Chicago IQA 2009

By the end of every show Laura and I are pretty loopy. Laura was asked to "judge" the prom night at Quilt University and she needed head gear. So this is what she came up with. We look like Ethel and Lucy, but we had fun. And if you ain't having fun, don't do it!!

Off to Paducah

I'm off to the AQS show in Paducah this morning. I got a good nights sleep in my own bed after a very successful IQA quilt show in Chicago. Go quilters!! I always love the show in Paducha because as you can see from last year everything is blooming down there in KY, while up here in IL we might still get one last snow!!

Miss Laura Loo will not be with me in Paducah this year, she has to go teach the New Englander's how to fuse, Press on Chicago Fuse, and speak correct English without dropping their r's. Boo Hoo for me, ya for Boston.

But Anne Lullie will be in the booth with all her enthusiasm, quilts, patterns and fabric. So stop by and see us in booth 1907 on the main convention floor. See you in Paducah!

Chicago Rosemont show

The International Quilt show at the

Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
5555 N. River Rd.
Rosemont, Illinois 60018

Hours:
April 16 (Preview Night), 5-9 p.m.
April 17 & 18: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
April 19: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

was off to a good start. We saw lots of friends and former students at the show. Maggie Weiss is teaching as are Judy Coates Perez and Wendy Butler Berns, all fabulous classes. We saw the Indiana gals, and friends from Minnesota and Madison WI. It is like old home week. It makes it so much fun to do the show and see friends. I even sang. This is not always a good thing, but if I am singing with someone else, they can't hear how off tune I am. Bonnie McCaffrey came by and filmed us singing "I'm proud to be a Fuser". Check it out at the IQA site.

I was especially happy to find new homes for these two quilts. Thank you ladies for supporting the arts!

Chicago IQA show

Laura and I will again be at the IQA show selling our wares. Please stop by the booth and see some new color gradations and geta Chicago School of Fusing Tattoo with your purchase. Booth 1425. See you there.

Laughing Leaves

Laughing Leaves is one of my classes itstarted out as Organic Leaves but I had to change the name to get people interested in it. Funny how that works. I recently received a question from a former student about the project and thought I would share it with you.

Hi, Frieda.

I took a class from you in Nov. 07 at the Schaumburg quilt festival. I made a lovely fused arrangement of leaves, which unfortunately festered in UFO status until this morning. Today I resurrected it and fused it to a piece of batting (was that the next step?) and I'm trying to figure out how I'm supposed to quilt it.

I looked at your website and gallery -- beautiful quilts! Unfortunately, I couldn't see close enough to figure out what you'd done with the unfinished edges of the leaves and stems. Could you remind me? Am I supposed to satin stitch the sides of the stems and various leaves? Or stitch around all these edges with monofiliment?

I'm a longarmer, so once I've got the leaves done, and perhaps the edges of the "divider strips" I can figure out what to do with the background, but I'm most concerned about the leaves. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Regards,

Carla

ANSWER;
Dear Carla,
Congratulations on moving on with your UFO's!!!
I don't stain stitch any of my edges, I think of these pieces as art pieces that will be displayed on a wall and the fusing is stable enough not to need to be satin stitched. I do a straight stitch down the center of the stems, or outlined, stitched in the ditch around the stems. I didn't finish any of the leave edges as they are all made with decorative blades. I did stitch in the ditch in-between all the "blocks" and added in some fun free motion quilting where I thought it would be good. Laura and I will be at the Chicago show in the Art Fabrik booth 1495, I think, please stop by and bring the quilt if you get it finished.
Fondly
Frieda

Gretchen's wedding

The reason I hadn't blogged for awhile is that my sister's daughter Gretchen got married in beautiful sunny Miami. The whole family was together again only this time in the sun and warmth of Miami beach. My niece works for a big hotel company and all the festivities were at that hotel which is right on Miami beach. This is just one of the four pools on the property.

We had the bride's pre-party at a great restaurant in south Miami. My niece, my sister, my mom and me.

The other newly weds, really enjoyed the sun and fun. They had a little mini pre honeymoon!

My sister, my niece and her dad. What a beautiful Princess. We had a great time and even got a tan. It was of course hard to return home to Chicago and the snow.

Quilting Arts TV Table Runner

The episode that I contributed last year to Quilting Arts TV has been running around the country. I have been getting alot a questions concerning the construction of this project. I got sick at the last minute and was unable to do the filming myself and my best buddy Laura Wasilowski was a great stand in for me.

I used the simpliest of methods to construct the table runner, it is all raw edged fused. I used a "WAVY" decorative blade to cut out the leaves and stems and then fused them to fabric that had been fused to the batting. I then did large stippling all over the design. Because I fused the background to the batting I only had to place pins very sparingly around the surface to hold the front and the back together while quilting it. Even the binding was fused and free motioned zigzaged along the wavy edge to make sure it all stays put. I have washed it over and over again and it frays alittle around the designs but that was the intend when I made it. It was a very fun and fast project. Here is the link to Frieda Anderson’s table runner pattern from the Quilting Arts TV show. http://www.quiltingartstv.com/projects/300/306/306-1.htm .