Karen Kay Buckley

I just returned from teaching at Quilted Bliss, a quilt shop  in Amarillo, Texas. You can find them at https://www.quiltedblissquiltshop.com . Candy, the owner, is a very welcoming and kind-hearted soul.  It was a pleasure spending time with her and her husband.  The first evening, our lecture was held in the tallest building in Amarillo, the Chase building, if I remember correctly.  And the views of Amarillo were fabulous.

Here are some photos of the Quilted Bliss.

Love the way the fabric is displayed on this wall.

This week also brought me an email from Riet Voogd.  She enlarged my Fiesta Mexico pattern and turned it into a bed quilt.  How cool is that?

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BOOK REVIEW

I finished reading “The Snow Child” on my flight back from Amarillo.

It was rather unusual, and I don’t mean that in a bad way.  It takes place in Alaska during the 1920’s.  Jack and Mabel decide to make the move to Alaska after the loss of a child.  They need a new start.  Mabel is lonely and Jack is breaking his back starting their farm.  They are growing apart.  Faina, a child, comes into their hearts and home.  She enters their lives in a very unusual way.  You’ll need to read the book to find out more…..

I have been in the Waterloo-Kitchener area of Ontario, Canada for the past five days visiting the Waterloo County Quilter’s Guild.  My guild contacts were Elizabeth and Elizabeth!  It was wonderful working with both of them.  They had things very well organized. Their guild members should be giving them a big THANK YOU for all of their hard work.  Bringing in a national teacher is a lot of work.  And, going from the US to Canada can create some challenges.  You can find out more about the guild at http://www.wcquiltersguild.on.ca/

I gave two lectures on Wednesday.  One of the members brought her friend, Helen Blaskievich, along to the meeting.  Helen brought her finished “Magical Medallions” quilt.  I was awe struck.  Helen did an incredible job.  This is no easy quilt to make.  It has lots of difficult pieces. Helen conquered the task.  I am so glad Helen shared her quilt.  Love it.

During the workshops, Joan Doke shared one of the blocks she made from Fiesta Mexico.  She is working on the entire quilt but she just brought Block 11 to share.  I love it.  This is Joe’s favorite block on the quilt so it’s fitting that he got into the picture.

Lots of fun in the workshops….

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BOOK REVIEW

On my trip home from Florida, I started reading “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed. I finished it on the airplane ride to Canada.  I have not seen the movie and did not know much about this book except that several people recommended it to me.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I really appreciate that kind of perseverance.  My feet hurt just thinking about how far she hiked on the Pacific Crest Trail.

During my visit to Galveston, I was lucky enough to meet the author, Arlene Sachitano.  “Quilt As Desired ” is the first in her series she calls “The Harriet Truman/Loose Threads Mysteries”  This was a great, light read.  And, because it relates to quilting, I liked it a lot.  Harriet returns to her old stomping grounds to help her Aunt Beth with her machine quilting business while her Aunt is on an extended cruise.  I liked the characters and it kept me guessing as to who murdered Avanell.  I will definitely read more in the series.

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This week led me to Fort Lauderdale, Florida working with the Broward Quilt Expo group.  I worked with Janet, Linda and Jenny.  They were lovely to work with and they served their butts off putting together a lovely show.  There were vendors…quilts…and classes.  What more could you ask for?  The only other thing I could ask is for  students and quilters to share some of the quilts they made as a result of taking my classes or quilts created from my patterns.  The “Quilt Guild by the Sea” made their version of my “Midnight Floral Fantasy” pattern and they call their quilt “Green Garden Fantasy”.  It is their 2015 donation quilt project.

To find out more about purchasing tickets for the quilt raffle, write to quiltguildbythesea2011@gmail.com

To find out more about the guild, visit their website http://quiltguildbythesea.com/

I love the green background.  What’s not to like about green?!?  I consider it a neutral!

Two students shared projects they made after taking some of my classes.  I am sorry I did not get the names of the makers to give credit to in the blog.  If you know their names please contact me so I can post them in the blog.  These are from my “Heard It Through the Grapevine” workshop.

Jo Wilson responded to my email request.  Jo is below holding her project.  Very nice job Jo.

The next photo is from my “Garden Medley” workshop.

Thanks for sharing ladies.  I love to see a good finished projects.

