When Fabric Folding Never Ends…

This has been my day today.

And I have loved every minute of it!

Last night I installed a new desktop computer – and while programs were reinstalling, and things were uploading, downloading and otherwise being transferred to the new computer, I was nearby –folding fabric.

Folding, organizing, deciding which ones to keep as fat quarters, and which ones to sort into the “cut it down and use it up” Scrap Users System…

Which really DOES work for having strips on hand.

I’ve made several quilts this year.  My strip stash has been a bit depleted in some areas, and I am excited about pulling in some new blood!

I started with the blues….

Moved on to the browns.

Who knew I had SO MANY browns?!

And then on to the greens.

I’m going to need MORE containers.  These are shoe boxes with lids from Lowes.  And I fold the fat quarters to fit their height.

I have bought 3 Lowes stores in my area clear out of them – and I’m going to need MORE!

Maybe there really IS too much of a good thing!!

And then I find fabric by my friend Pepper Cory!

And then I realize, fabric is more than fabric.  We acquire fabric not just for its beauty – there are many beautiful things out there that we don’t feel compelled to stash –fabric comes with POSSIBILTIES.  Dreams.  Visions.  It has the potential to spark our creativity, it’s a seed planted to grow into something wonderful. 

Quilts are much more than the sum of their parts –when we grow a quilt, we grow ourselves.

A quilt may last on this earth longer than we will.

Something I have discovered about greens though ---they don’t like to play well together.  So I have separated them into 3 categories each with their own bins.  Yellow green.  Blue green.  Browny-olive greens.

They are all beautiful..but some I just have a real hard time combining with others – I don’t care if it is all out there in nature..there are just some greens that do not look good together in my quilts!  I think green is the one color I can be fairly picky about.

So now they are happy – and I learned something about myself in the process….

The bins fit great –3 bins high!

I’m probably going to run out of shelf space too!

I love how clean and organized this looks…but be glad you are not seeing the chaos it has created in the process. 

Things ALWAYS get messier before they get better!

That empty spot between the red and the blue is saved for purples -- but I'm not there yet.

This evening as the sun drifts to the west, I am waving bye-bye to June 2015.  I’m not sure how it went so fast, but tings do seem to ramp up faster and faster anymore.

That means – tomorrow we welcome in JULY! 

You won’t want to miss tomorrow morning’s post.  I have something special in store for you!

I’ll be headed up to the cabin – Jason comes in tomorrow evening, so Sadie and I will go up, get all of the groceries to stock us up for the long weekend.

Quilt Villa, here I come!

I'll be stopping at the Lowes in Wilkesboro to pick up more boxes on my way.

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun!

Click Here to join our sister group, Quiltville's Open Studio on Facebook, a place to Sew, Share & Grow!!

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Taping in August–Call for Quilts!

I love working with Quiltmaker Magazine!

It’s been almost 10 years now, this relationship friendship with editors, designers, and folks who love quilts and are as excited about fabric and sewing stuff, just as we all are.

My journey with them has been an awesome partnership, and I’m excited to see it grow!

When they first proposed to me that I do an Addicted to Scraps column in every issue, I had no idea how big it would be, how much people would love it – it was just a simple idea based on the newspaper quilt patterns of old --

Here is a BLOCK PATTERN.  No quilt pattern given – get your brain in gear and see what you can do with it!

I’ve got some wonderful gals working as part of the Scrap Addicts team, and they are working behind the scenes to create quilts in their own layouts and design based on the blocks presented in each column.

Now this is where YOU come in!

I am doing some taping of online workshops focused around my Addicted to Scraps column in August.

I am looking for quilts to be included in the gallery section of each episode. Would you consider allowing me to include your quilt for the world to see?

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Playing with Jacks, VQF Style!

Put the Vermont Quilt Festival on your BUCKET LIST.

And make it happen!

It’s a fabulous venue with awesome workshops in every arena of quilting – traditional, modern, art, surface design, paper piecing, applique, wool, you name it – there is an instructor there to teach it!

You can take a half day workshop and spend the second half of the day at the show, you can take full day workshops, one or more and turn it into retreat time with friends.

I just can’t say enough about this Venue, it’s up there as one of the top shows I love to teach at.

Of course, the best part of all?  Crazy fun students!!

