The Sweetest Job Ever

If you asked me what my dream job would be, it would be to teach quilting and be associated with great companies like Handi Quilter.  I'm living that dream!

Some days, though, my job is even sweeter than others.

I am teaching Handi Quilter classes this week at Tomorrow's Treasures in Ocala, FL.  The shop and quilters are, of course, fab!  But there's a little something "above and beyond" about this shop:

IT'S LOCATED NEXT TO A CUPCAKE SHOP!!!!!

What's a quilter to do?

This quilter did this:

And she enjoyed it very much in her hotel room last night!

I can't wait to learn what they will be selling today!

They Know How to Make a Girl Feel Special

For about a decade, I've taught several times a year at Bits N Pieces in Pelham, NH.  These folks are like family.

Aren't they a friendly bunch?

They have a very active longarm quilting club and members of that club pulled together a sweet surprise for me:  each made a copy of one of my quilt patterns, Arbor, and quilted it with techniques I taught them over the years.  They interrupted my trunk show with some show and tell of their own:

We grabbed an outdoor photo between the raindrops:

Cutie Quilt: Sweet Tooth

One of my favorite Cutie Patterns is Sweet Tooth.  Apparently it's one of your favorites, too, because it has already beaten two other quilts and is still in the running for the Cutie Madness contest.

Every Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Veterans' Day I start piecing a patriotic quilt for Quilts of Valor.  A few weeks ago I pulled fabric for my Veterans' Day QOV:

Then the fun piecing began.  One of the fabrics I chose was a batik from Pat Sloan's Sunday Drive line.

After I finished strip-piecing all of my blocks and set them into my quilt, the REAL fun began -- RIBBON CANDY QUILTING!!!!

I quilted row after row after row of ribbon candy and it made me deliriously happy!  If you want to learn to quilt ribbon candy, check out my Craftsy Class.

This quilt is ready to be delivered to Quilts of Valor for distribution to a service-man or -woman.  

On Ringo Lake, Part 1 -- A Quiltville Mystery

Turkey.  Stuffing.  Gravy.  Family around the table.  The chattering of small children.  These are all annual Thanksgiving rituals.  The ritual extends to the next day when I start Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery quilt!

This year it's called On Ringo Lake.  I was able to finish step one in one day!

Check out everyone's progress HERE.  

I can't wait until next week's clue.  I'll be late but hope to catch up before Clue 3 is released!

Cutie Quilt: Share and Share Alike

I have been playing with my walking foot on my home machine lately so I pulled out some Dreamfield fabric (affiliate link*) and pieced a Share and Share Alike Cutie Quilt just so I could quilt it.  That's perfectly normal, right?  Lie to me.

The pattern calls for fat eighths and border fabric, but I had a half-yard pack.  I cut the blocks as instructed and pieced a border and binding from the rest of the half-yard pack.

I've always been intrigued by quilting spirals.  Fortunately, the fabulous Pat Sloan taught me how to quilt a spiral with my walking foot in her Teach Me to Machine Quilt book! (affiliate link*)

I threaded Hedwig, my HQ Stitch 710 machine, with my FabuLux Giggle thread

and started quilting my spiral!

This quilt is now bound and has already been given away.  A sweet woman in my church is confined to a wheelchair.  This quilt was the perfect size for her lap.  She loved it and that works for me, because I love her.
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*If you purchase something using an affiliate link I may, at no additional cost to you, receive a small commission to help keep the quilty love flowing.

This & That from Jillily Studio Blog Tour

I am so thrilled that today is my day on the Blog Tour for This and That from Jillily Studio for PennyRose Fabrics! 

I just returned home from the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas.  Daylight savings time plus dropping temperatures in upstate New York have me yearning for some brightness and cheer in my life.  I swoon over every piece of fabric that Jill has ever designed but This and That is especially wonderful because of the text on some of the prints.  It is an absolutely bright and cheerful line!

I chose a pattern that would contrast a white background with the luscious prints.  As a machine quilting teacher, the design of the quilt doesn't end with the pieced top.  I used wool batting which has loft to help show the contrast between the quilted and unquilted areas.  I chose geometric and organic quilting designs and used white thread throughout.

I'm always asked "How do you know what to quilt on your quilt top?"  I thought I'd show you how I decided on the quilting patterns for this quilt.

STEP ONE:  Decide where the ribbon candy quilting will go.

I'm very serious about this.  I think ribbon candy quilting is the most perfect machine quilting design in the whole quilting world.  When I look at a quilt, my first decision is "Where does the ribbon candy quilting go?"  In this quilt, it went in the inner border and sashings:

This is a 3-inch border which is a little wide for plain ribbon candy, so I added some loops inside each ribbon to fill the space well.

STEP TWO:  Pick a background design.

After I placed the ribbon candy, I added feathers in the background squares.  The feathers give the background a really rich texture:

STEP THREE:  Throw in some high-contrast texture.

This entire quilt is bordered by a three-inch checkerboard.  I wanted to quilt the border, but not distract from the beautiful prints.  I chose to stitch continuous curve in each square.  This simple design stands out beautifully next to the densely quilted ribbon candy:

STEP FOUR:  Frame what you want to feature.

The last decision I had to make for the machine quilting was "What do I do with the large star in the middle of the quilt?"  I decided to leave a one-inch unquilted border around each star point and to fill the middle with a swirling pattern:

I thoroughly enjoyed working with this fabric and quilting this quilt.  It is now on my sofa offering some much needed cheer in my dark and dreary house:

Check out each stop on the blog tour for This and That by Jillily Studio.

Tuesday 11/7/17 -- The Clever Quilt Studio -- Crystal Delaney -- http://cleverquiltstudio.com/
Wednesday 11/8/17 – Ameroonie Designs – Amy Chappell – www.amerooniedesigns.blogspot.com
Thursday 11/9/17 – Debby Brown Quilts – Debby Brown – higheredhands.blogspot.com
Friday 11/10/17 – That’s-Sew-Kari – Kari Steiger – thats-sew-kari.blogspot.com

MAIL CALL: The Letter "I"

The simple letter "I" doesn't make an exciting postcard, but you can't spell R-O-C-K-E-T-S-H-I-P without it!

I stitched the "I" down with FabuLux Cloudy Skies so it would contrast with the turquoise fabric:

I chose FabuLux Wisteria for the satin stitch because I wanted to add more colors to this card:

My "I":

Ready to mail:

Next week I'll finish this series with the "P"!