by SIEGLINDE SCHOEN SMITH

My blog has gotten quite a few hits on Sieglinde’s Once Upon a Christmas Night post and since I’ve been working with photos here, I got to thinking about Sieglinde’s Mother Earth and Her Children quilt…?!  As I previously mentioned, I was at the Houston Quilt Festival the year that quilt took top honors.  Hmmm, I MUST have a picture of it somewhere.  Yeh, on my dead laptop and even dead-er camera.  Oooh, wait!  Photobucket?!  So, here it is!!!  Downloaded from Photobucket then uploaded here.  Let’s see how/if this works…?!

Piecefully, Pam

~I am so thankful my workday went by quickly and smoothly! One more day and then I will be off for a while!

and I will be so grateful for the quiet time to finish so many project’s I have hanging over my head!

~this is the beginnings of quilt I am making for my cousin’s best friend’s baby! ~or something like that!   I struggled for a moment to get my mojo going but finally thank the Lord, it hit me and I’ve been working feverishly to get it done.  Should not be too much longer.. and then there is this…

~my scraps to treasure quilt front that must be finished ASAP.. I am so late! Please excuse the wrinkles I should not even tell you how that happened..

~it partly involves this cat cuddling up on it, then being ambushed by his brother, and then a whole big rigmarole ensues.. goodness!

All in all I am so thankful I have a mind that won’t rest and hands that must be kept busy.  It just makes me feel more complete..

Every year, we drive off north to Lake Arrowhead for Thanksgiving. Some years, I take quilts with me and work on them up there. Some years, I take stuff to grade. Or both. It’s not a short drive, usually about 3 hours with the pre-Tday traffic, only 2 and a bit hours on the way back. The long weekend has a number of traditions attached to it, including Tday with another family, with all the turkey, mashed potatoes, the same green bean dish we’ve had forever, and homemade pies (not made by me). We play a word game after dinner and during pie, and then the other family leaves and we all lie around, exhausted at 7 PM, wondering when we can go to sleep. Then Saturday, we repeat the day, except at the other family’s house, with more people. Strange, I know, but this is probably 15 years of tradition.

Last year, we only had the 5 of us: my parents, me, and my two kids. The other family celebrated “down the mountain,” because their matriarch had suffered an aneurysm (and survived). This year, they are back up the mountain. However, the girlchild and I are leaving Friday morning to go to Las Vegas for a soccer tournament, leaving the boychild to fend for himself with his grandparents (not hard). I’m not sure “relaxation” will be part of this trip at all. There’s about 14 hours of driving involved and hotels and Vegas, my favorite (cough) place in the world. I have a ton of grading to do, still, and will be leaving some of it at home, because there’s just not enough hours do get it done. I am taking a bunch of pieces of fabric with me…

because cutting these out doesn’t require a lot of working brain power, and I don’t expect to have much. This is what’s left to be cut out of the smaller quilt. I’ve barely started the larger one (much bigger box).

I’m also taking three sketchbooks (one of each size) and two books (the boychild wants the big one…he can have it when I’m done, or when I get back).

Because I don’t have a cute little phone that always knows where I am and how to get where I need to go, I had to print out maps for all the soccer fields and the hotel. I still need a general map of Vegas so I don’t get completely lost. I need enough money to feed a small troll oops I mean teenaged girl. I still haven’t found my winter hat. It’s OK. We’re not leaving for a few hours.

A variety of people will hang out here to feed cats, pick up mail, watch TV, and do their laundry (or not). The cats will miss us. The dog will go live at the ex’s house; she can’t come with us like usual because she and the parentals’ dog are still not behaving. I have the name of a behavioral person who will help with that when I have time to call her and set that up.

The kids packed their own stuff, which is a nice thing about their being bigger than me. Of course, in the boychild’s case, that meant beating the crap out of his bag(s) to make everything fit.

Somewhat disturbing behavior.

I know I have internet access in Arrowhead, so I can post from there, but we’re not sure about Vegas. One tower has it (extra charge!) and one doesn’t? Or something like that. I may just drive around until I find some. Yeah right. Sorry officer…the middle of the road had free wifi.

Anyway. The holidays are never particularly relaxing for me anyway. Ask me about next weekend and two 8 AM games an hour away. That sounds like fun too. If fun is another word for torture, that is.

House Swappers…I will be posting the official sign-up post on December 7th.  Be deciding what kind of building you want to make, they’ll be first come, first serve.  Check out this post for ideas on what to make.  I think there will probably be only room enough for 2 people to make each category, so 2 people to make schools, 2 people for houses, etc.  So you’ll probably want to think of a second choice, just in case.  Remember, we’re doing detailed buildings here, not vague wonky ones.  And each person will be making 9 blocks, and receiving 9 back.  Enough for a really cute wall hanging size.  So check back on the 7th to get all the details and sign-up early to get your category.  The swap won’t officially start until after the first of the year, so you won’t have to do anything for it before the holidays.  I just want to get everyone signed up and in groups so we can start early in January. 

