Please join me in welcoming Elisa Wilson as a guest blogger today as she gives you a glimpse into her life as a pattern designer. Share your favourite beginner’s quilting tip for a chance to win a free pattern and template of your choice.

I have a secret life. Most of my friends and acquaintances don’t know what I do. When I meet someone for the first time, this is how the conversation goes:

Them: "Do you work?"

Me: "Yes, I have a business. I design quilts and produce patterns and acrylic templates for quilters."

Them: Blank stare, long pause. "Oh, you make quilts."

Me: "No, I make patterns and sell them to quilters who make the quilts."

Them: "Who buys them?"

Me: "Well, I sell mostly to quilt shops across the US and to distributors who sell to quilt shops."

Then another person walks up and Them introduces me: "This lady makes quilts."

Me: Sigh. "Yes, I make quilts."

For a pattern designer, life revolves around market (it is a BIG deal for us). International Quilt Market is held twice a year. In the spring it moves around to different locations and in the fall it is always in Houston. At market you will find many different pattern designers, fabric companies, publishers of magazines and quilt books, thread companies, sewing machine manufacturers and much more.

Market is about what is NEW. It is your chance to show everyone your newest creations. Immediately after market is over, you have to start on the new NEW and have it ready in time for the next market.

So what do I really do all day?

After my breakfast and morning workout I am on the computer. Computer work takes up the majority of my day. I am sending emails, posting blogs, marketing, taking online classes, designing, writing patterns and coordinating with graphic designers, printers and shop owners. Some days I even get to sew!

I truly enjoy the design the process. This is how it usually goes:

First, I receive fabric from one of the fabric companies I work with.

Then I sort through the fabric. This time there are about 30 different colors. Immediately I pull out any fabric that does not appeal to me. Fortunately there are only about 6 I do not like in this bunch. The rest definitely speak to me.

Next I divide the fabric into colors. I make piles of colors that seem to be the same (greens in one pile, yellows in another, etc.). Then I re-divide the fabric into lights, mediums, and darks. I re-arrange it many times.

I am handling the fabric, getting familiar with the colors and patterns. I usually let it sit on the dining room table and look at it during the day. Depending upon the deadline it can sit there for a few days or a few weeks.

I begin to get a few ideas and then I go to my EQ (Electric Quilt) and play around with different blocks.

Will this be an easy pattern or something more complicated? How many fabrics do I need to use? Does it have to be a certain size? Will I be producing the pattern or am I writing it for a fabric company? Playing on EQ can take days.

Once I have a few ideas I begin to make test blocks. It is surprising that what looks good on EQ does not always translate to good in fabric. I sew a few test blocks, try a different fabric, arrange the blocks, go back to EQ, re-arrange the blocks.

Then I write down how to make the blocks. Make a few more blocks to see if my instructions really make sense. A lot of back and forth goes on. More questions: Is it a good pattern? Is it different? Does it showcase the fabric? Who will this appeal to? Is it too boring or too challenging?

Every quilt needs a name. My husband is super good at coming up with names. He writes down a bunch of names, just letting his imagination go and writing anything that comes to mind. We can get a good chuckle during the word play on names.

After the quilt top is made I have to quilt and bind it. I love the quilting but dislike the binding. I then send it off to the photographer to get its picture taken for the pattern cover. While the photographer is working, I’m writing the pattern instructions. The pattern is proof read and tested. As soon as I get the quilt photo, the graphic designer and I create the pattern cover. The instructions and cover design are sent to the printer. Everything is printed and assembled into bags.

Whew! That’s a lot of work. I usually have three or four patterns going on in different stages at one time. I work about 40 hours a week and I juggle a lot of hats.

So my secret life is out. Are you surprised? How does it sound to you? Is it what you thought it would be? I would love to hear your comments and questions.

I invite you to join me as I chronicle my life as as a designer and my adventures in the awesome Montana wilderness that is my home at Seams Sew Crazy or on Facebook. Visit my online shop, Elisa’s Backporch Design, to see my patterns, templates and video tutorials.

Give-Away

I am offering a drawing for a free pattern and template of your choice. Anybody who makes a comment is entered.

To enter the give-away: Leave a comment below sharing your favourite beginner’s quilting tip. Give-away ends September 8, 2010. Winner will be chosen randomly.

Congratulations to #120 Avery Claire for winning Patsy Thompson’s Free Motion Fun…with Feathers! DVD. I’ll be sending you an email to get your mailing address.

Here’s Avery’s tip:

I absolutely adore feathers….they look so elegant on a quilt. My favorite quilting tip is to do a LOT of practice quilting by making baby quilts. They don’t take much time and you always have a gift on hand and what better way to get really good at your quilting!

Thanks to everyone that entered such fabulous tips.

