Jinny Beyer – Page 9 – Jinny Beyer Studio

Posted on March 15, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 2 Comments

Sitges International Patchwork Festival

What a wonderful week I had. I just returned from the Sitges International Patchwork Festival put on by the Association Espana de Patchwork.

Sitches itself is a gem of a city about 20 kilometers south of Barcelona, on the Mediterranean, with narrow cobblestone streets, beautiful old architecture, seaside cafes, wide promenades along the water and extremely friendly people. The weather was perfect every day with highs in the 60’s and lows in the 50’s.

I was invited to be one of the guest artists and to have an exhibition of my quilts at the show.

Since I did not want to ship the quilts or check them, my son, Sean, accompanied me and we packed all 12 quilts in carry-ons. It was quite a feat getting them all in the small-enough bags that we would be allowed to take on the plane.

The hall that held my exhibit was in an old building right on the water. Large windows looked out onto the sea so the lighting was excellent. Once the show opened, I was amazed at the crowds of people. The organizers expected more than 10,000 people to attend.

Other artists with exhibits included Anna Dolanyi, Katie Pasquini, Danny Amazonas, Maoli Lozaano and Willyne Hammerstein. Unfortunately, because of the classes I was teaching and the time spent in my exhibit greeting people, there was not time to visit all of the exhibits which were scattered around the old part of the city.

Danny's horse art quilt — Danny’s horse art quilt

The eye of the horse - spectacular! — The eye of the horse – spectacular!

In the room next to my exhibit was an exhibit of work by children and I was so pleased to see the effort the patchwork association was making to encourage quiltmaking by children.

When we arrived at our seaside hotel we were a little sorry to see giant tents being put up along the promenade opposite our hotel. We thought what a shame it would spoil our view, but then we saw a large “Bernina” sign being put up and realized that this series of tents was the vendors area! The tents were full with people the entire time.

We had a fabulous time and I’m so grateful that we had the opportunity to take part in it.

Posted on March 7, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 2 Comments

Lights, Camera, Action!

Many of you are familiar with our annual shop hop we call Quilters’ Quest. What you may not know is that we start the planning for it as soon as the previous year’s Quest ends, meeting at least once a month throughout the year. We are always looking for new ideas and ways to make it even more fun for you.

Last week our meeting took place here at the Studio. Besides normal business, we decided to put together a little video for you about us and the Quest. More on that after I tell you a bit about the Quest itself.

Every November our ten shops, located in Maryland and Northern Virginia, join together and open our doors for ten days of fun, fabric and friendship. This year’s theme is “Lights, Camera, Action.” We have each selected a movie and will transform our shops so you can experience the magic of Hollywood!

From November 9th through the 18th, 2017, you will be able to participate in this FREE event that sends you on an adventure to explore each of our shops. You also have the opportunity to win fabulous prizes. If driving from shop to shop seems a bit daunting, you can leave the driving to us and take one of the buses leaving from various shops.

Tote Bag One — Every finisher gets a cool mesh bag and more!

Hosting the shop owners at the Studio and preparing for the video involved meeting with the videographer, set design (aka, rearranging the classroom) and preparing lunch where I proceeded to nearly cut off my finger. (Don’t worry—it was only a pinkie finger and not needed for sewing.) Thankfully, I did not bleed on lunch.

Filming began inside with a script written by Amy from Material Girls and Kelly Ann from Kelly Ann’s Quilting. It can be intimidating sitting under the lights with cameras on you, text to read aloud with others watching but soon silliness erupted from our many flubs and miscues.

After lunch, we moved outside for more filming. I don’t know if it was the fresh air and bracing wind or that we had full tummies but everyone relaxed and the silliness increased.

Our color Palette is fresh and new and each of our shops has put together a unique set of eight 6” squares in the Quest colors. Collect them all and all 10 of our FREE quilt patterns. I think it is safe to brag a little and say that our shops design beautiful quilts each reflecting its own style.

Here are the Colors of the 2017 Quest. Each shop will choose their own fabrics.

Sign up for the Quilters’ Quest newsletter! In addition to staying up to date on our breaking Quilters’ Quest news (such as the premier of our video), bus schedules and sign ups and fun previews, you will also gain access to the monthly Quest Block of the Month quilt pattern. Stay tuned, the results of our fun day will be ready soon and we will share the video with you!

We are looking forward to seeing all of you soon!

Posted on February 27, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 1 Comment

Building Art One Piece at a Time

I just returned from a visit with my grandchildren and their parents. One of the things we did was to go to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry to see their new exhibit “The Art of the Brick.” We had to wait in line for more than an hour to get into the exhibit, but it was worth the wait.

