Category: Favorites (Page 3 of 3)

Tropical Trip/Quick Trip by Eleanor Burns

Get a taste of Karla’s favorites when it comes to all things quilting.

Find Karla’s favorites here – from her most beloved quilts to her highly recommended quilting tools.

All the best things.

Karla shares her quilt show pics as well as best summer reads, recipes, retreat checklists and a whole lot more!

Reviews.

Find quilt magazine reviews, tool recommendations, and summer books (and quilts) recommendations.

Quilters who are favorites.

Read blog posts about top quilting names and winners in the quilting world. Do you love to see a quilt author break into the Hallmark movie genre? Find that here, too!

Six Favorites from Quilt Market

May 28, 2017 / The Bee

This is my first time to go to market and it is literally jaw-dropping!

Here are my six favorites from quilt market in St. Louis!

So I walk in, prepared, ready to take on the quilting world and figure it out. I take three steps inside the auditorium and promptly forget my name. My biggest ideas seem pint-size. Make that pea-sized!

Image of Tula Pink Booth — ***Tula Pink***

Tula’s booth speaks for itself. Very professionally done, so the colorful artwork makes up for the lesser displays.

Initially, I visit all the booths, getting a feel for how market works. It seems the larger names and established companies prefer the inner sections.

Simple Simon and Company

Next in my quilt market favorites, is the booth shown above featuring their new line of fabric, “Just Add Sugar”. Due to the lighting in the auditorium, this photo doesn’t do this booth justice. So much work and detail went into this display that is hard to capture in a photo. For instance, this booth smelled delightfully of lemons!

Quilt Market Favorite Lori Holt Quilt — Lori Holt’s Sew Along
Bee in my Bonnet

Lori Holt’s Bee in My Bonnet

Lori’s blog was one of my first experiences with reading quilting blogs. I especially admire her consistency in colorations and design. I don’t recall an entire booth, but seeing this quilt up close was fun enough!

Next up was the “bag guy” at Shannon Fabrics. There are lots of freebies and fun stuff at market. I loved the Llama!

**The incredible, fabulous quilts of Laura Heine!**

I could stand in her booth all day…just trying to soak up some Laura Heine magic! She designs spectacular quilts by combining interesting fabrics by collage.

Notice the almost wild combination of fabrics in Phoebee’s background? I think I gained the courage to combine them by standing in Laura’s booth!

Image of Bee Quilt — ***Phoebee*** is made with BOTH beautiful sides of one focus fabric on a VERY scrappy background!

Learn more about Phoebee and the start of using both sides of fabric HERE.

Pretty by Hand

Soft and delicate, this booth is a pleasant and calming place to be. A new designer, Kristyne is friendly and encouraging.

To conclude, there are so many fabulous booths, it is hard to choose a favorite! Please keep in mind that the lighting of the convention center doesn’t do these pics justice! I encourage you to check out the websites of these companies (click the pictures for links) and see their beautiful work. And if market is ever near you, GO! You’ll be glad you did!:)

Enjoy your quilting journey!

To market, to market to buy a fat…

May 22, 2017 / The Bee

…there are no fat quarters (or pigs) at market, but here is what you will find.

You might have known they don’t have fat quarters at quilt market. I, on the other hand, did not. I just think that when quilt market is this close to home, I must go. My goal for going is to try to figure out how this enigma called the quilting industry works!

With credentials in hand, I have a plan! I’ve got lists of book publishers, fabric manufacturers, and magazine publishers. I’m also signed up for a blogging lecture by the fabulous Ebony Love (Love Bug Studios).

First, I must download the Quilt Market app. My stack of 5 x 7 cards of my designs are ready to hand out in an effort to catch the eye of industry reps. I rehearse my “lines” on the two-hour drive.

So I arrive, check in at the marvelous Magnolia Hotel, and make my way to the entrance. So far, so good!

With my buyer’s guide in hand, I step into the business side of quilting.

