Old Blog Discontinued!!!

I've just discovered that my "old blog" still exists in cyberspace and many of you may not be aware that I have a NEW website and a NEW blog!   If you wish to still be one of my faithful "blog stalkers" please visit my new website at: https://www.cindyneedham.com/blogs/news and sign up using the new subscription button.

Thank you and if you have ANY questions please email me at:  linenqltr@comcast.net.

Hugs, Cindy :)

Out with the old...

The past 3 months have been jam packed with life changes and new stuff...but it's all good.  Two of the biggest changes have been buying a new home which we moved into about 2 weeks ago...woohoo!  The other "move" has been creating a new website.

My favorite oldest daughter, Jenny, created my first website many years ago.  She absolutely insisted I needed one and I couldn't figure out why.  Seriously????  It has served me well and she has worked hard to keep it updated but I've outgrown it...it's time to move to a new "home".

My new website should be launched in the next 24-48 hours so please keep your eyes and ears open for an announcement of my move.  It will still be cindyneedham.com.  As always I love to receive feedback from all of you and look forward to hearing back on the pro's and con's.  My old website, as well as my old blog will be disappearing once the new website is launched. 

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you all in my new "home".

Hugs, Cindy

GREAT blogpost-The Ultimate Shape

I just received an email from TheQuiltShopGal about a wonderful blogpost from Karin in Australia featuring my new Ultimate Shape Stencils.  I was SO impressed, and knew you would be too, that I had to post it here too.

Click HERE to be taken to Karin's blogpost.  It is quiltyarnblogspot.com.

Thank you Karin for your wonderful inspiration!  Fabulous designs!

Hugs, Cindy

Introducing The Ultimate Shape!!! ~ Special Sale Thru August 6th~

I am VERY pleased to be introducing the newest member of my designing stencils collection...
The Ultimate Shape!

When I teach my design workshops I often talk about a very simple shape that I use to create overall designs simply by repeating the shape and filling it any way I wish.  It was another one of those light bulb moments when I decided I should have this shape cut into stencils!

This designing stencil has been cut into four different sizes, i.e., 2", 4", 6" and 8" to accommodate most quilt blocks.  The basic shape is a Cathedral Window with four arches and it also has horizontal, vertical and diagonal guidelines.  It has been designed to allow you to use all of the guides or just one or two to create an unlimited number of custom quilting designs for both pieced and  wholecloth quilts.

A very common quilting design is the Cathedral Window.  The Ultimate Shape will provide perfect arches on all four sides of your block.  If you decide to add lines in the middle those are there too!

If you want to add an arch to a block and it is larger than The Ultimate Shape, simply center the stencil on your quilt block and then extend the arches to fit.

If you want to add an arch to a design and the stencil is too big, simply extend the stencil past the design as much as you need until the arch fits.

You can use the center lines as guides to fill the block with beautiful free form feathers...or any design you wish.

Look what happens when you use combine two sets of arches!

I got really crazy here and just used a corner of the stencil and repeated it to create this beautiful pinwheel.  By the way, I used the angles on the circle Ultimate Stencil to line up these corners and it came out perfect.


I have a 38 page, full color e-book that accompanies the purchased set of four stencils that has oodles of instruction and illustrations showing how you can easily create your own beautiful quilting designs using just this one stencil in any of the four sizes.  This book will be added as a separate chapter to the New & Improved design book and will continue to be updated with new designs. 

I am running a five-day sale on this special set of stencils for $25 (normal retail is $30). I will include my 2-book set of quilting designs, New & Improved and Oldies but Goodies, FREE for this sale!  These are e-books and will be sent to you within 24 hours of purchase.  You will also receive by email  the 38 page handbook that accompanies this set of four stencils. This sale will end at midnight on Saturday, August 6th.

Please click HERE to purchase the stencils and download the free 7-page handout. 

Thank you very much for being one of my students, blog stalkers or retreaters!  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Hugs, Cindy :)

Email:  linenqltr@comcast.net

Featuring Toni Tweedle Healy!!!

It's been awhile since I've been able to do a blog post...life has been nuts lately!  The other day I received a wonderful show and tell from Toni Tweedle  Healy who is one of my "Craftsy Kids" and she shared some of her prize winning linen wholecloth quilts from the Lassen County fair in Susanville, California.  I just knew you would love indulging in her beautiful work too!  Notice the ribbons hanging on these quilts!

Congratulations Toni!!!  I am sharing her story below...

Two years ago I took a beginning machine quilting workshop in Susanville with Jill Schumacher that taught me the basics of machine quilting.  Shortly thereafter I was looking for inspiration by googling machine quilting images and one of your linen quilts caught my eye.  I was so intrigued by the beautiful free hand feathering and medallion designs that I immediately signed up for your online Craftsy class on linen wholecloth quilting.  Your teaching method makes the concepts easy to grasp and I love your philosophy of "you are the boss of your quilt". 

(LINK to discount coupons for my Craftsy Classes)

I bought some small linens on EBay and made some miniatures and wall hangings.  Soon I bought a mid-arm Baby Lock Tiara II.

