Spring Quilt Market and Some Free Stuff

I promised to share my experience at the Spring Quilt Market. I have to apologize for the length of this post, but I hope you'll think it's worth it if you make it to the end.  The show is open only to the trade and it is overwhelming. I flew out to Kansas City to help Martingale promote my book at the Kansas City Convention Center.

 

My first visit to the convention center was during set-up.

Martingale

Riley Blake

Wonderfil Threads

Clothworks  (Fabric)

Michael Miller Fabrics

It is amazing to see the effort and expense that the companies, especially those selling fabrics, put into their booths.

This is Michael Miller's booth after the show opened.  Can you see the circus themed backdrop?  I just love the elephants but after seeing them all  set up, I wonder how they shipped them.

It is really surreal and a pinch yourself moment, to see your name on the cover of a book.  Martingale aka That Patchwork Place has been so supportive and wonderful to work with.  Look at the end cap with my book projects!!!

And here's the banner that was hanging during my demo.It is 3 feet wide!  I got to bring it home :) 

 Where shall I hang it?  Hmmmm

 Everyone was very nice and so friendly.  I was star struck. 

Karen Combs and me in front of her new fabric, Midnight Blue.

Marcia Derse and her gorgeous fabric based on her hand dyed fabric.  I tried to get a sample.  Visit her website for a better look at that fabric:  www.marciaderse.com or visit your local quilt shop. 

Do I look like a shrimp or what?  Who knew Amy Butler was so tall?

I do love Susan Cleveland. She was generous in both her professional advice to me and she also gave me one of her Prairie Pointers. When I told her that I renamed this folded piece of fabric a crown in my book, she loved it. But I don't think she'll jump on the bandwagon.  I will definitely experiment with it.  If you want one of your own, visit her website:

www.piecesbewithyou.com

I expected to see lots of pattern companies.  I loved this company.  Do you think it was because they had a bicycle in their booth?

www.HemmaDesign.com

 

A few companies gave me some freebies that I want to send to one of you, my blog readers. 

It includes a 1 yard package of Trans Web, one of my favorite fusible web products, made by HTC Handler. They were at the show.  I shared with them my consternation that I can only find their product on-line at Jo-Anns.  So they gave me some so I would go away(LOL)!

I do love this pattern from Hemma  for a carrier for a bag to hang on the handlebars of your bicycle.  I really want to make one for myself, but I promised to give it away.

 Do you think I can fit Bailey in it?

I went to a talk about life in Bali supported by the fabric company, Kaufmann.  It was fascinating plus they gave me a fat quarter of one of their artisanal batiks.

There's also a fabric tote from Andover Fabrics made from one of their latest fabric lines, some jumbo rick rack, a clear tote from Eleanor Burns, a plexi neon ruler and a few other goodies.

All of these items are going to be given to one lucky winner.  Leave a comment and become a follower if you are not already.  Make sure if you are a "no-comment blogger" that you leave me your e-mail.  I'll be picking a winner on Friday.

I don't know how many miles I walked going up and down all the aisles,

 but my feet are happy that I'm home.  And I want to send a big thank you to Susan Brubaker Knapp from www.bluemoonriver.com who gave me lots of tips for maximizing my visit.

Wednesday's Wanderings #20 - Walking Therapy

I missed last week's WW.  I knew it would happen eventually and was just hoping it would not be a slippery slope and the end of my WWs.  But my friend Hattie told me to take a Mulligan.  In golfing terms, that's a "do over".  And that's just one of the things I have learned on my daily morning walks at Ridley Creek State Park.

.  The park  was an estate at one point with a stable, several stone houses where the help lived and a mansion.  Most mornings, rain or shine, heat or snow, I meet at least one friend at this woodsy park.  We walk a paved 5 mile loop, solve all the world's problems, share recipes, stories about our families and talk about crazy TV shows.  Often, it is my therapy session.

As we enter the loop part of the walk, we cross the creek.  There is wisteria growing up a few of the trees.  It is amazingly beautiful.  Or I should say it WAS beautiful.  A few years ago, I guess they decided that the wisteria was invasive and they cut it down.  We were devastated.

This year it has finally started to return.  It will take a few more years for it to return to its former glory.  I hope that the park workers find something else to do to occupy their time and will not cut it down again.

 

So the return of the wisteria has become the topic of this week's WW. 

I decided to make 3-dimensional wisteria leaves.  I do enjoy making "fabric foliage" and like it when it adds to the depth of a piece.  Some of you have asked how I create them.

I started with a green batik.  Batiks are tightly woven and therefore don't fray as much as some other cottons.

I iron paper backed fusible web to half of the batik.

Remove the paper and fuse the fabric to itself.

Then I iron a piece of freezer paper to the fused double sided batik.  If I wanted all of the leaves to be identical, I would have made a template to draw the leaf shapes.  I also could have cut out the leaves free hand without the freezer paper.  This time, I didn't want the leaves to be identical, but I wanted them to be about the same size.  So I drew the shapes and then cut them out.

The freezer paper peels off easily.

 Then I use free motion quilting to attach the leaves.  I don't get too close to the edges because I want them to curl up a bit.

