Daily Blog - TheQuiltShow.com

If you wait long enough . . . dreams do come true.

Story Submitted by: ajclapp

My sister wrote me this poem and presented it to me on Sister Appreciation Day at our cousins retreat last month on the California coast. The poem was inspired by my "Goodnight Moon" quilt that made the cover of the March issue of McCall's Quick Quilts. She made a copy of the quilt and printed the poem on it, then found the perfect frame and glued a printed quilt block to each corner. My story starts back in 1982 when I submitted my first quilt pattern to a local company called Texas Chic, which was accepted for publication. It was a log cabin quilt - real log cabins, not the traditional log cabin blocks that start with a center square. The fabric pieces were cut out using paper templates and scissors or by drawing directly on the fabric using a ruler and pencil. It was pieced and quilted on the sewing machine using my version of Georgia Bonesteel's lap quilting technique. Sometime later I received a letter from the company saying the owner had become ill and the business was put on hold. I never heard back from them so assume the business closed down and the pattern was never published. It was 20 years later before I did another pattern submission. In the summer of 2001 I discovered rag quilting and soon had multiple quilts designed using this technique, including the "Goodnight Moon" quilt. Three years and three quilt books later I finally found time to make this quilt after it was accepted with a book proposal in 2004. Publishers have a right to change their mind, so the week before the Houston Quilt Market in 2005 I came home to some boxes on my front porch. I knew what they were without even looking at the labels. A few months earlier the publisher had returned some of the quilts because there were too many for the book, including the sampler quilt that inspired the book. I knew this was the rest of the quilts because if they did the book they would have kept the quilts until after market. By then I was busy with multiple projects using other techniques so I put these quilts aside. Finally in late 2006 I submitted some of the patterns to McCall's Quilting magazine. In 2007 they accepted 2 of the quilts for their Quick Quilts magazine to be published in 2008. This is the first quilt. The second one is scheduled for the September issue. So with perseverance, hard work, and lots of patience you can make your dreams come true. For all of you who have helped make quilting a joy for the rest of us, this poem is for you: I appreciate the fact that you Dreamed a dream Then took a step To make that dream come true. Quilting was your passion And you saw it through With perseverance and hard work And I am proud of you. Now little bits of fabric Have been all sewn together To form some very special quilts That you will always treasure. And others too can sew your quilts By the templates you've created And treasure them just as you do And be appreciated. So pat yourself upon the back You made your dream come true And I will brag a little bit For I am proud of you. Merrilee

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Three Sisters in La Veta - Part 5

I suppose Skippy is exonerated, at least for today.

Helen shows you how to bleach paint!

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Off to PA

As you read this I am probably somewhere over the United States heading towards PA. On Wednesday I will be hanging out with Gloria Horn's Sewing in Pittsburg along with several hundred of you! Then on Friday and Saturday I will be in Philadelphia hanging with three Bernina dealers – Byrne Sewing Connection, Hayes Sewing Machines and Steve’s Vac and Sew – In all cases there are more seats to be had. I would love to meet you and if you do attend – please remember to wear your TQS badge!

look here to see if i will be near you!

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Three Sisters in La Veta - Part 4

Good stuff from the Three Sisters continues.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BOY

HEY RICKY!!!!!!!!!! Have a Great Day - although you are more than a year old - I will never forget your birthday last year! In addition to your big day, this is sort of a one year birthday for TQS! What a great day for everyone to celebrate

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Quilts for Kurdistan Orphans

Story Submitted by: scwalanna

My husband recently travelled to a city in Northern Iraq called Sulaimaniya. He was there to present some money to a local orphanage on behalf of his company here in Kuwait. He met with the local Chamber of Commerce and other business people in the community. When he toured the orphanage and visited with the children, he noticed that their beds were tiny and in need of some warm bedding. I have taken on a "quilt ministry" to make 50 quilts for the children of the orphanage. With help, I can get the quilts (I will be personally hand delivering them) to the orphanage by June which is a deadline I have set. If you can help, I sure would appreciate it and I know the children would find joy in this wonderful gift from all of us quilters. I am making quilts the size of a elongated lap quilt. If you can help me with this "ministry", please email me at nowandthenworks@hotmail.com. I will provide a USA address to send the quilts to. From there they will be shipped to me in Kuwait. The children are boys and girls age 5 to 15. Please lend a quilting hand!

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Three Sisters in La Veta - Part 3

It seems Skippy is trying to make up for the trouble he caused. It has been fun hanging out with these three terrific quilters who, as you can see, have GREAT fun and wonderful personalities. Much progress is being made on the Three Sister's new quilt and they are having a good time answering your questions.

In this video, Gail shares a bit about fabric painting. The paints Gail are talking about are Genesis Creations (called colour) which is an Australian product. Aloe Vera gel is added for a better consistency. Email Helen to find out more about Genesis Creations and she can help you obtain them once she returns to Australia.

visit Helen Godden - visit Annette Hendricks - visit Gail Thomas

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Enter Here

Did you see? Did you see? Because of your suggestion, we have made it easier to check the daily blog. Simply click the "enter here" button and bingo - there you are. No more logging in for your daily blog fix! In addition, if you want to share something in the daily blog with friends and family, they can by-pass the member registration process. But be assured that shows, profiles, chats, forum, classrooms and member blogs are for TQS registered members only. Visitors can see all quilts that have been checked visable to the world, so you can keep your quilts for members only or make them viewable worldwide - the choice is yours.

AND - regarding "Tell a Friend" contest, your quilter buddies can have a peek at what we are about before signing up.

We are VERY excited about this feature - we hope you are too!

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Hand-dyed fabric 50% Off! - 50% Off! - 50% Off!

Ricky Tims' Original Hand-dyed Fabric Clearance Sale!

Right now at Tims Art Quilt Studio it's out with the old and in with the new. We are changing our base fabric for dyeing and all the current hand-dyed fabrics MUST go. The color recipes will change once we begin using the new base fabric. We don't want to have the old mixed in with the new - so it's time for a Clearance Sale.

I started selling hand-dyed fabrics 10 years ago - and I haven't changed the price since I started (compare that to the price of gas). Right now you can get 50% off on all our current hand-dyes. The new fabtrics will be available in about two months. Our standard 'buy four get one free' is not avaiable during the clearance sale, and once a color is gone - it is gone. Whether you like the multi-colored "Caveman" fabrics or the original "Rhapsody" fabrics, click through to the www.rickytims.com online store right now and stock your stash with the best deal EVER on my Ricky Tims Original Hand-dyed Fabrics.

Clearance price $12.50 per piece. Each piece approx. 36" x 45"

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Three Sisters in La Veta - Part 2

I did not know Helen was bringing her pet kangaroo, Skippy! At least Annette has come to the rescue and redeemed this video!

Also, check back in the previous blog's comments for some of the 'Sisters' answers to your questions. If you leave a question here, they'll reply if possible.

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