Posts Tagged ‘Beth Helfter’

Make Scrappy Half-Square Triangles: Brilliance from Beth

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas

You may know that I worked as an editor for Quiltmaker magazine until about a year ago. During that time, I managed the QM Scrap Squad, a team of quilters who made scrap quilts from our patterns.

Beth Helfter of EvaPaige Quilt Designs

Beth Helfter was one of the people chosen for the Scrap Squad in 2014. I knew from the start that she had talent. She’s smart and wickedly funny, and she makes dynamite scrap quilts. She designs quilts under her business EvaPaige Quilt Designs, and from what I hear, gives entertaining guild programs with lots of quilts for inspiration.

She recently released a series of short videos showing a great trick for making scrappy half-square triangles. I hope you’ll take a look. I’m going to try this soon!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Does your quilt group need a speaker? Please consider me, Diane Harris of Stash Bandit. I have more than 30 years of quilting experience, including 11 years in the quilt industry as an editor for Quiltmaker. I’m booking for 2018 and 2019 now. Let’s talk quilts!

Try a Mini Quilt Swap for a Good Cause!

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas

I used to manage something called the Quiltmaker Scrap Squad, and that’s where I met Beth Helfter. As part of a team that made scrappy quilts from QM patterns, she was consistently enthusiastic and funny. She made wonderful quilts!

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Beth Helfter of EvaPaige Quilt Designs runs a mini quilt swap to raise funds for ovarian cancer research.

A few years back she started a swap to help raise funds for research into ovarian cancer, which took the life of Beth’s mom way too soon.

The swap has grown and flourished. I’ve joined in a couple of times and it’s always fun and interesting.

Made by Lorrie Langdon from a Jaybird Quilts pattern called Candy Dish

I’m inviting you to join in too! Your skill level doesn’t matter, though you’ll want to do your best work. Just above is the quilt I received in last year’s swap from Lorrie Landgon, a quilter in Mississippi.

The top left hexagon shows the teal fabric that was to be used in every swap quilt.

When you sign up for the swap and pay the $15 fee, you receive by mail a piece of this year’s swap fabric, which is teal in color to represent ovarian cancer. The fabric from last year is shown in the top left hexagon above. This year’s fabric sponsor is Quilting Treasures. I applaud them!

Teal ribbons for ovarian cancer

Lorrie also included fabric with little teal ribbons on it to represent ovarian cancer. What a nice touch.

Lorrie used a variety of interesting fabrics and did really nice machine quilting. I adore this little quilt!

Lorrie’s quilt label

Her quilt label was a pretty finishing flourish! I made Lorrie the quilt below. It’s about 18″ square.

Made by Diane Harris of Stash Bandit

I added a variety of hand and machine stitching to it, including these long orange tails on square knots.

I used a “big stitch” on several of the fabrics, and French knots.

If you’ll just let yourself go and not worry too much about the outcome, hand stitching on a small quilt can be really enjoyable.

On Instagram, see more of past teal swap quilts under the hashtag #tealminiswap16.

Beth is capping the swap at 650 participants this year, so it’s best to sign up right away. I’m looking forward to getting information about my partner and starting on a small quilt for a good cause.

Please join me!

Complete Teal Mini Swap information

Sign up here!