This is Mia and Tracey ---in the remedial corner! HA!

By the time they got to register, this was the only workshop I had left open, the others were full, and they came anyway –even though they took this workshop from me 4 years ago!

Yes, they came with their tails between their legs, and their UFOs in tow, ready to rekindle their love for this project and see it to completion – what a great way to spend half of a day!

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Sister’s Choice at VQF!

I found my sister from another continent!

This is Andrea, from Australia!

She emailed me a couple days ahead of the show, stating that she and her family were here in Vermont on vacation – or more like – SHE had worked Vermont into her family’s vacation plans strategically picking dates around the Vermont Quilt Festival so she could be here!

This woman has the power of persuasion when it comes to getting what she wants.

I like her!

I told her in email that I would love to meet her if she can find my classroom either before class started, or at the end of lunch time, or the end of class day as suited her schedule.

She found me!  What a fun gal!

And she even played volunteer to be a quilt holder for my quilts last night during my lecture.  She just stepped right in when there was a need for tall girls ---

Thank you, Andrea!

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Jamestown Landing at VQF 2015!

How much fun can taking a workshop at the Vermont Quilt Festival be?

As fun as you make it!

And I love it when mothers and daughters, or sisters, or long time friends come TOGETHER to make some precious memories.

Take a look at this photo…do you see ME on the cell phone taking this photo?

How funny!

You girls brought so much joy to my day yesterday!

It was a Jamestown Landing day ---and before the class even started, I have a visit from a special friend:

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Opening Ceremony Highlights–VQF!

This is a very cropped shot of how far away I was from the stage as the 2015 Vermont Quilt Festival was declared officially open with the annual awards ceremony, followed by a chocolate and champagne gala!

So many amazing quilts, and well deserved awards.

One thing that has stuck with me since the last time I was able to teach here in Vermont a couple years ago at the Quilt Festival, was the wonderful encouragement for young quilters to enter their first quilts --

And when I am talking YOUNG, I am really talking YOUNG here ---

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Texas Tumble Weed at VQF!

Yesterday was our first workshop day at the Vermont Quilt Festival.

If you have been to the festival in years past, but not recently –the workshop location has changed venues!

No longer at St Michael’s college due to an increased summer school schedule that didn’t leave room for hundreds of quilters hogging classroom space, we have relocated to the Vermont Technical College!

Convenient, close parking, and buildings placed all around a central quad, it is easy to find where your class room is – either it’s North, East, South or West buildings!

And best of all – there is air conditioning!

Yes, the air conditioning was in full form yesterday, look at these two friends huddled in their hoodies!

But no one is complaining, we’ve had it the OTHER way where it was 90+ degrees inside an un-air-conditioned class room in June, sweltering. 

Hoodies are no problem!

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Wild & Goosey for a Good Cause!

I received an email from Edda with the most glorious setting of Wild & Goosey blocks I’d ever seen!

I LOVE this!

She has taken 4 blocks, joined them together into big blcoks, and sashed them inserting 9 patch cornerstones.

Isn’t this fabulous?

I am so inspired when I see what you do with a simple  ((Or in this case kind of intricate, not so simple and paper pieced!)) block from my Addicted to Scraps column with Quiltmaker Magazine!

I’ve loved these blocks so much ---and I know you have too, because they are all over the place, especially on our Quiltville’s Open Studio group on Facebook ---

My Wild & Goosey block appeared in the May/June issue in 2013!  You can find and print the pdf foundation pattern HERE!

And I’d love to see what you do with it.

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Hello, Mr Mac.

It was a long, long visit.

With many tests.

And there I was with my busy bag in tow, ready to spend my good waiting hours just stitching away ---and the VERY first thing they did was put me in a chair, tilt my head back, and put dilating drops in my eyes.

Now how is a girl supposed to occupy hours of time waiting if she can’t see to stitch a thing?

I am reminded of how much I hated having my eyes dilated when I was young!

My exam covered nearly every test in the book at every machine possible, or so it seems.

But the one that about did me in, not for the test itself, but for the reaction I got, was the injection of dye into a vein in my hand so they could take a video of where the dye goes.  All of those little veins and tiny capillaries, caught in still photos, and in a video that I could watch with the doctor later as he gave me my diagnosis.

