My Favorite Color -- in the Sky!

Just a few minutes ago, about 5:30 pm PST, I happened to glance up from the book I was reading and saw a pretty colorful sunset. Normally, I get so totally engrossed in a book that flight attendants have to touch my shoulder in order to hand me a drink, so you know it was a really spectacular sunset!

Especially since I am reading a really good book! I'm a big fan of the Agent Pendergast series written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and have started another series by them about a physicist named Gideon Crew, who also happens to step in occasionally to save the world. I'm about 3/4 finished with "Gideon's Corpse", the second book in the series.

But back to the sunset:

I ran to my purse, grabbed my camera and dashed outside; snapped these three pictures real quick and within a couple of minutes, the colors just faded away....lucky shots! It always pays to know where one's camera is!

Continuing On with "Posey Patch" (Part 2)

Had an afternoon this time, so made some components to finish the "Posey Patch" pieced blocks:

This unit combines squares and triangles to surround the centers that I've already made...

I really like the way this is going to look in the quilt!

My first finished unit -- couldn't wait to see how it was going to look!

After making 20 of the pink and burgundy units and 20 tan and cream four patches, the blocks are ready to be sewn together. I used several different tan fabrics in the four patches and wanted the various prints distributed through the quilt top, so didn't run the risk of mixing them up during the block piecing.

I laid everything out on the floor and then transported one block at a time to the sewing machine. This is a pretty big finished block, 16", so I used my 18" x 24" cutting mat to move the pieces. I use this method a lot when it is important not to get things mixed up.

Dan and I are leaving for Salt Lake City tomorrow, so I won't be doing any more sewing this week. Perhaps some sight seeing? And definitely a wedding! My last wedding pictures turned out awful, but maybe I'll have better luck this time....

Random Pictures from Travels

Clearing the camera card again -- after a lengthy "blog vacation", I found that I had lots of pictures that hadn't been posted, but I thought were worthy of sharing. I'll intersperse them in among my sewing posts:

One of my trips this fall was in November; I taught at The Fabric Center in Morris IL for two days and then spent a night with my friend Carol in the Chicago area. From there I went to Grand Rapids MI and Lansing MI to teach for Gall Sewing and then back to Chicago to spend a few more days with Carol.

One of our nights out was at a restaurant on a street that looked like an autumn wonderland with all the colored lights in the trees -- had to get a picture of that!

A couple of weeks ago, Dan and I spent a few days in Lake Arrowhead. It's about a two hour drive through some small communities in the high desert area. We were driving through Littlerock and saw this sign -- what an odd combination! Ski gloves and beef jerky?

It was the sign right next to it, though, that really confused us!

A few miles later we saw a sign that announced that the speed limit was 24-1/2 mph. I wanted to get a picture of that, too, but Dan was driving too fast for me to get it....

Continuing On with "Posey Patch"

Had a little bit of time on the second day of working on the blocks, between a dental appointment (ugh) and a mani-pedi (hooray!):

Putting my new "Izzy" through her paces by sewing the flying geese to plain squares. I helped introduce this machine to Brother dealers at their Back 2 Business convention last August; if you would like to read my review of Isodore at the convention, click here.

One of the first things I do when sitting down at a machine unfamiliar to me is to figure out how to get an accurate pressed 1/4". I think it has something to do with my vision, but if I use a 1/4" foot, the blocks always turn out smaller than desired. I just take too big a seam allowance with the 1/4" feet provided by machine manufacturers.

So I use a regular foot and adjust my needle position until I have a good pressed 1/4", not stitched 1/4". Accuracy also depends on the fabrics and threads involved, so I always do a little test to make sure that my stitching is as accurate as I can possibly get it. A consistently accurate seam allowance makes star points a whole lot easier with much less ripping involved!

This is what my block center looked like before I chose the fabrics to complete it....

I liked the way the breast cancer benefit fabric showed words in some of the little squares....

Here are the rest of the fabrics -- more of the floral print, a tone on tone pinky-rose print, a burgundy and the creamy dot background.....

