We can feel all those crossed fingers clenched so tight. Oh, who will it be? The winner, the winner, tell us the winner! It is….Farscapegirl (aka Elaine C.) who will receive the Applique Petal Party pattern pack by Susan Brubaker Knapp! Lucky her!
The comments we received on the giveaway post from our blog readers and Facebook fans were awesome! Gardeners and non-gardeners alike all seem to love flowers—how can you not, right? Some popular picks were roses, daisies, cone flowers and sunflowers. Some couldn’t choose as they appreciate them all. Your preferences seem to stem from childhood memories, flowers you find easy to grow, or simply one of your favorite florals featured in your quilts. I loved Jean Rossman‘s poetic description of an iris.
Thank you to everyone who left a comment here and on Facebook. We love hearing from you!
For this week only we will be offering a 20% discount off the purchase of Applique Petal Party . Order by Monday, November 2, 2009 by visiting ctpub.com or by calling 800-284-1114 and referencing discount code WG-10730.
The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) had a big presence at Fall Quilt Festival in Houston. Ami Simms and her volunteer crew set up and manned the booth for Festival, selling quilts to raise money and awareness to fight Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition to the ongoing sale of quilts to raise money for Alzheimer’s research, four small quilts by world-renowned quilters Hollis Chatelain, John Flynn, Becky Goldsmith, and Sue Nickels will be auctioned. The no-holds-barred, knock-down, drag-out, head-to-head, quilt-to-the-death (not really), grudge match will be held November 1-10, 2009 in the AAQI “Smackdown Auction Arena.” The 10-day online silent auction is all about bragging rights—and raising awareness and money to fight Alzheimer’s disease. Continue Reading…
Our Creative Troupe just keeps on surprising us with the most incredible pieces of art using our products. Look at how Susan I. Jones has transformed this Ready-to-Go!® Blank Board Book! The title says it all…”Ars Gratia Artis” which means “Art for Art’s Sake.” Read on for the project instructions. Click here to see more Creative Troupe projects on our Flickr page.
When I first learned to quilt, I never imagined that quilting would involve putting on my apron and picking up a paint brush. But that’s all changed since I’ve joined the ever-growing group of quilters who are painting on fabric. It’s a whole new way to play with the colors we quilters love so much (and a whole new kind of mess in the sewing room!)
One thing I’ve discovered is that acrylic fabric paints aren’t the only way to make a splash on fabric. You can create wonderful, flowing watercolor effects with acrylic fabric inks—and unlike fabric paints, inks don’t stiffen the fabric when they dry. Read on to learn more about acrylic fabric inks and how to use them for painting on fabric. Click here to learn more about fabric paints.
Fabric ink painting of a stormy sunset, based on techniques from Mickey Lawler's book Sky Dyes.
Continue Reading…
A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of poems attempts to express the “Aha’s” and “What ifs”, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.
A bed of brown
Rustling
Beneath
Your trunk.
The golden halo
Has been
Washed away
By an early rain.
Time
To get out
The rake.
C&T Publishing is proud to sponsor the Digital Imagery category at the annual fall judged show of the International Quilt Association. As always, this year’s entries in the show were breathtaking. Our publisher, Amy Marson, attended the awards ceremony in Houston and pretty much summed up the experience in one word, Amazing! Here are the winners from the Digital Imagery category:
First Place: Watch Master by CARYL BRYER FALLERT of PADUCAH, KENTUCKY
Second Place: Eye to Eye by BARBARA McKIE of LYME, CONNECTICUT
Continue Reading…
Daniela Costa from The Art Life (and a proud member of our Creative Troupe) is featuring one of our Ready-to-Go!® Blank Board Books in her latest scrapbook kit. The kit includes the 6″x6″ black board book, along with all the papers and embellishments you need for some wicked fun! Daniela develops a new kit each month—you’re going to want to bookmark her site for shopping!
This Saturday afternoon, you’ll find her at Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley, CA doing Halloween make-n-takes with our Ready-to-Go!® Mini Shadow Boxes…such an adorable holiday decoration!
For more inspiration using blank board books – check out our Flickr Gallery. Have a hauntingly happy Halloween!
When was the last time you read The Cat in the Hat? I think that my 4 year old can recite this entire book by heart. It’s his favorite.
I have been working on some wonderfully exciting new ventures here at C&T that I can’t wait to share with you in the new year. That’s the good news…no, that’s the great news! But I admit that lately I have felt like this:
If you have read The Cat in the Hat, you’ll remember that the page following the “balancing act” page above shows the children watching as everything crashes to the ground. The not so great news is that I have watched the red fan and the fish in a pot, the cake and maybe even the…well, you get the point, fall from their well balanced perches. Some of my more fundamental tasks as Acquisitions Editor here at C&T have played second fiddle and it has taken longer than usual to get submissions through our routing process here at C&T.
In the past few weeks I think I have tied up some loose ends with sincere apologies and promises of accelerated timelines, but if one of our readers out there is still waiting for an answer from me, please email me at susannew (at) ctpub (dot) com. I hate keeping you waiting because I know how brave you potential authors are for sending your proposals out into the internet ether and holding your breath. If you, or someone you know, is still holding their breath waiting for a response on a submitted proposal, get in touch with me. I’ve created a few new systems to ensure that this lag time doesn’t happen again and I will be updating the Submissions page on our website to provide a more concrete timeline and the names and contact details of a few of my acquisitions colleagues so that you have more than one person to go to with questions and for updates.
Like the The Cat in the Hat, I always clean up my messes. So drop me a line, give me a nudge and I’ll be right there. Thanks.
This is the story behind a quilt that has led a very charmed life. The quilt was created by C&T author, Wendy Hill using the techniques in her book Easy Bias-Covered Curves.
Wendy’s quilt, “Daisy Doodle,” was finished in June 2008. Not quite a charm quilt, it is a scrappy mix of 150 different 1930’s reproduction fabrics. Using her bias-covered curve technique, (covered curves, NOT pieced) Wendy quickly whipped out 224 blocks for this quilt. The free motion daisy motif quilting took much more time, and Wendy will admit, a bit of whining. But it was worth it! Continue Reading…
Cindy's son, Trevor
In August, we co-hosted a crafting event, during which we offered a charity raffle for the attendees. They could win private tutorials on a variety of topics from basic sewing to photography to quilting. Our C&T staff experts are each volunteering 2 hours of their time to teach the winners a new skill.
The first winner to redeem her prize was Cindy deRosier—she won a basic sewing lesson from our Creative Director, Gailen Runge. The timing was perfect, as Cindy wanted to make this adorable crayon costume for her son to wear on Halloween.
Gailen loved Cindy’s confidence. “Cindy was not afraid to try something new. It was exciting for me to see her just jump right in! She got to know her sewing machine better, and now that she has the basics down, she can stitch up anything she wants!”
Cindy deRosier, scrapbooker AND sewer!
Cindy emailed us shortly after her sewing lesson. “I learned so much and am thrilled with how much we got accomplished. Since our lesson a little over a week ago, I’ve shortened two more shirts and hemmed three pairs of pants! It feels so good to finally know what I’m doing.” Way to go, Cindy!! Click here to see more pics of her lesson.
Gailen donated the raffle funds collected for her tutorial to her local charity of choice, The Dunakin Children’s Family Trust, set up to assist the children of slain police officer Mark Dunakin.
We will keep y’all posted on the other winners as they redeem their raffle prizes, too!