Only –within minutes of the injection I was itchy all over…my arm pits, the back of my neck, my belly, behind my knees…crawling.

I am allergic to the dye!  This never happened to me before.

Benedryl to the rescue.

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For the Love of Friends

Where would our lives be if it weren’t for the friends who share our journeys?

Friends are deeply on my heart this morning as I consider how much they have added to my life.

New friends I’ve met while on the way –I enjoy getting to know you and hearing from you and sharing your excitement and joy over projects you are creating.

Sharing our love of fabric, vintage sewing machines, life stories, similarities and differences.

My life shines a brighter light because we have found each other.

And yes, if you have been reading me for the past 10 years – you DO know too much!

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It’s a Quilty Box!

While I was gone to California, this little box showed up in the mail ---

With MY NAME on it!

“You’ve got a Quilty Box from Quiltybox.com” said son Jeff when I called.

“A what box?”

“A Quilty Box!”

The unveiling had to wait until I returned home to open it and when I arrived…there it was!

I slit the packing tape carefully, not wanting to disturb the contents hiding inside.

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Where are the Fabric Fairies??

My fat quarter storage has looked like this for years.

YEARS.

And when I ran out of  drawer space, I bought more.

There has been no stopping of this collecting madness.

Fat Quarters are like candy-

One or two here or there may not seem like a lot, but when you have a job that takes you into quilt shops around the country, and you want to support the quilt shops, it is very easy to pick up a couple that you like, make a good-will purchase to thank them for carrying your books and supporting YOU as a designer, and take them home.

Only – I can’t sew them up as fast as I can buy them.

My drawers have been overladen with wonderful fabrics, but they are so full that I can’t even get back in there to pull out what I want, not to mention remember just what is hidden in there in the first place.

I have reached a crisis point.

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It’s a Quiltville Mediterranean Cruise!

I have the info you’ve ben waiting for! 

Dates are set, ports of call are set – we are going on a Mediterranean Cruise with Craftours!

You know how I loved my trip to Tuscany –it was the most amazing trip of my life yet, and still there was so much of Italy that I didn’t get to see.

On THIS CRUISE we will be spending 13 days – 12 nights – getting to see all of those fabulous places that are STILL on my bucket lst!

And yes, because it is a CRUISE, there will be days at sea – with sewing machines and a project involved.  It’s the best of both worlds.

Machines will be provided for our use, you'll just need a bit of space in your luggage to bring your fabric for our project.  If we pre-cut, it won't take much space at all. Besides, you'll need the room in your luggage to get it OFF the ship to take home, this way we know it fits BEFORE you get there. HA!

I just know you are going to want to come along with me.  So here are the details:

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In the Land of C&T!

Guess where I was on Thursday!?

I made a day trip from Sacramento, California to the kind-of-not-too-far-away city of Concord, California –to visit the home of C&T Publishing!

It was a beautiful day for a drive, the traffic was not that bad, and I enjoyed driving my way past fields and small towns and golden hills dotted with scrubby oak trees.

This is the land where I grew up, and I took in the sights, the colors of things I remember so well from growing up in Northern California.

Oleanders are in full bloom, blossoms being tossed in the breeze down the medians in the center of the highway.  Vibrant pink-red and white.

So many memories in this part of the state!

I parked my rental van along the curb about a block up, and as I neared the entrance, excitement building, I couldn’t help but stop and take several deep breaths of something so unmistakably California:

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I’m home! Let’s Draw!

It’s drawing time!

And you have all been so busy entering while I’ve been gone!

1,511 entries!!  Holy Moly!!

I want to thank the folks at Quiltmaker for the special issue to share, Creative Publishing International for the First Time Tangle Quilting book to share, and also the lovely folks at Moda for the Summer Breeze charm pack!

Without these donations all of these lovely giveaways would not be possible, so if you DO win, please consider thanking these folks as well.

And with that I’ll fire up the Random Number Generator -

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!

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Show and Share with the River City Quilters!

Showing and Sharing al fresco in the court yard of the Mosaic Law Congregation in Sacremento, California!

Our show and share followed soon after en enjoyed our lunch out here on the patio ---lovely under the shady trees, complete with white table cloths.  We felt so special!

And there is just something about viewing quilts in natural daylight, isn’t there?

