Sneak Peek

I am writing a new book for my Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tools.  That's right, I said tools. Tomorrow a smaller 6" Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tool will be available. I have designed six Cut Loose Patterns for this new ruler as well and the 6" trim tool will also be featured in my new book that will be available in spring 2015, published by Landauer Publishing www.landauercorp.com.

Here is the first quilt I finished for the book. It may be the cover, but who knows, those decisions are made then changed, or not. The blocks are created using the new 6" Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tool. I used batik scraps and fat quarters with a solid white on white print to make the blocks. Everything in this quilt is from my stash. I love scrap quilts so other than placement of batiks in bright colors and white, the strips are just sewn in random order.

Solomon's Puzzle Curvy Log Cabin Quilt

I didn't have a piece of fabric big enough so I just cut some long strips of stash batiks, stripped them together, and wella! I had a quilt back. Longarm qulting by Alta Miele at Red Hen Fabrics www.redhenfabrics.com here in Marietta GA.

From Atlanta to Fredericksburg with the Sewing Expo

Quilting LIVE (the Sewing and Quilt Expo) was a huge success this past weekend in Atlanta. There were workshops, vendors and fantastic stage presentations with celebrity quilters like Mark Lapinski and Maryann Fons and Liz Porter. The quilts on exhibit were fantastic, so many quilts with such wonderful, imaginative designs and colors.

I was fortunate to be invited to do a stage presentation even though I am not the celebrity that Mark, Maryann and Liz are known to be. I was pleased to have a large audience and even hearty applause at the conclusion. I showed my Cut the Cake Hexies quilt that I brought along for my Saturday morning workshop. Here I am with Laura Meadows (left) and Tara Bartlett (right) at the end of my talk.

The next stop for the Sewing and Quilt Expo...Fredericksburg, VA, October 2-4  www.sewingexpo.com. I am teaching Curvy Log Cabin and Cut the Cake Hexies there, so sign up soon to get a seat in the workshop. I was in Fredericksburg last year and it is a great facility with many close by hotels. Gather up a couple of friends and take a mini-vacation to sew, sew, and shop. Quilting is in the air and there is much fun to be had by all.

September - Childhood Cancer Awareness month

It;s September and once again it is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. Until my granddaugher was diagnosed with leukemia at age 13 I had no idea that the drugs to treat children with cancer are different than the drugs to treat children. Children must have different drugs and not enough research is done to find and develop those drugs. We support the Rally Foundation www.rallyfoundation.org, a non-profit that specifically raises money for this research.  They also host special events for the children to help give a little sunshine to the struggles these brave children face every day.

I just gave 4 quilts to the Rally Foundation for their twice annual fundraising auctions. I am grateful for everything they have done for my granddaughter and all the other children at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

Madeline was diagnosed almost 6 years ago and because of other people's generosity her cancer is treated with a new drug, Gleevac, that keeps her white count in normal levels. Madeline is now a sophomore at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and active with other GT cancer survivors. Here is a picture of the fundraiser they are helping to sponsor on campus. Madeline is wearing the blue shirt.

Recently there was a book published with words of wisdom from children living with cancer. Here is Madeline's contribution...a letter she wrote about how she has learned to live with cancer.

Sister's Reunion

I have 3 sisters. We live in each time zone, I am in Eastern, Lynne is in Illinois (central), Janet Houts my co-quilter is in Idaho (mountain) and Gail is in California (pacific). Every few years we have a "sister's reunion". Last week we were in Illinois visiting Lynne.

One of our events was a visit to Her Majesty's English Tea Room in Dunlap IL. We had a british Tea for lunch and then spent some time looking at everything in the gift shop. There were full size cardboard cutouts of the royal family. I thought about getting a photo with William and Katherine, but finally decided on a selfie with the queen. She looks real in the photo. Amazing! I felt kind of silly taking the selfie because I have short arms and it was hard to get the camera far enough away to actually take the shot.

After the tea room we went next door to an amazing knit shop and we all bought yarn to knit something since Gail is a master knitter and knit designer. From there we went to a store front down the street and discovered some of our sister authors, Joanie Holton and Melanie Greseth, for Landauer Publishing www.landauercorp.com were having a once a year "clean out the studio sale". Their business is Tailormade by Design and their website is: http://www.sewquiltcraft.com/. They also design for Benartex www.benartex.com and like us, enjoy designing quilts with Michele D'Amore's fantastic fabric collections. One more thing we have in common with this other set of sisters, their mother taught them to quilt at a very young age (preschool) just as our mother taught us.