RSSCard player cuts deck of fat quarters into traditional quilts
This positive/negative quilt, titled “Wine & Cheese,” is one of Monique Dillard’s most popular patterns. It’s made from the Olde World Style fabric collection she designed for Maywood Studio.
This pattern is offered free with the Fit to be Quarter 6.5 & Companion ruler designed by Monique Dillard of Rockford, Ill. A fat quarter quilt, it’s made with one main background fabric and a border fabric. Dillard says she likes the secondary design that emerges when the blocks are sewn together.
MONIQUE DILLARD: Author of “Fat Quarter Winners” and “Traditional Fat Quarter Quilts”
QUICKREAD
CLEVER QUILTING SHORTCUTS
FROM MONIQUE DILLARD
■ If you square up all your pieces as you go along, you probably won’t need to square up your block in the end; therefore, you don’t need to worry about cutting off points.
■ If you have leftover fat quarters from a bundle or in your stash, you can piece them together for backing.
■ Try to make your binding strips from leftover pieces of fat quarters, especially on a scrappy quilt that doesn’t have a border. It makes the finished quilt look even scrappier.
■ I rarely pin when piecing. In both my books and patterns, I include pressing directions. Not only does it help the quilt go together better, but I try to have the seams in the blocks and in the quilts going in opposite directions. That helps the seams to butt (or nest) together, and I don’t have to pin.
Hand her a deck of playing cards, and Monique Dillard of Rockford, Ill., will shuffle and deal any game you desire. King’s Corner, rummy, or her current favorite, pinochle.
Card games are a favorite form of recreation for her, and when Dillard is not outbidding or trumping her opponents at the table, you’ll find her designing quilts, fabric and specialty rulers.
She’s even found a way to combine these two passions, by naming many of her quilt patterns after card games she grew up playing with her grandmother and her parents.
Dillard has written a new book, “Traditional Fat Quarter Quilts” (C&T Publishing), full of quilts with names such as “Poker,” “Canasta” and “Solitaire.”
A previous book published in 2011, “Fat Quarter Winners,” features such patterns as “Gin Rummy” and “Crazy Eights.”
(Fat quarters are pieces of fabric cut on the fold of a half-yard of fabric; each measures 18 inches by 22 inches.)
Fat quarters are the greatest invention that the quilt world has ever developed, in Dillard’s opinion. Any leftover pieces she incorporates into her bindings, and sometimes she uses fat quarters as part of her quilting backing.
Her books also offer instructions for making a variety of quilt sizes. If you want to enlarge a lap-size throw to cover a king-size bed, add more fat quarters, of course.
Her grandmother also was a quilter, often using pieces from old dresses and curtains for her patchwork. That’s why traditional designs are important to Dillard today.
“It’s a great way to keep her memory alive,” says Dillard, who also looks at the past for inspiration in fabric, design and color.
Having created her third fabric collection with Maywood Studio, she says they are based on antique tiles, tapestries and textiles.
The lines are Olde World Style, Memories of Provence and Royal Gardens. The latter should be in stores by September.
“Most of the designs are from the 1700s and 1800s,” Dillard explains.
When making quilts, one of her favorite exercises is changing one or two elements of a block to yield a completely different look.
Another exciting part for Dillard is creating secondary patterns with a flow of color within one quilt.
The fact that she’s a math geek, a title she wears proudly, helps Dillard cut fat quarters of fabric into the greatest sum of pieces possible “with nothing wasted.”
It’s a puzzle as irresistible to her as one more game of solitaire on the computer.
Perhaps matching cards by denomination or sequence through those early years led Dillard to the mathematics degree she earned in college.
“I had no idea what I wanted to do” with the degree at first, but after Dillard began designing patterns, she says, “I loved the math part … and finally figured out why I got that degree.”
In a quest to find solutions to common quilter difficulties, Dillard has designed six rulers, including Fit to be Quarter, Fit to be Square and Fit to be Geese. They are based on the concept of sewing oversized pieces of fabric, then trimming to the exact size necessary.
Her newest ruler set, Fit to be Quarter 6.5 & Companion includes a free quilt pattern.
One of Dillard’s most-prized patterns is “Pinochle” in red and cream in the “Fat Quarter Winners” book.
“Not only because of the name,” she says, “but I really enjoy working with that color combination.”
It’s this interplay of colors and the unlimited design possibilities that makes Dillard a quilting ace in today’s industry.
After teaching 15 years at a local quilt shop, she finds her design business adding up to more of a national audience as she travels around the United States teaching her process at guilds, shows and retreats.
You can follow her career at http://www.opengatequilts.com.
You might say what started for Dillard as childhood games is paying off for her today in spades.
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