July 4th Independence Day and GenQ Blog Tour!

July 4th Independence Day and GenQ Blog Tour!

Happy Independence Day to the USA today!  And Happy Blog Tour Day to Everyone as well.  If you are a regular reader here at the Blue Nickel, and didn’t realize it, today is my day on the Generation Q Magazine Debut Issue Blog Tour!  You can find the whole list of stops here.   Go ahead and check out everyone’s thoughts on GenQ along the way and comment where you can to enter for your chance to win your very own copy. If you can’t wait to win one, you can buy one from any of these shops.  Or you can get one directly from Generation Q here.

Most peeps on the tour have been talking about all sorts of reasons they like Generation Q which makes me of course very happy because I am part of the team that worked on it.  It is NOT easy putting a magazine together, especially from the ground up.  Especially without some big corporation with funds and expertise.  But not having a big company behind us also allows us to be unique. And I think that we are doing a good job at that.  Our whole goal has been to be different.  Some people want magazines to be all the same, but some people are looking for a quilt magazine that is just a bit different, and we are here for those people!!

A large part of what I do for the magazine has been working on gathering designers to create projects for each issue.  And so for my stop on the Tour, I thought I would share with you a couple “re-coloring” of two of the projects in the  magazine because I really like to encourage people to interpret projects in their OWN versions of the original.  Make for some great variety I think.  So scattered through this post you see some pictures of my version of Heather’s You and I quilt and Julie’s table runner.  In fact TWO versions of Julie’s table runner because it is just so fun and easy!

With Heather’s, I finally found a use for a mauve-ish Quilter’s Linen from Robert Kaufman that came in a batch of fabric from them. I had set it aside to force myself to work with a fabric that I wasn’t all that fond of.  Then one day I noticed that it really went well with a large vintage stripe piece that I had.  I added a grey print from Betz White’s Stitch and voila! my first ever “simple” quilt.  Simple meaning only three fabrics…total…a HUGE step away from my normal M.O.!!

I took it to the beach on Whidbey Island because I knew the rocks would be the perfect backdrop for it.

Then there are also these two takes on Julie’s tablerunner.  Probably a bit too “mushy” for a lot of people, but I like them…I made the first for today: a red, white, and blue version that isn’t typical  “Americana”  (not that I don’t love that Americana feel…I have a ton of flags that I love to hang out in the summer).

The second one is done up with a bunch of Michael Miller Picnic themed prints……I do think that I might make some placemats out of in the same manner with a quieter border.

So for the Blog Tour part…leave a comment here and let me know what you want to see more of in magazines or what you are up to this summer.  Nothing heavy…just leave a comment.  I will draw a name sometime next week if I can while I am at Sisters, otherwise it will have to wait until I get back!  Oh and you can get another chance to win a copy if you are among the “new” likes on GenQ’s Facebook Page as well.

Remember that all comments need to wait for approval, and I work outside the studio as well, so it may take awhile to be approved….