Blue Nickel Studios

admin September 8th, 2010

If you have been reading here lately, you know that I have thrown myself into just a few too many projects lately…and I really don’t have a lot of time to post anything this morning, but I do have quite a few pictures to post….just no time to post them right at the moment….hopefully this Thursday I will get a chance to get a REAL post up for you, complete with LOTS of pictures….we’ll see.  This morning, I just wanted to pop in here before I head out to my DayJob….

Here are the fabrics that I have set aside for the Fat Quarterly Quiltalong.     They are a ton of leftovers from the two Douglas Day Projects I did for Free Spirit awhile back.  I thought I would be completely crazy and make TWO of the FQ quiltalong quilts for the boys from these leftovers. 

I had these very Large Panels left and I liked the Big Blue Man one like this:

  But I had 3 of these guys and only two sons, and I also had one biker dude panel which I never really cared for all that much…not for the biker part, but I don’t like to encourage rebellion in my kids, you know?  And I love the bold graphic nature of them….so I cut one Blue Man and the Biker Dude into 2 1/2” squares for the centers.  I don’t really know HOW this is going to turn out, but so far I am pretty excited to see what evolves here.

I must confess, I started piecing the blocks together even though the FQ quiltalong doesn’t tell us how till next week….I figured it out, and I have two to make (along with everything else) and I need the head start.  It feels like working with solids with a bold 70’s twist.   We’ll see (and yes that means you too!)

Along other lines, Linda and I are both in the same magazine this month!!  Quilter’s Home October/November 2010!  I haven’t had time to take pictures of my quilt and the article in the mag, but I quickly scanned Linda’s bit for her and her blog, so I thought I would share it here too.

Here is her bit:

She has made about 50 of these great pins for sale on our Etsy site, and they really are neat in real life, I don’ t think pictures do them justice.  Her beading ability has always ALWAYS amazed me! 

Anyhoo, I have spent longer on this post than I intended….I just love sharing things with you all.  I have a ton more, including so many things, I can’t even think straight.   Sometime I just sign my emails to Linda as “the Vortex” as honestly that is how it feels sometimes.   But if we always find Beauty around us in the midst of the spinning…that’s a good thing, right??

Hoping that you find Beauty in the middle of your busy day today!!

Piece out!

Scott

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admin June 23rd, 2010

Okay to start with….yes I am very “kinetic”.....that is my PC term for my sporatic flow of information, blather, and prizewinning packs (which is to say they are still waiting by my desk to be mailed  in the mail…)   And no, I haven’t drawn for the Anna Maria packs yet….but probably will later today which mean that post should be following…

But this post does relate to the Delightful Mrs. Horner in some way.  I just wanted to quickly share these blocks that I made for Anna’s Rainbow Around the Block project. (and any of you who keep a blog know that “quickly” share is a joke figure of speech…taking pictures, downloading pictures, readusting and cropping pictures never goes quickly enough, but posts without pix=boring in my book)

 I had a great time playing with fabric on these blocks with absolutely no concern for accuracy or anything….just fun…and going to a great cause too…

I dunno about you, but I just don’t give enough back to the world I think…..

And it is such a beautiful world to not give back too….

Someone had to do it….

maybe you can make some blocks too…  

Just follow the link for more info…

And have a great day playing for a great cause….

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admin June 7th, 2010

Hey you all!  thanks for all the great comments here lately….it is good to know that I am not completely writing to the wind….  I think I actually do have some more Quilt Market posts to do…but I really needed to get things caught up around here….So I posting this post tonight and with it another set of  prizes.  And while I am typing this I am printing out all the comments from the last 3 or so posts that had prized attached and will be announcing them tomorrow or Wednesday in another post.  I don’t really have a lot of time tonite to post either, but I wanted to share with you some more highlights from Market…

First on the list are the Westminter Laminates….these are just incredible.  When I heard about them, I definitely thought of thick bulky oilcloth….These are NOT that material!!  They are very pliable and sewable it seems…       

 And to prove it…Look at this!!  Ruffles! out of Laminate!  Can you believe it?  I couldn’t ..even a rosette.  Everyone MUST try this now!!  Really….

Back over at the Seven Seas booth where all the fine Japanese Imports were….were these cool little kits….aren’t they the yummiest assortment??  

And little wind up felties…too cool! 

And Heather Ross’s newest Line with Kokka….Far Far Away II.... 

But the REAL highlight for me was meeting and chatting numerous times with Anna Maria Horner....  

