Quilting fun with Kim Dielh ....

Back in November 2010, I had the opportunity to spend a quilting weekend with .......

Kim Diehl!

Yep, you read right! None other than Kim Diehl!

Kim was the guest speaker at my guild, Franklin County Quilter's Guild. Gosh, what fun!

It was wonderful to be able to see her quilts up close. They are all stunning!

She is such a prolific quilter! I don't know how she gets so much done! Of course a publishing deadline may help a tad! lol

Her trunk show consisted of a variety of quilts from each of her publications, including her most recent book.

One of my favourite quilt is not even from any of her books.....

It is called Scrap Basket Blossom!

What a sweet quilt!

It is a pattern that was published in the Australian Quilter's Companion magazine, Volume 36!

I don't recall if it's hand or machine appliquéd, nonetheless, it's beautiful!

Sadly, I do not have the magazine. Stonehouse publications has sold out! Sigh!

Anyway, all of her quilts were stunning! I love her style!

I also had the opportunity to take the two (2) workshops she was offering on Invisible Machine Appliqué.

The first workshop was on her Mocha Star quilt.

This pattern is from her book Simple Comforts 12 Cozy Lap quilts!

Kim will admit that what she's a self taught quilter. Her approach to quilting is simple and down to earth, "a lot of it is common sense!" lol

I'm not sure if I'll complete this project! However, I certainly enjoyed learning her method for doing eight pointed stars!

I may tackle it in the near future! It would make a nice souvenir of the Kim weekend!

The second workshop was on ......

Bittersweet Briar!

This pattern is from her latest book Simple Graces - Charming Quilts and Companion projects.

Both quilt versions are stunning!

I chose to make the dark version. It's presently folded away in a drawer waiting for me to pick it back up again!

I do plan on completing this quilt, I just don't know when! lol

I have all of Kim's books! There are so many projects I could make from each book but ..... for now I just enjoy looking them at them and being inspired!

What a great time it was! I would recommend that you take a class with her. She's an amazing quilter! Oh... and quite entertaining too! I enjoyed hearing the stories that went with her quilts!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed reading about my time in a workshop with Kim Dielh! Cheers!

Diet Monday..... or is it.....?!

I'm not sure but I think this diet Monday thing as taken the way side! Not that I've been diligent about doing a post, never mind the diet! lol

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to take two (2) longarming classes at Cowles Quilting with Sharon Schamber.

The Franklin County Quilter's Guild was hosting Sharon for a few days. I was also extremely fortunate to be able to attend Sharon's trunk show and actually got to touch and feel her quilts. I ended up helping Sharon that evening after our Friday class. She does amazing work, I mean the details!!!! She's also not afraid of passing her small pieces around. I came out of that meeting in awe of her work! Back to my class.

Sharon offered a wide array of classes, three (3) of which were for longarmers. They were hands on at Cowles. I took Feathers to die for on Friday and Monday was Filling the Spaces.

What's nice about Sharon's classes is that you are given a CD/video of the class. My learning continues after the class is done!

One of the most important piece of information I walked away with from these classes was, control of your machine. It might be obvious to some, but for me, it was like a light bulb had suddenly turned on.

She demonstrated her method for gaining control of her machine by using a piece of foam and weight, (hand made bag filled with rice). If you're interested in seeing how she controls her quilting machine, you can join her free area and view the various free videos.

Another important piece of information was this:

A drafting stool!

It makes custom work a lot easier!

I can gain control of my machine by leaning my forearms against the rollers. With that nifty Bitty Ruler I wrote about the other day, ditch work is so much fun!

I quilted the Women of Influence quilt sitting down the whole time. What a difference it made. I could actually quilt for longer stretches of time. We're talking pretty much until the wee hours of the morning. Many a nights, I went to bed at 2:00 a.m.

I cannot wait to finish hand sewing the binding so that I can blog about it.

Well, that's it for now. I need to get off this computer and write my lesson plan for tomorrow's class. I've been teaching a nine (9) part beginner's quilting class. It's quite the time consuming class, but fun! I'm enjoying it!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day! Cheers!

What's going on.....!

What a busy week it's been! I haven't been home all week. Darn.... when will it slow down a bit?

Since school has been out, there were 2 things I wanted to work on, EQ6 and more play dates with Penelope. Well, tonight I did both!

I wanted to practice my feathers, you know, so I'm no longer a chicken! lol

They are not perfect but at least I'm getting some practice time.

In my MQX classes with Dawn Cavanaugh, we learned different ways to do a feather. So, I've been practicing all of them. For me, some techniques are much easier than others.

I would really like to be able to create those gorgeous feather designs that you see on quilts. Anyway, the more I practice, the better I'll get!

The weather here hasn't been that great, so my new bike has been sitting in the garage. I was going to take it to the shop today but the wind was unbelievable. Besides, I am so tired, just looking at the wind took any ounce of motivation I had.

