Like at many companies, people often bring in food left over from parties and such.
But, at how many companies, do you find a note like the one above?
Fathers Day, graduation, and back-to-school to name just a few, are reasons to sew up one or two of these. Easily slip your iPad in the sleeve when on the go or simply to protect it when not in use.
This sleeve was made as a gift for a friend—I don’t own an ipad myself, but I do covet them!
A shoulder strap option is included for that sling over the shoulder on the go type person. Have fun with the stitching and fabric choices.
Materials:
"Tropical Sea" fabric postcard, made with fast2fuse & Ultra-Light Lutradur - created by Susan Slesinger
Tonight was all about fast2fuse® Double-sided Fusible Stiff Interfacing….it’s a lot to say because it has a lot to offer! From a no-sew fabric photo album to machine-embroidered fabric postcards to fabric bowls, boxes and display panels…you will discover something cool and creative to make with fast2fuse. Click here for the replay.
Every week a lucky viewer who’s in the Digital Lounge during our live webcast has a chance to win a prize! Tonight our viewer Marilyn won her choice of one of our many books that feature projects made with fast2fuse, plus a craft pack to get started. Congrats, Marilyn!
Click here for the complete Wednesday Night Live! schedule – we hope to see you and your friends soon!
Book signing in Santiago w/ local wine!
As Deborah Kemball set about promoting her new book, Beautiful Botanicals (released in March) to the world, she was feeling trepidations. “Promoting” was a territory Deborah had never set foot in and she was feeling a bit intimidated. But, after just a few months she was rolling like a pro and loving it. She’ll tell anyone new to this, “have no fear, if I can do it certainly you can.”
Even the task of setting up her website has proven to be successful with well over 6000 visitors already. The blog posts that seemed to go off into the blogosphere’s nowhere land, are being met by multitudes of followers and comments to keep it well and alive. Deborah feels the promotion of her book has been, “the most unanticipated delight of publishing.”
All the other aspects of promotion—the book signings, interviews, magazine articles, postcard distribution, etc—seem to have effortlessly become part of her life as well. Just one month after Beautiful Botanicals was released, the excitement continued in full force. “It’s the most fun I’ve had for ages” claims Deborah. Read on as she shares her whirlwind of travels and winnings.
April started off with Alex Anderson interviewing me for The Quilt Show. It was a thrill because Alex’s books swept me, many years ago, into quilting. The interview set up was a hilarious hour and a half of struggling with technical difficulties with Chilean internet, recording devices, computers and finally Skype. I don’t know how TQS managed to put together such a seamless interview, but I think you can detect the hilarity behind the scenes.
"Jewelled Garden" - Best of Show
Next up: Cincinnati IQA. Before the interview with Alex, I discovered that I’d been lucky enough to be awarded “Best of Show” for my quilt “Jewelled Garden” at the IQA Celebrate Spring exhibition. The combination of the TQS interview and winning Best of Show was just the dreamiest combination in terms of publicity. Every day during the show, I would sign and sell books at Nancy J Fabric, a retailer whom I set up to sell my books. Cincinnati was nonstop fun for me. I linked up with so many other quilters and retailers, and saw so many wonderful pieces of work. I have always said I have never met a quilter I didn’t like, and after talking to a few thousand that weekend, it still holds true. People are so generous with their compliments and enthusiasm. It is the greatest reward of all, to see the pleasure it brings. I also had an interview with the Facebook quilting club.
student pieces from workshop
Next was a stop to Montreal to see my two eldest sons. With a heads up weeks before, a local quilt shop Quilte Classique asked me to do a book signing while celebrating their 10th anniversay. The owner Stephanie sold out of all three cases of books and has orders for more! It was so exciting for me to see members of my guild in Montreal, and women who had attended my trunkshows or workshops bring their projects to show me. I feel such a sense of gratitude to my guild which really gave me the confidence to fly – their enthusiasm for my work had encouraged me in so many ways. I was particularly touched by a lady who had driven out of her way to come and see me. She gave me five spools of beautiful silk thread and told me that she had been the judge who awarded me my first ever ribbon at the Quebec Show in 2006. It was this ribbon that had been my first encouragement and I was so pleased to be able to tell her so.
"Hearts Desire" winner of Hand Quilted Wall Quilts at Puducah
After the crazy whirlwind of it all I took a fleeting holiday trip to the UK to see family and friends. Then back to Chile along the longest route I think possible (via Toronto), but I got some great quilting time in on the flight!
