2016 – Page 3 – Jinny Beyer Studio

Posted on July 20, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 4 Comments

Summer Stuff

We are in the middle of the Row by Row summer long shop hop. It has been such fun to meet the people from places far and wide who are participating. We had been anxiously anticipating a winner of the finished quilt made up of this years’ rows and were surprised that it was taking so long. But on Saturday we finally had a winner. Sheila Cooke of Burke, Virginia came in with her quilt that will hold lots of memories for her. She collected rows while she and her son drove to Colorado to visit her daughter and her quilt includes rows from Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and Colorado.

Speaking of shop hops, all of the shops involved in the Maryland/Virginia Quilters’ Quest shop hop have been busily preparing for our event in November. At our last meeting we traded fabric squares that participants will collect from each shop and now we are all designing and sewing our individual quilts that contain those fabrics. Everyone who comes to the Quest during our 10-day marathon will receive a free pattern for that shop’s quilt.

I have planned the design for our quilt and cut it out and have started sewing. On Sunday, I planned my day out. First I would go for a walk, read the paper and cut more pieces for our Quest quilt. Then while I watched the afternoon Washington Nationals baseball game I was going to sew some of the pieces together. After that, my plan was to make bread and butter pickles.

Well, the baseball game went into 18 innings. I kept sewing and sewing and sewing until almost all the pieces I cut were sewn. By the time the game was over it was time for dinner and there was no time to make pickles.

Early Monday morning I went to the garden to pick the cucumbers and was overwhelmed! The cucumbers liked the weekend rain we had and had virtually increased tenfold from what I had seen on Friday. Fortunately, my onions were ready to harvest so I could use those for the pickles as well.

I spent Monday making not just one batch of pickles but several, and I gave out cucumbers to friends and neighbors. By the way, the recipe I use is one that came from my mother-in-law and is an old Farm Journal recipe from the 1930’s. See below if you want to try. They are delicious!

Bread and Butter Pickles

4 quarts thinly sliced pickling cucumbers (if I don’t have enough I use the long English style)

2 quarts thinly sliced onions

1/2 cup canning salt (I use kosher when I can’t find the canning)

1 quart 5% acid strength vinegar

4 cups sugar

2 tbsp. mustard seeds

1 tbsp. celery seeds

1 tbsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1/2 tsp. white pepper

Layer cucumber slices and salt in large pottery crock or bowl. Cover with ice cubes and let stand in refrigerator for three hours. Drain well.

Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, ginger, turmeric and pepper in large kettle and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Add cucumbers and onions and bring back to a full boil.

Pack into 8 sterilized pint jars, filling to within 1/4″ of the top. Wipe rims and add lids.

Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Posted on July 6, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 1 Comment

Summer Fun

Here are just a few words as I run off to visit my grandchildren.

With July now in full swing, summer has truly begun. I can’t help but feel that lazy, laid back feeling just a bit by enjoying some simple summer fun.

I recently returned from California where I visited the offices of RJR Fabrics, the company which has manufactured my fabrics for many years. I took the opportunity to combine business with pleasure.

It is no secret I am a big Washington Nationals baseball fan. Demi, head of marketing for RJR, took me to the Dodgers/Nats game.

Summer fun also involves the simple pleasures of watching all the wildlife out the window. I recently wrote about a groundhog I found up one of our trees. Happiness is sewing at my kitchen table and watching the goldfinches at the bird feeder…

…and chuckling while watching the squirrels try to get the goldfinches’ food.

With summer well upon us (at least here in the northern hemisphere), I hope you too take the opportunity for a little summer fun.

Posted on July 1, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 6 Comments

And the winner is……

Back in the beginning of May we announced a contest inspired by a box of packets of 10-inch squares from last year’s Quilters’ Quest. We challenged you to design and make a quilt (or quilt top) using these fabrics. Photos had to be submitted by June 18th.

What fun we had looking at your entries! Each member of the Studio staff, totally untrained in any kind of quilt judging, voted on his or her favorite. The quilter who got the most votes wins a $100 Studio gift certificate.

About a dozen people managed to finish their projects and submit them in the short amount of time given. There was a wide range styles and entries came from around the world.

And the winner is…Sarah Kirtland from Williamsburg, Virginia.

