My Staff – Page 2 – Jinny Beyer Studio

Posted on March 29, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 5 Comments

Studio Staff Projects, Part II

As we left you last week, we still had projects from about half the staff to share with you. One of our favorite things in the Studio is when customers stop in to share their work with us or send us photos through email and Facebook. Here then, with Jinny just back from Spain and probably still jetlagged, we are turning the tables and sharing our projects with you.

Linda quilted up a storm and now has lots of binding to do with more handwork involved on this lovely soft-edge piecing. (Jinny has a great video tutorial on this technique on our website.) But her more important job these days is completing an Elizabeth Hartman pattern called “Fancy Forest” for a special request “Boho” baby quilt for her new granddaughter who is due next month.

Just need to add the binding and then all done!

You may not be surprised to learn this but, yes, even our accountant is a quilter. Julia is piecing blocks for an on-line mystery quilt. The name of the mystery is Meadow Mystery by Cheryl Brickey. She chose fabrics from her stash and the completed quilt will go to a military patient at Fort Belvoir Hospital.

Dana sent her photos and her story. We decided to let her tell it: “When I married Alen, I knew in my mind that for our 10-year anniversary I wanted to make him a double wedding ring quilt in our wedding colors- red and purple. I have had the Judy Neimeyer pattern for ages along with the fabrics, many of which are Jinny’s. So, we celebrated our 10-year anniversary last October and do you know what he got…a picture of the pattern and an IOU. I felt guilty and decided I better start working on it. I was a bit intimidated as I had never paper pieced before and it just didn’t sink in with me but I decided to give it a try. This pattern is written so well, I am now hooked and am quite enjoying the process. Now every time Alen comes into my work room and sees me working on something that is not red or purple, he’s like “hey what about my quilt?” I told him let’s shoot for 20 years!!!”

In addition to the quilt, Dana saw a high-end designer jacket with cats that was well out of her price range. She purchased upholstery material, broke out an embroidery machine that she’s had forever and added her own personal touch to the back to make this chic jacket.

Rebecca proudly boasts of making progress on her UFO pile. She says she “finally” quilted this one and is sewing the binding on. It is pieced with batiks using a pattern by Carrie Nelson, from the Another Bite of Schnibbles book.

Judy is trying to finish the quilt from a Kaffe Fassett workshop back in October. She had all the squares up on the design board and kept rearranging them, finally deciding how to put it together. The border also changed three times until she decided the big flowers worked best. She’s also working on a BOM from an online blog using Kaffe stash fabrics.

Judy's BOM using Kaffe Fasset fabrics. — Judy’s BOM using Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

And, finally, Cathy recently finished this top framing it perfectly with a Milan border print. Along with that, she put the finishing touches on this Midi Bag which was a Weekly Web Special last fall.

Cathy's Midi bag will surely come in handy! — Cathy’s Midi Bag will surely come in handy!

Thanks for letting us share our projects with you and don’t forget that we always love to see yours.

Posted on March 22, 2017July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 2 Comments

Studio Staff Projects, Part I

While Jinny catches up after teaching in Spain, we, the staff, are taking over her blog. This past weekend, we celebrated National Quilting Day, a day to “appreciate and to recognize quilt makers, along with all of their long labor, love and skill that goes into the making of each quilt.”

We also hope that you take the time to celebrate the camaraderie of quilters. For generations, quilters have come together to share more than stitching…but, oh, how we love our stitching. Here at the Studio, we share our projects, give praise, offer advice and learn from each other. Here, then, is a look at what we have under our needles.

Elaine purchased an incomplete quilt top on eBay a few years ago. She calls it “Scrapple” because so many of the pieces are SO tiny! Fabrics range from the 1890s to the 1930s. She completed the top using antique fabric from her stash. She didn’t like her first attempt at machine quilting so she removed all of it. It took her several hours! It was then re-basted and quilted using a home-made spiral stencil. Now, she says, “I love it!” That’s quite a lesson of sticking with something until you think it’s right.

Close-up of Elaine's Scrapple — Close-up of Elaine’s Scrapple

Diane has been furiously stitching away on her La Passacaglia from Willyne Hammerstein’s Millefiori Quilts book. This amazing quilt contains only Jinny’s fabric. Diane and her quilt will appear on The Quilt Show later this year.

Our newest staff member, Elizabeth, is almost all done with this one. The pattern is called Rock Candy by Jaybird Quilts. The fabric was from a scrap bag of Jinny’s batiks. It is hand pieced and quilted.

