Travels – Page 4 – Jinny Beyer Studio

Posted on November 18, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 2 Comments

Chance Encounters

I have been talking for months about the annual shop hop in our area called “Quilters’ Quest”. There are 10 shops in Maryland and Northern Virginia who get together each year to plan this event. We have just finished the “Quest” and I want to let you all know how successful it was…so many people from across the country have come year after year and make it almost a pilgrimage.

I love seeing the familiar faces of those who have become friends over the years. I especially enjoy the pairs of mothers and daughters who do the Quest together. One mother/daughter combo participate in the Quest each year and the mother has especially caught my fancy. I love the fact that they do this together and that the mother travels to this area to do the Quest with her daughter. I never see them at any other time but instantly remember them when they come through the door. This year when they came in I immediately gave the mom a hug and told her how nice it was to see her again. She said in her feisty way, “you can’t really remember me—if you can, tell me where I am from!”

“New Jersey” I gave right back at her, and we both had a good laugh.

The shop hop is the one time a year that I set aside time from teaching, designing, etc. to be at the shop every day. It is such fun to see the amazing stories that emerge.

Three women and a gentleman came into the shop during the Quest. They did not know the shop hop was going on but were excited to be a part of the festivities. I told them that anyone coming into the shop was eligible for our daily door prize so please enter. They had an interesting story.

It started with Jane Sparrell, a quilter, who traveled to Washington DC with her husband who was attending a conference. One evening of the conference they had dinner at a table with another woman attendee, Virginia, from Sacramento, California. During the course of the conversation, the two women discovered that they were both quilters and had an avid conversation about quilting. The next day, the non- attendee of the conference was on a tour of DC and met the acquaintance of another woman and her husband, Laurie and Rob, from Savage, Minnesota. The two women soon discovered that THEY both were quilters.

The bottom line is that the three women, Jane, Virginia and Laurie, and the husband made the trek out to our shop. No sooner had they left than I noticed that Jane had left a bag behind. I called her cell phone and agreed to mail it to her.

Later that day, believe it or not, it was her name that I drew for our daily drawing prize winner! I called her yet again and said that we must be new best friends with my second call to her in a day.

Thank you to all of you who attended the Quest. I love the chance to meet and talk with so many of you. The Quest always reminds of how much I love being with quilters (as if I could ever forget)!

Posted on November 12, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer

Quilters’ Quest 2015 is Hopping!

We are in the midst of Quilters’ Quest here in the Studio. It’s hard to convey how much fun we’re having with the hundreds of quilters who have already passed through.

Our first day started very early as the first bus group gathered at the Studio for breakfast and a surprise show and tell.

QQ2015-1 — Ann M. made this pattern from Scrappy Apple’s 2014 pattern in blues. We love it!

QQ2015-2 — This Stained Glass Star was a UFO but Kit R. finished it before traveling down to take the bus.

And here’s the group from bus #1 heading off on their Quest to visit all 10 shops.

Here are just a few of the Quest quilts they saw along the way.

QQ2015-4 — Material Girls, Cottonseed Glory, and Bear’s Paw all made great use of the palette of Quest fabrics.

We were even able to tear a couple of the shop owners away from their work to pose in front of their quilts.

Dick and Wendy from Traditions at the White Swan and Jackie from Patches both chose applique.

And wardrobes even included Quest fabric.

QQ2015-6 — Nancy with the Studio beaded scarves and Carol from Scrappy Apple.

More vests as worn by the staff at The Scrappy Apple.

QQ2015-8 — Bus rider Tammy got in the spirit wearing a scarf shaded with Jinny’s fabrics that she made.

The shop is ready with new and favorite products with demos going on all day long. We hope to see you soon!

Posted on October 28, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 3 Comments

Two Novices and a Legend Go to Market

This is the tale of two Quilt Market rookies and our trip to Houston with Jinny. We, staffers Dana and Nancy, have taken over Jinny’s blog to give you an inside view of the Fall Quilt Market in Houston which we had heard so much about yet never attended.

Quilt market floor — Just a few of the many booths we looked through.

It is at Market that fabric manufacturers, designers and all who create quilting products present their goods to shop owners. It was our job to help Jinny select goodies for the Studio and for our Weekly Web Specials. We did not, however, begin with shopping.

