Quilt Designer News

Beth Helfter, Eva Paige Quilt Designs
www.EvaPaigeQuiltDesigns.com

Q:  Why are you a quilt designer?  When did you start designing quilts and quilted projects and what has been your inspiration throughout your quilt designing career?

A:  I’ve been quilting since 1995 and started designing my own patterns in 2005, when after two and a half years of being strictly a stay at home mom, I felt I needed to do something to stimulate my brain a little bit. Starting EPQD was exactly what I needed; I love sharing my own love of creating quilts with others while still being able to be my own boss and spend time with my family.  Teaching workshops and giving trunk show lectures, as well as designing new patterns lets me interact with other quilters, and hopefully teach something new or inspire someone to try something a little bit differently. The best feeling I have gotten since starting EPQD was after a trunk show lecture, when a member of the audience came up to me and said “I think you just changed my life.” – referring to my insistence that our quilts aren’t meant to be perfect, they are meant to be fun to make and treasured articles for those who love us. If I can change a life every few years, slowly we ‘imperfect quiltmakers’ will take over the world!

“Feelin’ Hot Hot Pink” designed by Beth Helfter
EvaPaige Quilt Designs

Beth Helfter, Eva Paige Quilt Designs
www.EvaPaigeQuiltDesigns.com

Q:  Is there a special time of the day, day of the week or emotion that you find yourself in when you sit down to design a quilt block or quilt? Can you tell us about it?

A:  I look forward to the day I am allowed to actually sit down and design a quilt block.  Most of my designing happens in my head and at very inopportune moments, like while I am driving one of my daughters to an activity or cooking dinner or trying to figure out where I put the electric bill that is due tomorrow. I often quickly scribble whatever idea comes to me as soon as I can, and keep the ideas in a basket in my sewing room. My actual designing process happens more as a hands-on sewing experience than a drafting and drawing one; I don’t use Electric Quilt, I don’t own graph paper, I just grab a pile of fabric and attempt to turn it into the picture I see in my head. Sometimes this works well, sometimes it is disastrous, but a bad day of sewing beats just about any other kind of work I can think of.

Beth Helfter, Eva Paige Quilt Designs
www.EvaPaigeQuiltDesigns.com

Q:  If you could pick any ONE quilt block (old or new) that you’ve either made or designed that exemplifies how you feel toward quilting, what block would that be?

A:  My Syncopated Ribbons block is one I truly adore. Admittedly, it isn’t for everyone and I have been known to drive staunchly traditional quilters completely crazy with it during workshops, but for anyone who is ready to step out of the box and just play with fabric in a new way, it tends to be a winner. The quilt on the cover of the “Syncopated Ribbons” pattern is absolutely my favorite in my collection of sample quilts. It was made by 15 different quilters, including an 8 year old boy, 12 year old girl, several mother/daughter or grandma/grandkid pairs, and a 65+ year quilter. Each person made me 4 blocks and a section for the border and the result is truly stunning – and proves that anyone can make this block successfully!

“Syncopated Ribbons” designed by Beth Helfter
EvaPaige Quilt Designs

Beth Helfter, Eva Paige Quilt Designs
www.EvaPaigeQuiltDesigns.com

Q:  If you were to describe your quilt designing style by comparing it to food, what “recipe” would you say your quilt designing is made up of?

A:  I truly love this question, and really had to think about it for a while! I would say my designing style is most like making a pot of chili. You start off with a few key ingredients (meat, beans, tomatoes……fabric, rotary cutter, ruler) and by adding a few different ingredients each time (basil vs cumin, sausage vs beef, BBQ sauce vs brown sugar…..angled piecing vs straight, traditional block vs original design, variegated thread vs invisible), the end result always ends up being some sort of riff on the original recipe, and never the same thing twice.

Beth Helfter, Eva Paige Quilt Designs
www.EvaPaigeQuiltDesigns.com

Q:  Please tell us a little about yourself … your name, your website, some of the names of your recent quilt designs.

A:  I’m Beth Helfter, designer behind EvaPaige Quilt Designs, where for four years I’ve been bringing original designs emphasizing “fun over fuss” to the quilting world. I love to create patterns using blocks that are somewhat inexact, since I absolutely hate matching points any more than I have to. I’d rather make something beautifully freeing than something I have to stress over, and I want other quilters to find that freedom and have fun with my designs. I also use a lot of simple machine appliqué on pieced backgrounds because I just love the pop a background made up of several different fabrics can give to appliqué. My appliqué shapes tend to be floral or other shapes found in nature because nature is very forgiving; the way I see it, you can’t possibly draw a flower petal or tree branch that couldn’t be found somewhere in nature, so therefore no one should be too critical of my appliqué shapes.

Within the last six months I have completed my “Beaded Blooms” series of quilts, four seasonal wall hangings incorporating machine appliquéd flowers with lots of fun embellishment elements, such as beads, buttons, and shells. “Greta’s Kaleidoscope,” named for my three year-old daughter, came out in June and features some of the crazy piecing using strips and squares that I love because the quilts make up so quickly. My latest pattern, “Funky Tree Farm” is due out this month and is a wonderful little table runner featuring crazy pieced trees on a strip pieced background. All of my designs can be seen on the “Patterns” page of www.evapaigequiltdesigns.com.

“Sunflower and Sky” designed by Beth Helfter
EvaPaige Quilt Designs

“For Love of Springtime” designed by Beth Helfter
EvaPaige Quilt Designs

“Lit from Within” designed by Beth Helfter
EvaPaige Quilt Designs
COMING SOON!

“Winter Whites” designed by Beth Helfter
EvaPaige Quilt Designs

“Greta’s Kaleidoscope” designed by Beth Helfter
EvaPaige Quilt Designs