“Meet the Author” event at Silverdale Quality Sew and Vac

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I am pleased to announce that the Quality Sewing and Vacuum store in Silverdale, in addition to offering several of my classes this fall, has asked me to present a “Meet the Author” event at the store August 7, 2013 from 10:00 am to 12 noon.   I will present a trunk show of quilts and talk about the inspiration behind the quilts, plus briefly demonstrate some binding and quilting techniques that are included in my classes.  If you are curious about the classes but not sure they are right for you, this is a good opportunity to get more information.

There will be lots of time to ask questions, and to sign books for those who are interested.  I will be offering several books and patterns as door prizes, and the store will offer refreshments.  Contact the store directly to reserve a spot or ask any questions about the event.

Quality Sewing and Vacuum  10876 Myhre Place NW, Silverdale 98383

Phone: 360-692-2992.  web site:  www.qualitysewing.com

Free Quilt Patterns Available

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I am pleased to announce that I have uploaded fourteen FREE quilt patterns to my PatternSpot store.  These patterns are very simple ones, first developed some years ago for use by my guild for charity quilts.  Because the calculations are already done for yardage and cutting requirements, you can get a running start on quilt construction with these patterns.

Check out my Patterns page (scroll to the bottom) and you will see thumbnail pictures of each free pattern.  I hope you will find them useful!

New classes added and one rescheduled

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I have just scheduled several new class sessions for the fall at Karen’s Sequim Sewing Center and at Quality Sewing & Vacuum in Silverdale.  Check out the calendar page for the dates and times.

Due to a personal scheduling conflict,  I have had to reschedule the Pieceless Applique class at Sleepy Valley Quilt Company in Port Angeles.  The class is now scheduled for November 9th.

 

Quilting with a Walking Foot

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Recently I posted a photo of my new shop sample for my Free Motion Quilting class. I am making two similar shop samples, so I can have them up in more than one shop at a time.

In the meantime, I have decided to create new shop samples for my Beginning Quilting With a Walking Foot class. I began thinking about how to design an effective shop sample that would be the basis of a reworked class (again, so students go home with a sampler using a number of WF quilting patterns/techniques).

I did an internet search for “quilting with a walking foot” and quickly found a great link: http://blog.petitdesignco.com/2012/10/31-days-of-walking-foot-quilting.html

In her 31 days of quilting with a walking foot, Norma of Petit Design Co. covers in great detail how to use a walking foot and shows a wide variety of patterns. I have bookmarked her blog and plan to spend more time reading it thoroughly. For those of you who don’t do free motion quilting for whatever reason, this site gives you great suggestions for WF quilting.

Floating Mode for Free Motion on some sewing machines

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Several times recently when I have taught my free motion quilting class, I have had students arrive with what (to me) was the wrong presser foot for their machines. I finally went to Quality Sew and Vac and started asking questions, since these students all said they were told by Quality that the foot they brought to class was the right one for free motion.

Lynn Cassidy at Silverdale Quality S&V solved the mystery. Certain models of Viking and Pfaff have a “floating” free motion mode in addition to a “spring action” free motion mode. The machines must be set to operate in one mode or the other, depending upon which presser foot you use. So it is possible to do free motion without a foot with a spring in it, which is the only way I have ever done it.

Here is a link to an explanation by Viking of the Floating Mode:

http://new.husqvarnaviking.com/en-CA/Accessories/Free-Motion-Echo-Quilting-Foot

and a similar link for Spring Action:

http://new.husqvarnaviking.com/en-US/Accessories/Open-Toe-Free-Motion-Spring-Foot

Thanks to Lynn for her great explanation of this option available on some sewing machines. Now I will be better able to help my quilting students in the future.

Free Motion Quilting Class Update

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After I taught my last free motion quilting class, I decided I needed to rework the class a little bit to improve its effectiveness. I also needed new shop samples. The photo below shows my first new shop sample, which includes thirteen different free motion designs (twelve blocks plus one in the sashing). By focusing the class so that each student tries these thirteen designs, I am hoping students will have a clear goal and feel they have enough designs to use on their quilts until they gain the confidence to create their own. You can click on the photo and enlarge it to see the designs. On my computer I can then zoom in even further so the quilting patterns really show.

Free Motion Quilting Class Sampler

Free Motion Quilting Class Sampler

Pieceless Applique Shop Samples

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I will be teaching my Pieceless Applique class at Sleepy Valley Quilt Company in Port Angeles in September and have been preparing a couple of samples for display in the shop. The first sample is using a block from Liz Jones’ book, Flowers, Hearts and Garlands:

Pieceless Applique Peach Floral sample

Pieceless Applique Peach Floral sample

The second sample is one I prepared using a simpler design that is more suitable for the students as a practice piece:

Pieceless applique four patch sample June 17 2013

I really love the book by Liz Jones where I learned this technique.  The applique patterns are really beautiful.  Click on the book name here to see  more details about the book on Amazon: Flowers, Hearts and Garlands Quilt (Applique Masterpiece)

Pacific West Quilt Show Aug 23-25, 2013

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This year’s Pacific West Quilt Show will be at the Tacoma Convention Center August 23-25. Based on previous years, this will be a great show with lots of beautiful quilts. The venue is nice also. I particularly like the many seating areas where you can relax and take a break in between visits to the exhibition halls.

If you haven’t used the tram (I think they call it light rail) to get around downtown, I urge you to try it. Park at the Tacoma Dome station at the end of the line where parking is free in a big multi level garage, hop on the tram (also free) and in ten minutes you are dropped off in front of the convention center. Way easier than trying to find and paying for a parking spot in one of the downtown lots.

I am pleased that two of my quilts – Leaves in the Wind and Fireballs – have been accepted into the show. You can see photos of them in my gallery.

A new way to label your quilts

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I just saw this on an Episode of The Quilt Show and it is a really great idea, so I am sharing it here. You know those little square black and white codes that you are seeing everywhere in magazines, on store ads, etc? You can now put one on your quilt, in a scrapbook, or in a greeting card!

It’s called a QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) and is an optically machine-readable label that is attached to an item and that records information related to that item. For your quilt, it can be an audio message, a video message, a photo, or text.

Go to http://www.stkr.it for more info. You can get an iron on or a sew in QR label to apply to your quilt. You can upload or record your message with your smart phone (and their free app) and then it can be read by anyone with a smart phone. It can also be accessed by taking the number on the label and going to the stkr.it website, where you can enter the number and get access to the message that way.

If you are a member of The Quilt Show, they have a video showing use of the product taken at the recent Quilt Market in Portland.

Mariner’s Alphabet Pattern published

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I am pleased to announce that I have published the pattern for my Mariner’s Alphabet quilt. This is a really fun quilt to make. The blocks are simple foundation (paper) piecing. The link to Pattern Spot where it can be purchased is on the Pattern page of this blog.

Mariners Alphabet banner

Mariner’s Alphabet 26 inches by 62 inches