Whimsicals Threads

A Little Honesty...

I have been quiet for far too long.

But it’s been a tough year....

 

My mom had several unexplainable health issues that surfaced over a year ago.  

My husband and I wrestled with a new job opportunity that would make him happier with his work but required us to move away from our roots and all family.  

(We decided to stay where we are.  After all, our youngest son graduates from college in May and still comes home occasionally on the weekends.)

We took a long overseas vacation to visit our oldest son that chose to stay and work in South Korea for at least one more year, if not longer...... I love that he is where he is supposed to be, but struggle with him being so far away.

After being away from Indianapolis for 28 years, my in-laws decided to move back from Tennessee to be near us and two of their other children.....  Much help is needed when living in a house by yourselves at 90 years of age....

Both my sister-in-law and my father-in-law were diagnosed with bladder cancer, and at 90 years of age my father in law has started chemo. 

My mom was diagnosed with a very rare type of lymphoma last September right before our vacation to South Korea.

And after several rounds of chemo, trips to Mayo clinic, and living through hell, my mom passed away 3 weeks ago.

 

This has been so incredibly hard.....

 

I started Whimsicals with my mom and dad 18 years ago.  18 years is a long time to work relentlessly and creatively within an industry such as this.  I couldn’t do it alone. 

So even though mom and dad “retired” from Whimsicals almost 10 years ago, mom continued to be a huge part of it.   She was my sounding board, my cohort, my cheerleader, my fellow "sweat shop worker" as we both sat in my room stitching the day away, and so much more.....

So I will say it again…. this has been hard.  

But I honestly believe that for the past several years, God has been preparing me. Getting me to a place where I could emotionally deal with everything that is going on by slowly making Whimsicals less of a priority and shifting my focus.  I have realized that I want to be here for my family.  No matter what.   

So I made a choice.  I cut back on the energy I put into Whimsicals.  I slowed down.  I put off designing fabric.  I started thinking more about how I wanted to live instead of what I needed to do to stay ahead in the industry.  

In doing so, I was fortunate to be able to take the time needed to go to doctors' visits with mom, to be available when my son would come home for visits, to stay and help mom while dad ran errands, to spend evenings with my husband, to work on a few last minute projects mom was trying to complete to distract her from the hell she was living through, and to spend some very special time with my brother, sister, and dad after mom passed away.  

We talked.  

We laughed.  

We cried.  

And I have been able to breathe and enjoy it.

Has cutting back hurt my business?  Of course.  

But one thing I have come to realize is that nothing remains the same.  In the 18 years that Whimsicals has been around, not only has the quilting industry changed, but I have as well.  I am not the same person I was when I started this business, nor should I be.  My tastes have changed.  My perspective has shifted. And I like to think that I have grown up a little.   Because of that, the thought of continuing down the same path I've been on for the last 18 years is daunting. 

I still have ideas in my head. I still have the same part of me that simply must create.  And I plan to do just that. It's just getting up the courage (and the desire) to pull them out and simply start.  Because although I'm not entirely sure of the path that I am on, I know that I won't find the right one unless I take a step.   

How that relates to Whimsicals and where I will end up is still unclear.    

But what I do know is this....  

I have a great life ahead of me to live with my extraordinary family. 

Every day, I feel more at peace with who I am and what I am doing.

And I'm not alone. 

 

I love you and miss you mom.....

 

{ With mom at Quilt Market ~ May 2004 }

{ Mom in my booth at Quilt Market  ~  May 2012 } 

 

{ Mom at my sewing machine in my "sweat shop" ~ April 25, 2014 }

 

{ A fun night with my mom and sister ~ February 27, 2015 }

 

{ One of the few quilts I made this year.... lighter, brighter & uplifting ~ Tranquility 2014 }

 

So, until next time.

Piece Out,

Terri
 

APQ Podcast with Pat Sloan

Yes, yours truly is going to be a guest on the AllPeopleQuilt.com podcast with Pat Sloan today!  Tune in a listen today at 4pm Eastern time!  

If you happen to miss it and want to listen later, I will post a link to the show tomorrow.

Have a happy day!

 

 

:: Round Robin Rebels - final round ::

I hope you have had a chance to read all of our blogs about our journey through this round robin quilt project. I know I've learned a thing or two from reading everyone else's thought process through each round.  And don't forget to check out the article in the Feb. 2014 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting along with the additional videos at allpeoplequilt.com. 

So, here we are with our final round, and this week we are all focusing on Terry's quilt "Kaleidoscope".  To see what everyone else did, check out their blogs this week!

 

Terry's quilt - round 1:  Terry Atkinson {Terry Atkinson Designs} 

Terry's quilt - round 2:  Gudrun Erla {GE Designs} 

Terry's quilt - round 3:  Kari Carr {New Leaf Stitches}

Terry's quilt- round 4:  Me {you are here already}

 

I know that Terry likes brighter colors than I typically work in, but when I opened the box with this quilt in it, my first reaction was to reach for a pair of sunglasses!  