....and here is where I am at the end of my short sewing time -- all the centers done and in their appropriate places. Now I'm off to get sparkly fingers and toes!

Back in the Sewing Room!

After last autumn's busy season of traveling and teaching (I was home exactly two days in October!), I am happy to get back to my sewing room. I have two large tables where I do a lot of my away-from-the-machine work -- they're now cluttered with bags of fabrics, patterns, notions and books that I have either purchased or been given while I've been gone. Scattered in with some of these bags are fabrics pulled from my stash for consideration in future projects. In other words, quite a mess.

I'm also looking over some of my works in progress and deciding on a hopeful timetable for completion. One of these UFO's is a 56-1/2" square quilt called "Posey Patch" from the April 2011 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. This quilt features nine 16" pieced blocks, four of which are appliqued. I had pieced the four blocks last year and given them to my friend Tiffany Hayes of Needle in a Hayes Stack to work her hand applique magic. Tiffany likes to have a bit of handwork to do in the evening while she is spending time with her family and she does beautiful work.

She gave the blocks back to me months ago and so I put this quilt at the top of my to-sew list. The applique is not exactly like the pattern in the magazine; we changed it up a bit for a more sophisticated look.

I also have a new sewing machine to play with, the Laura Ashley Limited Edition "Isodore" from Brother, so now it's time to shove a stack of "stuff" onto the floor and piece the other five blocks:

The little four-patch in the center combines a green print with a green-on-white polka dot. That is surrounded by a peachy-pink floral ; the corners are a brown/blue/pink butterfly print that is one of the fabrics from a quilt for a cure line by Marcus Brothers. Interspersed among the butterflies are words in script, such as "Hope", "Kisses", "Friends" and "Love".

Next, the pattern called for 20 flying geese to measure 2" x 4" finished. I used the method that takes one large square and four small squares to make 4 units. To make them the size required, one 5-1/4" square of one fabric and four 2-7/8" square of the other were needed.

On each of the smaller squares, a line is drawn from corner to corner to act as a guide for the sewing.

Then two small squares are pinned to one large square, as shown.

I stitched 1/4" on each side of the marked line...


...then used the marked line as a cutting line.












At right, the two resulting pieces after pressing.



I pinned another small square to each of the pieced units and then stitched 1/4" on either side of the marked line.


After cutting on the marked line, pressing and trimming off the notches, I have a pile of little bitty triangles and four flying geese units that measure 2-1/2" x 4-1/2".

When I stitch these to the other block components, the finished size will be 2" x 4".

I first learned this method of sewing flying geese units from Alex Anderson a few years ago and it has become my favorite method for making them. It seems to be easier and more accurate than sewing them one at a time. I even found a ruler that I can consult to determine the sizes of the large square and small squares for various finished sizes of geese. It is called Flying Geese x 4 "No Math" Ruler from Lazy Girl Designs.

After cutting 2-1/2" squares for the corners of the blocks, I stacked them up and was done for the day.

Thinking About Outstanding Summer Dinners!

I've actually been pondering what I'm going to concoct for dinner out of the meatloaf left over from sometime last week, probably something involving pasta? We had pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast, but had a very light homemade soup for lunch so have room for a little bit more of a splurge this evening, perhaps with a nice glass of Pinot Noir.

But thinking about cooking inevitably leads to thinking about eating which, in turn, led to reminiscing about some of the great restaurants that I visited this summer. Dan and I attended the wedding of some very dear friends in Salt Lake City and got to have dinner at a restaurant that I had seen reviewed in a food magazine. It's sort of in the hills above Salt Lake, not right in the city, and it's called Le Caille.

Dan and I and our friends, Steve and Rhonda Lopez (Rhonda owns Nuttall's Fabric Centers; there are 4 locations in Salt Lake) went to the restaurant on an absolutely beautiful night. The temperature was just perfect for eating outside on the patio, so we did.

The appetizers were pretty enough for pictures: two of us had lobster bisque and two, French onion soup.

I got up and took a quick picture between courses; Rhonda looks like she is in deep thought, but Steve and Dan are ready to smile for the camera...

