Daily Blog

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Here's what fellow artist, Lyric Kinard, has to say about Deborah Boschert's work,

..."I also love the way she layers commercial and hand printed cloth, machine and hand stitching. Her color combinations are usually quiet with just enough spark and contrast to draw me in. There is something peaceful and intriguing about her work and you can tell there is a personal symbolism being used."

Watch Deborah at work here at TQS in Show 2108: Surface Design Simplified & Vintage Quilt Bed Turning.

Original Photo: Mary Kay Davis

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When we saw Claudia Pfeil's quilt Fractal in our Daily Blog, it reminded us that she had a quilt at AQS QuiltWeek Spring Paducah 2017 that we loved. Claudia seems to have mastered a number of quilting skills in her quilt, Woven Journey. It has Fused Appliqué, Couching, Crystals, Free-Motion Quilting, Photo Transfer, Improvisational Piecing, and Paper Piecing. The quilt was originally inspired by the PIQF 2016 theme, "Then and Now."

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Enjoy Fat Quarter Shop's latest project in their "In Stitches" pillow series for the WeAllSew blog!

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Our friend, Patricia Belyea at Okan Arts has sent us a great prize package featuring her new book, "East-Meets-Quilts," an "East-Meets-West" Aurifil thread set with 10 spools of thread, and 1 yard of vintage Yukata cotton.

To enter, put your name and e-mail address into the gray box below.

Please DO NOT ENTER your information into the COMMENTS section.

We will be choosing a winner by random on November 1st, 2017. Good luck!

Domo Arigato Patricia!

Look below to see images from the book.

"Since my first visit to Japan, I've been in love with the playfulness of Japanese prints. Patricia Belyea assembles fabrics in fresh yet simple arrangements, some of them wonderfully quirky. The book is elegantly styled and should inspire reads to experiement with colour." - Kaffe Fassett

Patricia Belyea

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8/2/2019 Update, 1st Place Contemporary Quilts - The Festival of Quilts - Birmingham 2019.

1/17/2018 Update, Claudia's quilt won Best of Show at Road to California 2018!

(Photo: Island Batik)

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Enjoy the Pacific International Quilt Festival BERNINA 1st Runner Up award winner 2017, Fractal, by Claudia Pfeil.

Claudia's quilt, Fractal, has 30,000 crystals and that's not all. It is painted, inked, machine appliquéd, fused, and enhanced by a myriad of quilting designs.

(Video: Mary Kay Davis)

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Today I am heading out to a Quilt Retreat with a small group of women who I have stitched with for over 20 years!  Whether you are new to retreats or you have been going on them for years, they offer a chance for empowerment. I am not only talking about retreats...as in packing up and heading out to sew somewhere other than your home, but also a self imposed retreat at home. The noun retreat means to go to a place where you can be alone and get away from it all. The issue with a retreat at home in my case, is that the house tends to put up a racket...laundry is crying to be done and meals are waiting to be made. At a quilt retreat that is not in your home, you don't have to cook or clean...you can eat cereal for dinner, LOL.  But then, you may be more disciplined than me.

Having spent the last few days packing, prepping and going over lists for the retreat, what I realize is that when you designate a set amount of time for stitching, you want to be organized and productive...especially if the retreat is not at home. Over the years our retreats have evolved from traveling several hours and shop hopping along the way, to renting a house just down the road where you spend less money and get more done!  

My process for getting ready is to get my laundry basket out (aka project basket). Then I decide what the focus of the retreat is going to be...this means I have to really look around my Bee Hive and decide which projects are making the most racket. This retreat I decided to focus on the many tops I have done and plan on doing some quilting.  Which means getting the batting and backing ready!  I prep my handwork ahead of time so I only have the joy of stitching and relaxing.

Before you even leave home you start to feel the power of the retreat.  As you decide which projects to take you are reacquainted with projects you forgot about and slowly your sewing space starts looking a little more organized!!! Before getting ready I couldn't see any surface in the Bee Hive but as I slowly started prepping, digging and reorganizing retreats projects I found my cutting mat, LOL.

I will check in next week with a full accounting about how much power was released from retreat!!!

Click here for Anna's YouTube Channel.

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Click here to go to Gina's Classroom.

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Do you think this block is called "The Devil's Puzzle?" Play the game and find out.