Daily Blog

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West Monroe, LA - Suday I made the drive from Tyler, TX to West Monroe, LA to visit Christy Dulaney and the wonderful shop she manages called - Quilt N Stitch. The shop is in a house and it feels so good going from room to room. I taught two mini-seminars during the day to a perfectly proper group of southern belles! Just look how many students were packed into this classroom!

This was the first time Christy had a national teacher in her shop. Naturally, she was excited and anxious, but I think that after this, she'll be bringing other teachers to the area. It was a great success!

Monday I'll be headed to south Texas, near Baytown - just east of Houston. I will be teaching in Beaumont, but Justin's mom lives near Baytown so I'll get a chance to visit with her. If you don't have all the particulars of where I'm headed - I'll be in Beaumont - Cedar Park, near Austin - and finishing up the tour in San Antonio. If you are near any of these venues, I'd love to see you - however I think most of the classes are full. But it never hurts to ask!

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Tyler, TX - I taught two mini-seminars to a room full of enthusiastic quilters, pictured here holding up their Quilt Qhow bokmarks. It is always so funny to me that during the morning session the quitlers are quiet and well-behaved. They soon figure out that I'm all about cutting up and cutting loose. In the afternoon they start joining in the fun. After all - when it stops being fun it's time to move on - right?

After class we went back over the A Nimble Thimble for a drawing for a new 430! Congratulations to Donna Bowers who won the machine. Thanks Katie and all the gang in Tyler for making the first stop on my tour such a success! Today I'm off to West Monroe, Louisanna. I'll keep you posted.

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Vietnam Quilts is a community project designed to improve living conditions for a select group of ladies. This grass roots project worked, despite a bumpie start. This youtube is a 6 minute must see. Thanks to Marlene Ball for bringing it to our attention.

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Last fall I ran into quilt teacher, author, and all aournd good gal, Bonnie McCaffery at the Houston International Airport. We were both pooped out tired after market / festival and were glad to see a friend. We sat and chatted for a few minutes and decided to sieze the moment and "put down" a vid cast. Please visit Bonnies site to check it out. We really did have fun!

http://bonniemccaffery.com

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Hey gang! We'll I'm on the road again. This is my first driving tour and I'm headed to five Bernina stores in 10 days. I left Colorado yesterday and drove to Wichita Falls, TX (my hometown, where I was born) and stayed with my Nephew and his family. Today, I drove to Tyler, TX to spend some time with A Nimble Thimble owned by Katie Hartner (see photo). Katie wanted me to do a musical performance and talk and she managed to find a venue and get all the necessary equipment to make it work. Way to go Katie. She thought of a great way to add extra incentive for folks to sign up for my classes tomorrow - she is giving away a Bernina 440 to one lucky student. They get one chance for each semianr they signed up for. WOW!

Now, I might not be able to blog everyday on the tour, and if I have some sroke of rehetorical genius, I'll certainly be sure to post that as well as my antics on the road - but for the next several days i'll just share my daily journal with you.

One realy fun converstaion I had tonight was about digitizing embroidery desings. I'm doing a disk of embroidery featuring my rhapsody designs that will release in the spring. Do any of you digitize or use embroidery in your projects? I used to be a 'straight sticth only' sort of quilter, but now I try to really utilize my machine to maximize the creative possibilities in my quilts.

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March 9-11, 2007 – Seven quilt shops located throughout Western Connecticut and Eastern NY State are hosting this unique 3 day event.  Each quilt shop will represent a different country and each participant will be given a passport -  complete with a photo -  and will have 3 days to visit each quilt shop, which will have games and prizes and of course, will stamp your “passport”.  Each person completing the “World Tour”, having all of their passport stamps, will win a Trip Around the World tote bag.  All of the "complete" passports will be entered in a drawing for a grand prize.  For more information contact RoniG8@aol.com

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As the first taping date rolls around the corner, I realized you probably don't know some of the really cool stuff about the folks working behind the scenes. You might think it is just Ricky and myself with a video camera, but "no way baby!" Let me give you a heads up of who's who. First off, you might have seen ARJJ on your credit card when you became a gold star member, it is our corporation name (Alex, Ricky, Justin and John). Right off the bat, we enlisted the talents of three outstanding webmasters, Paul, Bob and Seth, each with their own specialty. Regarding the World Quilt Community, Toi has joined us as News Editor.

Our first producer actually worked at HGTV as my boss! She left the network about a year before I did. Angel moved on to Turner broadcasting and currently is taking a new job at Cornell University. Angel coerced her friend Bev who has been in TV industry for decades to be co producer (www.berverlyprice.com). Bev was especially interested in the concept of internet TV and wanted the opportunity to work in broadband media (new stuff!). Beverly in turn talked Ryan into joining the team as key editor. Ryan just got back from working on the Super Bowl. From Boulder we welcome Day Light Productions and their crew who will wave the magic wand to bring our show to you.

Of course, we welcome all the quilters and industry leaders who are flying in from around the world to strut their stuff! It has been wonderful to watch how the professional quilting industry has embraced our vision, helping make our dream a reality.

Last but not least, it comes down to you! Without YOUR support and partnership, it would be in vain, right? The beauty of this internet TV venture is that we are not under the thumb of a network’s idea of who we are and what we want. We, the quilters control it! All in all, this couldn’t have happened at a better time. We at ARJJ are thrilled with how The Quilt Show is shaping up and are honored to serve our community. So, help us spread the word and let the New Day Begin!

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Madison, WI – Sept. 13-15, 2007 – Enter your quilts NOW in this show to be held at the Exhibition Hall of the Alliant Energy Center. This three-day event is presented by Wisconsin Public Television and Sewing With Nancy®.  There are 10 categories with 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place cash prizes in each category.  First place wins $500, 2^nd wins $300 and 3^rd place earns $200.  The Best of Show winner will be awarded $1,500. The 2007 Quilt Expo quilt contest entry forms and 2006 winners are available at www.wiquiltexpo.com.

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Winfield, KS – March 31 & April 1, 2007  - This year's show will feature the Women of Biblical Proportion display, hundreds of quilts, 20 vendors, hand quilting demonstrations and a hand appliquéd queen size opportunity quilt (shown above).  Admission for both days is $5 and lunch is available.  For more information contact grhodes1@cox.net or www.walnutvalleyquilters.com