We spent our first day attending many of the almost 300 “Schoolhouse” classes offered covering a wide range of topics including new products and techniques, marketing and business education. Of course we made sure not to miss Jinny’s two classes.

Cozy quilt designs — Daniella Stout of Cozy Quilt Designs uses many of Jinny’s fabrics in her designs.

Heather Spence didn’t know she was pitching her pattern to Jinny Beyer until Jinny commented that it was her fabric in “Dan’s Climb.”

Day two was a day of shopping for items that the Jinny Beyer customer would like and appreciate but it was so much more than that. We enjoyed seeing the wonderful mix of modern and traditional ideas and people of all ages. We found it very inspiring to see how vendors presented themselves and their products with such contagious joy and excitement.

Anna Aldmo’s beautiful applique designs come to life with Jinny’s fabrics.

Espadrilles — Who wouldn’t want to make espadrilles with quilt designs on them after listening to this great presentation.

It was fun to hear the stories told by the vendors and people we met of how they discovered quilting and sewing and where life has taken them! And, of course, there was the people watching.

Nancy, Jinny, Julie Silber, & Dana. Julie Silber sells an amazing collection of antique quilts.

Celeb Photo2 — Left: Paula Nadelstern & Jinny; Right: Kaffe Fassett, Jinny, Dana, & Brandon Mably

Celeb Photo1 — Left: Janet Lutz, Jinny, & Jenny Doan; Right: Alex Anderson & Jinny

What probably made the biggest impression on us was what happened by just hanging out with Jinny. To us, she is just Jinny. We forget that out there in the quilting world she is Jinny Beyer, the legend. We can’t count the number of times where individuals, from famous quilters to small shop owners, came up to Jinny (and to us) to say that she has influenced them, inspired them and helped them to grow as quilters. Many were brought to tears. And we saw the joy on Jinny’s face when she spoke to the next generation of quilters seeing that the love and joy of quilting is being carried on.

Edyta Sitar, teacher, author, fabric designer, who learned Jinny’s techniques from her mother-in-law told Jinny of the difference she has made in her life.

A quilter (so sorry I lost your name) currently from Sitka, Alaska, who learned to hand piece by studying Jinny’s book, *Quiltmaking by Hand*.

Thanks so much, Jinny, for letting us tag along.

Editors’ Note: Jinny will ask us to take out the last paragraph because she is very modest. However, she did ask us to write this blog today AND she doesn’t know how to post them. We do that for her. Sorry Jinny!

Posted on October 15, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 2 Comments

Finished at last….and finally ready for Quest!

You’ve been following with me as I’ve created my quilt for this year’s Quilter’s Quest and here it finally is, my finished quilt top, Calliope. The journey has been a fun one from its design just this summer to the final appliqué stitches.

I have been enjoying doing some applique designs and have been influenced by the ox cart wheels that I saw in Costa Rica earlier this year and also by the beautiful applique of the tentmakers of Cairo.

Planning for the Quest started long before I began this quilt. All of us at the 10 participating shops look forward to our shop hop and work hard to make it fun for you because it’s so much fun for us. We love seeing old friends, making new ones and revel in the festive atmosphere.

Each shop has designed and made a quilt just as I have, using our color-coordinated 10-inch squares. When you visit a shop, you will receive a free pattern for that shop’s quilt. The colors this year are the bright and cheery tones of a sunrise and blend well together. If you make it to all ten shops you can collect all of the fabrics used in the quilts and will be eligible for some fantastic prizes. As always, we have exclusive fabrics designed just for the Quest featuring images special to our region.

We have been working very hard gearing up for your visit, making special projects, assembling kits, and preparing demonstrations. We still have a few places on our two buses and would love to have you join us along with quilters from across the country.

Mark the Quest dates on your calendar, November 6 – 15, and make plans to visit us all during the Quest.

Posted on October 14, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer

QQ 2015 Final Quilt Design

We have been working very hard gearing up for your visit, making special projects, assembling kits, and preparing demonstrations. We still have a few places on our two buses and would love to have you join us along with quilters from across the country.

Mark the Quest dates on your calendar, November 6 – 15, and make plans to visit us all during the Quest.

Posted on August 19, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 6 Comments

Take Me Out to The Ball Game!

Jinny with zucchini — With a large zucchini from my garden….getting ready to go to the baseball game!

Fires, earthquake, train delays and a 4 nothing sweep of the Giants over the Nationals.