{ Terry's quilt when I received it } 

 

This quilt was so cheerful and happy right out of the box with the big red "lips" on white in the center of the quilt, the playful borders that were added by Gudrun and Kari.  I just wanted to box it all back up and call it done because I didn't think it needed a thing added.  

But the rules were that we each had to add something to the quilt.

So I snapped a few pictures of it, imported it into Illustrator, and started playing around with different borders.  Because Kari's border was wider and on two sides, I wanted to balance it out by adding wide borders to the opposite sides.  This was my first mock up idea.... 

{ Terry's quilt - MockUp 1 } 

Although I really liked this border, I was afraid that it was too much and might take over the whole quilt.  I still felt that it needed NOTHING, but if I HAD to add a border, it needed to be curvy to keep the playful feel of the quilt going.  

On Gudrun's quilt I really liked the way that Kari had done the curved piping border, so I used that as my inspiration for the second mockup....

{ Terry's quilt - MockUp 2 } 

(Yes, my original idea included the butterflies, but ah well..... when you run out of time to complete something, you just have to let some things go, right??)

With so much of the gray plaid in the previous border, and because Terry had included so much fabric, I thought this definitely needed to be scrappy to pull the red and turquoise out to the edge.  AND it was the last round, so I felt pretty comfortable cutting into the fabric, which was not the case with the previous quilts.  I pulled out all the reds and cut several strips in various widths from from each fat quarter, then arranged them into one long section and started sewing them together.  

 

I did the same thing with the turquoise fabrics.  I toyed with the idea of placing a scrappy gray border next to the plaid one, but decided not to.  

Looking at this picture in hindsight, I wonder if I made the right decision, but time was running out so I went with my original idea and just swapped the placement of the red and turquoise.  To tone down the red, I added a thin bias strip of the white background fabric in the seam when I stitched the red and turquoise strips together.  

A word of advice:  When you are working with pieced sections like these, it is very important to baste along the edges to keep the seams intact.  Especially if they are along the outer edge of the quilt.  I also used a template to mark and baste along the seamline before stitching these curved seams.

This is how it looked after adding all the pieced borders.

 

 

But I still felt like it was missing something, and I finally realized that what was bothering me was the large areas of white and the lack of turquoise in the center section.  I struggled with this..... Do I go with my gut and add something to what was already there?  Would I offend Terry if I added to her center block?  Should I just leave it and let the machine quilter fill it in?  

I went back to the original email that Gudrun sent out and reread the general rules which said  "The next designer makes the next step, which could be borders around the whole block, 3 sides, 2 sides or whatever she feels should come next. No rules, no set sizes….total creative freedom!!"  Well, I felt that what needed to come next was to add turquoise squares inside the "lips", so I did.  And I loved it!  It made all the difference and pulled the whole thing together so nicely.

This entire experience was such a blessing to me..... To have an opportunity to challenge myself and create with total freedom was awesome.  And to rub elbows with these wonderful ladies was even better!  Like I keep saying, I'm ready to go again!  Bring it on!

We would love to hear your comments and thoughts about our Round Robin project, or share about your own round robin experiences.  Visit our facebook page, Round Robin Rebels, or leave some comments for us!

:: Round Robin Rebels - Playing With Crayons ::

It finally came! 

My own copy of American Patchwork & Quilting arrived this week!  Have you gotten yours yet??? 

I am super excited because this issue features the Round Robin Rebels quilts.  And this is the week we all get to share my quilt!

Playing With Crayons....

  

 

If you have not been following along, you may want to go back and read our previous posts, just to get lowdown on the "rules" we set and how we approached this quilt project.

Me {you are already here, but check out my first post on the Round Robin Rebels}

Kari Carr {New Leaf Stitches}

Terry Atkinson {Terry Atkinson Designs}

Gudrun Erla {GE Designs}

My quilt....

When we started this round robin, I had panic attacks trying to come up with an idea for my center block. I felt that the expectations were so high and there was no way I was ever going to live up to them..... I had so many doubts and came close to backing out many times before I finally decided that I could not bail because I had no excuse except my own fears and insecurities. 

So I forged ahead, trying to come up with something that I thought would be worthy.  After several months of tossing around different ideas, I kept circling back to a phrase that I couldn't get out of my head.....

Color outside the lines.

It just seemed to fit the whole concept of why we wanted to do this. As designers, we wanted to do something that was for ourselves.... to create with no expectations and without trying to please the masses....  To stretch ourselves creatively and get outside of our comfort zone.  

My idea was to make a simple center block that could be built upon and taken however the remaining designers wanted to take it.  I knew that I wanted to use brighter colors paired with grays and creams, so I began sorting through my stash, making trips to the quilt shops, buying all sorts of fabrics that caught my eye and were not typically "me".  What I ended up with was way more than the 20 fat quarters I was supposed to have.

 

But because I wanted to follow the rules (oh, if I had only known that no one else was following them!) I whittled it down to just 20 that I thought would give everyone a nice assortment to choose from.

 

Stenciling the center block....

