Hawaii Report

We spent a wonderful two weeks on The Big Island in February, thanks to Quilt Passions shop and their annual retreat "Quilting on the Beach".

I taught two full day classes, John and I sang a concert, and I also "sat in" as a guitar player for their "reader's version" of The Quilters play.  It was full-on and fun!

The cast of The Quilters, from my view in "the orchestra pit"!

The Mock Mola Class did some wonderful work!

I must say that Hawaii is the best place I've ever been for positive/negative design inspirations!  Everyone really "got it" in class.

This was our very enthusiastic audience!
(We didn't get a picture of them ALL shop-hopping along with John's choreography!)

We also met some new quilty friends:  Pam Bocko runs Pieceful Designs and offers lots of very charming wall hanging patterns. You'll find her at quilt shows and on line  She and her husband Rick (who is a mad ukulele player) were great at showing us around to their favourite snorkeling beaches (like the one above in the first picture).

This was taken after an oceanside breakfast ukulele jam session with 50 other musicians.

We also got to know the irrepressible Rob Appell from Morro Bay CA, who is a sewing machine repairman and VERY enthusiastic quilter and snorkeler/surfer.

Karen and Robert were our gracious hosts, and they really showed us a terrific time. They had lots of ideas of fun things to see while we were there, and even loaned us their snorkel equipment for the duration!  If you ever need a February vacation in the sun, I would highly recommend this quilting retreat.

The Quilt Show Celebrates
International Quilting Weekend
March 20-22

Big news here! In honor of International Quilting Weekend, March 20-22, 2015, The Quilt Show (www.thequiltshow.com), the web TV show hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, will open all of its shows from the first nine series-- shows 100-1513 --for the entire weekend. This means that, for three special days, everyone will have the chance to view over 200 shows, featuring some of the quilting world’s leading artists, for FREE. 

This year's sponsors are contributing over $5000 in prizes, including the Grand Prize, a BERNINA 550 QE.  Other prizes you have a chance to win are:

·         Innova – Have your quilt professionally quilted ($500 value)

·         Superior Threads – five $100 gift certificates

·         RJR Fabrics – a Delicious Selection of RJR Fabrics

·         AccuQuilt – GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter

·         Missouri Star Quilt Company – $500 in Quilter’s Cash plus signed copies of Volume 1 of Block Magazine and Man Sewing Swag

 As you may already know, I appeared as the featured artist on TQS in show 1204. If you didn't have the opportunity to see this show the first time around, now you'll have the chance to see it—and so many other terrific shows—at no cost in this unprecedented three-day offer.

I hope that you'll share this information with all of your quilting friends. It's a fantastic opportunity to enjoy three days of learning and fun without leaving your home…all for free.

Enjoy the shows, and thanks for helping to spread the word!

Link to TQS website landing page:  http://thequiltshow.com/international-quilting-weekend
 

My New Passion:  Millefiore

When we drove through Kamloops BC last year I picked up a new book by the owner of Katja's Quilt Shoppe:  The New Hexagon - 52 Blocks to English Paper Piece.  I thought it was a great way to change up hexagons (you do know I'm a bit of a hexaholic, don't you?) by PIECING them!  The patterns are drawn at 3" - huge for me who usually works in 1/4" and 3/8" sizes.

To help sell her book, Katja has come up with a great idea, a Block of the Month.  It's called a Millefiore quilt, and will make up to a 78" square sized quilt.  I'm not sure, but I think we'll be using most of the patterns in her book by the end of it. It started in January with a new Facebook page (find the link from Katja's website), and it currently has over 2400 members!  They are uploading pictures of their blocks - do take a look; they're wonderful.

The enticement of this quilt for me is the effects you can achieve with fussy-cutting.  Starting with the centre hexagon of the first block, it's so exciting to see what can be done with careful cutting to draw attention to the fabric designs.  Everybody's using their own fabrics and are coming up with incredible pieces!  I couldn't stop at just one of the first month's block. Consequently, I'm two months behind on the BOM. It doesn't matter. Here are my two Block One pieces - one with my collection of Australian aboriginal fabrics, and one with a Jinny Beyer border print as the focus. The left one is the completed first month's block, and it measures 36" across. There's one more round to go on the Jinny Beyer (blue and yellow) one. I'll be working on this while we fly to Wisconsin next week.