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

Back from MQX....!

Firstly, I want to say thank you to all that commented on my little bragging. Your comments meant a lot to me. You gals/quilters are quite supportive and oh so inspirational! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

MQX was a great learning experience! My days were filled with classes!

Sadly, I don't have pictures to show you. I asked dd if I could borrow her camera, which she hesitantly said yes. This is an 11 year old we're talking about. Her camera is quite small and oh so convenient! Anyway, she couldn't find the connector to charge the camera. Sigh...! How typical! Have you seen her room lately....? lol

This year, as I mentioned in a previous post, I took classes from teachers who used an APQS machine. I didn't set out to be all APQS, but it turned out that way.

I took a class from Sue Patten and let me tell you, she's a hoot! The class was on borders and sashing! I have never seen someone quilt a design in such a small space. Amazing!

Kim Brunner is another teacher that I found knowledgeable and entertaining! I learned many tip bits about marking your quilts and designs to use.

Dawn Cavanaugh was one that I took many classes from. By the way, she was nominated teacher of the year! Yea Dawn! Her breakfast on Solving Tension Headaches was worth its weight in gold! Her class Quilting Feathers when you're a Chicken was perfect for me! Bawk bock, bock, bock....! ;o)

Friday night was the banquet with guest speaker Mark Lipinski. I haven't laughed like that since the Ricky Tims' Seminar! He's quite the funny story teller, he had me in stitches!

As you can just imagine, it was a great learning and fun experience for me. However, the most important piece of information, aside from all the new knowledge, that I came away with is "slap on some fabric and play!" That might be obvious for most of you but somehow it never occurred to me that I should be doing that. I think it was partly due to having so little guiltless time that I didn't want to spend it not being productive. Well.... school's out, let's shout.... it's time to play with Penelope!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Rebel without a cause.....!

I decided to be a rebel once again and not post on diet Monday. I just didn't have anything to say on the subject and.... well...... I kind of like being a rebel! lol

I did say, on my last post, that I had a finish, more a flimsy, that I wanted to share with you. Well..... I do!

French Cottage Garden Quilt, a pattern by Crab Apple Hill Design.

I'm really pleased with the way it came out. If you recall, given that the pinwheel backgrounds were more off white, I was concerned about having used white fabric for the embroidery panels. It all worked out in the end!

I will be machine quilting this quilt when I get back from MQX.

Is anyone attending the Machine Quilter's Exposition in Manchester, NH? It takes place from April 13 to 18th. Just being curious here!

I'll be taking a few classes on custom quilting and techniques. This year I decided to take classes from teachers who are APQS users. Last year, I took many classes from Linda Taylor and some with Sally Terry, which I enjoyed tremendously. This year I've booked with Sue Patten, Dawn Cavanaugh and others. I did want to take a class with Karen McTavish, but it was closed! :o(

I'm really looking forward to attending MQX. This will be a good break from the quilt shop planning and executing. Let's just say that it's keeping me very busy, which, reminds me, I need to get off this computer and get ready for my exiting day! I just cannot wait to tell you all about it!

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

Sarah's Medallion ......!

At last, I have something quilty to write about. Today, I had a class with Froncie Quinn from Hoopla Patterns and what a great class it was!

Last night, she was the guest speaking at our guild. She is presently doing some extensive research on Florence Peto (1884-1970), a prolific quilter and quilt historian who has inducted in the Quilter’s Hall of Fame. What a fascinating lecture!

This is Froncie holding her version of the center medallion from the Sarah Johnson Quilt.

This quilt is dated 1826. Would you believe that Sarah was 14 years old when she made this quilt? Oh, and it was her fourth (4th) quilt!

In today's class, we learned how to hand piece our blocks the old fashion way with templates, pencil, scissors and a threaded needle. The beauty of this method is that it doesn't matter if you cannot cut straight, you're following a straight line in the back of your fabric!

This is my first ever hand pieced block!

I used some of the Smithsonian reproduction fabrics I had purchased many many years ago.

The block measures four (4) inches finished so you can imagine how small the pieces are! What a great way to use up scraps! lol

Here's Jennifer hard at work on her block.

It takes some time to get the hang of holding such small pieces and coordinating the needle to sew on the line.

I'm sure that with practice, I'll be quick about it.

These are the class blocks! Aren't they pretty?

It's wonderful to see the diversity in fabric choice!

Last but not least, my purchases!

Her patterns are wonderful. They include eveything you need to reproduce the quilt, minus the fabric! lol Some even have the stencils, as in the case of the Sarah Johnson Quilt, for the hand quilting design!

I certainly highly recommend Froncie Quinn as a lecture and teacher. She's fun to learn with and makes it look so easy!