Even though I love applique, I decided to paint the letters on the center square, just to do something different and to avoid applique and turning the edges under on the skinny letters.  For this, I used Shiva Paintstiks, which are oil based sticks of paint that look almost like a huge crayon.  If you have never heard of these or used them, here is a quick overview of how I do it.  

First, trace the pattern onto the dull side of freezer paper.

{ trace the design }

 

Using small scissors with an extra fine, sharp tip, carefully cut the design out.  Keep in mind that you are making a stencil, where the fabric is protected by the stencil (in this case, the freezer paper) and the paint is applied through the open area (the portion of the freezer paper that has been cut away).  Use a warm dry iron to temporarily adhere the freezer paper to the fabric.

{ cut out the stencil }

 

Smear a little paint on a styrofoam plate, kinda like coloring with a large crayon.

Load some paint onto a blunt stencil brush using a circular motion.  (I have a collection of brushes ranging in size from 1/8" to 3/4").  Then, using the same circular motion, apply the paint to the fabric in the open areas of the stencil.  Mix, blend, shade..... you have total control over how it turns out and the look you want.

{ apply the paint }

 

A few things to note..... Because I love to mix colors, I can seldom reproduce the exact color of an area, so I try to paint everything that I want with that specific color at the same time. 

I also like to add shading by using a very small stencil brush and black paint along the edges. Because this is an oil based paint, it takes a while to dry, allowing plenty of time to blend and mix colors to get the effect I want. I start with a light coating of paint and just keep adding colors until I like the way it looks. :-)

The freezer paper can simply be peeled off when the painting is finished and can even be reused several times.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the peace symbol in there.... if you know me very well, you know that I have this thing for the peace sign but have never worked it into a quilt.  I looked at this as my opportunity to add a little "peace" to the project, because like I said before, this one was for ME!! 

Ok, so enough about that....  I felt that I needed to make it look like an actual center block and wanted to accentuate the lines surrounding the words with a softer, more circular feel around the whole thing. So I drew this cool border for it, only to realize that none of the angles were typical ones that could be cut with standard rulers.  Yes, I tend to make the simplest things difficult, and yes, I ended up making templates and cutting the pieces that way.  Then I had the challenge of figuring out how to line them up to piece them together.  

{ piecing the center block border }

 

But I got it all together and felt it needed a little more color and spunk, so I added a little bird and a flower overlapping the "line" around the words, just to keep with the feeling of coloring outside the lines.  Then I boxed it up and sent it on its' way to Kari.  

 

And so began the wait....

which was longer than the four months that we had originally planned for this project, because we ended up doing the big reveal at Meridith Corp, home of American Patchwork and Quilting.  This trip in and of itself was an incredible experience for me, not only because I got to visit APQ, but because I got to spend the entire weekend with these incredible ladies.  I flew to Minneapolis (being the only one that didn't live in Minnesota) where we all piled in a van to drive and shop our way to DesMoines.  To say that we had a blast is a bit of an understatement!

 

Our first morning there was the big "reveal" when we were each blindfolded while our quilt was being pulled out and held up.  The awe that I'm sure we all felt when we took off the blindfold to see our quilt was far beyond anything I could have imagined!  With no preconcieved notions of what I thought the quilts would look like, I can honestly say that I was at a loss for words.

 

 

I loved what everyone had added to my quilt and was so excited.  But at the beginning of this round robin project we had agreed to work on final borders together, since we each had a portion of ourselves invested in all of the quilts.  Oddly enough, after all of the quilts were shown, mine was the only one that we felt would benefit from an additional round.  The consenus was to add a colorful pieced piano key border with rounded corners and applique a black triangle in the center of these borders.  The idea was that it would pull things together with more color on the outer edge and that the black triangles would mimic the inner border.

{ the original plan for an additional border }

 

We played with the extra fabric we had taken with us.....

...did some brainstorming about how to effectively get the look we were going for and what was the best way to sew the borders on....

 

 

And eventually ended up making a trip out to another quilt shop to add some fabric.  We then spent the afternoon together, cutting and sewing to try to get the borders done.  This was a fantastic exercise for me because like many designers, I work alone, which means that I have very few opportunities to see techniques and methods that are different than mine.  And let me tell you, when four designers get together and all of them are trying to accomplish the same thing, it is amazing how different they all approach it! 

This is what we finally ended up with at the end of the day.  We ran out of time to attach the borders, but we packed up and headed back home with the intention of me stitching the borders on myself.  

 

But after I got home, I sat and stewed about what we had done.... Was it too much? Did it really enhance the quilt?  Or was it just a distraction?  And the more I thought about it, the less I was convinced that I wanted to add it.  I was also very hesitant to actually stitch it on, which is usually my gut telling me that it just isn't right.  So I hung it on my design wall and stared at it for a couple days.  And it stared back.  Until several days later, it just hit me... Why not work with what was already there instead of adding more?  I cut a few black triangles and laid them on the existing border to see what would happen.     