This is the view of the indoor dining from my seat at the table; if you look up on the roof, you can see the outline of the peacocks roosting up there.

Used the closeup function on my camera to see them better.

There were peacocks wandering all over the patio during dinner; we saw one of the baby chicks (I'm not sure if you call baby peacocks chicks or something more specific) fall out of a tree trying to fly to his mom! Fortunately, a rubber plant broke the little guy's fall and then one of the waitstaff rescued him, took him up a flight of stairs and leaned out a window to put the baby right back in the tree so he could try again -- second time was successful -- hooray!

A few days after we got home from Salt Lake, I flew up to Eugene OR to meet with Jerry Tippetts and his daughter Stacy, two of the owners of the Sew Steady company. Sew Steady makes the acrylic extension tables and cabinet inserts that we all use to make our sewing and quilting so much easier.

I'll be in the Sew Steady booth at Quilt Market in the fall; I'll be splitting my time between their booth and the Brother Int'l booth, so this was a planning session to see how our product lines fit together and what kind of synergy we could create to make Market fun and profitable.

My eyes are always open for new ways to help quilters do things more easily; while I was at Sew Steady, we found that using their new polish kit to keep the acrylic surface "slippy" works really well in combination with the Batt Scooters! I know slippy isn't a word, but slippery doesn't describe it, nor does slick -- it's just a really smooth surface that the quilt just glides on!

Of course, if you're gonna plan, you gotta eat, right?

We had a marvelous dinner at the King Estate Winery, located about a 20 or 30 minute drive out of Eugene. I ordered halibut with fresh pea puree and it was so good! I ate about half of it that night, took the other half with me and ate it for breakfast the next day, garlic and all -- brushed my teeth about four times before I went to the Sew Steady offices that day...

Here are a couple of pictures I took on the way in to dinner; the Oregon landscape is so beautiful -- all that green!

Well, enough daydreaming -- I probably ought to think about making some food instead of just thinking about it!

Holler Out to New York City!

I'm scheduled to be at Hartsdale Fabrics in New York City October 1-3 and the classes aren't full yet -- darn! I've never been to New York, other than stopping at the airport on my way to someplace else, and I am really excited about being there and meeting quilters from NYC and environs.

If you happen to be in the area, there's a wine and cheese reception that includes a trunk show on October 1 at 4pm. How fun is that and there isn't even a charge for it; they just need to have you register so they know how many will be there! And there are two fun quilty classes -- my Tequila Sunrise and a kaleidoscope piecing class that I teach using only one pin for the whole darn thing. I've done Simply Quilts episodes on both of these classes so if you're in the area, come sew with us!

Here's a link to Teri Lucas' blog about the classes including pictures of the projects -- there are even kits so you don't have to bring much to class, just your basic sewing supplies!

Would love to see you there!

Appletree Quilting & Viking Center -- Columbia MO

My last stop on my five state trip was Appletree Quilting & Viking Center, owned by Millie Kaiser. Millie has been a Viking dealer for over 26 years and has a big, beautiful shop in Columbia. I flew into St. Louis MO and Ann Regal, Millie's Viking district manager, picked me up from the airport and we got to know each other during the hour and a half drive to the shop.

I knew that Millie had just added a large classroom space to the shop, but even knowing that, I wasn't prepared for just HOW big! The space includes a kitchen and two bathrooms as well as the spacious classroom that housed 30 people and their sewing machines for my two day Fluff & Stuff class.

The classroom was decorated with Christmas quilts of all sizes and shapes:

But it didn't take me long to find the Halloween fabric!


Had to get some closeups of the cute panels....

I wandered through the store, taking pictures of the fabric and contemplating what might have to go home with me....

I thought the store was very well laid out; as I was walking through, I would be diverted by a display and then drawn into yet another area with goodies to explore...

Next: The animal prints in the front window! If you saw the Africa panel and fabric I bought at Shiisa Quilts last month, you know there was no escape for me......if you didn't see it, click here.

