2013 Shipshewana Quilt Festival, Part One...

There were some beautiful quilts at the show.  Sit back and let the inspiration wash over you!  I could not use my camera flash, so I did the best I could at the crowded show.

The detail work on this underwater delight was amazing!

I love red-green quilts...

This next one was hanging in a dark place, so my flash-less camera did not capture how vibrant this one was.  I loved the use of the black and white bits of zebra print.

I am not a pink person, but I LOVED this quilt.  The pairing of the light pink background with the orange and red fabrics was fabulous!  And the hand quilting was very nice.

This next one was very cheerful!

One of my VERY FAVORITES is next!

There were such teeny-tiny triangles on these next feathered stars and I LOVED the border hand quilting!

LOVED these horses...

This back story made me cry...and I am a sucker for a beautiful, blue quilt!

I will post more show pictures next time...I have not even gotten to the winners yet!  After getting home and looking at the quality of my photography, I will re-take some on Saturday when I pick up my quilts.

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Family room "sweat shop"...

The first wave of folding, organizing, and stuffing is finally coming to an end...there is light at the end of the sweat shop tunnel!  

Thanks to my cat's Ziploc baggie addiction, once the patterns are stuffed they have to be locked away from his razor sharp little teeth.

He likes to "staple" Ziploc bags and sheet pocket protectors...he repeatedly bites and punctures the plastic.  I guess you would call that the Weasley seal-of-approval.

Some of my quilt cave stash has been temporarily relocated to laundry baskets so that I could use my containers with lids to discourage the little beast.

Seventeen patterns are finished and ready to go, the 18th will be ready in about an hour, and the last one is at the printer...again.  I had to have it reprinted.  

As I started to stuff the French horn patterns I realized that I didn't use the FINAL draft of the block.  (I am one, tough, quality control cookie.)  I should have caught it when I used the pattern to trace my background for the crayoned and embroidered version.  Here's the embroidered one in progress...

...and here is the appliqued one.  Can you see the differences?

It is subtle, but it would have been frustrating for the user to find that the pattern did not exactly match the color reference picture.  (I would have been disappointed, and I am my best customer, ha-ha!)  

I am almost through drafting the last thing that needs to be done and printed before starting to sell the patterns.  This will be the finishing directions for making the large 16-block quilt like mine.  I will include it for free for people buying 16 blocks.

At some point I will design and adapt settings and borders for quilts made from 1, 4, 6, 9 and 12 of the blocks.  I have dreams in my head and just have to make them come true in fabric (I wish I didn't have to waste time sleeping, LOL!).

So, for those of you who are so patiently waiting for me to get my act together and start selling patterns on my related web site, here is the scoop:

• As soon as we are ready, there will be an announcement post, a give-away, and a link on this blog to our web site to purchase patterns.

• The "Baltimore Rhapsody" patterns will be available individually, or in 4-, 9-, 12-, or 16-block bundles (with a little price break per pattern for the bundles).  You will be able to choose the blocks you want in your bundle.

• So far, there are patterns for 19 blocks.  The sixteen blocks in my current quilt are the symphonic blocks.  More instruments will be added soon - instruments from church, folk, country, and jazz music, plus a few surprises.

• I am trying to learn about foreign shipping rules and rates...so far I am a little freaked out.  Every country has different rules concerning customs, packaging, etc.  I may have to "quarter" the large format pattern and sell the patterns as electronic downloads (the user would have to tape 4 pages together to get the full size pattern).  Our web site is set up for this possibility, either for this pattern or future offerings. 

• If you are from somewhere other than USA and think you are    interested in purchasing patterns, let me know so I can start figuring your country's rules out first!

• Visa and Mastercard will be securely accepted on the site.

In addition to all the excitement about this launch, family is visiting and my daughter and husband are having birthdays...Riley - sweet 16, Steve - 59 and holding!

And...I will get a quilt show "mini break" in Shipshewana, Indiana this weekend as I had two quilts accepted to that show.  Yahoo!  My hands and eyes need a break from all the folding and stuffing! 