So that's my day and what a great day it was! I can certainly see more hand piecing in the near future.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Reflections on quilting!

I want to share with you Ricky Tims' first quilt. You might wonder why I would want to share such a thing, I mean his quilts are so exquisite, why the first one? Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking since my return from the seminar. More so about how I view myself as a quilter. So allow me.....

This is his first quilt. I have not re-sized the picture because I want you to be able to view it up close.

Like most of us, he started with a sampler. It's not perfect by any means, but it certainly provides me with a sense of his humanness. Let's face it, the man is quite a prolific and successful quilter and yet, this quilt is part of his travelling collection. Why? I feel that this says a lot about who he is as a person. Despite his fame, he is willing to show the world where he started as a quilter. That my friends speaks volume!

At the Vermont Quilt Festival, they have a category for first time quilters called Adult Beginner. I've always been puzzled by this category. I understand this to be the very first quilt you make. However, the quilts were phenomenal! I mean, it was nothing like Ricky's first quilt nor mine.

I would peruse the collection of "first quilts" and felt absolutely crushed that my quilting, after so many years did not even remotely compare to their first quilt. It was more like "Wow, this is their first quilts?" Oh my gosh, let me go home and cry. Obviously I do not have the talent to enter a quilt in a show. You know, while writing this entry I came to the realization why at shows I always shop first and quickly look at the quilts before going home! Interesting! Hum.....

Now back to Ricky's first quilt; that to me resembles more a "first quilt". It certainly leads me to believe that the ones I have seen at VQF were not necessarily first time quilts. Hum.... people cheat?!! lol

I look at Ricky's beginning and where he is now and I feel that I too can do it! This is a very different feeling from VQF where I thought I could never be a good enough quilter. Perhaps that is why he brings his first quilt, and by the way speaks about it also. He wants everyone to understand that they don't have to be a genius or born with a "special" talent to be a good quilter! There is a common beginning and it's up to the individual to aspire to be the best quilter they can be.

Knowing this inspires me. It fills me with my own unique creative energy. Thank you Ricky Tims for sharing freely your creative process and for putting quilting into perspective. Perhaps it's time for me to think about entering a quilt in shows. ;o)

Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you. I would enjoy reading your input on my reflections.

Have fun creating!

What I learned at the seminar!

First, I want to apologize for taking so long to write the final part of this wonderful seminar. It seems that life has just been getting away from me as of late.

Back to the seminar!

When you check in, they hand you this amazing 123 page book that accompanies the seminar. It contains everything that will be discussed. In other words, lots of patterns and how to!

This is is a great reference book and even Stephen found it educational. Unfortunately, it's only available to participants and cannot be purchased.

Ricky's motto is Keep It Simple (KIS)! His quilts look so complicated but they are not! I cannot begin to tell you how inspired I was. I mean, I just wanted to go home and start creating quilts. But, I was stuck in a seat, forced to continue absorbing the knowledge that was freely shared by Ricky, Libby and Alex. Yea, it was tough! lol

Thursday evening, Libby gave the last talk and she had us in stitches. I laughed so hard that I was tearing! She is a hoot! I don't know if it's a Texan thing, but she is funny!

Afterwards, that's when I hooked up with Kathy, Trudy and Cheryl and we headed off to Fiddlehead Restaurant for dinner. The food was absolutely delicious. That evening, without realizing it, I had lost my beautiful silk scarf that Stephen had given me as a gift. Of course, I was still clueless thinking it's somewhere in my room until Friday afternoon when Ricky goes on stage and mentions that someone had left this beautiful scarf at Fiddlehead. So I went down to claim it and he said, "it's a gorgeous scarf!" I thanked him and everyone applauded! So now not only had I been know as the lady with a blog, but now it was the lady who lost her scarf! lol

Friday evening, Ricky had a piano recital. It was more of a story time accompanied by musical pieces. He did play the trumpet! I enjoyed learning about who he is, his childhood and how he came to be a quilter, all while laughing my head off! lol He's quite the entertainment and so talented!

Saturday was more learning and laughing! The attending guild menbers had a group picture taken on stage.

Libby Lehman spontaneously joined us for the photo. She's the one waving in the back! Hi Libby! I had such a great time!

I have to say that they were all so generous with their knowledge and with prizes. Ricky certainly gave a lot of himself and you could see by Saturday, he was tired.

Here is what I learned in 2 and a half days from Ricky;

Quilting Caveman Style
Convergence Quilts
Out of your Mind
Flip n Sew, Paper Piecing
Rhapsody Quilts
No Pins Precision Curved Piecing
No Pins Set-in Corners/Circles
Kool Kaleidoscope
Fear Not the A word - Applique!
Grand Finale - Machine Quilting Overload
Magnificent Piped Bindings
Binding the Quilt - all by Machine
Sensational Scalloped Binding (which he didn't cover because we learned other stuff - it's well explained in the book)

From Alex Anderson

Beautifully Quilter
Fabulous Fabrics

and from Libby Lehman

Sheer Ribbon Illusions
Potluck Applique

You can see, it was quite an intense event. Well worth the money I paid! And if that wasn't enough Bob Purcell from Superior Threads gave a lecture on threads.

