Featuring Kathy Harris!

I was thrilled to be able to teach for the Tucson Quilt Guild last fall. One of the workshops I taught was my "Open Thread Bar"...this is an all day class on thread education and thread play and I get to the be the "Bartender" for the day. I always have an assistant who I dub as my "wench"...can you tell we have fun???

Well my "wench", Kathy Harris, emailed me a few days ago and shared a beautiful pillow she completed and I just had to share with you. Her letter is below...Thank you for sharing with ALL of us Kathy...your work is breathtaking! Hugs, Cindy :)

"I was your "surly wench" at the thread play class in Tucson. Our shop does a Secret Santa each year and the gal I chose is a lover of all things "princess". It occurred to me one day that I would take what I learned from your class and make her a pillow. Her name is Karen, or "KK" as we call her. I layered champagne Dupioni silk over wool batt and a satin type back. I used beads to embellish the cathedral window quilting in the outer area, and a lace trim finished the edge. I used a dark purple satin fabric for the backing and binding in an envelope style pillow cover. This was my first attempt at playing with the Dupioni silk after taking your class in Tucson.

We tease KK about being a sparkly princess...this suited her to a tee!"

New Handbooks Available!

As promised my newly written handbooks are finally available for purchase. I was very busy rewriting them all in December and Jenny and I got them downloaded on my website this morning. You can find them in the "Handbooks" section of my website or CLICK HERE to be taken directly there. I have made several changes with regard to how they are being sold...

A new CD was created featuring Beginning Feathers and Backgrounds which turned out great.

I have created two new "Collections CD's" which groups together several handbooks which complement each other and makes it more economical for you to get more information.

I am starting to rewrite my "Linen Wholecloth Quilts" and it should be ready for purchase in the next couple weeks. It will be sold as a "Collection CD" as I will be including SO much information with it. For those of you that purchased updates to this particular handbook...please be patient. You will be the first ones to receive it!

I will also be adding a new CD, "My Quilts Have Stories to Tell" in the near future which will feature photos and the stories of my quilts...many of which you haven't seen. I only travel with a few of my quilts so this should be fun! I have documented many of my quilts as they have been created and those photos will be included on the CD too.

Since I update and rewrite my handbooks each year I offer yearly updates for an additional one-time charge of $10 which covers my time to do this. This is paid for separately and is available at the bottom of the Handbooks page.

Thank you! Hugs, Cindy :)

Featured Artist Susan Else

Most Featured Artists display amazing quilts at the shows. When I read that this year's artist was displaying fabric sculptures I was a little disappointed...I'm not much into "modern art" as I'm such a traditional quilter.

When Annie and I visited Susan Else' booth we were both completely blown away as were the multitudes of other quilters who were gathered there.

Susan uses collaged and quilted fabrics to create unusual fabric sculptures...they are breathtaking. She even had a working ferris wheel with different people in each seat...a rowboat with family members being rowed about...and even a loving pair of skeletons...

I'll let the skeletons speak for themselves! If you EVER get the chance to see one of her exhibits don't miss it!

Cindy :)

Prepare to be Inspired...Road to California

I am currently snugged up at the Road to California quilt show in Ontario, California. The show premiere was held last night and the first full day of the show today.

I spent the evening with my roomie/Superior Threads working partner, Annie, at the premiere last night and all I can say is we both had a big slice of "humble pie". This show is well known for its high-class quality quilts and this show was no exception.

I'm always taking photos of parts/pieces of quilts and their workmanship to inspire me when I'm home so I thought I would share with you as well. Again, I am not including the name of the makers because I would more than likely assign the wrong name to the wrong quilt and that would be unforgiveable. If your quilt is pictured here I want to personally thank you for inspiring so many of us!

***I just received an inquiry regarding the bird and who the maker was. The bird was created by the very talented and well known quilter, Pat Blair. Pat also had a top-award winning quilt in the showcase at Road which was a beautifully painted gorilla face that she fondly named "Ben". I am always in awe of Pat's work and I have a particular love and fascination for birds. :)

The very next blog post will include pictures of the Featured Artist at the show...