Maybe I will see you there!

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

Crayon time...

A couple of people have emailed or commented that they like the "Baltimore Rhapsody" blocks but don't like applique.  I am experimenting with turning a block into a stitchery!

I've watched my friends use this technique with Crabapple Hill stitchery patterns, so I thought I would give it a try.

First, using a light box and a .005 black Pigma pen I traced the design LIGHTLY on my background. The washout blue pen won't work here because the crayon wax will cover the marks and make them impossible to remove.  A pencil would probably work.

I like this skinniest of Pigma pens because I can cover the marks with floss easily, even when working with light and pastel floss.

Next, you have to color the design with a WHITE crayon first (see the first picture).  Make sure there are no touches of other crayon colors on your white crayon, or you will get color where you don't want it!

The Crabapple Hill gals actually sell boxes of just white crayons...you can find them here.

This is the first time I have ever used the white crayon in a box of Crayola's!

Then, color to your heart's desire!  I LOVED coloring as a kid!  My teenage daughter and her friends like to color to escape from the stress of of high school.  She actually asked Santa to bring her coloring books last Christmas and this cool crayon tower (see it here).  It's so cute to see 16-yr-old girls sharing Disney princess coloring books!

I color over the white.  You can blend colors and shade to make things look as realistic as you like.  I just try to stay inside the lines.  I find that my background stretches a little as I color, but that will fix itself later.

I work on my slick, smooth table so that I don't get any weird, unwanted textures.

After I've finished with the crayons, I put paper towels on my pressing surface, place the background CRAYON SIDE DOWN on the paper towels, and press with my iron.  This sets the crayon and removes any excess color onto the paper towels.

Then I put my traced work on a piece of thin, cheap, white flannel and baste them together so they won't shift.

Now I am ready to outline stitch with colorful embroidery floss (2 strands), followed by embellishment with French knots, other stitches, and maybe some tiny seed beads.

I am excited to finish this and see how it works out.  I really like the results so far...and the coloring was just what I needed last night after a stressful day.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Good help is hard to find...

Yes indeed, good help is hard to find.  My minions spend their spare time either snoozing or studying for end-of-the-school-year finals.

Meanwhile, I spend my time either folding 1900 pattern covers or hand quilting "Baltimore Rhapsody."

Tomorrow after helping with the school picnic, I start folding the big block patterns.  Sometimes the wheel of progress moves slowly, but it is moving.

But there is no moving these guys...

shhh...in stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Walking past the design wall...

My design wall is right at the bottom of the steps in the quilt cave.  I walk by it many, many times a day.  Waiting for the dryer to stop, I took 3 minutes to pin up the first 8 string-pieced blue diamonds into a star shape (I seriously need a real design wall instead of my icky pink college thermal blanket, bought in 1978, don't you think?...).

Then, taking a "standing break" from sitting and drafting final applique block patterns came the first broken star setting ring.

Later, I stopped on my way upstairs with freshly folded laundry to add a second broken star setting ring.

I still have a stack of finished string-pieced diamonds to play with...I wonder what will come next...

Meanwhile I ponder plain inset neutral squares versus two, more interesting options...

I am almost through hand-tracing the final copies of the first 19 "Baltimore Rhapsody" music applique blocks.  I work on a large square of heavy white paper where I've layered my working pattern under a fresh square of tracing paper.  

I use the flat clips to hold everything in place as I work.  Simple, yet time consuming.  

My husband kicked the table leg as he leaned in to kiss the top of my head last night...doh!  I had to start that one over...(but it was worth it!).

I pick up pattern covers from the printer later today and drop off the block patterns...it is all very exciting (and a little scary...).

If this venture is successful, I will someday have a scanner and the proper drawing software to do this more high tech.  I feel a little like the ape throwing poo at the monolith at this moment in time (cue the music from "2001: A Space Odyssey").

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

It's really happening...

Between spurts of hand quilting on "Baltimore Rhapsody," the publishing of the patterns and the launch of Fabric Therapy Online is inching closer as well!