This exhibit features the work of Nathan Sawaya, an Oregon artist who builds his amazing art with Legos! I have to say that I was just as in awe as the children were. We as quilters build our art with fabric and thread, one piece at a time and it was easy to see some of the parallels in the creation of the Lego art.

Polly hugging the Lego tree. — Polly joined the Lego people and hugged the tree.

Emmett and the glowing skulls made of Legos.

I took several photos with the children to put into perspective the size of some of the pieces.

If you ever get a chance to see an exhibit of Mr. Sawaya’s in person you should go. It is truly inspiring.

Lego Ten — Polly, Emmett and my son-in-law Rob

Opening your heart to art and loving what you do!

You can see examples of his art on his website: http://www.nathansawaya.com

Posted on February 16, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 6 Comments

Travel Delay Excuses

What a better way to spend Valentine’s Day than with the grandchildren. My husband and I flew out on February 13th and almost missed Valentine’s Day altogether.

Our flight arrangements included a one hour layover in San Francisco. That would give us enough time to make our connection and arrive at our destination just as the kids were getting out of school.

Well, we boarded our plane and then sat and sat and sat and after about a half hour the pilot came on and said they they were waiting for a part for the cockpit. Fifteen minutes later he said they got the part which was a new oxygen mask for the pilot’s seat and we would be on our way soon. I immediately wondered what happened on the last flight that now required a new oxygen mask for the pilot. We were not enlightened on that point.

Ten minutes later we were informed that oxygen masks are specific to each aircraft and the one they brought didn’t fit this plane, but they found one on a plane in a hangar away from the airport. They were sending someone for it. We were updated on when the person picked up the part and that he would be back right away. Half hour later we were informed they they finally arrived with the correct part, but the reason it took so long was that the person bringing the part got a speeding ticket on the way back.

Now I have traveled a LOT. I have heard all kinds of reasons for delays, but this was a first for me. Good thing the San Francisco plane was also delayed by a little and we made our connection with only three minutes to spare. If we had missed that plane we would have had to spend the night in San Francisco.

The kids immediately started cutting fabric I brought them to make some items for their animals......Polly sewed a hat for her bear and Emmett made a scarf for his dog. — The kids immediately started cutting fabric I brought them to make some items for their animals……Polly sewed a hat for her bear and Emmett made a scarf for his dog.

As is always the case when I visit, the kids immediately ask when we can sew something. They also bring out all the clothes and animals that need a little repair work done.

Emmett brought out a pair of socks with holes in them and I told him I hadn’t brought my darning egg. He said “That’s okay Grandma, we have some maracas. You can use one of those!”

Posted on February 2, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 48 Comments

Don’t Miss the First Clue

The whirlwind at Jinny Beyer Studio continues. There is so much excitement about our new Mystery Quilt Block of the Month Moroccan Mystery. Our testers have finished their samples and all colorways have turned out great! David, one of our testers took some great photos along the way and we will show you his progress each month. He selected the Peacock color. You can also see the progress on my quilt through the video lessons that will be presented each month, I’m working on the Coffee colorway.

The pattern for the quilt and the video lessons are free downloads from our BOM link in our monthly newsletter. Don’t miss the first clue! It goes out on Saturday, February 4^th. You still have time to sign up for the newsletter. If you read this blog and it is after February 4^th, don’t worry! You will have to wait for the first Saturday in March for our next newsletter, but each month’s newsletter will have all the clues and video lessons for all the previous months.

I hope you will join us and many others around the world for this fun new program…stay tuned.

Posted on January 26, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 19 Comments

And the Hustle & Bustle Continues!

We continue to make kits non-stop here for our 2017 Mystery Quilt BOM, Moroccan Mystery. We’ve made so many that we have run out of the border. See video clip here that explains where we are with the BOM kits.

One day we sent out so many packages that our packages alone filled the entire postal truck.

The staff at the Studio have been busy getting your BOM quilt kits out the door.

In the middle of all this, we had a planning meeting for Quilters’ Quest at Traditions at the White Swan in Hagerstown, Maryland. Dick and Wendy, the owners, have a great shop and a new addition…three adorable miniature donkeys. How many quilt shops can boast that?

We are planning lots of new and exciting things for the Quilters’ Quest shop hop this year. We have decided to have a theme-based event and have selected “movies”. Each shop will choose a movie and will have fun things in the shop relating to the theme.

This week I also finalized my next batik collection, worked on the new replacement fabrics for the Palette collection and received strike-offs for a new collection that will be shown at spring market, Miyako. I also began doing colorings for another collection that is in the pipeline.

