Blue Nickel Studios

admin July 1st, 2010

So I have been doing the Doll Quilt Swap for about 5 rounds now….this could be my last as the rules have strictly said if you are late on this one…You’re out on the next one….

and yes, I think they made that rule because of me…..I don’t think I was on time sending on any of them…I did great quilts, and my swap buddies TOLD me they loved them…but I was a bad swapper in regards to timeliness….I have til the first of September to get this baby done….I think I can do it…

The above picture are some fabric who have come to interview for the position in the quilt….the books are for inspiration….I get inspired by these two books a LOT….

Here is my sketch and some more fabrics….       The butterfly fabric is from Australia….and I do love it…my swap buddy loves purple and autumn and modern quilts….so I think somewhere in this we will find a good one, yes??
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I also just sent out a bunch of these  for the Siggy Swap set up by the fabulous Julie Herman!! 

Here are mine in the process.

Here they are waiting for their white middles….     I had to go specially buy it…I don’t just have plain white hanging around here..

and here with their mid-drifts…  

I did this swap just cause I thought it would be fun to have all these signatures from all these folks across the globe, in really modern fabrics, and just to have a simple quilt that is just for me to throw over when it gets chilly…..kinda like its been here in the NW this summer….seriously….my neighbor has a fire going tonight…on the first of July!!

so that’s it for today….
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then the upcoming news….

I have some quilts coming out in magazines again…about 4 this late summer and fall I think…as they get published I will let you know… I also have some more free patterns to post here, I just have to get my butt in gear and do it..I’ll let you know….

and this fall?? I hope to be getting some patterns available for sale at your local quilt shop or on some online shops….ok, it may be next spring…we’ll just see how that goes, okay?  One day at a time, right??

And if you ever want to have me come share my quilts and stories at your local guild, just let me know…I love to talk about this stuff ….just ask my wife and kids!!  I am a pretty cheap deal for the moment….until I hit it big-time...

And yes….. I did just put that last link in there….   I love the 80’s…...you’re welcome….  

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admin April 3rd, 2010

Hey there….how are you??

It has been busy around here…as more people get to know about Blue Nickel Studios and me, I have been getting the most interesting emails….that and my computer crashed last weekend, which totally flipped me out, but all of my design stuff and addresses etc were safe…but it really did freak me out…that I and I did some more cleaning in the studio, which it sorely needed..it still needs more, but that’s another story.  

So here is a sneak peek at one of the projects I have just finished.   It is for the magazine, Quilter’s Newsletter , so I can’t show any more until the issue comes out.  It was a Paula Prass project that I have designed out of Paula’s Woodland Delight collection, and very fun.  The palette was much more minimalistic than my usual fare, so in that respect I found it a challenge, but when you see it later this year, I hope you will agree that I met that challenge nicely.   Here are just a  few glimpses of it in process. 

That’s it…I thought I had more pictures….but just in case you don’t hear much from me in the next few weeks….here’s the list of they why’s:  

I have three quilts to make for Quilt Market in May…one for Free Spirit (Boys will be Boys)   one for Michael Miller (Brady Bunch) and one for Robert Kaufman (as of yet, I think undisclosed).....plus a couple other projects both little and big….oh yeah and that ole’ day job…..and ….uh….taxes….nope, I haven’t done them yet…and I usually am way done by now!!   So even though this is not my photo, I think it is pretty clear what my next 6 weeks are going to be like:

Hair-raising to say the least…  and to top all this….Linda wants to make a real man out of me by getting me into one of these....so 2010 is proving to be an interesting and fun year!!

And just because I like this….a picture of a dried bit of fennel that made it through the winter….

    Okay, now I gotta get going…lots of stuff to do this weekend design wise as well as Easter family activities….

A blessed and wonderful Easter to all!!

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admin July 19th, 2009

.......Mr. Fassett and his upcoming book Quilt Romance.  I got to see this book in it’s raw form….(mostly the pictures and not all the words) when I was at Quilt Market 2 months ago (was it really only 2 months ago? seems like a long time ago already…

Anyway back to Kaffe Fassett’s newest book.  Here is the cover of the American version

  and it is alright….But…..

 I actually liked the cover I saw on Kaffe’s copy at  Market, but he of course had the British cover. This is that cover:

Yummy, huh??!!         I am trying to see if I can get this UK version instead. It will probably cost me more for shipping and the book even, and the insides will be the same but I REALLY liked the UK cover much better.  You see, this cover is more indicative of what the insides are like…lush and exquisite settings with simple but incredible quilts in luscious fabrics…..yeah, I just love Kaffe’s books…

And speaking of books….one of my quilts made the cover of another book, this time in front and center.  The book is Oh My Stars and should be out sometime this late summer I am thinking. Marci asked me to interpret her idea in quilt form for her book and the center quilt in this photo is what I came up with.   It was quite involved and took a lot of time, but Marci and crew really liked it, and I was happy to have helped them out, and equally happy to have it on the cover!

Okay and remember my first quilt for Free Spirit? Well I just saw that it was in France recently. 