The covers are being printed today and the over-sized pattern sheets later this week.  I'm almost through writing the last of the pattern content, which will print quickly on regular-sized paper.

We set up STRIPE yesterday (to be able to accept credit cards for payment).  My husband has been loading stuff on the web site he is creating.  Back when my parents married, the advice was to marry someone who could fix your car.  Now, I think it's good to find someone who can work on your computer...

For all who have been waiting so patiently to make blocks, we should be up and going with the first 19 blocks by the end of the month, hopefully sooner!  It all hinges on how fast 'me and my minions' (me, my daughter, my husband) can fold and stuff (evil overlord laugh inserted here).

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

To see or not to see...

Quilting is progressing better now that I can actually SEE again.  I've really had trouble lately seeing what I was hand quilting on my music quilt.  I blamed it on bad lighting, etc., but finally had the 'duh!" moment...I needed new glasses!  My bifocals were failing me, and my non-bifocal hard contacts were TOTALLY failing me.  I just bought my first pair of $9.95 drugstore reading glasses, and I feel like a new person!  I wear them with my contacts and I can see to read and hand sew again.  This will work until I can get to the eye doctor.  Yahoo!

Between sessions of hand quilting, I have been doing some mindless scrappy piecing.  My bulging scrap bins needed some reducing, and I have a couple of baby and graduation quilts to make.

I've been playing around with the blues strings and the bright chunks...very cheerful!  While working on "Baltimore Rhapsody," my poor sewing machine has just been collecting dust.

I filled a dozen bobbins, and off I went.  It's good to give the fingertips a little break from the constant pricking of the hand quilting.

The choice of color by my niece for her graduation quilt was blue/maroon, so I'm trying to decide between two scrappy projects, one using these paper pieced diamonds, the other based on one of Bonnie Hunter's fabulous scrappy designs from Quiltville.com.

Also, every now and then I get out my collection of Wonky Stars and make a few more.  They are so much fun to make, and I am using very happy, chunky scraps to make them.  Directions for making Wonky Stars is also on Quiltville.com.

I'm not sure exactly how they will end up being used, but as the number grows I think of possible arrangements in my head as I dreamily chain piece the star points on the 2.5 inch scrappy neutral squares.

I love the mindlessness of this ongoing project.  My sewing machine is 6 feet from the washer/dryer, so it is a good project to leave out so that I can sit down for just a few minutes and get something accomplished without much thought.

I don't think too much about what colorful scrap goes where, and since the "background" is scrappy, I don't have to think about that either.  This is another good, mindless project to balance the hand quilting of the music quilt (where I DO have to think...).

And until I got the reading glasses, accuracy was not an issue with this chunky, imprecise project.  Ahh...  I should care that I ended up with two checked white neutral pieces right beside each other...but I don't care enough to fix it, LOL!

I am alternating between the border and outline quilting of blocks on the music quilt.  What was I thinking when I drafted this border?  It's taking more time that I thought it would, but it is worth the effort.

It's still fun to make all the fruits and flowers come to life with a little quilting attention.

My almost-16-year-old daughter is keeping us plenty busy with end-of-the-year outings.  Final band concert, being inducted into the National Honor Society, a dance, International Dinner, Korean Dinner, meetings about planning for college and looking for scholarships, field trips that need parental chaperoning...wow!  And she was in the school play with a big part playing a nutty mother, Penny Sycamore ("You Can't Take It With You") - she was awesomely crazy.  I hope she wasn't modeling her OWN mom...

So, I will keep on hand quilting this monster...hopefully I am getting close to done.  I forgot how cumbersome hand quilting a 95" x 95" quilt can be with a hoop.  

In the meantime, me and two quilts are off to the Shipshewana Quilt Show in June (Indiana)..."All Around the Town" and "Life of Riley - Mom's Civil War Bride Journey" were accepted into the juried show.  That should be a lot of fun!

I am hoping to post more often and catch up on reading all of YOUR blogs, in addition to answering emails and comments.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)