Stray Threads Show

Last month, I was the featured artist at the Stray Threads quilt show "Hollywood Encore", here in Woodinville, and I thought that those of you that couldn't make it to the show might like to see what my space looked like.  My area was in the front entry of the old Woodinville schoolhouse, so quilts were split between the two sides, leaving the center open for the quilters to pass through to come or go upstairs.  While it seems strange to have it split this way, it worked out very well!

Some friends in the guild helped me set up and we tackled the challenge of working around the furniture, because we weren't allowed to move it.  Luckily, I brought some of my baskets to hold patterns, as well as a hinged quilt ladder and pop-up shelving.  The guild let me use some of their standards, but we even used the stair railing, piano and other furniture, fitting quilts and products everywhere.  It's a good thing my table wasn't any larger!

Ready for quilters...

Thank you Stray Threads and everyone who helped and visited my booth, it was a fun show!!!

Grip & Stitch Disks, BPQ Show and Giveaway!!!

These are the disks I love!  I always use them and now have 4 pairs, one for each machine station and another to keep in my class bag, because I love quilting with them and hate being without them.  They even help me grip and move the fabric or larger part of piecing and sewing projects much easier than my old way of grabbing  a handful of the fabric when I'm sewing.  If you've been to one of my quilting classes or free motion quilting demonstrations, you've seen me use these!  When I was at the Houston Quilt Market last year, a little video was made in the APQS booth when I was demonstrating quilting on the George (this is the long arm quilting machine I have - it's in a table, like my Bernina and Pfaff), and Clever Craft Tools has some U-Tube videos on their website.

Besides quilting and sewing, there are lots of other things I can see these disks being used for, such as when my husband is using his scroll saw.  Even though it's a saw, which is cutting the wood apart, instead of joining, the operation of the blade is up and down and the wood is moved like you move fabric when quilting, and I think it would give the woodworker an easier way to maneuver the wood they are cutting.  Now I just need to dream up a project that will get him to get out his scroll saw and try it.  Hmmm, I wonder if he will let me play with it?

Now here's the giveaway part.  I have a set of the newest version of the Grip & Stitch disks, which has even better quality foam and instead of the gray layer in the middle, it's now white.  Starting today, I'll be setting up my booth  at the Block Party Quilters Quilt Show with my booth neighbor, who is the manufacturer of these cool disks, Clever Craft Tools, and she has given me a pair to giveaway.  So leave a comment on this blog post and on Monday I'll use the random number generator to pick a winner!  

If you're local, come see us at the Block Party Quilt Show this weekend and say hi!  There will even be a machine so you can take the disks on a test spin.

(The fine print:  If you're the winner, I'll need a way to contact you or will have to pick a different winner if I am unable to get in touch with you next week.)

Collage Journal Cover

One of the Quilter's Affair classes that I took was the Collaged Joural Cover with Kathy Shaker. It was a fun class, playing with paint and rubber stamps, then some machine stitching. When I returned home, I collaged the rubber stamped images on the cover, along with some of my hand dyed cheesecloth that just happened to coordinate, some beads, and an Artgirlz "create" charm.

While the cover fits, I think next time I will add 1/4 - 1/2" extra to the width of my fabric panel.

Too much fun in Sisters!

It was such a beautiful week in Sisters, OR! Cooler than normal, the weather was very comfortable. This year I was lucky to share a condo for the week before the show, so I was able to take some classes. Of course we kept busy, either in class, learning or teaching our roommates new skills, shopping, or just relaxing - although I don't think I took time for that - I was having too much fun!

This is the view we passed on our way to classes at the high school - isn't it beautiful!

It's so nice they close the roads so that you can wander back and forth across the road as the quilts catch your eye. I thought I would just post a couple pictures showing the buildings hung with quilts (if you know the maker of any, please let me know and I'll add the information to my post).

This is the side of the Stitchin Post, and as I understand it, the quilts have all been made by shop employees. It's great to see what they like to make, and it is quite different from year to year.

And here is our little group of roommates: Ellen, Cathy, Becky, Susan, and I'm on the right.

This is Tonye Belinda Phillips, author of Hand Appliqued Quilts, and teacher of the Jammin' with Scarlet class, which is a project from her book. The two day class was a lot of fun!

Projects later...