Snips and Bits from Shelley's Studio » My Designs, Your Work

Cool Cat Cathedral Window Quilt

Shelley Swanland — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:00:01 +0000

In December of 1999 my first book “Machine Stitched Cathedral Windows” was published. Every once in a while I get pictures of a quilt made using the book.

Lori Lusk created this beautiful quilt in 2007 just in time for Christmas. She used the technique from my book for the central part of the quilt. Using bright colors for the window frames. the panes use the cat fabric shown below and the cat paw print was used for the foundation. The fussy cut cats were used again in the border along with more of the bright solids. Lori had this to say:

“I entered the quilt in our quilt guild’s challenge and won the viewer’s choice, best use of color and best expressed theme (It’s a novel-tee). It was a Christmas gift for my great-niece who was three at the time. The back of the quilt is the cat paw print and had a matching pillowcase to put it in.”

This is a wonderful example that uses my technique with original design choices for the color placement and borders to make a Cathedral Window Quilt. What a great job, Lori!

Checking in From the Road

Shelley Swanland — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:04:25 +0000

I was up at the Central Coast Shop Tour this weekend and ran into lots of friends and made some new ones. I got to meet a couple of Tweeps (friends from Twitter) even. A student and friend, Judy Hines, brought in a small piece that she made in one of my classes in September of 2005. Its called “Stars for Rick” in memory of her son. It’s a Cathedral Window with a 9Patch layout. The high contrast used with the frame fabrics makes the nine frames stand out and the grid and scallop finish makes the frames look like stars. Judy has taken lots of classes with me and I was so thrilled to get this picture and show everyone her quilt. Thank you, Judy.

I know it’s Twilt Tuesday and my Twilt isn’t finished since I have been on the road for a week and will be in San Diego for the next couple of days but I will post it on Friday if I can, so check back then.

Back From My Travels

Shelley Swanland — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:12:11 +0000

The last two weekends have been busy for me April 25 and 26 I was at the Seven Sisters Quilt Show in San Luis Obispo, California. I have family up there so I was able to see family as well as enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

Patricia Corley had a quilt in the show, “Butterflies”, that she made in a Machine Stitched Cathedral Stars class that I taught a few years ago and you know how I love to see student work.

This last weekend May 1 and 2 I was at the Inland Empire Quilt Show in Norco, California. There were a lot of wonderful quilts in the show and another student’s work, Jeanie Stellrecht’s “Cathedral Star”. Jeanie was in a Cathedral Window Stars Table Runner class I taught at The Fabric Patch.

Vending at quilt shows is quite a bit of work but I always enjoy visiting with quilters, vendors and friends!

Belated Congrats to Ria

Shelley Swanland — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:30:28 +0000

Last year Ria D’ Inca of Ventura made this quilt from my pattern Parchment & Black Lacquer and it won a First Place ribbon at the 2008 Ventura County fair. What a great job Ria did!

If you see a quilt from one of my designs or make one of your own, I would love to post them here on my Blog. Thanks to Phyllis Curlee for finding this quilt and sending me the pictures.

Fun Times and Some Good Stuff

Shelley Swanland — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:06:13 +0000

Just back from Glendale and my workshop in Riverside. The ladies of Raincross Quilt Guild asked me to do a Lotus Lullaby workshop. We had lots of fun and everyone finished piecing their block.

It was a big success and I plan to offer the Lotus Lullaby workshop actively in the future. I had to skip Saturday at the Glendale show to do this workshop.

The Glendale Quilt Show was wonderful and well attended and I used my free time to scout out some new embellishments for my Twilts. Didn’t I find some yummy stuff? Remember, tomorrow is Twilt Tuesday.

Celebrating Spring

Shelley Swanland — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:38:23 +0000

Last week I spent a few days on the Central Coast of California with the Santa Maria Valley Quilter’s Guild. After my lecture I did a Parchment & Black Lacquer workshop. It’s one of my most popular workshops. Barbara Wemmer used her Easter fabrics instead of the Asian fabrics. I lived in San Luis Obispo for years and really enjoyed getting together with lots of old friends while making new ones.

My Technique, Your Work

Shelley Swanland — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:12:13 +0000

I love, love, love it when I get pictures in the mail or email from quilters who have used one of my patterns or books to make a quilt. It’s very gratifying. So, I am going to make an effort to track some of them down. I have two today that I would like to show. Denise from Santa Clara, California made a quilt from my pattern Romantic Reflections. What a lovely quilt!! Her Cat enjoyed it as well.

Elizabeth from Portland, Oregon made this quilt from my second book, “Machine Stitched Cathedral Stars”. The quilt design is called “A Window Full of Stars”. She made it larger and added a very cool border. Wow!

If you’ve made one of my designs, I would love to show it off. If you want me to use your full name, just let me know and I will. A great big Thank You to Denise and Elizabeth!!

South Bay Quilt Show

Shelley Swanland — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:35:45 +0000

The South Bay Quilt Show is held in Torrance, California every year around this time. This year I covered the show in Monica’s Quilt and Bead Creations booth. She has a fabulous store in Palm Desert, California. We all had a great time. When I had an opportunity to look at all the wonderful quilts I came across a piece that one of my students made when I did a Lecture and Workshop for their guild in the summer. I just love finding student work. Nancy Payne got creative with the actual class project. Her piece is an original layout of my Parchment & Black Lacquer design and she called it Oriental Table Runner. Great job, Nancy!