Waddington Road: 2 Ways

Do you lean toward scrappy quilts or more controlled palettes? 
Today we're sharing two Waddington Roadquilts designed by Barbara J. Eikmeier. Many of Barb's quilts we've seen have been scrappy--a cheery collection of reds, blues, greens, golds and tans. These two quilts showcase the Waddington Road fabric collection in a very different way and we asked Barb to talk to us about her designs. We think you'll love them both! 

The "Homeward Winds" quilt uses a warm palette of blues, greens, and golds, with a tan background. This two-block design is easy to sew and creates a secondary design. This lap-size quilt is featured in the March/April 2018 issue of McCall's Quilting magazine.

"Homeward Winds" by Barbara J. Eikemier and quilted by Theresa Ward;
featured in McCall's Quilting March/April 2018

Q. How did you come up with this design?

BE: The magazine editor had requested a two-block design. I had used the pinwheel star block (all blues) in a previous design and liked it, so I searched for a second block that would work well with it. When I found the framed pinwheel block (green), I realized that the corner triangles would match up and create a secondary shape. I didn’t realize both blocks started with center pinwheels until I recolored them!

Q. How do these blocks go together?

BE: Beautifully! If you press the corner units in opposite directions, they lock together when you pin the blocks and create such nice corners!

Q. What’s something we might not notice on a first look at this quilt?

BE: Do you see the spools on an angle? They’re where four blocks come together and they’re made up of blue thread centers with olive green tops and bottoms. I love that this little design element emerges!

Q. Tell us about your color choices for this quilt.

BE: Waddington Road has so many color variations, and it works well in scrappy quilt designs. As I’ve worked with these fabrics, I’ve often pulled smaller groupings that I thought looked pretty together. I really liked this blue, green and gold combination. Using the same yellow in both blocks creates continuity throughout the design.

The inner blue border is subtle, but creates space between the blocks and the outer border. It let’s the natural edges of the block stand out.

Q. Tell us about the quilting.

BE: I asked Theresa Ward to do custom quilting because the quilt has some areas that would really shine. She did swirls on the olive green sections that show up beautifully.

Q. What do you like best?
BE: I like the spool design that emerges when the blocks come together. This is a straight-set quilt, but you get diagonal components that make it look more interesting.

Find the Homeward Winds quilt pattern here.

See the entire Waddington Road collection here.

Find McCall's Quilting magazine here.

Contact the Quilt Corral to purchase a kit for Homeward Winds.

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Barb's "Grandma's Farm" quilt goes in a totally different color direction. Bright red and blue prints stand out from tan, olive green and chocolate brown coordinates. The quilt is made using simple four-patch units--an easy design that creates a visually interesting quilt. "Grandma's Farm" is featured in McCall's Quick Quilts February/March 2018 issue. 

"Grandma's Farm" by Barbara J. Eikmier and quilted by Theresa Ward;
featured in McCall's Quick Quilts February/March 2018

Q. What inspired this quilt design?

BE: It’s named after my Grandma who lived on Waddington Road. The design itself is the idea of a chain link fence going around a farm, and it’s made up primarily of small four-patches. The overall design is a nine-patch variation.

Q. Tell us about the color palette you used.

BE: I started with the background floral print, with small red and brown flowers. Then I added red and chocolate brown prints, plus the lighter tan, and they all coordinate beautifully. I wanted to add another color that would stand out. The blue really made the design come alive. The sashing is an olive green, which stands out as well. I changed up the sashing cornerstones, with adds a secondary design as well.

Q. What do you like best about the quilt?

BE: I like how the secondary blocks show up by the cornerstones—a phantom nine-patch design. When you look at this quilt, it’s a really simple pattern, but the more you look at it, the more interesting it becomes.

Find the Grandma's Farm pattern here.
See the entire Waddington Road collection here.
Find McCall's Quick Quilts February/March 2018 issue here.

