will be my first time as an instructor, and I can not wait!

I'll be teaching three of my favorites: 
Starflowers Class ~ August 7th, 8:30 - 11:30 am

A super easy "Insta-Block" quilt pattern with bonus tips on adding mitered borders and calculating scalloped edges for a professional finish.

Y-Seam Demo ~  August 8th, 10:30 to 11:00 am

Ypsilon Quilt Pattern.  Have you dreamed of making complex-looking quilts but were stopped in your tracks by the dreaded Y-Seam construction?  Learn just how easy it is to stitch beautiful Y-seams that lay flat and take no time at all. 

Binding & Alternate Endings Lecture & Showcase ~ Saturday, 2:00 to 3:30 pm

Binding & Alternate Endings Lecture & Showcase ~ Learn practical, budget-friendly tops and clever solutions to common binding challenges to achieve polished, professional results.  A colorful trunk show of quilts and samples will highlight binding basics as well as the 16 "alternate endings" included in my book, Ultimate Binding & Edge-Finishing Guide

Will I see you there?  Hope so!

~ Deonn

Star Weave Tree Skirt!

Star Weave Tree Skirt pattern by Deonn Stott
featuring Holiday Spirit fabric by Lisa Audit for Riley Blake Designs

Hey, guess what?  I'm excited to announce that a couple of my patterns have been included in Riley Blake Design's catalogue for new fabric lines!  This one, the Star Weave Tree Skirt, is shown in the new

Home, Sweet Home

"Home, Sweet Home" by Deonn Stott 
adapted from Timber Lumberjack pattern and featuring "Lumberjack Aaron" 
fabric by Stacy West of Buttermilk Basin for Riley Blake Designs

Hi, I'm Deonn, and this is my husband Evan!  This "Home, Sweet Home" quilt commemorates our experience of building our latest home together - my Honey with his hammer and me with my tape measure, pencil, and saw. 

Reverberations Quilt

 OR, "When Things Don't Go As Planned"...

My local quilt guild issues an annual design challenge.  The 2024 Challenge:  Make a two-color quilt.  I chose a couple of my favorite colors, then started designing in my EQ8 software.

How the design started:

TGIFF - Sensory Meditation Mat (A Grown-up Fidget Quilt)

 Time for another edition of "Thank Goodness It's Finished" Friday!

I always love when it's my turn to host TGIFF!  It is great motivation for me to get stuff done.

I'm Teaching at International Quilt Festival in Houston!

 

The International Quilt Festival in Houston welcomes around 40,000 attendees annually from over 25 countries worldwide, including quilt artists, enthusiasts, and collectors. This remarkable quilt show is

TGIFF ~ Starflowers Edition

It's time for "Thank Goodness it's Finished"  Friday!  

Whew, I'm really feeling the "Thank Goodness" part of that statement -  It has taken me almost a year to get this quilt done, just about the only quilt I have made in the past year, as if time stood still!  

Oh, My Stars! (& Garters)! + A FREE Video Class (with pattern purchase)

I love this quilt.  It's pretty wild, I know, but there are tons of reasons why it's special to me!

How to add Mitered Corner Borders to a Quilt

MITERED  BORDERS

Here is one of my favorite ways to border a quilt, especially if I have multiple borders, or want the print or stripe to "turn the corner" and frame the quilt, like a picture frame!  

How to Add Borders to a Quilt

Adding borders to a quilt can help to grow the quilt size, frame the quilt top, and totally transform your quilt's overall look.  However, when adding borders, some issues may come into play. 

Guest Post @ Diary of a Quilter ~ How to Calculate a Scalloped Quilt Border

Valentine Handkerchief Quilt made by Shawn T.  

What an honor to share a guest post with Amy Smart over at Diary of a Quilter today!  

Countdown to Quilt Market -- Book-Signing!

Hey there!  It has been a busy Spring Summer Fall!  A great season of traveling -- sharing my passion for quilting through classes, demos and trunk shows, and promoting my book throughout Utah and surrounding states here in the Intermountain West.  

I've hardly had time to come up for air!  That includes getting Covid in the middle of it all, and having to pause for a few weeks,  Luckily it was between commitments.  Aaaand, I kinda lost my "sew-jo" for a while.  Haven't posted on Social Media for months!  

