retro bathing suit

I have been very, very busy lately designing new patterns for magazines, shops, and patchwork groups. One of my projects this year is help design a Row by Row with a specific scheme. I will let you figure it out yourself just what that theme is. ; ) In the meantime, since so many of you ask about my patterns, I thought I would start to share them with you as well. You can find all of them on Craftsy.

This cute little retro bathing suit is foundation paper pieced. You might think it is too small to sew, but I know you love a challenge. You can always blow it up if you need to. I am really curious to see what you can make with this too. I found it is the perfect size for a journal cover made by the talented Sandra aka Hohenbrunner Quilterin. She has a fantastic tutorial on how to make them.

I would love to see a mini quilt out of these!! Here is a little glimpse of how a mini quilt could look designed with Glamping from Moda. I just love the look of this!

Here is another close up of the the assembly. The block is made with just three sections. Believe me, it is a lot simpler to make than you might think. And no, it's not too small. I worked on an ice cream cone with three scoops of ice cream in the same size as this week that was rather tedious. This you definitely can manage. So hop on over to Craftsy to download your new Retro Bathing Suit FPP Quilt Block.I would love to see what you make!!

Thanks for dropping by!

gristmill star block #1033

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Hop, Day Three .

My name is Karen Ackva of easypatchwork. I am an American living my dreams with my bi-national (German-American) family overseas. I design quilts, blocks, patterns, and tutorials (most of which are free). Sometimes, I even blog about my day-to-day challenges and experiences living in Germany. I have been quilting (called patchwork here) for more than 13 years and designing just as long.

Gristmill Star Block with House and Garden fabrics from Cloud 9

I am excited to share with you my very first block for Quiltmaker's! I am extremely honored that they chose my block for their eleventh issue and to be published in such an awesome magazine alongside so many other talented designers! Thank you, Quiltmaker especially Carolyn Beam and Kelly Eisinger. You two are the greatest!

My Style
I love making patchwork that is balanced. I usually do that by mixing prints and solids, warm colors and cold colors as well as the use of balanced designs, sometimes symmetrical and sometimes not. I love geometric prints and contrasting colors.

The Gristmill Star Block
This consists of a framed star with triangles in the corners. The emphasis in this color scheme is the star being the darkest color (a solid brown) and the frame and rays of middle tones/fabrics. This is also the original block found in the magazine, signed by me, and will eventually be raffled off or given away by Quiltmaker's.

Gristmill Star Block #1033 from Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Summer Edition

You can change it up by exchanging the white frame stripes with printed fabrics to get a contrasting block. Also change the corner triangles to a lighter fabric but everything else should stay the same.

Gristmill Star Block Variation using some Tula Pink Fabrics

You can swap out the the four corner block fabrics in the star to get a spinning friendship star as shown on the right side of the quilt below. Make five blocks of each, add some interesting strips (plain and pieced) to get this beautiful full-sized quilt.

Quilt size ~ 50 x 60 inches with Gristmill Star and Variation

Or you can make just one block then add some improvised borders to make a great modern pillow. Fabrics from Windham Fabrics - Mimosa.

18 x 18 inch Pillow using the Gristmill Star Block

Or make three blocks (making sure one is a variation) and make this stunning table runner for a quick weekend or day project.

Table Runner using Three Blocks

Or if you love the look of scrappy, make four blocks in the same manner with all of them being scrappy. You will love how it turns out!

Wall Hanging or Table Topper ~ 24 x 24 inches with Gristmill Star Block

My Test Block

As a designer, you not only create new designs, but you want others to have an easy block or pattern that is truly do-able! You need to know it works and isn't just a designer block that no one can or would sew! Right? Well, I sewed this block together four times wanting to get it just perfect. And, sometimes, the first block is not the one that makes it into the magazine. Even though I should have know not to use the best fabric I have for a test block, I still went ahead and did it anyway!

Gristmill Star using Fussy Cut Tula Pink fabric

This was my very first block that I made. But since it is 1/2 inch smaller than the requirements, it didn't make the cut. Isn't it just too cute with the raccoons! I love Tula Pink fabric! Unfortunately, I didn't have any more fabric to make a second block with the special fussy cutting, the one featured in the magazine! I would have preferred this one! My three other blocks came out perfect, btw. :-)

My Addiction
And just the past weekend, I acquired some new fabric at the Patchwork Days in Dinkelsbühl sponsored by the German Patchwork Gilde. I absolutely loved this fabrc and wanted to make something out of it immediately! I did just that, too!

Windham Fabrics, Paint Collection by Carrie Bloomston

I decided I would make a quick pillow case. I make a lot of pillow cases at the moment, because I am having so much fun with our group Pillow Swap Four Seasons found on flickr or with the hashtag #pillowswapfourseasons. BTW, registration for the Fall Round will open on June 1st if you love to make pillows according to the different seasons as well! We have room for 50 beautiful male and female patchworkers if you are interested!!

