Cindy Needham

Linen Wholecloth Quilts...New Handbook DONE!

2012-02-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

I'm relieved to say that the newly written and updated Linen Wholecloth Quilts handbook is finally finished. Now I know why I saved this one for last!

Many of you know that I provide extensive handbooks for all of my workshops. I have these available for sale as downloads from my website for those who are unable to attend one of my classes. Many of my blog readers and students pay an additional one-time fee of $10 for yearly updates. Each year, as I rewrite and update my handbooks, these students/readers receive brand new handbooks...it's a great deal and a wonderful way for me to keep in touch with everyone.

I sent updates to all of those ladies this morning...if you didn't receive yours please email me and I will check my records and make sure I have your email address correct. (Email: linenqltr@comcast.net. Reference "quilting" in the subject line.)

For those of you who have been checking to see when the handbook was going to be finished and available for sale, I'm happy to say that it is available for purchase from my website under the "Handbooks" section for $20. It ended up being 39 pages long with all new instruction and photos. I also have a number of supplements that accompany it bringing the total pages of instruction up to 95 pages.

I apologize to all of you for the delay but I really haven't been sitting on my laurels eating bon-bon's and painting my toenails! I added four brand new 5-day "Learning to Design" workshops to my teaching schedule and I leave for Sacramento tomorrow morning to set up for the first one. I am SO jazzed about these workshops and am anxious to see how it all comes together. I will be taking photos all week long and plan on finally getting back to my blog posts to start sharing with you once again.

I also had a first time experience the other morning...I was cleaning up my sewing room (novel thought) and went over to pat my sewing machine...I haven't taken a single stitch on it for nearly six weeks and it was covered in a layer of dust. Seriously...there is something VERY wrong about that. I am looking forward to some quality quilting time after the workshop when every moment of my time isn't being spent on class prep and rewriting handbooks!

Thanks for being patient with me...it's good to be back! Hugs, Cindy :)

Sew Cal Gal's FMQ Challenge...Diane Gaudynski

2012-02-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

You may or may not be familiar with the Free Motion Quilting Challenge that is being presented by Sew Cal Gal. I did a blog post a little while back about this but wanted to feature it again...because this month is Diane Gaudynski's month for a lesson and it is FABULOUS!!!

I was very honored to have been one of Diane's students at Asilomar last year and I still wiggle when I talk about that class. She has always been my hero and one of my greatest sources of inspiration.

Her featured lesson is how to do beautiful feathers and comes complete with great photos and instructions. I hope I'm not in trouble for adding a picture of one of her feather designs here but since all I'm doing is talking about her I'm sure it's okay. This will tantalize you to go to Sew Cal's blogspot for more eye candy.

Thank you Darlene (aka Sew Cal Gal) for providing such a wonderful resource of education and inspiration to all of us! Hugs, Cindy :)

Featuring Kathy Harris!

2012-01-27T06:51:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-19T20:42:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-19T20:16:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-17T04:24:00.000-08:00

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"!

2012-01-13T05:35:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-12-29T19:22:00.000-08:00

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....

2011-12-23T19:29:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-12-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

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???

2011-12-18T13:11:00.001-08:00

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!

2011-12-15T08:38:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-12-10T08:53:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

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?!"

Please Help Find Sharon's Quilt!

2011-12-06T04:44:00.000-08:00

My good friend, Sharon Schlotzhauer, is a multi-award winning quilter and her quilt, "Really Wild Flowers" is second in a series...and it won a first place award at the Houston International Quilt Festival this year.

This quilt did NOT make it back home from this year's Festival. It went missing on November 7, 2011, somewhere between the show floor and the shipping area.

Th quilt measures 62" x 64 1/2" and each of the flowers is three dimensional. Her name and Colorado Springs are on the back.

Sharon is understandably devastated and I can hardly believe myself what happened. I know the word is already out about this quilt but I wanted to do what I could to help. If you have any information you could provide, please contact me via email at: linenqltr@comcast.net. Sharon has already offered a reward for its return with no questions asked.

