I'm Teaching at International Quilt Festival in Houston!

 

The International Quilt Festival in Houston welcomes around 40,000 attendees annually from over 25 countries worldwide, including quilt artists, enthusiasts, and collectors. This remarkable quilt show is the largest in the U.S., showcasing more than 1300 quilts, offering over 200 classes, lectures, and other special events, alongside more than 400 vendors at the exhibition.  Classes begin as the International Quilt Market Trade Show ends on Oct 6th.

REGISTRATION opens today, and I am thrilled that a couple of my classes were selected for this year's Festival!  

#247 BINDING & ALTERNATE EDGINGS - SHOWCASE
Tuesday, October 7th, 9:00 am to Noon 

Join Deonn as she introduces 16 techniques for finishing the edges of quilts and sewn projects as detailed in her book,

Ultimate Binding & Edge-Finishing Guide for Quilting & Sewing.

#286 BINDING & ALTERNATE EDGINGS - HANDS-ON WORKSHOP
Tuesday, October 7th, 2:00 to 5:00 pm

 We'll get creative with five fun "alternate endings" ~ just a handful of the 16 techniques featured in Deonn's book,

Ultimate Binding & Edge-Finishing Guide for Quilting & Sewing.

 #365 Y-SEAMS, Y NOT? AN EASY APPROACH TO Y-SEAM CONSTRUCTION

Wednesday Sampler, October 8th, 10:00 am to Noon

This gentle 60-degree angle serves as your gateway to seemingly difficult seams to level up your quilting skills! 

Have you attended Quilt Festival in Houston?  It was on my bucket list for years, and I first attended in 2014 with my friend, Beth.  I still cherish that experience; it was a trip of a lifetime!  

That trip planted the seed for another bucket list item: to come back and teach classes some day.  Well, I can't wait to return, and I would love to see you there too!

Happy Quilting!

~ Deonn

 

TGIFF ~ Starflowers Edition

It's time for "Thank Goodness it's Finished"  Friday!  

Whew, I'm really feeling the "Thank Goodness" part of that statement -  It has taken me almost a year to get this quilt done, just about the only quilt I have made in the past year, as if time stood still!  

Sewing Room Clock

It all starts with gorgeous fabric and good intentions...

Spring Gardens fabric by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake Designs

And little by little, stacks of fabric get cut up and put back together again.  

What is it about stacks?  "Progress Piles" I guess.  Little stacks make me happy,  It's about getting things done one stitch at a time!  It's all about having joy in the journey.

Keep going and eventually, you are going to end up with a fabulous finish!

This newly released quilt pattern, Starflowers, is available on Quiltscapes Etsy Shop.  The pattern includes a bonus lesson on creating mitered corners on borders, along with a lesson on how to calculate scallops.  Info on applying binding to a curved edge can be found at bit.ly/ScallopEdgeBinding.

Happy Sewing!!

~ Deonn

Now it's your turn:  Let's see what you've been up to?  Upload a photo of your latest finished project, then go check out the others and share a little love.  Happy Finishes!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Oh, My Stars! (& Garters)! + A FREE Video Class (with pattern purchase)

I love this quilt.  It's pretty wild, I know, but there are tons of reasons why it's special to me!

How to add Mitered Corner Borders to a Quilt

MITERED  BORDERS

Here is one of my favorite ways to border a quilt, especially if I have multiple borders, or want the print or stripe to "turn the corner" and frame the quilt, like a picture frame!  

How to Add Borders to a Quilt

Adding borders to a quilt can help to grow the quilt size, frame the quilt top, and totally transform your quilt's overall look.  However, when adding borders, some issues may come into play. 

Guest Post @ Diary of a Quilter ~ How to Calculate a Scalloped Quilt Border

Valentine Handkerchief Quilt made by Shawn T.  

What an honor to share a guest post with Amy Smart over at Diary of a Quilter today!  

Countdown to Quilt Market -- Book-Signing!

Hey there!  It has been a busy Spring Summer Fall!  A great season of traveling -- sharing my passion for quilting through classes, demos and trunk shows, and promoting my book throughout Utah and surrounding states here in the Intermountain West.  

I've hardly had time to come up for air!  That includes getting Covid in the middle of it all, and having to pause for a few weeks,  Luckily it was between commitments.  Aaaand, I kinda lost my "sew-jo" for a while.  Haven't posted on Social Media for months!  