Hugs, Cindy

Road to California Show...Day One

I am currently at the Road to California show in Ontario, California teaching with Superior Threads. This show marks my first big teaching engagement of the year and I have to say this has always been one of my favorite shows. If you've never been it's well worth the trip. The show itself doesn't premier until Wednesday evening but many teachers are here ahead of time conducting classes. It's pretty cool because you get to see the show coming together ahead of time...things are fairly calm at the moment without the crowds and you can see some of the behind-the-scenes work being done.

One thing I've always loved is what I call the "Parade of Quilts". When you walk into the convention center they have beautiful quilts suspended down the main hallway...it's breathtaking being able to look up and see the quilts hanging but also getting a birds-eye view from a walkway above.

The main convention ballroom had the doors open and I was able to grab a couple quick shots of the show coming together. The section on the left with the black drapes represents where the quilts will be hung...the section with the blue drapes is where the vendors will be. This is only one small shot section...it seems to go on forever. wow...

I am rooming with Miss Annie who is also a Superior Educator and we have roomed together for years. She's currently snugged up in bed (where I should be)but I had to show you how I get work done when I have a roommate! You know me, I'm always up before the birds. I got this very cool clip on Ott Lite from Joann's last year and I LOVE it. It has saved my bacon so many times...I've just clipped it to my netbook computer screen and it gives off enough light for me to work and still keep it dark enough for Annie to sleep.

I'm finishing up teaching today and we will be setting up our booth at the show tomorrow so I'll try and get some more pictures to share. Next class will be my Beginning Machine Quilting on Friday.

Hugs, Cindy :)

Goin' "Down Under"!

I am SO excited to finally be able to announce that I get to use my passport for the first time ever...and I'm going to Australia! wooo hoooo! Several months ago I received an invitation to teach at the Australian Machine Quilting Festival this coming September. I could hardly believe it. The hardest part was keeping quiet about it until they made their official announcement. I have a number of blog readers/friends in Australia so I'm hoping I finally get to meet you in person.

I have been completely buried getting things done here at home and prepping for the upcoming Road to California show in Ontario, CA. I think this is my favorite show of all...there are a lot of good memories here. Not only is it one of the top-notch, high end shows but it is very well run and has GREAT quilts and vendors. I will be teaching with Superior Threads on Monday/Tuesday doing their Superior School of Threadology for two days and then teaching a Beginning Machine Quilting class on Friday. I'll be working the Superior Threads booth the rest of the time which is always loads of fun.

Part of the reason I've been so buried is I prep for the entire year during December and I took on a very generous serving of things to get done. The biggest project of all was updating all of my handbooks which I do on a yearly basis. I didn't only "update" them...I completely REWROTE them. Gads. Hours...and hours...and hours...on the computer. I finally finished up yesterday morning. whew. For those of you who paid your $10 updates on your purchased handbooks...you're in for a real treat. I will be sending those hopefully today/tomorrow depending on how things go here. Be sure to watch for them. For those of you wishing to purchase the new handbooks I am going to wait until I get back from Road to California before posting on my website...I don't want to be away from home and my computer if there are glitches.

The other cool thing is I'm always trying to think of a good way to display class samples. I have made a bucket-load of them this past month for my upcoming 5-day workshops and for my "regular" classes. I came up with a portable design wall that is made out of C-clamps, PVC pipe, yard stakes and a lot of black felt. I can fold it all up and throw it in my suitcase and set it up in minutes either in a classroom or for a guild program. I'm VERY jazzed about it and can't wait to try it out for real at the Road show.

I am hoping to post some great blogs while I'm at the show...off and running...have LOTS to do! Hugs, Cindy

Trying to Keep My Focus...

With my crazy teaching/traveling schedule it's difficult to find good quality, uninterrupted, focused time to work on quilting new class samples and writing new handouts. December is MY time to snag some of that time. I think we all have that preconceived fantasy that we can have days just for sewing...nothing else. Right. There's always the dogs, kids, grandkids, husband, house cleaning, shopping, cooking, yah...yah...yah......

In between all of that I have been able to carve out some of the desperately needed time to get ready for all of you next year. I was working away tonight assembling my next batch of samples for quilting and took a step back and took in my sewing room. Gasp! Gotta share it...

