Blue Nickel Studios

260:Baking Time….

admin November 30th, 2010

Well, the day has finally come, I am now an “official” chef over at the Moda Bake Shop! Here is my first recipe!

The quilt is quilted by Kim over at Golden Needle Quilting, and I think she did a really great job.

Wish I had more time to write in this post, but I am in a rush as most people are this time of year…..I don’t think that is a good thing, but facts are facts. Yesterday I spent the whole day at work and then went shopping for Christmas with Linda. The best part was that we took time to eat dinner together just the two of us. That was very nice!!

I did want to share one more picture of a variation of this tablerunner with a completely different look. This version isn’t quilted (due to that whole “time” issue again) and it is mostly constructed of Moda fabrics, but I couldn’t post a picture over there because the citron and white polka dots are a Michael Miller product.

It’s November 30th everyone…..Here is my wish for a very peaceful and blissful December…Don’t forget to give back and don’t get stressed out by all the activities that seem to come this time of year.

See you next month….oh, wait that could be tomorrow….

Peace out,

Scott

250: I am all over the place this month….

admin September 28th, 2010

....now that is just pretty normal here around the house and studio….but there have been at least 3 Blue Nickel sitings in the last couple weeks…and I have been neglect to tell you all about them… PLEASE forgive me!! I did know about two of them, and they have been out for awhile …but the third one I just found out about, and it actually has me the most excited, because it is a surprise to me even!!

Let’s go backwards and start with what I just discovered and was blessed by Mab to find out about.

My Folk Garden quilt is in Woman’s Day this month!!

in this article about decorating with quilts.... I really can’t tell you how excited about this discovery I am. Of course, this would be the one quilt I did for Free Spirit that never got published. Soooooo…. Now re-writing this pattern for publication has jumped to the top of my need to do list. I have about 4 (at least) patterns that I want to get out into quilt shops this winter….and I guess this better be one of them. This is the same quilt that went to France without me…the busy little Blue Nickel Ambassador that it is….

Next up is this book that features 30 male quilt artists compiled and written by Joe Cunningham. I am one of these artists!!

Joe did the interview for this on the phone with me back in May 2009, that’s how long books take to write!! I have some copies coming here to the Blue Nickel to sell if you are interested in purchasing. If you would like, I could even sign the page with my bio on it. It was great to be part of this book. It has some great short stories about these guys’ lives in it. There are just 9 quilt patterns in the book and my Basket Case No. 1 is one of them.

It is a very traditional quilt, particularly in the colors I used…..and maybe something you might be surprised at if you are a regular visitor here at the Blue Nickel, but that is definitely a part of my quilting life….. I’m a little bit country….and a little bit rock and roll. There are a lot of other great quilts, patterns, and inspiration in these pages as well.

hmm…think this was inspired by anything?? ... could be …..or could be I didn’t want to wind up the hoses and put them away for winter…..or could be I really hated how the lawn looks where the kids’ pool sat all summer….or could (and probably was) be a combination of them all!!

Okay and third in this group…..one of my favorite quilt designs which I haven’t shown until now was finally published in Quilter’s Home the October/November 2010 issue. Here are some snapshots of the quilt and the magazine here at home…

Can you believe whose name is listed on the cover with all of these all stars?? I could … simply…not….!!

Well that ’s it for now peeps…I am tuckered out…this post took me close to all evening to do, and I had planned on sewing tonight….so I hope you enjoyed this little spiel of mine….thanks for coming alongside me here at the Blue Nickel!

222:Rust

admin April 28th, 2010

It has been a busy couple of weeks here as I wrap up a bunch of projects for different fabric houses for Quilt Market. And one quilt for a magazine article this Christmas. I have been enjoying the time in the studio, but not necessarily the pressure to get things done…that pressure is at my Day Job too, and I feel behind almost everywhere I turn. Sometimes I look around me (figuratively speaking here) and I feel like everything is spinning so fast, and I just want to rest a bit, but there is no time for that…..and there should be….

That’s part of what I like about this picture…..

It is a picture of leaves in the bottom of an old hot water heater that has been rusting in our yard for years. I kinda like it as a water feature of sorts and the rust gives it a wonderful lived in look. But just looking at it kinda relaxes me a bit…maybe its the stillness, maybe its the getting lost in the layers of the image…maybe its just the constancy of it being in the same place in the yard for over 10 years now…...I dunno…..

Maybe it is just a rusty picture, but something about it reminds me to stop for awhile and notice details like this wherever I go….and that everything is okay, it will all work out.

