Daily Blog

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You've asked great questions and the students are answering many that I will post. However, let's start with: How's the food?

Justin and I have always put a huge emphasis on food at the retreats. La Veta is extremely limited on places to eat so we have the meals catered. We are blessed to have Sally and Karen, sisters, who live in La Veta and cater our lunches and dinners. The Sisters have owned a restaurant and a cooking school and taught cooking tours in France. Here is what some the retreaters currently here have to say about the food:

"the food is fabulous!" Mary

" I've had wonderful meals all over the world. The food here ranks close to the top - if not the best ever. Do not plan on losing weight here." Frank

" fantastic - better than 5 star..." - Pat

"..I'd expect to pay $30-$50 per plate- they are so incredible." -Kathy

So - tonight we had boneless ribs, cheesy mashed potatoes, grilled zucchini, mango/red onion/cabbage slaw served with garlic bread. Yes, there is dessert - tonight it was pumpkin pie with chocolate ganache topped with fresh whipped cream.

Now - get ready - Sally and Karen have offered to share the recipe for their Mango, and Red Cabbage Slaw. Click through to the comments on this blog for their recipe.

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We are starting day three of five at my first ever winter (January) La Veta Quilt Retreat. We are keeping logs on the fire and the snow is beautiful. As a matter of fact it snowed all day yesterday - very gently - adding to the amazing atmosphere here. The students are pursuing their own creative vision and the variety of projects amazes me every time.

Mary (from Tuscon) is working on a fantasy bouquet and has just a bit of satin stitching left to do before moving on to other things. Would you like to ask a question that the students can answer from their perspective?

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John and I are madly packing up our "stuff" for our road trip to Ontario, CA tomorrow / Road to California. We are SOOOOO happy to have been granted a booth this year (YEAH Carolyn!). In the true TQS spirit we have some fun and games up our sleeves. You might be asking yourself - so what is this sticker about - stop by to find out!  Also,  please use the booth as a gathering spot to meet with other TQS members - the meeting time is 1:00 every day!

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As things move forward at warp speed at TQS, it seems that some of life's simple pleasures get passed by. What is that you might ask? Teaching at a local guild or quilt shop. That's right - communing with friends and friends to be made, and passing on the gospel of quilting is perhaps what I love the most. Thank you DVQ (Diablo  Valley Quilters) for a wonderful day - it was simply, the best! We learned the fundamentals of quilting design, which you can get in my class room on this site. By the way, you guys at DVQ get an A+!!!! So what is the latest class you have taken and what did YOU learn?

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"Early in 2008 I learned about Carol Schillios and her amazing self-help program at the Hèrè jè Center in Mali. I purchased about 50 stunning hand-dyed fat quarters made by the amazing young women at the center. Now you can help support a great cause and participate in TQS's most incredible quilt challenge to date!" - Ricky Tims

Each year the TQS producer Angel Hawthorne, issues a challenge for Ricky and Alex for an episode of TQS. This year we want to involve you too and we want hundreds of entries! This very special challenge is called Helping Hands and will feature hand-dyed African fabrics from Mali. The fabrics are made by young African ladies who are enrolled in an amazing self-help program.

About the fabric: Fat quarters are 100% cotton, hand-dyed and/or wax-stamped at the Hèrè jè Center in Mali, West Africa. The Center helps young women go from begging to businesswoman in 18 months. Along with fabric design, dyeing and weaving, the training curriculum includes health and nutrition, family planning, AIDS prevention and literacy skills. All profits from fabric sales goes directly to the center to help more young women get off the streets. For more information: Click Here. where you can see additional photos and read the stories of each graduate. Watch a 7 minute documentary about Carol Schillios and the Hèrè jè Center on UTube. Click Here.

Please note: These hand-dyed fat quarters are $8.95 each, plus shipping. At least one solid (any color) and one print (any color) are required for the challenge. Fabrics ordered on Friday-Monday, January 9-12, 2008 will be shipped on or before January 13. Orders placed January 13-19 will not ship until January 20^th as the fulfillment company will be closed for that week. You will be able to order anytime, but to get your fabrics right away - giving you the most time to work on your challenge - it would be smart to order them this weekend.

Get your fabrics here.

A selection of quilts from the entries will be featured ON the TQS 2009 Challenge Show!!

All the details and Challenge Rules are under Challenges. Click Here.

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It was very exciting to have 111 entries into our first online quilt challenge, Remember December. The 'guidelines' for the challenge were easy and we planned on simply having one random winner. With all the beautiful entries do you think we could just pick one? So in addition to the random winner, Ricky and Alex picked their favorites and TQS members voted for viewer's choice. If you somehow missed this challenge, you can view all the entries on the Challenges link.

The makers of the quilts selected will get a Bernina goodie bag filled with all sorts of great stuff - just like the treats shared with the audience during tapings of TQS.

Viewer's Choice - 

Grandpa's Walk by Bridget473

Ricky's Choice-

Christmas 2008 by Belbelle

Alex's Choice-

Christmas in the Desert by abquilt

Random Winner-

Night Before Christmas by MissLani

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Photo by Gregory Case

Hurry--The Tickets are Free but Limited!

You've seen how much fun we have. Now it's your chance. Our audiences are an important part of The Quilt Show. We will be taping September 10-15, 2009. Click Here for all the information.

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If you are considering the BOM 2009 fabric kit - this blog is for you! Go here to purchase. Remember 2009 active star members receive a 5% discount!

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Photo by Gregory Case

Join us tonight for an hour of fun and great tips with Joanna Figueroa , our special  "Featured Guest" in the chat room at 5:00 pm Pacific/8:00pm Eastern (01:00 GMT January 8, 2009).  Follow along as Joanna (Episode 311) shares ideas for quickly whipping up yummy quilts using fat quarters, jelly rolls, and layer cakes. Not able to join us "live?" You can read the transcript of the chat by clicking on "Chat Transcripts" and selecting the chat you would like to read.

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Christmas in the Desert by TQS Member ABQuilt

As you are aware, we issued a TQS challenge with the theme "Remember December" that ended December 31, 2008. We were thrilled to receive over 100 great entries! Along with the random winner, we also would like to name a "Viewer's Choice" winner. That special award will consist of a TQS Goody Bag stuffed with lots of useful and fun quilting products.

Here's where you come in. Please look at the entries and vote for your favorite entry before the cut-off at 12am midnight tomorrow, Wednesday, January 7, 2009 (GMT 08:00 Jan 8) by clicking here. To see all the entries, visit Challenges here.

To send your vote email the member's screen name and the name of the quilt to:

remember@thequiltshow.com