Not only is it a mess but it's amazing. My little room is full of creativity, fun, new ideas, good energy, positive thoughts, accomplished goals, tight deadlines, anticipation, stress, good music...loving life.

As much as I'm enjoying having my feet "on the ground" for almost six weeks, I'm looking forward to being back in the classroom and sharing some of the new stuff I've come up with in the past few weeks.

Pictures include the nice pile of samples that are DONE...the new pile of samples to be done for the new feathering handbook...the 11 part new feather demo for the Open Thread Bar up on the design wall...finally done! Lots of binding strips for the quilted samples...daily class outlines for the upcoming Design Workshops...black cloth for photos...a covered table for spray basting samples...my sewing machine...my computer with the new printer (my old one just died yesterday (bad timing)...one of many bears but this one has beautiful lace embellishments...

Wishing each and every one of you a very Happy New Year...Looking forward to another great year with all of you!

Hugs, Cindy :)

I'm Feeling Blessed....

I've been working on the computer almost all day today finishing up handbook #2. I indulged in some quality quilting time tonight on my Open Thread Bar panels and found myself in awe watching ordinary fabric coming to life under the needle of my machine. After being a quilter for 40 years you think I'd be used to it by now...but sometimes you just take a moment to watch it happen and it's like magic.

Being an heirloom quilter and working on vintage linens, my quilting has to be structured. Working on samples for the Open Thread Bar my students are looking for some creativity and eye candy and it gives me permission to quilt without the lines and it's like recess. I am having sooo much fun doing this! I snapped a couple pictures to share.

The past few days have been stressful with my husband's job...he is a cabinet maker and a one-man-shop and we all know what the economy is doing these days. Special prayers and prayer requests were all answered today. That's another very cool thing to watch happen. No words...

Since my last blog post I have received numerous emails from readers from many countries asking to be added to my newsletter list and each letter contained a thank you for sharing myself and my quilts through my blogs. Each of you have touched my life as well and made it richer.

We all get swallowed up in the bustle and craziness of the holidays and I'm no exception. The one thing I try never to forget is the REASON for Christmas and that is the birth of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for my faith. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for all of you. I never take a single day for granted and live each as if may be my last. And I never forget to say thank you.

Have a blessed Christmas. Big Hugs, Cindy :)

News-Letter and New-Stuff!

During my few weeks at home I am happily buried in my sewing room/office writing and quilting like a fool getting ready for next year. On top of creating new samples for my design workshops I am completely re-doing all of the samples for my Open Thread Bar workshop that I teach all over the country. I have been frustrated using older samples to demo threads and have made it a top priority to have all new fresh stuff for next year.

I have a boring red table runner that I use to demo how different threads look when stitched out...it works, but it isn't anything too exciting. I had an epiphany last weekend and came up with this great idea and was finally able to put it in the machine yesterday. I had some beautiful white Dupioni silk yardage in my stash and cut it into three wide strips. I marked this undulating feather border along with some spinning stars. I will be cutting this apart every 8" when I'm done...each 8" section will be stitched in one of the threads I teach. Each square will be separately bound in black silk and then hung on the NEW black felt portable design wall I came up with. The best part about this new wall is the parts fit in my suitcases and I can use it for every class I teach. Nice upgrade!

The background of this piece is being quilted with white Kimono silk and I'm having a blast doing it. I'm just dividing and subdividing into odd shapes, swirls and twirls, adding pebbling, echoing, etc. The hardest part is stopping...I just want to keep going!

I sent out my winter newsletter yesterday afternoon that has four updates to the little freebie handouts I give in all my classes. If you signed up for my newsletter and didn't receive it please email me at: linenqltr@comcast.net. If you would like to be put on my newsletter list please email me and I'll send it out to you.

Hugs, Cindy

White Christmas???

When I was speaking/teaching in Colorado a couple weeks ago Karen Azevedo and I were lucky enough to carve out a couple hours for dinner one evening and she shared a linen wholecloth quilt she had just finished a few hours before. Her work makes me weak in my knees. And she does it with a longarm!!! She decided to go back and add lots of little pearls and a little bit more detail and then call it good. She sent me pictures today to share with you.