That’s it for this post, peeps, I gotta go get some more sewing done….pictures will come eventually!!

201: One more sleep til Christmas…

admin December 24th, 2009

And the day I have given myself to read all your wonderful comments! I have really enjoyed the glances I have snuck at the comments coming in for my 200th Post Extravaganza. I have been very surprized at the comments regarding the word “bungalow” but I will not reveal my thoughts on that until after the drawing is over tonight. A BIG NOTE here regarding comments on my blog…..it is set up so that I need to look at them before they get posted in order to prevent spam, so don’t think that you haven’t posted a comment when you thought you did. It is probably just setting in the queque waiting for me to approve it…and since I am often at work, where I don’t have the time to go in and do that, often they will wait until evening.

So I hope that everyone doing their last minute Christmas shopping will be calm and relaxed, cause you know it really will be okay if everything isn’t perfect….maybe even better, right? I mean look at Mr. Moon here…peaceful as can be with a giant ”mole” shaped like an upside down heart… okay so that comment is weird, but I needed a caption for this picture. Tell you what if you send me a better caption (and THAT won’t be hard, I will send you some brand new fabric love from the latest lines) So you could call this giveaway number two!! Deadline for a caption will be New Year’s Day….I will post a picture of the prize for this one between now and New Years Day!....so start thinking up something clever and charming, okay?!

Later my friends! S.

181: Take a Chance on me!

admin August 5th, 2009

Announcing the raffle quilt for my local guild the Busy Bees. Why am I announcing this here on my blog?...cause I designed this quilt! My friend Diane Coombs helped with the applique design, but the overall concept of this was my design. You can enter to win this quilt for $1.00 a ticket. Please contact me directly for tickets. The drawing for this quilt in November this fall 2009. ....the 19th I believe….I would be thrilled if one of my peeps won this…(course, I wouldn’t mind winning it either, but it would be nice if one of you one it too…

It is queen-sized and machine quilted…..many people from the guild worked on this quilt so it has many hands of love put into it.

Onto other things, I am wrapping up another quilt for a magazine, and presenting another concept with a new line of fabrics not even out yet. So not out yet, I can’t even mention whose line it is or anything else about it….I am trying to get this quilt concept into a leading magazine with a leading designer’s new line as one of the earliest quilts published with these new fabrics. A difficult task at the very least. When I have permission to show you more, I will….but trust me if this works….You will love it

Here are a few more pictures from the pileup on my desktop…hope you enjoy!

From a big garage sale day that Linda and I spent together just the two of us…. I love these blue chunky beads…

this bookcase was 5 or 10 dollars and cleaned up nicely….I thought it was very well built and I liked the patina of the painted surface…..simple and non-affectatious.

Some more from that same day…. I loved textiles before, but now I find my myself buying things simply for the designs, not just if I can sew or necessarily use them daily…. more stuff for the kids to sort through when I die….and I have just started….

This Tigger and Roo totally rock…they list a little, but they rock!

This picture of hand-drawn buildings may be in a previous post, but that’s okay, I love the handmade feel of them both…Need new frames and then up they go…somewhere around here….

Hope you enjoyed these treasures…Don’t forget to contact me about the raffle quilt….and have a beautiful sunny day….hopefully like this——

150: Taking the babies out for a walk…

admin March 12th, 2009

Okay, well I don’t really treat my thread like children, I actually am not as picky as I probably should be when it comes to thread…these are featured here, just cause I liked Anna Maria’s idea, and like a crow, I am drawn to brightly colored (and shiny) objects. I especially like them contrasted again the brown-green of a Pacific Northwest late winter. This is basically a continuation of my past photo tour of the backyard.

Two different arbors, Last week before the March snow….that’s when and where they were taken…Some of them may look really similar, but I just liked them so they are here! Tomorrow its a GIVEAWAY and Special Guest! Come back real soon, y’all!

146: for the birds

admin February 22nd, 2009

So Linda found this birdhouse discarded in a blackberry bramble next to the road…WHO would throw away such a treasure…She gave it to me for Valentine’s day…isn’t she romantic…

of course this side of the roof had all these little nails sticking out where the shingles had been….what to do?? hmmm…

Ahh….that’s better!!

I was so smitten with Anna Maria’s photo shoot with thread that I decided just yesterday to take some old spools that were given to me “because I sew” and take them out for their own photo session!

Here are some more good times with the birdhouse. what a fun day….there is more to do with thread than just sew…who knew? More shots from this session later..they had a great time in the wisteria!