 

Those simple black triangles added between the half circles helped to not only define their shapes, but they also made the colors pop. I felt like it was such a better solution than what we had done together.  But what would the others say if I didn't add the borders we had worked on?  It was supposed to be a joint effort and here I was, changing my mind, making a decision on my own.  So I did what any (in)sane person would do.... I snapped a picture of my idea and sent a message to the others, asking their opinion and how they would feel about it if I didn't use the borders we had worked on together.  And I can't tell you how happy I was to get answers back from all of them saying "Go for it!"   

In hindsight, I think we were all running on adreniline and feeling a bit fried during our weekend together.  And when you add in the pressure of four tired brains trying to come up with an idea and implementing it all in one day.... well let's just say that it may not have been our best plan. 

So I simply added the black triangles as applique and finished the quilt with black binding.  This is the final result....

 

At the same time, I didn't want to just discard what we had worked so hard on together for the borders.  So I took portions of the border strips and pieced them into the back, so it is almost like I have a reversible quilt.... a little fun and whimsical on one side with a little modern twist on the other.   

And to top it all off, it was quilted by the talented and amazing Angela Walters.

I have to admit that this is by far my favorite quilt in the house.  It tells a story.  It has the heart of each of us embedded in every stitch and I love it!  

I would love to hear your thoughts on our quilts and round robin projects in general, so leave a comment if you have something to share.

Now, don't forget to check out the other Round Robin Rebels blogs to see their thoughts and what they each added to make my quilt complete.

Terry Atkinson (Atkinson Designs)

Kari Carr (New Leaf Stitches)

Gudrun Erla (GE Designs)

And don't forget you can see the whole story in the Feb. 2014 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting and check out the video interviews and additional stuff at allpeoplequilt.com.   

 

 Come back next week for our stories on the final quilt in this series!

:: Round Robin Rebels - Round 2 ::

The Round Robin Rebels story in American Patchwork and Quilting is in full swing!

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

If you happened to stop by last week or came from allpeoplequilt.com, you already know what we are all about.  But if you simply stumbled here on your own, I encourage you to check out all of our blogs from last week where we shared our rules (or lack thereof) for our Round Robin quilt project and the evolution of Gudrun's quilt.  You can find links at the bottom of this post.

This is a little reminiscent of the actual journey of these quilts, because they traveled in this order..... Gudrun sent a quilt to Kari, I received a box from Kari each month, and I sent each quilt to Terry Atkinson, who sent quilts along to Gudrun.  Since we covered Gudrun's quilt last week, we are all going to focus on Kari's quilt this week.

Karis quilt....

I honestly thought that of all the quilts, Kari's would be the easiest for me because our styles tend toward the  traditional style.  As we were making our own centers, she shared with me that one thing she realized while making hers was that the "no rules" for our round robin was actually a bit difficult for her and that she kinda liked rules.   Now, let me remind you that the only real "rules" we had were to make a center block (any size, any shape) and include 3 yards of a bakcground fabric along with 20 fat quarters for everyone to use.

So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found a center block made with batik's and yardage only of 7 different fabrics..... NO fat quarters!  Leave it to the rule follower to break the rules!

{ Round Robin Rebels - Kari's center block before my borders }

It cracked me up because here she was, the rule follower in the group, and she is the only one who didn't follow the 20 fat quarter rule!  But in her defense, I can see why she didn't include 20 different fabrics, because I did go out and try to find others to add to the quilt and it was very difficult with batiks.  In fact, here is a little excerpt from my Round Robin Journal:

Jan 14, 2013

Kari only included about 7 different fabrics and they look great together, but I’m thinking I might be able to find something that will “sparkle” a little.  We shall see!

Jan 16, 2013

I don’t use batiks very often.  Not because I don’t like them.  I do.  As an artist I find them fascintating.  But that fusion of colors also makes them hard to work with because an entire quilt from them can become very "bizzy" very quickly.  I’ve realized this as I was searching and trying to add fabrics to Kari's block.  Even if the color was right, many of them became overpowering.  I ended up with a large print and two very subtle prints to calm it down and I really like how it’s coming together. 

The Round Robin lesson I learned?  

Go with your gut.... Just because someone says you need to have "X" number of fabrics doesn't mean that it has to be done that way.  Kari chose to bend the rules a little and got fantastic results.

So, after staring at Kari's block for 3 weeks (yes, I had a staring contest with every single one of these quilts) I decided that I really wanted to mimic the rounded corners she had created with the 30 degree angles, and once again I headed to my computer to redraw her block in Illustrator.  After enlarging a 30 degree pie shape, I found that I loved the effect I got simply by alternating the rotation of each piece and voila!  My border was planned!  And in case you are wondering, I added the little gold dotted fabric and the bold brown geometric print to the fabrics that Kari sent with her block.  The other fabrics that I bought because I thought they would work just ended up in my stash  :-)

{ Round Robin Rebels - Testing my idea }

 

{ Round Robin Rebels - Kari's block after adding my border }

 And I must say that the quilting done by the very talented Angela Walters is amazing.  
On ALL of our quilts! Kudos to her for a doing such an incredible job!

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

What I particularly liked about this border was the way it seamlessly extended the existing block so that it was not evident where the center block ended and the border began, becoming more of an extension of it rather than a separate entity.  

