Fresh Cut

(All photos used with permission from Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork and Quilting.  Copyright, June 2012 Meredith Corporation.  All rights reserved)

Katie and I are pretty excited that the June issue of American Patchwork and Quilting has an excerpt from our book, Quilting Modern: Techniques and Projects for Improvisational Quilts and a bonus project baby quilt we call Fresh Cut! (It's not in the book...it's an extra.)

Fresh Cut utilizes the Slice and Insert technique from the chapter titled Slice and Dice.  It is a simple and versatile technique.

We were so thrilled with the photo styling. The quilt looks fabulous and certainly fresh.  The issue is jam packed with other fresh quilts AND an article featuring the timeless improvisational quilts of Gee's Bend.

Thanks American Patchwork and Quilting!  Hope you pick up a copy!

Tallgrass Prairie Studio 2.0

So, I drank the facebook kool-aid. My youngest son is in Chicago for a few days over Thanksgiving and I have built in tech support, so I took the plunge and created a page for Tallgrass Prairie Studio. I have a personal facebook page, but I haven't been there since I started it. I'm more interesting as a business than I am as a person. I'm going to try to keep it up to date and actually use it.

I understand the facebook protocol is that you're supposed to ask people to like you. To make it easier for you, there's a button on the sidebar that when you click, magically tells facebook that you like me. Doesn't everybody want to be liked?

In other news, I received the latest catalog from C&T and I'm a cover girl! That's my quilt on the cover of We Love Color which is all about using Robert Kaufman's kona solids.  I do love konas and all those luscious colors!  I'm so excited to see inside and I have to say it's simply thrilling to be in the company of the other 15 designers in this book.

For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving this week, have a happy day.  I'm thinking about where I was three and a half years ago, having never made a quilt before.  I am more than blessed and thankful for what quilting has added to my life.

Coming Up for Air!

3 days and counting until the truck arrives and all my furniture and all those boxes I've been so carefully packing will be on their way to Chicago.  I've saved the studio (and the garage...aaaak!) for last on my packing agenda.  I've had my nose to the grindstone, fixing, painting, and sprucing.  The house looks amazing.  It's ready for a new owner (hopefully someone will want to buy her), and I'm ready to say a fond farewell.

I was able to come up for air a bit last week.  I spent a few days in beautiful northern Arkansas talking and teaching with the lovely folks of the Q.U.I.L.T. Guild of Northwest Arkansas.  It was great to get out of the house and back to doing what I love to do.  I had the pleasure of talking to their guild and doing a trunk show as well as teaching a full day workshop on improvisational quilting.  We had a big group and so much fun.  A few friends from the KCMQG came down (thanks guys!) and then there was a bunch from the Arkansas guild.  What wonderful folks...so open, willing to try, jump out of the box and totally talented.  We had a ball!

Carmen posted this on facebook...I was so excited to see it.  My freelance writer friend, Linzee McCray, wrote an article on Modern Quilting for the French magazine, Magic Patch.  It was pretty cool to see my quilts published internationally.  Congrats to Alissa, her quilt is in there too.  Thanks to Carmen for allowing me to use her photo.  I'm hoping my copy will arrive soon!

A few more weeks and I'll be in Chicago permanently.  I'm ready to be settled with my hubby and back to sewing!   Won't be long now!

Be sure to drop by tomorrow for a review of Nancy Zieman's great new book and a chance to win a copy for yourself.

Make It Modern and Spit to the Rescue...Again!

I wrote an article for the April issue of Quilter's World magazine. I love how they styled my quilts. Quilter's World seemed like a pretty traditional magazine to me, but they're moving to include more modern pieces and articles. I'm thrilled to share this issue with the likes of Jan, of Daisy Janie fame. Jan's got a cute quilt in this issue with her Shades of Grey fabrics. Jen, of Reannilily Designs has one of her signature bags in this issue. Jen is a Wichita gal. Pretty cool to have two Kansas girls in the issue.
Sewed and quilted a bunch over the weekend. Snow, yes, snow kept me out of the garden and from working outside.

Had a little stabbing incident quilting this quilt. I was quilting along and didn't even notice that one of the basting pins was stuck in my hand...just above my thumb....I don't even know how long it was there. I stopped to adjust the quilt, pulled my hand back and the pin popped out...blood was spurting everywhere. What a mess. I grabbed a scrap of batting and slapped it on my hand, but not before the quilt was covered in bright red dots.
Another opportunity to unleash the power of spit. Yes, I've done this before. Spit actually is the best method for removing blood when it needs to be done NOW and you don't have the traditional blood removal ingredients on hand. I had to rip out a section of quilting, but saved the quilt. Hoping to finish the quilting on this baby today...sore thumb and all.

A Nice Way to Start the Week!

I finally got my hands on the new Stitch. I'm pretty excited about this issue.
There's my quilt on page 53.
This one was inspired by my San Diego earthquake scare last summer. Definitely a 'Shake, Rattle and Roll" experience.
I have the girly version still waiting to be quilted. I love it in pink!
Bruno made the magazine too. He's so proud!
I'm in there again with my quilting New Year's resolution. It's a great issue. Alissa and Malka have projects in the magazine too. It's pretty nice to be in such great company.