Giveaway for Machine Embroiderers

Serena Smith at Embroidery Treasures is hosting a giveaway for machine embroidery enthusiasts. The offer is for these four magazines. Plus she has an interesting site! You have until August 31 to enter the giveaway.

Carolee's Tea

This morning I worked some more on the binding for the snowman quilt and finished it this evening. This is the third flannel quilt I've made, and I really like the flannel, but it's a bit more challenging to do the quilting and binding because of the thickness of the layers. This pattern, called "Under the Stars", is by The Rabbit Factory.

This afternoon was our tea at Carolee's house. Tables were set up in the garage with this lovely collection of china tea cups and treats for the tea.


















We had some time before the presentation to see Carolee's extensive gardens. A tour through her gardens is a lot like a trip to a Botanical Garden--there are just so many varieties of plants. Her sun garden extends clear across the front of her house and around to the side. In the back are two shade gardens, and two more shade gardens on the other side of her driveway. Of course Carolee devotes quite a bit of time every day working in her gardens, so it's a wonder she still finds time to quilt.



































The presentation by Sandra L. Hatch, editor of Quilter's World magazine, was an insightful look into her career as an editor and quilter that has spanned 28 years so far. She has an impressive list of magazines and books to her credit, as well as a large body of work as a quilter. Behind her, there were stacks of quilts on the tables, many of which were quilts she's made over the years for magazines and books she's edited. She had a large number of Christmas quilts and charming gift bags. She mentioned that she has 29 people in her family, and each family member has their own gift bag, which she fills every year at Christmas. I believe Sandra said she has recently resigned as editor of Quilter's World due to creative differences, but she will retain her position as technical editor.

Sunday Stash Report

This morning I finished hand sewing the binding on two sides of the snowman quilt, and I expect to finish it tomorrow. I started that quilt at a workshop in March, so I guess it will qualify as a WISP for this month's One Project a Month Challenge.

I loaded the Christmas quilt this morning and quilted about half of it. I was tempted to use my favorite red-white-green variegated holiday thread but decided I'd rather look at the blocks more than the quilting, so I'm using gold thread, which blends pretty well. The pantograph I'm using is Tannenbaum from Willow Leaf. It's an easy pattern, but I can't seem to get in the groove with it.

With the two quilt backs, I used up 7 yards from the stash this week and added some yardage from the quilters' yard sale. Here's the Stash Manager's Report:

Fabric used this week: 7 yards
Fabric used year to date: 81-3/4 yards
Fabric added this week: 10-1/2 yards
Fabric added year to date: 190-3/4 yards
Net used year to date: -109 yards

Tomorrow Carolee is having a tea at her home for our large quilt group. It will be outside under the shade trees where we can also admire her extensive gardens. The featured speaker is Sandra Hatch, who is the editor of Quilter's World magazine. I heard that she operates that magazine out of her home here in Maine.

I checked out the Quilter's World web site and noticed you can purchase a digital magazine subscription. Has anyone else tried this yet? I recently bought a digital subscription to Creative Knitting magazine, which gave me access to two years' worth of back issues online. They were all available as pdf files that I downloaded to my computer. I imagine Quilter's World does something similar. At least it will save me some space on my bookshelves, which are pretty full.

Progress on the Snowman Quilt

I finished quilting the snowman quilt last night, and I am thrilled with how well it turned out. I really wanted to use this stars and loops pantograph, but I was still undecided whether or not to quilt through their little heads. Finally my curiosity got the better of me, to see how it looked that way, and I like it just fine. In fact, the more I look at it the better I like it. I wouldn't hesitate to quilt through appliques again, even though some folks will probably tell me I shouldn't. Are there really any rules in quilting anymore?

Tonight I'll get the binding machine sewn onto the quilt, and I'm going to try get my other Christmas quilt loaded tonight and quilted tomorrow. The theme of the quilt is Christmas presents, so I'm quilting Christmas trees on it.

More Christmas in July Photos

Shopping with Helen this morning made me remember that I forgot to post the rest of the photos from our Christmas in July workshops last month. Helen has a lovely big home out in the country, and we actually had two sewing days out there this summer, the first of which was the Christmas in July one. Helen has a big covered porch that wraps around three sides of her home, so we sewed outside all day long and had a buffet table too for snacks and lunch. We ate a fabulous pot luck supper on the porch on the other side of the house too.

This is the porch on the side of Helen's home. Wouldn't you just love to laze around out here all summer long, sipping mint juleps or something?

What's a quilters' get-together without Show and Tell? I thought I had more photos, but I must have already posted them, so here are just a few more. These are Barb's adorable little pincushions. Barb has a thing about pincushions--they're a favorite of hers. No pattern for these, Barb just dreamed them up because she's clever that way.

And here is Kay's Christmas project she worked on. I really liked this one a lot.

Quilter's Yard Sale

Earlier this week one of our local quilt shops sent round a newsletter advertising a Quilter's Yard Sale today, so three of us decided to take a ride down to Freeport and see what they had. I wish I'd thought to snap a picture of it, but folks set up their tables and chairs with their wares for sale in the parking lot behind the quilt shop, just like a regular neighborhood yard sale.

I thought it was a brilliant strategy for the quilt shop to host such an event. It was hot and awfully humid this morning; and as quilters got done with their shopping or had enough of the heat, they wandered into the quilt shop to cool off, and then they'd buy a few more things. I added a jelly roll and a pattern to my shopping bag. Outside, someone had the foresight to set up a grill for hot dogs, so after we cooled off sufficiently we went out and bought a hot dog and chips, sat in the shade, and ate.

There were only about a dozen sale booths, but there were some fabulous deals to be had. I picked up 4 yards of flannel, a piece of a Hoffman Christmas fabric, a Carol Doak book, a latte tote bag kit, and a couple of scrap bags, one in batiks and one in neutrals--all for about $20.

A Word to the Wise

When was the last time you stopped and thought about all the cool stuff you keep on your computer--quilt photos, family photos, software you've downloaded, tax files, business files, and so on--and what the consequences would be if you lost it all?

Two of my friends recently had major issues with their computers that rendered their data files inaccessible. They were able to recover all or most of them, which was good, because some of those files were irreplaceable.

Folks, if you haven't backed up your files lately, get yourself an external hard drive or some CDs and take the time to back them up. Make it a habit to do a back up at regular intervals, depending on how often you use your computer. I need to make myself do this as well. I checked, and the last time I backed up my hard drive was last November, so I sat down this evening and did it. I have an external hard drive, so I click and drag everything I want to keep, and it didn't take nearly as long as I anticipated.

Don't procrastinate--do it now.