Gudrun´s World

Quiltmaker's Sew along

If you are here, reading this, you must be because Quiltmaker sent you here:) As you may have noticed, I don't blog any more.

But I was very honored that one of my blocks was chosen for the Quiltmaker Block of the month program. 

My block is Fast Track, originally it looked like this in the magazine:

Now they are making them in really cute 6" versions and just look at the 3 quilts they have made!

Can you spot my block?

Thanks for stopping by, if you really want to keep up with me these days, this blog is really not it, lol!

It would either be on Instagram or Facebook on my business page or my group on Facebook called Gudrun's Quilt Crew. I would love for you to join me there.

Have fun with your mini 100 blocks!

Nina video

Thank you all for the great comments on my block in the new 100 blocks issue.

The two winners have been contacted and prizes sent out already. They are:

Pat Kile

and 

Pamela Reim

I am super excited to share with you a new video that I put up on the GE Designs YouTube Channel. This is a video of me making the Nina quilt from start to finish! See how much time is saved with the Stripology Ruler!

 

To celebrate the release of the video and the fact that it is CYBER MONDAY tomorrow, I am having a sale on my Etsy Kit shop which extends through December 4th....which is the best day of the year....and my birthday:)

Use the coupon code THANKS2014 to receive 20% off your total order and that applies to everything in the shop! Even the Stripology ruler.

On top of that, I will reimburse your shipping charge if your total order is over $100 total. 

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday and Happy Cyber Monday shopping!

Quiltmaker's 100 blocks Vol. 10!

It's hard to believe that this week celebrates the release of the 10th issue of Quiltmaker's 100 blocks magazine. That means that we have ONE THOUSAND quilt blocks so far through the magazine! I have been so fortunate to be a part of most of the issues, I think I am only missing in 2 of them. 

 

My block in this issue is called Fast Track and I was so excited to see it featured on the cover of the magazine!

 

I used my Victory fabric line by Red Rooster fabrics for my block. The pinwheel in the center gives the block some movement and makes the colored squares kind of dance around it.

The colored squares can each be cut out of a charm square so it is a great block to use up some orphan charms. 

Make sure to follow the 100 Blocks Blog Tour every day this week Nov. 17.-21. at the Quiltmaker Blog, Quilty Pleasures for lots of inspiration, ideas and of course some great giveaways.

I will be drawing 2 winners who will receive their own copy of the new Magazine and a set of the newest GE Designs patterns. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The winners will also each get their own copy of my new book Stripology.

All you have to do is tell me what you are most excited about eating or cooking for Thanksgiving next week:)

Winners will be posted here on Saturday Nov. 22nd.

I - Strip in school colors!

One of my new patterns that was released at quilt market in Houston got a lot of attention from shop owners in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. This is I-Strip.

It is made with 2-1/2" strips and offers 5 different sizes. 

Why all the attention? They were all taking it home and making one in their local school colors! Isn't that a great idea? So of course I had to make mock up quilts in all the school colors I could imagine. 

I think the quilt is a perfect one for a college student. The design works both for a boy or a girl and if the intended recipient is not going to a school in one of the I states, the I should just stand for Independence as they venture onto the next phase in their lives. 

 

Parade of Homes

I was so excited when the Quiltmaker Staff contacted me to invite me to make a house block from Lori Holt´s block in one of the 100 blocks issues.

I was one of 12 designers that got the invite and we could do whatever we wanted to the block to create our dreamhouse.

The 12 blocks are featured in the latest Quiltmaker issue and on top of that, you can win our original blocks by visiting the Quiltmaker blog this month!

I loved the cottage look of the house right away and who doesn't want to make a house that is all yours, your favorite colors and made out of fabric!

I first started digging for fabrics that I wanted to use.

I have always dreamed of having a red house so I knew right away it´s gonna have to be red! One of the reds in my new fabric line Victory was the perfect shade. Then I added a dark grey from my Nordic Visions fabric line for the roof, another white from victory and then a light blue and green from my scraps. 

