Alethea Ballard - Maverick Quilts: Using Large-Scale Prints, Novelty Fabrics & Panels with Panache

Text copyright 2011 by Alethea Ballard

Photography and artwork copyright 2010 by C&T

Publishing, Inc. Publisher: Amy Marson

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Editor: Liz Aneloski

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Illustrator: Aliza Shalit

Photography by Christina Carty-Francis and Diane Pedersen of C&T Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted

Published by C&T Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ballard, Alethea, 1964

Maverick quilts : using large-scale prints, novelty fabrics & panels with panache / Alethea Ballard.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-60705-232-6 (softcover)

1. Quilting--Patterns. 2. Appliqu--Patterns. I. Title.

TT835.B26375 2011

746.46--dc22

2010040914

Printed in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dedication

To the ladies and gents at my fabric stores:

The Cotton Patch, especially Linda, Heidi, Tina, Jocelyn, and Carolie

The former Quilters Inn, now Wooden Gate Quilts, especially Jane, Marby, Margaret, Pat, Joni, and Cyndy

Thimblecreek, especially Sue, Laurie, Chickie, Roxie, and Joe

Stone Mountain and Daughter, where the crew barely bats an eyelash when I put 30 bolts of fabric on the cutting counter!

Dan at The Sewing Machine Shop

You guys keep me going and keep me using that fabric.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my family and friends for their support and encouragement in making this book. I love you guys.

I am also very grateful to my nieces and nephews for all the love and kindness they give me. Stewart, Megan, Caitlin, Marley, Hannah, Harley, David, John, Stephen, Lucia, Eli, Olivia, and Danny: I am a lucky auntie!

Millions of thanks to the thousands of students I have had at Stanley Middle School; you guys rock!

Thank you to Liz Aneloski, Nanette S. Zeller, Kerry Graham, and my wonderful editors at C&T.

Thanks to Michael Miller Fabrics for their fabric contributions.

Hugs and kisses to my wonderful husband, Steve.

And my most special thanks go to my personal trainer, Mac Dodds; you have taught me so much about being positive, and you have been there every step of the way, encouraging, understanding, and supporting me. Stupendous!

What is this talk about fabric, and what is this baloney about the Maverick Quilter? Well, here goes:

Once upon a time, a little girl named Alethea made a quilt, and she fell in love with fabric. For many years her mother dragged her to fabric stores, and she always wanted to get some of everything. For her tenth birthday all she wanted in the world was a sewing machine. She made her first quilt that year and continued to sew as she grew up. After many disastrous attempts at skirts and a glorious pair of high-waisted, suspender-clad, pink-and-white-striped, cropped 80s pants, she realized that squares were much easier, and that was pretty much it.

My journey as a quilter is like many others: sew a quilt, make mistakes, have successes, and learn and get better. I always loved drawing quilt designs on graph paper, coloring them in, and then getting the fabrics to make the quilt. This worked pretty well for a while.

Then one day I just turned a corner, and instead of choosing a quilt design and buying fabric to go with it, I started buying fabric first (Geisha Landscape, ). I would look at it and decide how much of the fabric I wanted to see in the quilt, what size I wanted those pieces to be, and I would begin to cut. Gathering fabrics to go with the featured fabrics came next, and sewing pieces, cutting, playing, altering, exploringeventually it all came together, and a quilt was born. This creative, spontaneous working style really lets me enjoy being a quilter. I dont feel constrained by rules, shoulds, and shouldnts. There is no finger wagging in my sewing room.

Of course, I have to be open to the possibility of mistakes, but they have usually turned to out to be happy accidents, and some of the best parts of my quilts have been created that way.

The Maverick Quilter was born out of this working style. A maverick is a person who doesnt do things the way everyone else does and is okay with that. I break the rules. I sew odd fabrics together, I sew crookedly, I buy fabric without a plan in mind, and I have even given quilts away without attaching a label! Ooo!

There is a maverick inside all of us, and I encourage you to tap into that little quilt rebel inside of you to play, explore, and create with joy.

You can use this book in several ways. You can read all about my process and begin to create your own personal style and creative voice. You can use it for the techniques and tips provided to make you a more well-rounded quilter. Or you can use it for the individual quilt project instructions providedor a combination of all three. And be sure to read all the great tips, notes, and Maverick Quilter Says sprinkled throughout the book.

I am thrilled to have you join me on this fabric-lovers journey.

Choose Those Fabrics

Okay, so Im at the fabric store buying nice matchy-matchy fabrics for a conservative, yet pleasing, project, and I come across a bolt of bold, colorful novelty print fabric that I absolutely love. I pick it up. I caress it, tenderly tracing the patterns. Then I put it under my arm and start carrying it around. I just cant part with it. Im thinking, What on earth would I do with thisits too precious. I cant cut it up, I dont need another piece of fabric, my stash is too big already! But I cant seem to put it down, and when I get to the cutting table, I sheepishly ask for a little. Just a half a yard... Better make it one... You know, I think Ill need two, I stammer to the lady cutting for me. I have no idea what I am going to do with this, I blurt out, blushing. But I buy it and bring it home, and, ignoring the project I am supposed to be working on, I look at it lovingly for days.