"Winter Blues," part 4.26

After I finished sewing the squares for the "Winter Blues" quilt, I was eager to start assembling the blocks . . .

This is as far as I got, this weekend . . .

This represents 26% of the entire quilt . . . there's more to come.

"Winter Blues" part 3.5

When I last posted about this project, I left you with a pic of the piles of cut fabric on my worktable . . .

There are two reasons why this turned out to be a good thing: the final quilt will have alternating pinwheels in light and dark blue. Arranging the piles like this let me see what's next to what.

The second reason I liked this arrangement of piles is that each pinwheel block has elements of the surrounding pinwheels within it. Having alternating piles of pieces on the table helped when it came to piecing the squares. I could easily see what fabrics appear above, below, and to the sides of any given pinwheel.

Of course, that was the middle of November . . . then, "life got in the way" and I did nothing with the pieces.

On Christmas Day, I started piecing the squares. I needed 140 of 'em for the body of the quilt. With only a week left in the old year, I pieced up a storm . . . I managed to sew 60 squares over that weekend.

During the week, I continued to sew squares. I pushed to finish sewing the squares before year's end, if possible. About two-thirds of the way, I discovered a piecing mistake I'd consistently made. Now, there was no way I was gonna rip out all that stitching, so I changed the design "on the fly" as it were (twice, even). I'm eager (and curious) to see what the changes will bring. I'm not even gonna tell ya what they are . . . when I'm finished with the quilt, we'll see 'em together. The changes may be too subtle to be noticed, but we'll see.

Now, after a week of hard sewing, I'm pleased to say that I finished sewing all the squares for the body of the quilt . . . 140 squares, in all. I'll need another 52 squares for the pieced border, but for the moment, I'm not gonna worry about the border (though there are gonna be changes there, as well).

When I cut the fabric, I cut ALL the fabric, knowing that I'd have some leftovers . . . not enough to make full pinwheels, though. These are the leftover pieces. The dark and light blue fabrics in the upper row were the fabrics I bought to supplement the fabrics in the swap; there's more than enough of those pieces to make complete one-color pinwheels. The dark and light blue fabrics in the lower row are "fabric swap" leftovers. There are not enough pieces to make complete pinwheels. What I have in mind is to arrange them by value and use them to make "scrappy" pinwheels, alternating with solid pinwheels (as well as alternating light/dark). But, I have other plans in mind for THAT quilt (like a yellow/orange/red background).

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"Winter Blues" part 2.5

Below are pictures of my proposed layout of the pinwheels in "Winter Blues." I will alternate light and dark blues. In the foreground of the first pic are the additional fabrics for the stars, squares, and border (and extra light and dark blue pinwheel fabric). Laying out the cut pieces like this allows me to keep track of which pinwheels touch (and, aids in piecing).

Now, to clean and oil my sewing machine . . . I should start sewing this weekend.

My next post will give a step-by-step tutorial on the foundation piecing method I use.




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"Winter Blues" part 1.5

I've been busy cutting fabric for the new quilt . . . while cutting, I've been busy thinking, too. I decided to make a change (or two) to the design.

I generally don't add borders to my quilts. Somewhere along the way, I read one should add borders to a quilt "to set it apart from the wall." Well, with my quilts, I think if you can't tell where the quilt ends and the wall begins, why do you need my quilt on your wall anyway?? LOL!!

This time, I decided to add a black border around the quilt for the sole purpose of extending the pinwheel arms into it. I didn't like the "chopped off" quality of the outer pinwheels; I wanted complete pinwheels throughout. This is what I came up with.



I liked the look . . . what do you think of it??

A little later, I thought "if my quilt extends into the border, why can't the border extend into the quilt"?? I tried something else . . . in the drawing below, I used gray for the border to show how it mimics the pinwheel arms, extending into the body of the quilt. It also helps to define the shape of the stars.



Actually, this may be more subtle than the drawing shows: my actual fabric for the stars and squares is a black with gold stars and dots printed on it . . . I bought black fabric with mulberry spots printed on it for the border. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Either way, I DO like the idea of a border that incorporates elements of the overall design in it. I think I'll call this an "integrated" border because of its mimicry as well as outlining shapes in the pattern. Cool idea, huh??

