Curvalicious, The Big Unveiling

Yesterday was the day.  It was the day the I have been working towards for the last 2 months. 

 It was the day that I unveiled this:

What is it, you ask?  It's my tool that I designed.  It's made out of acrylic and it is a very cool fluorescent green making it difficult to lose.  It was a journey to get here.

 

I designed it to make this skinny quilt out of silk dupioni:

 

Yesterday was it's debut at The Red Rose Quilt Guild in Lancaster, PA.  They were my guinea pigs and wow! did we have a good time. Many of the quilters chose to use one of my silk kits, but a few of them chose to use cotton.  It was so exciting to see how the quilts turned out. I made sure to remember to take lots of photos.

 

 

 

Thank you ladies.

You have made me so happy.

And the best part is I had a bunch of the Curvalicious tools made and I am selling them along with my kits in my etsy shop. I have also created a blog page just for Curvalicious with a video about how to use the tool.  Come visit by clicking HERE and please, if you like it, give me a thumbs up.

 

Come and be a part of the Curvalicious Crew!

 

Oh Baby!

It seems to be baby season.  Neighbors, friends and family are all having babies.   It's so joyful.  I have a new "go to" gift and I love making them.  It's a baby blanket with an embroidered name.

 

Everyone loves to see their baby's name on a gift, especially when it is an unusual name. I embroider the name on the minkee first. If you don't have a machine that embroiders, you can always stitch a fusible applique.   Then using flannel, I make this self binding blanket using directions from The Missouri Star Quilt Company.   There are so many cute flannels available. Using a 40" square piece of flannel and a 30" piece of minkee, it takes me less than 2 hours, including the embroidery. 

This receiving blanket  is definitely a hit!

 

 

I Wouldn't Want To Live There

Where? New York City! I love to visit. There is always something new to discover, but there is way too much noise and way too many people for me.

Each time I make a trip to the garment district, I try to visit a new place- that is, new to me. This week it was B&J Fabrics. Sometimes it's an adventure just to find a store. We first saw it from the sidewalk a half a block away. Into the vestibule of a building and an elevator ride to the 2nd floor brought us to the foyer of this amazing fabric store. Most shops don't have quilting cotton, but there was a nice section with some very interesting fabric there. Of course I had to buy some bicycle fabric and I bought some fabric for a special friend that I know she will like. And they put my purchase in this cute little bag.

And check out this velvet.

Gorgeous Velvet

I made this trip to NYC to buy silk for an upcoming workshop. I went a little overboard, but these dupioni silks are so hard to resist. Each one makes me swoon.

We had a newbie with us, so I had to take her to some of my favorite shops: Daytona Trim, Beads World and M&J Trimmings to see all of the wonderful eye candy.

Ribbons

Ribbon

Beads

Sequins

Home Dec Trim

We went to a new place for lunch too. Ben's is a true Kosher Deli. It's in the middle of the garment district and it will definitely be on my list from now on.

Adorable mini knitted sweaters saying, the right way to knit.

It's always fun to visit. But now I have to go cut up all that silk.

 

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AQS Lancaster Quilt Show

It was a relatively quick visit this year. I never made it past the first floor. "Bailey" was displayed in a great place. You couldn't miss her. I did a bit of shopping and bought a bunch of Peppered cottons. I've been working a lot with solids lately. These shot cottons by Pepper Corey remind me of silk.

 

The other fabrics that I have recently acquired, I have earmarked for clothes for Henry - lined shorts and/or pants. I think they will look cute with a contrasting cuff, when they are turned up.

 

And I bought these mini hair bands. They are perfect for keeping bobbins tidy. I heard you can buy them in the baby department of some big box stores. They were inexpensive enough at the show.

Most of the time I was at the show, I spent connecting with friends and women I've met in my workshops. And I had a great visit with Fiona, the owner of Wonderfil threads. She has become a great mentor to me. Ooh, I just love thread collections. This is rayon.

I'm heading to NYC this week to stock up on silk. Lots of kits to make up for a workshop at the end of the month.

 

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Good News x3

They say bad things happen in threes. I think good things happen in threes too. Or at least they should.

The best news was that my friend Lynne Laino won the Beringer Great Steak Challenge cooking contest. I met her at my quilt guild. She had never made a quilt, but just loved them. ( She has since become a bonafide quilter.) She has been entering cooking contests for quite some time and wins from time to time. Whenever our guild has an auction, she donates a meal! It is a heavily contested item and brings in lots of money.

Her best buddies made the announcement at out meeting today and presented her with a huge bouquet of flowers and a bottle of Beringer wine. She won $25,000. You can find her winning recipe HERE.

 

#2.

March 15th is National Quilting Day. To celebrate The quilt Show is making all of its shows and episodes available for FREE! Celebrate International Quilting Day with me and TheQuiltShow.com beginning Friday, March 14 through Sunday, March 16.

Everyone who signs on to TheQuiltShow.com will have FREE access to over 160 WebTV shows featuring some of the top quilting instructors in the world. You can also enter the TQS prize drawing with a grand prize of a BERNINA 550QE and wonderful fabric prizes. So check in at www.thequiltshow.com on Friday, March 14, and enjoy the shows and exploring The Quilt Show website. You can start with my show, Episode #811.”

#3

Kickstarter is a website that helps to raise money for entrepreneurs and their products. A few weeks ago I decided to be a backer for one of those projects - a spunky little quilter blossoms in Kristy's Quilt by Brandy Lynn Maslowski. It's a children's book written to encourage young people to quilt. Here's the link: Kristy's Quilt

The reward for being a backer is that you are rewarded with the product that is being developed based on how much you invest. I am going to receive a hard backed copy of "Kristys Quilt" when it is published. It will be the first children's book in my quilting library.

The good news is that Brandy has reached her funding goal! Yay! But you can still invest if you would like. Check it out.

 

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Home!

Re-entry is tough.  Going from wearing shorts and sandals to below freezing weather hasn't been fun, but no one here in PA is giving me any sympathy. I get it, but give a girl a break.

 

On our drive home from Key West, I had the pleasure of visiting with the Coral Springs Quilt Guild. What a nice group of ladies. It may have been the last time I share my Mexican tile quilts with a guild.  Silk is taking over my life.

 

We had a great workshop on Saturday with lots of creativity going on designing blocks.

 

 Without a fancy quilt design program, we made a virtual quilt out of everyone's block.  It was so much fun to see the excitement as we put everyone's quilt "on the design wall".

 

 Decisions can then be made about changing fabrics, design or layouts. 

I can't wait to see some quilts.

  Here are some of them:

 

 

 

 

 

Boy, do I miss Florida!