I didn't buy anything worth sharing with you. However, temptation was present the whole time. Ricky's store had lots of beautiful hand dyed fabrics. They were gorgeous! Boy, did I fondle them a lot! lol

As you can just imagine, by Saturday, my head was spinning in knowledge overload. I would highly recommend that you attend a Ricky Tims Seminar! They did have a write up about this event in The Glen Falls Post-Star that you can read here.

Thank you for visiting with me!

Ricky Tim Seminar - Part 1...!

I just spent 3 (three) intense days in Glens' Falls to attend the Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar and what a blast it was! What an energetic and invigorating seminar!

I left Thursday moonish to drive down to Glens' Falls, which is about a 2 (two) hour drive from my home. I stayed at The Manor Inn, about 1 mile away from the civic center where the seminar took place. I had the Garden Room! It was the first time I ever slept in a king size bed! Yea, I needed a map to get out of it the first morning! lol The stay was quite comfy and the breakfast, delicious! I did enjoy the walk to and from the seminar every day!

Strangely, I hadn't expected to meet many people. Members from my guild were going, but I didn't know who. Given that I'm still sort of a new member, it really wasn't my intention to meet up with anyone I knew. I left home with the idea that I'd be spending a quiet 3 (three) days to myself. As you can just imagine, that's not how it turned out!

Thursday, I am climbing up the stair in the civic center looking for a seat and I hear "Carole Meier". I'm looking around and a beautiful lady says to me, "You have a blog! Oh my gosh, I read your blog". Well, you can just imagine my surprise! I'm fascinated by the idea that someone actually recognized me! lol I just couldn't believe it! What a pleasant surprise to meet up with a reader. Gosh, I almost felt like a famous person! LOL

Meet Denise, she's a lurker! lol Doesn't she have the sweetest smile?

I'm trying really hard to have her come out of lurkdom! lol She is a hoot!

You cannot imagine how much she made my day! I mean, to actually recognize me! I guess my picture does reflects the true me! lol She did say that I look much skinnier in person. THANK YOU Denise! lol

Denise's friend took our picture in front of Bohemian Rhapsody quilt by Ricky Tims. Thank you Denise from making me feel special!

At the end of the first evening, I hooked up with 3 (three) fine ladies from my guild.

Meet, starting from the left, Cheryl, Kathy and Trudy! What a hoot they all are!

They all decided to yell "Yooooo Hoooo" for the picture, which was the expression we "the audience" used throughout the seminar to express our joy and excitement!

They invited me to join them for dinner Thursday evening. We ate at Fiddlehead's Gourmet Dining. It was delicious!

From then on, we stayed together as a group and would meet up in the morning. They were kind enough to save me a seat. I always seemed to arrive with a minute to spare!

It's my understanding that this seminar was the largest they had ever had. We were close to 800 people.

I do hope you enjoyed reading about my first day! Thank you so much for stopping by!

MQX ... the last day!

Saturday morning, I once again took classes all day. My last class ending at 3:00 p.m.

I do want to tell you about one of the classes I took with Sally Terry. What a wonderful teacher she is. The class was called Instant Fills and Meanders.

If you haven't picked up her book Pathways to Better Quilting, I strongly suggest that you do. It's a must in a machine quilter's library.

She breaks down machine quilting patterns into 5 shapes, and from these shapes you create the various designs that make up your filler or quilting pattern.

I was so ecstatic when I saw her class in the catalogue, I just had to take it. If I had to walk away with only one important piece of advice that came from her class (and they were many, she freely shares her knowledge and experience) it would be "work your mistakes in, make it look as though you planned it that way". That somehow took a load off my shoulders. It removed the fear of making a mistake and having to croak! lol

I suppose I should talk about my purchases. I mean, I cannot go to a show and not buy anything.

As you can see I didn't pick up much in terms of goodies. I tried to stay reasonable despite Superior Threads offering their products close to whole sale. I mean, not that I didn't want to buy anything related to quilting, it's just well, I think I felt self conscious financially.

You see, I did make a huge expense while at the show. I'd like to place the fault on Vicki and say "she made me do it", but I'd be fibbing. No, Vicki did not make me do anything, she was a great support.

I suppose I should get to the point! I did test drive many longarms. Yes, I was very impressed with the A-1 Quilting Machine, it's a smooth running machine. But, that's not the one I bought. I bought the APQS Millennium with extras including the hydraulic table! Oh, I CAN blame the hydraulic table on Vicki! lol

Now, can I blame the longarm purchase on Sue Patten? lol No, but she was a factor in my decision. She is an amazing woman, full of energy. You bet I'll be taking classes with her next year, if not sooner.

