Turkey..Pie..Nap…Oh MY!

 

The sun is shining brightly in Hilton Head where I prepare to tee off for a round of golf; my second love in life. But before I venture into the rolling, green hills composed of 19 holes I wanted to wish all my fellow followers a Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope your plans include eating WAY too much turkey, indulging in a few holiday drinks and slumbering peacefully as Mr. Tryptophan slips you into nappy land.  Those are my intentions for the next 24 hours!

     What would Thanksgiving be without including Black Friday and Cyber Monday? So let’s whoop it up and celebrate those two unofficial holidays with a sale! You don’t even have to leave your home, I’ll help you get into the spirit of holiday shopping AND allow you to stay in your pajamas!

15% off storewide!  This will include my two online classes Perfect Plumes and Anything but Junk: Tell All!  Use code FIFTEEN for online classes.  (note: iquilt classes are excluded)

Now’s the perfect opportunity to purchase those rulers that you’ve been yearning for but guilt has held you hostage. Or perhaps you want to create those beautiful feathers and my online classes have been calling your name.  Not only will you finally learn the skill of designing feathers but you’ll surely be entertained during my online trunk show.

I’m quite sure you’ve been good all year and deserve a little “To Me, From Me” present or two!  I give you permission to treat yourself and smile knowing you’ve taken advantage of a great sale!

Regardless of what you choose to do over this Thanksgiving holiday I wish you peace and prosperity.

~Lisa

Ain’t No Junk: Trunk Tell All!!

Tick, Tock, Goes the Clock..Tuesday’s the BIG day! 

Yes, my fellow quilters and students have asked; and I have listened! Therefore, I am thrilled to announce that this Tuesday, July 17th, my online “Trunk Tell All” will go live! PLUS a lot of extras!

I have been hearing from many of you, far and wide, how you would love the opportunity to attend my trunk show but unfortunately logistically it just doesn’t work. That is simply unacceptable; I just cannot allow that to continue. There will be no more worries about where I”ll be, and how to get there, because I’m bringing my show, and a whole lot of extras, directly to YOU!  AND for only $50 you get to witness all of it!

Let’s make things even more exciting by revealing that there are also some great “extra’s” included with this program. The first being the pattern of the Emerald Isle! A great starter pattern!

Now if you weren’t the slightest bit interested in quilting you wouldn’t be found viewing this, correct? If that’s the case, and you haven’t already done so, I urge you to jump into Divide and Design! It really makes the craft of quilting a no brainer.  And because I believe whole heartedly in this method I’ll provide you with my one page handout on the secret to Divide and Design during this session! YES, that’s right, a second little giveaway!

Finally, sign up during the first week of this launch and you’ll be added to the “Ain’t No Junk” Facebook group!  I will be hosting a Facebook LIVE event; during which time I will answer any questions and concerns you may have on all things Quilty!  So make sure you’re following me!

 

Something Exciting is coming…..

 

I can barely contain my excitement… you’ve asked and I’ve listened… Yeah…..

Make sure you are signed up to receive my newsletter, or follow my blog, instagram or Facebook… one of them or all of them… you don’t want to miss out…. I am hoping to be spilling the beans next week…. so stay tuned.

My Dearest Cherrywood,

My life would simply feel incomplete without special moments found in the presence of my quilting crush, Cherrywood Fabric.  Over the past couple of days not only was I fulfilling my passion of “quilting” but I also laid hands on the love of my life – CHERRYWOOD! Yes, Cherrywood Fabric ranks up there as my first love, but I also have a second love.  I mean, god forbid there’s no Cherrywood in my life I need to have options! So next in line would undoubtedly have to be feathers.  Oh, how I gush when I am quilting feathers into a design.  Now, just imagine my reaction when I am presented with a project that utilized Cherrywood Fabric AND Feathers!! Yes, I was beyond thrilled and I owe all my happiness to Linda McQuaid, who is a member of the Cherrywood team.  The planets aligned perfectly for me because she requested that I complete her very first quilt. Of course I gave her a big “Hell Yes!”  I was in dream land during this quilting process and although I didn’t want to wake up reality called, but I’m thrilled to report that the finished product will be displayed proudly in team Cherrywood’s booth. I highly recommend having those credit cards handy for the kit!

It felt like ions since I have completed a quilt for a customer, I was so excited to have the chance to not only produced a client quilt but this piece allowed me to cover issues that students inquire about during my Divide and Design Class.

First up:  What do you do if the quilt is not a square?

Second question:  What do you do if there really isn’t a central focal point?

