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NOTE: Once again I have two blog posts in one day! I’m a part of Teri Lucas’ Blog Hop for her new book with C&T Publishing, Color, Thread & Free-Motion Quilting. Comment on that post and you’ll be eligible to receive a free e-book! It is pure coincidence that I’m reviewing Teri Lucas’ book on thread and the main focus this week for me has been….thread. I have been working on this tea bag and silk piece for a week or two and I had it all assembled last week. I was going to do some fancy design in the…
Ready for a give-away? One commenter, chosen at random will receive a digital copy of Teri Lucas’ new book, Color, Thread & Free-Motion Quilting, published by C&T Publishing. Comment below what your favorite thread is – I’d love to know! Let me tell you about Teri’s book… I was thrilled to be asked to review Teri’s book! I have gotten to know Teri both online and in-person at the Houston Market. When I have a geeky question about my BERNINA or thread, needles, tension, or the sewing industry, she’s my go-to girl. I just plain-old like Teri – she’s…
It’s been a wild week again – 2 more days of wrap-up work on the house, which disrupts my studio and office, and, hired a new, faster internet service and had it installed. On the Good news front my small quilt group met on Monday – oh how delightful it is to meet in-person! I have to pull myself back because I just crave personal interaction sooo much that I’m afraid I will embarrass myself. I can’t wait until we can hug, have in-person classes, show our faces, wear lipstick and just be ourselves. I’m still working on virtual live…
NOTE: I have two blog posts this week, the second post is a give-away of two sets of Applipops. Head over to my other post to enter! Hubby and I desperately needed a vacation. There has been illness, two total knee replacements for Hubby, missed celebrating my 65th and our 35th anniversary and an unexpected death. Knee surgery is a lot of work for both of us and it is isolating. And of course there is/was the COVID thing… And the almost complete evaporation of my business. We really needed a break! A “real” vacation was not in the cards…
NOTE: I’ve got my weekly post over here – I had a fun trip to California’s mid-coast. Sooo, if you’ve been following me you know I’ve been playing with Applipops. Applipops are kind of like well-made washers that nestle into each other. A set of them allows you to make perfect circles in record time with a very short learning curve. They are the coolest dog-gone thing. I began to see the FB posts of Ellen Rosenbach and I was stunned by the beauty of her quilts. I’d not heard of her before she entered FB on May 17 and…
NOTE: There will not be a newsletter this week as I’ll be traveling that day. I forgot to add that to last week’s newsletter. If you’re not already getting it, you can sign up for my weekly newsletter here. It’s been a week of new starts, pondering what’s next and a discovery. First, the discovery. You probably recall my Turtle Hand Batik panel that I wrote about a few weeks ago. Quite by accident, I turned on the lights above the panel at night and was delighted with what I saw: I love how the light rakes across the piece…
I worked on two things almost exclusively this week, well actually one tiny thing and one gigantic-seemingly-unsolvable thing. On a whim, while cleaning up my workspace I ran into my bag of goodies from last year’s Houston Fall Market. Market is so. much. fun! All the vendors are showing their wares and new stuff, giving away samples and projects. One of those that I came upon was a kit to make Annie’s Flipping Out Bag. It was a complete kit and I thought what fun that would be! In all fairness, I am NOT a bag maker. When I go…
Well, kinda two finishes, more like wrapping up what was about 90% done previously. But hey, I’ll take it as a finish! I did ultimately decide to go with the “back” of the organza sheer SAQA Auction Donation quilt: If its purchaser prefers it the other way it will be easy to move the tiny sleeve and show the “front”. I was perplexed on how best to hang it and I like my solution: I cut a hollow plastic tube to size whose previous purpose was to hold a small American flag. The flag had faded and I kept the…
I’ve been itching to make a garment. I saw the Agustina Boxy Top on my IG feed and thought it looked perfect: free download, I knew I had fabric for it in my stash and it was super simple. Ah, not so: I consider this my muslin and I had hoped it would be a “wearable muslin”. Unless you’ve sewn a pattern before, it’s always a good idea to make a muslin so you know what adjustments you’ll need to make. This was so simple that I thought I didn’t need a real muslin. Hah. This top would be best…
This week feels like a new season. I had several gigs reschedule and/or go to virtual presentation. It feels good to work again and talk to people that want me to visit! So the gauntlet has been thrown down and it is clear to me, if I want to work right now, I must go digital. Onward I go, researching and attending Zoom meetings on how to Zoom. I am the benefactor of the work of several who have gone before me that are teaching the rest of us how to teach virtually. You may have heard, AQS (American Quilter’s…