I knew it had been to Germany (was in a German magazine ad too, I was told, but I haven’t yet seen that ad; still hoping to though), but I saw my quilt in slide #14 of this slideshow.  Pretty cool I thought..I should have embedded a camcorder in that quilt so I could see the world with it! 

And this next piece is just so cool I had to share it with you. I discovered it on DudeCraft, and got the embedding code from there. I was so excited that I figured out how to embed a YouTube video….with a little computer help from my web guru Richard.

    Now tell me …wasn’t that cool??!

Okay….now a Blue Nickel Post wouldn’t be complete without some completely random shots of something do with color, design, art….or just life in general…so here are a few of the backlogged photos.  

This is closeup of garage sale pix in previous post… 

This is really old from the spring…love these little grape hyacinths   

My friend Jona sent me this order from her store Fabritopia.....and all the little snippets on the right? they were thrown in for free!!  I cannot tell you how much that little extra touch totally made me want to shop with Jona again!  Thanks Jona…(oh, and that is “john-na, not “joan-ah” everyone!....don’t even try her last name!!  )

Oh, and some Sis Boom Laundry...at least I think it is all Sis Boom…if not it must be Free Spirit!

       I haven’t yet cut into this batch…I really need to…I just love it SEWmuch!!    

Well that’s it for today…this post took quite a time to get up….I want to sew and PAINT the rest of the day…I love and hate computers…and right now, I am really getting tired of  being so “plugged in”  I think I am becoming addicted….but that is another story altogether.

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admin February 12th, 2009

Today’s post (besides being very late forthcoming!) is all about vintage valentine type fabrics.  I went through a pile of fabrics that I have that have a valentine theme, and most of them were fairly modern.  But Kim over at True Up has been calling for vintage valentine themed prints of the True Up Flickr Group, and I really wanted to get these in the pool, so I am posting them now.   

    Pink floral Geometric

 Blue Striped Strawberries

 pink strawberries resting on the red seersucker print.  I only have two of these little diamonds, and I just love these strawberries they are so sweet….Now strawberries aren’t exactly Valentiney, but they are rather heart shaped, so I think they count!

 the MOST delicious red print in a tintilating seersucker (can I say that here?)  Really it is awesome to feel.  You can’t quite “see” the seersucker part in person even, but one touch and you know it is that coolness that cannot be described by mere words….

Oh and here is the “real” Valentine-y print…well it has hearts on it at least…

I think all of these would work very nicely together in a little wall quilt for February don’t you?  I am making Linda’s Valentine tonight and tomorrow I will show you after I give it to her.  I always make Linda a valentine.  Well, there have been a couple years that I ran out of time.  Maybe if I get a chance I will show you some of them here, what do you say?

I just finished up a big project for my friend Marci at Alicia’s Attic.  Here is a glimpse of what I have been working on for the last 3 weeks.

   I love this shot!     Here is more of a closeup (loose threads and all) This part of the project is made mostly of my friend Mark Lipinski’s Califon line which ended up being perfect for this project!  I believe the whole quilt is destined to be on the cover of Marci’s new book which should be at Spring Quilt Market if all goes well!

 Wow, it may not look like much, but that post took a lot of time to pull up…I have a couple more things to share and then to bed…

My next Free Spirit Quilt project is coming up so look for pictures of that process here, and I have a Blog-aview (like an interview, but blogified) with someone whom this song reminds me of everytime!  But all that has to wait a bit while I prepare for the Day of Love! 

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admin January 28th, 2009

And Sketchin’s what I did….

So Linda that lovely wife of mine bought me these plain white canvas Chuck Taylor’s at the cheap food market years ago.  She bought us both a pair, and she gussied hers up with paint and dyes and all sorts of artsy stuff then.    I was going to get a round toit, but I never did…until last weekend. I was feeling in a bit of project overload, and so what did I do? work on those projects? No, I started two more!  What a wonderful TypeA personality I have been gifted with (or is it OCD?).

Anyway, here is one of the New projects that I actually finished over the weekend…actually Linda says it needs sealant before I can wear it out in the rain…but good enough for a photo!

   That’s it for now…I am SO far behind on posting here. I think I will blame my newest quilting e-buddy Joe Cunningham for his private email to me saying how “great” or something like that on keeping up my blog!!  Oh Vey!  I have never been so far behind on it since he told me that.   Thanks Joe, love ya, man!  Really you should check out Joe’s stuff and this clip of him….he’s very funny!

Along the bloggin’ lines…thank you so much for reading, if there are any of you left after my December/January hiatus.  I hope to be back better than before.  The Lord knows that my desktop is full of images to post.  It’s that time factor that is a killer.  So look forward to more from me and Blue Nickel Studios….which is really still just me, but someday maybe I can have an assistant like other designers…Linda would be so happy to have someone else keep me in line! 

AND  a  BIG thank you to all who voted for my spoonflower entry.  Alas, I did not win, but it was a fun run, and I will be offering some of that fabric for sale myself on our Etsy site in the future, I will let you know when that happens. 