Some of us like to have both machine and hand work projects going at the same time. Nancy made this this cute little table topper as a carry-around project. Does it look familiar? Check out Elizabeth’s project above. It’s hand pieced and made with Jinny’s Malam batiks and 60° diamond template. She’s about to machine quilt it while hand stitching the binding on a baby quilt.

Many of you saw the staff tuffet class on our Facebook page. Lura just finished hers. Nice! She’s hand piecing these rose star blocks for a wall hanging for her sister using vintage Jinny borders. She also continues to make pie trivets/potholders which are great gifts. She’s discovered the perfect “crust” fabric is Jinny’s Palette #112.

We are sad to say that Marion will be leaving us this summer to return to the Netherlands. Before she goes she’d like to finish her toothbrush rug started in a Studio class last fall.

Marion's Toothbrush Rug — Marion’s Toothbrush Rug

Kelley has three projects going. As a member of a pincushion club with a group of quilting friends from Virginia, Arizona, Texas, and California, she learns new skills on one small project each month. She is also taking part in the “Primitive Triangles Sew Along” with Lisa Bongean using Jinny’s Casablanca collection. The blocks finish at 4”. And then, of course, there’s her Farm Girl Vintage from Lori Holt which just needs the binding completed. Her quilt has 56 blocks that finish at 6”. She asks, “Can you tell I like small pieces?”

Kelley's Farm Girl Vintage — Kelley’s Farm Girl Vintage

Well, when we started this it seemed like a nice little blog post but we soon became aware that we, as a group, have a lot of unfinished projects that we are currently trying to finish up. Can any of you identify with that? Check back next week for Studio Staff Projects, Part 2.

Posted on August 4, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 18 Comments

Staff Profile – Elaine Kelly

It is once again time to focus on one of the amazing staff members who helps me in so many ways behind the scenes here at the Studio. Today, I’d like you to meet Elaine Kelly.

EK-TelAviv — Elaine in Tel Aviv earlier this year at the start of her family’s visit with her daughter Allison.

I first met Elaine when she came to my Hilton Head Seminar back in 2005. She made quite an impression on me and after Seminar ended that year, I asked her if she would like to be on the staff the following year. Elaine’s insight was invaluable in many ways and when I called a halt to those yearly events and focused on the Studio itself, she was right there helping me totally change the way we do our marketing. Now, Elaine has moved on to being the writer of my many patterns, taking the designs and presenting them to you with easy-to-follow directions.

IMG_0079.Elaine — This is a quilt that Elaine did for Jinny’s last seminar. She says about this quilt, “I tried to incorporate a large number of Jinny’s techniques (shading, fracturing) and raided my stash of Japanese taupe fabrics.”

Elaine was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and began sewing, as many of you did, in home ec class in seventh grade. In one of her first sewing projects, a blue corduroy jumper with ruffles on the straps, the teacher told her she put enough pins in that if they were melted down they would provide enough metal for all the ammunition needed in World War II. Elaine is still a confirmed pinner to this day.

Her interest in quilting started when she attended Waterloo College in Ontario where she found nearby a large Mennonite community and their beautiful quilts. Determined to give quilting a try herself, she bought a book and, with no rulers or rotary cutters, she machine pieced and hand quilted her very first quilt.

Hillside is an original design based on an unattributed photograph from Pinterest.

Elaine is particularly drawn to antique quilts. She loves to figure out how they are made, what values to use and the best way to simply “make it work.” As another confirmed baseball fan, each year she starts a baseball quilt to work on by hand during the season while she watches our beloved Washington Nationals.

Baseball quilt-w — Baseball Quilt was Elaine’s hand-sewing project from last year. The center motif is from Ann Orr’s 1930’s Autumn Leaves design; the rest is original. She used vintage leaves, yo-yos and 9 patches from the 1930’s and 40’s, purchased on eBay.

This year, she has also been trying her hand at natural dyeing with products such as avocado skins, Queen Anne’s lace and goldenrod (which, unfortunately, turned her hands yellow this morning). She hopes to soon have enough hand-dyed fabrics to start a quilt.

Besides all of her work for the Studio and her time set aside for quilting, Elaine has a wonderful husband and two busy children both in college, plus, they are building a vacation home in rural Pennsylvania.