Sarah’s quilt, Here Comes the Sun, is based on the classic kaleidoscope block. She knew she wanted to do something with triangles after seeing my new Thousand Pyramids quilt. She spent four days simply drawing, working on the design. Sarah was at the Studio at the beginning of the month taking a class and picked up a few fabrics to supplement the 10-inch squares. Then the fiendish sewing began and didn’t stop until shortly before the deadline. She didn’t believe she had a chance to win but thought it would be a good exercise. I’m reminded of a saying by Mark Twain: “…you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.’

There were many other fabulous quilts. Here are just a few.

David Schulz took inspiration from local Native Americans who had different names for different parts of the Potomac, calling the river above Great Falls, where the Studio is located, “Cohongarooton”, meaning “honking geese.” He included flying geese blocks along with a variation on a block design from my Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns (Island Compass 380-11). He also used the Golden Ratio throughout the piece. Even the number of flying geese is included in the Fibonacci sequence. The finished piece measures 29” x 18”.

This Phoenix quilt came from Charlie MacDonald and we enjoyed his description of the process, the trials and tribulations. He loved the palette from the Quilters Quest. It reminded him of sunset/sunrise “and somehow the colors got him thinking of a Phoenix rising in flame from the ashes.” He used his Apliquick tools for the appliqué. Charlie said he learned a lot from making this and already has ideas for Phoenix 2.0.

Tom Dengler took an interesting approach. He writes: “I was inspired to find a way to challenge myself to use both sides of the fabric based on some ideas I had first seen used in watercolor quilts. The white gives the illusion of piercing the fabric by piecing the fabric backside. I learned that hand stitching the corner first gives a much neater appearance.” It is called Dos Rayos de Luz.

One thing that I particularly loved seeing was how many truly challenged themselves to try something new and, it seems, are very glad they did so. Here are more of the wonderful projects we received pictures of. We have no stories to go with them but I want to thank each and every one of you for participating and congratulations to all for your beautiful work.

Designed by Diane McGuire — Designed by Diana McGuire

Posted on June 22, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 5 Comments

What Creature Is It?

Sometimes I just have to share with you some of what goes on in my life. Right now my vegetable garden is flourishing and for several weeks we have been harvesting the early vegetables…small tomatoes are forming, corn is about three feet high and new potatoes greet our dinner table almost every night.

Along with the garden come the creatures that enjoy the warm months as well. The gold fish in our little pond made it through the cold winter and are growing by leaps and bounds. Some will even come and eat food right from my fingers. The male gold finches have shed their dull winter feathers and replaced them with bright gold. Fireflies are out and baby fawns stick close to their mothers.

All of this I see every year. But I saw something the other day that I have never seen before. My quirky dog, Luke, who likes to play with anything that moves (balls, frogs, snakes, squirrels, you name it) was frantically barking at something in the tree. I walked closer and did a double take. Was that a bear cub? It was chubby, very furry, had arms wrapped around the trunk of the tree and was holding on for dear life. I realized it was not a bear, so what was it? I got Luke in the house and watched as the creature backed down and lumbered towards its hole under the barn. Of course, as soon as I saw his head I realized it was a ground hog. That was something new for me. I never knew groundhogs could or would climb trees.

I did a quick search on the internet and discovered that “Groundhogs can easily climb trees to get away from predators.” So, if you wonder what odd thing is in your tree, you might just have a groundhog!

Posted on June 15, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 2 Comments

Patriotic Quilts

The new McCall’s magazine, The Best of McCall’s Quilting – 22 of Our Most Popular Patterns, features a quilt I designed for them several years ago, Lone Star Salute.

Upon seeing it again and with the election in the forefront and the Fourth of July approaching, I began thinking about commemorative quilts. We have certainly seen many patriotic-themed quilts over the years and, I must admit, I have done my share to add to the pool of these types of quilts. Some of them are personal quilts and others are ones that I designed for patterns.

In 1976 when I had been quilting for only four years, a friend asked me if I was going to make a quilt commemorating the bicentennial. I hadn’t thought about it but decided that was a good idea. While I think the overall design and balance leaves a lot to be desired, I learned a tremendous amount during the process of making it. First of all, I wanted the blocks in the quilt to have been named for some event in our country’s history. I have blocks such as Dolly Madison’s Star, 54-40 or Fight, Mrs. Cleveland’s Choice. I even created my own block of the bicentennial logo.

