with framing…

without framing…

And Jane – I love that you have a pic of yourself labeled as the ‘quilt geek.’  I have long considered myself a quilt nerd/geek.

And Gretchen’s beautiful finish:

How do I enter the fabulous Quilter’s Newsletter subscription contest?

Enter the contest in up to three ways:

*leave a comment here on the blog

*leave feedback at itunes, then leave a comment about your feedback here (because I can’t be sure I’ll be able to contact the winner if it was an itunes entry otherwise)

*join the Pioneer Quilter group over at the Big Tent - it’s easy & free.  You will have to join the main Quiltcast Supergroup before you can join the Pioneer Quilter subgroup.  Come check it out – lots of other quilting podcasters are there, too!

Challenge: MAY MAYHEM!!!

What is May Mayhem?  That is the title of my May challenge for listeners.  I have decided to challenge myself to perform a quilting or sewing activity every day for at least 15 minutes for all of May.  Would you like to join the fun?  Head on over to the Pioneer Quilter group at the Big Tent.  All you have to do to join is leave a reply to the forum topic entitled ‘May Mayhem’. 

Then  once a week I will post a new forum message for you to log your progress at.  I will have mini podcasts each week to discuss the progress and whatnot of the challenge.  Consider joining up today!

Enjoy the show!

Thank you to the many listeners leaving comments!  The Husband especially likes your feedback

In March I had the opportunity to see Patricia Knoechel of Quilt-in-a-day fame speak and give sewing demonstrations.  It was well worth the $3.00 entrance fee and the 1/2 day of vacation!  She was promoting her sister Eleanor’s book, ‘Quilt Blocks on American Barns’. I bought a few things and had a great time.  I am glad I took the time to go.

Hurray!  I finished The Boy’s quilt.  Sorry, we are having technical difficulties with the camera so no photos yet but I wanted to share the awesomest finish on the binding I have seen: the ladder stitch!  I heard someone mention it on a podcast – I am thinking Annie Smith but honestly it was months and months ago so I am not sure who it was.  So I googled it to find a tutorial.  I found this super-clear and easy to follow tutorial at Turning Turning.  Check it out. 

Head on over to Big Tent to join the Pioneer Quilter group!  You will need to join the main Quiltcast Supergroup before you can join Pioneer Quilter.  Signing up will get you entered in a drawing to win a year of Quilter’s Newsletter!  You can also enter by leaving a comment here and by leaving feedback on iTunes (and then notifying me of your feedback here.)

Have a listen!

• The Modern Quilt Guild.  I’ve seen it mentioned on Sew Mama Sew several times and meant to bring it up.  Alert listener Carlyn reminded me about it.  Are there any Modern Quilt Guild members listening?  Send me an email or leave a comment if you are a member.  I’d love to hear what it is like.
• The Ladies’ Art Company Block Tool by Connie Chunn.   What an awesome reference!  It has a great variety of blocks and gives cutting sizes for up to 5 different block sizes. 
• The Quilter’s Newsletter had two patterns that I loved this month.

Have a listen!

Keepsake Quilting – I am still in love with that Halloween block of the month.

AQS – a contest!  Just fill in the form here.

The Alliance for American Quilts is holding a quilt contest.  Entries aren’t returned, but it is for a good cause and your work will be documented in the Quilt Index!

My sister Karri is participating in the three day Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure event in Cleveland this year.  If you can provide her some support it would be greatly appreciated!  Also she is hosting a children’s clothing swap & shop March 6th in Rootstown, Ohio.

Thank you so much to Annie Smith of the Quilting Stash podcast. She has generously donated a seat in her online class, “Quilting 101″ to a lucky listener! All you have to do to enter for your chance to win is leave a comment here before 5:30 PM Eastern time on Friday September 25th.   Good luck!!!

My friend Robin has informed me that I must add pictures to the blog.  So this time I have some photos to show.  Thanks for the tip, Robin!

The giveaway: to enter the drawing, leave a comment on this blog post.  If you’d like to have a second entry, mention on your blog that I am doing a giveaway and link to this post.  Then leave a comment with a link to your post.  To the left there is a pic of my hand holding up a tea cozy.  That’s a view of the inside pockets.  Tea included!  Yum!

You might be wondering what it was the Tooth Fairy brought for The Girl - two 50 cent pieces for the first tooth and one 50 cent piece for the second.  We thought at first we might give her something extra special to take the sting out of it for her.  (Ok, maybe the sting-reduction was more for us than her.)  But The Boy told her what to expect and 1) she was totally thrilled with that and 2) we did not want The Boy to feel his Tooth Fairy visits yielded lesser results just because his teeth fell out without novacaine and pincers.

Other photos:  My coat-in-progress, which is from the Project Runway Simplicity pattern number 2812:

The black and white part is the lining.  I got all of my fabric for it from Fabric.com.

And here is the first completed sunburst block of the year.  I finished it last weekend at The Girl’s ballet class and it has been scrunched up in her ballet bag since then, so pardon the wrinkles.

And last but not least, here is the center of the Round Robin exchange that I am working to add a border to:

The owner is planning a three-dimensional beak that will be appliqued to the chicken. 

Don’t forget to visit the Alliance for American Quilts!

There are lots of ways to get your quilt fix by snail mail – who doesn’t love getting mail?!

Show notices – glossy brochures to upcoming shows are lovely to get.  Here are a few I’ve recently received:

• The Original Sewing & Quilting Expo has 4 upcoming Spring events around the United States, including Cleveland on March 26th, 27th, and 28th.
• AQS Quilt Show & Contest in Paducah Kentucky, April 22nd – 25th.  Big Gammill giveaway – go here to enter for free or join up as a member.

Sewing catalogs!  I love catalogs!  Sure you can shop on the internet too but then you don’t get the joy of touching glossy paper.  And you can still browse when the electricity goes out.

• Keepsake Quilting - order a free catalog for yourself here.
• Sewing with Nancy - order a free catalog for yourself here.

Magazines!!  There are tons of magazines to read, here are the three I get:

• Quilter’s Home
• Quilter’s Newsletter
• The Quilting Quarterly (from NQA)

What about…

• Block of the Month programs – otherwise known as BOM’s.
• Fabric subscriptions – some shops offer a subscription service similar to fruit-of-the-month clubs, with themes like Bali or Moda fabric, etc.

Many thanks to those leaving comments!!!