Time to Order

Dragon Threads is taking pre-orders for Patchwork Sassaman Style and for the beautiful Spiderweb Kaleidoscope silk scarf! Got to Dragon Threads for all the details!

British Isles Tour and on to the Festival of Quilts

This year I have an opportunity to do something I've always wanted to do! Patt Blair, another nature loving quilter, and I have been invited to teach on a cruise of the British Isles. This tour was specially designed with fabric lovers in mind. We will have a chance to see the Bayeux tapestry and visit the Paisley Museum in Glasgow.

Then there will also be a post tour to
the city of Bath to visit the American Museum which has the largest collection of American quilts outside the US. Then on to Europe's (many say the worlds) greatest quilting event, The Festival of Quilts.

I am so excited about this trip and am hoping that I will be able to share the experience with some of you! Since we are limited to handwork on the ship, I am teaching a pattern design class and a new class called "Not your Grandmother's Flower Garden", based on a quilt from my new book Patchwork Sassaman Style. I will be making 5" hexagon kits with Sassaman fabrics that we can play with and arrange into a unique composition and eventually hand stitch the pieces together.

Please visit the Cruise site for the complete itinerary. I think you will be as excited as we are! Hope to see you there!

Easter Greetings!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope the Easter Bunny put all the dark chocolate in your basket!

This week we are celebrating the season with a new table setting done in Early Birds fabric, of course.
The scene is filled with plenty of easy "do-it-yourself" projects. Let's begin with the basic tablecloth of the Pink Curlicue fabric... just measure, cut and hem. Over sized ball fringe would be a perfect finish on the edges.

Melissa Peda's table runner is so cute! It is made with six inch blocks that feature fussy cut Bleeding Hearts (from the Strawberry Serenade fabric) down the center and Primrose Posy triangles down the side. The bright white and blue blocks add a sense of humour.

And I love the addition of the buttons. Look at the detail below of the white baby buttons dangling from each blossom and the yellow daisy buttons in each corner. Our bleeding hearts are the pride of the garden right now.

The lamp shade is covered in the red Poka Dots fabric, which always make me think of Betty Boop and gives me a chuckle.

The elegant curtains are made with Prairie Poppies in the blueberry colorway. They look great against the gold wall.

The English Tea Cozy also models the Strawberry Serenade fabric, anchored by a band of blue Poka Dots and topped with a yellow yoyo and felt beads.

And finally, we have Melissa's little pin cushion pillow. It is done with tiny cross stitches in the letter "J"and surrounded with the Prairie Poppy design, in the strawberry colorway this time.

I know there will be little time for sewing today. But perhaps tomorrow when the guests have gone and all the dishes are done you can escape into the sewing room and indulge in some fabric fondling.

Madeline School of the Arts is a Gem!

This summer I will be teaching at one of the brightest new venues in the arts and crafts workshop world, Madeline School of the Arts in La Point, Wisconsin. It is located on a historic renovated dairy farm in the middle of an island surrounded by Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands. The school is accessible only by plane or ferry.

The tranquil campus is situated in a prairie meadow with orchards, gardens and walking paths. The word is spreading about their state-of-the-art, spacious and light filled classrooms. I will be teaching Abstracting from Nature, my favorite class, so this will be an ideal spot for nature's muse to inspire us all.

I have heard nothing but great things about this new learning center and I'm looking forward to seeing some of you there. I am, also, hoping to have the Illinois Album quilt, above, finished and ready to share
with my classmates in July.