Just as a recap:

Samarra came up with a bunch of fantastically awkward pixelated animal illustrations and I took them and transformed them in to quilt patterns. There was a lot of back and forth about things like colors, placement, which animals to release when, etc etc. So you know your getting the best product we could think of.

I introduce to you the Bat!

The bat is one of our Seasonal Specials. This means it coincides with an upcoming holiday or a theme the current month has. These are mostly going to be much larger quilts too, so they may be the only animal that month.

You can find this pattern in my shop, or in Samarra’s.

This is an 81″ square quilt with many half square triangles and two different curved templates. Unlike the other animals, this quilt also features background objects like the mountains, moon and fellow bats in the distance.

The pattern is written in such a way where you work on small sections at a time, and then piece those sections together. It makes it less overwhelming and easier to pick up and drop at any moment. It doesn’t need to be pieced all in one setting.

Also, like with the rest of the series there are video links included to help you along, as well as tips and tricks throughout.

This is our third month releasing these Awkward Animal Portrait Quilts and I am loving the way they all look together! It’s been a lot of fun and I’m glad I signed on.

It’s the first of the month, which means it’s time for another series of Awkward Animal Portraits to be released in to the wild!

Just as a recap:

Samarra came up with a bunch of fantastically awkward pixelated animal illustrations and I took them and transformed them in to quilt patterns. There was a lot of back and forth about things like colors, placement, which animals to release when, etc etc. So you know your getting the best product we could think of.

I am ridiculously excited to announce that my Pixelated Circles Quilt pattern is now available in print form!

The pattern is 100% full color throughout and includes full size templates that are folded up inside. Other than the pre-printed goodness, the pattern is exactly the same as the PDF. Except now I have a large amount of them on hand.

For the entire week, to celebrate this big step for Art School Dropout, this pattern will be 20%. No coupon code needed. 

If you own a shop and would like to carry this pattern or get news on upcoming patterns, you can join the wholesale newsletter here. If you would like to just purchase a set of these, you can email me and I’ll set it all up for you.

I decided to test the waters to see how people liked it by making a mini quilt using Lizzy House’s new Printmaking line for Andover fabrics. They sent me the fabric as part of their QuiltCon 2017 booth, so it all worked out perfectly.

It will be sold as a mini quilt pattern, but I will be including diagrams and more to show how to make a twin, full, queen and more. I seriously can not wait until to show my sample quilt! It’s epic, and I don’t use that word often.

Just keep an eye out here for the exact release date.

In other news, the Pixelated Circles Quilt is being printed right now and hard copies will be available after May 8th. I will also be selling acrylic cutting templates for each size individually, or as a pack of four. All preorders can be found in my shop!

I have yet another FREE Quilt Pattern for you as a collaboration with Michael Miller Fabrics. This one was made specifically for their Guppies For Lunch fabric line and looks great as intended OR in solids. Your choice.

You can find it here.

Keep your eyes peeled for more free downloads coming soon! I have been working on so many patterns for different companies and myself. I can’t wait to share it all!

I was given a limited palette and I used the preexisting DCMQG Logo for the center design. The outside pieces are supposed to mimic cherry blossoms and the Potomac river, which runs between Virginia and DC. I made this quilt specifically for a group to piece. A large group. So even though it looks like a bunch f overlapping pieces, its actually sewn in 10″ blocks.

It was a lot of fun to see everyone pitching in and even more fun to see it all come together at our fall retreat.

Sari of Sariditty took the quilt top at the retreat and worked her magic on it. She emphasized the areas that were cherry blossoms with rays of sun and flower motifs. She made the monuments stand out with a brick design and she added nice wavy stitches for the river. I only saw sneak peeks here and there the whole time.

It wasn’t until I arrived in Savannah, GA. for Quiltcon 2017, that I got to see the completely finished quilt! It was amazing. I was even hanging out with other DCMQG members when i first saw it. It’s just one more reason I love that I switched from independent member to full guild member. I have been working alone for so long, and it’s nice to be part of a community again.