Another Round Robin Lesson I learned......

Look at the quilt as a whole, not as separate borders.  Let each quilt talk to you and try to pull elements from previous rounds instead of worrying about making something totally unique.  Believe me, I struggled with this because I felt like I was cheating, not coming up with my own idea.  But by using the same elements that Kari had already used, the second border just flows from the center and the result makes it hard to decide where one section ends and the other begins.

What I would consider doing differently.....

I added the narrow border as an afterthought, so that it was a workable size ( i.e. an even measurement instead of some odd size) for Terry.  Although I didn't ask Terry if it helped her or made it harder for her, I wonder if I had not added it where her creative process would have taken her.  Did she curse that narrow border and consider removing it? If it was not there, would she have looked at the quilt differently?  Or was it a nice break point that allowed her to add that incredible pieced and curved border that she did.....

If you haven't seen it, I guess you will just have to go visit her blog this week! You can see her blog here.

One more thing I want to share....

While working on Kari's border I was reminded how much I dislike connector corners because of the extra time it takes to mark the diagonal on each of those squares.  So this is a method I sometimes use that allows me to skip that step and makes my piecing go faster....

Cut all the squares to be used as connector corners.  
Lay them on the ironing board right sides down and press them flat.

Now, fold them in half diagonally and press again, pressing a crease along the diagonal.

 

Place the small squares on the large square (or whatever piece you are adding a connector corner to).  

 

Sew along the diagonal crease.  Chain piecing works great here.

 

To trim the excess, lay the chain of pieces on the cutting mat with the stitching in a straight line. 
Use a rotary ruler and cutter to trim all the excess with one cut.

  

Now, you have extra pairs of triangles that you have trimmed off.  Instead of throwing them away, set them next to your machine and use them as Beginners and Enders when stitching other things and before you know it you will have a collection of bias squares to use in another project! 

Now, you really need to go visit the other blogs to see what their thought process was and to see a final reveal of Kari's quilt.

Kari's quilt - round 1:  Kari Carr {New Leaf Stitches}

Kari's quilt- round 2:  Me {you are here already}

Kari's quilt - round 3:  Terry Atkinson {Terry Atkinson Designs}

Kari's quilt - round 4:  Gudrun Erla {GE Designs}

If you haven't gotten your Feb. 2014 subscription issue of American Patchwork and Quilting, look for it in coming weeks or at the newstand in December.  

And if you are a Facebook user, check out our new Round Robin Rebel page.  We will be posting thoughts and pictures related to our Round Robin journey and encourage you to add yours too!   

Next week, we will be talking about my quilt!!! Woo Hoo!  So come back and check it out!

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

:: Round Robin Rebels - round 1 ::

I am so excited to finally be able to share with you something that I have been so fortunate to be a part of... The Round Robin Rebels. 

And our story is featured in the February 2014 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting!

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

If you don't have a subscription, you really need to grab one at the newstand when it is available because you won't want to miss it!  Trust me on this.

So, who and what are The Round Robin Rebels you ask?? 

A little background....

This incredible adventure started as a late night conversation with a couple friends (who also happen to be fantastic designers) two years ago while sharing a couple chocolate martinis, courtesy of Gudrun Erla of GE Designs.

{ Gudrun and her infamous chocolate martinis }  

We were lamenting about the lack of time we set aside to make anything for ourselves, and how cool it would be if we could do something that would challenge us and force us out of our comfort zones. We tossed around some ideas, brainstormed, and talked several times after that night and almost a year later, Gudrun (GE Designs) finally came up with....

 

The plan....

Four designers with different quilting styles.

Four months from start to finish. 

Round Robin quilts.

Anything goes.

We dubbed ourselves The Round Robin Rebels and we are Terry Atkinson (Atkinson Designs), Kari Carr (New Leaf Stitches), Gudrun Erla (GE Designs), and myself.

{ Terry Atkinson, Kari Carr, Gudrun Erla, Terri Degenkolb }

We were to start by making our own center block.  ANY size.  ANY shape.  Pick 20 fat quarters and send them along with 3 yards of a background fabric and our center block to the next person on the list.  The recipient had 1 month to add whatever she wanted.... one border, multiple borders, borders on 3 sides.  We could add fabric if we felt the need, or use what was in the box.  The idea was total creative freedom.  WOW!  It sounded like bliss to me! 

Or at least it did until I got that first box.  And the next.... And by then I was seriously wondering when I had lost my mind, what I had gotten myself into, and how I was going to dig myself out.  The fear.  The uncertainty.  The challenge of working in a completely different style.  And with someone else's fabrics.  Ohmygosh.  I was completely overwhelmed and scared to death.  

To give you an inside glimpse of our adventure, we will each be posting once a week about a specific designers' quilt.  This week, we are focusing on Gudrun Erla of GE Designs. 

 

Gudrun's quilt....

To see Gudrun's perspective on making her center block, go here.

I was the second person to get Gudrun's quilt.  I was little apprehensive because our quilting styles are so different and I had no idea what to expect.  So I slowly opened the box, pulled out the quilt, put it on my design wall, then stepped back and just stared at it thinking "No way.  I can't do this."