April wrapped up with,”Hearts Desire” winning first place in Hand Quilted Wall Quilts at Puducah. I’ve now returned to Chile and happily back in my studio.
Well the rebels of the quilting world came out en masse to leave comments on the post I wrote about Alethea Ballard‘s new book Maverick Quilts. It’s great to know there are so many of you out there!
As always the winner of the giveaway was selected by a random number generator:
Congratulations Jackie W!!!!!! Although you’ve already developed some maverick tactics, with Alethea’s tips you will be well on your way to becoming a full-blown Maverick Quilter!
Thanks to everyone for your great comments and our next giveaway is already up on the blog here.
If you ever get to NYC you MUST go to the newly expanded The City Quilter. Not only have they added more space for books and fabric, they have also added a gallery dedicated exclusively to art quilts (click the pics to zoom in). Their first exhibit is Daphne Taylor. 
Her work is primarily silk and the imagery is graphic and elegant.
Even though I LOVED the gallery, my heart skips a beat when I see a terrific quilt shop, and this one is no exception, the store is lovely. It is clean, well lit and everything is easy to find. They have great displays and a terrific classroom that is busy EVERY day with top-notch classes. They also have some newly designed book racks that make my heart go pitter-patter because they display the books so beautifully!
So next time you are online or in NYC please check out The City Quilter.
The highly esteemed quilt label is widely considered to be the finishing touch of choice for quiltmaking projects. Whether your quilt commemorates a special occasion, is a gift or simply the first one you have ever made, it deserves a label. The label might be extravagant or simple, but in the end the inspiration behind the quilt is bound to it for all who admire or cuddle up in, or want to track the history of your quilt.
The Quilt Label Collective is a treasury of 150 original illustrations on a CD and offers many artistic choices for making personalized labels for quilts or any creative project. Choose from a variety of themes such as birthdays, weddings, new babies, graduations…or use an all-purpose design. Labels are easily customized by hand or on the computer with desired lettering and colors, then they can be embellished even further with paint or embroidery.
A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of spoken word attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, 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.
After my daughter’s first year in Daisies (comes before Brownies and Girl Scouts), the troop wanted to show our troop leader how much we appreciate her. She was so loving, caring and inspiring to the girls—and we wanted to make sure she knew how incredible she was! What better way than with a quilt?
Over the summer a top secret meeting was held where the girls broke out their scissors and worked hard on individual quilt squares. Since there were 9 girls, a 9-patch fit the bill. We went with a flower theme and made the project simple for 6 year olds by using fusing. Fusing Fun! Fast Fearless Art Quilts by Laura Wasilowski has great ideas and instruction for this technique.
After the girls snipped and cut to their individual liking, it was time to iron their flower centers and petals in place. Their signatures were transferred and embroidered onto each of their squares (by one of the moms).
double click and see embroidered signature in a subtle blue
After the flower parts were secured with varied stitching, the quilt was assembled, then off it went into Ruthmary Schauer’s hands. Ruthmary is one of our Sales Reps here at C&T and she knows how to machine stitch magic into a quilt! The stitched flowers and swirl patterns added a very special touch.
If you look close you'll see the tears
When we presented the finished quilt to our troop leader, the tears that resulted said it all. Since you are visiting us here at the C&T Publishing blog, you know how special a quilt is—especially when given or received as a gift. It turns out this was the first quilt anyone has made her…our fabulous troop leader was touched and the girls were immensely proud.
I try to go to a new museum whenever I travel (which I tend to do quite often these days) but the Met keeps calling me back. When I was in NYC for the Book Expo in late May I spent a few hours immersing myself in several of the exhibits. It is massive and although I may have gotten lost three times, I found many beautiful pieces that inspired me.
I love the door because the wood carving reminds me of the appliqué designs in Elly Sienkiewicz’s Beloved Baltimore Album Quilts.
The Tiffany fountain mosaic (below) instantly brought to mind the colors and design of Quilts Made Modern by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr.
The Rainbow installation (below) instantly brought to mind the exhibit at PIQF that showed how to use the Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool to be inspired.
Lastly, the Guatemalan poncho that was over 1,000 years old reminded me of everything I love about fabric, color, texture, and design.
It is all so… yummy.