This lady TOTALLY amazes me.  She designed all these fabric and these projects….and she has 6 KIDS!! From 18 to 1!  AND she is as sweet and genuine and thoughtful as she seems in her blog.   I would have to say that her blog is my very favorite for the way she mixes family and design and pain and laughter.  My heart is often stirred by her musings on parenthood.  It is such a wonderful and difficult and ultimately fulfilling and draining  life work…and Anna Maria captures it all …..surrounding it with beauty as she goes….including her now famous Quilt Market Spring ‘10 shoes!

Here she is smiling on the last day just as much as the first day!!     

Yeah, I really enjoyed meeting her here at Market.  My first quilt for Free Spirit was for her Good Folks line,  and then I did a Flannel Little Folks quilt  last year for Free Spirit too.  I have emailed her on numerous occasions, and generally made a pest of myself…and she was still nice to me here in Minneapolis!!

And then there were her equally charming and beautiful model/assistants…. Allie with her Incredible Red Locks and Charming Smile…

And Alexia with her Stunning Snow White features and Gentle Grace….

One more thing before I go to the prizes for this blog post.  Anna Maria lives in Nashville, and saw many of her neighbors lose much during the flooding they had there this Spring.  So she has this going on to help…I will talk more about it later, as I am psyched to help out on this project.  But I wanted to make sure you knew about it as well if you felt inclined to help with the effort.

And Anna and I put together these little gifties for 3 lucky winners….A free pattern from her newest book Handmade Beginnings and some of her flannels and prints….and two little notebooks…(the third prize gets a little extra flannel)...   

For this project why don’t you tell us all about your first memory of something that someone made for you as a child…not bought in a store, but made by hand or with their hands for you. And when we get somewhere between 30 and 50 entries, I will start drawing names randomly.  

And I promise I will get winners of all the previous prizes announced tomorrow evening my time (Pacific) so if you are on the East coast it may be later for you….

Are you still enjoying these market Photos??  I still have an SD card full of Floral pictures from around the Blue Nickel Studios here to share that I took before Market…so eventually you will get to see them too…

Thanks for dropping by the Blue Nickel…..see you soon!

Scott

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admin June 2nd, 2010

Yes, here are more Quilt Market moments via Blue Nickel….Here am I with Amy and David Butler….I barely met David, as I heard he was mountain biking the whole time and only came to take down the booth….yes, Amy is still smiling on Sunday at the end of this very busy 4 day event.  For new and upcoming peeps like me, its fun…for Amy, I am sure it is very hard (but fun) work…  

More Amy Butler beauty…..the pillows are a new pattern coming out…the walls and the paper flowers are her new line Soul Blossoms coming out later this summer…..I think August is when it will be available…  

and Amy’s cool shoes….yeah, I know  I’m a guy and as a rule we don’t care too much about fashion, and I must admit I don’t know much about fashion per se….but these were pretty cool shoes…even though I got them in transit….  

Most everyone has posted about the New Rowan Yarns coming out in ”Amy” colors.   I must also admit I  don’t now much about fashion….but I do know that my daughter squealed when she saw these legwarmers…call it the 80’s in me, but I thought they looked pretty cool too….

 Amy, deep in thought, probably about how long will it take to get all this stuff packed up…...    

My favorite picture I think ….I know I am going to love this line…..  

Here is Amy’s marvelous team  Mallory and Diane…...Diane pretty much runs the place so Amy can be…. well…Amy….(I can’t wait til I have someone take care of everything for me….and I don’t mean at the Nursing Home, okay??)   .......And Mallory, who was pretty quiet, is the new kid on the block I think….and as sweet as can be….

Since Soul Blossoms isn’t on fabric yet…they were showing it in paper on these great giganto flowers…....

I must say talking with Amy off and on during the  Market was just so wonderful…Truly she is remarkably unassuming and very “real”....  I could have been talking with her in the grocery store over the apple table in the vegetable department…not a discouraging thing about her….She was even giving me advice on some of the things I am striving to do…Not like a  Know-it-all, but like a sister sharing with her brother…..I feel like I could have gone to high school with her, and even though I really barely know her, Amy made me feel like an old friend.

And here is just another wonderful designer who just lives one state away down in Oregon….Valori Wells.   Valori has been designing for some time now, and was RAISED in the quilting business, so I love talking to her as she really KNOWS this world inside and out.

I just love the quilt behind her and these bags….      

Here is her new line Nest ….....    

And here is her gift to one of you!!   3 patterns and some Nest fabric…possibly before you and even get it locally….but I just read some of it is shipping out now….

So to win this Valori Wells prize pack….why don’t you tell me something you like about birds or a story or a poem or something else….and then when I get to 25 comments….I will start looking and reading and (here’s the tough part)....pick my favorite bird “moment”....so make me laugh or make me cry….the one that resonates with me most will win…..

