Day 8 Blog Hop and Book Giveaway!

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UPDATE: We have a winner! Congratulations to Frogquilter--an email is on the way to you and you will receive an autographed copy of the book from Jenny. Thanks to all who posted a comment.
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My friend, Jenny K. Lyon, has written a terrific book on Free Motion Quilting--I am thrilled to tell you how it can help you. AND, you can win one right here, if you make a comment on my blog--more about that in a moment.

I first met Jenny more than 10 years ago when she was teaching FMQ at the International Quilt Festival Long Beach. One of her students was raving that Jenny taught her she really could learn to FMQ to her satisfaction, in just a three-hour class. I asked Jenny "What's the Secret?" This book is her answer to that question.

Subtitled "3 Steps to Joyful Machine Stitching in 21 days", the book will take you through the basics of FMQ and you will see results over those three weeks. We ALL want to see results as we learn a new skill. The book is FULL of useful information--here is just a taste.

Step 1: 21 Days of "Plactice"--you know we have to practice FMQ to get better, and so many of us treat that like work. Jenny calls it play and encourages you to just do it.  NOTE: Recently, I wrote about making your "practice/plactice" quilt sandwiches into something useful Here. Planning for that as you make those sandwiches is a good thing.

Step 2: Five to Learn On--5 great projects to get you going, from postcards to quilts to garments. Full of helpful photos and excellent instructions.

Step 3: Your Personal Quilting World--Everyone should read these 5 pages, weekly if necessary, to rekindle the joy quilting brings and to inspire us to love it even more.

Beautiful photos of Jenny's work will inspire you:

Over the years I have taken several classes from Jenny and my FMQ is better for those classes. This is a book I will read cover-to-cover with a highlighter in hand, learning more as I read and even more as I "plactice".

Want to WIN this book? Write a comment HERE on my blog--answering the question: What is your favorite thread for FMQ and why? Eight days from now one of you will win an autographed copy of Jenny's book, sent to you directly by her. For MORE chances to win, go to each of the other Blog Hop posts, answer their question, and increase your chances of winning:

Dec 1     Jenny K. Lyon              https://quiltskipper.com/

Dec 2     Lisa Chin                      http://www.lisachinartist.com/                                              Dec 3     Catherine Redford        https://catherineredford.com/               

Dec 4     Lyric Kinard                 http://lyrickinard.com/               

Dec 5     Heidi Proffetty             https://www.heidiproffetty.com/                

Dec 6     Debby Ritenbaugh Brown    https://www.debbybrownquilts.com/                           

Dec 7   Libby Williamson            https://libbywilliamsondesigns.blogspot.com/               

Dec 8     Barbara Black              http://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/               

Dec 9     Cindy Grisdela            https://www.cindygrisdela.com/               

Dec 10   Teri Lucas                    https://terificreations.com/

A few additional notes about the blog hop, the "fine print":

• You can enter each day but can only win once.
• Each blogger will leave the comments open for 8 days and will then randomly choose a winner.
• Jenny will send her book to the winner.
• International winners will receive a digital copy.

If you are new to my blog, welcome. If you are a "regular", thank you. Good luck to all--if you don't win, ask Santa to gift you a copy, you won't be sorry.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

I Love This Tool!

New notions come along in the quilt world all the time. At Houston this year I purchased this--and LOVE it:

What is it?:

How do you use it? Press seams open--especially helpful with these narrow strips--they are cut 1.25" so finish to .75":

Border section of Ruffled Roses:

6"blocks for Ruffled Roses:

Ironic, isn't it, that now that both Ruffled Roses and my Lifetime Quilt are almost finished, I discover this wonderful tool, making all that open-seam pressing so much easier and effective?

The solid wooden base also serves as a "clapper"--another tool often suggested for making seams nice and flat.

I have been using a different tool, made from silicone, but this one just works so well and is so easy--I love it.

