Daily Blog

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"HP" Ueltschi, the owner of BERNINA, gave a talk at The City Quilter in NYC. Mr. Ueltschi took over the reins of BERNINA from his mother in 1988 and runs the company today as Owner and Chairman of the Board of Directors. In this video by The City Quilter, he talks about the origins of sewing machines in Switzerland, from their beginnings in the 19th century, and about the amazing company that BERNINA has become today.

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Someone is having a birthday today!  Here is one of Captain John's favorite pictures of the birthday girl.

John says,

"One of the great things about visiting your Mother is that she has all those pictures you sent through the years. They are on this amazing photo display area with food inside.

Here is a picture of one of Alex's hair styles.  I really liked this one.  Not only is she cute, but we never had any spider webs in the house."

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There’s a little cafe in town where my friend and I enjoy having lunch. But honestly, I’m not sure I’ve tried more than one thing on the menu. I love this one particular salad so much that I order it every time we go there. One day it occurred to me that I could probably make this salad at home.

So as usual, I wrote down what was in it, and ran it through the recipe analyzer. Even using conservative amounts of the ingredients, it's about 400 calories per serving. It's so delicious that it is worth it for a special treat once in a while. And honestly, my at-home version is probably half the calories of the restaurant version. The key ingredients are: chopped dates, apples, bacon crumbles, pecans, and blue cheese on baby greens with poppyseed dressing. I actually made this salad for Christmas dinner!

The day after Christmas I made plans to get back on the straight and narrow. This included making some of my favorite very low-calorie foods to have on hand. So I took my leftover turkey pieces out of the freezer, and I made another batch of my low-cal apple cranberry sauce. For my New Year’s dinner, I made one of my favorite salads. It's actually the basic ingredients of a turkey sandwich, just without the bread and served on a bed of lettuce– 2 ounces of turkey, 1/4 cup apple cranberry sauce, 1 wedge of laughing cow lite cheese, and 1/4 avocado. This salad comes in at about 225 calories, and it is a completely satisfying dinner for me.

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Here's a great project from Sue Bleiweiss and WeAllSew.com.  It's a Notepad Folio that would make a great gift and could be easily resized to fit any use.

Sue will be joining us soon in Episode 1608: Creating Unique Collage Quilts & Quilts with Meaning, which debuts April 13, 2015.

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Quilt National '13 is open from January 9 - February 20 at the Science and Discovery Center of Northwest Florida.  Here's what Quilt National says about its exhibit:

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We saw this interesting quilt at Houston in the Art Abstract category. Click on the copy below and go to the Zoom Quilt area for a real close look at the quilt. Have you thought of using 3-dimensional piecing?  Here's some inspiration to get you started!

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Photo by Gregory Case Photography

Now that you have all of your small UFO's from 2014 completed, it's time to decide how you want to approach the finish and display of your pieces.  Ok, maybe you have 1/3 of the UFO's completed.  Well, we have done our homework and gathered a few options for finishing, hanging and displaying your creations.  Who knows seeing these creative ideas just might spur you on.

Binding and Finishing Ideas:

Mitered Binding with Ricky (Episode 310)

Binding techniques with Alex (Episode 211)

Scalloped edge binding with Alex ( Episode 413)

Rat tail binding with Carol Ann Waugh (Episode 1011)

Scalloped flange binding with Ricky (Episode 1401)

Fused edge binding with Laura Wasilowski (Episode 1009)

Hanging and Display Ideas:

Hanging a mini quilt tutorial  from Stitched in Color

Clever ways to hang your mini quilt with Ami Simms (Episode 712)

Create a tabletop book with Laura Cater-Woods (Episode 613)

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Are the cold, grey days getting you down?  Are you looking for something creative to entertain the youngsters? Spend an afternoon making this simple shopping tote project we found on WeAllSew.  Decorate the tote with either vintage or purchase buttons.  While you attach the buttons with your BERNINA foot #18, the kids can sew them on by hand. 

Photo by Gregory Case Photography

Not sure if the kids will like sewing on the buttons?  Check out Alex's reaction when Tom Russell shows her how to make buttons stand out from the crowd in Episode 1101.

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"6 x 6 Comes Up Roses" by Kathleen McCrady

It seems that as quilt artists, we inevitably revisit old designs when looking for inspiration.  Often we are not even aware that we are doing so.  That theme is certainly in evidence at the Texas Quilt Museum's current show "Selections From the Book 500 Traditional Quilts".

The museum will showcase three galleries of contemporary quilts inspired by traditional designs.  “Traditional quilts will always have a place in
people’s hearts. Their beauty, their workmanship, their ability to evoke gentler times, the memories that they bring to mind—these are integral to their tremendous appeal,” Karey Bresenhan writes in the book’s introduction.

The exhibit is on view through March 28, 2015. 

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At Houston in the 500 Traditional Quilts section this quilt by Kelley Cunningham caught our attention. The complete quilt is in our Zoom Quilt section under "See Quilts". Below is just a taste.