As you can see, I've taken your methods and expanded them into king-size quilts.  In your class you stress the importance of allowing the artist who created the linen to inspire the design.  In the two king-sized quilts I entered this year I designed the quilts around the linens.  For the corner design I traced the corners of the linen and copied them in my quilting.

Thanks for your inspiration, Cindy.  You inspire me every day!

Tony Tweedle Healy

Quilt Shop Gal's Ultimate Free Motion Quilting Challenge!

I have known "Quilt Shop Gal", aka "Sew Cal Gal" for many years and have always been VERY impressed with the amount of time and effort she unselfishly devotes to educating and challenging quilters of all levels. 

I first met her when I attended Diane Gaudynski's workshop at Asilomar several years ago when she embarked on her very own personal free motion quilting challenge.  She went on a year-long  journey where she set out to learn as much as she possibly could about free motion quilting from all types of instructors expanding her quilting and designing skills at the same time.

I was honored to have been invited to participate in a previous FMQ challenge she hosted a few years ago and am thrilled that she is once again featuring my Ultimate Stencils in yet another challenge she refers to as a "Linky Party" (LP).    LP#1 was for those quilters with past projects using The Ultimate Stencils.  LP #2 will raise awareness and inspiration with quilters sharing their doodles/sketches for both of my stencil collections.  The 3rd LP will be for those that create with my stencils this summer.  And not only is this a great quilting challenge she also has great prizes to win too!

If you're interested, please click on THIS LINK to be taken to the Linky Party headquarters!

Quilt Shop Gal also shared a blog post by Karin in Australia where she shared her beautiful quilt created with The Ultimate Stencil as well as The Ultimate Backgrounds.  CLICK HERE to be taken to her post.

I just have to throw in a little teaser here!  I've come up with another fabulous little stencil that I'm calling The Ultimate Shape.  You will be able to use this special shape to create hundreds of block and border designs.   I am having it cut into four different sizes, i.e., 2", 4", 6" and 8". 
Quilting Creations is in the midst of cutting these and I am anticipating having a "Blessing Sale" in the middle of July to launch these to the world.  This set will come with it's own free design book that will get the creative juices flowing.

If you are already participating in Quilt Shop Gal's Linky Party, or plan to join soon, please email me and share photos of your work.  I would love to share what you you've come up with!

Hugs, Cindy :)



  

Featuring Michiko Yonemaru..."Bouquet Blanc"

It is truly my pleasure to share the beautiful work of one of my favorite students, Michiko Yonemaru.

Two years ago I taught an Open Thread Bar workshop for the ASG in San Jose, California.  Michiko was not a member of this group but bravely signed up and showed up with her huge Bernina which was bigger than she was.  You have to understand she was a beginning student...no prior experience...but determined to learn.  No one in the classroom knew who she was but they sure did when class was over!

Michiko is one of the few students I have taught over many years who has a natural talent to quilt. It was already inside her.  I gave her a few tips and then watched her take off.  She has joined me for multiple workshops over the past two years and each time she excels at what she does.

She recently joined me for my retreat at the Mercy Center in Auburn and I provided her with a challenge.  I gave her two yards of my  treasured smooth Dupioni silk and a book of French boutis patterns and gave her two years to work on a piece of her choice.  Oh my.

Michiko took this challenge VERY seriously and put hundreds of hours into the quilting.  Yes, there were a few hiccups along the way but that's how we all learn.

I am honored to be one of Michiko's instructors and I guarantee that you will be seeing a lot more of her beautiful work.

Thank you Michiko for allowing me to share you with the world.  You have inspired all of us!

Hugs, Cindy :
 

Timeless Treasure...Ramona Resurreccion!

Many of you know that Ramona will be featured in my exhibit in Houston this fall...her work is AMAZING and intimidating and gorgeous all at the same time.  She shared with me her latest work of art.  Oh my!!!   I will share her story below but I have to add this little tidbit...she told me "I politely asked my family not to disturb me while I was working on Timeless Treasure.  The quilting took me 2 weeks to finish and another week working on the covered cording including attaching it to the binding...3 weeks including the beading."  3 weeks???  And you can ask your family not to disturb you while quilting?  I didn't know you could do that!!!!  Here's Ramonoa's story...thank you Ramona for being such an inspiration to all of us.  Hugs, Cindy

I called this quilt "Timeless Treasure" which measures 147 cms square. The underlayment is lime green Hanoi silk which I purchased from Vietnam in 2014. 

I used your Ultimate Background grid for the background fillers which I'm so happy with.  I have done some beading and covered cording which I cut into 200 pieces and attached them around the binding.

 I hope I have done enough to enhance this linen.  Cheers, Ramona

My Story Board

I already know the answer to the question but have you ever spotted some fabric and absolutely HAD to have it but didn't know why?  And not only get that one piece of fabric but all the coordinating prints in that particular line???? 

