Hey again – welcome to another beautiful Blockhead Wednesday! I hope you’re all caught up as we dive into Block #24 this week! “Outtakes“ was designed by Vanessa Christenson of V & Co. Vanessa is self-described as a busy mom living in “the middle of nowhere, Iowa.” She is known for her spectacular use of bold, modern colors and patterns, which has inspired her to create several Ombré-based patterns and designs throughout her career. In addition to teaching and publishing patterns as V & Co., Vanessa is also an author, life coach, and fellow Moda fabric designer, specializing in her Ombré collections that are nothing short of eye candy.

I was super excited when I saw the design for this block. Turns out, Vanessa and I have more in common than our obvious obsession with quilting, and the fact that we’re Moda sisters… We also both also happen to really love stars! Paying tribute to our favorite motif, “Outtakes“ was inspired by Vanessa’s all-time favorite block in the quilting world. You guessed it – the star block! “Outtakes“ offers a little bit of everything including basic four-patches, flying geese, and both large and small pieces to play with. Different shading options give you lots of variety when piecing your block – the possibilities are endless! How will you put yours together? Whatever your plan might be, you can find the pattern and full instructions for “Outtakes“ by clicking the button below!

Last week I kept my blocks simple and only used my usual background fabric plus one more. This week I’m feeling more on the frisky side so I decided to change things up and go with four different fabrics all together.For the gray section of the four-patch units, I reverted back to my Urban Farmhouse Gatherings II line and chose a medium gray with black floral print that I have used in several past MBH4 blocks. The triangle pieces that make up the overall “star” shape are done in a darling design by Sweetwater featuring tiny white hearts on a black background. For the middle square portion of the star I chose a large gray floral print on white by Corey Yoder, taking special care to place a rose dead center. As usual I used “Ochre” for my background – a medium orange Bella Solid.

It doesn’t matter that there’s only four more weeks to go in this year’s Moda Blockheads 4 QAL. If you’re still thinking about taking the plunge, it’s not too late to start! All the information you’ll need including all the previously released MBH4 blocks that I’ve done are available in the Moda Blockheads 4 Archive, listed in the main menu of links at the top of my blog page. You can also visit Moda’s Inspiration+Resources Center Page for more information, along with all released bonus blocks by clicking HERE! 

I hope you’re having a great day so far. I’ve been hanging out over at The Gathering for a sneak peak at some of the awesome things being created by Debbie Maddy and her Shibori students who are on retreat this week. If you’re not familiar with Shibori, it’s a Japanese tie-dyeing method done by hand that produces a number of different patterns on fabric by using wringing, pressing, and squeezing techniques. Needless to say the process is fascinating, and Debbie is a true master who makes it look easy!

Since a lot of the action is happening outside during this event, we really couldn’t have asked for better weather! Sunny skies without a cloud in sight are making this retreat even that much more lovely. Considering our guest of honor is here all the way from TX, I’m glad mother nature cooperated and didn’t decide to send a cold front our way – she has a tendency to do things like that with impeccable timing. We did fight with the breeze just a little yesterday, but that was quite alright. We simply took advantage of the excellent drying conditions.

As you know, one of my favorite color combinations to work with is blue and white so this is definitely right up my alley. When Debbie was here last summer I got the opportunity to explore some dyeing techniques that I’ve never tried before, and had a ton of fun doing it. One technique I tried involved scrunching fabric around a pipe to create a cool striped effect. I also got to play around with dyeing wool with Indigo, which produced some super pretty blues that we don’t normally see with wool. I even tried my hand at applying dye over stitching using Indigo, and ended up with some really neat star pattern results to show for it. Pretty cool!

There is definitely no shortage of creativity resulting from this year’s class. I am so impressed with all of the different patterns and shades of blue everyone is coming up with. There is really no limit when it comes to Shibori! Some of the methods Debbie uses are techniques you’d never think of on your own, even though the concepts are actually simple! Pretty much anything you can find that has an interesting shape or texture can be used to produce one-of-a-kind works of art in Shibori.

Ahh I just love it! So many great things are happening here at Primitive Gatherings, and it keeps getting better! I hope that if you are local you’re able to come and see for yourself. If not, thank you for continuing to visit vicariously by reading my blog and watching me LIVE on YouTube! Isn’t technology cool? I’m so thankful to have a way to include everyone in this journey of mine. It’s so amazing that even if you can’t be here in person you can still be a part of it all! That being said, I think it’s time to give away some prizes! Last week we had so many nice comments it was hard to chose just one winner. I appreciate every single one of them so much and really want to show my gratitude so I figured, why not two this week? Teresa E. and Peggy N. YOU are the lucky winners of a nice little prize for your comments on here on my blog! As always I don’t post last names or email addresses for your privacy, so if you think you’re one of the lucky winners please check your email! You can also contact Heidi at heidin@primitivegatherings.us if you have not already received a prize confirmation letter from her. She will use your email address to confirm that you are in fact the winner! 

Boy, that’s fun. Who knew giving away prizes would make a girl feel so good? Really though, what  feels good is to give back to my fellow creatives, loyal customers, and fans who have helped make Primitive Gatherings and The Gathering my dream come true. Alright, back to work – we have a lot to do! I will see you tomorrow on YouTube at 1:00 p.m. CST for more fun during STITCH with Lisa Bongean as we talk all about our next big focus coming up – The 2022 Great Wisconsin Quilt Show! We have multiple booth spaces reserved and plan to take full advantage of the space to show off Primitive Gatherings in its full glory. Set your reminder now so you don’t miss it! See you there. ~Lisa