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"Winter Blues" part 1

Below is my initial drawing for my "Winter Blues" quilt. There are two other drawings: one has white for the background instead of black (but, I've already bought the black fabric); the other has orange for the background (but, it looked more Fall than Winter). I've made this quilt several times before: once in shades of purple; and, once in shades of brown (both are on my website under "Gallery."


This is an easy quilt to make . . . it only requires the same same square colored two different ways as shown below. I believe the number of colorways is the key to the level of difficulty for my patterns: many of my patterns require the same square colored four different ways, while my "Mardi Gras Men" quilt required NINE different colorways!!

Now, I have fifteen light blue fat quarters and thirteen dark blue fat quarters for this quilt from the fabric swap. I bought an additional 3.5 yards of light and dark blue fabric and a black fabric with gold stars for the background (pics to come). I know I can get 1.5 pinwheel from each fat quarter (and a lot more from the additional yardage).

I'm thinking about cutting the fabric into strips wide enough to accommodate my templates; then, cut the fabric into my desired shapes; then, shuffle the stacks so I don't use two of the same fabrics in any given square. Then, with muslin foundations at the ready, I'll sew the fabric to the foundations (reshuffling the stacks of pieces as needed). After I've sewn all the squares, I'll sort 'em by colorway. Since the pattern has a light/dark contrast going on, I'm not gonna be too concerned if the pinwheels aren't entirely the same fabric (there will be more pinwheels from the additional yardage, anyway). There are several fabrics that don't match my perception of "blue" but I'm gonna use 'em anyway; I hope to diffuse their lack of "blueness" by spreading 'em out.

Next up: the fabrics.

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Other happenings . . .

Yes, it's been awhile since I've posted . . . sorry. Here's a few other things that have been happening . . .

After work, I shipped three quilts to Paducah for a "photo shoot." They've been selected to accompany the article about me in Joe Cunningham's book about male quilters, due out next spring I think. Here's what they look like:

Last week, I stopped by my photographer's gallery. Ten years ago, I gave a small quilt show around Mardi Gras. I asked if I could do one next year around Mardi Gras. He said, "sure!!" Guess I'd best get to sewing, huh??

I took part in a fabric swap on the Yahoo! QuiltGuy group with the theme "Winter Blues." I got 29 fat quarters in shades of blue. I'll be starting a new quilt with them, with an eye toward making it my first published pattern. Keep your eyes peeled . . .

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The Rockford/Hinsdale '09 Tour is over!! . . . (was it all a dream??)

My feelings of euphoria faded fast when I woke up this morning in front of the computer terminal in the office--a pile of files beside me, and a line of people with requests in front of me (ok, maybe that's an exaggeration . . . the people in front of me at least asked, "how was the vacation??" before they asked, "could you do this for me??" and handed me another file).

Did I dream it all??

Last Thursday, I repacked my rental and drove north to Willowbrook, IL, a southwestern suburb of Chicago. I had time to check into my hotel, shower and change before leaving for the Hinsdale Community House for my lecture. I got a little turned around, but managed to arrive five minutes before the guild meeting started. A woman pointed me toward the stage at the front of the crowded room (there were about 200 women there), and pointed to the digital projector. "You can just plug your laptop into here," she said.

Um, er, I don't own a laptop, and I have a carousel of slides. "Don't you have a slide projector??" I asked. "I'll go ask," she said and bustled off.

I set up my display stand with my "Mardi Gras Men" quilt on it . . . I set up my framed magazine articles . . . I laid out my business cards . . . I unpacked my "trunk show" quilts . . . all in plain view of my expectant audience.

My contact, Terri, came up to me and said, "they don't have a slide projector . . . can you punt??" I said, "I guess I'll have to, won't I??" I sat at the foot of the stage while the guild conducted their business meeting . . . my mind was working a mile a minute. When Terri introduced me, she said that through no fault of my own I'd be unable to show my slides (there were audible moans).

