Kaari Meng, the shop owner, stocks French General with treasures from her trips to Europe and journeys across the United States. Kaari is currently working on her newest fabric collection with Moda Fabrics (to be released in 2013).

Kaari draws inspiration from scraps of old advertising, fabric pieces, paper snippets, vintage packaging, and photos.

She combines her findings onto inspiration boards, sorts the boards by color, and displays them throughout the store.

For more information about French General visit frenchgeneral.com and Kaari’s blog, The War and the Weft.

Designer Jenn Luce embellished the versatile Canvas Corp pillow cover samples featured in the Hot Stuff column in the Spring 2012 issue of Quilts and More magazine. Jenn shared the details on how she made each pillow cover so you can re-create the looks.

Valentine’s Day Square Pillow Cover

Tuck a love note into the canvas envelope, and give a custom-made pillow to your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day.

1. Trim the 12” square cotton zebra paper to 10” square and the 30×36” burlap sheet to 11-1/2” square. Hand-stitch the zebra paper to the burlap with red embroidery thread and a straight stitch. Glue the burlap to the center of the 14” square canvas pillow cover.
2. Glue the 5×7” canvas envelope 2” from the top edge and 1” from the left edge of the cotton zebra paper.
3. Top a red fabric flower with circles cut from black-and-ivory diamond paper and black paper or cardstock. Jenn cross-stitched the black circle with red embroidery thread before adhering it. Glue the red fabric flower to the bottom left corner of the envelope as shown in photo, above.
4. Trim the 12” square damask paper to 1-7/8×2-3/4.” Stitch “XOXO” using red embroidery thread at the bottom right edge of the paper. Trim an “Amore” sentiment from the Love, Amoure, Amore scrapbooking paper, and glue it to the damask rectangle. Glue the damask rectangle to the canvas envelope.
5. Cut a heart from the love script scrapbooking paper, and glue it to the envelope flap.
6. Trim a “Love” sentiment from the Love, Amoure, Amore scrapbooking paper. Poke two small holes into the tag with a needle or a paper piercer. Thread a 5” length of red embroidery thread through the holes, and tie a bow. Glue the tag to the heart.

SOURCES (Click on the links below to purchase the items needed for this pillow.)

• 14” square canvas pillow cover
• 30×36” burlap fabric sheet
• Cotton zebra paper
• 5×7” canvas envelope
• 12” square black-and-ivory diamond scrapbook paper
• Red fabric flower {coming soon}
• 12” square black-and-ivory damask scrapbooking paper
• 12” square Love, Amoure, Amore scrapbooking paper
• 12” square black-and-ivory love script scrapbooking paper

Interchangeable Rectangle Pillow Cover

The clothespins of this design make it possible to switch out the burlap flags seasonally for affordable holiday home decor that doesn’t take up much storage space.

1. To embellish the 10×18” pillow cover, glue four mini clothespins 2-1/2” from the top edge and 4-1/2”, 7-1/2”, 10-1/2”, and 13-1/2” from the left edge, so that the embellishments appear evenly spaced and centered on the pillow cover. Jenn likes to use Beacon Adhesive Fabric-Tac when adhering embellishments to the canvas pillow covers.
2. Add a row of hand stitching along the top edge of four burlap flag shapes using pink embroidery thread.
3. Glue 2×2” corrugated tiles (cut to size), canvas flowers, and green pompom trim to 2×2” stretched natural canvases as shown in photo, above. To make the canvas flowers, stack five circles cut from canvas paper in graduated sizes and secure them with a cross-stitch made using embroidery thread.
4. Glue prepurchased mini canvas squares to the remaining burlap flags. Cut birds or other shapes from canvas paper. Jenn embellished her birds with French knots and wings cut from canvas paper. Glue mini clothespins to the mini canvas squares and clip the birds to the squares.

To modify the pillow cover for Valentine’s Day, Jenn embellished burlap flags by trimming 3” square printed letters from scrapbooking paper, gluing them to the burlap flags, and embellishing them with French Knots. She added a line of hand stitching using red embroidery thread. Make a set for every season!

SOURCES (Click on the links below to purchase the items needed for this pillow.) 

