Zachary and Amelia were married this weekend in Florida. It was a wonderful family and friend filled four days. The kids – Zac and Amelia - are now officially hitched and on their way to Tasmania. It was a magical and enchanted weekend. Here are a few snippets.
The bride and her father.
Our kids.
Proud parents and siblings.
Riding in style to the reception.
Happy mothers.
The MAGIC begins….
We leave tomorrow to go to Sarasota FL for the wedding of our oldest son and his bride, Amelia. We are so excited. I have been planning and shopping for months trying to get ready. Here is the beautiful couple. Say a little prayer that the weather stays nice, the reception is outside at the Botanical Gardens under a huge Banyan Tree.
I always ask my students to send me pictures of their projects that we do in class when they finish them so that I can share them with everyone. I recently taught in Fargo ND and here are pictures from one of my students, Kay, who took several of my classes.
Little Landscapes
Laughing Leaves
This class was the end of September and she has both of them finished AND quilted. Way to go Kay!!!
My wonderful daughter in law has entered a contest to win a free year of diapers. Please help her out. Go to this site and vote for Megan Anderson. We appreciate your support. This is from my son Lars -
My wife is officially, thanks to the amazing artist Michelle Fangio, entered in the "Pregnant Pumpkin Pagent" for 98.5KRZ. Top prize is a free year of diapers!!! My wife's belly is "The Buddha Pumpkin".
Please vote:
1. Go to: http://www.985krz.com/pages/8309067.php
2. When "The Buddha Pumpkin" comes up in the "Vs." Match vote for ME!!!! Keep voting for "The Buddha Pumpkin" every time it comes up!
I don't want to have to pay for diapers for a year, so please vote for my wife's belly. Thank you.
I am so glad to be back on line. I lost my computer to a virus last Wednesday and my printer blew up as well. I had to make a quick decision on the printer and opted for a new Epson. My computer guy JOE, fixed my computer and I rehooked up today. It is a blessing and a curse to have to deal with technology.
I always ask my students to send me pictures of their projects when they are finished and I like to post them on the blog for all of you to see. What I really hope my students come away with is the ability to create their own works of art after learning a new technique from a step by step approach in class. I certainly think that Lynn from Nebraska did just that.
I wanted to show you that I did get the "Small Autumn Mums" quilt finished. I was in your class at QuiltNebraska in North Platte, Nebraska in July (I was the one with the blue cast on my leg) I really enjoyed the class and working on this quilt was a totally freeing technique for me. I have blogged about my progress on my blog http://nebraskaviews.blogspot.com/
I did a lot of close machine quilting on my quilt then did some shading with colored pencils. The quilted vine and leaves on the border did not show up as much as I wanted them too so shaded those areas plus shaded the flowers a little, especially the purple one.
I love the quilt and have it hanging in my family room - thank you for the class and your beautiful hand dyed fabric we used for this project.
Lynn Greer
I find it interesting to get all the comments about machine quilting, everyone has such good ideas. I hope if you are reading this that you will share any tips that you have found to help you stay organized and productive with your machine quilting.
Two other things I do with my needles to keep them handy and organized are;
1. I have a small plastic drawer set that I keep all my needles in. Each drawer is for a different kind of machine or hand needle. That way I can very quickly access the correct needle type.
2. I keep a small lidded container in a drawer of my sewing cabinet and when I break a needle, and I do do that sometimes, or I have sewn on a needle for over 8 hours,a needles life span, and am ready to discard it, I have a safe place to dispose of it. Once the container is full I will throw away the whole thing and find a new small lidded container to fill up again. I also dispose of my used rotary cutter blades in this container. That way when they all go into the land fill they will not harm the little creatures that may rummage around in the landfill.
I hope that you will share a new and useful tip here for all to see. Have a great day creating.
For the rest of October and November I am offering a free 1/2 yard of fabric with every order over $50. This is your Halloween TREAT. Trick or Treat; you get to have a piece of eye candy for yourself. Check it out on my website at - FrieStyle.
I will be teaching this Friday and Saturday at the The Sewing and Quilting Expo outside Atlanta GA.
If you are in the area be sure and stop by my classrooms. Although my Free Motion Machine Quilting classes are all full, I still have a few openings in my class Blooming Fun. You are always welcome to stick your head in and say hello and see what we are doing in class.
See you in the hot, steamy south.
My friend Caryl Hancock from Indiana sent this around and I thought it was so great. Perhaps you have seen it before.
THE MENTAL APPROACH TO SEWING
This came from a 1949 Singer Sewing Manual. I trust all of you are mentally
prepared each time you sit down to sew!
"Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to
do...never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are
difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with a sink full
of dishes or beds unmade. When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do
these first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing.
"When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Put on a clean
dress. Keep a little bag full of French chalk near your sewing machine to
dust your fingers at intervals. Have your hair in order, powder and
lipstick put on with care ... if you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop
in or your husband will come home and you will not look neatly put
together, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should." OMG
It is however true that a good mental attitude will make you happier as you work. I always try to listen to uplifting music while I am creating something new. It makes me calm and clear, if that is at all possible. :)
Have a great day sewing.
“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Will Durant (translation of Aristotle)
I have been teaching machine quilting quite a bit lately, it seems that there is a real upsurge in interest with quilters of all ages to be able to machine quilt their projects.
One of the things I find most amazing is that quilters don’t seem to be aware of the need to use the right needle for the right thread. Using the correct needle when working with different kinds of quilting threads will make all the difference in the world.
More of the easiest ways to improve your stitch quality is to REPLACE your needle. Choose needle size according to the thickness of your thread and needle type according to your fabric and thread application. In other words DON’T use the same kind of needle for all your quilting.
I use basically four types of needles when I am working.
I use a universal needle for regular piecing and sewing needs.
I use a quilting needle when I use cotton quilting threads.
I use an embroidery needle when I use rayon, polyester or other specialty embroidery 
I use a Microtex or sharp needle when I use silk, foils, or monofilament.
It has a BLUE card backing.
You can find all of these and more at your sewing stores.
These are all sharp pointed needles and will pierce your fabric. A universal needle is designed to separate your fabrics which is pretty impossible to do with most quilting projects. You can also use Topstitch or Denim needles as well as Metallic needles if you are using metallic thread.
Using the right tool for the right job will make it so much easier to achieve good results.
Another thing I do to make my quilting go smoothly is leave my thread in a small cup at the back of my machine. That way no matter what kind of spool the thread is on it will feed nicely through my machine. No tugging or catching.
I am working on a new project, a woodland house, using timtex as my “batting”. Timtex is a heavy duty, flexible but rigid material. I found that in order to pull my threads through the project I needed a pair of pliers. The pliers I am using are from Fons and Porters and have nice plastic tips on the ends. They made it so easy to work with the difficult material and my needle and thread.
I have a nice article in this months American Quilter magazine about choosing and using fusible webs.
I hope you get a chance to read it.
Once again Laura and I will be in Houston selling our wares. I hope you can stop in and see us in our booth. We will have a slightly different local this year. We will be at #434. We have lots of great fabric and thread for your quilting pleasure.
I have a new fabric that is so fabulous, it is a cotton silk blend. It has the sheen of silk and the body of cotton, so it is easy to piece as well as fuse. And as always we will have our fun and charming patterns, hand dyed thread, books and grab bags.
We always welcome great conversation and interesting people, so I hope you stop by.
Autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the colors and the cool crisp air.
You can see how it affects my color palette. I wish I was making a new piece right now!!