I took the stage, opened my slide carousel, and held up the first slide. "This is my first quilt," I said, "and here is my third," holding up another slide. There were chuckles in the audience. I replace the slides in my carousel. Slides?? Slides?? We don't need no stinkin' slides!! I talked off-the-cuff and off-the-top-of-my-head for 45 minutes about how I started sewing; how I taught my father to sew; how I started quilting; and, I told stories about some of the quilts I've made (punctuated with, "I wish you could've seen THIS quilt!!"). I answered questions as I went along (instead of saving 'em for the end). I had volunteers hold up and parade the quilts I'd brought with me. Then, I dropped the bombshell--all the quilts had been made from the same set of templates, which segued into a talk about my design system and construction techniques. Several volunteers passed out my free design tiles, but ran out (I'm gonna have to send 'em some more before their next meeting). At some point, I asked if they'd heard enough of me, and the audience burst into an emphatic NO!! LOL!!

After my talk, I sold plenty of books, templates, and muslin foundations; many also took my business card, eager to get online and see what all the fuss was about!! Many agreed it was the best slide show they'd never seen!! I was in my element!! It was a great night!!


I had a small class on Friday morning for the design workshop. We had a fun day of coming up with new patterns. I had my copier with me, so the students could make copies and color 'em in. They were eager for Saturday's construction workshop. I asked Terri if she knew how many had signed up for Saturday and she told me 14. FOURTEEN?? I didn't have near enough muslin foundations for 'em all. Friday night found me in my hotel room, stamping muslin foundations to beat the band!!


I had a pattern in mind for the students who hadn't taken the design workshop. Students bought templates and muslin foundations and cleaned out my inventory. I walked 'em through my sandpaper-back templates: how to cut 'em apart and how to use 'em to cut their fabric. Everyone fell to cutting out fabric, some quicker than others. I walked 'em through the muslin foundations: where to start and how to sew 'em. Several students who hadn't taken the design class HAD taken the free design tiles at the lecture and came prepared with their own designs. For the rest of the students, I had to bite my tongue--once they sewed enough of the squares, they started designing patterns that were not the pattern I had in mind. I gave them free reign.


I couldn't have been happier as I drove back to St. Louis . . . not because I was leaving Hinsdale behind, but because of the great people I had the pleasure to work with, and the great input, feedback, suggestions, and ideas we all shared. My only regret was not having another guild lined up for NEXT weekend, LOL!! As usual, my partner, Ed, was glad to have me back home (Rambo and Sambo could have cared less) . . .


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The Rockford Files . . . a report and a reprieve

The trip to Rockford was a rousing success!!

The drive north was mostly uneventful (emphasis on "mostly"). I was listening to "Nostradamus Ate my Hamster" by Robert Rankin (read by the author). It was an interesting listen involving time travel, a subliminally-charged movie that literally converts the world, and Adolph Hitler (who gets his head bashed in to put him out of his misery). Unfortunately, I was so intent on hearing the end that I missed my exit (and the tollway). Several locals got me back on course, and I arrived at my hotel around 9:00 p.m.

I gave two lectures on Thursday, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. There were about 100 people at the afternoon lecture, and 50 people in the evening (the cold, rainy weather may have affected the evening attendance). Like at my lecture in Flint, MI last month, I gave away free copies of my design tiles to the guild members. I sold a dozen copies of my book and donated one copy to the guild library.

There were eight people in the design workshop Friday morning. Colleen, one of my students, told me her elderly mother had been in the audience the previous evening and took my design tiles home with her. Colleen said her mother was busily playing with the design tiles that morning. She thanked me for coming up with something to keep her mother occupied!! Do you think I should target nursing homes next??

There were five people in the construction workshop Saturday morning. I gave each student one set of my sandpaper-backed templates and sixteen pre-stamped muslin foundations. They asked if I had any muslin foundations for sale, and bought about a dozen bundles of eight foundations!!

I got some great feedback, suggestions, and ideas from the two workshops. I have a lot more material to add to the book later this year. Since the patterns are basically shape-driven, I've come up with a change of the design tiles for emphasis. There's interest in more products (templates, stencils, and muslin foundations) for sale.

I returned to St. Louis early Sunday evening. My partner, Ed, was happy to see me (the cats could have cared less). We had a relaxing evening . . . end of report.

On Monday morning, I bought and prepped more muslin . . . while I was washing the muslin at the laundromat, I met the part-owner of the video production office next door. Did I ever tell you about the DVD of my lecture in Flint, MI?? The audio was terrible!! The camera had no direct-feed microphone, so there was an echo-y quality to the sound, and you could also hear every cough, scraped chair, etc. in the room. Ryan said his company could fix that. He said they had studio facilities to film other presentations as well.

