Look at these beauties!
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a part of the quilting community is to get to admire some striking fabrics! It is as if I'm reliving my childhood, being a kid in a candy store (I'm probably the person that would be in the Guinness Book of World Records of who has eaten the most candy in their lifetime, lol. Luckily, 5 years ago I was finally able to put a stop to it). What I love about fabric, though, is that, unlike candy, it doesn't add unwanted inches to your waistline and there are no negative health effects! I can admire fabrics as much as I want to, and even touch and buy the ones that are calling my name, yet my health won't be put into jeopardy even if I overindulge in many of the fabrics that have caught my eye. Now that is a great deal!
When it comes to color, I can remember being a 4 years old child and needing a winter jacket. My parents took me to the city and off to a store we went. My eye caught this beautiful winter jacket that was very purple. It was truly love at first sight! I recall my mom doubting that I would enjoy that color long-term, fearing that after just a couple of uses I would refuse to wear it again (purple wasn't a color that was very popular in those days, and we wouldn't have had the money to buy a replacement jacket). Well, since I kept insisting that it was the exact jacket and the color I wanted my parents finally gave in. Purple has been my favorite color ever since!
When Heidi Pridemore from Whimsical Workshop asked if I wanted to design a block for her Island Batik Signature Collection, seeing the fabrics and those beautiful purples, there was no way I would have been able to decline her offer! Just see them yourself! Aren't they just lovely!
When it comes to color, I can remember being a 4 years old child and needing a winter jacket. My parents took me to the city and off to a store we went. My eye caught this beautiful winter jacket that was very purple. It was truly love at first sight! I recall my mom doubting that I would enjoy that color long-term, fearing that after just a couple of uses I would refuse to wear it again (purple wasn't a color that was very popular in those days, and we wouldn't have had the money to buy a replacement jacket). Well, since I kept insisting that it was the exact jacket and the color I wanted my parents finally gave in. Purple has been my favorite color ever since!
When Heidi Pridemore from Whimsical Workshop asked if I wanted to design a block for her Island Batik Signature Collection, seeing the fabrics and those beautiful purples, there was no way I would have been able to decline her offer! Just see them yourself! Aren't they just lovely!
Designing Process
I started to play with my EQ8 (an Electric Quilt program for designing quilts) and came up with something that I liked. I emailed Heidi with the pic of the block I had come up with, and she in turned agreed to send me the fabrics needed to make it.
A couple of months passed, and I hadn't yet started to make this block due to some other competing matters. All of the sudden it was March, and I had been trying to help a person with a DNA connection to find her father. Despite spending way too much time on the computer trying to find answers for her, I sadly wasn't able to solve this mystery. All we knew that she was related to me from my mom's side. Trying to help her, however, reignited my interest in finding my roots. From my mom's side we have had quite a bit of information as several family trees have been compiled over the years by those who have had a keen interest and knowledge in our ancestors. Yet sadly, with nothing else bu the DNA results to go by, I wasn't able to find our relative's dad as we had no idea how she was connected to us.
I had always lacked information about my relatives from my dad's side. Well, I should take that back as a year prior I had helped my cousin to research our dads' dad's (our grandfather had passed away during the war when my dad was only 5 years ago) side of the family for my uncle's 80th birthday. But I never had been successful in tracking down my ancestors from my dad's mother's side. All I knew that the family had moved to Kitee from Hame area of Finland around the turn of the century (~1900).
In the evening of Pi day (3.14.22) I decided to spend some time clicking on Geni website in an effort to find my grandmother and her relatives (earlier tries had been unsuccessful). To my surprise, someone must had entered her information there since my last search and I was about to stumble onto information that I had never been privy to. That night changed my life! I was able to trace my family history much further than most people are able to do. I was literally blown away, gasping for air. However, I knew that not all the information on this site is accurate, so despite my huge initial excitement I knew I had to take the information with a grain of salt.
With a lot of research and help from various people (most of whom were total strangers to me), some things I was able to verify, while others not so much. But what became apparent, however, is that I have a very unexpected ancestry, and I can't wait for the day when I have the time to sort everything out and verify the information on hand beyond the shadow of the doubt!
So what does this discovery have to do with this blog hop you may wonder? Well, I wanted to "celebrate" my discoveries and make some changes to the quilt block I had designed to remind me of this special night, and the "secrets" that had been unearthed. I decided to give this block (=mini quilt) a name that was fitting for the occasion. I'm happy to introduce Coat of Arms to you! I think it represents my discovery of my family heritage really well, with "diamonds" on the corners, with striking, "royal" colors throughout this quilt! I can't even begin to tell how thrilled I'm of this quilt! And what could be better than having a meaningful quilt with beautiful fabrics hanging on your wall, reminding you of something special!
A couple of months passed, and I hadn't yet started to make this block due to some other competing matters. All of the sudden it was March, and I had been trying to help a person with a DNA connection to find her father. Despite spending way too much time on the computer trying to find answers for her, I sadly wasn't able to solve this mystery. All we knew that she was related to me from my mom's side. Trying to help her, however, reignited my interest in finding my roots. From my mom's side we have had quite a bit of information as several family trees have been compiled over the years by those who have had a keen interest and knowledge in our ancestors. Yet sadly, with nothing else bu the DNA results to go by, I wasn't able to find our relative's dad as we had no idea how she was connected to us.