Thank you....Cindy

Quilts Gone Bad...

2011-12-03T16:59:00.001-08:00

It's taken me a bit to get my courage up to write this blog but due to some very positive feedback from friends and a few quilters I think I'm up to it.

Do you ever get in one of THOSE moods where you start cleaning...throwing away...getting rid of it...passing it on to someone else??? Well I'm in one of those moods. Last week I gave away over five tubs worth of my linen stash stored in the garage as I needed space to store supplies for my upcoming design workshops. I kept some things but passed forward a whole bunch of good stuff. It felt good.

I opened up the closet in the hallway and started cleaning and purging and once again, as I do almost every year, picked up a stack of earlier quilted linen quilts that weren't done so well...they were beautiful linens...I even beaded most of them...but there was something that went bad and I just stuck them in the closet. I'll never finish them but have never found the heart to just toss them.

When I die I've had visions of Jenny and Emily going thru this closet and picking up this small pile of badly done quilts...the conversation would go something like this..."wow...mom did these...hmmmm...not so well done...hmmm...what do we do with them? I don't want them, do you? Nope, I don't want them either. Can't throw them away cause Mom did them. You take a couple, I'll take a couple and we'll just stick them in the closet like she did". Sound familiar?

Sooooo, while I was still in this "mood" I grabbed the linen quilts...grabbed my rotary cutter and started cutting. eeeeeee..... every one of my fibers was screaming at me. What in the world was I doing????

But you know what...they've turned out beautiful!!! I cut out the best most beautiful parts of these "quilts gone bad", added some binding, and they are absolutely gorgeous. I would be proud to hang them as a single piece or a collection on my wall...they will make great gifts as well. The best part is they will start getting used. Jenny and Emily will have more room in their closets for other things besides storing Mom's old bad quilts.

I am currently snugged up in Brighton, Colorado where I am teaching/speaking for the Colorado Quilt Council...it's VERY cold and snowy by the way. Two old friends and a new one stopped by last night and we had a wonderful evening of visiting, dinner and show and tell and I shared with them what I did...they thought this was a great idea and I needed to share with all of you. We all have old stuff in our closets that we can't bear to throw away...what if we just made smaller parts of the good parts?

Something to think about!

Hugs, Cindy :)

Next...

2011-11-26T05:04:00.000-08:00

Now that The Nuns Quilt is down to the last 10 beads it dawned on me I have NO handwork to do while on the plane and in my hotel rooms. aaaaaahhhh! I'll go nuts if I don't have something to keep my hands busy.

I bought this gorgeous linen while "junkin" with my daughter Emily last year and I think I paid about $50 for it. It's been bugging me ever since I acquired it and this is the perfect time to get another long detailed project going. I have some significant air travel coming up next year so I would have one project that would keep me busy all year long.

I have always wanted to do a wholecloth Baltimore Album quilt and this one is perfect for that. I could only photo a third of the linen...it actually has nine 12" blocks. Each block is held together and bordered with the MOST exquisite lace. You really have to see it and touch it to believe it. There are also these beautiful fingers of lace that jut out at each intersection around the border that are small baskets with a flower coming out of the top. Oh my....sigh.

I happened to have on hand some beautiful linen yardage for both the underlayment and the back. The light silk/hemp piece will be directly under the linen and the gray heavy piece will go on the back. The back is perfect for this BUT ended up being about 4" short. So I am going to patch a strip on the back to make it the length I need and use that for the rod pocket end...nobody will ever know. It was so perfect I had to make it work.

The Baltimore Album designs were copied from Elly Sienkiewicz's books on Baltimore Album quilts. I acquired four of these books a lifetime ago and they are one of the best used resources in my little library. I go to them constantly for inspiration. I will also be adding a beautiful small rope cable to help frame in each design. Each of the designs will be quilted with Superior Threads' Kimono Silk in a variety of neutrals...hand embroidered details will be added and of course jillions of beads added in the lace.

