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

Color Therapy: Iridescent Stars

Iridescent Star featuring scraps from my stash!

She's a cute little quilt!  Sorting through my stash and sewing these happy fabrics provided some much-needed color therapy!  The way the colors play, it almost looks translucent in some areas, and I just love how the colors sparkle in this quilt!  If you are in need of a little therapy yourself, the pattern is available as both a download and paper copy at Quiltscapes' Etsy Shop.

Come to My Garden

Last September, I spent the most amazing weekend at the first annual Garden of Quilts at the lovely Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah.

Throughout the 55 acres of lush gardens and lovely meadows, there were around 800 quilts hanging in the gardens, including a few of my daughter's and my own.  

Kaleido-Medallion

Nicole's "Something's Fishy" 

Magic "Instant Blocks" quilt under the Garden Trellis

Nicole's "Cut Diamonds"

Nicole and I with my "Sheep Shape" in the trees

Visitors checking out my Carpenter's Wife quilt  - photo by Amy Smart

I got to work as a volunteer for those couple of days, assisting in Camille Roskelly's class (@thimbleblossoms) one morning, and as a quilt assistant with trunk shows for Amy Smart @diaryofaquilter, Stacy West @buttermilkbasin, Christopher Thompson @the_tattooed_quilter, and Heather Peterson @ankastreasures.

I was in heaven!  Even had a fun chat with my friend Jenny and her husband Ron between classes.  They had brought dozens of quilts from Missouri Star Quilt Co. to hang in the gardens too.  So lovely!

I've just received word that I'll be teaching a couple of classes at next September's Garden of Quilts event, and I am thrilled!  

I'll be teaching my new favorite quilt:  Iridescent Star, Thurs, Sept.17th, 2:00 to 5:00 pm. 

...and my ever-popular Binding & Alternate Endings Workshop on Friday, Sept. 18th, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.  

UPDATE:  Click here for REGISTRATION for the 2021 Garden of Quilts event!  

 
Hope to see you there!

Sewing With Nancy...

So my cute friend Nancy wanted to learn how to paper-piece and came by to spend the day with me in the sewing room.  Yes, I was "Sewing with Nancy"!! *Ü*

Her adorable wonky house  pattern gave instructions for "Template piecing", aargh!!

Carpetbags are packed, I'm ready to go!

Heading to Paducah next week ~ yes, I get to make the trek to Quilt Mecca!  Paducah is home to the National Quilt Museum, and with vendors, classes, events, and a quilt show... well,  I'm just a little giddy.  Besides, my Soldier's Star quilt is on display in it's last AQS quilt week stop after being on the road for nearly a year, so I might as well go, right?  That's as good an excuse as any. :)

I'm getting all packed, and I'll be taking one or two CARPETBAGS with me - (sometimes referred to by my children as the "bottomless bag") - They're the perfect size tote for hauling lots of fun things I find on my adventure!  Plus, they're so... quilty!

My daughter Lauren and her friend Mandi stopped by last month to play in my newly set-up sweet sewing suite.  I told them they could rifle through my fabrics and make something - and they picked out some great kits to make their very own adorable carpetbags

Lauren especially loves her side panel

The other night, while teaching another carpetbag class, one of the ladies kept exclaiming, "I love this, I'm so happy!  I love this, it makes me so happy!  I love it!"  LOL, I think she loved it!   

See more happy Bag Ladies >>HERE<<  

Downloadable pattern is available at my Craftsy Store HERE.

If you'd like a pre-cut KIT to make a cool crazy-patch Carpetbag of your own, click HERE.
Sharing this post at "Sew Darn Crafty" linky party.

Paducah, here I come!  Will I see you there??

March Quilty Madness. A recap.

Thanks to all those who took the time to comment on the giveaway the other day to share how you began your quilting journey - and what quilty things you did in celebration of National Quilt Day this month!  Wonderful stories - lots of creating and sharing going on in the quilt world - one stitch at a time.

Around here, we definitely honored National Quilting Day/Week/Month, all month long!  Here are some highlights:

Daughter Chelsea made this batik Star Medallion lap quilt top about 6 years ago.  She drew out the quilting motifs for me to quilt and calls it her "Carpenter's Daughter." She's my binding expert and finished it herself. Yay - it's done!

Visited a Vintage Fair:

Added a new sewing machine to the collection...  Isn't she a cutie?

I finally set about organizing the sewing room chaos into a respectable space to welcome friends, complete with little stores of chocolate.

Even my husband pitched in.  First, he worked on my Mom's old buffet, then he got out a rotary cutter (!)  I know, right?  Bless his heart.  He's been cutting out more Carpetbag kits.  Maybe it was the chocolate?

Daughters, friends, neighbors and guild sisters have stopped by.  Some of them stayed into the wee hours (one friend and her daughters quilted all night long!), because we just can't get enough quilty goodness, I guess.

We've tested a few new patterns.
Hosted a few classes.
Made a few bags.
Worked on some UFOs.

In addition, I attended the annual USU Sewing Training for FACS (Home Ec) teachers and 4-H leaders from around the state, teaching  my version of an orange peel / faux cathedral window table runner from the RBD Circles video.

My girls and I presented our trunk show, "Generations" for a group in Salt Lake City. "Hearts Stitched Together in Unity and Love" was the theme.

Attended my Longarm Quilt Guild meeting where someone I didn't know had found my free pattern online, made it, quilted it and brought it for Sew & Tell!

And then, of course... I received my advance copies of Quiltmaker May/June '14.  Sew Happy!  And in honor of the little Hexie Meadow on the cover, the Riley Blake goodie bundle winner has been chosen and notified.  I'm still waiting to hear back before I can announce...

Whew, what a month!  And like one of the comments the other day, "Isn't every day Quilting Day?" My answer is YES.

Happy Sewing!