Read more about all of Barbara Eikmeier's Waddington Road quilts:
Grandma's Spools
Floating Palette
Waddington Road Sampler
Town Square

Grandma's Spools

Do you have fond sewing memories of your grandma? Barb Eikmeier turned her memories into a quilt, Grandma's Spools, using her Waddington Road fabric collection. The quilt was recently featured in Quiltmaker magazine. Keep reading to learn more about Barb's design. 

"Grandma's Spools" designed by Barbara J. Eikmeier and quilted by Theresa Ward;
featured in Quiltmaker magazine Jan-Feb 2018

Q. How did you come up with the spool theme for this quilt?

BE: My Waddington Road collection is named after the road my grandmother, Mary Martin, lived on. She was a professional dressmaker, and she sewed on a treadle sewing machine. I chose the spool motif to honor my grandmother. The four-spool block is actually called Secret Drawers, which was perfect because my grandma kept her thread in the drawers of her treadle machine cabinet.

Q. Tell us more about that block.

BE: I came across it in the EQ library. In its traditional coloration, it doesn’t look like spools, but when I changed the color placement, it did. I liked that it had triangles in the corner because those tend to make great secondary designs. I added them to the large hourglass block as well. After playing around a bit, I realized that if I reversed the colors of the corner triangles, I would get hourglasses in the block corners.

Q. Tell us about your fabric choices.

BE: I decided on the tan button print first. I wanted that to be a main part of the quilt. I used Painter’s Palette Solids in Rice Paper as the light to add contrast. I really like how the Rice Paper makes the tan look sharper and more crisp. Then I chose all of the greens, golds, reds and blues in collection for the actual spools. I chose the red print for the border because of the buttons.

Q. How was this quilt machine quilted?

BE: Theresa Ward did the quilting. We chose  an overall swirly design. After she finished, we both commented on how the quilting almost looked like thread spiraling off the pieced spools.

Q. What is your favorite part of this quilt?

BE: I like the emotional connection it gives me to my grandmother.

See the entire Waddington Road collection here.

Purchase a digital version of Barb's pattern here.

Find Quiltmaker magazine here.

Waddington Road in print!

When you look at a quilt, do you try to envision the block it's made out of? Take a look at Barbara J. Eikmeier's new quilt, Floating Palette, featured in Quiltmaker magazine. The quilt uses her Waddington Road collection--such a gorgeous palette! Below, Barb talks about the quilt, and you just might be surprised when you find out what the block is! 

"Floating Palette" designed by Barbara J. Eikmeier;
featured in the Sept/Oct 2017 issue of Quiltmaker magazine

Q: How did this design come to be?

BE: I design using EQ software. This quilt is made from smaller shaded fourpatch units—a 6” block. The quilt is put together with sashing and cornerstones, rotating the position of the blocks. This creates a larger block with a ninepatch in the center. I think the different sized pieces contribute to the interest of the quilt.

  

Q: Did you intend for this quilt to have a scrappy look?

BE: Yes. I wanted to use as much of the colored prints in the collection as I could. I assembled the blocks in a grab and go style to add to the scrappy look. Then I used scrappy cornerstone squares as well.

Q: Do you see a curved effect in the design?

BE: Yes! When I put the cornerstone squares into the sashing, the curvature showed up and I really liked that. Stumbling across happy accidents like that are part of the design process.

Q: What do you like best about the quilt?

BE: I like that when you look at the overall quilt, the more you look at it, the more design elements you see. The circles, the ninepatches stand out to me. But also you get these sideways things to me that look like a spool. I like that the more you look at it, the more things you see that are interesting.

Q: How did you choose the border fabric?

BE: The beauty of working in EQ is that it’s easy to try different border colors. When I tried the background fabric as the border, I liked it best. Because the triangles are in the corners, having a background color border means the units popped out more.

See the entire Waddington Road collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop. 
Find Quiltmaker magazine here.

3 Reasons You'll Love the Grand Traditions quilt

The "Grand Traditions" quilt, featured in the August 2017 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting, has it all: 

A quilt a guy would snuggle under (no frou frou flowers!)