Okay, one more thing, I will be having a giveaway coming up here soon….some Free Spirit and Moda fabrics to keep everyone happy and coming back! Oh, I know you, you’d come back even if I didn’t give stuff away huh?  Or at least I hope so..

Wow, what a lot of little “bits” Let’s hope that in 2009 I can be back more often and share more stuff and get to know some of you better in person!  It’s good to be back…now, I need to get back to those other projects..

Ciao, Scott

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admin September 2nd, 2008

Well the voting is now complete.  I must admit, part of this project turned out great, but part of it was not how I envisioned it.  I had hoped that more people would come and vote on these little gems of art, but it seems that not that many people stopped by to see.  Mostly friends and family of some of the entrants, which was fine, but I really was hoping to have more people in the blogosphere stop by.  But hey, you know what, their loss!  I was pleased that people had fun with this project and enjoyed their little Tootsie time!!   That made me happy!  I want to thank EVERYONE who entered, and everyone who signed up to enter, but didn’t get the time (Lord knows that has happened to me almost every year in my local guild’s challenges!!).

Here are the top 5 winners in order: 

Paul from the North (Canada that is),

Gus (from the South I believe),    

Sandi and her good ship Lollipop, 

Jim V. with his Tootsie Pop Collection, 

then Aileen      

and Jeanine 

tied for fifth, so I will figure out something to send to both of them.

 You winners you will have to email me privately with your snail mail so I can send you your prizes.  I have added some things to my giveaway box, so you may get some extras too. 

I have some more to talk about, but this was probably the big one for those who entered, so I thought I better put that up first.   I am running out of time this morning, so I will have to put off some of what I was going to share until later.  There is NEVER enough time is there?

Okay, here is my last bit to share.  My friend Mark Lipinski has done it again!  ANOTHER line of fabric is coming out of the Pickle Road Studios ( I know Pickle Road and Blue Nickel sound so similar, but we had never even heard of each other when we came up with our studio branding concepts) Mark shared a sneak peak of it on his blog.  I thought I would steal a jpeg just to tease you and send you to his September 1st entry for more…you know you can’t get enough of this stuff! 

Here is what I lifted from Mark:    (Hey Mark, I hope you don’t mind, I am sending them all your way though!) It also is in Blues and greens that you can see at his site, but I am particularly partial to these deep reds.  I don’t think it will be out for awhile, but he is debuting it at Fall Market in Houston.  Way to go Mark!

Aughhh, I had more but I really gotta go, although for a great nostalgic trip you should see Tracy’s blog entry ....I could almost hear Donny and Marie right away after reading this.

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admin May 31st, 2008

Okay!! the last entry left you hanging…..sorry! What a great way to bring you back here!!  Okay the other couple that I was GOING to mention are from Portland (Oregon that is, NOT Maine)  They are Josh and Sarah of He Sews, She Sews.  They have a great little blog, and looks to me that they are going to keep getting better.  They and Jo James and Dylan Curry our on my links now, so you can check in on them often.  Tell ‘em that Scott down at the Blue Nickel sent you!!

I LOVE YouTube….sometimes too much…and since the spelling bee I posted yesterday from The Cart Before The Horse (Jo and Dylan)  I had to go see some more….today I am linking you to Christmas Day in honor of the cottonwood starting to fill the air for Christmas in June around here!!

So let me know what you think about the Christmas Day video…..and I thought the spelling bee one was funny!!

Keep sewing, keep happy, dude.

• cool videos , folk art , hilarious , music
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admin May 29th, 2008

Like there will ever be enough time, Dude!   Anyway, I want to add this very hilarious link to a ….well….different sort of spelling bee.  I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like this…..well probably on Monte Python…..sort of….

Anyway that leads in to the next quick subject——husband/wife artists or wife/husband artists if you prefer.  Since Linda and I are a couple of artsy people, I like to find other sets that are of the same persuasion.   There are two that I want to point out this morning.  The first is Jo James and Dylan Curry.  They have quite a few pages and links so mess around in their Cart to find all their cool works (both finished and in progress)  LInda has been reading Jo’s blog for sometime now, and I think that they have some pretty nifty ideas.

Another couple that I think that are pretty cool

• cool videos , folk art
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admin January 30th, 2008

 I know that it is past Christmas, but I just found this terrific Jars of Clay video on YouTube, and I have to share it with you.  I am in a rush this am because I have a class that I have to leave for in 13 minutes, but I also wanted to note that my friend Mark Lipinski has confessed a love for Marie Osmond that I totally share (maybe not the same way, but I think she is just wonderful too)....

Hey Christmas and Marie Osmond really do go well together….remember that movie in the early 80’s….it was O. Henry’s story The Gift of the Magi….Marvelous story on it’s own, and I think Marie did a great job in the flick…I think it was made for TV…back when there were 3 channels we got at home, and there was always something to watch…as opposed to now…

Gotta go….no pictures today….but cool links….if I got them to work right….

• Christmas , cool videos , music , randomness
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