In response to the first question if your quilt isn’t a square, relax, no big deal.  Breathe easy and treat the quilt as if it were a square.  You will simply begin in the center and divide your quilt.  Easy right?!

Pertaining to the second question, if there is no true focal point just create one. Looking at the picture above you can see there is a pieced block in the center, and it is the identical to the other pieced blocked on the fabric.  Our goal is to produce a design around that.

I implemented some straight line quilting to define a few areas; and then filled them.

Final question:  What if I don’t want to quilt my piece to death?

I understand, sometimes less is more.  I didn’t want to quilt this fabric too heavily, which was really unlike me.  I had to determine what I was going to apply on the outside of the quilt.  This was the real challenge on this quilt.  So I used my tracing paper to figure it all out.  In order to steer clear of quilting too much I chose to make a large-scale grid work (thank you Barb Persing) by using the piecing as my guide.

And there you have it; a little adventure that had me living the dream of working with my two loves; Cherrywood and feathers! Thank you Linda for allowing me to be a part of your quilting journey, and bringing the best of both worlds to my quilting days.

What do you all think?

 

NJ Quilt Fest and Memory Lane

Thank you Manusco! I’m sure they weren’t aware that selecting Edison, New Jersey as the new venue for the NJ Quilt fest, would bestow upon me a priceless gift.   In addition, I am quite certain they had no idea that they would have my professional and personal lives joining paths for the weekend.

 

So, believe it or not I actually grew up in the town of Plainfield which is right next to Edison, in fact my high school was in Edison.  Good Ole “Evergreen School” (my elementary school) I remember it felt overwhelming walking the halls as a young student.  Now the aged brick building appears so small.  Ah those early school days..

Yes, rings were exchanged and vows were made. Unfortunately when I recently witnessed the establishment it was evident that the church had aged over time. It no longer evoked  an establishment that housed an assembly of participating parishioners. Instead its lack of visitors was evident by the hollow, unkept, grounds and vacant parking lot.

 

My Days Intertwined:

Class was, of course, in session throughout the weekend.  And my students were incredible as always.  I couldn’t believe that one of my students actually went home and redid her “in class” project.  A shout-out to Valeria for doing an amazing job!

 

My timing couldn’t be have been more on point.  The weekend I was in town also happened to be the life celebration of a dear friend of mine who had passed last year.  Perhaps you recall my post last year that spoke of Paul.  He was a second brother to me and his presence is missed daily.  Paul is one of those rare individuals that we may have lost but will never forget.  My older brother had a “gang”, okay  let’s revise that a little.  My brother was part of six, very close friends, who spent a lot of quantity and quality time together.  Most of them knew me since the time I wore diapers.  Thankfully I don’t remember such early introductions, bottom line, they were all an extended part of our family.  When Paul lost his battle with cancer in 2017,  it was an enormous loss to me. I wasn’t sure how to deal and process the grief that I was experiencing.  In a shocker, quilting became my therapy. It was my means of getting through such devastation.  My mind and hands went to work constructing a special piece for my brother in honor of Paul.  Ironically the binding was completed during the Quilt Fest and I delivered this little memento at his party later that weekend.

Life has a way of placing us where we need to be at exactly the right time.  Although none of us will be able to close the missing piece that Paul has placed in our hearts, we will forever relive our lives with him strolling, together, down “Memory Lane”.

England, Switzerland, Germany..Oh My!

Europe here I come! Can you believe it? I am still pinching myself in disbelief that I will find myself traveling that way in August! Now that plans are finalized I can share some of the small details of where this exciting adventure will take me.

FIRST STOP:

Festival of Quilts in England! No, I’m not kidding! AND if anyone would like to consider joining me; you can receive a discount on your admission ticket! Instead of paying the cost of £16* for adult tickets or £14.50* for concession tickets, you will get a discount and pay £13.50* (£2.50 off adult tickets and £1 off concession tickets).  Have I have stirred the travel bug in any of my fellow quilters? In case I have, here is the link to use and your special code:  Festival of Quilts, apply the code WT57 in order to receive your discount.   (This is an affiliate link)

England and I have never met so I’m over the moon to have the opportunity to make this introductory journey!

SECOND STOP:

Landing in beautiful Steckborn, Switzerland!  There I will conduct two 2 full days of teaching classes at the BERNINA headquarters!

FINAL DESTINATION:

Hello Germany!  I will spend time at Regina Klaus’ training center where I will get the opportunity to teach for another 2 full days of classes!

This is bound to be a once in lifetime experience, so I’m really hoping to cross paths with some of you along my travels.

ProFeather™ Ruler Pre-Orders Start NOW!

Preorders are being taken now!