Here is the original block, designed and made by Lori Holt. Such a cute house and so much like Lori:)

So, what would I want in a house that was just for me? Well, since the house is 2 stories, the whole top floor would have to be my sewing studio for sure! Vaulted ceilings and lots of natural light so I pieced Skylights into my house block!

I love big trim on windows too so I added some fusible trim to all the windows and made them french on the downstairs big windows. 

I love unique front doors on houses and I feel like it should be a representation of you as people enter. So I fussy cut one of my Victory prints for the door and I love it. 

I could go on and on about this little cottage of mine.....should we talk about the gourmet kitchen, outdoor living area and the fact that it is just steps from the beach in a year round 80 degree climate! Now I just gotta find it so I can secure it for my retirement right!

Go check out the magazine to see all the other house blocks and make sure to go on the Quiltmaker blog and comment to be able to win my house!

What you will also find in the magazine is answers from all of us designers to the question: Which famous person would you like to have as a neighbor and why?

I had to think about this for a while before I answered because there are so many famous people I'd love to meet and mingle with. But in the end, this was my answer:

I would like Oprah to be my neighbor. Not only is she a fantastic person herself, but she knows everybody you could ever admire so there would be great chances to have celebrity sightings in the neighborhood! I bet she'd have great parties ... too!

Well, notice the 3 dots I inserted in my answer there. Thing is, Quiltmaker edited my answer a little bit and left out two very important words. Can you guess what they are? If you know me, you would have no problem with this :)

The two words are "To Crash"

Wouldn't you at least attempt to crash a party full of famous people if it was happening next door?

Anyways....I have a copy of the magazine to give away here on this blog along with a few fat quarters from my new fabric line, Victory. 

Just tell me what famous neighbor you would like to have and why in the comments to enter the giveaway!

Strip Lash Quilt Along

I have been wanting to do a Quilt Along for a while now and I think this summer will be the perfect time. I chose my pattern Strip Lash, mainely because I have a jelly roll ready to go that is just begging to be made into a Strip Lash quilt.

Come sew with me this summer and be eligible to win some great prizes!

Here are some more details....

I will be kicking things off on June 16th by posting pictures of my fabric choices and announcing the great prizes. 

Until then, here is what you can do to prepare. 

 

 

Get the pattern!

Check first at your local quilt shop...

or order it online from other great quilt shops, my store is here.

If you prefer a PDF version or are in a remote location you can get that here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get a hold of one of the following great rulers: 60 degree triangle ruler or Hexagon trim tool from Creative grids or Hex N More ruler from Jaybird Quilts.

 

Then you can choose what size quilt you want to make out of the 6 sizes offered (crib, lap, twin, full, queen, king) and start gathering some 2-1/2" (width of fabric) strips for your project.

40" x 52" Crib size takes 28 strips

48" x 58" Lap size takes 40 strips or 1 Jelly Roll!

64" x 83" Twin size takes 78 strips

76" x 89" Full size takes 100 strips

84" x 95" Queen size takes 118 strips

104" x 101" King size takes 156 strips

Once you have your fabric selected, post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and make sure to use the hashtag #StripLashQAL so that everyone can easily find all the pictures from the quilt along.

Even better if you tag us in the post, @gequiltdesigns on Facebook or @gedesignsgudrun on Instagram.

Quilt shops!

I would love for quilt shops to participate in the quilt along by hosting a Strip Lash sew in day or class at your store. If you are interested, email me (gudrun at gequiltdesigns.com)  your scheduled time and day and I will send you some free door prizes to give out at your event. Post photos from the event on social media and your participants will be eligible to win the big prizes too!

Make sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram.

Winners and New Pattern Reveal

We have some winners from the Quiltmaker 100 blocks vol 9 blog Tour...

 

Wendy and Annmarie

I have sent you both an e-mail so check for it so we can send you your prizes!

Thank you for all of your comments, it was so fun to see your favorite colors you love working with these days. A lot of the same ones that I am in love with right now! 