I am off to the Abbey today to meet with Father Paul Mark in hopes he can help me with the history of The Nuns Quilt. I am hopeful there will be a blog post coming up soon with some good news on that!

Hugs, Cindy

The Nuns Quilt...finishing touches

2011-11-22T14:47:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that the final quilting stitches were put in place while on my teaching engagement in Tucson. This is the only linen quilt I've worked on all year and it has taken me that long to get to this point. I can hardly believe it's nearly done! And just in time too...I just received notification a few minutes ago that this was accepted for the Road to California Show in Ontario, CA. So for those of you who are attending you'll be able to see it in person. :)

I found the perfect piece of lace for my rod pocket and since it was so loose I had to attach it to fabric...I had just enough underlayment fabric left from the front to create the rod pocket for the back. Of course I had to bead the lace to the fabric and it gave it just that special little touch.

I am going to start the quilting on the label this afternoon...we have a decent storm blowing in so it makes the perfect time to snug up to a special project in my machine. I have added a picture which shows the original label...I photocopied the label and printed it on Printed Treasures fabric. The linen originally came with 6 napkins...I have sacrificed one of them for the label. I reverse appliqued an oval hole in the top, placed the copied label underneath and stitched it down.

I plan on overall quilting a delicate feather background with Superior Threads' #100 Kimono Silk in a matching thread (class sample shown). Rather than hand write the history of this piece, I am going to select a beautiful font on Microsoft Word, type my message, tint the writing an antique brown, and then print on Printed Treasures fabric. I will then cut to size and place this on top of the quilted linen napkin. I will cover the raw edges with lace and beads...much like the technique I used on my "Take the Time" quotation quilt that is pictured.

While I was on my 2-week engagement in Arizona and Texas I spent significant time in my hotel room not only sewing but also trying to research which French convent this linen came from. The only history I had is that it was hand-made by French Nuns in a convent in the early 1940's. I always thought that was such an amazing history and was very excited about it. Silly me didn't realize until I started doing the research is that this was during the war...very bad things were happening in France during this time and awful things were happening to the nuns. It made me sick. I wanted to stop searching as it was upsetting but somebody told me I had to find out...it was important. She said that it proves that even during the darkest and most difficult of times women were able to create something beautiful...this was their therapy. Now I really understand the presence I have felt all along while working on this quilt.

It was suggested last Saturday that I try and contact the monks at our local Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, California. All of my other letters and inquiries to other establishments have gone unanswered. I am happy to report that Father Paul Mark is intrigued with the story and will be meeting with me on Saturday. I am hopeful he will be able to send me in the right direction for my research.

In closing I would like to wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving. Be thankful for your family...your friends...and your life. Don't forget to tell those that are close to you how much you appreciate and love them.

Hugs, Cindy :)

These Are a Few of my Favorite Things!

2011-11-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

I am on my last day of a 12-day teaching/speaking engagement that took me to Wickenburg, AZ, Tucson, AZ and Harlingen, TX. The guild program for Harlingen isn't until tonight so I have all day in my hotel room to get some quality writing time in.

November and December are typically my time to rewrite handbooks and get new ones written. I have felt the need to write a handout listing all of my "Favorite Things". Lots of students ask what products I recommend so I thought it would be beneficial to create this handout and make it available to everyone! I like to emphasize that I am not promoting sales for any particular products and am not promoting products for any "kick backs"...I just like to recommend good things that I have found useful for both myself and my students. You may find the link for this handbook on my home page where it will remain for anyone who wishes to download and print it. This is obviously going to be something I will edit and add to for a long time so check the "Last Edited Date" to make sure you have the most current version!

If you have feedback on this please email me at: linenqltr@comcast.net and reference quilting in the subject line. Thank you!

Hugs, Cindy

My Portable Sewing Room

2011-11-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

I finished up three wonderful days in Wickenburg and Marilyn and Thelecia volunteered to drive me three hours to Tucson...rumor has it Marilyn was only after chicken tacos at her favorite Mexican restaurant!