Subsequently, I kid you not, I forget my name…and can’t think of a single thing I want to say! I recover a bit and begin to push through with very awkward introductions to industry professionals. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I feel totally out of my league and am painfully aware of it at this point!

Thankfully, friendly faces from The Golden Needle let me join them for lunch before I continue my quest to conquer market. At the end of day one, I am all too happy meet The Hubs and Dash Two for a Cardinal game!

The next day, I have better bearings on why I am there, what I need to accomplish, and how to go about it. It helps to start the day with the blogging lecture, where I got a boost in confidence. It makes all the difference, knowing you aren’t alone.

There are other designers also trying to connect the dots.

Next, I start chatting to people in booths. I observed some BIG NAMES and listen to them lament that it took 20 or 30 years in the industry before their ideas ever took off (gulp).

A lesson to take away from quilt market is that there is not just one way to get the job done. Everyone there is taking a risk, especially the shop owners who are trying to out-guess their customers’ future buying whims.

This is free enterprise at work. It is scary. And it is fun.

Mostly, I found that most of the people there are very friendly, especially those who are newer in the industry and they are happy to tell their story and give advice. I just need to be myself and be honest about being a newbie.

One gal, Kristyne Czepuryk (Pretty By Hand), debuting her first line of fabric, shares a lot about how she got started designing fabric.

A gal in a booth nearby at Blackbird Designs gives me tips on book publishing.

I run into a friend/merchant that I see every year at the show in Paducah, Tina, of Turtlehand Fabrics and we have lots of fun talking about possible future projects. I finish the night with Ebony’s lecture on independent publishing.

Now the work begins. Real life is waiting at home and outside of quilt market. It was a fun gig, but you know how it goes…

…home again, home again, jiggity jig.

See my six favorites from quilt market HERE!

Warning – Controversial Topic Ahead

February 28, 2017 / The Bee

Caution, controversial weather ahead.

Fair warning, the photo you are about to see is likely to produce a strong reaction. The controversial topic of which I speak is…snow. I’m not exactly sure why, but where I live, this topic is a love/hate one!

It’s sure to be a hot topic soon!

Learn more about MERRY HERE

Now, I’ll give you my take on it. It’s not a controversial topic at all. I think snow is magical and lovely. When you look up into the falling snow, it’s as though the sky is alive. I can’t help myself from twirling in it, watching it floating down from heaven.

Image of Water Colours Quilt in the snow. — Water Colours – This background fabric is one of my all-time favorites. It’s how the bottom of a pool looks when you’re swimming laps! I love the contrast of winter and summer shown in this photo.

Where I live, snow isn’t a given. Oftentimes, we get ice or sleet while every county around use gets the snow. That said, the weather forecasters must make a huge to-do about incoming snow at LEAST three times before we actually get any real amounts!

Note, that it doesn’t count as real snow unless the ground is completely covered. It is BEST for Photographing Quilts! (<See my Pinterest board.)

Therefore, shout it out with a “Let it snow” sign! Super fast and easy, this is made using a Brother Scan N Cut on a pre-made plaque from Michael’s . The shadow your see in the bottom corner is the top of my Singer treadle. The treadle faces out north window. When it snows, I sit at the treadle and piece together a scrappy tumbler quilt. Therefore, this might take a decade or more to complete at this rate!

There’s another window I’d like to share with you:

Image of Bear Quilt — ***Black Bear Jam*** pattern by McKenna Ryan

This is a McKenna Ryan design/kit I just had to have to commemorate the black bear visit we had in our yard last summer. Click on “It’s a Bear Out There” to see the scratches and markings we found (and bear paw quilt blocks). McKenna’s bear was lighter in color, so I darkened him with a piece of Stonehenge fabric so he’d look more like our buddy. He sported a santa hat by design which I changed out to my favorite color and edged it with the ribbed edge of a wool sweater I inherited in my late mother-in-law’s fabric stash. I call it Black Bear Jam because we believe he was marking the area next to our crabapple tree. Consequently, I made my bear-enthusiast neighbors a jar of Black Bear Jam for Christmas out of those crabapples.