I finally found the BOM I’m going to do next year.  Of course the pattern book is no longer in print, and they’re listed on Amazon up to $100, waaaaay out of my price range.  But, I was fortunate to find one on ebay for a good price.

There are actually 2 different patterns for each month, so you can pick and choose to make your own personal calendar quilt.  Plus, there are several pages of ‘gallery’ that shows different quilts that people have made, along with some custom blocks to give more ideas and inspiration.

I think if you click on the picture, it should open up bigger so you can see the details better.

I’m glad the whole pattern is in the book, so I don’t have to commit to one of those really expensive BOM programs.  I can use my own fabric, and work on it as I want.  I’m really excited to start.  If it wasn’t so hard to get the pattern book, I would see if anyone else wanted to ‘quilt along’.  There’s a lot of new techniques in this pattern…turned-edge applique, 3D effects…that I’ve never done before, so it will definitely be a challenge.  But I’ll learn a lot too.

And here’s a picture of 1 of 3 baby quilts I’ve been working on, for a very exciting purpose.  More on that later…

I haven’t posted much lately, but I really have been busy.  I’ve got 3 other quilt tops made, but of course on the one sunny day to take pictures, they’re over at my mom’s.  Figures.  We had an all night quilting party the other night and they’re still there.  But I have a few exciting things coming down the pike, so stay tuned…

I want to let you know that I have updated ALL of my blog photos from this Fall’s Houston Quilt Festival!!!  : )  You can click on any Houston photo, quilt or artist’s statement, to view it enlarged and even magnified.  There are some exceptional quilts and you can SEE the detail!!!  Hooray!!!  ; ) It’s amazing!!!  You can see greater detail than I saw in person!  I hope you enjoy…?!

Piecefully, Pam

Do you have unfinished quilts that are just waiting to be quilted?  Have you pulled them off the shelf, unfolded them, wished they would quilt themselves, and then folded them up and put them back on the shelf?

I do that.

As a matter of fact, I still have some quilts that are waiting to be quilted.  The difference is that now they are getting quilted because I have the courage to machine quilt them on my home sewing machine.

Courage…maybe.  But really it’s knowing a few simple techniques for machine quilting that make the difference between beautiful machine quilting and ordinary machine quilting.

You know ordinary machine quilting – the kind of machine quilting where you end up with puckers and tucks sewn in.  Usually on the back of the quilt – but they could be on the front.

Believe me, I feel your pain.  My machine quilting looked exactly like that.  As a matter of fact, you can see a picture of a small part of the back of one of my early machine quilting endeavors:

http://how-to-quilt.com/machine-quilting.php

But things are different now.

A while back, machine quilting expert, Pam Bauer, joined us for an Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation and shared her secrets for beautiful machine quilting.

I listened, and even tried one or two of her techniques on my next few quilts.

But recently I decided I would try more of her techniques to see if it would make a difference.

I shouldn’t have been too surprised – using more of her techniques made a huge difference in my machine quilting.  And it was really easy to start using her techniques.

During her Conversation, we learned about:

• Setting the tension on your sewing machine so your stitches are perfect
• Using some amazing gloves that allow you to guide your quilt as it is quilted
• The difference high quality thread makes, and which are the right threads to use
• How to handle the bulk of your quilt as you move it through your home sewing machine
• And tons more

This was a fantastic Conversation and everyone learned a bunch about machine quilting.  But that was a couple of years ago, and there were techniques I hadn’t tried, some I completely forgot about, and new ones I’ve stumbled across since then.

Since there is a huge interest in machine quilting on our home sewing machines, I decided to gather all of the best techniques I have learned and find useful and present them to our www.How-to-Quilt.com quilters.

Tonight is the night, and the fun begins at 5pm Pacific Time.

I will share the best of the best simple techniques for beautiful machine quilting.  And I will also share my super, special secret weapon for machine quilting.

This weapon has made all the difference in my machine quilting.  It took months for me to break down and try it, and now that I have, I will never be without it on a machine quilted quilt.

You’ll hear all of my easy and best techniques during our Conversation and webinar today, so I hope you will join us:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/machine-quilting.php

If you can’t join us, you can reserve a CD recording of the entire call plus the DVD with all of the video clips.

Happy Quilting!