We had many Celtic Solstices and Grand Illusion finishes that were brought to share, each one different than the next, each one so lovely in color choice and design.

These California Quilters ---they do awesome work!

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A bit of Antiquing Fun!

When I stopped to visit the Placer County museum in the Placer County Courthouse in Auburn, they had an exhibit that cracked me up –a whole wall of vintage hats, and documented newspaper articles and discussions on the “Demise of the American Hat”. 

It was so funny to read!  “Women are going hat-less, and SOMETHING must be done about it” was the cry of upstanding citizens.  “When hats go, morality soon follows!” screamed another tabloid.

Oh goodness –personally, I think THIS HAT was the hat that ended it all.  Who in their right mind would parade around town in this?

Evidently – ME! HA!

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Boxy Stars & the River City Quilters!

I love this quilt in Red, White & Blue!

Not to mention it is being sewn on a lovely vintage Singer 301.  The sound of pieces being fed through these machines is music to my soul.

We gathered yesterday at the Mosaic Law Congregation, a wonderful location, big enough for 50 quilters with machines, tools, fabric, notions, and all of our paraphernalia that we HAVE to have with us-

You know how it is…no matter if you are packing for a 6 hour workshop, or a 4 day retreat getaway-

It’s the same amount of STUFF!

I had to giggle at this pile of luggage as evidence of our mobile quilting passion:

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California Foothills Beauty --

I had an opportunity yesterday to spend time with a couple of fun ladies – Julie and Lexy picked me up at my hotel, and were my guides for the day!

We took a scenic drive so I could get a feel for the area –the foothills of the Sierras!

This area was founded by the gold mining industry in the 1800s –settlers stayed long after and made this area into what it is today.

What I didn’t know is that  California’s highest bridge crosses the American River near by, and it is a beautiful drive!

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Carla’s Cutie Pie Hand Cranks!

Okay, everyone now ----- AWWWWW!

Isn’t this so cute?

This is a vintage Singer model 20.  A toy machine loved by little girls from the 1920s all the way to 1949---with a newer model coming out in 1950.

Sewing machines were on little girl’s wish lists from the time they were old enough to crank the handle, learning sewing skills as they made outfits for their beloved dolls --

The model 20 is a REAL sewing machine, even in tiny size.  It makes real stitches, though no bobbin is required –it’s a chain stitcher!

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Showing & Sharing in Auburn, CA!

What do you get when you mix a room with few windows, yellow fluorescent lights, and a camera without flash?

YELLOW PHOTOS!

Some of these photos look great with yellow light – some of them….I’m afraid my photos didn’t do them justice because you just can’t see how the REAL colors in the quilts interact with each other, but We take the photos in whatever condition that we can take them!

I LOVE LOVE this Wonky Wishes quilt!  Block pattern from the free patterns tab!  What a great way to use up small scraps!

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Cathedral Stars, Auburn Style!

FIFTY quilters!

FIFTY quilters from all over the great state of California, but also from as far away as Colorado!

If we offer it, they will come – because gathering with quilters and working on scrappy projects is just about the most fun you can have.  EVER!

I met with the Foothills Quilt Guild in Auburn, California for yesterday’s Cathedral Stars workshop.

It’s always a great time because the projects are always so varied from quilter to quilter to quilter ---they let their own personalities shine through in the fabrics they bring to sew up these fun and scrappy blocks.

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And Bonnie Did Sew!

Did you catch the photo of the hand crank sewing machine in my slide show from the Placer County Historical museum this morning?

It was in the slide show!  Wouldn’t I love to take one of these home?  From 1870, and it has that wonderful octagonal shape!

Even better though, a sweet Stitcher-Sister Peggie had contacted me ahead of time and has loaned me her Featherweight for my use while here!

you can imagine my excitement when I checked into the hotel and was presented with that familiar GREEN box!

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Hello from Auburn, California!

How was it that I could live here from the time I was 7 until I was 19 –and NOT make it to this town?

My love of history was in hyperdrive yesterday afternoon after Gail dropped me off at my hotel.

I needed a nap.

But NO!  It was a bright, sunny ((And hot hot hot)) Sunday, but historic Old Town Auburn was just a short walk away.

And I’d been sitting ALL DAY.  It was a day of short connections, and as luck would have it, my departing gate from Atlanta was only two gates down from where we came in from Greensboro…it was Off the plane, On the plane, and walk again!