{ Round Robin Rebels - Gudrun's quilt before my borders }

Bright colors on a black background!  And what Kari added was so cool.  I had no idea what to do and I let it hang on my wall for almost a month.  Every day, I stared at that quilt.  And every day, that quilt stared back at me.  The time was ticking away (we only had one month to add to each quilt and get it to the next person) and I had nothing. 

My first impulse was to somehow build off of Kari's border and still keep the rounded circle theme going.  I loved the "exclamation points" Kari put in the corners but she had used almost all of the gray flower fabric.  So my dilemma was how to add onto them using different fabrics, yet make it look like it was planned. 

To give you a glimpse of my thought process, here is an excerpt from my Round Robin Journal:

Feb. 14

Still staring at this quilt center.  I love how it looks right now and what Kari did with her border.  It is just difficult to add anything onto it.  Unless I continue what she did in the corners..... hmmmm..... I need to explore that a little bit.

I tried cutting some curvy strips and stitched them together.  I like the concept, but it doesn’t translate well to the fabrics.  They are too dominant, too strong, and just compete with each other, all screaming for attention, to be seen, which then drowns out everything else that has been done up to this point.  Honestly, I think I just need to expand on the black and dark gray and use the bright colors sparingly.  

I have an idea I drew out today, but I’m not sure it will work.  I've realized when I’m working with my own fabric, I don’t care as much if I mess up and throw away pieces that don’t work.  But that is all different when I only have fat quarters and someone else bought them, picked them out SPECIFICALLY, and who knows if I could find the fabric again.  Now THAT’S intimidating!  I think with this one, I will make a trip to the quilt shop, buy some fabrics that are close to what she included and do a trial run, just to see how it looks.  That will be tomorrow’s task.

 

I finally found a great piece of black and gray polka dot fabric that I thought was a perfect compliment to Gudrun's fabric choices. And I toyed around with adding yellow rick rack. 

Nope.  Didn't like that at all....  Too much of the polka dot and the rick rack just didn't fit with the style of the quilt.  Then I spent a day drawing out Gudrun's center and Kari's border in Illustrator so I could mess around with different aspects of the designs and eventually landed on a solution I liked.  By replicating Kari's exclamation points, I could make them into jacks!  (Who else remembers playing jacks with a superball when they were young?!)

One of my ideas was to applique big half circles between the "jacks", but it was too much and overpowered the center design.  So I made smaller circles in various sizes. 

No, I didn't use the larger half circle.  And yes, I was heartbroken when I couldn't find any to replace that huge piece I cut.  But I did eventually cut a smaller circle out of it and was really happy when I could carry the "jacks" theme further by adding various size circles on my border using  different fabrics that were included in Gudrun's box. 

 

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

I absolutely love the final result and what it added to Gudrun's quilt!  And although the entire process for each quilt was hard for me, I would do it again in a heartbeat. The weekend we spent together doing the big "reveal" of the completed quilts at Meredith Corp. was a total blast. 

I love these girls.  I love all of the finished quilts.  And I can't wait to do this again!!!!

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

So now, I encourage you to find a few quilting friends and start your own round robin quilt if you have never done one before.  It is totally worth it!  You can follow along on our blogs this week and in the weeks to come  to get little tidbits and thoughts from each of us about our quilts and our journey together.

Terry Atkinson (Atkinson Designs)

Kari Carr (New Leaf Stitches)

Gudrun Erla (GE Designs)

You can also visit AllPeopleQuilt/863 for additional videos and links from our time spent at the American Patchwork & Quilting studio. 

And if that isn't enough, we have created a RoundRobinRebels Facebook page where you can share your round robin journey with us and be the first to find out when we do this again, because we are all ready!

Let's go!

 

:: summer fun ::

Thank you to everyone who left a comment about my pattern All Geared Up.  It was fun to hear everyone's preferences for applique..... and how many just stay clear of it.  My preference has always been to use freezer paper on the reverse side to turn the edges under, then hand stitch the piece, but I have to admit that I have recently been trying and researching other methods and found a couple that I really like.  Maybe someday I'll get around to doing a post about applique methods.  But not today..... 

First, I need to let Tami know that she is the winner of the All Geared Up pattern!  This is what she said about applique:

"I use both fusible web & the Karen Buckley method of applique depending on what kind of project I'm doing. I just have never gotten the knack of needle turning. I love your patterns and fabric. Just my style. :) "

Thanks Tami!  I will be getting in touch with you so that I can get your address and send you the pattern.

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Now, I said that I would show you my new patterns, so here is another one.  After I finished All Geared Up, I had all these leftover pieces from the background.  (See a post on that pettern here)

And I thought..... Petals!

So I used all of them to make these flowers....

Because they were all the same fabric, I added a narrow piping around each petal.  A very simple technique which finishes the edge of the applique piece without having to apply fusible web or needle turn the edges under.  AND, it separates the petals!  There were enough to make three of these big flowers, which then became a bed runner.  This was made using the leftovers from the cover quilt of All Geared Up and the Around Town fabrics.

