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I hope you enjoy this month's issue. - Maria

I was excited and pleased to be asked to submit a quilt design to Sullivans USA and have it chosen to be displayed in their booth at the International Quilt Market in Houston last month. The quilt was made to promote their Lilies and Lace fabric line which is beautiful to see and to use. The block pattern was taken from another of Michael's pen and ink drawings. which I used to create the kaleidoscopes, which were in turn, inspired by Bethany Reynold's work, though not her easier method.

Garden Kaleidoscope Quilt
Click here for a larger view.

Close-ups
Images courtesy of LaVerne

Meet Joyce Jones, quilt designer and teacher extraordinaire. Joyce lives in beautiful New Zealand which consists of two main islands with diverse geographical features: snowy mountain peaks, waterfalls, golden sandy beaches, hot mud pools, thermal spas, national forest bush walks, fiord lands, ski fields, and lakes. Joyce comments: “New Zealanders are English-speaking and very friendly. Farm stays are popular as are the Maori culture centers. My area of Nelson is a center of arts, crafts, orchards, wineries, yachting, golfing, and more. Temperatures are moderate in both summer and winter.” 

Although quilts were not a part of her childhood, Joyce’s mother was a tailoress, which she feels, may have helped influence her. She saw her first quilts in San Francisco in 1977 and found it was love at first sight. She was immediately hooked. However, it was another six years before she attended the first classes held in Nelson. She did not continue quilting because, she explains, “Those early classes taught how to make a hexagon, various styles of blocks and pincushions, but not how to construct an actual quilt!” A friend taught her how to make a “proper” quilt in the early 1980’s. Classes with Roberta Horton (an internationally acclaimed quiltmaker, teacher, and fabric designer) inspired her to become less fearful and enabled her to put her own stamp on her quilts. She also feels lucky to have spent New Zealand summers with Rhoda Cohen (a contemporary quilter from Boston) and hopes to occasionally break away from the traditional in quilting.

In her earlier years, Joyce taught shorthand and typing as well as ballroom and Latin American dancing, so teaching quilt classes was a natural progression for her. She has been teaching at a local college for nearly 20 years and has been offered classes in South Africa, Australia, and at AQS in Paducah, but was unable to take advantage of these offers because of her husband’s terminal illness.

Joyce feels that it is a joy and a privilege to teach and thereby to open doors for people who are keen to learn and who have so much talent lying dormant. She enjoys inspiring and encouraging them as well as seeing the amazing growth women make, not just in their quilting abilities, but very often in their personal assessment and perception of themselves and their abilities. She finds them very clever and creative and notes that they often do not realize what they are capable of achieving.
“I like to push boundaries when teaching, which led to designing a lot of quilts on the go. Designing is just the most fun and the words, 'What If?' are the best words in a quilter’s vocabulary,” she says.

Joyce applied the thinking behind teaching shorthand and typing to teaching quilting. Her love of time and motion study, along with the shorthand process, led her to develop a form of quilting shorthand. She gave names to units and methods, thereby making it easier for students to understand them, to make them, and to apply her techniques. Friends and students can have phone conversations in which the naming of a unit is instantly understood by all. For example, instead of saying, “a rectangle with a half square triangle on the upper left side,” they need only say, “ a Rec one Left” or “a Rec one Right” for a mirror image of the same unit.

Mars Landing

Joyce suggests, "This quilt can be kitted up using kiddie prints for the stars and primary brights to replace the light fabric.  I would be happy to help in any way possible with kitting."

Joyce’s students urged her to write a book to teach and share her quilting language and methods with quilters everywhere. At the time, she was teaching methods that had not yet appeared in quilt books. She designed quilts for her students and loved finding easier ways to do everything. Her quilt group – the UnderCover Girls – have been her motivation and support throughout the almost three-year book writing process. They each chose the patterns they liked and they named the quilts for personal or regional reasons.

Joyce explains, "Oaklands is an 1842 historic property with acres of garden, and farmlands stretching over the hills behind the property. The Oaklands block is fairly complicated, with 81 pieces. Another of the quilts is called Fenced In, because of the trouble occurring with rabbits in the garden at the time. Trafalgar Square was designed for another group member, Kath, who would never do anything as complex as Oaklands. Thanks to Kath, I have designed quite a few extremely simple but effective scrap quilts. It is true that many people don't want anything that taxes them too much. Simple quilts go better with complicated lives, eh? "

Trafalgar Square

For larger images of all these quilts, click here.

Sandy Bay

A stunning scrap plaid quilt!

