All in a Row Again

All in a Row Again. Note Pat Sloan's retro camper row!!!

MODA All-Stars have returned in All In A Row Again with 23 more row-by-row quilt patterns! Motifs include flowers and trees, critters and creatures, buildings and houses, and classic patchwork.

Your favorite designers offer patterns in their signature styles to inspire you to create your own quilts, combining rows and "blender rows." Just look at the samples below to see the possibilities!

Evening Stars by Jo Morton, an embroidered bird from Kathy Schmitz, and Tricolor Stars by Lisa Bongean

of Primitive Gatherings. Note the 'blender rows' used in the border and as a spacer.

Whooo doesn't love those owls from Deb Strain! Other rows include Flitter Flutter by Stacy Iest Hsu,  Picket Fences by Sandy Gervais, Springtime by Corey Yoder, and Stars in Bloom by Sherri McConnell.

The quilt above demonstrates the use of blender rows, the narrow rows of repeated motifs.

Kathy Schmitz contributed this embroidered bird pattern. Her new book is Stitches from the Harvest, which you can read about here.

The rows can be used to make wall hangings or table toppers. This beach hut row from Sandy Klop of American Jane Patterns is so colorful and fun!

And so are these Barn Quilts from Kate Spain!

There are traditional patterns as well.

Stars and Geese from Betsy Chutchain 

I love Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill, and she contributes a pattern with her signature Hedgehog.
Other contributors include Jo Morton, Janet Clare, Laurie Simpson of Minick and Simpson, Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilters, Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs, Brenda Riddle of Acorn Quilt & Gift Company, Barbara Groves and Mary Jacobson of Me and My Sister Designs, Karla Eisenach of Sweetwater, and Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms.

Pollen by Jen Kingwell has a modern vibe

Each All-Star answers questions so we get to know them better. Most address concerns to quilters, like thread color used for piecing and favorite marking tools.

The instructions are top-notch, and there are links to print-ready patterns found online.

In case you need any more motivation to get this book, the royalties from the book are being donated to Give Kids the World Village which helps children with life-threatening illness to enjoy week long, cost-free family vacations.

See the first All in a Row book here.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Moda All-Stars - All in a Row Again
By Lissa Alexander
softcover $26.99
ISBN: 9781604688979
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2017

Another UFO Put to Rest & Book News

I finished a 2015 Row by Row into a table topper. Small strides...

We have been redecorating a bedroom to become a home office--Hooray! I won't have to write in the family room or kitchen! It's a north facing room and I wanted a warm color. I decided on a deep orange.

The room has white trim and cellular shades. I am searching for drape fabric, preferably a MCM print on a white ground.

My blog has reached over 191,000 hits! Book review readership has skyrocketed!

Scheduled book reviews include:

January
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney: a once famous MAD woman recalls her life

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough: a Domestic Noir thriller with a twisted ending

The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker: a story of enduring female friendship 

February

The Refugees by Viet Thanh Ngyun: moving stories of the refugee experience in America

Hit Makers by Derek Thompson: the science of popularity and success

The Barrowfields by Phillip Lewis: a debut family drama, insightful and beautifully written

High Noon, The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glen Frankel

The Typewriter's Tale by Michiel Heyns: Henry James' typist tells all

March

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan: a history of ecological peril

Like Death by Guy de Mausppant: a classic story of obsession

Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar: often funny, often wise debut novel of redemption

Whereas, poems by Stephen Dunn

Peggy Seeger by Jean R. Freedman: the life of folk musician and activist sister of Pete Seeger

April

Over the Hill and Far Away: A Life of Beatrix Potter by Mathew Dennison

A $500 House in Detroit by Drew Philp: seeking a new way of living in a resurrecting city

May

The Reminders by Val Emmerich: a charming tale of friendship

Galleys I have on my shelf include:

Ice Ghosts by Paul Watson about the ongoing search for the Franklin Expedition of 1845

Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker, a retelling of Jane Eyre from a new view point

Grief Cottage by National Book Award finalist Gail Godwin

The Physics of Everyday Things by James Kakalios

We Shall Not Sleep by Estep Nagy, a debute family drama set in Maine

Manderley Forever by Tatiana de Rosnay, a biography of Daphne du Maurier

and Madame President by Helen Cooper about the first female president of Liberia

And the spring titles are just showing up for review requests!

Gallivanting

On Saturday we left Metro Detroit on a day trip into the 'thumb' of Michigan in search of quilt shops and ancestors.

My grandmother Emma Becker Gochenour called it 'gallavanting'. She and her girlfriends from the North Tonawanda Baptist Church loved to spend a day wandering around Ontario or New York.

On our trip we took Van Dyke road north into the countryside, through Romeo and Almont to Imlay City. I went to four quilt shops to pick up their Row By Row patterns and then we went east and searched for the Lynn Township Cemetery to see my husband's mother's ancestors. (That's another post.)

Almont was having it's Homecoming Day  which is held every five years. The downtown businesses had quilts hanging in the windows. We stopped to see them. The photos are not great because of the window reflections. It seems that Stitchin at the Barn was associated with some of the quilts.

I learned that Almont is the sixth oldest village in the state of Michigan!

The quilt shops I visited included Shelby Township's Decorative Stitch, Quilted Nine Patch in Bruce Twp, and Stitchin' at the Barn, and the Pincushion in Imlay City. Each shop offered something different than I had seen before. 

On the way home we picked up sweet corn, $4.50 for a dozen huge ears. We had it for dinner and it was like eating pure sugar!