• 10×18” canvas pillow cover
• White mini clothespins
• Mini burlap flags
• Mini canvas squares
• 2×2” stretched natural canvas
• Canvas paper
• Natural mini clothespins
• 12×12” Love, Amoure, Amore paper

To learn more about these products, visit Canvas Corp’s website. Get more ideas for using canvas pillow covers and other Canvas Corp products on the Canvas Corp blog. 

In the Hot Stuff column of the Spring 2012 issue of Quilts and More, we show readers how to use CS Designs’ Lil’ Twister tool with the 5″ preprinted squares of the New London Patch-It print, available in two colorways. Click here to download the free pattern from Marcus Fabrics for more ideas.

The newest Patch-It Print from Faye’s Railroad Ties collection, contains 3″ preprinted squares that can be used with the Primitive Pinwheels 2-1/4″ tool from Primitive Gatherings. Find out more about the Railroad Ties collection by visiting Marcus Fabrics.

Nyshma and her husband, Ryan, displayed her 13 quilts at their wedding reception in September 2011. Photo by Nicolle Durkee (nddphoto.com).

Inspired by a long-ago tradition, Nyshma spent three years making 10 quilts in preparation for her wedding to fiancé, Ryan. Her mom, Sandy Mercado, filled out the traditional dozen quilts that a pioneer bride would have brought to the marriage, plus special No. 13, the “bride’s quilt,” and long-arm machine-quilter Margaret Gunn quilted Nyshma’s quilts.

In the process, Nyshma learned a variety of quilting techniques. See five of Nyshma’s quilts below. To learn more about all 13 quilts, click here to visit Sandy’s blog.

Rhythm & Blues, from the August 2009 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting®, was Nyshma's second quilt.

Nyshma learned Buggy Barn's crazy piecing method while making Pineapple Tidbits from their book, Certifiably Crazy.

Nyshma pieced Wild Thing by Thimble Blossoms at a retreat with her mom, Sandy.

Nyshma left the borders off her version of A Piece of Cake by Thimble Blossoms.

Nyshma learned how to make Flying Geese while working on Shiloh by Bonnie Blue Quilts.

I have such a wonderful time interviewing guests for our radio show, and sometime not all we chat about makes it onto the show! Here is another ‘Behind the Scenes’ with wonderful quilt designer Betsy Chutchian!

Betsy We all have parts of the process we ‘prefer’ more than others. What part of quilt making do you ‘Prefer’ most and why?

My favorite part is chosing the fabrics.  Once I have an inspiration, in this case a photo of an antique quilt, I LOVE the hunt for the right fabrics.  Sometimes the hunt begins with a particular piece of fabric, then I find the inspiration quilt and resume the hunt in the stash.
Here the look is soft and very old, early 1800′s.

Most of the fabrics are collections from Moda and Jo Morton for Andover…the fabric study could be called ‘Morton meets Moda’ but I threw in a Windham and a Blue Hill for good measure. The photograph is from the book, Calico and Chintz.  The type of quilt is what today would be termed a ‘blended quilt’.  Moda’s line ’Comfort’ served as the main fabric inspiration, the large scale brown fabric with rusty pink flowers.

With that piece, selecting the rest of the fabrics became really easy.  I started making nine patches and then from some leftover scraps , quickly pieced and quilted a little doll quilt.

What is your favorite item in your studio?

1—9×22″ piece (fat eighth) each of light print, medium print, and dark print

Measurements include 1/4″ seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated.

Finished block: 9″ square

Cut Fabrics
From light print, cut:

• one 4-1/4″ square
• ten 2-3/8″ squares
• four 2″ squares

From medium print, cut:

• four 2×3-1/2″ rectangles
• eight 2-3/8″ squares

From dark print, cut:

• one 4-1/4″ square
• two 2-3/8″ squares
• eight 2″ squares

2. Place a marked light print 4-1/4″ square atop dark print 4-1/4″ square. Sew 1/4″ from each side of drawn line (Diagram 1). Cut pair apart on drawn line to make two triangle units. Press each triangle unit open, pressing seam toward darker print, to make two large triangle-squares. Each should be 3-7/8″ square including seam allowances.

