Introducing Kristi Parker

Hello!
It’s about time I introduced myself to our blog readers! My name is Kristi Parker and I’m very pleased to be a part of the New England Quilt Designers Collective. I am the only member who doesn’t have a web site up yet, but it will be coming…eventually.

I made my first quilt at about age 12 from all kinds of sewing scraps. It included everything; polyester double knit, tie dyed cotton, felt, and even velvet!! Over the years I have taken classes from well known quilters, read every book and magazine about quilting I could get my hands on, attended umpteen guild meetings and quilt shows, and have taught many, many quilt classes. I guess I have come full circle. Now I am a Family and Consumer Science teacher at a middle school, teaching 12 year olds how to sew!
Besides teaching, I take care of 6 family members, I’m a professional clown (yes, you read that correctly!), and I design quilting and craft patterns.

My business name is Chicken Soup Designs. I currently have 4 patterns that Nancy Dill of Quiltwoman.com is going to publish, market and distribute for me. I have published several other patterns which are available at some southern New Hampshire quilt shops and will eventually be on the website that I’m developing. You can e-mail me at chickensoupdesigns@yahoo.com for more information if you are interested.

I enjoy a challenge when I create quilts for myself. My favorite “block” is the Mariner’s Compass. I also love to combine piecing with appliqué. I love to do hand work, but find myself doing most of my piecing, appliqué, and quilting by machine. My quilts range from traditional to contemporary, and I enjoy using everything from antique feed-sacks to bright batiks (not in the same quilt, however!)

The photo at the top of the page is "Mariner's Jewels", a project that I hope to complete by the end of the year. My husband helped me draft the Center compass using a CAD program and plotter. This quilt has a lot of symbolism of my family history in it.

The second photo shows "Ode to Flossie Hill" a quilt I made from old blocks given to me by an elderly relative. I set them on point alternating with muslin and added appliqued flowers made from feed sacks.

As soon as my patterns are ready at Quiltwoman.com, I will let you all know!
Until then, Happy Stitching!

Kristi Parker
Chicken Soup Designs

What do you look for in a quilt pattern?

Here's your chance to tell pattern designers what you're looking for when shopping for a quilt pattern. New England Quilt Designers Cooperative is a group of six quilt designers who work independently on our own work. We pool our resources to market ourselves and our patterns at quilt shows and this blog. We each have our own style and vision for what we wish to produce and how we wish to run our businesses. We all have the same issues though when it comes to what the consumer is looking for and that's where you, the discerning consumer, come in. Won't you take a few moments to leave a comment and tell us what you think about when choosing a pattern? We would all appreciate it and it will help us to get the patterns to market that you are interested in.

What size quilt pattern do you generally purchase - wall hangings, lap, bed sizes? Is it important to you to have several sizes in one pattern?

Would you be more apt to purchase a pattern if it had an "extra something" included, such as a matching pillow or some other coordinating item?

Thinking back on the last few patterns you purchased - what drew you to that pattern? Was it the colors of the cover sample (what were those colors?), a holiday item (which holiday?), the simplicity/complexity of the pattern or something else?

Is there a particular genre of quilt patterns that you never see but are always looking for? Or perhaps one you are tired of seeing everywhere?

What price is too much to pay for a pattern?

Thank you for taking the time to give us a little insight into your quilt pattern purchases. We look forward to reading your responses. And who knows, you may have just played a part in getting the next hit pattern to market!

Thanks again for leaving us a comment,
Terri Sontra
Purple Moose Designs
http://www.PurpleMooseDesigns.com

and the rest of the New England Quilt Designers Cooperative!

New Patterns for Sale

Patty Piper and Five Yard Dash are up on my web site. 

Barbara Chojnacki

http://www.sixgablesdesigns.com

New Book Venture!

I have been working on writing a quilt book for several months and have just finalized a book contract with Nancy Dill Designs dba QuiltWoman.com who will publish my book in early spring 2009. It will be introduced to the public at Spring Quilt Market in Chicago, April 2009, and I will be there in person to introduce it! I am very excited!