And of course, there were the same number of leftover pieces from the second version of the All Geared Up quilt, which became a table runner.  Same size flowers, but a bit smaller overall.

I love the gray fabrics in this, and the bike print is my favorite one from Around Town.  And no, the fabric used in the petals is not from that line of fabric, nor is it one that I designed, although I wish I had because it is an awesome newspaper style print!  


But I couldn't stop with just the runners.  Nope.  I had to make a single flower, which became a round table mat.  On this one, I did turn the edges under for the applique because I used two different fabrics and didn't feel that it needed the extra piping around each petal.

Eventually, I would like to get around to making three more of these so I could use them as placemats, although I seriously doubt they will ever get done!

So, all of these are in one pattern, called Summer Fun.  

I finally have all the new patterns on my website, which I have also be "freshening up", so let me know what you think!

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Now, on to a personal note.....  

This definitely has been a roller coaster of a week.... Or has it been two?  I can't seem to keep track of the time anymore.  It just seems to be flying by.  But here is what has been going on in our household to cause such upheaval for me. 

At the beginning of August, my oldest son who recently graduated from Indiana university and has been living with us since December, was offered a job.  Woo hoo!  The big catch was that it was not in Indiana.  Not even in the U.S.  It is in South Korea.  Now, he had been looking into this since graduating in May, and I can honestly say that I did not think it would really happen.  But it did.  So for the past several weeks, we have been getting all the documents filled out, submitted, sent to the proper places, purchasing the necessities to live in a different country for a year and hoping to get it all taken care of and stuffed into two large suitcases and a backpack in order to arrive in South Korea on time. 

And he did.  He flew out this past Sunday, and after two long days of anxiously waiting to hear from him, he was finally able to gain internet access (what did we do without all this technology??) and let us know that everything was ok.  Granted, it was at 2 am, but it was definitely a huge relief.  Then, a day later, our youngest moved back to college.  

So, we are going through the whole "empty nest" adjustment for the second time.  I will admit that I am finding it difficult knowing that one of my kids is halfway around the world, but am so thankful for Skype, computers, and instant messaging.  All will be good in the end.  They are both on adventures of a lifetime and I would never dream of taking that away.  

It's just that the house is now so quiet.  And sometimes that silence can be so deafening.....

:: give-away winner ::

It has been a very busy, chaotic week, so I am sorry for letting the ball drop in posting a winner for the giveaway from my last post.  

The winner of the Big Blocks, Big Style book and the Nordic Visions fabric bundle is Angele.  I agree with her comment about GE Designs book and fabric....

"Wow, I do love that fabric. The big block book is just what I need to get going. Thanks for giving me the chance to participate in this giveaway."

I will be sending you an email to get all your info so we can ship it all out to you.

Now for a fun bit of exciting news.... 

I finally have my new patterns finished and hope to get them from the printer this week. So I thought I would take the next few days and share them with you.  

All Geared Up Quilt - Version 1

Out of the hundreds of quilts I've made, this one is WAY up at the top of the list.  In fact, I like it so much that I made it twice, which is something that I rarely do!  With the fabric line Around Town, I really wanted to concentrate on designs that were circular, or gave the feeling of being round, and this one really does that.  

I fussy cut the large scale house print from Around Town into circles and appliqued them in the center of all the gear blocks for the quilt on the cover of the pattern.  There are several different shops on this fabric, but my favorite is the Chocolate Shop, for obvious reasons!

For another version, I wanted to use gray, red and black for the men in my house.  I find it very difficult to find fabric suitable for guys, so when I saw the mustaches and geometric prints I had to use them.  This quilt is now hanging in our family room and I love it.

All Geared Up Quilt - Version 2

The blocks may look difficult, but they really are not that hard with the techniques that I used.  You have to trust me on this one. No paper piecing, no tricky seams, just accurate cutting and pressing.  Yes, there are curved seams, and if you have never made a block with curved seams, don't be afraid.  They are not hard.  Once you try it, you will wonder what you were afraid of!  

I will say, however, that with this pattern, it is especially helpful if you have a few specialty rulers as well.  I used a 15 degree wedge ruler, the Spider Web ruler and the Swirly Girls Circle Savvy ruler, which made cutting the pieces easy and quick.  You can also make your own templates if you choose to, but it goes faster with the rulers and I found that I was more accurate with them, which is important with these blocks.  I included instructions for making the blocks either with the rulers or with templates, so you can try both methods to see which works best for you.  

So this pattern, called All Geared Up, should be ready to ship later this week.  I will get them up on my website in the next few days, so if you check there and don't see them, just keep checking back.

AND, if you leave me a comment before midnight tomorrow, you will have a chance to get one of the patterns for free!  Just tell me if you prefer to applique with fusible web, if you turn the edges under, or if you simply stay clear of any quilt with applique on it.

Enjoy!

:: GE Designs give away ::

I'm back!  And am happy to be a part of a really cool give away for a very special friend and fellow Red Rooster Fabrics designer, Gudrun Erla of GE Designs.