3. Mark a diagonal line perpendicular to seam line on wrong side of one large triangle-square.

4. Layer marked triangle-square atop unmarked large triangle-square; each light triangle should be opposite a dark triangle (Diagram 2). Sew pair together 1/4″ from each side of drawn line. Cut pair apart on drawn line. Press each unit open to make two hourglass units. Each should be 3-1/2″ square including seam allowances. Set one hourglass unit aside for another project.

5. Using two marked light print 2-3/8″ squares and two dark print 2-3/8″ squares, repeat Step 2 to make four small A triangle-squares. Each should be 2″ square including seam allowances. In same manner, use remaining marked light print 2-3/8″ squares and medium print 2-3/8″ squares to make 16 small B triangle-squares.

6. Position a marked dark print 2″ square on one end of a medium print 2×3-1/2″ rectangle (Diagram 3; note direction of marked line). Sew on marked line, then trim, leaving 1/4″ seam allowances. Press open attached triangle. In same manner, add a second marked dark print 2″ square to remaining end of medium print rectangle to make a Flying Geese unit. The unit should be 3-1/2×2″ including seam allowances. Repeat to make four Flying Geese units total.

7. Referring to Diagram 4, sew together four small A triangle-squares, four Flying Geese units, and one hourglass unit in three horizontal rows. Press seams away from Flying Geese units. Join rows to make a block center. Press seams away from center row. The block center should be 6-1/2″ square including seam allowances.

8. Join four small B triangle-squares to make a triangle-square row. Press seams as shown in Diagram 5. Repeat to make four triangle-square rows total.

9. Referring to Diagram 6, join triangle-square rows, light print 2″ squares, and block center in three rows. Press seams away from triangle-square rows. Join rows to make a block. Press seams away from center row. The block should be 9-1/2″ square including seam allowances.

Hilltop Stitchers 4-H club members from Georgia, below, recently learned some new sewing skills by making pillowcase dresses for kids in Mexico, Nicaragua, Haiti, Africa, Costa Rica, and the U.S.

Volunteer Deborah Tedder of Chatsworth, Georgia, (pictured below helping one of the children use a serger to finish the edges) taught these kids how to transform pillowcases into dresses by cutting arm and neck holes in the sewn edges of a pillowcase, which allows the open edges to become the hem. They hemmed the arm holes and then stitched a casing along the neck holes so they could gather the neck holes with ribbons, tying them at the shoulders. Some stitchers choose to use elastic for the neck holes to avoid using a ribbon drawstring, which can be a choking hazard.

There are lots of methods and great tutorials and patterns out there to teach people how to transform a pillowcase into a dress. Search for “make a pillowcase dress” or “donate a pilllowcase dress” to find a method and organization that works for you, or check out one of these links:

Learn how to transform a pillowcase into a dress and how to donate the finished dresses to Little Dresses for Africa, a nonprofit group that sends pillowcase dresses to little girls in African countries, by clicking here. 

Here’s a great tutorial with diagrams and photographs from graphic designer, photographer, and former blogger Jen Leheny.

If you’d rather make a dress from yardage instead of a finished pillowcase, Nancy’s Notions has a great free pattern and video that shows you how to start from scratch (with modified instructions for starting with a finished pillowcase).

Happy stitching!

Clue #1: Pick Your Background Fabrics: First choose a light color, which will be the background fabric in the blocks, setting pieces, pieced inner border, and middle border. (For her quilt, Monique used assorted cream and tan prints.) Here are the amounts you will need:

• For blocks: Four 18×22″ pieces (fat quarters) of assorted light prints
• For setting pieces and pieced inner border: two 5/8-yard pieces and two 1/3-yard pieces of assorted light prints
• For middle border: 1/2 yard light print

Clue #2: Choose Your Medium Fabrics: Select one or more medium colors, which will be used in the blocks, setting pieces, and pieced inner border. (For her quilt, Monique used assorted red prints.) Here are the amounts you will need:

• For blocks: Five 9×22″ pieces (fat eighths) of assorted medium prints
• For setting pieces and pieced inner border: Five 3/8-yard pieces of assorted medium prints

Clue #3: Gather Your Dark Fabrics: Choose one or more dark colors, which will be used in the blocks, outer border, and binding. (For her quilt, Monique used assorted black prints.) Here are the amounts you will need:

• For blocks: Three 18×22″ pieces (fat quarters) of assorted dark prints
• For outer border: 1-1/4 yards of dark print
• For binding: 5/8 yard of dark print
  
  

Clue #4: Make Your First Block: Using the instructions in “Start Today, Finish Tomorrow” in the February 2012 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, make one pieced block. (Or click here for instructions for making the first block.)