I had always lacked information about my relatives from my dad's side. Well, I should take that back as a year prior I had helped my cousin to research our dads' dad's (our grandfather had passed away during the war when my dad was only 5 years ago) side of the family for my uncle's 80th birthday. But I never had been successful in tracking down my ancestors from my dad's mother's side. All I knew that the family had moved to Kitee from Hame area of Finland around the turn of the century (~1900).
In the evening of Pi day (3.14.22) I decided to spend some time clicking on Geni website in an effort to find my grandmother and her relatives (earlier tries had been unsuccessful). To my surprise, someone must had entered her information there since my last search and I was about to stumble onto information that I had never been privy to. That night changed my life! I was able to trace my family history much further than most people are able to do. I was literally blown away, gasping for air. However, I knew that not all the information on this site is accurate, so despite my huge initial excitement I knew I had to take the information with a grain of salt.
With a lot of research and help from various people (most of whom were total strangers to me), some things I was able to verify, while others not so much. But what became apparent, however, is that I have a very unexpected ancestry, and I can't wait for the day when I have the time to sort everything out and verify the information on hand beyond the shadow of the doubt!
So what does this discovery have to do with this blog hop you may wonder? Well, I wanted to "celebrate" my discoveries and make some changes to the quilt block I had designed to remind me of this special night, and the "secrets" that had been unearthed. I decided to give this block (=mini quilt) a name that was fitting for the occasion. I'm happy to introduce Coat of Arms to you! I think it represents my discovery of my family heritage really well, with "diamonds" on the corners, with striking, "royal" colors throughout this quilt! I can't even begin to tell how thrilled I'm of this quilt! And what could be better than having a meaningful quilt with beautiful fabrics hanging on your wall, reminding you of something special!
The Tools
One of my all-time favorite Studio 180 Design tools is the V Block tool. So it is no wonder that this quilt uses it. My initial thought was to design this quilt so that one could learn to use many of the fantastic tools by Studio 180 Design without an overwhelming huge task of making a big quilt. The other tools needed to make this quilt are: Square Squared, Corner Pop II, and Tucker Trimmer I. If you haven't yet given a try to use these amazing tools, you must, as they will change your quilting life for the better! How do I know that - well, they have completely changed my quilting life, and I'm now a proud Certified Instructor for these tools. If you would like me to come and teach a class at your store/guild, I would be thrilled to do so!
Visit other Blog posts on Woodcut Blossoms
To see all the other beautiful creations made from this fabulous collection, make sure to visit all of the other designers' blogs. Here are the names of all the designers and their respective blogs:
Blog Address Links
Heidi Pridemore https://heidipridemore.blogspot.com/2022/09/blog-post.html
Leanne Parsons https://www.devotedquilter.com/2022/09/storm-free-12-block-pattern.html
Tiffany Hayes https://needleinahayesstack.blogspot.com/2022/09/woodcut-blossoms_01776719211.html
Tammy Silvers https://tamarinis.typepad.com/tamarinis/2022/05/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop-the-prickly-star-block.html
Laura Piland https://www.sliceofpiquilts.com/2022/07/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop-free-woodcut.html
Kris Driessen https://scrapdash.com/nightshade-quilt-pattern/
Jen Frost https://faithandfabricdesign.com/2022/09/woodcut-blossoms-fabric.html
Laureen McMurry Smith https://tourmalinethymequilts.com/woodcut-blossoms/
Raija Salomaa https://www.quilterstreasurechest.com/blog---raijas-bits-and-pieces
Rebecca Lidstrom https://www.studiorquilts.com/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop
Laura Lindsay Strickland https://orangeblossomquilt.com/blog/f/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop
Lissa LaGreca https://lovinglylissa.com/2022/09/09/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop/
Katie Mae Quilts https://katiemaequilts.com/blog/woodcut-blossoms
Sandra Starley https://utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com/2022/09/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop-free-patterns.html
Blog Address Links
Heidi Pridemore https://heidipridemore.blogspot.com/2022/09/blog-post.html
Leanne Parsons https://www.devotedquilter.com/2022/09/storm-free-12-block-pattern.html
Tiffany Hayes https://needleinahayesstack.blogspot.com/2022/09/woodcut-blossoms_01776719211.html
Tammy Silvers https://tamarinis.typepad.com/tamarinis/2022/05/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop-the-prickly-star-block.html
Laura Piland https://www.sliceofpiquilts.com/2022/07/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop-free-woodcut.html
Kris Driessen https://scrapdash.com/nightshade-quilt-pattern/
Jen Frost https://faithandfabricdesign.com/2022/09/woodcut-blossoms-fabric.html
Laureen McMurry Smith https://tourmalinethymequilts.com/woodcut-blossoms/
Raija Salomaa https://www.quilterstreasurechest.com/blog---raijas-bits-and-pieces
Rebecca Lidstrom https://www.studiorquilts.com/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop
Laura Lindsay Strickland https://orangeblossomquilt.com/blog/f/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop
Lissa LaGreca https://lovinglylissa.com/2022/09/09/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop/
Katie Mae Quilts https://katiemaequilts.com/blog/woodcut-blossoms
Sandra Starley https://utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com/2022/09/woodcut-blossoms-blog-hop-free-patterns.html
Get your complimentary copy of this pattern
Woodcut Blossoms is now available at a quilt store near you! And, if you are interested in making my quilt, Coat of Arms, you are welcome to get a limited time complimentary pattern by signing up on my Newsletter below. But please hurry, the complimentary copy is only available through 10/31/2022.
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