Some have asked me how I based my decision. For one, I did my research and without getting too spiritual, I based it on my feelings. APQS just felt right for me. Couple that with wonderful people at the booth, and it was a sell for me. Mark Caraher was tending the booth the whole time, he's a great person. I tell you the energy was wonderful. I tear when I think of my purchase experience. I know, I get emotional at times! lol

The next day I went to the booth to ask about something, you know how your mind sort of shuts down when you've made such a purchase. Questions come up the next day. The lady there was very supportive. I watched as the sales people interacted and it felt genuine.

So there you have it, my first longarm purchase! I am so excited, I can hardly stand it. Delivery date is around mid July!

Thank you for stopping by and sharing this new joy with me! I hope you have a wonderful day!

ps: Picture of Sue and I graciously provided by Vicki W. Thanks again Vicki!

MQX the fun continues...!

Friday I took a classes all day! What a day! I tell you I was exhausted by the end of my third class.

The first class was with Linda V. Taylor and Cheri Meineke-Johnson. They brought with them the quilt "don't worry, be happy" . What a magnificent quilt!

The class was called From Start to Finish. What a hoot Cheri is. She is hilarious!

She demonstrated her hand applique techniques. She has quite a repertoire of tools that she uses to assist her in her creative process and not all come from the quilting world.

She likes shopping at a hardware store for quilting gadgets and enjoys rummaging through her DH's tool box.

Did you know that she loves monkeys? She actually has a pet monkey!

Afterwards, Linda took over the lecture and demonstrated on the longarm her creative process for machine quilting. They used a smaller wall size version of the "Don't worry, be Happy" quilt. Linda makes it look so easy!

After the class they raffled the sampler. It's up to the winner to finish it off!

I was not the lucky recipient of the unfinished quilt but I did win this book by both Cheri and Linda. Works for me!

They were both quite generous with their prizes. There were a few Crystal sets and lots of other goodies. It made it exciting, waiting to see if your ticket won!

My next class was Is there Life after Stippling?, which I took with my friend Jennifer. We had a blast.

Linda worked on a project that was designed for a class on the website The Quilting School. She demonstrate how she goes about deciding what to machine quilt. I tell you she makes it look so easy.

Again, the sample was raffled and won by a lucky student. Jennifer won the DVD of the Artistic Freedom class. Lucky for me she has offered to let me borrow it.

My last class with Linda was called In the beginning. It was a basic class on longarm, how to set up a quilt etc.... It was quite informative. When I was trained at the Gammil dealer (Cowles) the individual had told me that I had to measure from center onward and both sided had to be even. You can just imagine how much time that can take to get it perfect. Add the $15.00 an hour to that and you're stressing to get it just right. Well, Linda doesn't do that. You square up your backing and batting, baste and add your top working in the "off" areas to make it square. I just learned so much!

I won this template/ruler in this lecture. I tell you the generosity was unbelievable. The repertoire of prizes/gifts were phenomenal.

I had an amazing time on Friday. Of course by the end of the day I was in a vegetative state! lol

Thank you so much for stopping by. Your comments mean a lot to me.

Have a great day everyone!

MQX ... what fun!

I decided pretty much at the last minute to head off to Machine Quilters eXposition in Manchester, New Hampshire. What started as a 1 (one) day trip ended up being a 3 (three day) affair. What a great show it was! I am definitely going back next year!

I drove to Manchester Thursday morning and quickly registered in. They give you a bag full of goodies and a name tag. Gotta love those name tags! You never have to worry about forgetting names, including your own! lol

I spent some time test driving various longarm. MQX is the place to be to learn about the available longarms/midarms on the market. I was quite impressed with A-1 longarm. It's a smooth running machine. Didn't seem fussy at all with threads. They had one model running on metallic thread. You should have seen that baby go! It preformed much better than my embroidery machine! lol

I met up with Vicki from Field Trips in Fiber . What a wonderful soul Vicki is. She graciously sent me pictures to share with you as I had forgotten my camera. Isn't she just the sweetest? I had such a great time.

We had lunch and pretty much shopped till we dropped. I tell you, that girl can shop! lol She reminds me of Sharon. lol But, I definitely spent more money than she did. ;o) But, I'm jumping ahead of myself...!

I met lots of wonderful people. I tell you Vicki is a social butterfly and a great person to shop with. She has so much knowledge and freely shares it!

She brought me a hand made gift, almond mango and a shea butter soap as well as lotion. Isn't it pretty! I just love the packaging. The items are sitting on top of a pile of thread. So original! Geezzzz, now I know what to do with my embroidery thread cut offs! lol

She makes her own soap and lotion. I tell you, that girl has more hobbies than anyone I know! So creative!