Having trouble choosing a palette of fabrics? Consider the following sample blocks. This block of batiks is an extra Monique pieced while making the “Start Today, Finish Tomorrow” table runner.

A variety of 1930s prints and solids will make a cheerful quilt.

These are the fabrics Monique’s quilt is made from–they’re from her Memories of Provence collection for Maywood Studios.

Reproduction prints and small florals come together for a traditional look.

Try solids in a variety of colors paired with a light gray background.

I hope you join us for the fun!

There are TONS of sites showing fabulous photos of this exhibit. Just search for Infinite Variety or Red and White Quilts and you’ll come up with oodles of sites showing inspiring photos. Here are just a couple: multiple posts from Karen Griska’s Selvage Blog (be sure to click through to “Older Posts” to see the multiple posts on this topic), a slideshow from the Park Avenue Armory, and Leni Wiener’s blog. Pat Sloan also has a good roundup of blogs, videos, and news articles on her blog.

Quilts inspired by Infinite Variety: Quiltmaker Thelma Childers was so inspired by the Infinite Variety show that she spent the summer of 2011 crafting a quilt, Red-and-White Tribute, that simulates the experience of walking into the exhibit hall. Thelma planned her 4,054-piece, 67½x83″ quilt so it appears that 10 mini red-and-white quilts are overlapping. “I was a maniac about the layering of each mini quilt,” says Thelma, who first sketched the project on graph paper. “The center tree quilt is the only piece where you can view an entire mini quilt. The others show at most two borders, because each one “hangs” in front of or behind another.” Visit Thelma’s blog to see each of the mini quilts and how Thelma determined the final arrangement. To emphasize each of the 10 mini quilts, machine-quilter Connie Lancaster used a variety of both traditional and modern quilting motifs.

Details of Red-and-White Tribute: 

One of our favorite designers for American Patchwork & Quilting, Kathie Holland shared her first quilt inspired by the show on her blog. (Be sure to browse around and see what else Kathie is working on!)

Fabrics inspired by Infinite Variety:  For the Jo Morton enthusiasts among us, check out the Jo’s Variety collection of quilting fabric for Andover Fabrics. Look for this group of thirteen red-and-white fabrics at your local quilt shop now.

Events/galleries inspired by Infinite Variety: In April 2011, the staff of Temecula Quilt Company in Temecula, California, challenged customers (and readers of their blog) to participate in a red-and-white quilt challenge. They displayed the exhibit during October 2011. Visit their blog and scroll to the October 5th and 11th posts to see photos (check out some of the fun ways quilts were displayed) and to purchase quilt patterns of some of the displayed quilts.

Taryn at the Reproduction and Antique Quilt Lover blog hosted a virtual quilt show; see it here.

On her Material Culture blog, quilt historian Barbara Brackman posted some red-and-white antique quilts and snippets of information about this type of quilts.

Let me know how the Infinite Variety show inspired you!

1. Leave a 12″ opening and 10″ tails when sewing on your binding. We used pins to help mark the opening before stitching.

2. Butt the tool up to the left edge of your binding where the stitching ends. Transfer the marked line onto the binding.

3. Open up the binding and line up the marked line on the tool with the marked line you just made. Using a rotary cutter, trim around the tool.

4. Rotate the tool and butt it up against the right edge of your binding where you stopped stitching. (Note: Do not flip over the tool.) Transfer the marked line as you did in Step 2. Open up the binding, line the tip of the tool on the marked line, then trim with a rotary cutter.

5. Open up the bindings ends and line them up using the pressed line as a guide. Hold the two ends in place with pins.

6. Stitch using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

7. Press the seam and stitch the binding to your quilt for a smooth-looking edge without any bulk.

Watch a video on how to use the tool here. 

What other tips or tools do you use to make binding easier?