So let’s walk!

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Celebrate Summer with Quiltmaker!

This Drawing has Ended!  Congrats to our Lucky Winner!

Hello on a bright and early Sunday morning –let me tell you, that 4 am alarm clock comes awfully early!

But here I sit at the airport in Greensboro, typing out this little quick getaway post as I make my way to the Sacaremento area for a few days meeting with quilters from near by Auburn and Sacramento as well!

I’m excited!  Except for the near 100 degree temps – but as I had to remind myself, it’s a DRY heat, nothing like the 90 + humidity that we have had socking it to us here on the east coast.

I received some goodies in the mail this week and this is the perfect time to share them with you!

Quiltmaker Magazine has a brand new issue called Quiltmaker’s Reader Favorites!

And I’m in it!

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Quilt-Cam 6/13/2015!

It’s National Sewing Machine Day!

Did you know that?

I didn’t know until I read it this morning on the news --

Celebrated annually on June 13 is National Sewing Machine Day.   This day honors the invention of the sewing machine.  It is hard to imagine having to sew things together by hand….. stitch by stitch.

Skilled cabinet-maker and English inventor, Thomas Saint, received the first patent for a design of a sewing machine in 1790.  It was meant for leather and canvas, was never advertised and no evidence of it, other than his drawings, could be found.   

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Narrower Binding Tutorial Re-Cap!

I’ve had quite a few messages and emails asking if I would share how I bind my quilts for a 1/4” finished binding.

I am happy to oblige!  I just needed to be actually BINDING a quilt to be able to take photos and do it.

Quite a few of my quilts have pieced borders, and even quilts with no borders, such as the Lozenges Quilt I just finished here need a binding that will not chop off the points of the units at the edge of the quilt.

A wider binding is just going to be too wide.

An upside of narrower binding?  It gives you a very full binding with no saggy baggy empty spots. 

Even better…on a quilt that takes 10 strips of fabric to go around the circumference of the quilt – by using 2” strips rather than 2.5” strips – I use 5” less of fabric –that translates into $$$!

On average, a quilt for me generally takes 8 to 9 strips, and I can get that easily out of a 1/2 yard of fabric.

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Fat Quarter Storage Solutions!

This is what needs to GO.
They have been great up until lately.  They would be super for someone just starting to stash.
 
But what I’ve found is that the top drawers weigh down onto the next drawer down, and the one under that gets more stuck…it’s just not working for me anymore.
 
I asked in my morning blog post if anyone has any storage solutions for me and a couple of interesting ones came in!
 
This one from Shelly:

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Things in the Studio!

Jeff and I escaped the slighty skunky smell lingering in my house for dinner out at Chili’s.

I don’t often get dinner with my son, he usually doesn’t get off work until 8:30pm or so – well past dinner time.  But he had yesterday OFF from work so we made some plans to go out – just the two of us.

Such a fun kid to be around, he always has a smile and a twinkle in his blue blue eyes.

Isn’t the look on that lady’s face behind us priceless? LOL!!

Back in the basement – no skunky smell down here!

Progress is being made on the fabric re-org that has to happen occassionally….

It went from THIS:

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Up for Digital Download!

With the retiring of Grand Illusion from the website on June 1st-

And figuring out how to get Celtic Solstice uploaded and functional before leaving for Pennsylvania and New York-

And having today home to work some more toward some goals that now seem obtainable-

I was able to finish the re-editing of Grand Illusion and ALSO get it uploaded into the Digital Downloads section of  Quiltville’s Store and it is ready to roll!

If you had put off making Grand Illusion because you thought the mystery parts were too long and involved ((I do treat them like a hands on workshop so there is lots and lots of text and explainations when mysteries are running)) and confusing with the steps out of order to keep it running like a mystery, you are going to love this format!

Full color photos, detailed step by step instructions IN ORDER will provide you with a great finished quilt!

Did you notice all of the Grand Illusion quilts in this morning’s slide show?  Check it out if you haven’t – these are GREAT!!

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Show & Share with the North East Crazy Quilters!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE cheering you on when you show me your completed quilts!

I know first hand how much work goes into these, all while dealing with the challenges of every day life.