If you think my quilting is "out-of-the-box," just wait till you get a load of my videos!! I'm thinking/dreaming of lectures and workshops on DVD for those who would never see me otherwise. Just think: individual classes on the design tiles, block construction, and color theory you can watch again and again!!

I'm writing (and designing) copy for "packaging" for the templates and muslin foundations. I cut an additional 450 muslin foundations to stamp, but I may leave that for something to do in my hotel room.

I had been rushing around to get ready to leave Wednesday, but late Tuesday I learned that my hotel in Willowbrook is booked for Thursday, not Wednesday . . . a reprieve!! Now, I have additional time to make the sandpaper-backed tempates, bundle muslin foundations, redesign the design tiles for the workshop, etc., etc., etc. . . .

I'm a little busy at the moment . . . later, sweet taters!!

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I'm almost ready for Rockford, IL (but, are they ready for me??)

In case you're wondering, all that's left to do on my "to do" list is write and copy the handouts for the two workshops and glue card stock templates to sandpaper for the construction workshop. Yeah, I got it all done, YAYY!!

This morning, I scanned all my printing to make PDF files of everything, and emailed it to FedEx/Kinko's for copying (including the book). I got design tiles (for "freebies"), templates (for the construction workshop), and enlarged tiles (for demonstration purposes) printed on card stock.

As for the book, I got a glossy card stock for the cover (the front cover IS color, after all), and a heavier paper for the interior pages (so you can't see through it). It cost a bit more, but I'm very pleased with the finished product. Yes, it's worth every bit of $20 . . . you'll be able to get YOUR copy middle of October, once I get these next two weeks outta the way.

I'm setting up a staging area in a corner of the apartment so I have everything I'm gonna take with me. They'll think I'm moving in to stay at the hotel . . . sewing machine, cutting mat, rotary cutter, acrylic rulers, fabric (I'll assume there's an iron and ironing board in the room), quilts, books, muslin foundations, etc. Well, it IS an Extended Stay America hotel, after all), LOL!!

I don't know about internet access (I have no laptop) . . . maybe there's a "business" area where I may be able to post about the trip. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until my return next week.

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"He's making a list, he's checking it twice . . ."

Don't worry, the only one "naughty" around here is me (in a nice way) . . .

It's the "Countdown to Rockford," my lecture/workshop gig this week, and there's so much to do, I've made a list (and added to it) to make sure I don't forget anything.

1. Rent car. I did this Friday . . . it'll be cheaper to rent the car for two weeks instead of renting two cars for two different weekends (I go to the western suburbs of Chicago the following week).

2. Complete foundation squares. Yesterday, I stamped and heat-set (ironed) six hundred 8" muslin foundation squares . . . it sure beat the hell outta stencilling 'em all (which is what I used to do). I like the new stamping ink I got. It's thicker, so while the ink does bleed through the starched muslin, it doesn't wick outwards, making thicker lines. Also, the ink gives off very little smell; the ink I had before gave off a harsh chemical smell that permeated the apartment (even with windows open and fans blowing).

What's left to do??

3. Buy rubber stamp cleaner and a fabric marking pen at ArtMart. There are some muslin squares where the ink didn't bleed through enough to be seen on the back (I want these squares to be reversible) . . . I intend to draw in the missing lines where need be.

4. Finish book. I need to design front and back covers; insert running feet and folios (page numbers); insert Table of Contents. Then, I'll run off a copy to scan in the office tomorrow and turn into a PDF file. I'll email the files to FedEx/Kinko's for copying/binding. I'm optimistic--I'll print 75 copies for my first printing.

5. Assemble design workshop materials. The other day, I had an idea: I'll enlarge the design tiles to 8", then copy 'em. I have a cheap bulletin board that will fit on my easel. I'll stick a pin through the center of the tiles and attach 'em to the bulletin board. Then I can rotate 'em for the entire class to see!!
I need to create a handout for the students. I'm pulling the tables of possible blocks from the book. FedEx/Kinko's can copy the handouts and design tiles (on card stock and regular copy paper).

6. Assemble construction workshop materials. I need to print templates on card stock, then glue 'em to the backs of sheets of sandpaper. I have no idea how many students in either workshop, so I'll prepare for twenty-five, just in case.
I'm supplying each student a template to cut out, and sixteen foundation muslin squares, enough to make four 4-patch blocks. They can either make a 2 ft. sq. wall hanging or a 4 ft. long table runner. If I have time, I'll write the handout as I go; I'd like to make a sample to show.