I keep forgetting to take photos, but here is a shot from a random visit to Nuttall's in Layton, Utah this summer.  I was teaching nearby and went shopping for a new foot for my Bernina on my lunch hour.  When I was ready to check out, the gal at the till asked if I was in their system.  I told her, and all the ladies that were working heard my name and came running to the counter!  They had been using my book for a series of classes for beginning quilters.  (Brilliant idea, by the way!)

The gal who had been teaching the binding classes brought out her class samples, and also grabbed her copy of the book to have me sign it.  Then she brought me the rest of the books on their shelf so I could sign those, too!  One of the gals told me she had chills, and I told her I did too!  Then all the customers in the shop wanted to see what the fuss was about, and gathered around to look through the book.  Within a few minutes, all the books were sold out!  They'll have to reorder.  Oh, my goodness, I felt a little like Minnie Mouse at Disneyland!  That was awesome.

Now it's time for International Quilt Market, a wholesale trade show for the quilting and sewing industry.  The day before the actual show begins, Shop owners and other attendees can go to Schoolhouse sessions - essentially info-mercials of what's new in the industry. 

Friday, it's my turn to present my book and talk to shop owners about how they can utilize it as a great little resource to draw in customers, cross-sell notions and patterns, and develop classes and workshops.  I'm bringing select samples and quilts to showcase the many different "alternate endings" featured in the book.  I'm a little nervous, I'll have to talk fast, but I think it will be so fun!

My publisher, Fox Chapel, will also host a book signing at booth #818 on Saturday at 2:00 pm.

And of course, I want every quilter in the world to have a book of their own.  It's off to a great start -- it came out in February this year, and even the distributors could hardly keep it on the shelf.  By May, the book was already on its 3rd printing.  And if my visit to Nuttall's is any indication, it will keep going! 

If you would like a copy and your shop doesn't carry the book yet, have your local quilt shop order it.  All major quilting distributors carry the book: Checker, E.E.Schenck, United Notions/Moda, Brewer, and of course, Fox Chapel Publishing.  Or, you can get a signed copy from me!

.PURCHASE HERE.

I present to one more guild this month, and my schedule is already filling up for next year.  Whew!  I figure I've got to ride this train as long as I can.  Meanwhile, I'm thinking about ideas for the next book... and I'll have to work backward and document some of the quilty shenanigans that went on this summer.  Couldn't do it without my good Quilt Honey!  He's a keeper.

Happy Sewing,

Deonn
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TGIFF: Iridescent Star!

Hi, it's time for " Thank Goodness It's Finished" Friday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Iridescent Star

Yay!  It's always great to cross off another UFO!  Big thanks to Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts for the invitation to host today's linkup party!

Quilted Shoes!!

I recently had the chance to take a class at a retreat where I was teaching, which doesn't happen very often!  How could I resist quilted shoes!?! 

Large-scale Improv Quilt Workshop with Ashelyn Downs

"Out of the Box" 
Large Scale Minimal Improv Quilt by Deonn

I recently re-joined the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild, after 12 years of not being able to attend guild meetings as I had another commitment that took precedence.  The guild, stronger than ever, has some amazing quilters, many of whom are making a difference in the quilting world.

Ashelyn Downs is one of those amazing designers.  She graciously offered to share her fabulous process of Large Scale Minimal Improv for a guild workshop.  

Pulling big hunks of texutred fabric, a new color palette for me (using bargain pre-cut fabric acquired at Quilt Market's sample spree frenzy), snippets of pieced elements (no more than 3 types) and all the desicions that go in to laying them out in a pleasing balance - well, I was a little bit out of my comfort zone.  A lotta bit.

Ashelyn helped me to get started.

More elements.

Rearranging.

Final answer.

Luscious Minky backing was the perfect color, but not wide enough, so I improv-pieced the backing too. Then I quilted it with a design called "Nylon" by Melissa Kelley (see the video below).  Looks like cable knit.  I bound it with a scrappy pieced binding using fabrics from the quilt - joined with straight seams to keep the right angles consistent through the design, and to balance the colors.  

Yep. Oh, this is a comfy quilt!  Luscious and snuggly, went together quickly, and I adore it.  I think I may need to step out of the box more often!

Check out more of these quilts in progrss from the workshop and a later guild meeting.

Find more of Ashelyn's work at www.urbandwellstudio and on IG @UrbanDwellStudio.

Happy Quilting!

Deonn
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