Quilting fills in the “gentle hours” that we have in our days, while I know all of the other hours are “hard core.”

Making a living, raising a family, taking care of elderly parents, children, grandchildren, furry-children, taking care of home and yard and all of the other responsibilities that come our way.

My favorite quilts are piece-heavy, design-crazy, labor-intensive because I find these quilt challenges to be worth my precious SPARE TIME ((hahaha..like there is much of that)) and I applaud you for sticking with it and working so hard over the past couple of months, weeks, days, hours just to have them ready so you can show me in person.

You’ve put your heart and soul into these, and my heart is so blessed to see them in person!

This is Jill Churchill’s Easy Street!  I spent time sewing in her long arm studio, Ta Da Quilting in Erie, Pennsylvania this past week, and while I was there she was just finishing up the long arm quilting so that she could bring it to our workshops on Tuesday.  SHE DID IT!

She barely had time to squeeze in her own quilt while quilting for others and also teaching others the ins and outs of long arm quilting.  She specializes in Innova quilting machines, and you can rent time on her machines in the studio to quilt your own quilt, so she is up to her eyeballs with everyone else’s project ---But she got it done!

Wild & Goosey from the Addicted to Scraps column!

This is another one that takes hours and hours and days – of pure pleasure!  Wild & Goosey is a great block to paper piece up all of those triangles you’ve cut off of joining lengths of bindings and borders on the diagonal, and yes, throw in those trimmed off bonus triangles from sew & flip that you didn’t want to double sew into half square triangles as well!  FUN STUFF!  And such a great finish!

Sometimes we see just a top in progress!

Seams sewn in between the hours and hours of OTHER piecing!

This is Rick Rack Nines from Adventures with Leaders & enders! It’s got a way to go yet, but she is working on it as a genuine Leader & Ender project ---all of those fabrics…what a great timeline of her life as a quilter!

Rectangle Wrangle from Scraps & Shirttails II!

Not a quilt for the faint of heart, and not a race for a quick finish either, but worth every minute of feeding strips through the machine, of sub-cutting and rearranging and doing every single one of the 60 Ohio star blocks in the border.  Loads of time in between working on the other things that happen in our lives, but so worth it in the end.

And I am so filled with gratitude that you took the time to bring these to class and to share them with me.

We are “Soul Quilters”  The Sisters & Brothers of the cloth –We understand each other’s need to sew as much variety as we can, to sew all the pieces that we can, to make something that says something about who we are and what we love.

Bow-Dacious from Adventures with Leaders & Enders!

Melody’s quilt was built entirely in between the lines of chain piecing other things.  It takes a long long time to build enough units ---but oh, what a result!

Check out this color way for an AWESOME Celtic Solstice!!

There are many more, each with hours and hours and days, weeks, years sewn into them.  Please enjoy!

Click the image below if you are unable to view the slideshow on your mobile device.  You’ll be taken to the photo album for viewing.

Show & Share, North East, PA 2015

So this girl is home.  Up first and foremost today is a HAIRCUT!  I admit, it has been long enough that I found myself chopping off my bangs into a hotel room sink with my sewing scissors in New York just because I couldn’t stand how they were in my eyes!

Now my hairdresser will fix my chopped up mess.

If you ordered books while I was gone to New York and Pennsylvania, they will be dropped at the post office this afternoon and be on their way to you.

Last night, feeling a bit restless, I started to tackle this:

This is months and months of Fat Quarters, purchases, gifted and brought home pieces that have covered the surface of my basement cutting table with no time to deal with them due to other pressures.  I need to finish the clean up on this today.

THREE DAYS HOME!

Remember, Quilt-Cam, Saturday afternoon, 2pm Eastern – that’s 7pm UK Time, 8pm Europe time ---don’t forget!

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun!
Click Here to join our sister group, Quiltville's Open Studio on Facebook, a place to Sew, Share & Grow!!

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And Who Will It Be???

Will it be you?

I’m home from New York and Pennsylvania, having spent about an hour longer in Detroit than I actually wanted to, but it wasn’t that bad!

I had hexies, I had an audio book, and a long terminal to walk to get my 10,000 fitbit steps in.  All good!

So let’s do this thing!

This is like the infamous “If I ever win the lottery I will…” thing, but in order to win you will have had to enter!

Did you?

