Sunday, February 19, 2012

Winner and Stuff

Hi everyone!
Hope you all had a great week!

Yesterday I taught a class at Quadrille Quilting. We are working on one of my patterns, Simply Sunflowers.

(And no, the picture to the right is not the quilt! I am just channeling spring today!)

It is so much fun to see what everyone is doing. We have two quilts that are being done in greens and with great great flower prints. Both flower prints are yellow, one with pansies and one with sunflowers.

One quilt is in browns and tans using a tea dyed muslin and a great leaf print and one is being done in pastels! My new one has a green background and a sunflower print- but with a white background.

After next class I will post pictures. I love it when the students make my pattern look even better than the original!

My new Simply Sunflower quilt is finally quilted and I plan to have it all completed before the next class! It would be bad if the students finished before the instructor!

Yesterday, they did not get much sewing done, but that was my fault. We ended up talking a lot about how to machine quilt the top. This quilt is great one for doing some simple straight line machine quilting and if you have never machine quilted a larger quilt before, it is great to start with this one! You don't ever have to mark a line!

In doing more research for the class, I wanted to give them some materials about thread and needles. I found this great site with information on sewing machine needles. Actually, I found lots of stuff, but I liked this one and they encourage posting their information- what's not to like about that?

The site is called Generation Quilt Patterns and this page has an excellent article on sewing machine needle sizes and what they mean. If you read the short article, it has a sad but true story. And what is sad, but true, is that I have had a similar experience! I have a quilt that you can see sunlight thru! A too big needle was used for that one.

Some other good information that they have is about needles sizes and how to pick the right size for your project. I know that I don't always think about that. I just put in a needle,or still use the one that I had in there for the last three projects, and wonder why things aren't going well!
So this page and this page both have some great information.


Oh, were you looking for the winner of Lucky Seven pattern?

Well..... I decided to use the Random Number Generator for this giveaway. It would have been easy to put names in a hat (my preferred method) but I decided change is good for the creative soul.

So I used the random number generator. And I was shocked! It picked Number 1!

Really! I always thought if you were the first post the likelihood of getting picked was almost zip, zero, nada. Non existent!



Now I know, in my head, that random means just that- all numbers have the same possibility. The conclusion is that the number 1 means that
Patty from NC

is the winner! Email me your snail mail address and I will get the pattern and a little extra goodie out to you.



Thanks to everyone who entered and don't forget to sign up for the Quilt Dash! You will get a chance to visit some new places on the web!

Happy quilting!
Kate


p.s the quilt block at the top- it is from Tulip Trio. A fun, fusible pattern with directions for a banner, a block that looks great on those Ackfeld hangers and an adorable mini trio of blocks that can go on one of their little Tri-Stands!
Sorry for the commercial- but this is one of my favorites; maybe because it is just so happy! Love it!
I can't wait for spring!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentines Day!


Happy Valentines Day to all!

Hope you have a nice, relaxing night!



And don't forget to add a comment to the post below
for a chance to win our St Patty's Day pattern!

Happy Quilting!
Kate

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Get Together and Give Away

I am down in Annapolis this weekend playing with Elizabeth. Well, right now she and Jim are working on the business books- so, not so much fun! I stay a little out of that- I claim it hurts my brain!

We just signed up to do the April Quilt Dash.

If you have never participated in the Quilt Dash, it is a fun online shop hop. All the participating shops donate prizes to be won by the participants.

So pop over to their site to check it out.

Originally, I was hoping they would have a Quilt Dash in February- we wanted to give away one of our Lucky Seven patterns. This pattern is for a banner; you can make three sections individually and then use grommets and ribbon to string them together.

Or you can just sew the blocks together and make one long banner. Banner is about 16" x 48".
It also makes a great table runner!

So...let's do a give away. We'll see if anyone is listening!

Leave me a comment on how you celebrate the holiday. Need a hint what holiday?
Green beer?
Corned beef?
Dancing a jig?

Years ago my daughter was an Irish dancer and would spend the a few days close to the holiday dancing at various Irish suppers with her school. Now she goes to listen to her boyfriend's Irish band and will still occasionally break out into a jig!

Comments will close next Saturday and I will draw a winner Sunday February 19th.

in the meantime...

Happy quilting
Kate