Here are the 4 new patterns that are at the printer right now and will be showing at Quilt Market next week. Time has just flewn by lately so I was so relieved to get these submitted and on their way. I hope you like them.

Strip Burst is a new strip pattern that is made with 2-1/2" strips plus some background fabric and border fabric (or use one for both) I have been teaching this quilt all over the world this past month....Iceland, Canada and USA count as all over the world right:) If you follow GE Designs on Facebook, you might have spotted some of these blocks from my classes. You will need a 60 degree ruler for this quilt but it goes together really simply. 

Strip Cocoon is  done with 2-1/2" strips only so you can grab a couple of Jelly Rolls or dig into your strip bins and go! The block is fun to put together, using a partial seam method. The quilt comes in 4 sizes. The fabric used on the cover is Elementary by Sweetwater for Moda.

Curvacious is a Quilt as you go Table Runner that was in our first Fast & Furious book. That book is out of print now but we have gotten overwhelming requests for the pattern as it is being used in classes in so many quilt shops. That is why this was the first one I thought of to reissue as a single pattern. The runner on the left is made with my new fabric line coming out real soon, called Victory. More details on that later...

The Strip to the Beach bag was also in that Fast & Furious book and has been requested many times so here it is in a single pattern. I decided to include a simpler and smaller version of the bag in the same pattern as a little bonus. Both are made with the new fabric. 

The patterns will be available at Quilt Market in Pittsburgh next week and will ship to stores right after. 

I hope you like them:)

Quiltmaker´s 100 blocks vol. 9 - Blog Tour

Hello 100 blocks blog hoppers. Welcome to my post on your journey throught the 9th volume of this amazing magazine. This issue is filled with wonderful new blocks from the top designers in the industry and I am so honored to be a part of it once again.

My block in this issue is called Spin Cycle

For the block I used some of my Nordic Visions fabrics along with some colorful Tokyo fabrics from Red Rooster. I had a charm pack with all those gorgeous colors and they work great!

You can find the block on page 58 in the magazine so go and get yourself a copy fast. You have lots of possibilities to win your own copy too so keep reading.

I did some playing with the block and put it into just a basic layout using either scrappy triangles or more controlled.

Of course I love the scrappy version but I wanted to see what a simple sashing with cornerstones would do to it.

I really like the Shoo Fly blocks that appear when the sashing is added.

I love it even more when the background and little square colors are reversed.

With a little more playing, I put the block units together a little bit different....

...and came up with more fun layouts.

Make sure to follow the 100 Blocks Blog Tour every day this week April 28.- May 3. at the Quiltmaker Blog, Quilty Pleasures for lots of inspiration, ideas and of course some great giveaways.

I will be drawing a winner who will receive their own copy of the new Magazine and a set of the newest GE Designs patterns that will be coming out for spring Quilt Market in May.....reveal coming soon! 

I have a new fabric line coming out at market too so I will have lots to show you in the next few days. To get in on the giveaway, tell me what your favorite fabric color (or colors) to work with is right now,  in the comments of this post.

Winners will be posted here on Monday May 5.

 

Round Robin Rebels - Terry's Quilt

Today it is the last quilt of the Round Robin tour, Terry Atkinsons quilt that is the topic. She named it The magazine is on newsstands now, even though I haven't been able to spot it yet. I guess it's pretty popular because the two stores I've been to, it has been sold out!

Terry was the first one to send me a box, so when it arrived, you can imagine the excitement. I dropped everything I was doing and did a mad sprint to my sewing room to open up the box. 

After the first initial excitement had settled and I had put the block up on my design wall, my head was spinning already.

 

"What the heck have I gotten myself into" was what was running through my mind. I had a lot of self doubt, thoughts of nothing will be good enough for this quilt, how can I do something that is even worthy... and so on. But I knew I had to push through all of that.

 

So I dug into Terry's box of fabrics and found an assortment of greys, reds and aquas. When going through the fabrics, I found this print that had words on it. Some of the words were: Fear Nothing, Take A Risk, Take Courage, Quiet the Critics!!

