When Lynne Meets Julie

I "met" Julie sometime between 2007 and 2008 while we both participated in Tonya Ricucci's online class of free pieced letters. I had never had a quilt quilted, and it was Julie who recommended Chris Ballard to quilt the quilt of mine that is featured in Tonya's book.

Julie and I both have words on the cover of Tonya's book. Mine is GROW...

Julie made the word LEAP.

We became buddies online commenting on each other's work making letters, and she ordered a kitty quilt in August of 2008. I remember that particularly, because I received her request the day after the death of my goddaughter Violette.

We began to communicate directly. Emails flew back and forth with regularity.
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Selvage quilts became popular at that time, and I made a few tote bags with them. Julie asked if I would make one for her in the spring of 2010.

We must have been getting really friendly, because Julie sent me this quilt for my birthday that year. Around the same time, we decided to do a quilt swap. I had made two Rules quilts, one as a mini swap with a friend in Australia, the other with Tonya herself. Julie wanted a Rules quilt too, but she wanted extras - asterisks, butterflies, and the way I used multiple fabrics in each letter.

The result was the quilt, "No Rules For Julie." It has everything she asked for. I held nothing back. I went all out. Originally I had expected the quilt to take me a week, but I had earlier that summer discovered the magic of using the prints in the fabrics to do what Wanda Hansen describes as "the heavy lifting."

Each letter took much longer the new way. I worked on the letters when I was on vacation one week in July (Wimbledon was on TV that week, and it was the year of John Isner's historic three day match.) At the end of five full days of work, I had only made 33 letters. That's six letters A DAY! I worked ALL DAY, EVERY DAY!

It took me a full month to complete the top. I even put myself in the quilt - that orange bird, I told Julie (who had said she was not particularly fond of orange) was her "noisy friend from New Hampshire."

The quilt is one of my very best, and hangs proudly in the foyer of Julie's house. Originally planned to hang in her studio, that all changed when her husband Larry first saw the quilt. "He looked, and looked, and looked..." I remember Julie telling me. "He never does that." He was disappointed when she told him the quilt was going to hang in her studio, and changed the location.

When the quilt was finished, I brought it over to show my Mom. She was very quiet for a few minutes as she took it all in. Then, "F**k." [yes, mom said THAT four letter word.]

"F**k"  another pause. She shook her head.

"F**k". Then she sighed and looked up at me. "Is she worth it?"

"Yes, Ma, she is."


And today, even more so. Julie is my very best friend.

It's Here!

My copy of Tonya's book has finally arrived! Millie got to check it out first...When she was finished, I looked it over, very carefully and very s-l-o-w-l-y, savoring each word, every illustration and picture; until I got to the page I had been dreaming about for months...
wow!

A dream come true! I am so happy. Thank you Tonya!

Word Play Quilts is Published Today!

Tonya's book, Word Play Quilts, is published today.

For the last 19 days, I have shown you my free pieced letters.

Now it's your turn. I hope you will try them, and I hope you will...



(and be sure to read Michelle's post about our Heroine, Tonya)

Word Play Countdown... Only Hours to Go

As you are no doubt aware by now, I -love- making Tonya's free pieced letters. In this piece, I wanted to see how I could make each word slightly different. I wanted to push the boundaries and see where the letters would go.

Word Play Countdown... 1

If you've been following my blog faithfully, you know I started this quilt over New Year's and just finished it last month. It represents everything I think is wonderful about free piecing. It has energy, verve, excitement and fun.

It was inspired by Tonya, and her free pieced lettering technique. Her book, Word Play Quilts, is due out Tuesday, December 7.

Word Play Countdown... 2

I made the "Daft Zebras" because I liked the phrase, and thought it was silly and fun. So I made the letters silly and fun.

And daft.

And zebras.

One of my co-workers looked at it and said, "OH! That is so BRIGHT!" I laughed, because I wanted this quilt to be bright like a neon sign with a blinking marquee.

This one is definitely over-the-top!