I loved it so much, I also joined a makerspace, but I’ll talk more about that at a later time!

So back to the quilt, I’m new to this, but I believe the quilt will be auctioned off at some point with all the proceeds going to a charity the guild chooses. I’ll post more about that at a later date.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you have probably seen a few dozen photos showcasing this awesome fabric line in the past six months. I had the pleasure of working with Samarra and Lecien Fabrics to create a few samples for their Fall 2016 look book and Quilt Market booth. I was also given extra yardage, and decided to make a dress and some other little odds and ends. What better time to share all these goodies than a blog hop, right?

The Projects:

The first piece I whipped up was a 60″ version of my Spinning Icosahedron Quilt. Samarra really wanted to see her fabrics mixed with this pattern, and after a lot of convincing, I agreed. I’m glad I did too, because I am absolutely in love with this quilt. The colors were easy to mix and match, and they stand out beautifully against the white background (which is Lecien’s solid white cotton btw).

In normal Jessee fashion, I had to go that next step with my design. So of course I also made an actual 3D Icosahedron that matches the flattened quilt version. I even made a video of the 3D piece spinning in front of the quilt, but due to my lack of video editing skills, I have no idea how to share it!! There is a lower quality version on Instagram that will give you an idea of what im talking about.

I used a few techniques to assemble this piece, but I will not be showing a tutorial due to the finished piece (not the technique) being very similar to a project on Sew Mama Sew. I will post a tutorial at some point this year showing the technique with a different shape. Keep an eye out!

Of course I didn’t stop with just those two projects! I also made the calculator quilt from Samarra’s book Sew Adorkable: 15 DIY Projects to Keep You Out of Trouble (you may remember me making this quilt from her book last year) It is a quick sew with huge impact! It’s also a huge quilt in size and perfect for a kids bed, which is where this one now lives.

The photo above only shows the quilt top, since I never got a good shot of it all quilted up. You can kind of see the wood grain and wavy design I did in the photos further down. The size did make it a little difficult to photograph once quilted. I also used plush batting, so it is HEAVY!

For my final project today, I wanted to show that Geogram is also great for non quilting related things. I decided to go neutral and make a Geranium Dress with the dark grey fabric and just a little pop of color.

Since the prints are non directional for the most part, it was easy to get as much out of the yardage as possible. That is always a plus when making kids clothes that you know they’ll grow out of in a year.

I still have enough fabric leftover to make myself something nice! I’m thinking maybe a bag? A family of pouches? Some awesome pillows? I don’t know yet, but I’ll try and share it here when I do.

Quilt Market Booth:

I wanted to also take this time to show off what the booth looked like at Quilt Market this past fall. I was unable to attend, but Samarra and few others sent me some awesome photos of the quilts hanging up and the 3D piece hanging out with her other creations (I’ve heard that those animal portraits may be hand sewing patterns soon! How neat are they?)

Blog Hop Schedule:

Thank you for stopping by and checking out all the projects I made using the Geogram Fabric! I am just one of many stops along this blog tour, and I think you should go and check out everyone else’s posts too. There is a load of inspiration going on here…

Random Photos:

I designed two smaller quilts to go along with her upcoming fabric line called Merrily. You can see one of the quilt and wall hanging above. Both were made specifically to fit her illustrated panels from this line and the previous one called Thicket. Both also include tips and tricks that double as skill builders. That was my favorite part.

The patterns will be printed booklets, and available to purchase the same time the fabric is available in stores. I am super excited about this and I’ll share more once they are available!

Stacie was so great to work with, I have agreed to continue the collaboration and we will be releasing three more patterns within the year to go along with her next line (name and images are top secret, so I have to wait to share that info).

As well as these two patterns, and then the three after, I myself will also be releasing several patterns. Both PDF and printed. I’m going to take the leap, and this will be the year of patterns!! Woohoo!

I made a rainbow version of my Pixelated Circles Quilt and talked all about it on their blog! Head on over to read a little about the project and get a full list of all the fabrics I used.