On top of all this, we changed our business email account from one company to another. This led to a lot of angst, but all is well now.

Not that I didn’t already have a lot to fill my head, there is always the antics of our dog, Luke. My husband made split pea soup for dinner the other night. I came home around 5:30, walked through the house, took one look at Luke and knew something was wrong…ears were down, eyes were practically shut and he was just sitting there looking miserable.

I asked if Luke had gotten into anything, and my husband said he ate some split peas. The two packages of dried split peas had been soaking for a while and John was getting ready to pour them into the broth when the pan slipped and half the contents went on the floor. As always, Luke was in the kitchen hoping something would fall to the floor. Sure enough, he was right there and cleaned up the entire mess. John didn’t realize that those peas would expand in his stomach.

Those of you who own dogs will probably know that when you need to make a dog throw up something he or she shouldn’t have eaten, hydrogen peroxide can be a life safer…literally. But did you know that hydrogen peroxide has an expiration date? I certainly didn’t.

We still had a bottle that we kept on hand when we had our Greater Swiss Mountain dog, Gretchen who ate everything. But a turkey baster of the peroxide down Luke’s throat didn’t do the trick, so we realized it might have gone bad and ran to the pharmacy to get more and tried again. Two minutes later, it worked and I had a big mess to clean up. I asked the vet about the peroxide and she said it has a certain shelf life and once the bottle is open it does not last long at all. Our bottle expired in 2010…oops.

This little tidbit of information might help someone else who has an animal that likes to eat things that they shouldn’t. Hopefully, the week ahead will be a little bit less exciting.

Posted on January 19, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 4 Comments

Working with Silk Thread

Posted on January 19, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 14 Comments

Busy, Busy Week!

What an incredibly busy week I have had! We launched our new Block of the Month for 2017. We have been overwhelmed by the response and the excitement this has generated.

When planning for our Block of the Month we always think ahead as to how many kits we may sell. We make sure to have available fabric for that amount of kits. Because of the smaller size and the “mystery” aspect, we thought we might sell twice as many kits as last year and ordered accordingly. Well in just one week we have sold all the kits that we thought we would sell in an entire year!

We have reordered fabric from RJR but there was not enough border print so they are reprinting it. From the time we order it until we receive it is about three and a half months. So, our new border shipment will not arrive until the end of April.

As of this blog, we are out of border print for the Peacock version and will run out of some of the others very soon. Not to worry. If you like one of the colorways that is currently waiting for the border print, we are offering two choices – save on shipping by placing a backorder for the Complete Kit for end of April delivery, or begin working on the quilt now by ordering the kit in two parts: “Kit Without Border Print” to be sent now and a backorder for the 3 yards of border print to be sent end of April or early May. The border print is not used until August, so you could keep up with the clues starting in February.

Mind you, we are a very small business with all part time employees and limited space. This week we have turned into a kit making mini-factory. I have been at the shop helping out in every spare moment.

If you want to know more about the Moroccan Mystery quilt, here is a short video that gives more information.

Posted on January 16, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer

Jinny’s Perfect Cut 60° Ruler

Jinny designed her Perfect Cut Ruler to make it quick and easy to cut perfect 60° diamonds and equilateral triangles — for six-pointed stars, Tumbling Blocks, Thousand Pyramid quilts and more.

Watch as she demonstrates how to use the ruler to cut strips of the desired width, cut out the diamond or triangle patches, trim points and mark seam intersections. It’s a big time saver!

Posted on January 16, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer

Using the Apliquick Tools

Since discovering the Apliquick tools and technique, Jinny has adopted it as her preferred way to appliqué. Here’s a quick overview of how she does it.

Copy the design onto the fusible, and cut the shape out directly on the line.

Iron the fusible onto the fabric. (Make sure that the inward curves are placed on the bias.)

Cut out the fabric leaving 3/16” for seam allowance.

Place the fabric fusible side up, hold it in place with the two-pronged tool and put the Apliquick fabric glue along the seam allowance overlapping the fusible.

Hold the fabric with the pronged tool and turn the edge over onto the fusible with the pressing tool. Make sure that the fold comes right at the edge of the fusible.

Allow to dry, then arrange on background.

Occasionally, your turned edges will not be as smooth as you would like them to be.

Using the pointed tip of the beveled-edge tool, gently press on the edge that needs smoothing.

On small curves, it is necessary to make many tiny pleats at the curve using the pointed end of the beveled-edge tool. If you find that it is not smooth enough, use the pointed tip at the fold to smooth out any bumps and ridges, then press it down with the beveled edge until flat. Now you have a perfectly smooth curve!

Author: Jinny Beyer