C&T Publishing Blog

My First Quilt

Guess what? I made my first quilt!! After more than ten years at C&T, I finally gave into quilting fever and made a quilt for my mom for Christmas. It’s a memory quilt and it has photographs of all of her loved ones.

I was able to use many of the products that manufacturers have sent to our company over the years—from Printed Treasures fabric sheets to Hobbs batting to some fabulous batik fabrics from various manufacturers. I’m in love with batiks!

I think I’ve must have gotten some tips by osmosis from reading our books over the years, and I now have an even higher regard for our authors and books. Before this I thought our authors were phenomenal quilters whose art was incredibly inspiring, but now I realize how incredibly good they are at teaching!

I referred to a number of books more than once during some late night sewing sessions. Some helpful beginner books for me were Start Quilting with Alex Anderson and Make Your First Quilt with M’Liss Rae Hawley. I also refered a lot to Foolproof Machine Quilting and the All-in-One Quilter’s Reference Tool. I poured through books to make sure I was doing it right!

Ok, so my first quilt is not perfect, but someone once told me that a quilt wasn’t meant to be perfect and that there should always be at least one imperfection in it! Well, mine has more than one, but I’m still pleased with how it came out. Now all I have to do is finish sewing the binding and I’m done—right before I get on the plane to deliver it on Christmas Eve. Wish me luck!

Back from Quilt Market and Still Running!

I just returned from International Quilt Market in Houston. Even after 10 years attending the show with C&T Publishing, I’m always amazed at the creativity, beauty, and sense of camaraderie exhibited by this industry. I managed to get on the plane to fly to Houston with a cold, ingesting cold medicine and declining to shake hands; I was determined to keep my nasty germs to myself. Instead of working on the plane, I slept, especially after I stayed up til after midnight finishing my daughter’s Halloween costume—that would be the one she let me know she needed on Sunday night, when she was returning to college on Tuesday afternoon. Jasmin the princess and her boyfriend’s Alladin costume were both finished just prior to getting on the plane. The last button was sewn on, and I was ready to take a muchly needed nap on the plane.

At the show, C&T did a whirlwind 12 schoolhouses for many of our new release titles. (We’ll post images and video next week!)

Some of the show highlights for me were in the Special Exhibit area. There were two mosaic quilts by Diana Bracy that blew me away. One was of Obama and the other of McCain. It doesn’t matter who you support. Both of their portraits were incredibly-created in mosiacs of fabric scraps. A quilter’s creativity never ceases to amaze me!