Check them out here: Wooly Felted Wonders. No connection to this company, just a satisfied customer. This tool comes in 12" and 20" sizes--I have the 12" which is plenty long enough for the kind of piecing I do.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Month 12 The Patchwork Barn

This is the FREE Block of the Month pattern "Patchwork Barn", designed by Edyta Sitar exclusively for The Quilt Show. You must be a Star member of this world-wide quilt guild/show/Internet community to receive the free patterns each month, beginning January 1, 2018. Join today and get started on this journey.

Previous Months can be found here.

We made it to the end of this journey. This month you receive basic information on Quilting and Binding your quilt.

Here are a few photos showing the work of a couple of the Sunday Sew and Sews:

Donna created her own  home in the center

Terri used the Crystal Farms Kit and enlarged the background

My Top--still a Top

I have several detailed tutorials that may help you with Quilting and Binding:

Pin Basting for Machine Quilting

Batting, Backing and Binding: Bias or Straight Grain

I hope you enjoyed this quilt and learned from it. Now it's on to SIZZLE!

Let's Quilt.

Barbara

What To Do With Free Motion Quilt "Sandwiches"

Besides throw them out?  The one thing I know about free motion quilting is, it takes lots of PRACTICE. And that means I have lots of "sandwiches" with practice stitching over them.

Here is a pile I culled from the closet:

Some of these are from classes, where my quilting stitches are pretty poor. Some are practice pieces I just do at home. All of them will be donated to Huntsville Animal Services for cage bedding. The animals won't care how my stitching looks and when they are too soiled or worn out, there is no guilt in throwing them away.

I finished the edges in two different ways. Here the back fabric is turned over twice for a "finished" look:

For each quilt I machine-quilt, I prepare a practice sandwich with the same back, batting and fabrics from the top. Once the quilt is all done, there is no need to keep this. This is the practice piece for Long Time Gone #2--recently finished. Here I just used a zig-zag stitch, functional and fast:

Sometimes I create practice sandwiches with a specific purpose in mind: placemats and mug rugs come to mind. Here I prepared placemat-size sandwiches to demo Ruler Work at a local shop. For the demo, the muslin side was the "top" side--I drew lines and demoed several different patterns with rulers. The back was a busy print, perfect for my kitchen. Once they were bound and finished, they became placemats, print-side "up". I now have a set of 6 of these and we use them daily:

If you want to donate to an animal shelter, check with them to be sure they want them. Trim any loose threads on them--don't want the animals chewing on those.

Now I am on to mug rugs--I need some of them for Christmas gifts and they also make great practice pieces.

Let's quilt,

Barbara

What's Next?

This is my post-Houston get-productive period. That means classes are about finished for the year and I don't have to go anywhere for a while.

I just finished Circa 2016 and am pleased with how it turned out. This pattern is still available for purchase from Temecula Quilt Company.

Now it's time to clear away the clutter from the stuff I brought home from Houston and make a plan for the rest of this year. I didn't buy a lot, mostly thread:

There are a few gifts to sew, quilt and finish--that won't take long. So, I've decided to finish a very long, on-going quilt: Ruffled Roses, the 2011 Block of the Month from The Quilt Show:

A few months ago, I put this on the design wall to inspire/prod me to finish it. Today, when the clutter is stashed away, I will get back to it--my goal is to have the top done by the end of 2018.  

My Lifetime Quilt is almost done too, another Finish I want to complete by the end of this year:

Are you busy with sewing projects now or do holiday preparations take over? I don't like to shop and only do it when I must. The kids won't be here for Christmas so holiday decorating will be limited to a few of my favorite things. There is no reason I can't get these two quilt tops completed.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Highlights of Houston 2018

Not surprisingly, I hit the ground running after returning from my 13 day trip to Houston--classes to teach, bills to pay, mail to sort through, and laundry to do. Now I'll try to give a glimpse of what my time is like there, working for Quilts Inc.

First, my favorite view of the city--from my room at the Hilton Americas Houston. The George R Brown Convention Center is the white building on the right with the iconic red "thingies" on the roof. Straight ahead is the Marriott Marquis hotel, and just behind it is the Astrodome baseball park. Discovery Green, a lovely park, is in the foreground, left.