Peggy Mead took one of my workshops and I want you to know that she is perfectly sane.  Or, I think she is sane.  This little Grandmothers Flower Garden project is amazing.  Peggy showed me one of the templates she used to make her quilt called “Let Freedom Ring”.  The template was so small I could not even hold it.  It was sewn using the English Paper Piecing method.  Impressive.

“Family Tree” was appliqued by Sara Michael and quilted by Helia Ricci.

I really like this black and white “Dragon Fly” by Linda Nastro.

A quilt with some whimsy.  Charlotte Noll made her quilt using Dipioni Silk.  A sewing machine design sewn using a spool block design.  How cool is that? Great idea!

The South Florida Modern Quilts had a very nice exhibit at the show.  This one was quilted by Meryll Warner.

I am certain people in Florida see lizards all the time.  But in Pennsylvania, this is not a common event. I am intrigued when I see them.  There are two in this photo.  One obvious and one by the purple flower.

Fascinating creatures.

This week I am off to Canada…around the Toronto area.  See you next week.

This past week I taught for Barbara Blanton at the Academy of Applique in Historic Williamsburg, Virginia.  This is the third applique event I have had the pleasure of being involved in this year.  I absolutely love the Williamsburg area so I’m always game to make the journey.  I taught a 2-day class and then a 3-day class. So, five days of classes.  I think some of the classes were single day events at the start of the week.  In both classes, I had the best students…some experienced and some newbies.  To find out more about the upcoming show in 2016, visit the website http://www.academyofapplique.com/

One or two of the teachers did a 10 to 20 minute presentation each day at lunch .  On Tuesday, Nancy Kern shared her presentation.  Check out her amazing quilt behind her.

On another day, Jeanne Sullivan did a nice presentation at lunch.  It was fun to learn a little more about each of the instructors.

One of my students, Liz Schuman, brought her finished Fiesta Mexico-Block Nine project.  Nice work Liz.  Liz is a little crazy…she took five days of classes with me!  She came with her posse from Long Island.

Patricia Bandura took my Magical Medallions one day class a while ago. She decided to purchase the full pattern and make five more blocks for this fabulous piece.  Patricia changed the layout using gold bias strips to make a celtic design of sorts, framing the blocks.  Love it.

Beautiful!!!

Elma May Brey brought her finished Fiesta Mexico-Block Three to share with me.  You know how much I love seeing finished projects.  So, I was a very happy camper on this trip.  Great job Elma May.  And thanks for the hugs.  Some days I need a hug or two.

During the afternoon session on Friday the fire alarm went off.  I got the important stuff…the students, my purse and my quilts!  Oh, and my coat.  It was rather cold.  The alarm turned out to be nothing which was a good thing.

Another successful event.  Talk to you next week…..

I had the pleasure of working for Amy, Bonnie, Sally and Judy this past week.  They are the organizers for “Applique Away On Galveston Bay”.  What a great group of ladies.  To find out more about their upcoming event for 2015 check out their website http://www.appliqueawayongalvestonbay.com/  It’s a really nice location for a workshop.  Their were four hand applique teachers and each class was two days in length.

One evening at “Show and Tell” Vera brought her finished “Garden Medley” project.  We won’t tell you how many years it took Vera to finish it!!  I absolutely love seeing finished projects from my workshops.  Thanks Vera for sharing.  It looks great.

Here are some happy faces from my Wednesday-Thursday workshop.

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Joe In Thailand

Joe was in Thailand recently visiting his brother and family. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of his photos.  This was Joe’s second visit to Thailand.

Ayuttaya, the capital of Thailand from 1100- 1600, has some wonderful ruins

They are beautiful as seen during the day

or by night.

Five years ago Joe visited and played with a tiger cub. (Photo taken in 2010)

Joe visited with the same cub on this trip but both had grown a bit.

More from Joe’s visit next week

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I thought Clover discontinued their 3/8″ bias maker and I was bummed.  But, I was wrong.  I found it and now have it along with the 1/4″, 1/2″ and 3/4″ on the website.

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BOOK REVIEW

I read a previous V.I Warshawski’s, private detective, book and liked it so I went for a second book.  This one takes place in Chicago. V.I’s closest friend, Lotty Herschel, lost most of her family in the Holocaust.  Lotty fled to London with a childhood friend, Kitty.  Kitty’s daughter is in trouble and her grandson is missing.  The story takes you back to Lotty and Kitty’s past.  I enjoyed this book and would read another one in this series.