I think it was at least 12 years ago when I first met Gudrun at International Quilt Market as the owner of a quilt shop in Iceland. Wow, it's hard to believe that I have known her that long. She would come into my booth to purchase my books and patterns for her shop until she decided to make a move to the U.S. and start her own design company.  

Since meeting at that first market over 12 years ago, we have been "booth neighbors" countless times.... back booth neighbors, side booth neighbors, and neighbors across the aisle.... sharing laughs, ideas, dinners, cabs and life at Market.  

photo taken at Quilt Market 

She has so many great ideas and so much energy, it's hard to keep up with her, although I have been known to follow her into a quilt tent.... tee hee!

Last year, we had a chance to get away for a weekend of quilting with several other designers and one of the projects Gudrun was working on was a quilt called Lopapeysa, inspired by the knit wool sweaters in Iceland. The quilt is so cool and became the feature quilt on the cover of her book Big Blocks, Big Style.  

So today, Gudrun is giving away a copy of the book Big Blocks, Big Style along with a fat quarter pack of her newest fabric line Nordic Visions.  

Nordic Visions fabric pack by GE Designs

All you have to do is post a comment here on my blog.  We will pick a random name from the comments to be the recipient of this fantastic book and fabric pack. It's that easy.  

Gudrun has some great giveaways planned, so here is the lineup for the rest of the week.... You will want to visit them all!

Aug. 5th-14th Gudrun Erla gudrun.typepad.com

Aug. 5th Terri Degenkolb whimsicals.typepad.com

Aug. 6th Bonnie Hunter quiltville.blogspot.com

Aug. 7th Quiltmaker quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures

Aug. 8th Carrie Nelson lavieenrosie.typepad.com

Aug. 9th Jodie Davis itsarubberduckieworld.com

Aug. 10th Fat Quarter Shop fatquartershop.blogspot.com

Aug. 11th Pat Sloan blog.patsloan.com

Aug. 12th Lissa Alexander modalissa.blogspot.com

Aug. 13th Julie Herman jaybirdquilts.com

Aug. 14th Quilting Gallery quiltinggallery.com

 

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And yes, I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything here.... There are several changes coming up within our family household, and I will try posting that on another day.

But in the meantime, have you checked out my Facebook page? If not, you should!  I find it so much easier to do short random posts there and on Instagram, so be sure to "like" WhimsicalsQuilts.

 

:: journey of a studio ::

For those of you who follow Whimsicals Quilts on Facebook, you may have seen some of these pictures already, but it's been so long since I've posted anything here, I thought I would share the journey of my studio from one end of the house to the other.

You see, for 10 years I have called an almost 11' x 13' bedroom my "room", my "space", or most of the time, my "cave".  It was cozy. It was familiar.  It was all mine, with as much "stuff" as I could stuff into it.  I was comfortable there.... most of the time.  As long as the outside temperature was between 55 degrees and 70 degrees.  And let me remind you that we live in Indiana, where it has not been above 45 degrees in almost 6 months.  Ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration.  But believe me, that room is cold.  And did I say that it is small?

To see proof that it is small, see my blog posts from a few years ago here and here.

Meanwhile, this large room that was a living room when we bought the house, but became the dining room when we remodeled our kitchen, which then basically become the shipping room (did you follow all of that?) was not really being used in a good way.

So, for years I've been thinking about moving my things into that large room to create an actual "studio", but there were several things that always stopped me.  First of all and probably the biggest issue was knowing that whenever someone came in our front door, they would basically be walking into my studio.  Literally.  The only thing that is between the room and the front door are two partial walls that are 3 feet long and 3 feet high.  The second thing that held me back was the lack of wall space.  With two large doorways and a huge window, where was I going to put everything?

But after purchasing a Koala cabinet for my sewing machine last year that didn't really fit into the room as I had hoped (forcing me to use my machine on a shakey portable table all the time), I finally took the leap.   After years of waffling about it, I repainted the dining room, and moved my things and created my own studio.

So here we go.... a pictorial tour of the old and the new.

The dining room before the move.  You can see that the table was already being used for cutting instead of eating!  And I found the Ikea desk at GoodWill and stuck it there because I had nowhere else to put it.

The dining room from the other end, standing in the large open doorway into the kitchen.  What a mess!

I didn't make it into this room until my husband had already moved my computer, chair, etc., but this is what I used as a desk in my old room.  I took two legs off of a table and screwed it into the built-in desk to give myself a little side desk which I needed to save my shoulder and arm while working on the computer.

Another view of my old room after things had been moved.  Because I couldn't use the extenders on my Koala cabinet, I took the rollers off and used them to support my ironing board, which is simply a piece of wood covered in batting and duck cloth.  

And this is what it looks like now.... I still would like to add a window treatment, but I love the sunlight coming in from the window and so does the pup!

And a view from the opposite end. Yes, that is the front door to our house, right there.

And there it is!  In the next few days, I will add some detail pictures of a few of my favorite parts of the room.  But for now, I need to get back to work.  Enjoy!

Terri