I am currently snugged up at a great hotel in Tucson and enjoying some down time before speaking for the Tucson Quilt Guild this evening and tomorrow morning. I have the perfect setting to set up my "sewing studio". Since my previous blog was destroyed on how I set up my portable sewing spaces I thought I would recreate it with my space here in Tucson.

I found an airplane overhead carry-on suitcase at Targetthat fits my Juki sewing machine perfectly. I have it heavily padded with green foam rubber chunks for protection and have silver duct tape on the outside marking the suitcase as fragile. I don't always get to fly on a big plane and have to check this bag planeside so this will hopefully give the baggage guys a heads up....right...I know...it makes me feel better though!

I always use a long ironing board to one side to hold extra stuff like my laptop and paperwork...bring an extra power strip with me to plug all my stuff into. I will usually use a hotel suitcase rack lined with a bath towel to hold all my threads and notions. This hotel room came equipped with bar stools so I am using those instead!

Hotels are not known for their quality lighting so I am lucky enough to have one permanently attached to my machine. It is a led lighting system produced by
Ecolux Lighting and I can sew in the darkest of rooms and have lots of light to do my fine detail work.

I always ask for a room with 2 beds and use one of those beds to lay all the quilts out on...it happened to be a sunny afternoon and when I tossed the Reflections quilt out on the bed I loved how it captured the sunlight.

I have been VERY busy and focused on The Nuns Quilt and am happy to report that I have about 12" left on one side to complete the heavy-duty quilting...whew. I have loads of little ripping and details to add but at least the majority of it will be done.

I have added an overall picture of the quilt to the top of this post for reference. I am contacting convents in France trying to locate the original convent that created this piece back in the early 1940's...I am referencing this blog so they can see what the linen looks like. If anyone has any information please let me know...

Hugs, Cindy

New Born Linen Ladies!

2011-11-04T20:45:00.000-07:00

As promised I am starting "fresh" with new posts and what better way to start than with fresh, newborn Linen Ladies!

I am currently snugged up in Wickenburg, AZ and teaching 3 days of classes for
M's Quilting Inspirations. I taught for Marilyn last year, she brought me back this year, and we are already planning on classes for 2012. I love it here...small town with a great quilt store and they take very good care of me.

I started off with my Linen Ladies Workshop and had a wonderful class of 15 students...they were great guinea pigs for some new demos and everyone jumped right in and started designing and marking their pieces. I absolutely love carousing around the room watching linens being reborn into beautiful wholecloth quilts.

One of my students, Kris, was a two-timer...a repeat student from my class at Road to Calfornia a couple of years ago. She brought two quilts that she completed to share with me and they are exquisite. One of them featured a beautiful green hankie with rounded sides and flowers and beautifully quilted backgrounds and details.

I did manage to bring my sewing machine with me and am trying to carve out some time to quilt on my Nuns quilt. I managed to squeeze in about 30 minutes this morning and after leaving my little sewing table and coming back, caught this pretty image of it hanging over the chair and had to take a picture.

Since most of the Nun's Quilt history has been deleted from my blog,I will make sure to make this one of my featured quilts coming up in a future blog very soon.

Off to bed...very tired after a wonderful day of teaching. Hugs, Cindy

Moving Forward...

2011-11-04T05:49:00.001-07:00

I'm currently snugged up in Wickenburg, Arizona where I am beginning a 12 day stretch of teaching. I am teaching three classes at M's Quilting Inspirations and then drive down to Tucson where I am speaking and teaching for the Tucson Quilt Guild. Once my visit is over there I head down to Harlingen, Texas where I am speaking/teaching for the Frontera Quilt Guild.

The dilemma of losing all of my blog posts pictures has weighed very heavy on my heart. Thankfully Karen Azevedo had saved a blog post from March 2010 and I was able to go back and save all the photos from there on. No dice on anything forward. (my blog post address changed at this time) I was able to recreate about a dozen posts from pictures I had saved and those that were forwarded to me by other readers.

