June 2014 – Jinny Beyer Studio

Posted on June 25, 2014July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 13 Comments

Staff Profile- Linda

While the Studio bears my name, it is pretty obvious that it takes a number of people to keep it running. I am blessed with a wonderful staff that carries on the day to day operations. They allow me to focus on designing and teaching, yet I seem to get a lot of the credit for what happens behind the scenes. I want to take the opportunity to focus on my amazing staff by occasionally doing profiles to give them the recognition they so deserve. For the first profile, I couldn’t think of anyone better to start with than Linda Marcinowski.

Linda has been on staff at the Studio longer than anyone else, having started in the summer of 2002. Many of you have been greeted by her friendly smile and welcome along with her remarkable memory for customers’ names and their stories. While Linda learned to sew clothing from her grandmother when she was only seven years old, it wasn’t until years later, in 1998, that she took up quilting. As an Army wife, she was invited to a welcome coffee and joined a quilt group headed by the general’s wife. Linda taught herself to quilt to keep up with the others in the group. Jinny’s techniques were her favorites and she had learned much from Jinny’s books. Once her children were grown, Linda needed something to do, and started working at the Studio.

Linda with Sunset Walk and Four Seasons, both Studio designs

Linda, having started when the brick and mortar shop was fairly new and the business was smaller, has done just about everything. She worked on the newsletter, made shop samples, set up booths for quilt shows, been a member of the seminar staff, and even became certified in thimble fitter in 2005.

Wonderful One Fabric Quilt and Coventry, both Jinny Beyer Designs — Linda with her Wonderful One Fabric Quilt and Coventry in both colorways!

What she enjoys most, though, is meeting the customers, seeing what they are working on, and helping them with their projects. She says, “It makes my day. I love the amazing, different people I meet and the stories they tell.” One of her favorite things to do is play with Jinny’s border prints, figuring out more and more things to create with them.

Having been a military wife for many years and the travel it entails and now with her two daughters married, you may think that Linda and her husband lead a quiet life. Two years ago, her adorable little grandson, Andy, came into their lives and now there is a granddaughter due within the next couple of weeks. “Oma” Linda doesn’t have the quilting time she once did.

Stop by to meet Linda and the rest of my fabulous staff this summer. We have new fabrics arriving, exciting classes, and we’ll be participating in the Row by Row Experience shop hop.

Posted on June 18, 2014July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 6 Comments

Special Occasion Quilts

The story I have to tell today is one to which I’m sure many of you can relate. (Please tell me I’m not alone in this.) You’ve been rushing and rushing to get a quilt done for a special occasion and run out of time. You “give” the quilt anyway, but say you need to finish it. Somehow, once the cat is out of the bag there isn’t quite the urgency to keep hurrying to completion.

This, unfortunately, has happened to me too often. Years ago, I made a quilt for my husband’s parents to celebrate their 40^thwedding anniversary. I had the top done and only part of the quilting when their anniversary arrived. I showed it to them and they were very excited.

Well, it just seemed to take forever to finish the quilting. Every phone call, my mother-in-law would ask if I had finished the quilt yet and I would answer that doing all the quilting by hand just took a long time. Finally, on their 41^stanniversary when we called to give them our best, my mother-in-law sounded very frail. She asked if I had finished the quilt. I told her no, but it was coming along. She sighed and said, “Well, I hope we both get to enjoy it together.” That guilt trip got me going again and I had it finished within a couple of months. They enjoyed it together for many years.

I tell this story because I am now in the process of finishing yet another special occasion quilt. My son and daughter-in-law were married in September of 2005. For a “guest book” I made a quilt top and at the reception all of the guests signed the quilt with a permanent marker. My intention was to do the hand quilting and present them with the finished quilt on their 1^st anniversary.

Well, life got in the way, I got involved writing my book, “The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns,” and did no sewing for the five years I devoted to the book. Then other “stuff” happened and I never finished it.

Now nine years later, they have just moved to a new house and my husband and I are flying to California tomorrow to visit them. About three months ago, knowing we would see them, I vowed to finish the quilt and give it to them for their new home.

I took the last stitches this morning, cut the strips for the binding and have the material for a sleeve in case they want to hang it. I’ll start the binding tonight while I watch the “Nats” (my beloved Washington Nationals) play baseball and finish it on the plane. Watch Facebook for a photo of them with the quilt.

As quilters, we show we care by making quilts for others. We mark births, graduations, weddings and other special occasions with our quilts and don’t mind (much) that some of the recipients will never know the amount of time which goes into its creation. Making a quilt with signatures is a nice way to capture the sentiments of people who participated in a special event. Some quilters add photographs with photo transfer or fabrics from clothing. There is so much we can do to make our gift of a quilt extra special.

