Online Learning

My next online class with Quilt University starts later this week. Ripless Paper Piecing offers all the accuracy of regular paper piecing but you will save time and money! No ripping off the paper when the blocks are done and no preparation of one foundation for every block you sew. Why don't you join me in class and learn all about this fun and easy technique. If you've tried paper piecing before and were not a fan, this method may just be for YOU!

Last day in Houston

I'm waiting for the shuttle to take me to the airport to fly home. Have had a wonderful time here in Houston. The Quilt Show was spectacular as usual with quilts that were visually exciting and workmanship that made me catch my breath. I took many, many pictures and will post a few over the next few weeks. In the meantime you can see all the prize winning entries on the International Quilt Association website Enjoy!

Market Report

Hello from Houston. Have been very busy walking the show floor and seeing wonderful quilts, exciting new fabrics and few new tools that will make our quilting easier and more successful. Hope to have some pictures of these to show you later in the week.

This sculpture is across from the convention centre where Quilt Market and Festival are held. It is very unique - haven't managed to get across the street yet to see if there is a write up about it but hope to do that later in the week.

I joined a couple of other Canadian designers (Jean Boyd and Pippa Moore) and Patti and Hanya from Northcott Fabrics for dinner at the Benihana steak house tonight. My friend Peggy has also travelled to Houston with me to check out the shows. We were joined by two ladies who own quilt shops in southern California. We had a great dinner and enjoyed the show from our chef.


I'm taking a class tomorrow morning with Caryl Bryer Fallert and then it's back to the show floor for the last few people I need to see in the afternoon. Must try to get across the street to see that sculpture close-up!

Want to be Notified when I Blog?

There is an easy way to follow blogs if there isn't an RSS feed (or it won't work). If you follow the steps below you'll be notified when I add an entry. This will remind you to check for my postings from Houston. Ami Simms posted this info on the Find A Quilt Teacher blog (www.findaquiltteacher.com)

Here's what you do:

1. Go to the blog you want to follow. Copy the URL (control + C if you are using a PC).

2. Go to FeedMyInbox.com and paste the URL (control + P) into the spot that says, conveniently, “Enter a website URL.”

3. Type in your email address. Submit.

4. Open the email FeedMyInbox.com send you and confirm by clicking the link provided.

Works beautifully and you now don't need to try to remember to check someone's blog.

Travels

I'm flying off to Houston later this morning to attend International Quilt Market and to teach at Quilt Festival. Bags are packed - filled with stained glass quilts to show at my publisher's booth during Market and quilts and supplies for my students at Festival.

I hope to blog while I'm there and post a few pictures of the excitement. Stay tuned!

Teaching in Nanaimo

I taught Splashed!, one of my Give & Take Applique designs, at Serge & Sew in Nanaimo on Saturday.

I had three very enthusiastic students. They made excellent fabric choices and learned all the tricks and tips for machine stitching around their applique shapes.

I came home on the Mill Bay/Brentwood Bay ferry. Just as I left the dock, the full moon was coming up above the hills.

Binding with Charlotte's Fusible Web Thread

I've been working for the past few weeks on some samples for the Bobbin Quilting class I will be presenting in Houston at International Quilt Festival. One of the samples uses a very interesting fabric I bought in Honolulu just before we left on our Hawaii Quilt Cruise in April. It is a white fabric with heavy white overpainting with tropical flowers and leaves. I thought it would be perfect for bobbin quilting.













I used Superior's Razzle Dazzle for the bobbin work and then decided to use a cotton/metallic fabric for the binding. I have been wanting to see how I could use another of Superior's interesting threads so I could apply my binding completely by machine and still have a product that I like. I have tried to stitch the binding down by machine but was never happy with the look on the back of my projects. Of course, you can't see the back if you stitch in the ditch of the binding seam on the front and sometimes I would miss the binding edge completely.

So, here is what I did. I am using two Superior threads: Charlotte's Fusible Web (yes, it's a fusible thread) and Monopoly (polyester thread, clear, can take high heat). I prepared my binding strips as I usually do. I cut 2 1/4" strips, join them with 45-degree seams and then press the binding in half with the right side out. I also fold under a 1/4" at the beginning of the binding.

The next step is to thread my machine with the fusible thread in the bobbin and monopoly on the top and stitch 1/8" from the folded edge. I stitch so the monopoly is on the outside edge and the fusible thread is on the edge that will be against the back of the quilt when I turn it to the back.

Then I stitch the binding to the quilt just as I normally do with a 1/4" seam allowance and my walking foot.

This is what it looks like after I have sewed the binding all around the quilt.

Next step is turn the binding to the wrong side, hold it in place with the fold over the stitching line and press it in place. Hold the iron on long enough to fuse the edge to the quilt. Mitre the corners and iron them in place.

When the entire binding is pressed in place you will see that the monopoly thread is a bit loose - in fact it just comes right off when you pull it gently! How cool is that - you don't have that thread showing at all on the binding!

For added security, I stitched in the ditch all around the quilt on the right side, with monopoly in the top of my machine and a thread to match the binding in the bobbin.

Hope you'll give this a try. It's great to be able to sew the binding down completely by machine!

New Pattern - Medals & Mountains

I've just put the finishing touches on a new pattern just in time for the upcoming cold weather. It's a flannel lap quilt using Northcott's Winter Sports Flannel fabric. The fabric includes pictures of athletes competing in Olympic Winter Games sports so it's just in time to celebrate the Games being held in Vancouver in February 2010. Technique is easy - a great quilt for confident beginners. And it's quite large (52" x 72") - perfect for snuggling under when you watch the Games!

The pattern is available for ordering now and we'll begin shipping after September 20th. Fabrics should be arriving in your local quilt shops in early October.