 

Just hang in there with me; those beautiful pieces of clear plastic will be in my hot little hands within 2 weeks!  Remember my last post containing  the video of hopelessness? If not, go back and watch.  If you did watched that little excerpt, and giggled, and moreover connected with my message then you really need to witness the ProFeather ruler in action.  I’ll admit, perhaps my acting wasn’t quite convincing enough to have you believe that this tool would be incredibly helpful.  BUT I am quite confident that the video below will demonstrate how unbelievably useful this instrument could be in producing feathers freehand!

Now that you have viewed my tutorial aren’t you super excited about getting your hands on one of cute little rulers? Yes,  FINALLY this product ready to launch! How about we let a flock of feather’s fly among your fabric!

Preorders are being taken now!

Happy April everyone! Orders will ship the week of the April 23rd!!

Snow and Slow to Lancaster 2018 We Go!

 

 

I’m still looking for February; and searching high and low for March!

I spent the better portion of last week at the AQS Lancaster Quiltweek.  My trip began with a lovely spring blizzard which kindly dropped 12″ of snow on surrounding roads.  Moreover,  it’s timing couldn’t have been better…not.   Those beautiful, white, flakes began falling from the sky above on the day I was scheduled to leave.  But I pulled my big girl snow pants up, as high as they would go, and prayed that my 4 wheel drive SUV was up to challenge of  transporting this quilter to Lancaster.

You will note that the speedometer above shows the average speed at which I drove.  Slowly, but surely, moving at a snail’s pace of 20 mph, I inched my way towards my destination.

I MADE IT TO LANCASTER!

The workmanship and creativity in the quilts I encountered were spectacular.  I had to share one of my favorites below.  Karen Kay Buckley and Renae Haddadin make an amazing team as you can clearly see by what they created.

I was so proud and ecstatic that my BFF, Barbara Persing, piece won 1st place!  AQS allowed me to conduct her winner’s interview.  Doesn’t get better than that, for me at least! LOL

My time in Lancaster had me taking in the sites of many gorgeous quilts, and teaching classes.  What more could I have asked for? Well, how about spending time with friends from near and far? Ah yes, that was the icing on the cake! So that grueling, 20 mph, crawl to the AQS Lancaster Quiltweek was more than worth it!

 

Talk to Me Quilters!

Feathers… the technique I wanted to learn above all else.  I LOVE feathers, and couldn’t wait to master this technique.  I would invest hours, upon hours, drawing those beautiful images. But let’s be realistic the outcome of my first attempts weren’t very pretty. However, as practice would have it, my skills have matured and my confidence has grown in leaps and bounds since those initial feathering days.

Since I know how agonizing it can be wanting those magical feathers to appear sooner rather than later on your fabric I thought it might be beneficial to share my process. My goal is to prevent students from encountering the same struggles and frustration that I did many moons ago.

The class, “Perfect Plumes” is so close to launching! But before it makes its big debut I feel it necessary to make sure that the majority of students concerns are addressed during this course. “Perfect Plumes” will be a beginner class that guides you through the step by step process and basic shape of the feather. In addition, by the completion of this session you will also understand how to intertwine and hide feathers.  You can expect to have fun learning how to feather away on your fabric!

So before I launch “Perfect Plumes” I ask that you please send me those concerns and major struggles that you have come across when creating feathers. Your success is important to me, so give me your input! My mission is to demonstrate the tools and method that brings the amazing art of designing feathers to your quilting world!

What I “Did” VS What He “Thought I Did”

The MidAtlantic Quilt Festival was upon me, and I had yet to make a sign for my booth.  I was hell-bent on creating a sign; I refused to present my space without it! No way, no how, this quilter was in a “get out of my way” mode until this task had been accomplished (I’m sure many of you can relate to a project that brought you similar feelings) Was having this piece absolutely necessary? Was the world going to end if I my sign wasn’t present at the show? When I am in a sane state of mind I would obviously say, of course not.

So I kindly informed my husband, Jon, that I was going to allow my studio to hold me hostage in order to erect the lovely sign for my booth.  Many hours later, and I mean MANY, I emerged, weary, and blurry eyed; but victorious!  My company sign was finished!  I was so proud, and yet Jon raised his eyebrows at me like I was some lunatic. I wanted to grab his cheeks and say, “Hello? Do you understand what I have just accomplished?” But I refrained from doing so and relished silently in my personal success.  It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to read my husbands FB post that it became very apparent that he had no idea the “type” of sign I was making. Silly boy!

BTW, it looked fabulous in the booth and was well worth the hours of stitching.  I hope my husband realizes that sharpies and poster board are for beginners, this quilter is a little more advance than that 🙂