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

First Quilt Show Pictures

Here is the reason I stopped blogging for about 6 weeks. It's called "Upstate Beauty" in honor of growing up near Rochester, NY and fall being my favorite time of year. It's based on an antique quilt I saw in a magazine in 1995. I ripped the page out thinking one day I'll make that quilt! With close to 3,000 little spikes, if I hadn't had the deadline of the show, this quilt would probably still be sitting in a box.

But, it's not, it's wearing a red ribbon, for 2nd place. I was thrilled. As hard as I worked on this quilt, I knew that it had its issues. (Don't we all know exactly where the "issues" are?) Last summer I bought a book called Quilting in the Limelight by Philippa Naylor. I read it cover to cover, it's an absolutely incredible book. Philippa is so extremely talented, that trying anything she writes about is inimidating. Well, I tried 4 new techniques on this quilt from that book! I think the first time you use a new technique, it's risky. It may or may not work. Mostly, mine didn't work, but who knows what would have happened if I hadn't tried them. There is always a learning curve on new techniques. Plus, I was teaching myself, which is more difficult than if you take a class to learn a technique. Next time will be a little better, I'm sure.

I'm very pleased with the quilting design in the open spaces. I drafted the design to mimick the arcs of the blocks. I used a Kaufman Batik, so hand quilting thru a batik was not the best thing to achieve a small stitch. Plus, I do not use a hoop, but quilt in my lap (which also is not the best to achieve a small hand stitch). But, this quilt is for me, and on many levels, it achieved everything I had hoped for. It will occupy a place of honor in my house. I used Bamboo batting for the first time, and love it!! This quilt, with all its seams and use of batiks, already feels like it's been washed 100 times.

My friend, Kim Brackett, of Magnolia Bay Quilts and author of Scrap Basket Surprises, showed up Saturday afternoon for a book signing with our local quilt shop. She graciously stood in front of my quilt (what else??) for a picture.

I will post more pictures, now that the show is over, I feel like I have a portion of my life back. There is one more deadline looming, but I'll tell more about that another time.

Until next time,

Karen