Um, er, if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do . . .

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HAMMER TIME!!

I have ten days to get the following things done before I leave for Rockford, IL and my 3-day lecture/workshop gig:

1. Complete book and get copies printed (a la FedEx/Kinko's) . . . at this point, I need to write front matter, and add additional material to two sections.
2. Extract material from the book to turn into handouts for students (the students do not get a free book).
3. Cut, starch, and stamp muslin squares for the construction workshop.
4. Write handout and prepare templates for construction workshop students.

At this point, I'm a little hindered by the fact that the guild has no idea how many students I should expect. I'm sure my contract states the maximum number of students per workshop . . . we'll see . . .

The following week, I have a 3-day gig in the western suburbs of Chicago. They have no idea how many students to expect, either . . .

GRRRR (and, not in a good way) . . .

In Like Flint in Flint (like) . . .

This weekend, I attended (and participated in) the Flint Festival of Quilts 2009 in Flint, Michigan . . . if you ever get the chance or opportunity to attend, jump on it!! There were six different quilt shows with six different themes in six different locations . . . I attended three of 'em.

There were several rooms of quilts featuring star blocks, star fabrics, or star quilting at the Longway Planetarium (go figure) . . .

The Greater Flint Arts Council curated a show of small art quilts entitled "Nature" . . .

The Flint Public Library hosted the 20th Anniversary of the Flint African American Quilters Guild with a quilt show in the library. They also featured ME as lecturer on Saturday afternoon (you knew I was coming to that) . . .

I spoke for about an hour to a room of about 150 men, women, and children . . . I entertained my audience with tales of taking up sewing on a dare; bonding with my father over a sewing machine; and, "outing" myself . . . then, the lights went down, and I showed them slides of my quilts (they "oohed" and "aahed" appreciably, in all the right places) . . . the lights came up, and I told them about my current design system: I also gave away nearly 200 sets of my design tiles (though I'm sure some of 'em took more than one apiece, LOL!!) . . . I spent the next hour signing autographs, taking pictures, and getting a couple of possible commissions (if they follow through).

The entire lecture was filmed for Public Access TV . . . the producer, Ernestine, loved me and my presentation!! She thought me a natural, the way I interacted with the audience and kept them involved. Hey, I'm passionate about quilting . . . talk with me for more than five minutes and you'll "catch it"!! Ernestine had 4-5 markets to show the finished product; had orders for the DVD; and, promised me a copy I could embed on my website. I gave her a flash drive with jpegs of the slide show (to insert post-production).

About 10:30 p.m., I got a call from Ernestine . . . she had a problem with the jpegs: they weren't high-resolution enough!! (Did I think to take my photo album with me?? No.) She wasn't far from my hotel, and was gonna retrieve the flash drive from her technical guy and return it to me. She arrived around 11:30 p.m., but wasn't coming into the hotel because of her chemically-induced asthma sensitivity to the chlorine in the indoor swimming pool. We sat outside in our jackets and she talked about politics, and sex . . . I stopped her before the topic turned to religion because it was 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning by then, LOL!!

My flight back to St. Louis was uneventful . . .

My first stop was for some lunch . . . my second stop was to buy a new copier/printer/scanner (mine was "pushed down the stairs" years ago). Now to scan some thirty photographs so I can overnight 'em back to Michigan tomorrow . . .

Later, sweet tater . . .

From design tile to block to pattern . . .

I trust you've been playing with your set of design tiles . . . If you don't have a set of design tiles, I suggest you leave your name and email addy here, and I'll send you a set.

Have you been keeping a block log?? With thousands of 4-patch blocks and millions of 9-patch blocks, just how good is your memory anyway?? . . . Merely use the numbers in the upper left (or right) corners, separated by hyphens.

You're gonna have to have your tiles handy, because I'm gonna describe some things in this post, and I want you to SEE for yourself, rather than me just showing you . . .