Back to Business, the Brother International convention -- Nashville TN

On the morning of Day 21 of my 28 day trip, it was back to the airport in Lincoln NE, about an hour and a half drive from Kearney. I hopped on a Delta flight to Nashville TN where the Brother International Sewing Machine Company's annual convention, Back to Business, was to be held. I was very excited to be part of the team introducing a new machine to the Laura Ashley line. It's a beautiful machine with a very feminine look -- it IS a Laura Ashley, after all -- and she's PINK!

I had been sewing on a Brother Quattro machine for about a year when I switched to the NX-2000, the wider armed of the two Laura Ashley machines. I wanted to learn this machine because I thought it would be a really good machine for quilters. It's very well equipped, coming with the standard accessories you would expect a sewing machine to have, plus a single hole throat plate, three free motion feet, a quarter inch foot with guide, a walking foot (although it is a closed sole plate; more on that later in this post) and a good sized extension table. I've had some fun with her, done some piecing and some quilting and been very happy with my results.


The Laura Ashley machines and the Quattro (and probably other Brother machines as well; these are the ones that I have spent quality time with, though, and know the most about) are equipped with what I think is the easiest and most reliable needle threader in the business. If the sewer uses the needle up button on the face of the machine rather than the hand wheel to position the needle, the threader will work every single time, even on slippery and fragile threads that I am accustomed to threading manually.



The new Laura Ashley machine is a super addition to that line, coming in at the top. It will be equipped similarly to the NX-2000 (the one I call "Laura"); the main differences that I could see immediately were that it includes an embroidery module and doesn't include the extension table. However, I think it has the same footprint as my Laura, so my Sew Steady table should fit both.

I think she's beautiful! And did I mention that she's PINK?

Her name is Isodore; I am told that that is the name of one of the little flowers that frequently appears in Laura Ashley designs. As I write this, I am in Salt Lake City at the Ivy Place location of Nuttall's Sewing Centers, a Brother dealer. We are planning to un-box the new machine this morning --Rhonda and I are calling her Izzy!

Now I am by no means an embroidery expert, so I was partnered with Carol Bell, one of the Brother educators, in the Isodore classroom. She explained all of the embroidery related features of the machine to the Brother dealers attending our seminar. Carol and I gave the same 1-1/2 hour presentation 10 times! We got pretty good at it!

This is one of the 50 Laura Ashley embroidery designs that are installed on Isodore; I played a bit and saw many other designs. Brother machines are known for embroidering Disney designs, but that is not the focus of this machine. None of the Disney designs are included with this model nor is the machine Disney card compatible; however, Disney designs are available from ibroidery.com and can be purchased from there, downloaded and stitched out on Isodore.

Carol also pointed out some of the other things that come with the machine: a circular sewing attachment, a kit for bobbin work, software for monogramming, etc. I'll have a better idea of the whole package when Isodore starts arriving in stores.

What I got excited about is that in my opinion the only walking foot a quilter needs is one that has an open toed sole plate; I only use my walking foot for straight quilting and if I can't see it, I can't quilt it. A closed toe sole plate blocks my view and therefore I think it's pretty much useless for the type of sewing that I do.

So I was talking with Dean Schulman, the President of the U.S. branch of Brother Int'l; when asked what I would do to broaden the appeal of the Laura Ashley machines to quilters, I said that I would come out with a machine specifically accessorized for quilters that included an open toed walking foot. He said, "We can do that!"; they had a few meetings about it while convention was still in session and on the last day Dean told me that it was a done deal -- how is that for a quick response from a very big company!



I got so carried away about the walking foot that I almost didn't show you the wheeled trolley that also comes with Isodore so that we can take her everywhere with us! I know that the trolley that I have for my Laura has really come in handy for retreats and other places I have wanted to take her.


During our seminars, dealers got to play with Isodore -- they embroidered out a quilting design in the center of a piece of muslin, layered it with backing and batting and then played with free motion.










I showed a couple of things that I had done to embellish the same embroidery design and then dealers got to play in a creative way....



Loved this free motion -- really jazzed up the very basic embroidery design! I photographed a few of these, but there were so many individual variations....














How fun is this!
















This morning I actually get to look at everything, set up the machine and sew -- Hooray!!