Joyce shared something of her very special unit techniques with me during our interview. She explained that she gives a title to each unit which makes up a block and demonstrates it at the start of her instructions. When cutting pieces of any unit, the graphics on how to make that unit are shown in the same line. To her knowledge this is the first time instructions have been illustrated in this way. The great advantage is that only squares and rectangles need ever be cut. An added bonus is that by sewing an extra line before cutting, triangle units are achieved without any waste of material. Joyce explains, “These bonus units make wonderful borders without any extra work or fabric. Using the quilt language I teach, students can identify units in other blocks and realize that they are very simple to make.” 

Indeed they are! The quilts in the pictures here look too complicated for a beginner, but with Joyce’s book to instruct you, they are not!

As Joyce says, “The book offers quite a few double takes of quilts, to encourage quilters to look at a pattern and realize that it can be given a totally different twist with settings, values, borders etc. The quilt language helps readers to identify units in other blocks. Many of the quilts use a start-a-seam method giving the patterns a lot more movement. I feel strongly that this would be an excellent book to teach from and would be only too happy to work with anyone wanting to tutor my methods.”

Several of Joyce’s quilts have won awards including First Over All. One quilt was selected for the New Zealand Symposium and another in the Teacher’s Exhibition at the last Symposium. Two of her designs were in last year’s World Quilt Exhibition which toured the United States. One of them was Berried Treasure, a real beauty which is included in her book.

At the moment, Joyce is teaching classes on how to design and make hundreds of blocks without instructions or templates. She says, “The girls want me to do a book on this - can you imagine the number of blank pages? But seriously, it is a great class which sparks enthusiasm."

Uncovering Traditional Quilts - by Joyce Jones

Guest Review

I am the perfect person to review this book because I did not have the first idea of how to piece a block and I am now learning! The methods taught are wonderful and I am having so much fun with it. I am one of those sewers who uses pictures rather than words to make
things. I did this when I made clothes and now do it with quilts. Your pictures are great, as are the words! My blocks look professionally done. I plan to continue page by page until each project has been worked through. This book is fantastic! If it can teach me how to piece, it can teach anyone!  - Sherry Reynolds, Miss Meow's Quilts

I agree wholeheartedly with Sherry and highly recommend this book to all quilters, both beginners and those with experience - and most especially to quilt teachers who will find it ideal for their classes and students.

Joyce's book is a pleasure to the eye with colour on every page, clear diagrams, wonderful quilt photos, clear, step-by-step instructions, and her very special methods which make learning quick and easy for us all. There are 17 beautiful and impressive quilts to make, and countless more when you add the variations and changes which individual quilters can and will make.

You can order the book online from Amazon or order it from the publisher, the American Quilter's Society . You can also tell your local quilt shops about the book and ask them to order it for you. - Maria

Teapots to Appliqué - by Kay Mackenzie

Kay has produced a most delightful appliqué book!

Sixteen wonderful teapot patterns are included along with some of their companions - including a wedge of lemon, a teaspoon, a serving of cake, a sugar bowl, a creamer, a plate of cookies, and more.

It includes colour photos of charming teapot quilts, actual size appliqué patterns, Kay's hand appliqué tips (or you can use your favourite appliqué method) and a bonus - a luscious recipe to bake for your next tea party!

Kay's book is a must-have for everyone who loves appliqué, for everyone who wishes to learn the art, for teapot collectors and for tea lovers everywhere. Her clear, step-by-step illustrations, instructions, and tips offer something for everyone interested in hand appliqué.

Looking through this very special book conjures up lovely images of children playing with tea sets in bygone days - childhood tea parties - enjoying tea and cake and warm conversations with family and friends as adults - collecting wonderful teapots and cups - and the pleasure of sitting down to that relaxing, soothing drink.

I am envisioning not only teapot quilts, but teapot table runners, and small, quilted, kitchen wall hangings!

Click here to read an interview with Kay!

Readers who live in Canada and the United States are eligible to win Joyce's book.

Postal rules and regulations make it difficult to send the book Internationally, so International Readers are eligible to win three patterns of their choice (quilt, cross stitch, needlepoint, or a combination thereof) from among those available in PDF format on our Maria Michaels Designs web site.

The winner of Joyce's book will be the person from Canada or the United Sates who brings in the most new subscribers to this newsletter and answers a simple skill-testing question.

The winner of the patterns will be the person outside of Canada and the United Sates who brings in the most new subscribers to this newsletter and answers a simple skill-testing question.

How to Enter:

Copy and send the following link to your friends and invite them to subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MariaMichaelsDesignsNewsletter/ . Ask them to be certain to include your name and email address in the space allowed for comments, so that you will receive the credit.

The contest is open until midnight on the evening of November 30, 2004 EST. The winners will be notified in the week to follow and listed in our next newsletter in mid January.

Please share our newsletter with your friends by sending them this link: http://mariamichaelsdesigns.com/newsletternov04.htm

To contact Maria Michaels Designs, click here.

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