This is my finished block.  I used the buttons that I had and quite truthfully, it looks like grapes, not wisteria.  The leaves are not grape leaves.  It's really all about the color.  As soon as I can, I will look for some lilac colored buttons.

I am heading to the wholesale quilt show in Kansas City today.  I hope to share anything that I find that's new and interesting. I'll blog is I can.   Maybe I'll find some lilac colored buttons!

Happy Anniverary Calico Cutters

This week was the 25th anniversary of my quilt guild, Calico Cutters.  We had a celebration during our annual auction.  Our auction is our biggest fundraiser, which is a necessity to help pay for our monthly speakers. 

Here are a bunch of our past presidents who are still members. Thank goodness for volunteers.

Our favorite auctioneer, Christine Kamon did a fabulous job, infusing humor with her money raising skills.

And a bunch of silent auction items.

To help celebrate our 25th, we had a postcard challenge/swap. 

 We had 36 participants and the postcards were all so creative.

This one with the birds is mine.  The threads in the background are couched. 

 It's my new favorite technique.

 The sunflower postcard belongs to Kelly Meanix of www.pinkadotquilts.blogspot.com 

It looks a little familiar.

 Linda McCormick's awesome first postcard.

I didn't make a note of who made the waterlily, but it's wonderful.

 Great flowers by Christine.

And one more flower by Terry Kramzar.

I wish I could share them all.

Since it was a swap, each postcard was put in a paper lunch bag and everyone  who brought a postcard, got to o home with one.

Kudos to everyone, especially our members who broke out of their comfort zone.

So what happened to Wednesday's  Wanderings this week?  I am hanging my head in shame.  In a few days I am leaving for the Spring wholesale quilt market.  This year it is in Kansas City.  The good news is that I have several opportunities to promote my book.  On Thursday, I am doing a Schoolhouse.  This is a 1/2 hr presentation in front of about 100 shop owners.  For my presentation, I decided to show the unique way I construct my pieces, in addition to the projects in the book.  I chose one of my favorite photos:

From L to R: My BIL, my husband and my FIL, fishing at our lake house in the Poconos.

and created an embellished beauty in 8 steps.  They call these step outs.  It's like when you watch a cooking show.  They put an unbaked casserole in the oven and pull out a finished one.  This is the finished piece.

It would make a great Father's Day present.  Hmmmmm.

I Love Blue

Blue is my favorite color. I love everything blue. I try to control myself and not make every room in my house blue. Sometimes blue is a popular color for decorating and sometimes it is not. It seems to go in and out of favor. It is the same with quilting fabric. So I try to keep a nice assortment in my studio stash so that I can always find some. I have even filled a big plastic bag with lots of my blue and white fabric with the intention of making a few scrap quilts.

When I saw the newest Karen Combs' fabric collection called Midnight Blue, Riverwoods, I knew I had to have some. I loved every single fabric. And they were perfect for the winter themed project for the The Quilt Life that I had been asked to design.

Here's a little sneak peek. I had a lot of fun doing some embellishing. I found some gorgeous rick rack in an etsy shop. I couched metallic thread to get the feel of snow. Look for the entire project this fall.

Today is also the day I am to choose the winner of Sew Embellished! I put the names in a hat and pulled out the winners name. Congratulations to:

Martina of Basil, Switzerland!!

Starting tomorrow, the book blog tour will continue. Visit Kelly at

www.pinkadotquilts.blogspot.com

Wednesday's Wanderings #19 - Here Comes the Bride

"Shut up, show up and wear beige!" 

 That's the advice I was given  by my friends as I became mother of the groom.  Keeping my mouth closed has been very hard for me, but I have tried my best.  I can easily show up.  Wearing beige is another story.  To tell you the truth, with about 8 weeks until the wedding, I have still not gone shopping  for my outfit yet.  Can we say procrastination?  Or can we say, maybe I can still lose a few pounds? It's on my to do list.

So I was pleasantly surprised when the bride asked me to take her and her mother to the fabric district in Philly to shop for the makings of a veil.  The fabric district in Philly is a mere shadow of itself.  Every time I go, there are fewer and fewer fabric stores.  They are now replaced by a variety of shops including bicycle shops, a consignment shop and a custom made shoe shop.

We did find a shop that I had never seen before:

As we entered the store, we saw these amazing headpieces that looked like they could have been in theater productions.

The owner, Patricia, said come on in and play.  Try on whatever you want and see what you like. She was so sweet and so helpful that we could not avoid  playing dress-up. Many of the headpieces she created herself.  It was quite an experience for the mother of 2 boys!

Patricia and Loren

 

Patricia was so generous with her knowledge.  Loren's mother bought a lovely, simple headpiece.  Patricia then  explained how to make a veil out of 2 yards of bridal illusion, which was bought for $3.00/yd.  This made Loren very happy.

You cannot go to buy fabric without eating at the 4th Street Deli.  You only have to park your car once.  It's that close.  But you have 3 choices when deciding what to order.

1.  Have a hearty appetite

2.  Share your meal

3.  Bring half of your sandwich home for your husband for dinner

At the end of your meal, they hand you a styrofoam take home box and a warm chocolate chip cookie.  And although you are stuffed at this point, the cakes at the check out counter are so tempting, but could feed a family of 4!