Tonya's book is coming soon! I can't wait!

Word Play Countdown... 3

Julie and I did a swap, and Julie wanted a Rules quilt with all kinds of fun extras. You can see more pictures here, on her Picasa album of the quilt. You'll have to look at Julie's photos, and some of mine, here, because I made each letter out of several different fabrics, which you can't see in this photo. You can also click here to see the fabulous quilting by Chris Ballard.

Word Play Countdown... 4

Tonya saw the Rules quilt for Helen and asked me to make one for her. Who was I to say no? Tonya's four cats are represented in the exclamation marks.

You can click the photo to enlarge, then click again for details. Tonya asked for a lot of "cat action" and there are lots of hidden surprises in these letters.


The folks at Martingale asked for some photos of my word quilts to post on their Flick page. I told them I already had a Flickr account, so they checked it out and added my word quilts to their "Word Play Quilts" collection. You can check it out here

Word Play Countdown... 5

Helen and I did a swap earlier this year. She said she liked my letters, so I made a quilt based on Katherine Hepburn's famous quote. I thought the free-pieced letters would really poke fun at the "rules."

This quilt had a lot of letters packed into a very small space, so I worked the letters out on graph paper first, but they were all free-pieced.



My alphabet sampler quilt, Letters From Home, is currently on display at Quilted Threads in Henniker NH.

Word Play Countdown... 6

It was bound to happen. I had to break every damn rule and try to create totally unique letters based on my own handwriting. This piece, "Follow Your Bliss," is still unfinished. I will finish it, and I really love that "w".

Word Play Countdown... 7

In 2009 I made an alphabet sampler quilt, Letters From Home. It is in Tonya's book, Word Play Quilts. The quilt has traveled to Tennessee (to be quilted), to Washington state (to be photographed) and to Houston Texas (to be at Quilt Festival). This is Tonya holding it.

I'm showing it today, because today, it is traveling back home to me in NH. You can click this photo, and then click again for lots of detail. I am (as we say here in New England) wicked proud of this quilt.

Check this out: You can see preview pictures here, and my quilt is among them!

Word Play Countdown... 8

Tonya was sick last year, and some of her friends made blocks for a quilt. This was my contribution.

Word Play Countdown... 9

My son said I couldn't put "Love, Mom" on the back of his Sunshine quilt. So I left kisses instead.

Word Play Countdown... 10

SLITHER is a very short, but very fat word. The individual letters are 2-1/2" tall and they average about 7-1/2" wide. The word is over 48" long. It's in Tonya's Slither Eek Boo quilt.

You can click the photo, and then click again to enlarge to see this properly. This word panel was very meticulously planned.

Word Play Countdown... 11

I am very thankful to the Cat Blogosphere for changing my life. I adopted Millie, Millie met Monty, and we became part of their family.This is a kitty quilt representing the love of Millie and Monty. By this time I was -very- comfortable making Tonya's letters.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Word Play Countdown... 12

This is a good example of how when you find yourself going over the top, you should just keep going. One rubber ducky in a letter was cute, but lots of rubber duckies was cuter! This was a swap quilt for Susan, who asked for an aqua quilt for the bath. I picked the fabrics to look like water.

Word Play Countdown... 13

I made these letters for a small alphabet sampler for Doll Quilt Swap 4. I was very comfortable making letters when I made these.

Word Play Countdown... 14

This quilt, made for my goddaughter, was a big turning point for me. I really got the knack of making letters, and it was my first totally free-pieced quilt.

I was working under a deadline, (which I hate), and my plans kept changing as I got new ideas, (which drove me crazy at the time), but I love this one.

Word Play Countdown... 15

I had a great idea for a baby quilt I was making for a little girl, and it involved letters. The idea wouldn't go away, so I had to follow it. Here is the start. I really didn't like the "R" and later changed it to the way I make "R's" now.

Word Play Countdown... 16

I included my nephew's name in a train for his quilt. I was still pretty new to making letters.