4-Patch Blocks and Patterns

Lay out four tiles of your choosing . . . as an example, I'm using 1-1-1-2:

Now, lay out three more identical 4-patch blocks:

Do you see the emerging pattern?? Now, move the left column to the right side of the pattern:

Now, instead of four 4-patch blocks of 1-1-1-2, I have four 4-patch blocks of 1-1-2-1. The pattern remains the same, only "shifted" to the left. Now, move the top row to the bottom of the pattern:

Now, instead of four 4-patch blocks of 1-1-2-1, I have four 4-patch blocks of 2-1-1-1. Again, the pattern remains the same, only "shifted" upwards. I could continue moving columns and rows of tiles, "shifting" the pattern as I do.

So, although 1-1-1-2, 1-1-2-1, 1-2-1-1, and 2-1-1-1 describe four distinct 4-patch blocks, the pattern remains the same for all of them. This should be the same for the four 4-patch blocks you're working with.

9-Patch Blocks and Patterns

When I was studying the symmetries I found in other books, I could easily reduce them to a 4-patch block. Repeating the 4-patch block generated the pattern. The same does not hold true for 9-patch blocks.

Using the four 2-1-1-1 blocks above, I can form four different 9-patch blocks. These blocks generate four different patterns. Group your tiles as shown below . . . if you have enough copies of tiles, lay out three identical 9-patch blocks:

By their very nature, 9-patch blocks are "odd." Though they connect with each other, they do not "shift" the pattern repeat as they do with 4-patch blocks. There are a few arrangements that are more or less symmetrical. One arrangement alternates two tiles, checkerboard fashion; one arrangement uses one tile to form a cross in the center of the block, with a different tile in the four corners; and, one arrangement uses diagonal groupings of three tiles.

As always, thank you for reading this post. Please feel free to leave a question or comment, and follow this blog.

The Shape(s) of things to come . . .

Think of the individual shapes in the tile . . . the tile is comprised of five distinct shapes (the two corner shapes are identical).

When these shapes touch the shapes in other tiles, they form a new shape. These new shapes occur where corners meet and where sides touch.

These shapes may be open or closed. The shapes in the example above are open because they do not end at the sides of the block; they leave "openings" at every side. It may take more tiles to close the shapes.


This shape crosses six tiles before it closes.

Some shapes never close. I call them "stripes."


There are unique shapes for each unique arrangement of tiles . . . what shapes are in YOUR blocks??



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To a new symmetry . . .

I've said it before, but it bears repeating . . .

I've read three books about symmetry and two-dimensional patterns: one written by a mathemetician; the other two written by quilters.

All three books described the four operations of symmetry: translation, rotation, reflection, and glide reflection. All three books generated patterns using a method developed by crystallographers (even though crystallographers are not necessarily quilters, and vice versa). All three books overlooked two simple observations: all the patterns generated could be simplified to two pairs of squares beside each other, on top of each other, or diagonally from each other; and, in all but one instance, the squares were right side up or upside down, but never sideways.

I have previously described the operations of symmetry, but I will not generate any patterns with a method I now view as flawed. I propose a new symmetry which does not rely on any operations other than "pick a pair." I have presented the two tiles below to nearly 300 people. You've had a week or so to play with them.

Will you join me on a guided journey with these tiles??


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Mardi Gras Men, continued . . .

Below is the 1M-4-1M-3-4M-3M-2-2M-1M block. It contains portions of four different men.
Below are colored blocks . . . for the sake of balance, the top row shown is actually the bottom third of a block (2-2M-1M) . . . then, there's a row of complete blocks . . . and, the bottom two rows show are actually the top two-thirds of a block (1M-4-1M-3-4M-3M).

In this drawing, you can see where two or more shapes are the same color. During construction, I taped my templates together and cut these shapes in one piece. This eliminated extra sewing (and fabric). Then again, I was only using one fabric per color. If I were using say, five or six different fabrics of each color, I would have cut the shapes as individual pieces and mixed them up, so I wouldn't get the same fabrics touching each other.

Here's a question for you: What is the minimum number of colors you can use for this pattern (for the men)?? What is the maximum number of colors you can use??

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Mardi Gras Men, a work-in-progress (after the fact)

Yesterday, Paula was surprised to learn that my "Mardi Gras Men" quilt was made from the set of design squares I gave away last weekend.

This brief post (the first in a series), will let you in on which arrangement of tiles I used.

Ready??

1M-4-1M-3-4M-3M-2-2M-1M . . .