The book is based on a series of quilt patterns and shows how an original design idea can evolve and change in exciting ways. I have gathered a wonderful group of quilting friends from my guild to help me make quilts for the book, and there will be lots of color photos of the many variations of my initial design concept. I am very grateful for their enthusiastic participation and support for this new venture!

I can't say any more quite yet - Stay tuned for more details...

Cary Flanagan
Something Sew Fine Quilt Design
www.somethingsewfine@comcast.net

Our Booth at Clamshell

Heatwave or not, the show must go on, and it did! Here are some pictures of our booth. As usual, we displayed actual samples of all the quilts we have patterns for.

Time to pack up the quilts and unsold patterns and ship them back to their mommies, then play catchup on all the (sorely neglected) cleaning, laundry, shopping.

Happy Quilting,

Barbara Chojnacki

Six Gables Designs

For Love of Springtime

Copying and pasting parts of my latest newsletter, so many apologies if you came here looking for witty new things from me and end up coming away with stuff you've already seen and heard! Just consider it me doing my part to get Green and recycle.

"For Love of Springtime"

32 1/2" x 15"

Spring in the Beaded Blooms series

Before the weather turned unbearably hot, which to me is anything over 82 degrees, I created an ode to the Bleeding Hearts bush in full bloom outside my studio window. (Side note – I just love calling my quilting space a “studio”; it sounds so much fancier than “the finished half of our basement”.) The resulting quilt is entitled “For Love of Springtime” and is the third pattern in my “Beaded Blooms” series. The quilt itself made its debut at several trunk show lectures this spring and response from the quilting public was overwhelmingly positive, with several sales having been made before the pattern was even finished. The wall hanging uses the same pieced background, machine appliqué, and beaded embellishment techniques as the other quilts in the series, “Sunflower and Sky” and “Winter Whites”, and, in my very humble opinion, is really quite stunning in addition to being a great quilt for machine (or even those nutty hand) appliqué enthusiasts. I was blessed to have the cover photo taken by celebrity guest photographer Marie Seroskie of Katie Lane Quilts, whom I would like to add here is one of the nicest people on earth. Imagine my happy dance when this incredibly talented and experienced designer not only took a gorgeous photo for me but pronounced the design “a winner”. And yes, this time I did watch out for pins on the floor while happy dancing. “For Love of Springtime” is available at $4.00 wholesale ($8.00 retail) and is a great pattern to consider kitting. I have one shop owner who kits my "Sunflower and Sky" from this series and literally cannot keep them in stock. That is an awesome feeling.

Seven weeks and one day til EPQD namesakes Eva and Paige start Full Day Kindergarten…not that I am counting!!! I will miss them all day, but the gain of many more design hours in the week will be a welcome consolation for not having them home to entertain (read: talk nonstop to) me all day. Now to make sure Greta doesn’t decide to follow through on the threat of dropping her nap that she seems to be contemplating and ruin all my lofty plans. (Pun not intended, but so cute I will leave it in there.) The fun of balancing family and a one woman show is always entertaining.

Beth Helfter
EvaPaige Quilt Designs
http://www.evapaigequiltdesigns.com/

Countdown to Clamshell

With one week and two days to go until the Clamshell show, I'm busy putting the finishing touches on my two new patterns.

Five Yard Dash was so named because it uses five 1-yard pieces of fabric and is quick and easy to make. It measures a versatile 56" x 68". This is a great selling tool for shops that sell packets of one-yard cuts.

Patty Piper Pieced a Pair of Painless Pointless Pinwheels is a super quick, super fun pattern that yields not one, but two quilts. Simple blocks are stitched, then cut in half. The lighter halves make one top, the darker halves another. Use totally different border fabrics and you have very different quilts. What a great idea for siblings who share a room! Quilt shops/teachers take note- this is a great pattern for classes. Not only for beginners but for flannel quilts, charity quilts, holiday gifts, you name it. The pattern contains directions for 48" x 60" cuddle quilts and twin size bed quilts!

See you at the show!
Barbara Chojnacki
Six Gables Designs