Daily Blog

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Tucked away in St. George, Utah, is one of my favorite designers, Joyce Weeks of Geoff's Mom Pattern Company. She decided to move from her primary home in Salt Lake City, Utah, to her vacation home...leaving behind a very nice studio.  Although currently she is finding it kinda tight, there is light on the horizon as she has plans to build a home with a new studio!  I had a wonderful day just hanging out, seeing her new designs...OMG...and mentally adding a few more UFO's to my list of dreams.

It was funny to see her computer had one of her patterns as a screen saver that I have on my "To Do" list back in Sisters, Oregon. I am anxious to get home and start an Americana theme'd  project...after all, that holiday is around the corner...and, I do have a kit, LOL!

This past weekend Joyce was at Quilt Market along with the other fabulous designers, fabric companies, sewing machine manufacturers and notion distributors. I know you are as anxious as I am to see what they all are bringing to our world this season.  Joyce's new designs are fabulous and my only problem is trying to decide which one I want to start with, LOL.

I hope you enjoy the slide show, Joyce's home is so inspiring and I know, if you are not a fan you will be :)  Click here to check out my conversation with Joyce on The Quilt Roadies video.

And don't forget to visit my blog, wooliemammoth.blogspot.com.

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers, Ayyoub Momen and Viral Patel, demonstrate a direct contact ultrasonic clothes dryer under development by ORNL in collaboration with General Electric (GE) Appliances. This novel approach uses high-frequency mechanical vibrations instead of heat to extract moisture as cold mist, dramatically reducing drying time and energy use. They say they can dry a piece of fabric in 14 seconds! How will this affect the pre-wash or don't pre-wash controversy?

Click here to learn more.

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Melody Crust loves to quilt! By that she means the stitching through all the layers. She is not afraid of free motion quilting and stitches those designs often. But lately she's been experimenting with straight line designs, walking foot only designs, and she's going to share how she does it over at WeAllSew.com.

Read more about quilting with straight lines by following Melody's blog!

Star Members can watch Melody in Show 1706: Textural Backgrounds, Applique on Silk & Straight-Line Quilting.

Learn more with Melody's latest book, "Stitching Through the Layers."

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Katie Fowler shares a list of six impossibly creative things from new music to new quilting books.

 Watch Katie in Show 1807: Fearless Quilting. Yes, this is the show where you can watch Katie cut up her completed quilt.

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Susan Carlson, the creator of fabulous collage quilts, walks you through a technique that allows you to create features, such as eyes, with minute detail, while sticking precisely to your design.  And she doesn't use templates, that would take too long.

Star Members can learn how Susan creates her quilts in Show 801: "Painting" with Fabric: Free-Style Quilts.

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If you are like most quilters, you have a wide variety of items that stick such as stabilizers, freezer paper, interfacing, and the like. These items come in a wide range of sizes, types, weight and adhesion levels. Storing this group of necessary tools can be quite difficult. Aside from the fact that once out of the original packaging (if there was any to begin with), determining what type of "sticky stuff" it is can become a guessing game.

This week's workout is to go through your collection of assorted fusibles, stabilizers and other bulky items that stick. We offer a number of clever and easy ways to sort, label and store that we hope will make your guessing game a thing of the past.

Want to know more about stabilizers?  Check out some of these great articles and short videos: 

Alex teaches you about a variety of Quilters Select sticky options

See how Jamie Fingal uses MistyFuse in her work

Demystifying water soluble stabilizers

Interfacing for bags and purses

Stabilizing bags and totes

Now that you have learned more, than you probably ever thought you needed to know, about this sticky stuff - let's get to the organization ideas we found. 

Clean and Clutter Free Options:

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1. Shoe storage unit. All people quilt
2. A 16.5" x 22.5" bin filled with each fusible stuffed inside its own labeled wrapping paper tube. Supermomnocape
3. Pant holder hangers work for small rolls. FeltSoCute   
4. Peg style plate rack to store rolls upright. Pinterest
5. Re-purpose an old wine rack. thedomesticdiva
6. Re-purpose old clear shoe storage hangers. WeallSew
7. Back of the door storage hook and dowel system. SFgirlbythebay
8. Empty 24" mailing tubes hold assorted items. Skooksplayground

Visually Stimulating Options:

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1. Rack that leans against the wall. This one holds pantographs, but the same system could work for fusibles and stabilizers. Quiltville
2. Wall mounted storage rack over the cutting table. thegratefulstitcher
3. Free-standing spinning storage unit. Pinterest
4. Re-purposed kitchen cabinet drawers hold assorted items using tension rods (for curtains). Sewmanyways
5. Re-purpose large glass vases. Quixoticcrafter
6. Office trash basket. Each color ribbon denotes a type of fusible/stabilzer. "All the pink ribbons are tied around interfacing. The yellow ribbons are tied around stabilizers. The green ribbons are tied around fusible webs. I tied a tag to the ribbon and wrote what it was on the tag." Peasinapod

7. Conduit Tube and bracket system mounted along one end of work table. Sewmanyways

Click here for link list to all the organization articles.

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Photo by Gregory Case Photography

It's time to reserve your tickets for the next series of TQS tapings! 
Here's the scoop regarding location, dates, guidelines, and policies for requesting FREE tickets:

WHAT: 6 Days of Taping (12 shows)
Two shows are taped each day. Tickets are on a first come, first served basis for Basic (Free) and Star (Paid) members. 

Attendance required for the entire day. Join us for a day of fun, laughs and prizes.

WHERE:  WESTWORKS STUDIOS (inside the Comcast Building)
4100 E. Dry Creek Road
Centennial, CO 80122

WHEN:  Friday-Wednesday, August 19-24, 2016

Cutoff date for ticket request: August 1, 2016, or when sold out!

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We'd like everyone to send "Hugs and Kisses" and your prayers to our BOM designer, Sue Garman.

Sue is currently battling a condition, stemming from a genetic mutation, that has caused Stage 4 cancer in both lungs. While it has been a difficult struggle, Sue has been facing her illness with strength and dignity, and knows that your prayers will keep her strong. 

And Sue, being Sue, has been up and about quilting and designing. You can see her latest blogpost here.

Click here to visit Sue's website.

(Quilt: Hugs and Kisses by Sue Garman)

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Jen from Shabby Fabrics shows you how to make a quick ruffled apron using only 3 fat quarters!

Click here for the County Kitchen Ruffled Apron pattern.