Oversized blocks (goes together quickly!)

Fat quarter friendly (easy yardage requirements!)

We love this quilt and think you will too. Designer Roseann Meehan Kermes of Rosebud's Cottage used the Waddington Road collection by Barbara J. Eikmeier  to piece this quilt, destined for a couch, a bowl of popcorn, and a movie. (Bonus: Start it now, and it'll be ready by the time those cool fall days roll around!)

 Designed by Roseann Meehan Kermes of Rosebud’s Cottage.
Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine.
©2017 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 

We asked Roseann to tell us about her design and sewing process. As a bonus, she included some links to her Instagram account from while she was sewing. 

Q. What attracted you to the Waddington Road prints?

RK: I loved the rich colors and the style of the prints ... especially the red and black ones. And the gold ones. And the blues, too!

Q. How did you choose what block to use?

RK: I've made this block in a 6" version. I came across a large version of it in my sketchbook and felt it would show off the prints in Waddington Road. Plus it's easy to sew ... any skill level should be able to make it.

Q. Tell us about the layout you came up with.

RK: The layout is actually a quilt block called Patience Corner. The blocks are placed a certain way within the layout to form the zigzag style sashing. Using this layout gave me the chance to show off the deep red fabric in the line. I love red, so it was a great choice! I've used the Patience Corner block to lay out many quilt tops ... it's a fun way to show off the blocks.

Q. Can you talk about how you combined prints for each block?

RK: I went through the fat quarter bundle and matched up color combinations, putting them in order of the background, contrast, and focus fabric. The first block was the hardest so I played it safe. It's in the second row on the right side. I laid the blocks on my floor as I completed them and then readjusted my combinations so that I didn't have too much of one color appearing stronger than the others. That's why some of the blocks appear to have less contrast than others.

Two things that helped ... after I chose the fabric combos, I labeled them A, B, and C. The other thing I did was create cutting charts. They're included in the article and are also labeled by letter. When you're using fat quarters, you want to make sure that you'll have enough fabric, especially if you miss-cut. Before I began, I decided which ways I needed to cut the fat quarters and did it the same way each time.  I always make the largest cut first because I can always subcut it into smaller segments. Also, I only made one block at a time so the cutting chart was helpful in remembering which way to cut each fabric.

Q. What do you like best about this quilt?

RK: I had a very short time frame when I made this quilt plus I had to get it quilted. I loved that it went together quickly.

The other reason I loved making this quilt is because I got to use my favorite tool ... the Folded Corner Clipper! I'm horrible at the technique of half-square triangles where you draw a line and sew next to it, creating a corner flip. My units never come out correctly. With this tool, you trim off the corner before you sew ... the seam allowance is included. I sewed those cut off triangle units together, too as I sewed the block units and have enough to make a couch pillow. It's fun to use up every last piece!

Q. Can you tell us about the quilting decisions?

RK: Haha ... here's my quilting decision ... I hand it off to Randi Helling at Jubilee Quilting and do what she suggests! I had sent her a photo before I got there so she had some ideas for me when I arrived. We discussed thread colors and I gave her a few choices. The rest was all her! Randi has quilted my professional and personal quilts for years. I trust her judgment.

Q. What do you envision this quilt being used for?

RK: I thought American Patchwork and Quilting read my mind about how this quilt would be used! I have a family full of 'boys' and imagined any one of them snuggling under this quilt. It's the perfect size for that.

Q. How else could this pattern be used?

RK: My daughter-in-law wanted to make a baby quilt so I sent her the directions to try out. She made four blocks and skipped the sashing so it wouldn't be too big. It was so cute! I'd do four blocks with the sashing to make a table topper or a picnic quilt.

Find the entire Waddington Road collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop. 

Learn more Waddington Road designer Barbara J. Eikmeier here.

Learn more about quilt designer Roseann Meehan Kermes here. 

Find American Patchwork & Quilting magazine here.