When I was looking at the photos it reminded me of a beautiful new blanket of snow...

Karen has just started her own blog this past week and you can find and keep up with her here...

Thank you for continuing to inspire us all Karen!

Hugs, Cindy :)

Featuring Lois Podolny!

I was in Tucson recently teaching/speaking for their amazingly huge guild and one of the workshops was my Linen Ladies. Lois came with a beautiful placemat and she just sent me a photo of the finished project...beautiful work Lois...thank you for sharing! Her letter is below~
***

I loved your class when you were in Tucson. I thought you might enjoy seeing


what you inspired. I finished it for my friend who is celebrating her 65th


birthday. Thanks once again for sharing your talents with the Tucson guild.


Fondly, Lois Podolny

A Very Special Project...

Kent's mother passed away earlier this year after a very long battle with cancer. About a month or so ago Kent's three older sisters and myself gathered at the house to go thru all of Joan's old sewing stuff that had been gathered and collected for many, many years. Oh my. The collection not only contained all of HER stuff but Grandma Needham's (who was a quilter) and Nana's (Joan's mom who was a weaver). I was able to give some beautiful antique sewing notions a new home in my own sewing studio. One treasure in particular was rolled yardage that Nana had woven on the huge loom in her living room. Nobody else was particularly interested in it so I grabbed it along with some other woven yardage.

The yardage is a beautiful Confederate blue with little white chevron's going thru it...gorgeous and it's so soft with a beautiful drape to it. I decided to create four wool patchwork blankets out of this in order to share. I cut the yardage up in big bricks so as not to waste any of it. I combined it with some very nice wool yardage in my stash that's been sitting here forever. I divided everything up into four equal piles so everybody gets a nice lap blanket. At the end of the woven yardage was a great ending with hand-pulled/tied fringe. I cut this into four equal pieces and mounted it on a small square in the middle-ish of the blanket.

When we were dividing things up we came across labels...one was Nana's...one was mine that I used a lifetime ago...and there was another from Grandma Needham. I copied both Nana's and my label onto Printed Treasures fabric...cut each set out...and then sewed them below the hand-pulled fringe. Now the quilts are officially made by both Nana and myself. I found some nice camel colored heavy flannel that I will back these with and plan on going to the yarn store later today to find something beautiful to tie them together with.

It won't be a surprise since I've blogged about it, but these will be going to Kent's dad, my two daughters and of course Kent and I for Christmas. My little voice kept insisting that I needed to share with everyone now...before Christmas...just in case you have a similar scenario. These will make an amazing heart-felt gifts.

Hugs, Cindy :)

"Alice's Roses" by Terry Knott

I received the most wonderful letter and photos from a newly born Linen Lady, Terry Knott. She attended one of my linen wholecloth workshops in September and did a small tea towel. As always I love to share my students' work so that they, too, can inspire you! Beautiful work Terry...thank you for sharing with all of us! Her story is below...


"I just wanted to let you know again how much I enjoyed your class last September 15th. I was rear ended in a car accident 2 1/2 years ago--ended up having some cervical disks fused because of the pain--and still am not able to do what I could do before the accident. I treasure the quilting time I'm able to do. I chose a small project because I hoped I could finish marking it before I the pain caused me to stop working.

Here's my update. Today, I finished the project. I used silk and metallic threads on the front of the quilt and Masterpiece on the back. I also used Kaufman's Radiance for the backing and for the batting I went with the Quilter's Dream Request/select with a split layer of Hobbs wool batting. It was perfect.

I belong to a quilting book club, where we read a book then make a quilt. (We make about four quilts a year.) Our current book is "The Desert Queen" by Janet Wallach and the motif on this tea towel was my inspiration. The book was about how a British woman, Gertrude Bell, defined the borders of Iraq after the first world war.

Our reveal isn't until January, but it is nice to finish before the deadline which doesn't happen often! The final destination for this piece will be a gift back to the person who gave me the linen. She, Alice, was part of my water aerobics class for many years and we have had many a potluck breakfast at her house. She grew the most wonderful roses and when she was younger, was a working woman who managed a large bank in Portland at a time when women just stayed home to raise the kids. I wonder if she will recognize the tea towel now?!"