Don’t forget that there are prizes to be won still on my last 3 blog posts as well…..and I haven’t drawn on them all yet….one might be over the 25 comments already, but you can still throw your name in the hat.  I don’t have the time to choose them all tonight or tomorrow….so I will see what the status is on Friday evening and see what needs to be drawn and who will win what….AND…don’t forget the next few posts will ALSO have prizes…so if you don’t want to miss them you can sign up  on the left under “Subscribe” and you can get email announcements when I post….I don’ t send out junk mail, and it isn’t linked to anyone else sending spam….so you only get stuff when I post…

I am really looking forward to hearing your bird stories….(oh, and did you notice, Amy had birds up in her booth as well)...so this was a good theme for the post, I think….

Cheers,

Scott

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admin May 26th, 2010

I cannot believe it has been 25 days since I posted….I think that is a crime in Blogland, isn’t it? At the very least a misdemeanor. I am freshly back from Quilt Market, and had a marvelous time meeting some people for the first time and some all over again, and some of the people I met for the first time I had know for years here in the blogosphere…

For an excuse, I offer the following pictures of what I was working on for Quilt Market…3 quilts …didn’t I say I wouldn’t do that many at once LAST Market?  Yet I succumbed…  one I didn’t have to deal with the quilting or the binding, and so I did that one on top of the two I committed to earlier in the season..yet, they still came to be done all at the 11th hour…I think it was that real life thing cutting into my time, and oh yeah, a slight bit of procrastination on my part?

Here are the quilts and their pix in no particular order:

the line Free to Grow by Nancy Mims for Robert Kaufman fabrics…..

And The line Brady Bunch by Michael Miller Fabrics:

And then the Boys Will Be Boys quilt by David Walker for Free Spirit Fabrics...(that direct link may not yet work as I don’t think it will be available for a few weeks still?)

and yes, in this last picture, that is a skeleton peeking in on the left….my doll-maker wife  needs things like that for proper proportions you know. 

The patterns for these quilts should be available online for FREE eventually. I will post links here when they are, and I would love it if when you do one of my quilt designs, if you join the Blue Nickel Studios group page on Flickr and post a picture of your creation there.

And now that I have got you caught up on what was happening around here before Quilt Market ..... tomorrow I will post about my time at Quilt Market, who I met, some actual pictures at Market, some upcoming news (although pretty much everyone has posted about it by now!) and you’ll like this part…some giveaways…quite a few actually…

And so let’s start things off right for the end of May here at the Blue Nickel….with Giveaway #1…..when I get up to 25 comments here on THIS post (that’s 25 comments for 25 days), I will give away a scrappy package with a little bit of all the fabrics in these quilts….okay you twisted my arm, when I get up to fifty comments I will giveaway two scrap packs!! 

Come back tomorrow for some more of my ramblings, pix, and giveaways too, okay??  see ya then!!

Scott

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admin April 17th, 2010

Okay so the Easter decorations are still out, and there are apple blossoms on the trees up front, but I am working on this:

Okay so does anyone else find this selvedge snippet funny??  I think I must frame this somewhere it makes me laugh so much….but that is  probably only funny to textile geeks like me (and you if you think its funny too, I don’t require that you do, just so you know)        (oh, and the Robot Cake sketch…that’s for a certain fabric/quilt designer)  subtle, huh?  This said designer also blogged about the video that has totally captivated me all week….will take a lot to top this...

  This Christmas quilt is going to be for a magazine this fall, so I can’t show much more than this on it, but I am thoroughly enjoying these Michael Miller Christmas prints…while I was in the studio today, I thought about this postcard I have from way back in college in the early 80’s….       

 Its sentiment and statement still crack me up and resonate deep inside my spirit….  

And truth be told, I am not just working on the above Christmas quilt, but I also working on this pink/grey/yellow number for Robert Kaufman Fabrics for Quilt Market coming up….you can see bits of it here mixed with the Christmas strips….

and waiting in the wings is this project for Free Spirit…..

okay, so today I am just so swamped I can’t think straight….and yeah, I didn’t throw the links in for the fabric companies…you’re smart, you can go Bing it or Google it or something like that…

I am still getting over the fact that the postcard mentioned above is almost 30 years old….but I am sure in that cases, that I couldn’t have been older than 3 when I picked it up in college…....  sigh 

Gotta get back to the studio…I am think Deck the Halls music will be in order tonite….

maybe next post, I will get the Easter pictures posted that are sitting on my desktop….maybe…

Keep Happy Peeps, Keep Sewing!!

