Check out my projects for Baltimore On The Prairie in Nebraska City Nebraska, Sept 2023! Registration is OPEN! Find info at BaltimoreonthePrairie.com. Don’t wait to register so you are sure to get a spot! I’m so excited to teach these lovely blocks.
Birds of Coeur d’Alene is a class on Needleturned Broderie Perse, Applique stems & leaves and a bit of Embroidery to enhance the project. It’s not as difficult as it looks! You will learn the techniques used to complete this 24” block with ease!
Early American Spirit is a class with Starch Basted pieces. We will focus on the Eagle and touch on the center compass and other elements. What a wonderful block with just a touch of challenge and then easy peasy to finish it up! There will be more blocks to come for this wonderful quilt, Early American Spirit!
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Thanks for stopping by and take care!
Missie
TraditionalPrimitives.com
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
The Inspirations of Missie Carpenter – Designer for Blank Quilting Corp.
I live in the Des Moines, Iowa area but we spend quite a bit of time in southwest Missouri on Tablerock Lake. My husband and I, our daughters and their families love spending time at the home on the lake where I grew up. We’ve updated the old family home recently, and I’ve really enjoyed filling the walls with quilts! (My full-time home doesn’t have good walls for hanging quilts.) The picture below shows an antique quilt on the left, and a quilt I made on the right, hanging at the lake house. Pops of color along with the neutral tones lend way to a modern farmhouse style.
We keep the lake house very neat and tidy so it’s a nice retreat, but my home is filled with “work”- meaning lots of lovely fabrics, threads, and other supplies we quilters need for creating! Both places are equally my happy place. When I learned to quilt back in the 90’s, a few friends and I had a weekly small group for stitching in the evenings. I learned to hand stitch during this time and to this day, it’s a rare day that I don’t pick up my needle and thread to do a little stitching. I love handwork and it helps me relax before a busy workday and helps me wind down in the evenings. A project is always nearby in my “nest” – my spot in the living room. If you do handwork, you totally understand what I mean by my “nest”! I have everything I need right next to me in an antique spool cabinet as my side table. It’s definitely my happy place!
What inspires you?
I love antique quilts! They are my greatest inspiration for designing fabrics as well as quilts. Sewing window treatments in the ‘90s gave me access to many historical homes and many of the fabrics chosen were similarly styled like the fine fabrics used in the 1800’s in high end homes of the day. It gave me the desire to study fabrics, collect scraps and begin my little antique quilt collection. I strive to find well-loved antiques that have many fabrics in them and lots of age to the overall condition of the quilts. This aged condition fed my desire for rustic, primitive design found in the mid-western states I’ve lived in. I love the texture found in old fabrics whether it comes from a design element or the wear that time creates. The quilts shown here are the typical style of most of the quilts in my collection; not too fancy, but beautiful in their own way!
Tell us about your fabric.
As I began creating my own quilt designs around 2001, the business name Traditional Primitives came to mind as it described my style perfectly. I struggled to find fabrics that fit this description and it’s a dream come true to design my version of traditional fabrics with a touch of primitive style for Blank Quilting now! The result is traditional prints with a good bit of texture added. For me, it’s all about color… I love saturated, rich, earthy, jewel tones – shades of reds, browns, blues, teals, golds, greens and purples. This quilt, Delightful Garden, was a very exciting quilt to make. It was the first quilt made entirely of my own fabric collections. I was thrilled at how the collections blended so well. My collections can be collected, treasured and used in the future together!
My last line which can most likely still be found in shops is called The Ashton Collection. It also has been a great collection for me to work with! I’ve loved the border print and the colorful flowers and birds have been such fun. You’ll find several free patterns on the BlankQuilting.net website using these fabrics, and several patterns on my website as well.
I teach applique at events throughout the country. The techniques I use for starch basting the shapes and then sewing them on the background makes it easy to sew by hand or machine. I realize making fancy quilts is not for everyone and my next collection, Garden Club, includes a panel giving those who don’t do applique like the quilt above, a chance to make a quilt like this! The free download patterns for the quilts shown below are available on the Blank Quilting website. The only construction in the first quilt is the 16 simple blocks that surround the center panel. The corner blocks are part of the panel, and the fancy border print finishes off the quilt easily! It’s very easy construction! So much can be done with the border print, using the elements of the print in different ways. I love offering projects that any level of quilter can make whether the quilter is a beginner or advanced.
This next quilt made from the Garden Club collection is also an easy project without using the panel or border print and works well in a traditional styled home or a more modern home. I strive to design fabrics that will warm a home and pull folks in to enjoy the rich colors.
Courtney, my first 108” collection has just been released also. I am thrilled to have these fabrics to back my quilts with!
Don’t ever get discouraged! We are all beginners when we start a new craft like quilting. So often I hear from new quilters that they could never make this or that quilt they see. I’m here to tell you that you can do it! I teach many beginners who are thrilled to find out that they can make detailed quilts very easily! It just takes the right information to learn what you need to know. Reach out to other quilters for advice when needed. Most are happy to help!
Enjoy the process. It’s not always about getting a quilt done in a weekend but enjoying the process!
Her website is www.traditionalprimitives.com and has informative videos and an interesting blog along with many pretty things. Missie is the creator of unique notions used for English Paper Piecing and Applique’. She loves English Paper Piecing, Applique’, Wool Applique’ and Punchneedle projects.
Read about more designers for Jaftex by clicking HERE!
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Thanks for stopping by today and as always, Take Care,
Well, it’s official! I can now let you all know I will be teaching at The Academy of Applique once again in 2023! Wow, it’s hard to get in all the good things about the Academy…it’s such a wonderful experience! Just imagine several hundred women who love Applique as much as you do! Friends, food, fun and don’t forget Sewing!
Visit the AcademyofApplique.com for details and get on the newsletter to see the class catalog on Aug 22nd. Join me and we’ll have a blast!
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It is so humbling and rewarding to receive an email from a customer who enjoys what I’ve taught them! It really made my day to receive these words from a special lady after taking a workshop this spring.
“I have been working on Delightful Garden (shown in the last photo) from the workshop (I’m doing four big blocks) and I had to stop and write you. For something so complicated looking, your technique is amazingly EASY and FAST!! I am breezing through all four blocks like nobody’s business. I didn’t pick up my project again until last month (life happens), but I am already through the centers and long stems for all four plus the hexies for one swag, AND I have ALL of the tiny stems made for all four blocks! Two of my centers are stitched down! This is so much fun! Thank you for an easy, gorgeous project!! Sincerely, Carol C”
If you’d like to have success like this on the quilt shown here, Nana’s Garden Club, join me at The New England Quilt Seminars this fall in New Hampshire! Details at www.newenglandquiltseminars.com. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Take care, Missie
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Tuesday, May 3, 2022
The registration is open for the New England Quilt Seminars hosted by David Taylor Quilts. I’m thrilled and look forward to this event so much! 12 students for 5 days to have lots of one on one time of instruction on English Paper Piecing and Applique’. This will be awesome to really focus on improving the techniques used in the quilt. We’ll get a huge start on the class project, Nana’s Garden Club. This quilt has a big block center with EPP and Applique. I love teaching Starch Basting and helping students achieve excellent results. It’s so rewarding to see the excitement of a student when they have success using the techniques I love. ❤️ These techniques help make fancy quilts go together wonderfully!
Join me won’t you? Click HERE for detailed info! The New England Quilt Seminars is held in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire and looks to be a beautiful setting! I hope to see you there!