I had my computer nerd guy work on the problem last Sunday and he has no idea what happened. It was more than just me doing some housekeeping of my photo files. I have heard from a few other readers that they saved photos off of my website or added my photos to class calendars/advertisements and those too have turned black. I feel like my house burned down with all my photo albums.

I like to think of my Blog as a positive inspirational place for people to visit and scrolling down thru nothing but black boxes is not comforting. I took the plunge and deleted all the posts that have the black boxes. I simply don't have the time to devote to sorting thru hundreds and hundreds of photos to recreate these posts and it upsets me at the same time.

Time to move forward...Once I get home from this extended trip I am going to rephoto some of the quilts that appeared in these deleted posts and tell their stories again. I have my camera with me and will start taking pictures in my classroom and we'll get the ball rolling on a more positive note!

Thank you to everyone who responded with suggestions, photos, and letting me cry on their shoulders. I have learned a VERY valuable lesson...have everything doubly backed up...I got lazy and I've paid the price. sigh.

Hugs, Cindy

Featuring new Linen Lady...Linda Rech

2011-10-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

A short while back I blogged about the dilemma of not being able to find any more Ethiopian brass beads for my Nun Quilt. Linda Rech spent some time and found them for me. I sent her my entire collection of handbooks as a thank you for the time she spent helping me out.

She recently sent me an email with some pictures of her first linen wholecloth quilt and I couldn't wait to share her with you. This is the story she sent me...

"I had a vintage linen table cover that has hand embroidered baskets in each corner and I was using your book for inspiration. With the extra push from your wonderful handouts I finished it this week in time for my guild's quilt show. It is 35" square with a blue sateen backer and wool batting. I used Bottom Line thread throughout. I have a longarm and the background filler was continuous line so I could finish it in time. I decided not to embellish it...yet! I am thinking some pearly seed beads might be nice around the eyelets and along the handles of the baskets. Thank you so much for the inspiration!"

As an aside note...the beads that Linda found for me have mysteriously disappeared. I had three strands in my travel sewing bag and when I went to get more beads the other night they are GONE. I can only figure they must have slipped out when I was getting something else. My stomach fell to my toes. The website vendor I purchased them from doesn't have any more and can't get more. I have enough beads left to fill in each corner (if I don't lose those too), and I will have to substitute a different bead for other areas. This quilt seems to have a life of its own...

Hugs, Cindy

Featuring Susan Gardner!

2011-10-04T13:51:00.001-07:00

I was privileged to teach at the Sisters Quilt Show this past July and offered a 2-day wholecloth class. I always encourage my students to share their pieces with me after they're done so they can inspire the rest of you. It's always a treat when somebody DOES share their finished project...today I get to showcase Susan Gardner...here is the story that accompanied her pictures~

In July I took a class with Cindy at the Quilters Affair in Sisters, Oregon. I was not familiar with her style, I only knew it was to be a whole cloth quilting class. Wow, did I have fun! Even though it was a two day class, I was only able to complete the marking of my class project. (I used the Pilot FriXion pens to mark, they make a nice clear fine line easy to follow and iron away.) During class I was busy learning all sorts of things from Cindy about threads, needles, pin basting quilts together and many other helpful bits of advice. Cindy does a great job of teaching and encouraging her students.

I came home after my class and found that I could do a fairly good job of quilting these type quilts so I went in search of some old linens. I found a nice little white table runner with feathers that were appliquéd onto the runner with a sheer fabric.

Not really knowing just where I wanted to start this type of project, I just jumped in and used some white cotton fabric with silver sparkles to put the runner on. From there I marked some more feathers and some cross hatching and stitched away using Superior thread's Bottom Line. I thought about using some silver/metallic thread, but changed my mind and just used white thread. I also stitched around and inside the sheer feathers that were on the purchased runner. I did use a Sulky white metallic thread to satin stitch the edges of the runner to the “quilt”. While I love beads, since this is a table runner I opted not to bead this project.

I have two more table clothes to work on, I'm really having fun looking for table clothes to turn into great little quilts! Thanks Cindy!

Susan Gardner