Scott (that’s me!)

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admin April 15th, 2010

So, I am really, really late at posting about the latest Doll Quilt Swap 8  I like these swaps because they are total ”playtime” for me, and if I want to do some experimenting, they are fun to share…so This time our swap”mama” (Kimmie) as she was called,   threw the only three guys in the swap all together.  I gave to Ryan, Ryan gave to John, and John gave to me.   Pretty fun to see how each of us went about “mod”  fabrics differently. This is what I sent to Ryan…

Here is the back plus a little bundle of goodies I sent along for fun…

And then here is the front of the quilt I sent Ryan.  I told Ryan that he had better appreciate the red Wonderland Scissor fabric from Moda...cause it was the first time I used it, and I TOTALLY LOVE  print!!  It was very hard to part with…what? like you don’t understand that or something?   Somewhere around here, I have this beautiful sage reproduction fabric that I still totally love from about 12 years ago…..even though I have gone “brighter” these days, I still adore that fabric….whenever I find it again, I can tell you it will delight me….  

So, then John sent this quilt to me!  I was so happy to have him be my swap partner, because I have loved his choices in fabrics for some time now..

and I like that he left those wide linen stripes plain…I have plans to add vintage and new buttons and beads in that space…

John also sent a little goodie pack with his quilt—A Charley Harper calendar and the coolest pencil ever….

see what I mean about the pencil??  THANKS SO MUCH for this cool touch, Johnny Q!!  

and this fabric in the top corner..I think it is from Spoonflower, but I am not sure…maybe John will drop a comment and tell us about it in there…. 

Well that’s it for now…I still have a couple pictures from Easter to post, and an entry about my “little” 17 year old son’s quiet-at-home-with-a-mega-meaty-pizza party….wait until you see this pizza he designed…incredible!!

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admin January 15th, 2010

especially when that friend is the queen of Sis Boom herself…Jennifer Paganelli...Last spring at Quilt Market, Jennifer and I discussed me doing the promo quilt for one of her next lines….which at the time were going to be two and with completely different names than what came out ….  but So St. Croix is so Jennifer! 

So without much verbiage (yeah, right, Scott)  here is the process of the quilt I designed on paper back in May 2009…

Here is something….on the design wall…I really had it all planned out already…I just needed a place to hang it temporarily…what a mess!! 

When I drew this up back in May last year, Jennifer’s newest lines at the time consisted many more colors.  This line is pretty much just two…blues/greens and pinks…it is almost as if it was made for this idea.  I  have  just loved Sis Boom fabrics ever since she came out with Girlfriends back whenever that was….(or did she have a line before that?? I didn’ t know her back then….so glad to know her now) so I was VERY delighted to get this chance to work with her designs before anyone else does!!          

So the top is all done,  I am hoping to quilt it up this weekend and then get the binding on and the directions written up…should be avaiable online in a couple weeks…The fabric might be hitting the stores right now…I am not sure…pop on over to Jennifer’s and ask her…she’ll know for sure.  And wish her a happy Birthday.  I think it’s today…tell her Scott at the Blue Nickel sent ya!!

To all my dear contest winners of the last couple weeks….uh….your prizes are still sitting in a box on my studio floor…I don’t have all of your addresses yet anyway, but I do want to get this stuff sent out to you soon….I have had a couple new gigs come up, and the usual trauma of life and general business have been swirling here in the very grey-green of the Pacific Northwest….   so thanks for your patience, good people…and look to the west for a mailing from me one of these days.

Until next time, my very best wishes to you and yours….and a hundred thousand prayers for Haiti tonight…..

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admin December 20th, 2009

(that’s “I Love a Cool Giveaway”) get it?? 

Okay so here it is the BIG 200th post!!  I think it took me awhile to get here…longer than 2 years I know…Is there a standard for this sort of thing? I dunno about that, but I do know that in Blogland, the 200th post signifies a big party and giveaway!! 

First the “party”...I thought I would just share some quick pix of our home at Christmas time…this year without an indoor cat…which to us is a very good thing.     There are a lot of pictures, so I am posting them in a smaller format…if you want a closer look you can just click on the photo for a better look…  

    Hope you enjoyed the tour!!

Here’s a quick gift wrapping or giving idea that is sorta “green”  I have had some projects where I took the quilting out past where it needed to be, and I had some scraps that were just too big for me to throw away…  And I had some extra craft bags that I over bought for gifts for my staff at work….so a little clipping here, a little glue there and…..   five little gift bags….(which, actually I am passing on to you in the prize packs listed below)...   

And here are the prizes…. I have started (again) to clean up the studio, and I have been saving up a bunch of stuff to giveaway..

