I'm a Finalist!
At the beginning of this month I submitted my application for the 2018 Craftsy Quilt Designer Fellowship and I'd love your vote to get me to the final round! The Fellowship began in 2016 to help up-and-coming quilt designers launch their business. The winner will be awarded their own booth at Fall Quilt Market (the nation's only wholesale trade show for the quilt industry), a cash prize to develop their brand, a new Janome sewing machine, and more. What a dream!
Monday morning I received an Instagram message from a quilter friend congratulating me on being a finalist. I was a little groggy, so I'm pretty sure my words aloud to myself were, "Um, what?!" It's been an exciting week to share the news with people in my life. I'm thrilled and honored to have been chosen by the panel of judges as a finalist.
I’ve been passionate about many things in life: math, dance, graphic design, photography, technology, and teaching to name a few. In recent years as I started designing quilts, I found that the majority of my passions and experiences connect well to the skills required to design and create quilt patterns. And I love the quilt math! :-)
Last year was an exciting year with officially launching Sarah Goer Quilts as a business, starting this newsletter, releasing my first pattern for sale, publishing my first couple magazine patterns, working with pattern testers, and teaching my first quilt workshops! I'm excited to build on all of that in 2018.
It's a dream of mine to have a booth at Quilt Market. Winning the Fellowship would mean this dream could come true in 2018. If you haven't had a chance to check out the amazing talent in the finalist pool, I hope you'll pop over to Craftsy and vote for your favorite. Please share with your friends and family so they can vote as well. The top three vote recipients will advance to the final round judging. I'd love to get a text from a quilter friend next week telling me I've advanced!
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Palettes featuring A Little of This and A Little of That
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I'm interested in your input for future palettes. Hit reply and send me your inspiration. This could be a general color or a specific Kona color. Or it could be a mood or place or some other inspiration. Anything goes!
Enjoy these Kona palettes. I love color and I'm happy to share a variety of palettes with you this week. I love the drama in #2 and I'm itching to use #3.
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(1) Gumdrop, Bubble Gum, Candy Green, Candy Blue, Candy Pink.
(2) Riviera, Sunny, Watermelon, Pepper, Kale.
(3) Gumdrop, Pool, Caribbean, Pacific, Geranium.
(4) Orchid, Lavender, Amethyst, Noble Purple, Ash.
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Finally Finished
Some finishes are a long time coming. This is one of my most recent finishes, my Midnight Mystery quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs' 2015-2016 mystery quilt along. It is one in a long series of quilts that got stuck at the quilt top stage. I love the palette. I'm so happy to have it done. And I look forward to seeing it be enjoyed around my house.
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No recap post on QuiltCon from me, but many others have shared their thoughts. You can see all the award winners here. And check out thoughts on the show by Michelle, Mel, Cheryl, and Amy.
Helen is working on an awesome, super-sized Ombre HST quilt based on my tutorial. What a fun gift she's making!
Produce tumbling blocks. So fun!
Crimson Tate has a great new Design Your Own Aurifil Thread Box option in their shop. Love it! And Indianapolis friends, I hope you'll check out their Aurifil Thread Bar Bar event Friday night.
Any NES Classic fans? Nostalgia alert!
Fellow late-70s or early-80s babies? We're apparently Xennials now.
Sewing with kids? Row by Row Junior has been updated for 2018 and the theme is Sew Musical! Speaking of kids, I love to see a kid's first quilt!
Ever heard someone say it's "not your grandma's quilt"?
I love this collection of graphic quilts. And I dig this Super Star quilting. And this cactus mini quilt (plus tutorial) is fab!
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What's Happening on Sarah Goer Quilts
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The BIGGEST news is that I found out on Monday that I am a finalist for the 2018 Craftsy Quilt Designer Fellowship. I am thrilled and honored to be a finalist. It's honestly a little surreal. I've been trying to spread the word this week. If you haven't had a chance to check out all the finalists and to vote for your favorite, visit Craftsy to meet the finalists.
We're in the last week of Project QUILTING for the season. This week's theme is Scraptastic! I've completed small submissions for the Mellow Yellow and A Stitch in Time challenges.
I knocked off one of my larger WIPs from the list and am thrilled with my finished Midnight Mystery Quilt.
I set a "One Monthly Goal" of participating in the newest call for mini quilts from Curated Quilts. I love the color palette. And the theme is triangles. There's time for you to submit too!
And this month's Island Batik project is to Try a Technique that is new to me. I started by borrowing a new-to-me tool, an AccuQuilt Go, to cut out 1" circles. I've done some raw edge fusible appliqué with my circles (this part is not exactly new to me, but something I don't do often) and I'm working on trimming up my units so I can piece my top.
I've reached the so close I can taste it stage on my latest quilt pattern. Scattered Squares will be out soon!
I haven't shared in a blog post about QuiltCon, but here are a few of my favorite quilts from the show. My kids loved seeing their quilts hanging in the Youth category and I was honored to have my i Mini hanging in the Curated Quilts vendor booth.
I also finished and sent off some secret sewing, a rep sample for Island Batik. I'm thrilled with the rainbow of color in the pre-release Island Batik collection that came in my Ambassador box and I look forward to showing it off!
There's a great community event on Instagram right now. Amy Ellis has supplied daily prompts for IG Quilt Fest. I have been participating daily. A few of my favorite prompts were Quilting Up Close, Mini Quilt (I picked one from way back!), and Best Tip Ever.
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2018 is all about flexibility. I think my "word" of the year is Embrace Chaos. We're doing some remodel work this year that will require packing up a lot of the house. This means that next month will be consumed by preparing for the remodel. It's a means to an end, and I'll be super thrilled once the work is done. Among other things, this will result in new lighting in my sewing room. The upgrade from the single light on the ceiling fan will be a welcomed change. Until then, things are going to be a little chaotic for a while.
What this really means is that things may slip that I don't want to... blog posts and newsletters may be less regular. I foresee that it's likely that the only sewing that will get done is that with hard external deadlines. But long term, I'm not going anywhere. And short term, I've just had to decide that it is what it is. Embrace Chaos. ;-) And once the prep work is done, I'll be excited to dive back into regular sewing and pattern writing. Thanks for being along with me on the ride!
P.S. Don't forget to vote! And tell your friends to vote, too!!
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Available in my Craftsy Shop
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Back and Forth is designed to feature a medium to large scale print, surrounded by coordinating fabrics. It works well with a variety of solids or blenders. It's the perfect size for a baby or as a cuddle quilt for a toddler.
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