OMG, if this is not a sign to shut my brain up, I don’t know what is.

Then the phrase COME AND PLAY WITH ME  caught my eye and I was ready to just go for it.

I felt the roundness of the center blocks looked like mouths or mustaches, and the next step really called for some square, straight line action. I wanted to add some aqua and grey to the quilt so I came up with this on my computer. I wanted the blue squares to connect and then the white background of the center to float into my border so they would meld together. 

In addition, I wanted to have grey on the outside of all the blue squares to create a kind of a border. The order of the center also called for a little bit of a disorder in the next step, so I decided to make it really scrappy. A sort of a "Good girl - Naughty girl" action:)

It took some math do make it all work, but it sure was fun.

When I sent it to Kari for the next step, it looked like this:

Make sure to check out the other designers blogs to read about their contribution to this quilt:

Kari's blog here.

Terri's blog here.

Terry's blog here.

The final look of the quilt included some blue squares in the center which were added by Terri Degenkolb in the last round and I totally feel like they tie the whole thing together. Especially step 1 and 2. So don't ever be afraid try something last minute because it could make or break the design:)

We would love it if you would stop by our Round Robin Rebel Facebook page too.  Here you can see what else we have been up to and also keep us in the loop with your round robin quilts.

 If you haven’t heard, we are putting together a presentation for guilds and shows.  Please feel free to contact us for booking your event. 

Pictures used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2013 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

Round Robin Rebels - Terri's Quilt

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving weekend, at least those of you here in the States. I came down with a nasty cold so it was actually perfect to be able to lay low and chill with the family.

Today we are all talking about Terri's quilt in the continuation of the Round Robin Rebels saga:) We hear that the magazine has been reaching it's subscribers, so maybe you have your copy already. If not, it should be on a newsstand near you very shortly.

Terri's quilt is called Playing With Crayons and I was the third designer to work on her quilt. When the quilt arrived at my doorstep, it looked like this:

I knew right away I wanted to do something using all the colors in the box, especially with the words in her center block. The center made me wanna do something with sharp edges and a little uneven and since terry's second addition was very much a border, I felt like it needed blocks. I wanted the blocks to have a little bit of a circular motif to them, matching the center. To make the blocks feel more grounded and not too colorful I decided to use grey, same as the center.

I added one yellow scrap to what I found in Terri's box and started playing with different block designs.

After finally deciding on the perfect block, I felt like they needed a little more "Scrappy-ness" so I decided to use two different greys for the blocks.

Once the blocks were done and I put them up on the design wall, the design needed something more. I decided to add some punch with black between the blocks and just made these simple alternating blocks.

To repeat the roundness in Terri's center, I added large half-square triangles in the corners to give that same illusion. 

I really loved the additon of black to this quilt because it really makes all the different colors stand out more and really sparkle. Think about that next time you are working on a colorful quilt and feel like the colors aren't standing out.

Make sure to check out the other designers blogs to read about their contribution to this quilt:

Kari's blog here.

Terri's blog here.

Terry's blog here.

After Terri got to see her quilt, we all put our heads together and tried to figure out what else the quilt needed. We all decided it needed a little more black so we started playing with all the colors.

We decided to make this colorful border with rounded corners which took a little figuring out...

We finished that border in Des Moines and this is how it was looking like when Terri took the quilt home.

After she got home, she was having second thoughts about that border and sent us some text messages with other options. This scrappy border was a little much for the quilt and kind of took all of the attention. I totally loved the change and what she ended up adding.

Sometimes less is more right!

We have one more quilt to talk about and that post will be up next Monday!

Lastly, I want to share with you a little secret sneak that Kari revealed on her blog today:

Just to put a bug in your ear…we are planning to put together a presentation for guilds and shows.  We would love to share our quilts and stories with you in person.

Yes, we are planning a fun and fresh quilt guild presentation about this experience so we could be coming to your area in the future!

Pictures used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2013 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.