Thank you again Vicki for meeting with me and sharing your day! You are a sweetheart!

I'm wondering if I should share all of my purchase with you or just drag this topic till the end. Hum....... I've had so little to blog about as of late. LOL

I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

I'm alive .... I think... !

I just came back from a 3 (three) day trip to MQX! I have so much to tell you but I am too tired to write about my wonderful time at the moment, so it will have to wait. I did want to check in and let you know that I'm still here.

I will leave you with a tease. I spent a lot of money! I think my husband had a heart attack!ROFLOL

Keep well everyone!

Guild meeting & Quilting Class

Wednesday was my meeting with the Champlain Valley Quilter's Guild of New York. Our guest speaker was Debbie Wendt.

Debbie certainly loves Egypt. Her trunk show consisted of quilts and attires from Egypt. She had various examples of hand dyed textile and spoke of her love of shopping in Cairo and more particularly, shopping on the "street of the tentmakers".

I had an opportunity to examine closely the work of the Tentmakers of Cairo, whom are now catering to tourism by replicating tent designs on wall hangings. It was quite informative.

The whole process of tent making was historically done by men, however women are beginning to learn the trade. The stitching around the design is not as refined as one would expect in the hand applique quilting milieu, which is understandable given the intent of their original work. I wouldn't be meticulous with my stitches either if I was embellishing a tent! ;o) I will say that their work is beautiful and the colours so vibrant!

The following day, Debbie Wendt taught a class using Barbara Chainey's method of quilt making from her book Fast Quilts from Fat Quarters.

I love this book! I like the idea of using fat quarters to create quilts that is beyond the Yellow Brick Road and/or Turning 20 quilting patterns. Myself, I've never made a turning 20 quilt but I do know of a friend who has done many!

Let me warn you, Barbara's method requires you to think about how you'll fabricate your block. You can create simple 4 1/2 inch units that can be assembled into more complicated blocks of 8, 12 and/or 16 inches (finished size) all by following her cutting plan.

It was a lot of fun to work out the various possibilities. The minimum numbers of FQ required are 6 (six), which will yield 12 - 8 1/2 inch blocks, with left over pieces for your creative enjoyment! lol

Since I have way too many UFOs, WIPS and PIGS going on, I attended the class with the intention of learning about the technique. I brought FQs that were disposable! lol

All and all, it was a fun 2 days. For those interested, Debbie will be teaching at MQX.

Thanks for stopping by!

My week!

Lots has been happening and yet I've accomplish nothing I set out to do. sigh!

I had booked some time with the Gammil Dealer in St Albans in an attempt to finish some flimsies.

This is the pantho I purchased for my brother's Corn and Bean quilt.

I thought it would work well for the quilt. So I did a bit of practicing for an hour or so and decided to tackle the quilt.

I loaded the queen size quilt and made the attempt. I quilted about 12 inches of the pantho and decided that I didn't like it.

Given that the bulk of the quilt is light, I didn't want to use a dark thread. I didn't like the fact that you could see clearly the inaccuracy of my inability to follow the pantho accordingly on the borders. So I ripped it out and decided to do some custom quilting.

Well, that didn't work very well either! They did not have the lower attachment that you use to guide the machine for stippling and I didn't have enough control from the top. So I ripped those stitches out and re-attempted the pantho with the understanding that I needed to live with whatever came out of it.

Unfortunately, the machine started to beep so I had to stop. When I went back to the pantho, I didn't head in the right direction and stitched over what I had already done. More ripping! After taking the extra stitches out and six (6) hours later I decided it was time to leave before I start crying in public. At this point, I didn't even want a long arm anymore!

After a glass of wine and some thinking, I decided that I needed to go back the next day. I was determined to get it right.

I set up the quilt, found where I thought I left off on the pantho and had Beth (the instructor) check everything. She informed me that it was the exact spot I left off and told me which direction I had to go.

Well, guess what? Same mess, twice! I was fit to be tied! I could not bare to do more ripping at $15.00 an hour!

So, I took my quilt off the machine and decided to go to my Friday quilting bee.

The girls had decided to give me an "unbirthday party". So there were these beautiful flowers, a cake, a bottle of wine and a candle for me.

To think I blew these girls off! Thank you again Jennifer, Lora and Joann for making me feel better. You guys are the best!

So, $150.00 later, I have nothing to show but a huge mess.

What have I learned from my experience you might ask?

1) It dawned on me that I don't have to load fabric to test a pantho. I could have just followed it with the laser light to get a feel for it. It takes time to load a quilt/fabric on the machine. The meter adds up as you pin away.

2) If I buy a long arm from this dealer, I'm pretty much on my own (unless they have other instructors that I am not aware of).