Buttons Valentine — Buttons’ Valentine is only about 6″ x 8″. It’s a thread painting of one of Elaine’s son’s stuffed “friends” from childhood, sent to him when he was away one Valentine’s Day.

Elaine is an amazingly talented woman and her expertise has been invaluable to me in so many ways. Most importantly, I am happy to have her as a friend………AND she is always willing to come pick excess veggies when my garden is overflowing. An excellent cook, she finds ways to use zucchini and cucumbers that you would never imagine.

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 March 31, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 3 Comments

Our Favorite Fabrics

Often my blogs come about by a customer who asks an interesting question. Sometimes the ideas come from my staff as this one does today.

The bonus for this week’s “Weekly Web Special,” (available only to subscribers*) mentions how difficult it might be to pick your favorite fabric from fat quarter bundles we are offering. From this, one simple question captured our attention and had us all wondering. What is your favorite Jinny Beyer fabric?

Now, you would think think this would be easy to answer but many found it quite difficult. Here’s what several of them had to say.

Betty, who posed the question, fondly remembered many past collections but stated Outback, several years old, was her favorite. She decided her single favorite, though, was a border print in teal and purple from the original Border Basics collection.My son, Sean, who manages our fabric inventory (which makes him well acquainted with each and every fabric) was in agreement with Outback being a favorite collection and this fabric, with its aboriginal designs, as his favorite.

0279-04 -- and it's on sale! — 0279-04 — and it’s on sale!

Diane immediately popped up with an answer—Palette #119, chocolate leaf. It is a wonderful, rich brown and makes a great alternative to black as a background fabric as you can see in her Solstice quilt. Diane then tried to add another dozen favorites and wasn’t happy that we tried to limit her to just one.

Palette fabrics are pretty popular with the staff. Rebecca also chose a Palette fabric–#126—not only for the beautiful teal color but also for the design. She’s also fond of the 10 other colorways floral outline comes in.That design seems to be a favorite. Lura said, “I keep going back to this beautiful red, Palette #30. It is so vibrant!”

Another fan of the floral outline is Nancy, choosing #58. “Solid white is just too boring for me. This fabric has much more depth and is my current favorite background fabric.”Linda wanted in on the fun even though she was in California at the time. Although she has a stockpile of older fabrics she loves, she says, “Black eyelash (#48) is probably my all-time favorite because it just works with everything!”The blue/green/purple of Bedfordshire received votes from both Judy and Julia. Neither could imagine I was asking them to pick just one or two. Judy loves the “elegant feel” of these fabrics.

For Julia, “the Bedfordshire collection really spoke to me when I was challenged in my guild to create a chevron quilt. I used all the fabrics, with the light blue being the predominant fabric. The border prints were fussy cut. I guess you could call the light blue my favorite.”Dana is a quilter with a degree in fashion design so she often uses quilting fabric for clothing. While she loves Rajasthan Spray— “the colors are spectacular and each of these works well as a backing, a middle border or as a blender with a novelty fabric”—she has always loved the floral print from Rajasthan. “It works great for garments. I have used the yellow in a dress and the blue in a skirt.”

Sharon is a big fan of black and white quilts. She made this signature quilt for her son’s wedding and added the Monochrome border print. She loves this fabric because it always gives her quilts a nice finishing touch.I am often asked what my favorites are and my usual response is my latest collection. That would be Safari with my favorite from there being the teal elephants. They make me smile. If I had to pick an old favorite or two, I’d probably have to say cream thunder and black eyelash because they are so useful. Cream thunder is long gone but, now that I think about it, I might just have to bring that back again.

If you would like to subscribe to our Weekly Web Special emails and be eligible for the Subscriber Bonus, please go to www.jinnybeyer.com and follow the instructions under “Newsletter Signup.”

Do you have an old favorite that you would like Jinny to bring back? Send your comments to studio@jinnybeyer.com.

Posted on January 14, 2016July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 3 Comments

Holiday Party Surprise Adventure

Every year, Jinny gathers the entire staff together for a holiday party early in January. Sometimes we know what is going to happen and sometimes it is a big surprise. A surprise is what we had this year.

In December, Jinny was invited to a holiday show by her friend, and potter, Laura Nichols. Laura invited various artists to set up a booth in her old house. It was there that Jinny met Foster Holcombe who had several pieces of his glass displayed. He was telling someone about the workshops he does and was explaining how he gets the different colors of glass, etc. It was then that Jinny started hatching her plan.