My bed, featured by Hilton Americas Houston on Instagram and Facebook:

I hurried to get the binding sewn on before I left, figuring I would finish stitching it down in the hotel--rarely touched it there, finished the binding when I got home. Now I am adding lots more quilting--it is coming along nicely.

The first day on the job, my primary responsibility is Faculty freight. With 130 teachers, there is a lot of freight--they have to ship it weeks in advance to be sure we have it in the office when they arrive. I check in each box, on two master lists, one for me and one for the Tex Expo folks who handle the shipping. We go from an empty room to a full one--it takes all day. Before:

 After:

 When the luggage starts to arrive, it gets really crowded. This is the last time the carpet was visible for days:

The next day I was told my Red and White quilt was the "Photo Op" quilt. People take photos in front of it to share with friends at  home:

There was a special tribute exhibit to our beloved former boss, Judy Murrah, who passed away December 8, 2017. It was a lovely tribute to her with a wonderful slideshow full of great images from  her more than 40 years with Quilts Inc.:

It's not all about quilts. How about quilted leather saddles? They sure are beautiful:

There are thousands of photos on Instagram and Facebook, much better than mine, find them here:

My favorite quilt and the one I was hoping would be awarded "Best of Show", Eternal Beauty by the amazingly talented and even more humble Sherry Reynolds. This is its' 6th Best of Show award:

Speaking of talented and humble, one of our guild members, Teresa Rawson, won First Place, Applique', Small for her terrific quilt, Contentment, made to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary--all hand done. It, too, has done well in previous shows:

This quilt was photographed thousands of times, from the Special Exhibit: Antique Quilts from the British Isles. It was for sale, I did not inquire about the price, if you have to ask, you can't afford it:

 45,000 1/4" hexagons, Circa 1845. Maker Unknown--PLEASE label your quilts, so you will not be anonymous.

Other quilts that caught my eye:

From certain angles, the face was not visible, it only looked like bubbles. Entitled Kora, by Carol Morrissey, Double Oak, TX. 

 

Two of my favorite antique vendors had remarkably similar quilts for sale in their booths. Cindy Rennels, Cindy's Antique Quilts, had this one:

Julia Kelly-Hodenius, of Pique', had this one:

 

The red solid was very similar as were many of the fabrics. The maker fussy cut most of the hexagons, and they appeared to be the same size. The white hexagons were all the same fabric in each quilt so the maker had a sizeable stash. Cindy told me someone with much more knowledge than I have has taken lots of photos of both and will study them to see if it is reasonable to guess they were made by the same person. Again, a label on each would be so helpful. Cindy's was sold before the end of the show so I am glad I got to see it early. I don't know if Julia sold hers, but I hope so. Sales is the reason vendors are there.

Some days I don't get off the 3rd floor nor outdoors. The days are long, the nights get shorter, but it is wonderful to work with a great team. Here are some of us in the morning group photo:

For me, the job is mostly about the people, faculty friends I enjoy catching up with, student/guests I look forward to seeing each year, vendors who have become friends, and my closest team friends, who mean so much to me--friendships developed over the 20 years I've been part of the Education Team.

This year about two dozen people recognized me or my name and came up to tell me they follow and enjoy my blog--that is truly rewarding.

Two ladies from the Friendship Quilters of Downer's Grove, IL came by for a quick "hello"--I am teaching for them November 2019:

I was also able to hand off the Secret Stars sample I made for the Lakeview Quilters guild in the Houston area, I'll be teaching for them in March 2019. And one of the members of the St Andrews Bay Quilt Guild in Panama City, FL, made a point of telling me they are rebuilding and fully expect to have me come in April 2019 for the two great scheduled workshops. Hurricanes only slow quilters down for a bit.

All too soon, the 13 days come to an end and it's time to pack up. Everything is inventoried, labeled, packed and crated, going to 3 different storage locations. I never cease to be amazed at the organization necessary to make our shows work:

There will be more to come, but this about wraps up the overall experience I have in Houston.

Let's quilt,

Barbara