So, my husband, one of my sons and I embarked on a cross country flight to San Francisco to visit our other son and his wife for a long weekend. Why choose this weekend? Because our Nationals baseball team would be playing the San Francisco Giants and we had never been in the Giants AT&T Park……and we are great Nats fans.

The first morning when I woke up I smelled smoke. Sure that there was a fire nearby, I woke up everyone in the house. Actually the winds had shifted and we were smelling the smoke and seeing the haze from a fire burning north of Napa.

Even though the Nats had lost the first two games in the series to the Giants, I donned my Nats gear (including the Jason Werth garden gnome hat made by my friend Barb) and we all went off to Saturdays game. I was a littled disgruntled that my son and his wife were going to root for the Giants!

BBB3 — My two sons and my daughter-in-law….some of whom were rooting for the opposite team!

Well as optimistic as I was ,we lost 12-6. But it was fun being with family and in a new baseball park and I must say that the Giants fans were awesome…..welcoming us and hoping we had a good time, etc.

We watched the game on TV on Sunday and I got a lot of stitching done on our Shop Hop, Quilters Quest quilt.

Then on Monday morning, just as we were getting ready to leave for the airport, there was a 4.0 earthquake with the epicenter near by. It was enough to delay the Bart train to the airport and we barely made our flight.

I sat next to a very interesting woman on the way home and we became fast friends as we shared small business advice, sewing and much more. I’ll save that for a future blog.

Posted on August 12, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer

Quilters’ Quest 2015

In life you tend to have events which you look forward to every year. Usually, they center around special occasions which bring friends and family together. In the life of the Studio, that event would be Quilters’ Quest. The Quest, as we call it, brings in friends from near and far and is full of fun and activity. You may think of it as just a shop hop, but to us it means more.

This year’s Quilters’ Quest will take place November 6^th through the 16^th. Ten shops participate in our Quest and the planning starts just a couple of months after the previous one ends. First, a palette of colors is chosen. This year it is “Sunset Over the Potomac” with rich, warm hues.

Every shop will have their Quest Cuts—this year it’s 10-inch squares—from a section of the palette packaged and available for purchase or for free with a $40 purchase. They have also designed and made a quilt which uses all of the shops’ Quest Cuts. You receive a pattern of each shop’s quilt for free when you enter that shop. A Quest exclusive batik fabric has been designed featuring motifs significant to the region.

If you don’t care to drive, most of the shops have buses available. Let me tell you, the quilters on those buses all appear to be having a marvelous time. On our buses, we always have a wonderful mix of quilters from our area and across the country, even from other countries!

In the Studio, we love greeting old friends and making new ones. I try to be at the door to greet all of our guests (I only take short breaks) throughout the Quest. I’m amazed at how far some of you travel!

This year as always, our shop will be stocked with the new Quest fabric along with a good supply of the very popular “monument” batiks from last year. We’re putting together fabric bundles to compliment your sunset fabrics, planning demos and bringing in lots of new patterns and notions for your 10-inch squares.

I’m also in the process of making our quilt which I have designed for this year’s Quest. Look for a sneak peak of the design in a future blog.

I hope you are planning to join us this November. For more information on the Quilters’ Quest, you can visit www.quiltersquest.org.

To register for one of our buses, click here.

Posted on July 3, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 5 Comments

Designing Fabric

Most of you know that I have been designing fabric for quilters for a lot of years. My first line was introduced in 1981 by a company that shall remain nameless. I did three lines for that company in two years and they decided that quilting had reached it’s peak in popularity and they were getting out while they were still on top. Hah! Little did they know.

RJR Fabrics heard that I would no longer be with that company and asked me to work for them. It has been a great partnership between us and I have been working with them since 1983. RJR is in the Los Angeles area while I am on the east coast. We mostly meet remotely but manage to get together a few times throughout the year.

Recently, I flew to Los Angeles and went to the RJR offices to meet with the new art director, individuals from the Japanese company who work with my screen print fabrics, and those from yet another company who I work with in producing my batik lines. It was a whirlwind day and a half but we got a lot accomplished.

RJR has moved to new offices in the past year so it was great seeing their new place and touring the facilities. When you walk through the door, you are struck by the openness of the offices and color everywhere. Quilts are hanging all around and it is just a colorful, happy environment.