Jinny told us a date, that we were going to brunch which would include our traditional white elephant swap, followed by an activity which required us to plan our wardrobe around only natural fiber clothing. I will admit that this caution immediately clued in one staffer but the rest were truly puzzled not just by what our activity would be but what to wear. There are a lot of manmade fibers in women’s clothing.

Meeting at the Studio, we divided ourselves up into cars with only directions to our first stop which turned out to be the Old Angler’s Inn.

The restaurant dates back to the 1860’s and is just across the street from the scenic C&O Canal. We all enjoyed our brunch and the white elephant swap was filled with some truly bizarre gifts.

After brunch, we were once again given directions with just the address of our destination. We took back roads to our final stop, the Art of Fire studio in Laytonsville, Maryland.

Foster and his wife Theda welcomed us into their barn and told us we would be taking a glassblowing workshop.

We selected the color and style of ornament we wanted to make and went right to work either with Foster or Josh. We were all fascinated.

First, our instructor would reach into the furnace with a four-foot long hollow tube called a blowing iron. It is 2400° in the “glory hole” and when the blowing iron is removed there is glowing molten glass on the end.

The glass makes several trips in and out of the furnace and in between color is added, it is placed in molds, blown and shaped.

Finally, the piece is cut from the iron and a hook made of molten glass is formed.

It is immediately placed into the annealer which is a mere 1000° and where it will slowly cool overnight.

We all had a fabulous time spending the day together and getting to experience the workings of a different kind of studio. Thanks Jinny!

***As this blog was being published, our finished pieces arrived at the shop – aren’t they all so different?

Posted on November 5, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 7 Comments

Gearing Up For Quest

To say things around here are a bit busy would be quite an understatement. At home, I have been busy working on my next line of batiks, adjusting the colors and patterns to try to get everything just right. Meanwhile in the Studio, we have the annual mad rush to get ready for the thousand quilters who will be visiting us during Quilters’ Quest which starts tomorrow.

Every “Quester” who comes into our shop and all of the participating shops receives a free pattern for that shop’s quilt and they have the opportunity to collect 10 inch squares used in each of the quilts. You have probably seen pictures of our design, Calliope. Not only have we been busy working on kits for Calliope but also making other quilt kits which fit this year’s theme, “Sunrise on the Potomac.”

We have several staffers who have been spending the past week doing nothing but making beautifully shaded fabric bundles. We also have some great new products that we picked up at Market. We can’t wait for you to see them.

Look at that beautiful border print skirt that Carole is wearing!

We hope you’ll visit us during the Quest. We still have room on each of our buses if you’d like to join us as we visit all 10 shops. The Quest starts tomorrow and runs through Sunday, November 15. For more information visit www.quilters quest.org.

The shop is ready and stocked for you to come and enjoy this year’s Quest! We hope to see you there!

Posted on October 22, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 5 Comments

Staff Profile – Carole Nicholas

If you follow my blog, you know that every now and then I like to do a profile on one of my staff members. Today, I want to focus on a woman who I have known for 25 years. Please meet my good friend, Carole Nicholas.

Carole has been quilting since 1972. It all started when she was living overseas in Africa. There, the wife of the British High Commissioner invited her over one day and taught her how to English Paper Piece. A few years later, she was reading Good Housekeeping magazine and noticed the grand prize winning quilt in their “Great American Quilt Contest” which sparked her interest. Carole ripped out the article, saved it and decided to learn to quilt. Little did she know that she and I, the maker of that quilt, would cross paths and become the best of friends.

Carole-Life's Journey — *Life’s Journey*

Carole quilts — Up Into the Forest Canopy & Tourmaline II

Anyone who has seen Carole’s work knows that she is a wonderful quilter. I loved her work, her energy and her enthusiasm so I asked her to join my Hilton Head Seminar staff in 1990. She later became the Seminar coordinator, holding that position for 15 years.

Carole-Guts and Glory — *Guts and Glory*

Carole-Underwater Charm — Underwater Charm

Carole is very active with Habitat for Humanity and, since 2000, has traveled around the world working on builds. Her quilts are inspired by her travels, the places she visits and the people and cultures she discovers along the way.

A member of Fiber Artists @ Loose Ends, Carole has the opportunity to explore new ideas and techniques with her fellow members and together they have shared their work with others across the country. She is also involved in organizing Sacred Threads, a biennial exhibition of quilts which touches viewers “on both spiritual and personal levels.”