Prize #1   

Prize #2  

Prize #3  

Prize #4 

Prize #5 

Prize #6 

Prize #7 

And here it is just in time for Christmas…well the New Year really….. I will leave the drawing open until Midnight December 24th Pacific Standard time, and then sometime on Christmas day I will choose the winners.  But I want to do something a little different for this giveaway…a little word association please…so here is your task…you have to answer the following questions to be eligible to win:   

1.) when you think of the word “bungalow” what comes to mind? words, colors, textures, images, thoughts, things along those lines. 

2.)same concept  for the word “cottage”..what comes to your mind with that word?

and 3.) would you rather spend a holiday weekend at the bungalow or the cottage? 

These questions  aren’t too tough, I hope.  I am gonna tweet this post too, cause I want to hear what everyone has to say.  Winners will be handpicked by me, and I will be looking for the most descriptive responses to my questions…(I don’t sound too much like a high school teacher do I?)   So let the comments and answers begin…and before I sign off, I want to thank you so much for stopping by the Blue Nickel…sometimes I don’t get in here too often myself, but I always enjoy my time in Blogland with you all..I will be more active  again once my day job winds down in the next few weeks.  As my friend Jona mentioned recently, having a job, no matter how stressful, is a very good thing these days…a very good thing indeed.  

^
———Aha!!  And you thought you were leaving!!  One last photo to share progress on the Sis Boom So St. Croix project for Free Spirit… here part of it is on the design wall…     Now, now I am signing off, and YOU can start leaving comments and telling all your bloggin’ buds about the Big Giveaway!!  I will likely be adding little bits to the prize packs this week so there will be surprizes too!

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admin December 19th, 2009

Hey did you miss me??  I hope so, cause I sure have missed you all!!    I have been holed up in the black fog of Retail Workville for the whole month it seems.  I can’t believe it has been over a month since I dropped in here to say hello…I admit I can be a particularly bad bloggin’ boy this time of year. It is just tough for me with the hours I put into the “other” job…the one that is paying for most everything these days. 

Above  apologies and explanations (of a sort) being said, I don’t have a LOT of time to be doing  even this post, but I do have a few pictures to share and a couple links I think.  First of all, I have to share this one little link to an incredibly cute owl ornament by my friend Jessica Levitt…I met Jessica mainly through Melissa (whom by the way I haven’t yet met in person…but hope to next Spring)  And since I started this entry a couple days ago actually (yes, it’s that bad, this little post took multiple days), Jess came up with these ideas as well.  So now I am waiting to see her woodland tree that she is creating…

Okay…..so I promised some pictures too.  There are just a few…..

this is above my “paperwork” desk….and does not get dusted very often….can you tell?   you can’t tell from the picture, but that coin up there ….it is the original “blue nickel” I found when I came up with the studio name..(I actually forgot it was there until just now…I should have it framed, huh?)  It’s red on the back side which is rather ironic, because red is actually my favorite color….(I didn’t remember it being red on the back either)..

Okay and so this is my very first “quilt” that I made in 1978 with my mom’s guidance…neither of us knew anything about quilting….but that never stops either of us really.  It’s huge and heavy and well….pretty ugly.  I it is actually a comforter as it isn’t actually quilted, but I still love it even just for the memories.  I sent this picture to Joe Cunningham for him to possibly use in his book about male quilters coming out (next year?)....he didn’t want it..he like my newer stuff…I will have to put it somewhere in one of MY books someday!   

okay and one last picture…I actually had more, but I am running out of time to post (not a rarity these days) and I need to wrap it up…

 this quilt is one of my favorites as it is one where I just started whacking away at traditional blocks.  I was given a bunch of these log cabin  blocks and about 674 strips to go with them….so I made some more blocks and just played around…I call it “Sawing Logs” and I really like it, even though I was never all that fond of some of the fabrics in it. 

Okay, okay, you twisted my arm….one more picture.   I am currently working on a free download pattern for Free Spirit again for my friend Jennifer Paganelli’s next line called So St. Croix.  Here is a sneak peak at my project for that.   Okay…I am really done now, thanks for dropping by….be sure to come by next post too, cause it’s the big 200!!  I am planning a bunch of prizes to give away…I don’t know when that post will be.  I would love to get it in this month, but I can’t promise you anything…Just don’t desert me folks….I know I have been a bad blogger….but I really do love it when you stop by and say hi!  I would love to meet everyone in person…someday maybe we can…and if I don’t get back here before Christmas, a very Merry Christmas to you and yours….and Post Happy Hannukah!! 

Keep Sewing, Keep Happy,  S.

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