Well I was perusing thru a quilt shop recently and saw the most beautiful fabric with stars, moons and fabulous houses all over it.  The top two photos are showing the houses already cut off of the beautiful night sky (didn't think of taking pictures until it was too late!).  This is a line of fabric from Windham Fabrics and is their "Story" collection by Carrie Bloomston.  Oh my. 

I've been looking for something very special to put by the front door in our studio and I thought it was a fabulous opportunity to create a very personal story board. 

I backed the fabrics with a fusible web first. 

Word mountains were created from one of the fabrics...

And I slowly but surely started fussy cutting all the houses, fish, trees, dogs and people to create our family, our homes, our pets and our businesses. 

Our studio is filled with words...a theme of sorts...so cutting up this fabulous fabric and adding words and inspirations was perfect.

After everything was fused and ironed I stretched it onto a stretch canvas and hot glued it to the back and proudly hung it by the front door of our studio.  It was SO nice to take 3 afternoons off to do something totally "sandbox"...kind of good for the soul.

Hugs, Cindy :)

Ultimate Stencil Handout...

I am busy prepping for my next engagement.  Part of my classes will include a quick lesson on using the transparencies/Ultimate Stencils.  I have a kit for each person and they draft a simple star and then make it their own by adding extra details.  The cool part is that I tell everyone to draft a simple 8-pointed star but every single person comes up with something different. 

I rewrote my handout for this lesson yesterday and made it much simpler and it dawned on me that many of you would like to have this same information.  The only way I could figure out how to get this to you is to have you CLICK HERE.  It will take you to the Ultimate Stencil part of my website.  There is a date in blue, 4/21/16, and you can download the handout from there.

Hope this helps!!!!  Let me know if you have any questions along the way.

Hugs, Cindy :)

"Sweet Dreams" Pillowcase Update

I've been putting in some long hours on quilting the pillowcase quilt trying to get it to the hand-work stage before leaving for Carson City, Nevada on Friday.  Thought you'd like to see the progress since the last post!

I'm very pleased with how this is turning out.  It's nothing really fancy but often times "simply said is better said". 

The areas between the feathers was pretty poofy so I decided to use my "Baby Clams" background stencil.  This was a perfect choice as the clams helped to eat up the poof and the clam design beautifully filled in the awkward spaces. 

The poofy parts in the middle of the feathers will be filled with my "Baby Triple Lines" background stencil.  These will be marked tonight and quilted in the morning.  The geometric lines will add a nice balance to all the soft stuff going on.

I'm going to fill in the poofy parts around the embroidery with little bitty pebbles and then bring the triple lines about an inch-ish past the end of the pillowcase into the silk and then bind.

The back of this quilt is a beautiful dusty blue linen yardage and the thread appears pink here but it's actually white Magnifico and Kimono silk.

Nothing will go to waste on the pillowcase.  When I disassembled it, I obviously used the front part for the quilt top.  I still had the back of the pillowcase left.   I'm going to cut off the bottom hand-stitched edge and make the hanging sleeve with it and use the remainder of the pillowcase for the binding.  I will post a picture of the finished piece hopefully in the next week or so.

Hugs, Cindy :)

Pillowcase Quilt-Teaching Table for Houston

We all know we're NOT supposed to touch the quilts at Houston or any other show for that matter, but you know me, I like to be different!  In addition to the primary quilts exhibited in the "For The Love of Linens" exhibit this year, I want to have 1-2 "teaching tables" where visitors can see AND touch smaller pieces.  I'm going to call this the "Petting Zoo".  

One of the pieces at the Zoo will be a pillowcase quilt.  Vintage pillowcases are very common and the bottoms of them almost always have beautiful embroidery and lace work.  

In the past I've created three different pillow case quilts and each time I've stuffed the intact pillowcase with Quilters Dream Cotton Request batting and was always challenged on how to finish the frilly ends. The folded sides and top always looked a bit awkward too.

 

 I finally had one of those "DUH" moments when I realized that I could disassemble the pillowcase and only use the front of it for the quilt.  Layer it like a normal linen wholecloth quilt and then bind it.  Now why didn't I think of this years ago????

So...I cut the pillowcase apart.  I marked my design and then pin basted four layers together...i.e., backing, Hobbs Heirloom wool batting, white Dupioni silk for my underlayment and then the pillowcase on top.

 

Because this is a long piece I have three rows of overlapping feathers that I am going to quilt in a light blue Superior Threads' 50 wt. Tire Silk and then fill the background with baby clams in their 100 wt. Kimono silk.

The back of this piece is a beautiful dusty blue linen.  I want this piece reversible so I am going to use Superior Threads' 40 wt. white Magnifico thread for the feathers and then the same Kimono silk for the background baby clams.

I am going to be creating some videos for The Quilt Show on how to do a pillowcase quilt.  They are my co-sponsor for the exhibit and these will be shown on their blog as we get closer to the Houston show. 

I will be featuring a few more pieces for the "Petting Zoo" in upcoming blog posts...stay tuned!!!

Hugs, Cindy :)