Turn to Page 19

My newest copy of Quilter's Newsletter came in the mail a few days ago.  

A quick check of the cover told me that the pictures of the winning quilts were in this issue.

Turning to Page 19 I found my quilt "Dahlia Revisited".  It is still so incredible to me to see one of my quilts in any magazine, much less one that has been such a leader in our industry for 45 years.

I think the colors are pretty true to the original.

I haven't found a permanent home for this yet.  I may have to re-do some things in my studio.

I hope you can find a copy - it's a good article.  And I still feel humbled to have placed in the top five.  Hope you all are staying warm today - our sun is shining and things have warmed up a bit here.  I think it was 31 last night.

I'm working on the memory quilts today - trying to get ready for quilting.

Happy stitching,

Karen

Purple Dresdens for Joyce

Yesterday I delivered this quilt to a friend of mine.  It's a purple Dresden Plate that was pieced, appliqued and partially quilted by Joyce.

I've never met Joyce, she is my friend's mother in law and she passed away last spring.

I know that she was an artist and a quilter.  Her husband found this quilt partially finished and wanted someone to finish it.  So my friend called me and  that's how I came to work on Joyce's quilt.  I've spent the last few weeks finishing the hand quilting  and adding the binding.

No one in the family knew when Joyce started it or how long she worked on it.  They're not sure why she chose purple and so those things will never be known. There isn't a lot of complicated quilting so I continued Joyce's design of simple edge stitching in the borders.  It's not a perfect quilt, but then, do any of us make perfect quilts??  In the end, what we want is a finished quilt that someone will love and enjoy.

So Joyce's quilt is done and I hope her husband will use it and enjoy it.

I feel honored and humbled that the family trusted me to finish this.  While I was quilting, I had time to think about whether someone I don't know will one day finish one of my quilts (or maybe more than one).  I'm so glad this quilt is no longer in a bag in the closet.

May we all keep stitching as long as we have days.

Karen

P.S.  Sorry this is so sappy, I just felt I wanted to share Joyce's story.

A Very Special House Guest

Two weeks ago, I had the extreme pleasure of hosting one of the sweetest people ever.  She also happens to be an incredible quilter.  Philippa Naylor came to Pensacola, FL from Yorkshire, England  (by way of Houston) to do 3 workshops for our Guild prior to her teaching schedule in Houston.  

I have been a huge, HUGE fan of Philippa's since I first found her book in 2009.  I read her book cover to cover and then made a quilt using techniques from the book and posted about it here.

Can you just see the sweetness in that smile??  She stayed at my house for 4 days and we had the best time.  I still kind of pinch myself that it really happened.  It was a dream come true.  I was able to take the whole week off work and took all 3 of her workshops.  If you ever get the chance to meet her and take one of her classes, do it.  She is amazing.

This is her new book she debuted at Market last week - it's incredible.  We learned so many of the techniques from the book and I can only say my brain hurt when we were all finished!  She is an amazing teacher (and we could all listen to that English accent all day LOL),

I'm still getting used to my new Juki, but found that it did really well in the machine applique department.

Philippa had so many samples there.  We learned how to make these wavy strips - so cool!

After appliquing a simple circle on with a satin stitch, Philippa took it to a whole new level.

Every piece was perfection.

There were so many ideas to try.  This variegated thread worked so well in these samples.

These were just her doodles!!  I could only hope that some day I could attain this control.

I had a project ready to go and so I was able to try out some of my new skills and  practice my machine applique and some detail machine quilting.  But I must say that one of the biggest things I've learned is to bury my threads - shout out to Linda H. :)!  Philippa said to tell yourself it's your most favorite part and embrace it.  The more threads you bury the more complicated your piece is.....I'm trying and honestly it's really not that bad.

Here is my first attempt at McTavishing.  What I find most interesting about this method, is that it really is like a signature.  While it's the same technique, every person does it a little different.  I'm learning but for my first try I'm pleased.

There's been a lot going on around here, but it's now time to go bury threads :).

Have a great day,

Karen