I came upon this arrangement quite by accident. I shuffle my own set of tiles, much like playing cards, giving one half (or the other) a quarter turn before interleaving them together. Then, I deal 'em out, face up, one at a time.

I use Electric Quilt to make a block of the tiles, lay out a pattern of repeated blocks, and to play with coloring in the shapes.

More to come . . .


Thank you for reading, and please leave a comment.

Now that I've got 'em, what do I do with 'em??

Design tiles, right??

The original idea was to devise a low-tech method for generating infinite patchwork blocks from a single tile. I had a tile with lines drawn through it, and a mirror-image of the same tile. I numbered the rotations, 1 through 4, and 1M through 4M, for the mirror-image tiles.

I started arranging groups of four tiles.

All four tiles can be identical . . .

Three tiles can be identical, and one tile can be different (easily accomplished by rotating one of the tiles) . . .

The four tiles can be two pairs of identical tiles (the two tiles in the pair can be identical to each other, the two pairs can be different from each other) . . . These two pairs can be beside each other, on top of each other, or diagonally from each other.

The four tiles can be one pair of identical tiles and one pair of different tiles. Again, these two pairs can be beside each other, on top of each other, or diagonally from each other.

The four tiles can be four randomly-selected tiles (my favorite) . . .

There are 4096 possible 4-patch combinations.

The same concepts work for 9-patch, 16-patch, 25-patch (and beyond) blocks . . . yes, an infinite number of patchwork blocks.

W.O.W.!! (What an Outstanding Weekend!!)

I send a big "Thank You!!" to all of you who took advantage of my giveaway this weekend . . . you're the greatest!!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, back up a day or so to Sunday . . . early Sunday morning, I offered a set of my design tiles/squares to anyone who signed up for my mailing list.

Well, there were already people who had signed up a month ago, who had no idea of what was coming . . .

I had recently gone through my Yahoo! address book, making sure I had all the email addys entered from every person I emailed, going back, say 5-6 years. My address book contained over 1500 email addys!!

I composed an email that said, "Check out my new website . . . join the mailing list for a free gift." I started sending out emails 25 names at a time . . . I learned that Yahoo limits the number of emails per hour (100), and limits the number of emails per day (500). Sending my message to everyone in my address book was gonna take three days!!

While waiting for the hour to roll around, I entered data from the contact forms into the address book for my website. It was a slow, laborious process of "copy and paste" (I was taking no chances of making any typos). After every 10-15 email addys, I would email the lot my "free gift."

Names and email addys started coming in faster than I was sending 'em out . . . uh oh . . . there was a definite time gap involved. Sorry, no automated system here; just little old me, "copying and pasting" as fast as I could!!

I got my fair share of "undeliverable mail" messages . . . I assumed these were from addys in my address book, until I looked closely. Hey, wait a minute!! I just entered that addy!! You guessed it: some of the people signing up for my free gift had mis-typed their own email addy. Considering their email addy was wrong, it wasn't like I could contact 'em to say, "Sorry, but you've made a typo in your addy . . . would you mind correcting it for me??" I'm afraid I'll have to wait for 'em to send another comment like, "WTF?? Where's my free gift??" (then, I'll compare the second addy to the original.)

I belong to several groups: I could tell when a group got busy from the increase in submissions, LOL!!

I reconnected with some people who wondered where I'd gone . . . I got a lot more people who told me they were sharing the link with others.

All in all, it's been a good experience . . . once the hubbub dies down, I can get back to work on my writing . . .

My First Giveaway!!

I am very excited about this!!

I am giving away a free set of my design tiles/cards to everyone who goes to my website and joins the mailing list (ok, so it's not completely free, but you'd have to give me your email addy anyway for me to send you anything, right??).

I recommend printing the tiles/cards on card stock, then printing 'em out . . . you are gonna have so much fun, believe me!! If you don't believe me, would you believe my beta testers?? Greg and his wife were very helpful yesterday. I dunno if they got any sleep (they were having so much fun).

The tiles/cards are at the heart of my book (if/when I get it self-published) . . . I figured why should YOU have to wait that long?? If you take me up on my offer, I invite you to come on back to participate in a series of posts I'll write about symmetry and how it applies. And, of course I'd love to hear your comments, questions, and suggestions, too.

Tell all your friends . . . hell, for this you should tell all your enemies, too!!