Archive for February, 2015

New Class Projects and Product Review

Friday, February 20th, 2015

I’ve been working on some small quilts to add to my workshop choices.  One of the new projects is called “Modern Poinsettia”.  It will be a three hour workshop.  There will be some other versions of this using different colors and different flowers.  Patterns and more quilt designs similar to this coming soon………

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Now, for a new 6-hour, one-day workshop, I just finished “Circular Garden”.  It still needs to be quilted.  I worked from some Cherrywood hand-dyed packets.  Circles…they make me oh, so happy.

 

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I am working on a new competition quilt and still playing with the layout.  I changed my mind from my original plan which meant I had to do some ripping.  I had to rip about 50 pieces of applique.  Yuck!  I honestly don’t think I’ve ever done this before.  With my layout change, I needed to move these pieces to a different background fabric.

Well, during my travels, someone gave me a “RipTweezer”.  It is my new favorite tool.  One end is a ripper and the other a tweezer.  It worked beautifully.  I ripped about every 4th stitch and then used the tweezers to remove the loose threads.  This allowed me to save every one of my applique pieces for reuse.  Awesome.  For information on the “RipTweezer” visit http://www.riptweezer.com

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Kathy Dunigan Academy of Applique and Sasha

Friday, February 13th, 2015

I have recently returned from a new seminar held in Rockwall, Texas.  It is called the “Kathy Dunigan Academy of Applique”.  Kathy is planning to hold this annual event every February.  Check it out at http://www.kathyduniganappliqueacademy.com/ If you like applique, you really need to consider this event.  The five-day schedule is set with two single days of classes and what she refers to as the “main class”. This means you have the opportunity to spend three days with your instructor.  I think there were a total of nine teachers.  The  evenings consisted of fun events to attend and lots of door prizes.

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The seminar is held at the Hilton in Rockwall.  The location and facilities were excellent.  The hotel was located right along the lake.

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The larger, convention area room held about six vendors.

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Texas Quiltworks had a booth selling BERNINA machines.  They provided the machines for my machine applique workshop.  Thanks Lynn, Joanna and Glenn.

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As I was walking around the vendor area, I saw this quilt.  From a distance, I thought it was painted. I was wrong.  This is all hand appliqued and hand quilted by Meg Maeda.  Meg is from Japan.  Her patterns are distributed here in the states by Myra K. Forbyn.  Her shop is called Aunt Myra’s and her website is www.auntmyras.com

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Another of Meg’s patterns.

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Here are some of my students during the three day machine applique workshop.  Some of them should soon have photos of their finished pieces to share on the blog.

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The final picture is of Kathy Dunigan and her mother, JoAnn.  I wish I had a better photo.  The lighting in the room cast a yellow color over all of my photos.  I shoulda used my flash.  They worked so hard to put this seminar together and it paid off. Their hard work resulted in a very, very successful event.  It was an honor to be one of their first teachers.  Again, if you like applique, you’ll want to look into attending.

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The best dog ever…that would be my Sasha…turned 16 this week.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SASHA!  And, here is to many more.

Sasha-1000 size

 

Until next week…..

More Quilts from the International Quilt Show in Houston and Book Review

Friday, February 6th, 2015

Yes, I still have more photos to share from the show in Houston.

“Umbrellas in the City” was made by Terri Kryson and Page Johnson from Minnesota.  They won second place in Mixed Techniques.

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“Celestial” was made by Yuriko Ikuma from Japan.  She won 3rd place in the Mixed Techniques category.

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“One of the Flowers, One and Only Flower II” was made by Mitsuko Sugimoto from Japan.

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“Joyful Heart” was made by Aki Sakai from Japan.  She won third place in the Handmade category.

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BOOK REVIEW

 

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I recently read “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith (pseudonym for J.K. Rowling).  While on duty in Afghanistan, Cormoran lost his leg in a land mine.  Upon his return home, he opens a private investigation business.  His business is not in good shape financially or otherwise.

John Bristow enters Cormoran’s office with a story about how his sister, supermodel Lula Landry (known as Cuckoo to her friends), fell to her death.  The police ruled it a suicide.  But John does not believe it.  Cormoran’s investigation leads him to a world of millionaires, super models designers and more….