McCall's Qulting - America Makes Fast Quilts

Patchworks Studio is published again! This time in a special McCall's Quilting publication, America Makes Fast Quilts. And those of you who have joined us in classes or bought our patterns or our book know that Too Easy Stained Glass is THE simplest and fastest way to make a Stained Glass Quilt!

You will want to make our design called Stained Glass View. We have fabrics that are suitable on our website (not the exact one in the pattern - unfortunately that's long gone). I will be looking for more of these types of landscape prints when I'm in Houston for International Quilt Market in a few weeks. So, stay tuned to our website to see what I find.

Here's the project that you can make with our easy instructions and pattern in the magazine.

Sneak Peak - Victoria Guild Raffle Quilt

I belong to a weekly quilt group (Loose Threads Sew-ciety). We volunteered to design and make the main raffle quilt for the Victoria Quilters' Guild quilt show to be held in May 2010. We gathered the main fabrics to use in our design, distributed background fabrics and instructions to guild members and they made the pieced blocks for the quilt (half square triangles, quarter squares and Ohio stars). Our group appliqued the centre medallion for the quilt (designed by one of our members, Peggy Farries).

We met this week to put the quilt together. Here are some pictures of the 'action'.

Getting started:

Moving on - hurray! for Rose - she's TALL:A break for lunch:
and dessert! Peggy (in the orange shirt) also cooks!Lots of sewing:A bit of un-sewing :(

Photo Op:
The main design:Auditioning the outer border size:
We had a great time designing and making this special quilt. We'll be gathering batting and backing and then it's off to the quilters to make it even more beautiful!

80th Birthday Celebration

My mother celebrated her 80th birthday last Saturday. We had a family celebration at our house complete with a wonderful fruit flan that was a two-person effort between myself and my son's girlfriend Melissa. She is a professional baker so I was a bit worried that my task was to make the sponge cake! She made a wonderful pastry cream with real vanilla bean to fill the flan. I just had to slice the fruit and she decorated it beautifully!

Here's mom blowing out a few candles - no, we didn't try to get 80 candles into it! My son Scott is beside her.

And here are the other 'grandchildren': my daughter Lindsay and her beau, Paul, and Melissa, the baker! I'm on the left, just taking the flan for slicing.

My husband, Alan, barbecued salmon for our main course. It was a great dinner and a lovely celebration!

Westshore Quilters Guild

I attended the Westshore Quilters Guild meeting last night along with members of my weekly quilt group. We wanted to hear the program talk and quilt show presented by one of our members. Moira Cannata made her first quilt as a teenager. She has been quilting ever since. Moira has had 15 quilts accepted for Quilts, A World of Beauty, the most pretigious juried international quilt show. The show is held in Houston, Texas, each fall and is attended by over 30,000 quilters each year!

One of the main topics Moira presented was about the history of the quilting tradition. How the practice of fibre art created by women has evolved and been passed on through the generations. She believes it is critical for all quilters to enter shows to display our work for the public to see - whether we win awards or not. And, as a traditional quilter, Moira encourages others who work in this area to keep this area of quilting alive by submitting their work for exhibit.

Here are pictures of a few of the quilts Moira brought for the guild to see.

Moira's Monsterpiece is one hundred 4 inch blocks - using lots of scraps (some from members of our group). Moira sets goals to make a few blocks each day. This is how she creates many of her quilts.

Quilts at an Exhibition is a display of many of Moira's previous quilts - all made in miniature size. Several of these designs were shown at the Houston show.

The Eye of the Needle has 1 1/2" blocks - THOUSANDS of small pieces. I watched as Moira made this exquisite design and marvelled at how she began with the centre block and designed the rest of the quilt as she went along. Amazing!

This is the quilt Moira is working on now. It is called 'Last Chance' - the last chance for these scraps to make it into a quilt. Moira has also incorporated silk into this piece. I'm sure I will see it hanging in Houston in the future!

Registration Open

I have developed a new class for Quilt University and registration has just opened! You can take my class Too Easy Stained Glass without leaving home. Framing a fabric with stained glass leading lines creates an often surprising new view, drawing the eye in and giving greater attention to your focus fabric. You will learn a no-bias, no-glue stained glass technique. As you make your project I will show you the Too Easy steps that set this approach apart from other methods.

This class is suitable for all levels - beginner through advanced. It's a great technique with lots of possibilities. In the last week we will discuss some of these options. This is a three session class beginning on October 2. One lesson is posted each week and then the classroom remains open until November 7th. But I'm sure you'll have your first project done well before that. You will be able to work on designing your own stained glass and I'll be there in the Discussion Forum to help you along!

Hope you will join me in the classroom.

Ricky Tims Super Seminar

I travelled to Lynnwood, Washington last week with a great group of 'quilty' friends for the Ricky Tims Super Seminar. This is 2 1/2 days of education with Ricky, Alex Anderson and Libby Lehman. What a great time we had. We learned so much from all three presenters. Caveman quilting, rhapsody quilts, no pins curved piecing and set in's, fused applique and bindings with Ricky, quilting designs, hand quilting and fabric selection with Alex and sheer ribbon illusions and all manner of machine stitching with Libby. Ricky also has a musical presentation on Friday night.

We also did lots of shopping and laughing. A great time had by all!

Seminole Piecing - Quilt University

Registration is now open for Seminole Piecing at Quilt University. In this class you will learn how to make 8 different designs and can use them to make a totebag, bolster pillow and a wall quilt. This is such an intriguing patchwork method and easier to do than you may think. If you can sew a 1/4" seam, you can make magic with this technique.

I have taugh this class a few times - you can see some of my students' work in Quilt University's Gallery. So if you want a fun way to learn, join me for Seminole Piecing. Class begins on August 28th and the classroom remains open until October 3rd.