I've been blogged!

John from Big Rig Quilting gave me a mention on his blog. Check it out!

Someone is quilting...

... but it isn't me!

Natasha has been following my quilt along and used one of my designs in her border. Check it out!

What did I do today instead of quilting?

I saw another waterfall:

And a bear:

And another bear:

I actually saw nine bears and an uncounted number of waterfalls today, but sadly the upload speed on the wireless in my condo won't let me show them all to you.

Tomorrow, I don't think I will see any more bears or any more waterfalls. I leave before sunrise to fly to Utah to film Quilt It! I promise to take photos and share them with you.

An adventure + a give-away!

Remember my love of all things tablerunner-ish?

This new series is my cup of tea!

I am thrilled to announce a new fall pattern series:

Starting today, there will be a give-away for 2 free workshops.

· Start date: August 18th Thursday
· End Date/winner announced: August 21st Sunday

Go to Patchwork Posse and leave a comment on the post on the front page for one chance to win.

Want more than one entry? Leave another comment to let us know you tweeted.

· Winner can be from anywhere worldwide since it is an online workshop!!

So, what are you winning?

· Who are the designers?

· Becky's blog: http://patchworkposse.com/blog

· Wendy's blog: http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/

· My blog: http://www.higheredhands.blogspot.com/

· Kari's blog: http://freshcutquilts.blogspot.com/

· Rugs & Runners Online Workshop. For 4 months, a new pattern for a Table Runner + an adjustment for a Mug Rug will be posted. These are exclusive patterns by super talented designers! Each month the patterns will feature a different season. The workshop site is available 24/7 allowing you to sew on your own time and in your own home. Besides the patterns you will have access to a gallery to post your photos, a forum to ask questions, and a community of worldwide members. Don’t miss out on these great patterns by your favorite designers!

I will be teaching my pattern in November. To whet your appetite, check out the lovely fabrics I will be using:

While you are entering and posting and tweeting, I will be hiking somewhere in the Great Smoky Mountains (vacation-- whee!!!) and seeing more lovely sights like the waterfall below:

(The child in the photo is not one of mine: he just happened to get caught in the photo)

Design Wall Monday

I actually have something on my design wall!





It is a dreary rainy day here in NY, so the photo is not great. Sorry!

In a few weeks I will be filming an episode of Quilt It, a longarm quilting show on QNNtv.com, and these are my samples. I just finished the applique and piecing and will start quilting them in the morning.

How will I qulit them? Stay tuned.

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Please check out my free-motion quilting videos.

What are you doing today?

Did anyone else sing that as a choir warm up exercise? We did the mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi and he-he-he-he-he-he-he and then added words.

I'm on some serious deadlines and not getting much sleep so my brain goes weird places like 4th grade choir rehearsal. Sorry.

But, What am I doing today?

I have all three longarm machines fired up.

On the Gammill:



It's a super-secret project I promise to show you later. I am adoring every second of it and will have to make another one just for me.

On the HQ 24 Fusion:



It's a semi-secret project I promise to show you later.

On the HQ Sweet Sixteen:



It's a scrappy, messy, thready project that I hope to spend a few minutes on tonight if I finish the super-secret quilt and part of the semi-secret quilt in a timely fashion.

Now tell me, what are YOU doing today?

Stop, Drop and Roll, part 8.4

Welcome to week 8 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

Week 7: We practiced some S curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a swirl.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU31 Evergreen.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB501 Evergreen.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is inspired by the view from my sewing room. The entire hillside is covered with ferns. This design combines the fiddlehead and the fern.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

That was the last design! Pick a few and quilt your quilt!