Between the Covers: September/October

Happy National Sewing Month!

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No it’s our newest issue, Q-bies! Truth be told we never tire of revealing our newest issue, and the cover that ushers it in.

Did you know we start planning each issue starting about a year before the publication date? By the time it’s hitting the stands and mailboxes, we are so ready to our newest baby up and out and earning its keep. So, without any further ado, we’d like to introduce you to September/October 2015:

Ta Da!

Emerging designer Sally Johnson‘s quilt, Stairway to the Galaxy, stunned us silent (no easy feat) with it’s bold, graphic lines. It just HAD to be on the cover! (Check out the playdate on page 65.) Acute angles make the quilt look challenging, but it’s really not. It just takes one paper-pieced block made over and over. Voila! You have a Stairway to the Galaxy. The quilting complements the angles of the piecing to continue that upward galaxy feel. Here’s to pursuing that stairway to the galaxy and realizing our quilterly dreams.

Jake and Melissa held their annual GenQ retreat at the home of Steve & Linda Hamlin, it’s ultra-modern, and their home’s incredible views overlooking a long valley provided perfect vignettes for the quilts in this issue, including several cover shots. Their kitty, Zinger, makes a reluctant appearance or two. Linda is our editor for Stashed!, our eNewsletter that we started a couple of months ago. We are blessed to have her talents on our team.

We hope your summer of 2015 has left you with tons of memories. How about commemorating them with your own Summer of ’15 appliquéd pillow sham made with special T-shirts and designed by our very own Michelle Freedman (who is now with Modern Domestic in Portland, Oregon). The pillow combines quilting cottons and knits with a wee bit of reverse appliqué. This project is part of our Trendology feature this month, which is all about T-shirt projects. We offer tips, tricks and resources to create you own sewn memories. Got kids heading to college? Send them off with a pillow sham, or six, to go along with the T-shirt quilt made with their favorite T-shirts. 

They say that timing is everything. Our timing could not be better with this issue’s I Am GenQ feature: Christa Watson of Christa Quilts fame. In a couple of weeks, as we’ll review Christa’s first book, Machine Quilting With Style. We love it when quilters find their place in the quilting world and find her place Christa has with the modern quilting aesthetic.

GenQ: Favorite Fall activity?
Christa: Quilting getting ready for fall quilt retreats. It’s funny; we don’t really have seasons here. It’s more like “oh, it’s cold let’s put on a sweater” or “oh, it’s hot. Let’s take off the sweater.”

GenQ: Which European Country would you most like to visit and why?
Christa: This is weird; I want to go to Germany. I don’t know why. I was excited to see my name in a German book once. I took a semester of German in college and I found it very fascinating.

GenQ: Favorite children’s book?
Christa: Anything by Dr Seuss. I love his witty humor and I love rhymes.

GenQ: If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
Christa: I would go back and discover modern quilting earlier!

GenQ: Describe your ideal day at home.
Christa: Clean, quiet with uninterrupted sewing time; and a pod cast to listen to.

GenQ: Most embarrassing moment?
Christa: Oh gosh, probably I will call people by the wrong name. I get flustered easily when I am excited meeting someone. And then I’ll forget their name!

And let’s remember there are more playdates from quilters: Fourth and Sixth designs, Susan Miner and Megan Frock, to name a few. Blockbuilder, Slosh. Nosy Poll Results. Melissa and Jake take Notions seriously in this issue, addressing the white elephant in the room.

Enjoy our latest baby!

Quilt. Sew. Live. Breathe.