1,158 DID!

And if you did, did you leave an email address even if you have a google/blogger/google+ profile?  It’s the only way to enter!  No email, no way to contact – I chose someone else!

And I am SO happy to say that tonight I didn’t have to draw two, three or four times just to find someone who complied with an address!

The random number generator  pulled this lucky number:

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Scrappy Bargello Times Two!

We had a super wonderful day with the North East Crazy Quilters in our Scrappy Bargello workshops –BOTH of them!

Due to so many sign ups, we offered this class as a half day workshop in two sessions in order to fit every one in!

Who doesn’t like a strip quilt that can be completed in record time?!

I don’t think they believed me at first when I told them that most everyone would have ONE PANEL done by the end of our half day workshop, but they did!

This quilt is so speedy, it is great for charity quilts, quilts of valor, graduation gifts, wedding gifts, just because I love you gifts!

And EVERYTHING goes ---go as scrappy or as planned as you want.

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I’m a Trailer-Stasher!

Fellow North Carolinian and awesome quilter, Gina Allen has taken her dream and ran with it!

Never heard of Trailer Stash Fabrics? 

Well if you live anywhere around the beautiful state of North Carolina you just might see this little vintage-trailer-housed mobile quilt shop rambling down the road to its next destination.

If you can’t come to the quilt shop, the quilt shop can come to you!

If you were to ask Gina Allen about Trailer Stash Fabrics, she would tell  you:

Trailer Stash Fabrics is a small fabric shop based out of a Vintage 1963 Shasta 1900 Deluxe Travel Trailer that my family helped me restore from the ground up. Because the trailer is small, I only stock it with all of my most favorite things including Liberty of London, Merchant & Mills, and Deer & Doe.

A couple of times a month, I load up my little trailer with all kinds of goodies and hit the road for pop-up sales & sewing workshops. Check out our Workshops & Event schedule to see where we will pop up next!

I have been following Gina’s adventure with this vintage Shasta trailer from the ground up.  Every detail from acquisition to the first road trip are found on Gina’s Blog.

Start HERE and then at the bottom of each post, click the RIGHT HAND BUTTON at the bottom of each post to take you to the next step in the saga – you’ll be drawn in!

Needing a space for workshops, and to house her burgeoning long arm business, Gina has now found herself the perfect little space where she is open limited hours while her kids are in school.

Last week, my friend Lisa and I met for lunch, looked at our watches, found we had time, and headed out to see Gina’s new brick & mortar space!

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Moments behind the Scenes!

Say hello to beautiful Lake Erie in the distance.

There hasn’t been MUCH time for sight seeing while here, but I have been able to catch glimpses of how beautiful this area is on our drives to/from workshops.

I have to say that the beautiful springs, summers and falls definitely do make up for the horrible eternally long winters that can besiege this area with what is not-so-lovingly known as “Lake effect snow!”

It was a doozy of a winter this past year, as many took time this past weekend to show me photos that live on their phones as “Snowmageddon”.

But look at this lake view!  How peaceful!

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Sister’s Choice With All My Sisters!

Quilt Guilds.

We are the world’s largest support group of fabric addicts!

You know, we’ve been through it all collectively.

When you find yourself as one amidst a diverse group of women (and men!) there is someone who has gone through EVERYTHING –

Everyone has had  a similar experience or has worked through the same difficulty you might be going through.

We are there for each other.  We accept each other.

I’ve always found it amazing that quilting is the GREAT EQUALIZER.  It doesn’t matter what your background is –your religious beliefs or political leanings, your financial status, how far your continuing education went ((or didn’t)), what your job is or was before retirement.

Quilters see the other quilters within their midst as QUILTER.

I love being able to do what I do because all of us together have this simple understanding….WE SEW!  WE QUILT!  We make and we give.  We are there for each other to lift each other up, to laugh, to cry to help, to rip-out, to assemble.

Being with these great people has made ME so much more of a better person as I learn and come to further understanding that life isn’t about wanting everyone else do do things OUR way – but to allow each person, not only with their quilting projects, but in their selected walk of life, to be the best and the HAPPIEST they can be with their own journey.

Your chosen life path is going to be very very different from mine, and I support you!

Okay this is waxing philosophical ---too heavy for a Monday morning, so let’s get back to the quilting!

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