Sew… BEAR with me (too many puns?): Let It SNOW!

Thank you for taking your time to read this. Please share it with your friends, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram!

See more Winter Quilts fun! For a fun winter activity, read Walking in a Winter Wonderland and Quilt Author Meets Hallmark Christmas Movies.

A Love Note from Johnny to June

February 13, 2017 / The Bee

One of my favorite love notes was one written by Johnny Cash to June Carter.

Firstly, as far as love notes go, this one stands the test of time. Certainly not without it’s tragedies, the love between Johnny and June eventually prevailed.

Here’s what Johnny penned:

Hey June,
That’s really nice. You’ve got a way with words and a way
with me as well.
The fire and excitement may be gone now that we don’t go out there and sing them anymore, but the ring of fire still burns around you and I, keeping our love hotter than a pepper sprout.
Love John

Then, in response to reading Johnny’s words, here are some Valentine crafts designed just for fun.

Image of Love Notes woolie — Love Notes Woolie

Wool Applique

This little wool applique features three little hearts on a soft vine music note. (Get it? Hearts, music note.) It’s tiny and made from scraps of beige, taupe, and three pinks. It hangs from heavy metal “key”.

Quilted Wall Hanging

Image of Love Notes quilt and punch needle

Here, this mini heart quilted wall hanging is shown lying on a soft layer of snow with Love Notes Mini Punch Needle.

It’s fun to take little squares to make shapes. A heart is easy. Since there is no pattern needed, just determined the size of squares you want and start designing. You might use lefterover squares from other projects! So doing, this is an easy, quick project.

Note: Since making this, I developed a method of how to audition the VALUE of fabrics by using BOTH sides. Consequently, I would now reconsider some of my fabric values! Learn about The Tricky Traits of Value HERE !

Punch Needle Embroidery

Lastly, this punch needle is set in a miniature wooden frame. It’s an open envelope with a heart coming out of it. Tiny punch needle designs are a great activity to do in between larger, more involved quilt projects. Click HERE to learn more.

So, I think of June and Johnny each year when I decorate with these little joys.

Share your love this Valentine’s Day and know that you are loved.

In conclusion, remember this: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16.

So please share my blog with your friends, on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest– every chance you get–I appreciate your love and support!

This is NOT paper piecing.

November 11, 2016 / The Bee

See the incredible work which won the Houston Quilt Festival!

Wow!

Many heartfelt congratulations to Cynthia England for her Handiquilter’s Best of Show at Houston International Quilt Festival!

The last couple of years my friend Nancy and I would search the AQS Paducah show book to see if our “buddies” from England Design were going to be there and we were disappointed to see they were not. I can see now that Cynthia has been a bit busy.

BEST OF SHOW
Cynthia England

Considering this quilt, Reflections of Cape Town, has 8400 pieces, I can see why she was no longer making hundreds of butterflies to demo her technique in her show booth!

I have to say, though, we didn’t just search out the England Design booth to enjoy browsing through her patterns and studying her large masterpieces on display, we liked to visit our “England friends” each year–and they remembered us from year to year. While I can’t think of any vendors who weren’t friendly, these folks were just a little extra special.

Now I’m wishing I had spent a little more effort looking up what Cynthia was up to because I understand that this is her THIRD Best of Show in Houston!

So, what does this mean for me? It’s time to get out that half-finished, “aging”, England Design kit that I bought years ago and work it up! This little beauty is called Old Grist Mill. Cynthia’s technique is called Picture Piecing and you work on the front of the fabric and there are no papers to tear out of your finished product. For the record, I don’t have a problem with paper piecing, once I get past those first two pieces (blush), but this method is a little more forgiving, and I do appreciate that!

Old Grist Mill
by Cynthia England

Go to Cynthia’s gallery to see all of her wonderful quilts!

There’s one thing I remember about the England Design booth in Paducah: you walked out of the booth knowing and remembering ONE thing: This is NOT paper piecing.

Have you ever tried this method? Tell my about your experience with making landscape or picture quilts.