I keep forgetting to take photos, but here is a shot from a random visit to Nuttall's in Layton, Utah this summer.  I was teaching nearby and went shopping for a new foot for my Bernina on my lunch hour.  When I was ready to check out, the gal at the till asked if I was in their system.  I told her, and all the ladies that were working heard my name and came running to the counter!  They had been using my book for a series of classes for beginning quilters.  (Brilliant idea, by the way!)

The gal who had been teaching the binding classes brought out her class samples, and also grabbed her copy of the book to have me sign it.  Then she brought me the rest of the books on their shelf so I could sign those, too!  One of the gals told me she had chills, and I told her I did too!  Then all the customers in the shop wanted to see what the fuss was about, and gathered around to look through the book.  Within a few minutes, all the books were sold out!  They'll have to reorder.  Oh, my goodness, I felt a little like Minnie Mouse at Disneyland!  That was awesome.

Now it's time for International Quilt Market, a wholesale trade show for the quilting and sewing industry.  The day before the actual show begins, Shop owners and other attendees can go to Schoolhouse sessions - essentially info-mercials of what's new in the industry. 

Friday, it's my turn to present my book and talk to shop owners about how they can utilize it as a great little resource to draw in customers, cross-sell notions and patterns, and develop classes and workshops.  I'm bringing select samples and quilts to showcase the many different "alternate endings" featured in the book.  I'm a little nervous, I'll have to talk fast, but I think it will be so fun!

My publisher, Fox Chapel, will also host a book signing at booth #818 on Saturday at 2:00 pm.

And of course, I want every quilter in the world to have a book of their own.  It's off to a great start -- it came out in February this year, and even the distributors could hardly keep it on the shelf.  By May, the book was already on its 3rd printing.  And if my visit to Nuttall's is any indication, it will keep going! 

If you would like a copy and your shop doesn't carry the book yet, have your local quilt shop order it.  All major quilting distributors carry the book: Checker, E.E.Schenck, United Notions/Moda, Brewer, and of course, Fox Chapel Publishing.  Or, you can get a signed copy from me!

.PURCHASE HERE.

I present to one more guild this month, and my schedule is already filling up for next year.  Whew!  I figure I've got to ride this train as long as I can.  Meanwhile, I'm thinking about ideas for the next book... and I'll have to work backward and document some of the quilty shenanigans that went on this summer.  Couldn't do it without my good Quilt Honey!  He's a keeper.

Happy Sewing,

Deonn
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TGIFF: Iridescent Star!

Hi, it's time for " Thank Goodness It's Finished" Friday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Iridescent Star

Yay!  It's always great to cross off another UFO!  Big thanks to Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts for the invitation to host today's linkup party!

Quilted Shoes!!

I recently had the chance to take a class at a retreat where I was teaching, which doesn't happen very often!  How could I resist quilted shoes!?! 

Large-scale Improv Quilt Workshop with Ashelyn Downs

"Out of the Box" 
Large Scale Minimal Improv Quilt by Deonn

I recently re-joined the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild, after 12 years of not being able to attend guild meetings as I had another commitment that took precedence.  The guild, stronger than ever, has some amazing quilters, many of whom are making a difference in the quilting world.

Ashelyn Downs is one of those amazing designers.  She graciously offered to share her fabulous process of Large Scale Minimal Improv for a guild workshop.  

Pulling big hunks of texutred fabric, a new color palette for me (using bargain pre-cut fabric acquired at Quilt Market's sample spree frenzy), snippets of pieced elements (no more than 3 types) and all the desicions that go in to laying them out in a pleasing balance - well, I was a little bit out of my comfort zone.  A lotta bit.

Ashelyn helped me to get started.

More elements.

Rearranging.

Final answer.

Luscious Minky backing was the perfect color, but not wide enough, so I improv-pieced the backing too. Then I quilted it with a design called "Nylon" by Melissa Kelley (see the video below).  Looks like cable knit.  I bound it with a scrappy pieced binding using fabrics from the quilt - joined with straight seams to keep the right angles consistent through the design, and to balance the colors.  

Yep. Oh, this is a comfy quilt!  Luscious and snuggly, went together quickly, and I adore it.  I think I may need to step out of the box more often!

Check out more of these quilts in progrss from the workshop and a later guild meeting.

Find more of Ashelyn's work at www.urbandwellstudio and on IG @UrbanDwellStudio.

Happy Quilting!

Deonn
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