All of those blocks were to be a 10-inch finished size. Since I knew it would be impossible to find all the patterns in a 10-inch size, I had to figure out how to draft all of those designs. Intrigued by the drafting process, I began teaching pattern drafting to my students and that lead to my first book, Patchwork Patterns, published in 1979.

Drafting the 50 five-pointed stars to fit into a larger five-pointed star was a challenge but I eventually figured out how to do it. Another challenge was fitting exactly 200 triangles into the border that surrounds the central motif.

My quilt Windows was another commemorative quilt with a red white and blue theme that I made following the terrorists attacks on September 11, 2001. I wanted at least one piece in the quilt for each of the victims of the attacks. In the end, the quilt has 4,777 pieces.The patriotic quilts I have designed which have patterns available include Lone Star Salute, shown above, September Sun, another that was designed shortly after the terrorists’ attack, and Fourth of July Star. Smaller projects include my new Wings wall quilt and our row for this year’s Row By Row shop hop, Eagle’s Pride.

row 2016 photo — *Eagle’s Pride*, 2016 Row by Row, available in shop only

Why don’t you give a try at creating a patriotic-themed quilt.

Posted on June 8, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 2 Comments

What are You Working on?

Every now and then, I like to share with you projects that members of my staff are working on. It’s a treat for me to see them too, so here goes.Staffer Dana made Millennium Star, based on an old pattern of mine, using fabrics from my Delhi collection. She will have a tough time finishing it if her kitty, Turbo, won’t give it up.

Cathy has one quilt recently finished and one in process. She used one of the new monument fabrics, as we call it, from the “Celebrating Our Region” collection to make this quick and easy quilt using the “Times Three” pattern. It’s perfect for showcasing a favorite fabric. She is currently working on this Civil War era quilt for her son-in-law.

Finishing up UFO’s has been Julia’s mission lately. This is a Karen Sievert design, “Color, Color All Around,” which Julia started in a class with Karen in 2012. The top is now finished and she’s beginning the quilting.

Nancy is finishing, in the nick of time, a quilt for a challenge called “Architectural Quilts.” The design for this is based on a floor found in Venice, Italy.Grandchildren often influence our projects. Linda, in addition to making placemats from border print fabric, made this precious dress for her granddaughter’s doll using fabric from the Palette, #149. It is a free pattern by Susan Kramer which she found on Pinterest.

Another granddaughter, this one Lura’s, was the pretty little recipient of a new dress. Lura also is quilting a Serengeti quilt and making hot pads for her quilt guild’s upcoming boutique.

Looking at these two projects from Rebecca, I can’t help but notice the diversity in her interests. The first is her “whacky family portrait” quilt made in a Lisa Ellis workshop. She is also finishing up this snowman red work quilt, a Gail Pan design. It is hand quilted with perle cotton. She just finished the binding and all it needs is a label, before it is ready for the snow!

Kelley is our newest staff member and it appears she is very busy at home. She is working on a number of projects including this “Diva Frame Wallet” by Sew Many Creations and Lucy Boston. She just finished sewing together a tuffet cover using Erin Underwood’s “Quick and Cute Tuffets” pattern and the Creative Grids 15 Degree Triangle Ruler. The next step is upholstery. Finally, she is moderating a small online sew along of Lori Holt’s “Farm Girl Vintage” with six quilters from Virginia, Arizona and Texas. Here are her month #5 blocks plus an alternate block, “corn and tomatoes”. The corn kernels are 1/2″ finished squares. Phew!

There’s more hand piecing going on. Janet is hand piecing flowering snowball blocks this summer. Eventually it will be a queen sized quilt. She says it is the perfect project for sitting on the porch on a sunny day. Hopefully, all the rain we’ve had will go away and give her the opportunity to to just that.

Here is a top just completed by Eunice. When a staff member leaves, we make blocks from our Quilter’s Design Board as a farewell gift. Eunice just moved to Florida last month but has already managed to assemble the blocks we gave her. It’s beautiful, Eunice!And finally, as for me, I am enjoying spending most evenings watching my beloved Washington Nationals while hand quilting Calliope. It’s a wonderful way to end each day.

