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Photo by Gregory Case Photography

Quilt artist Mickey Lawler began painting sky fabrics in the mid-80s when she couldn't find the pieces she wanted for her original quilted landscapes. Before long, her company Skydyes was born...and the rest is history! Mickey visits the TQS set to chat about her newest work, engages Ricky in a fun, hands-on fabric-painting exercise (complete with tips), demos how she builds a landscape design by combining painted fabric with touches of piecing or appliqué, and shares her practical method for designing a quilting plan that enhances the finished quilt top.

As an added bonus, we track down the legendary and "Liberated" Gwen Marston on the road in Sisters, OR, where she shares her method for creating "skinny finishes" and Amish-style bindings.

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Quilt artist Mickey Lawler began painting sky fabrics in the mid-80s when she couldn't find the pieces she wanted for her original quilted landscapes. Before long, her company Skydyes was born...and the rest is history!

Mickey visits the TQS set to chat about her newest work, engages Ricky in a fun, hands-on fabric-painting exercise (complete with tips), demos how she builds a landscape design by combining painted fabric with touches of piecing or appliqué, and shares her practical method for designing a quilting plan that enhances the finished quilt top.

As an added bonus, we track down the legendary and "Liberated" Gwen Marston on the road in Sisters, OR, where she shares her method for creating "skinny finishes" and Amish-style bindings.

Remember, Carol Doak's 70 minute Video Lesson for Star members plus Mickey and Gwen.

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Congratulations to Ruth B. McDowell who has been selected as the 45th Honoree to be inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame, July 17-19, 2014 in Marion, Indiana. Ruth is a fulltime professional quilt artist. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967 with a B.S. in Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited in juried, invitational, and solo shows nationally and in Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia.

The inspiration for most of McDowell’s 520 quilts to date has come from nature. Her artistic style has shown consistent development and her unique approach to pieced quilts has inspired ten books. McDowell’s 1982 “Twelve Dancing Princesses (Or The Shoes That Danced Themselves To Pieces)” and “The Yellow Maple” (1988) were included in the 20th Century’s Best American Quilts, selected by a Blue Ribbon panel of the top foremost quilting experts of the late 20th century from many different fields of quilting expertise. 

Since that first quilt in 1972, McDowell has shared her exceptional design and teaching skills all over the world and her award winning quilts are highly sought by collectors. 

McDowell wrote her first book, Pattern on Pattern (Quilt Digest Press) in 1991. Her 1996 book Art and Inspirations: Ruth B. McDowell (C&T Publishing) was a retrospective of Ruth’s career at that point and features full-color illustrations of 97 of her quilts, many color details and drawings, and a fascinating text. As Ruth refined her understanding of both the designing and teaching of pieced quilts, she rewrote and further expanded her best-selling book Ruth B. McDowell's Piecing Workshop and now offers on her web site www.ruthbmcdowell.com several of her titles as print-on-demand and e-books. 

Just click PLAY to enjoy some of her fine work.

 

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow

 

 

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A wonderful quilt from Ruth McDowell graces our puzzle this week.  Ruth says,

As far as I am aware, the chicken fanciers haven't developed a chicken with really BLUE feathers, so I invented one, with a checkerboard back, no less. She seems to be saying, "But wait!..."

This quilt measures 20.5" x 16.5" and available for purchase on her website. Click here to visit, www.ruthbmcdowell.com.

Blue Moon Chicken - 35 pieces non-rotating

Blue Moon Chicken - 99 pieces non-rotating

Blue Moon Chicken - 300 pieces non-rotating

Blue Moon Chicken - 99 pieces rotating

Blue Moon Chicken - 300 pieces rotating

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AccuQuilt  introduces BullseyeTM Nested Dies for StudioTM to TQS.  Alex is super excited because these dies can give you many sizes or just one size.  It's really amazing and fun how they have engineered this ability.  Watch the video to see how they work. 

Learn more from the video below.

The new dies:

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Click here for these Free patterns available from AccuQuilt:

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Step into the home of fiber artist Lea McComas and oil painter Jim McComas.  As self described lovers of travel, Lea and Jim have visited a number of exotic locations around the globe and their home reflects this with elegance and warmth. 

This creative and dynamic duo enjoy surrounding themselves with color, pattern, and works created by the human hand. 

Lea’s upcoming class will introduce you to the art of creating a portrait using fabric.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow

 

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As requested, here is Dreamtime by Antonia Hering of Hoorn, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands.  This quilt won First Place Innovative Applique at IQF Houston 2012. And yes, every single one of those little circles was hand appliqued!

The quilt is based on her love for Australia.  It is telling a dreamtime Aboriginal story and the legend of the three sisters in the blue mountains.  It includes hand applique, hand embroidery, and hand quilting. Antonia used McKenna Ryan fabrics and batiks.

Make sure to take a look at the detail view as well.

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Thank you to Bernina for raffling off a trip to Thailand and raising over $20,000 for Libby's recovery!  

We thought you would enjoy seeing more of Libby's great sense of humor.

When we planned this year's April Fools Joke, we wanted Libby to be part of it.  Ricky and Libby carry the load in this version.  For many reasons, we had to redo the approach (which you can see below), but we thought you might enjoy the original video with Libby. 

It's New. It's Amazing.  And it will change your quilting life!

 

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Join Alex and Ricky on the set with Quilt artist Mickey Lawler for Episode 1305: "The Sky's the Limit" with Hand-Painted Fabric.  Mickey began painting sky fabrics in the mid-80s when she couldn't find the pieces she wanted for her original quilted landscapes. Before long, her company Skydyes was born...and the rest is history!

Mickey visits the TQS set to chat about her newest work, engages Ricky in a fun, hands-on fabric-painting exercise (complete with tips), demos how she builds a landscape design by combining painted fabric with touches of piecing or appliqué, and shares her practical method for designing a quilting plan that enhances the finished quilt top.

As an added bonus, we track down the legendary and "Liberated" Gwen Marston on the road in Sisters, OR, where she shares her method for creating "skinny finishes" and Amish-style bindings.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow

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5886_imgp4794a.jpgOffer a bit of protection for the pocket camera that is going off to school with your student this fall.  We found this fast and easy camera case (here) that is sure to be a hit...you might even want to make one for yourself.  The handy wrist holder even keeps the camera close at hand.

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