Quilting Books...The Library Thing

Did you ever think of cataloging your book collection? Its something I've wanted to do for some time now but one of those things that I just never seem to get around to. (I worked in a public library for almost 20 years, so the urge to have mine nice and orderly has never gone away!) I spent most of the afternoon cataloging my books. Well, at least my quilting and sewing books, all 154 of them. I'll save the longarming and fiction for another day. I used The Library Thing. https://www.librarything.com/ They have a fairly new app out for the iPhone and iPad. Its free and easy as can be to set up and use. Believe it or not I only came across two titles that I had purchased two of. NOW, that won't be happening again since I have everything at my fingertips on my phone.You can even set up a "lending" tab that will allow your friends to view and borrow your books! Even movies if you have a collection of those. Its all pretty cool and thought I'd share it with you. 

Hope you all have a great week! SewHappy!

Gearin' up for Fredericksburg!

Getting everything ready to hit the road... Fredericksburg, Virginia with The Original Sewing & Quilt Expo! This will be my first time there. I hear it's an exceptionally big show with hundreds of classes to choose from and shopping opportunities galore! I'm very pleased and excited to be teaching Miniature Log Cabins, Small Scale Churndash, English Paper Piecing and the favorite of many, Tee Shirt Quilts. 
Fall is by far my favorite time of year and this adventure is going to be SEW fun!

The other side of the world...

Our hearts and prayers go out to those in Kathmandu, Nepal...

                 Prayer Flags

Mini Log Cabin Class Original Sewing & Quilt Expo--Cleveland!

Mini Log Cabin Class at the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo--Cleveland!

 What a great group! Notice the shortest little quilter in the front row...

She is just 10 years old and new to sewing and quilting! A fabric lover after my own heart! She did an amazing job today! In fact, everyone did! Even those who had never paper-pieced before, caught on right away and completed more than

a block or two. A round of applause please! We all had sew much fun! Every single student left happy and learned new skills! I love my job!

Original Sewing and Quilt Expo!

We had a full house last night! The class, "TEE SHIRTS THE EASY WAY!" was a great success!

Besides that, we had a lot of fun! Isn't that why we sew? And to enjoy what we do?!
I thought I'd share some of the pictures from the class. Thank you ladies, great job! I love teaching and sharing that love with all of you! A special thank you to Miriam from Janome sewing machines! You were delightfully helpful!

Weeding through the PhDs (projects half done!)

Like so many of you, I belong to a sewing group where we meet once a month to get together and SEW! We call ourselves Twisted Stitchers and been meeting for about ten years now. In the beginning (we actually started off as a miniature quilt making group) we all hauled our sewing machines and necessary supplies to work on projects. Ahhh, life was good. Then it happened. One by one we started not bringing a sewing project, but a shiny new quilt magazine to peruse.Then it was new quilting books we'd acquired. Then we showed up with nothing but money in our pockets for lunch and shopping! It was all fun and games as they say.....until I felt as though I wasn't getting anything accomplished and my time was wasted..... just a little....The company was ALWAYS good! Oh I love that group of women! So, I now take something every month to work on. Currently I'm on a binge to get my big basket of PhDs completed! This is the result of the first. It is a kit I purchased in Paducah in 2013. It is from Modern Quilts (formerly known as Fun Quilts) by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. This particular pattern is called "Follow the Leader". For any of you that know me, that title has never been a good fit. I have to do things my own way....I did make it a little bigger than the pattern and am anxious to get it quilted as soon as I choose the backing fabric. This was certainly a mindless project. Just what I needed before teaching at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo at the end of the week in Cleveland! Check them out! http://www.sewingexpo.com/

                                          
 

Log Cabin on the Hand Crank Singer

​I decided to get my much loved, 1923 Singer "Annie" hand crank machine dusted off and hummin'! And yes, I name my machines! 

Currently I'm working on a log cabin project started a few years ago stitched entirely on this beautiful machine.  Annie's decal is a Memphis Sphinx... especially fitting since I was born in Memphis, TN! Actually this old machine is just one in my whittled down collection. I use a treadle, featherweight, a 404, 185J among others.  I'll choose a project and complete it using one of them.
Its like sewing with an old friend.

At one time I had at least one machine from each decade beginning in 1900. Now, I'm down to just a few, but love them all for their simplicity and the absolutely beautiful stitch they make. After all, that is what they were made for....straight stitching! It always brings me great joy to sit down behind one of them electric or not and wonder about the lives of the women in past who used them and what they created with them. It somehow connects this old soul with the past.

SewHappy!

Teaching again!

Wow! Quite a long time since the last post! Time does fly as they say.....
Currently I'm working on finishing touches for class samples for Joann Fabrics. I'm very excited to be teaching all kinds of quilting and sewing classes for them! We've scheduled all the way through August 2015! That's a new concept for me, lol. I usually am queen of the last minute.
One other very important piece of news! I will be teaching a few classes at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Cleveland this March. I was fortunate enough to have taught Teddy Bear making classes for them several years ago. I will now be offering a Tee Shirt Quilt class and a Mini Log Cabin class. It's so wonderful to be teaching again. Made me realize just how much I missed it. If you're interested, look at all the great classes they have to offer this Spring and beyond at  www.sewingexpo.com.

This is the mini log cabin we'll be making at the expo......scrappy civil war reproductions...