Editor’s note: If you have made a quilt for a special occasion using Jinny’s fabrics or patterns, we would love to see a picture and hear the story behind it. Please send them to studio@jinnybeyer.com.

Posted on June 11, 2014July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 1 Comment

Is There a Pattern for That?

Often on our Facebook page, we show pictures of quilts our customers have made using my fabrics and, inevitably, someone will ask if there is a pattern for it. Of course, we are more than happy to provide them with a pattern if it is one we carry or send them to another source, but sometimes we just don’t know. What, then, is a quilter to do if she falls in love with a block but can find no pattern? You can draft it yourself. Really, you can do it. It is not hard at all.

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I figured out years ago that most square patchwork designs were based on a grid such as a 2 x 2, 3 x 3, 4 x 4, 5 x 5, etc.

Starstruck side by side — A block from Starstruck* – this years’ block-of-the-month – with and without the grid.

Through the years, I’ve written several books on patterns and drafting with my most recent and comprehensive being, “Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns,” which has over 4000 pieced block patterns. It gives quilters a way to recreate each and every block in quilts of their own without all of the complicated math. (Don’t spread this around, but I really don’t like math.) All you have to do is look up the name of the block and see what grid is used.

Now, here is something that even people who have owned the book for a while sometimes don’t notice. Hidden in the back cover, under the jacket flap, are two plastic sheets full of grids. (Be sure to pull off the protective film.) Find the corresponding grid on the plastic sheet, place it over the design, and…..viola! You can see which lines of the grid to connect to draw the design.

A block from The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns with the transparency grid provided. — A block from The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns with the transparency grid provided.

What do you do if you don’t own the book or don’t have it with you when you need it? I learned a valuable tip from a fellow passenger on an airplane years ago. Go to my “Tips & Lessons” page and click on “Drafting Quilt Blocks” for this easy technique.

*If you want to receive our free block-of-the-month patterns sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Posted on June 4, 2014July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 5 Comments

Potatoes!

You are probably now checking to see if you clicked on the wrong thing because you were expecting something about quilting. I’ve been writing about somewhat technical topics lately and thought you might enjoy a break. There is, however, a tie to quilting if you just read on.

This time a year my vegetable garden is in its fledgling stage. I am harvesting the winter onions and some salad greens and radishes, but the tomato and pepper plants are still spindly. The herb, corn, beans, cucumber, beets, and squash seeds have just sprouted and mostly I’m still seeing a lot of dirt.

But it is the potatoes that make the garden look legitimate. I plant the seed potatoes in mid March and by now they are full bushes at least 18″ high. Every time I walk in I think “Wow! It looks like a garden! If you have never planted potatoes you should give it a go next year. Many years ago when someone suggested to me that I should plant potatoes, I wondered why would I do that. A potato is a potato, something you can just get at the store. How wrong I was!

Not only is it one of the first vegetables to harvest, but home grown potatoes are delicious. I plant the various varieties in the order in which I harvest them. I have experimented with lots of different kinds and now have my favorites. I start with early red Caribe potatoes, which I will start harvesting in a couple of weeks, as soon as the flowers start dropping. Then along come my favorite, Yukon Gold, and finally the storing potatoes. This year I have Kennebec.

From the first little new potatoes steamed and then tossed in chopped parsley and garlic infused olive oil, to the July 4th potato salad, roasted potatoes, baked potatoes and so much more, I love the potatoes and know that they are organically grown. Below is one of my favorite recipes and I think this is best with Yukon Golds.

So how does all this relate to quilting?

I’ve been eyeing the potato leaves as a possible fabric design.

fabric leaves — I manipulated the photo in Photoshop to come up with an image that would be able to be printed in fabric.

PS. Did you know that many leaves have golden ratio proportions? If the narrow opening of the Golden Gauge Calipers is placed on the widest part of the potato leaf, the wider opening of the calipers is the height of the leaf.

Smashed Potatoes Recipe

One potato per serving (Yukon Gold are the best for this recipe)

olive oil, salt and pepper

1. Wash the potatoes and wrap each in aluminum foil.

2. Bake at 350 for one hour

3. Remove the foil and place the potatoes on a cookie sheet that has been rubbed with olive oil. Leave plenty of space between potatoes.

4. Rub the bottom of a small skillet (I use a cast iron skillet for the weight) with olive oil and then place it on top of a potato and press down until it squashes to a shape of a thick hamburger patty.

5. Brush the top of each potato with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

6. Bake in a 500 degree oven for about 15 minutes then turn each potato and bake another 15 minutes or so until the potatoes are brown and crispy.

These have the taste of french fries without all the calories.