Carole is never afraid to try something new and is always looking for her next adventure!

Posted on June 10, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 4 Comments

Take Me Out to the Ball Game….Maybe

Barb Hollinger, one of our long time employees at the Studio, has retired. She has been invaluable to the business and it is sad and nostalgic to see her go. We thought about the best way to send her off in style and, since she is a huge baseball fan, what could be better than an evening at Nationals Park to take in a Washington Nationals baseball game.

Wash nationals park — Nationals Park: Unfortunately, it did not look quite like this for our game.

I have been a baseball fan since I was five years old when the radio station (KCOL) that my father built in Fort Collins, Colorado, announced the Brooklyn Dodger baseball games. I would sit in rapt attention listening to the simulated play by play with canned cheering and booing and fake ball hitting sounds, as the “announcer” followed the ticker tape, turned on the various sounds, as appropriate, and pretended he was at the game.

Then we moved to Pueblo, Colorado, when I was in elementary school and junior high. My father had another radio station that announced the Pueblo Dodgers (AAA or minor league) games live. He got season tickets and we went to almost every home game and sat right behind the dugout so I became friends with a lot of the players who eventually went on to play in the majors.

I continued to enjoy baseball, following the major leagues and had a huge collection of baseball cards, which my mother threw away when I went off to college, thinking I had no interest any more. (I’m still mourning the loss.)

My husband and I went to graduate school in Boston and became great Red Sox fans; then we moved to the DC area where we became fans of the old Senators. When they left the area, I mourned the loss of baseball season and just couldn’t get into the Baltimore Orioles. (Sorry Baltimore fans!)

Now for 10 years we have had the Washington Nationals and I have been in heaven.

If I’m not at the game, I am listening on the radio or watching on TV. I have an app on my phone that allows me to see the games when I am traveling.

So it was with great excitement that 12 of our Studio staffers went to the game last Thursday and it happened to be Ryan Zimmerman Bobblehead Night. Never mind that it had been raining for three days.

BB6 — The Jefferson Memorial – On our way to the game, we started to doubt the “clearing” weather forecast.

The weather was supposed to clear by game time. We arrived early so we could collect our bobbleheads and then proceeded to wait two hours as it continued to rain.

BB collage2 — During the rain delay, we killed time munching on popcorn or, for Julia, knitting

Finally, they started the game and we sat in the drizzle and rain during the game. Unfortunately, we lost to the Cubs but it was a good game and we had fun despite the rain and the loss.

BB3 — A little rain can’t deter the Studio staff!

And, we have our Ryan Zimmerman bobbleheads!

Posted on April 22, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 8 Comments

Staff Profile- Diane

Every three or four months, I have been stepping back and taking a moment to focus on a member of my amazing staff to give them the recognition they so deserve. Today, I would like to profile the invaluable Diane Kirkhart.

I do not use the word “invaluable” lightly. Diane makes the majority of samples for the shop and, in so doing, proofs the patterns. When we receive phone calls with questions about orders or piecing a quilt, it is Diane who often answers the phone.

Diane is also our notions “queen.” She places orders and hunts down interesting new gadgets to try always looking for the best prices to pass along to you.

Diane-Strips and Curves-1 — Strips and Curves from book by Louisa Smith

Diane started sewing at the age of five. Her mom asked her if she would like to make a coat for her doll. When Diane answered, “yes” she said her mom “told me I should do it all by myself, so I did!” This was just the beginning of a lifetime of interest in arts and crafts.

In the 1990’s, Diane was teaching decorative painting when a student brought her along to a meeting of her quilt group. “I realized I could do my art in fabric,” Diane says. A quilter was born!

Applique and hand quilting are Diane’s favorites. “Thanks, Emily,” dedicated to her first appliqué teacher Emily Martin, won best hand workmanship for a wall quilt at the former Williamsburg quilt show, now the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.

“Beauty Happiness, Family, Love,” began in a class with teacher Patricia McLaughlin where Diane learned to create a lifelike Japanese lady. From this, she created this beautiful and peaceful scene. She found patterns for the blocks from Kumiko Sudo’s Circles of the East with the Japanese symbols being found on the internet. This quilt was accepted into the International Quilt Festival in Houston in 2012.

When asked what her favorite quilt is Diane didn’t hesitate to answer that it is usually whatever she is working on. It is the challenge of trying something new that she loves best.