Thanks to Patsy for the great donation!

It’s time for a give-away!! Are you excited??

I ran into quilter extraordinaire Patsy Thompson at Spring Quilt Market, and she gave me a copy of her latest DVD Free Motion Fun…with Feathers! Volume 4, to give-away to one lucky Quilting Gallery reader.

You can watch an intro video on Patsy’s web site that gives you an outline on what you will learn in this DVD set.

I took a couple of photos while in Patsy’s booth. Unfortunately the lighting is poor, but you can still see some of her fabulous quilting.

I’m lucky enough to own Patsy’s other DVDs. She’s taught me so much and inspired me to actually try free motion quilting last year. Now, I love it.

How to enter: Leave a comment below sharing your favourite quilting tip. Your tip can be about free motion quilting or any part of the quilting process from cutting, piecing, quilting or binding. One random winner will be chosen Monday, July 19th.

Facebook, readers: You need to visit the Quilting Gallery blog to leave your comment and be entered in the give-away: CLICK HERE

And the winner is #120 Avery Claire. Congratulations!

Please join me in welcoming guest blogger Angela Magnan as she shares her quilting journey with us. Plus, check below for a "HOT" give-away from Angela. Angela doesn’t have a blog yet, but you can email her. Thanks Angela for being a guest here at the Quilting Gallery.

Greetings from Maryland,

Thank you so much for allowing me to guest blog. My name is Angela Magnan, I’m 31, and I’ve been quilting for about ten years. I started the hobby shortly after my mother did. She began quilting after being inspired by her mother-in-law, my grandmother, who everyone knew as Memere. My mother and Memere had long-shared a passion for buying and selling antiques, setting up at the same antique shows, and going to auctions together. When Memere starting making a Joann Block of the Month quilt, my mother was inspired by the fact that she wouldn’t have to cut any pieces. It was only a matter of time before my mother would overcome her fear of cutting and catch the quilting bug for good. And then she gave the bug to me!

Each of the three of us developed our own style. Memere was a pattern quilter and always quilted by hand. My mother also usually follows a pattern, prefers piecing and rarely does appliqué, and sometimes quilts by hand and sometimes by machine. She occasionally steps outside of her comfort zone and chooses fabrics or patterns that are a bit funkier than her normally conservative self.

I have my own style. I studied biochemistry as an undergraduate and was drawn to the mathematical and logistical side of quilting. More recently, I completed a Master’s degree in nonfiction writing, so naturally I am drawn to story quilts. A few years ago, I modified a pattern to design a quilt based on my trip to Rocky Mountain National Park (for which I’m still deciding on fabrics), and currently I am designing a quilt based on my ten day writing conference in Bar Harbor, Maine (for which I have the fabrics, but am undecided on the layout).

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Please join me in welcoming a Guest Blogger to the Quilting Gallery. If you’re interested in being a Guest Blogger, please read the info on the submit page then drop me an email.

By: Margaret Bucklew

An epiphany happened to me about twenty years ago. There was a void in my life and I didn’t even know it was happening.

I think an inspiration is like a flash of light in your psyche just waiting for action, and I needed one.

On the wall in a fabric store hung a stunning Oregon Trail Jacket. I bought the pattern and soon realized, even though I had no quilting experience, it had to be very similar to making a quilt. There was piecing, thin batting, matching seams and so on. Whatever it was called, I was hooked.

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Happy 142nd Birthday Canada! For those that don’t know, I live in Canada’s capital, Ottawa. This city has been buzzing with excitement all week leading up to the best day of the year.

My apartment has been cleaned, beer is cooling in the fridge, and groceries purchased for a BBQ. The weather is looking rather dicey, but then again it’s changed a dozen times the last few days, so we’ll see what the day brings. I was very lucky to see the snowbirds do three flybys over the city yesterday, one right over my head.

Scroll below for two give-aways from a new Canadian online fabric retailer. Best of all, you don’t have to be Canadian to win; read the details carefully though.

I have GREAT NEWS for my fellow Canadian quilters. We’re getting our own Canadian quilting magazine. Yes you read that right. It’s called Quilter’s Connection Magazine. It will be a national magazine, published quarterly for now and bi-monthly next year. Their web site is not ready yet, believe me I’ll be sure to post as soon as it is. For now you can find out more information on their blog or join their Facebook Fan Page. I’ve exchanged several emails with Heather, the editor, and this is going to be fantastic for us.

I’ve come across another great Canadian site this week, that I wanted to share: Indie North: a Canadian indie business collective. Definitely one to watch, and they have a Friends of Indie North site too, where small Canadian businesses can get listed for free.

Wishing all of my Canadian friends a wonderful Canada Day. (Please Mother Nature you can rain all day on Thursday, just leave us dry today.)

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