Posted on June 3, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 8 Comments

Golden Ratio and Proportions for Borders

A comment on one of my recent blog posts asked a question about how to use the Golden Gauge Calipers and the Golden Ratio in choosing borders for quilts.

For those of you not familiar with the Golden Ratio or the Golden Gauge Calipers that I designed see these blog posts. Or just search “Golden Ratio” on the internet and be prepared for a wealth of information.

The Golden Ratio is thought to be the perfect proportion for all sorts of art and even in nature. The ratio is 1 to 1.618 or 1 to .618. The calipers open exactly to that measurement and save the math. I’ll show you here how I planned the border for Wings.

I wanted the first border to be the same size as the frame around the hexagons. That frame is ¾ inches wide. But how wide should the second border be?

I placed the calipers on the first border with the small opening across the ¾ inch. The wider opening gave me the size that would be a good proportion for the next border. That measurement was 1.21 inches. I just rounded up to 1 ¼ inches.

Now, I had two choices for the last border. First I could put the smaller opening of the calipers on the red and the larger opening would give me the size for the final border. Or, if I wanted a wider border I could put the small opening of the calipers on both of the first two borders and the outer border would be wider.

Here is the image of both variations of the border. I felt that the design was so bold that the wider one looked better. But in either case, there is a pleasing proportion between the widths of the borders, no matter which one you use.

Give it a try!

Posted on May 28, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 1 Comment

Memorial Day Holiday

We will be closed on Monday, May 30th, in honor of Memorial Day to remember those who have served our country with pride. We will reopen at 10 a.m., Tuesday, the 31st.

Posted on May 25, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 2 Comments

Spring Quilt Market 2016

I just returned from Spring Quilt Market which was held in Salt Lake City, Utah this past week. It is always fun to meet up with friends I have made over the years and some of our favorite vendors. It is refreshing to see the influx of young people who have entered the business and to see some of their innovative designs and ideas.

I came back excited about several people I met for the first time, and with new products and “gadgets” that we will share with you in the coming months.

Do you have a large stash of fabric, some of which you now know you will never use? Well, one of the people I met has the perfect solution. She is Phyllis Hause and she has a business called Aunt Philly’s Toothbrush rugs. The rugs are made from strips of fabric and have the appearance of a braided rug. The advantage of her technique is that you do not create braids that then have to be sewn together. You just build the rug, sort of like crocheting, but different.

Phyllis has had her business for more than 30 years and learned how to make the rugs from her grandmother when she was a child. I had such a delightful time talking to her and she has agreed to come to our shop this fall and teach some classes. We don’t have the dates or specifics yet, but if it is something you think you might be interested in, contact us and we will let you know as soon as we have the details.

I always enjoy seeing Kathleen Thompson from Quilters Dream Batting…our favorite batting!

RJR’s booth was delightful, with a large heart made for shelves with fabric covered books. They showcased my new Marrakesh quilt.

It is always fun to stop and have a chat with longtime friend Alex Anderson.

Now that I’m back I have to get busy and pass some of what I found on to you.

Happy Quilting!

Jinny

Posted on May 17, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 8 Comments

The Symmetry of Patchwork Blocks

Our web special this week is a bundle of coordinating fabrics. It’s easy to look at a bundle like this and admire the pretty colors. It takes a little more imagining, though, to figure out what to do with it. To help you out, we selected three different free pattern downloads as possible choices for using those fabrics. Two of the blocks are shown here.

Normally we just think of putting blocks together side by side, and all facing in the same direction. Blocks that have coloring that are non-symmetrical, or are symmetrical in just one direction can also be arranged in a variety of other ways.

For instance, we are used to seeing the Irish Chain block put together with the blocks side by side, and all oriented in the same direction.

But what happens if you pinwheel the blocks? You get a completely different look.

Here are 5 different layouts of the Triangle Charm blocks.

Blocks side by side oriented in the same direction.

Blocks pinwheeled

Blocks pinwheeled and then mirroredFour blocks mirrored and then those units side by side

Four block unit all oriented the same way and then those units mirrored.It is fascinating to play around with all the possibilities. Which is your favorite?

Note: If you would like to recreate these blocks and use them in a quilt, please use the free patterns for guidance as to how much additional fabric you will need.

Triangle Charm: fabric 7 is 5748-02 and fabric 8 is 0213-10
Double Irish Chain: background fabric is Palette #58, 7132-25