Penny

I took a really simple approach to this weeks Twilt, “Garden in the Window”. A fused 9″ square of Asian Print was cut into nine 3″ squares and fused in place with even spaces between the squares.  I used verigated quilting thread to machine buttonhole stitch the squares in place. I added another decorative stitch around the edge. After binding I sewed little flowers in the corners.

For more info on the Twilts: Twitter quilts…….Twilts or see all my Twilts : Flickr Twilts Page.

by Ichiko Ogura

This quilt hung next to Floating Lilies Along the Water.  Both are from Japan.  Both are completely hand made.  Beautiful.  ; )

Enjoy your evening.

Piecefully, Pam

It finally arrived. It has been a long wait. This is was one of the best new products I saw at Quilt Market. It should be on the web site soon….

I bet you have been waiting for this post all day haven’t you? It took us a while to get all the logistics of finding winners together, but now we have names of 3 terrific blog hop participants that religiously commented on every blog. They were pooled out of the highest number of commenters that we have ever seen.  So Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for spending the last couple of weeks with us. It has been so rewarding for us to read all your comments about our stories, hear your own stories sparked by what we wrote, see your excitement about the projects and then actually see how many of you have gotten to work and finished many of the hop projects and loaded your photos on the Flickr site.

Here’s a sneak peek at the goods:

Can you believe all those prizes???!!!!!

It was supposed to be a $360 value, split up into 3 prizes.  Everyone was so generous, that we ended up with way more prizes than that!

So here they are…..the big winners:

1st grand prize goes to: Thea M  www.theamccurry.com

2nd grand prize goes to: Arlette from Costa Rica http://arlette0521.blogspot.com/

3rd grand prize goes to: What Comes Next   http://round22.blogspot.com/

Congratulations girls!! Please send Gudrun an e-mail (gudrun@gequiltdesigns.com) with your shipping address so she can send you those awesome prizes.

If you didn’t win any of those prizes, I have two more chances for you to win.

First – We have set up a Flickr page for you to post your completed projects from the CCCBH.  You will have until December 1st to upload a picture of the  project (or projects!) and then a winner will be chosen and announced on everyone’s blogs.

Last, but not least, is the winner from the drawing on my project day.  That winner is Sandy, who commented on November 13 at 1:22 p.m.

Her blog is www.sandysinstitches.com. Sandy, please email me (hmulder@wecnet.com) your shipping address and I will ship out your books right away!

Sandy will be the recipient of the following books:

Thanks again to everyone for participating in the Blog Hop!

Hello viewers. I hope that by sharing this free information with you, I can help reduce your fear of quilting for beginners. In additon, I do offer free tips on how to create simple quilts from time to time. Theses photos are just a portion of the projects that I have worked on between 2008 and 2009.  Most of them are simple and a brave beginner can attemp it..  Some are more complexed. For me I design depending on the mood that I am In.  All of these photos are my own original designs. These quilts have graced the homes of many quilt lovers all over Texas, Louisiana, and around the word. I think out of all the patterns in the world, I prefer the random crazy quilt style. I will be posting a free baby quilt pattern in the next post. This will be easy. It will be very easy. I will take 4-hours tops fot a begginner.

That’s what I’m calling this one which came from two lovely brother and sister basset hounds we met and nearly rescued this year.  This quilt has nothing to do with basset hounds really, but I loved those names together.

I really like how it turned out and I’m very glad that we now have a quilt that fits our King-sized bed. 

I’m still plowing my way through my UFOs via Tallgrass Prairies Challenge. I have a huge wooden bowl that has a nine patch, a flock of birds quilt, and my postage stamp quilt still waiting. Today I’m working on quilting this baby quilt in between school conferences and work. My hope is to be able to stitch the binding down whilst I watch football on Thanksgiving.

Over the weekend and Monday I finally produced some new pjs for my child who has been highwatering it since Summer. I’m a big fan of Joann flannel for the loungers. Most of it is awful, but sometimes you score.

These two lighter weight cotton are for our Florida trip to see the Grandfolks. I love the Coco Jungle by Alexander Henry. Can’t find it anymore.

These two are in my bag for some seam ripping while I sit somewhere yet to be determined. I add a four inch hem that can be let out. I LOVE the owl flannel.

Unless you have an Irish sister-in-law around that irons pajamas (I’ve seen her do it), I would recommend using flannel for the bottom edges. They don’t wrinkle up that way.

The Value Quilt Back is slowly getting some attention. I sat with my friend Noelle the other night. I was able to finish squaring up my blocks. Couldn’t help putting it up. Too many dots, but I’ll add more boy prints in.

God awful photo. but you get the idea.

Yeah to friends that knit. I bought this fabulous yarn and I don’t knit. Thanks Stacia! It’s soooo warm and beautiful! Not to mention it looks awesome with my purse.