Sorting batiks — Demi, the head of marketing at RJR, sorting batiks with me

While at RJR, I sorted fabrics from my three batik collections, mixing the groups. RJR plans to make pixie groupings of these (2 ½” strips of 40 fabrics per group) and I am designing quilts that can be made with each group. In fact, I am recoloring our popular Crayon Box quilt using these pixies. Here is a sneak peak of one of the colorways.

Quilts at RJR — Summer Lily and Lone Star Salute in the halls at RJR

Working on kits in warehouse — Women making kits for other retailers (we make our own here in the Studio)

Posted on June 24, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 13 Comments

The Row by Row Experience 2015

The Row by Row Experience has begun! If you are not familiar with the Row by Row Experience, it is similar to a shop hop, but a bit different– no fees, no cards to stamp, and you have all summer to participate. Simply visit any of the participating shops throughout the USA and Canada and receive a free pattern for a row in a quilt. Combine your rows in any way to create a unique quilt that represents the fun you had traveling throughout the summer. This year’s theme is…..water. Each shop has created a row based on this theme.

The Studio’s row is based on the nearby Great Falls National Park. At Great Falls, the Potomac River builds up speed and force as it falls over a series of steep, jagged rocks and flows through the narrow Mather Gorge creating its spectacular falls. The row represents that series of rocks and rushing white water. It may look complex but it is actually very easy to piece with simple paper piecing techniques.

Create a quilt using at least eight different rows from eight different participating shops and be the first to bring it into one of those participating shops to win a stack of 25 fat quarters. If you are the first to bring a quilt into the Studio, those 25 fat quarters will be your choice from our entire stock of fat quarters. And if you use the Studio’s row in your quilt, you will win a bonus prize—Golden Gage Calipers!

Why calipers? There is an interesting reason why we chose them. After our sample row was entirely put together, I made a discovery. Unknowingly and without trying, my design conforms to the Golden Ratio. The Golden Ratio, which occurs in nature, ancient and historic design, is said to be the perfect proportion. It is the ratio of 1 to 1.618 or .618 to one. When I put the calipers on our row, I saw that each triangle increases in size according to the Golden Ratio.

To learn more about the Golden Proportion, check out this blog post.

Claire M. from Florida made sure she got her Great Falls row kit.

Besides the free row pattern, we have some special products. Row kits with all the fabric needed to complete our row and fabric bundles in the gorgeous fabrics of our row will be available. Not only do we have fabric license plates with our slogan, “Perfect Piecer,” but we also have collectable pins. Watch for more products based on our Great Falls row.

Row by Row runs through Tuesday, September 8^th. Stop in when you are in the Washington, D.C. area or take a road trip with friends to discover new quilt shops and old favorites and have fun collecting your rows.

Diane from Utah along with Harolyn and Doreen from Virginia showing off their Row by Row purchases. (Yes, her name really starts with an H.) — Diane from Utah along with Harolyn and Doreen from Virginia showing
off their Row by Row purchases. (Yes, her name really starts with an H.)

Posted on May 13, 2015July 29, 2022 by Jinny Beyer — 4 Comments

Red Fort

The Taj Mahal is one of the most popular tourist attractions in India. But I think, equally compelling is the amazing Red Fort which is only a mile and a half away. The Red Fort as it is today was built by Akbar the Great (1542-1605) at the site of an older fort dating back to the 11th century. More than 4000 builders worked on it daily until its completion in 1573. This remarkable structure was a walled city built by Akbar in 1654 and used as a military strategic point as well as the royal residence.

Built of red sandstone, it has incredible designs throughout. Whether we examine the edging on top of the building, latticework in windows, or decorations on the walls, patterns are everywhere.

I was inspired to make this quilt from one of those patterns which repeats throughout the fort. While modern day quilters call this design “Dutch Tile,” it has been around for centuries.

You can design one of these quilts yourself without a pattern. Check out “Designing with Diamonds” on my “Tips and Lessons” page. I’ve given you the “formula” I used when designing my “Red Fort” quilt. I would love to see what you create.

These photos of inside the Red Fort were taken on the tour to India with Sew Many Places last October. I began quilting while living in India years ago and every time I go back I am inspired anew by the color and design that surrounds this incredible country. I’ll be going there again on another tour next March. If you have ever wanted to go to India, this is a perfect way to be pampered and inspired.