JWD Publishing Blog

Monday (the 10th) was Canada’s day of Thanksgiving.  So, Happy Thanksgiving Canada!  Canada’s annual Thanksgiving holiday takes place on the 2nd Monday each October.

Soon we who live south of the Canadian  border will begin to think of our own Thanksgiving celebration, which takes place on the fourth Thursday in November. This is  a beautiful time of the year to celebrate the historic 1621 autumnal harvest feast with the Wampanoag Indians and the colonists of Plymouth sharing food and giving thanks for those who had survived  the harsh living conditions in their new colony. It was definitely  a time for abundant thanks.

Although we celebrate Thanksgiving in remembrance of the Pilgrims and their small colony, our country’s annual celebration did not begin until our country was in another crucial period of time—–the Civil War. In 1863 with our country in crisis, President Lincoln proclaimed a day of national thanksgiving take place each year in November. It was our 16th president, then, who brought us our traditional Thanksgiving holiday. We earnestly hope your Thanksgiving will be a time of thanks for all that is most precious and important to you.

We Give Thanks pattern

Because we love Thanksgiving, we hunted for a Thanksgiving pattern to bring you.  We found a perfect pattern created by one of our favorite applique artists, Charlotte Warr Andersen. (If you have an   opportunity to take a workshop from her, do so. You will learn a lot!)

Charlotte Warr Anderson designed this classic Thanksgiving quilt many years ago. We so loved it here at JWD Publishing that we asked Charlotte if we could put it into a pattern. She happily agreed.  Charlotte’s Thanksgiving quilt is called  We Give Thanks

We Give Thanks is a full size pattern. We think the pattern is superb and we love this quilt.  We hope you do too. This pattern is designed for machine applique.  If you are a hand appliquer, you can make this quilt by adding seam allowances and reverse the applique pieces.

For further information about this pattern, go to the We Give Thanks page. If you are a shop owner and you would like to order this quilt for your customers, contact us.  If you are a quilter who is unable to purchase this quilt from your local quilt store, you can purchase this pattern online by going to the We Give Thanks page.

Enjoy creating this quilt!

It’s autumn and it’s time to think about making  a quilt for fall. We have a quilt for you:  Autumn’s Arrival.

Autumn’s Arrival is a great fall quilt.  If you are a lover of fall AND you love sunflowers, this quilt was designed with you in mind. As you can see, the background piecing will be a breeze—-nothing to slow you down. Just pick up a fall color collage of fabrics to create your quilt’s background. This quilt is perfect for jelly-roll fabrics and fat-quarters.  Naturally, yardage works well too. The great news, too,  is you will have lots of fun choosing the fabrics for the lovely sunflowers featured on this quilt. Make them uniquely your own, if possible. There are so many beautiful fabrics to choose from.

Mary Hoover and Barbara Persing designed this quilt for all of us fall-lovers out there.  Many of you know their designs under the pattern line 4th & 6th Designs. This name was chosen because Barb is the 4th child and Mary is the 6th child in their family.

Shop Owners: This pattern is very popular. It’s a great design, the piecing and machine applique are easy to do. It’s a stress-free project that should be quick to make.  If you do not have this pattern in your store, you’re missing out on an opportunity. This pattern was originally published in a multi-paged booklet. We have redesigned it into a large-page format, so it’s easy for quilters—the pattern pieces are full size. You may order patterns from your distributor or from us.  For futher details, see the Autumn’s Arrival pattern page.

Quilters: If you love this pattern as much as we do, run along to your favorite quilt shop to pick it up. If you do not have a fabric or quilt shop near you, you can purchase this pattern online. For further details, go to Autumn’s Arrival pattern page.

To get you into the mood for fall and give your home a new seasonal quilt to decorate your walls with, here’s Alex Anderson’s classic fall quilt Welcome Home. Welcome Home is our most popular fall quilt pattern. It comes in three sizes: wall, lap, and twin bed.

Welcome Home by Alex Anderson

This charming quilt can decorate your entry hall, your family room, or some wall that needs a quilt to bring it warmth and cheerfulness this fall season. If you have a twin bed that is need of a fall quilt, perhaps this is the quilt for you. It is entirely pieced. Here you can see  the wall quilt. It is made from three different blocks: a leaf block, a house block, and a star block. Two detail views of this quilt can be seen below.

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It’s that time of year when all of a sudden you realize one of your favorite nieces, nephews, a friend’s child—or even your own child is heading off to college in a few days or weeks—– and you meant to make a quilt for the big occasion, but time has slipped away from you. You need something quick and easy with relatively no thinking—-and perhaps you want to use fabrics straight from your stash. We have at least two handfuls of quilts in our pattern collection that would fit the bill. Out of those we have selected three quilts to feature today. They are all perfect for a fast project for that college-bound student. When the weather turns cold this winter, your quilt will be so welcomed by the college student, as he or she snuggles under it feeling that cozy warmth with fond memories from home.