Keeping with the purse theme from yesterday, I am so thankful to my wonderful family for giving me time and space to create (especially to my husband who has tried to sleep in the next room with the hum of my sewing machine nearby!)

Lot’s of people ask how I have the time to make this stuff while still working full time. And the answer is simple.  I have an amazing husband who has no problem making supper, cleaning up the kitchen and doing the laundry. (Now if I could just get him to put the laundry away I’d really be able to crank out the bags!)

Just kidding, dear, you know I love you!

And I am excited to introduce the first purse that I designed myself! I still have a couple “tweaks” to make, but here is the first one from the factory line, so to speak:

This bag measures about 14.5″ wide, and about 8.5″ tall.  It has a zippered top and one pleat on each side of the center “body.”  It is roomie enough to hold all your daily essentials, yet not bulky.

Here is another view.

I am going to make two of these bags in different color combinations for my friend Jackie.  She is keeping one for herself and giving the second as a birthday gift.  

Do you need any gifts in the near future?

Hint, hint

But for this exact bag pictured above, I’m going to keep it for myself… partly because it’s the first attempt, but mostly because I’m in need of a new purse.   Happy early Christmas to me!

I have lots to do get ready for this busy holiday week, but I am anxious to hear your thoughts and comments! (Especially you, Jackie!) 

Oh, and come back tomorrow if you need ideas on what to put in my stocking! 

haven’t posted for awhile – been just adjusting to being at home ‘full time’ and working on pins and thinking about what’s next in the applique world.  it’s that time when i must create some new designs and need to have them ready by mid-jan when i head for tucson.  one good thing tho – we didn’t do that show last year, so i’ll have a good bit ‘new’ for them anyway.  looks like the first one might be a crocus, in the simpler flowers series – to kinda pair with the lily of the valley so i can hang them properly.

i am also considering the big project of making all the nearly nouveau blocks into a quilt.  will only do that if i can get carla to quilt it.  won’t be an easy job, but she kinda likes a challenge – i think. ^_^

i’m also trying to figure out a way to hang the blocks that is as convenient to hang as those long ‘boards’, but easier to transport!  oh, and i really need a #18 for the ancient art series – so #17 has a mate and can be hung properly!  have you noticed how there’s never a shortage of possibilities??  (what some might call ‘things to do’) ^_^

so, here’s a picture of the latest pin “front”.  sent 5 to sisters, oregon to be in a shop on consignment.  sue is very excited about them, saying no one else in town has anything like them, etc.  soooo, am hoping they will sell (quickly).  was making the next ones to sent to the san jose museum, but my ‘buddy’ there is leaving so not sure if i will until a new person takes over and i know they are ‘wanted’. ???  ok, here’s the picture, really ^_^

oops, sounds like erv might be here – to add the missing walls to the lovely fridge house. (big dog barking)  gotta go.

love and beauty    www.artfullyapplique.com

So… what’s going on overhere?

A while ago I entered a give-away at Lily’s blog. I was the lucky winner of the ‘How does your garden grow?’ pattern from Don’t Look Now. Lily added some other gorgeous stuff to the package. She made me a sweet pincushion which is already being used. The fabrics are great as a starter to make the garden grow pattern. Some gorgeous pink beads and an add 1/4″ ruler. Thanks again Lily!

My ‘Zen’ quilt on the designwall. You can see it’s not Zen at all… yet!

Maybe this way it’s more balanced, but it’s still not what I want it to look like.

I bought fabric to making sashings and cornerstones, but I didn’t like it. They make the quilt kind of traditional. That’s not what I want for this quilt. So maybe I’ll use the light fabric and play with the blocks again.

The funny thing is when I look at the pictures, a new idea pops into my head! I can always rename the quilt from ‘Zen’ to ‘Chaos’!

That’s maybe why we name our quilts when they’re ready and not on forehand?

Nicolette

I made 2 pineapple blocks on my own, trying different methods, and finished all four of my block of the month packs I have so far.

by Teri Lucas

Done as part of the Hoffman Challenge, LOOK at that quilting!?!?!?  Happy Tuesday.  : )  Enjoy your day.  It’s rainy here.  A good day to snuggle in for a sleep!

Piecefully, Pam

As inspiration does not seem to come for the 5th and last bookshelves quilt, I decided to already start the quilting of #1. I started it on Sunday evening, continued in the train yesterday on my way back home (it’s funny how people in the train were staring at me ) and almost finished it yesterday night.

Because of its size (38 cm x 38 cm), I didn’t use a loop and have to admit I find it easier to quilt.

I hope to finish the quilting today, put the binding so that I can come back to show you the finished project very soon.

Quiltingly yours