Pin It]]> https://artschooldropout.net/blog/what-shade-are-you-blog-hop-with-rjr-fabrics/feed/ 0 https://artschooldropout.net/blog/pixelated-circles-quilt-pattern-release-day/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pixelated-circles-quilt-pattern-release-day https://artschooldropout.net/blog/pixelated-circles-quilt-pattern-release-day/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2016 13:50:05 +0000 jesseesuem http://artschooldropout.net/blog/?p=4663 Continue reading →]]> For the last 6 weeks I have been talking abut and working on this pattern. I have name it the Pixelated Circles Quilt, because if you add some background fabric in the circles it gives it a pixel like look.

About the Pattern:

The pattern includes four template sizes which can be assembled into four different size quilt. The quilts range from 18″ to 56″ square. The templates can also be used to make numerous other things like pouches, pillows, bags, journal covers and more.

I also designed the quilt to work with pre-cut fabric bundles or scraps. The quilt shown above uses four 5″ charm pack, which means it went together rather quickly.

There are curved seams involved, but I promise you, they aren’t as scary as they seem!

I’ve added this, and a handful of my other patterns to my new shop! I switched to shopify so that I could manage my own digital downloads and offer free PDF’s too! This means I will have more patterns soon AND I’m looking to add embroidery files to the catalog. I’m excited.

You can find it all here:

www.shop.artschooldropout.net/

A Few Sample Projects:

Since this is my first pattern to be released that isn’t a paper piecing pattern, I started a test group to make sure I didn’t miss anything. They were seriously the best group too. They helped with grammar, spelling, misplaced words, incorrect yardage, etc. They also made some of the best sample pieces and I’m so excited to share of few of them today.

This sample was pieced and assembled by Margaret Smerd‎. She used the center block from the quilt as the centerpiece for this awesome bag! As you can see she fussy cut the the little bears and it really adds to the piece. You can see more of her work on her Instagram profile under @Margo_bibz

This fantastic bag was dreamed up and assembled by Angela Zolner. She took one of the full circles and a handful of quadrants and came up with the brilliant configuration. I was so happy when I saw the finished pieces because her sneak peeks didn’t give anything away. You can see more up close shots and other creations by Angela on her IG profile @stitchyscientiest

This notepad cover was another super creative creation in the test pool. Yevonne Cearns came up with this design and used a bunch of half circles on the front, back and inside. She also added all that perfect hand stitching around each one. She shows off more of her stuff on her IG profile under @yevonnec.

Well obviously I think this project is adorable with that puppy hanging out on it! (all dogs are puppies to me) This huge pillow was pieced and quilted by Deirdre Devlin and she used the center circle from the quilt. I love the colors she chose and the mix of straight and circular quilting. Deirdre posts a lot of neat quilting project on her IG profile @nerd_vikings, you should check it out.

I had asked a few if the testers just to try out a block, no project needed. Belinda Mollison-Sadd made the block above AND another small version in a completely different color way. You can see more shots of both on her IG @bjaney. This was Belinda’s first time sewing curves and fussy cutting fabric. I think she did a fantastic job, don’t you?! Look at those curves!

This block should win a prize for best use of fabric. Melissa Draper‎ made the smallest circle, which is super tiny at 6″ finished! You can only guess how small those squares are. She used all vintage fabric, including that wondering background fabric that was already adorned by yarn!! How cool is that? You can see all the other wonder things Melissa makes over on her IG @msmelis.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I still have a huge folder filled with more samples, but I want to spread them out so no ones photos get overlooked. They are seriously all just wonderful and I am beyond grateful for them all!!

Keep checking back over the next week for more quilt layout ideas, information about the pattern and more sample pieces.. Who knows, maybe I’ll figure out the editing software and have a little video too. Fingers crossed.

Before you head off though, I am offering 20% off all the patterns in the shop to celebrate the Pixelated Circles Quilt Pattern AND my 34th birthday!!! Just use the code PCQ20 at checkout. Coupon code expires Friday, Sept. 2nd at midnight EST.