You want to make a quilt that is fast to construct, colorful, and can take the punishment of college life. These three quilts take minimum time. Their designs make it easy to use the colors and/or themes that your college student loves. In fact, these quilts can be made as sophisticated, as wild or as quiet as you wish. Just let your imagination and fabric stash dictate your options. Three quilts that fit the bill of easy, quick, fabric-stash friendly, for college quilts are Jammin’ Jelly by Cindy Wiens, Short Circuit by Mary Hoover and Barbara Persing, and Fat-Quarter Frolic by Larisa Key. Below are pictures of all three quilts. Fat-Quarter Frolic is shown in three versions.

Fat-Quarter Frolic by Larisa Key (shown in three versions)

Larisa Key has a great pattern  that is quick and easy called Fat Quarter Frolic. It’s made from squares and rectangles that are combined into  units to make this quilt. This quilt comes in three sizes, but for a college student, the twin-bed coverlet would be best (64″ x 72″).  Larisa has made many versions of this quilt. Here are three examples showing a variation using Amy Butler fabrics, one using batik fabrics, and the last using Japanese-motif fabrics. This quilt has been extremely popular and we have seen it in many Amy Butler fabrics, as well as other large-motif fabrics by other notable fabric designers. We’ve seen wonderful versions of it using Michael Miller, Hoffman of California, and Kaufman fabrics too.  You simply find fabrics in the colors, motifs, and textures you want…..and start cutting and sewing……

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Hi Quilters!

If you call the Steady Betty company, you will be greeted with a warm friendly hello from Kathy Purdy, owner of Steady Betty. Her company is located in Texas, so she has that wonderful Texan accent. She is very passionate about her Steady Betty products. Kathy gave me detailed information about all of them, which I will share with you over the next few weeks. From what I understand the first product came out about four years ago. That was The Steady Betty Board. Let’s start there.

What is The Steady Betty Board? That is what I first asked Kathy. Here’s her answer: It is a board that is covered with a special material that gently holds fabric in place, making perfectly pressed seams. This board keeps fabric from distorting or stretching. It is especially great for bias edges or bias bindings too.

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We LOVE the Snap, Grab, & Go Tote at JWD Publishing! That’s because we’ve had first-hand experience with it.

We didn’t realize how very useful and clever the Snap, Grab, & Go Tote was until we started using it this summer.  Once we actually used it, we realized how fantastic this bag is. In fact, this tote far surpasses the typical quilt bag in usefulness. Besides it’s roominess, it has a wonderful vinyl liner that snaps into the inside of the outer bag. How wonderful is that?……it’s wonderful!  Here’s why:

Today I packed my Snap, Grab, & Go Tote full of food from my favorite market, Harbor Greens with  meat, vegetables,  fruits, and other food items. Then I headed northward for a babysitting gig with two of my grandchildren.  I chose to use the Snap, Grab, & Go Tote because it has a vinyl liner—-actually it’s a vinyl-liner inner bag (it’s very clever, indeed).  Because of this vinyl liner, I didn’t have to worry about anything leaking out onto the outer bag and leaking onto the seat. Everything was safely contained within the vinyl liner.

You can see this snap-in vinyl liner insert in chartreuse (above).  Perhaps you can see how it strategically snaps to the outer bag in the photo image. As you can probably tell, it’s a duplicate of the outer tote, but it’s made of vinyl. All you have to do is purchase the vinyl and a fun fabric and then press the fabric to the vinyl. It’s very easy to do.

Recently I went to our grandchildren’s swimming meet. It was chilly, so I wanted to take both my jacket and sweatshirt, along with my Kindle, purse, and some food—-you know how long swimming meets can be. I piled everything into the bag….but with one big difference:   I made a magical change. I unsnapped the inner vinyl-liner, took it out, and repositioned it as the outsider bag. In other words, the vinyl bag became the outer bag and the outer bag became the inner liner.

Having the vinyl lining bag on the outside meant that my bag would not get dirty nor would it get wet at the swimming meet. Everything fit inside and stayed clean and dry. I can do the same thing when I head for the beach. How cool is this…..two bags in one! Who could possibly think up something so clever? Teresa Fields of the Quickie Chicks did.  Teresa is always dreaming up something wonderful for us to use.

BTW, did you notice the quilt behind the tote?  It comes with the tote pattern….in other words, it’s a tote pattern with a freebie quilt pattern. Teresa is keen on creating quick projects and both of these are no exception. The quilt is deceptively easy. Tote and quilt are great partners for outings.

If you are a quilt shop owner, the Snap, Grab, & Go Tote is a perfect half-day class (or a one-day). Check out the Snap, Grab, &  Go Tote page for more details.

If you are a quilter and this tote sounds perfect for you, you can order from your local quilt store. If you do not have a local fabric store near you, you can purchase this pattern online. See the Snap, Grab, & Go Tote page for more details.

I love my tote—either side out…….I know you will too.  JWD Publishing is proud to publish the Snap, Grab, & Go tote pattern.