3) Don't blow off your friends for long arm rental! ;o)

I did book more time on Tuesday but guess what? I'm cancelling it! I do not like the light thread and since they cannot show me how to do the center with the pantho, it's pointless for me to learn on my own at that price. Mistakes are a great way to learn, however I would like it much better if it was on my own machine. I do not need the stress of a meter running!

Thank you for reading about my week!

In friendship!

I'm so excited... and I think I like it!

What an exciting day it was for me! I tell you I felt like a little kid waiting for a big surprise.

I had planned to take dd to school in the morning so that I could have a coffee at the new coffee shop that opened in a town close by and read from The Ultimate Guide to Longarm Machine Quilting: How to Use Any Longarm Machine:Techniques, Patterns, and Pantographs: Starting a Business: Hiring a Longarm Machine Quilter by Linda Taylor. (What a friggen long title that is!) I did want to look like I knew a bit what I was doing! ;o) But, the coffee shop is closed on Thursday. So I headed back home and caught up on my e-mails, anxiously waiting for 9:45 a.m. to arrive so I can head off to Cowles Quilting Machine!

The course was pretty much what I had expected. We worked with the Gammill Classic Plus machine. She taught me how to set up a quilt on the rollers etc… Once we were all set up, she went to answer a call and left me alone with that baby. Well, I m sure you can imagine what I did. Yes, sir, I stood there dutifully waiting for her to get back! LOL NO way! I took that baby for a spin! What a beauty it is! I was in heaven! Of course when she came back she looked at the cloth and said, “I guess we can skip the next lesson on loops, hearts meandering etc….” On ward we went to the pantograph.

This is the prize I came home with!

I will admit, I did not do as well with the pantographs. For the record, I uck at it!

She had a snow flake pantograph on the table that I found hard to get my points just right. All I wanted to do was get it right so I kept practicing on the previous stitching. She looked at me and said "you're a perfectionist aren't you?" Darn, it is that obvious?

This is not a pantograph I would use again. One of it's major issues, aside from the fact that my points aren't right, is that it was not designed in such a way that would make it look not “pantographic”. I think I just made up a new word, but you know what I mean. The flakes do not intertwine in the gaps of the previous row. So it really looks like straight line flakes. The last rows are my attempt at getting it right.

I did learn that I work much better without the stitch regulator. To get a perfect point you need to stop and proceed. I have a difficult time associating the sound of the needle with my position on the pantograph. The stitch regulator reminds me of those IBM ball typewriters. Gosh, here I go dating myself again! lol They drove me nuts! I'd sit waiting for the ball to catch up. lol I did book the machine for next Thursday! I need to practice and I do want to get working on some quilts!

Thank you so much for your encouragement. It meant so much to me! You guys are a blessing!

I'm so excited.......!

Do your remember the The Pointer Sisters' song? Perhaps I'm dating myself! lol Well anywho, I am so excited and I just can't hide it! Yes mam! I'm making head way in my quilt production world! Let me clue you in!

I have been lacking mojo for quite some time. I really could not figure out what it was all about. Then it dawned on me what the problem could be, the piles and piles of quilts blocks "in waiting". You see, I leave a potential quilt in blocks for easy storage and also to avoid puckering from having sat sandwiched for a long time.

I tend to do my machine quilting on a domestic sewing machine and since I work mainly in queen and twin, it can take me a long time to finish a quilt. Sometimes, a quilt really only requires an elaborate pantograph and nothing more. However, it is something I cannot do on my DSM. I guess you can say that I custom quilt all of my quilts! So, I tend to leave possible tops into blocks for easier storage. When I have completed one quilt, I piece blocks and start machine quilting a new one. It is quite a tedious process. Meandering and other basic stuff is fun but not always my preference for machine quilting.

I have been coveting (well perhaps lusting is a better choice of words lol) a long arm for quite some time. However, we will be doing some major renovations this spring. Our home is 150 + years old, which means lots of plaster and dust. It would not be an ideal condition for such a delicate machine.

What to do, what to do to get rid of the pile of quilts in waiting?

Cowles Quilting Machine offers long arm machines for rent. Before I can rent one, I must take a 3 hours long course, which I have booked for this Thursday January 10th!

You cannot imagine how excited I am! The pile will finally go down and I can concentrate on making more quilts!

I truly believe that clutter impairs one's ability to create. It was difficult for me to move on knowing that I had so many beautiful quilts in waiting! At last, I will have these beauties available soon enough! Well, sooner than previously thought! ;o)

Thank you for sharing in my excitement. I really cannot wait for Thursday to arrive!

Have a great day every one!

What a week!

What a great quilting week it's been! Wednesday was our guild meeting, Champlain Valley Quilter's guild of New York. We had a guest speaker, Karen Eckmeier from The Quilted Lizard. She is such a dynamic speaker, humorous and full of energy. I enjoyed listening to the stories associated with her creations, how she arrived at a particular design. Her work is beautiful to see!

