Nov 25, 20131

Wow, It is hard for me to believe that Thanksgiving is this week.  Lots to catch up on.

This was the first year that I went to the Houston International Quilt Festival.  It was huge!! I didn’t even make it to all the vendors or to see all of the quilts.  It was overwhelming.  I caught up with a lot of my quilting peeps and met some of my Facebook friends for the first time.  I have to say a big thank you to Sherry Reynolds!  I roomed with her the first couple of days I was in Houston and knew right away we would be fast friends.  I cherish that!!!  Thank you Sherry!

I worked in the Urban Elementz booth and even though Patricia and I have been working together for over 5 years, we had never met until Festival.  She is every bit as amazing as I thought she would be.  I had a blast working in the booth demoing my rulers.  It was great to hear how I have been an inspiration to many quilters.  I am truly blessed.

As many of you know, one of the reasons for my trip to Houston was to accept an award for my quilt, Swan’s Song.  When you win, you receive and email stating that you won but they don’t tell you what place you won.  So the suspense was killing me….. I was lucky enough to win FIRST in Merit Quilting.   You can see a list of all the winners here…. http://www.quilts.org/winners.html   It was truly an honor.  I got to accept the award on the two year anniversary of my father’s memorial service and since this quilt was a dedication to him , it made it extra special.

Once back to Pa, reality sets in.  Customer quilts, carting the kids around , working on my classes etc.  I haven’t had a lot of time to work on my new competition piece.  😦   This means it will not be done for the spring shows.   I am hoping it will be ready to enter into Houston 2014.   Let’s cross our fingers.

I am introducing 4 new classes this spring….. what was  I thinking….   in addition to Divide and Design  and mastering the Mini.

Totally Templates:  This class is for the beginner who would like to begin to integrate templates into his/her repertoire.  what templates are must haves etc.

Gettin in the Groove:  This class will focus on my line of rulers and all (well, a lot) that you can do with them.  Beginners are also welcome in this class but a knowledge of how to use templates is helpful.

Fast and Fun Beginner Feathers:   Just like the name says…. this is a beginner class.  I will be going over the first 5 feathers I learned and how versatile they are.  How to embellish them incase you made an error on sizing… no ripping out!! I will also be giving some tips that I sure wish I had known about when I first started.  It will be a blast.

Last but certainly not least….

Fabulous Flowing Feathers:  As you all know, I LOVE feathers!   In this class, I will be teaching you how make your feathers flow magically over your quilt tops.  Not familiar with the hump and bump feather…. I will be taking you step by step on learning these beauties.  (This class is debuting at HMQS 2014)

Feb 7th, 8th and 9th  I will be at the beautiful Founders Inn and Spa for Birds of a Feather.  Sign up soon, classes are filling up!  Two of mine are already full, Divide and Design and Totally Templates!

April 9-12th I will be in Manchester, NH at MQX Quilt Festival East!  Registration is now open!!  Don’t wait to long or the classes you want will be full!!

may 8-10th!!  Salt Lake City and HMQS here I come!!  This will be my first time teaching at this show and I am sooooo excited.  Registration begins in January!!

I wanted to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful quilters who have taken classes with me, bought my rulers and DVD’s and who have truly inspired me!  It is because of you that I get to wake up each day and do something that I love.  Thank you and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!