And by the afternoon, I had this! See all of the beautiful things you can make with this great new star block?! You can see more pictures of the Gristmill Star on my flickr account.

Gristmill Star featured in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Summer Edition 2015

Giveaway I
Stop by all of the designers featured on the blog hop today for your chance to win a copy of the Quiltmaker's 100 blocks. Follow their directions. ;-)

Giveaway II
Stop by Quilty Pleasures (Quiltmaker's Blog) and enter for your chance to win a copy of the magazine as well as many other daily prizes! You might even find a pattern from me there. <wink, wink>

Giveaway III
And if that is not enough chances to win a copy, I also have one copy of the magazine to give away to one very lucky reader that will be shipped directly from Quiltmaker's. Are you excited? Not yet? Then what about this..... I will send you, the winner of the magazine from my site, a copy of EACH PATTERN I have for sale in my Craftsy shop! This includes Mystic Rainbow Chevron, Destiny's Trail Nine Patch, Wrist Pin Cushion for Sewists, Perfect Wrist Pin Catcher, Autumn at the Peaks Wall Hanging + Template, Tilted Kimono Butterfly Foundation Template and the Simple Four Inch Star Foundation Template all for one lucky patchworker!!

Copies of Patterns from easypatchwork to GIVEAWAY!

All you have to do is leave a comment in the section below stating your favorite fabric designer or the fabrics you would choose to make this block. (One entry per email address.) Also, please leave your email address if you are a no-reply blogger. If you don't know if you are one or not, put your email address down anyway. I will contact you per email for your shipping address. On Friday morning, 9am (German time), I will choose a random number for one lucky winner of the magazine - Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 11 and all of my listed patterns!

GOOD LUCK!

Please don't forget to stop by each blog featured on Quilty Pleasures on the date listed for an additional chance to win a free copy of the Summer Edition of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks as well as some other very juicy prizes such as fabrics, notions, patterns, and other quilty goodies!!

mariner's compass - what a challenge!

Well, it has been two weeks since my last post. Time has flown by, and I have hardly gotten any sewing done, so it seems. I think I managed to post a couple of sneak peeks of my last block from the Advanced Sampler on Instagram, but that was it! The kids had two weeks off for Easter vacation, and I took two weeks right along with them! You only live once! We enjoyed sleeping in late, staying up, playing outside (when it wasn't raining) and just enjoying the free time.

Let me tell you what I was working on in my free minutes of stolen sewing time. I decided to add this stunning 12" Notched Mariner's Compass to my Advanced Sampler quilt. I originally wanted to make it paper or foundation pieced, but wanted to give myself a challenge and work with templates. I printed out the necessary templates from EQ7 and traced over them onto a clear plastic sheet. I didn't really think about the added seam allowance of a self-made template in the beginning. You see, when you trace around the original template, you add just a little bit to the shape. When you cut out the template, you add again, just a little bit. And then when you trace the template onto your fabric, you add, yet again, a little bit. In the end, this added 1/2 to a 12" block! I didn't realize this until all four quarters of the block were made. Each corner block should have measured 6.5" instead of 6.75". I thought I could shrink the block down by soaking in water for an hour and throwing it in the dryer. Absolutely didn't work. It was the same size in the end 13 inches!

Time to come up with Plan B! I could reduce the size (height) of the notches (outer ring) by either cutting them back and piecing a quarter circle around them meaning I would have to separate the four quarter of the compass again OR reverse applique a 12" circle around the notched compass. I decided to go with the second. And, yet again....another skill builder. I have only used this method one other time on another mariner's compass.

I traced a quarter of a 12" circle onto a 14" white square of fabric with my awesome Frixion pen making sure my square was perfectly folded in half twice. This way, you only need to trace a 6" quarter circle. It is faster and saves paper!! Then I cut a whole about 3/8 in front of the circle line.  I notched the circle making sure NOT to cut into the line. I got out my normal glue stick and glued the white notched fabric down making sure they touched the outer ring. I measured it out with my ruler to really make sure I had a 12" notched mariner's compass and adjusted as needed. After it all was glued and pinned, I sewed around the white outer edge to secure or applique in place. Voila!

My block is now the right size! I reduced the total size from 13" to 12 1/2" inches by reducing the outer ring size by 1/2" and I used reverse appliqué - building more skills in the process. I actually think it is better to use this technique of applique rather than piecing four squares to the four segments, because you can "trick" the circle to really be round.

I am almost finished with all 12 blocks for my sampler. It has been in the works now for three+ years and am ready to finish it up. Would you like to see what it will look like in the end? Stay tuned. ;-)

What did I learn this week? Be careful when you use self-made templates and trim up your blocks before proceeding to the next step! What is your experience with templates? We would like to hear from you.