Afterwards we headed it off to Merons, a bar down the street, for our monthly ritual of music, beer and darts. Since I've been hanging out with Jennifer and Lora, my dart game has drastically been improving. I won a game of cricket and 501. What a life skill I have acquired! lol In our excitement and enthusiasm to have fun, all while I proceeded to improve my dart skills, I didn't get home until 3:00 a.m.

I did get up 3 (three) hours later to get dd on the bus and ready my things for a workshop with Karen Eckmeier.

I attended the Happy Villages workshop that was sponsored by the guild. It was a great class! Karen Eckmeier is quite the entertainment! lol

During the creative process, Karen converses with her quilt. It's quite amusing to watch her demonstrate how she builds her village.

She believes that every quilt you create should make you smile. If you are not smiling, the quilt is not finished!

We were approximately 15 in the class and everyone had a different look to their village. It was fun to watch how the various villages came alive as finer details were added.

In keeping with the spirit of the fall season, I chose to do a Halloween village. Welcome to Spooky Hollow!

It is not finished and I have more details to add to it before I can start machine quilting it.

I will admit, this was really quilting outside of the box for me. I'm not used to ad lib quilting! The process involves cutting your squares into various shapes and building your village from the center outward. There is no structure to this, it's quite abstract.

Thursday evening, my friend Patty came over for our bee. I did warn her of my present sleepless state. She just laughed!

Despite the lack of sleep, it's been a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

On the quilting front!

Yesterday was my first day with the quilting bee. They are the ladies I had mentioned that belong to my guild and, well, they do like a good time! They meet every Friday. The last Friday of the month is dedicated to charity quilts. Sounds good to me! One of the gals, Laura, is part owner of our LQS, Loose Threads, and I'm guessing that they provide the fabric as she said to bring nothing! I think it's wonderful that I'll have an opportunity to help my community while having fun!

On the quilting front, I thought I would share with you my chicken quilt, Against the Grain. I just couldn't hold it in any longer. I did want to surprise you with the finished project, but it's just taking too long with school guilt and all! This quilt is the result of seeing Darlene and Wendy working on those beautiful embroidery blocks Miss Louise, a lady with chickens. And if that wasn't enough of a tease, there's Connie who posted a chicken quilt from one of her quilt shop adventures, which by the way I have the pattern compliment of my wonderful friend Cheryl in Oz. I had e-mailed her the link to seek her wisdom and knowledgeable she is. She's my quilting hero! Cheryl knew exactly what the name of the pattern was, The Early Bird. She had the pattern and graciously sent it to me. So, guess what my next quilt is going to be? I just love chickens! I don't know what it is about them, but I do. I have even thought of having a chicken coop in my back yard. Yes, this city girl is going somewhat country! lol However, zoning will not allow it! I really don't know where they get their idea for zoning, as far as I'm concerned I live in the country! lol

On the famous or infamous quilting teacher front, guess whose coming to Glens Fall in May 2008? Ricky Tims and company! WOW!!!! I'm going for three days. I already gave a heads up to hubby, way up! Glens Fall is about 2.5 hours south from Champlain. I will be boarding with two (2) other ladies from my guild, the one's who like a good time! It should be a blast.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I wish you all a wonderful weekend! Happy Mother's day!

Shar's Double Wedding Ring course

I did have my Double Wedding Ring course with Sharlene Jorgenson on Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. What a long day! I was exhausted by 4:00 p.m. and ended up leaving. I'm sure Shar must have been even more exhausted than I was.

For one thing, her flight had been cancelled due to bad weather. She ended up catching a late flight to Albany, New York as opposed to Burlington, Vermont. She arrived early Tuesday morning, before the sunrise! Unfortunately, her luggage did not follow her and neither did her trunk show. She was hoping it would arrive before the class ended, but it did not make it. It's really too bad as I would have loved to have seen her quilts. I can just imagine how she must have felt. She kept apologizing throughout the class. I felt bad for her as I know that it can be quite an uncomfortable situation regardless of how understanding people are.

I enjoyed the class. I actually learned how to sew with a stiletto. I had never used one before and frankly never understood the need until this course. It truly is an amazing tool!

In wanting to keep with my promise not to start such an intricate quilt, I brought scraps to use. I was supposed to have a white on white background but forgot it at home. No matter, I was there to learn the technique so the burgundy fabric worked well. Shar loved the way the colours played together, "quilting outside of the box" is what she called it! She had an example in the book of a DWR done in plaids. She said someone challenged her by saying that it couldn't be done. I'm guessing she likes a good challenge.

This is not an easy quilt to make and I'm glad I didn't commit to making one. It requires lots of concentration and accurate cutting and piecing. Perhaps one day I'll challenge myself!

Happy quilting!