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.

Who is the Winner?

Here in the Midwest and probably anywhere in the States the weather is a month ahead of itself. Even the lilacs are beginning to bloom. Its wonderful, but a little disturbing, too. There are weeds we have never seen before spreading over the lawn. Their little seeds must have lain dormant for ages just waiting for the right conditions to sprout. It must be my Iowa roots that keeps me waiting for the inevitable spring snow storm to even the score.

But you have to rejoice when the daffodils come out! They seem to be the most optimistic and refreshing of all the spring flowers. So here they set the scene for some equally enthusiastic little bags. They are made from our Pretty Perfect Pocket Purse pattern and some of the Early Birds fabrics.

The wonderful details show nicely in this photograph. The pocket is lined with the daffodil yellow Curlicue fabric and outlined with mint green rick rack. The long hand stitches add to the one-of-a-kind sensibility.

The top and back panels are decorated with a fancy machine stitch in variegated colored thread. The body is made with the Berry Patch Border fabric in the plum colorway and quilted in a scalloped pattern with top stitching thread.

We chose different quilting stitches for this Pocket Purse variation. I love how the pink rick rack sets off the blue lining. The happy Strawberry Serenade fabric in blueberry makes the body of the purse. Again there is variegated thread to ornament the top and back panels. Both bags have a felt bead as a zipper pull and some fun trim.

On the left we used common ball fringe and for the other we added a row of confetti colored felt beads. Perfect accessories to celebrate spring.

This is another wonderful bag pattern using the Early Birds fabric. Look at all those pockets!!! A lot of thought and engineering has gone into this marvelous Studio Kat design. This looks like the ideal traveling bag, as you can use each unit individually or combine them into a single bag. The green lining also makes it easy to see what's inside. Bravo! It is great to see the fabric put to such good use!

And finally, thanks to all of you who left comments this week. It is encouraging to know you are all out there! The winner of the drawing is lucky Martha Lorshbaugh of New York state. Congratulations!

Check it Out!

The book is finished! The deadline was tight, but the timing was just right. Barely hours before my spring teaching schedule began, the final version of the manuscript was approved. It is on its way to the printers and should be available by June. Isn't the cover grand? Kim at Dragon Threads did a fabulous job with the layout and design.

In honor of this occasion, I will be giving away an Amaryllis pattern and an Early Birds Fabric Kit to make it with. For a chance to win, just leave a comment here by Sunday March 25. A winner will be announced Monday the 26th.

Feels like Spring!

Another fabulous storm began Friday night. It was very heavy snow and weighed down all the trees and grasses. Ice coated everything. Yesterday it began to warm and the icicles slowly disappeared. It sounded like someone was pounding on the roof all last night from the heavy clumps of snow falling from the trees. Today is sunny and warm! It feels like Spring!!!

So I thought I'd show some bright and sunny pillows to honor this happy mood. These were made by my talented buddy Melissa Peda. They are inspired by traditional quilt designs but the results are very contemporary. The fabrics are all from the Early Birds line for FreeSpirit. I'm finding that the bright yellow Curlicue fabric adds some punch to many projects.

This is a busy week as the new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style is nearing completion. It looks beautiful and I can't wait to share it with you! Dragon Threads and I will keep you in the loop, so stay tuned!

Stormy Weather

After a very busy week in the studio we were rewarded with the second real snow storm of the winter. I was out of town for the first one, so this was a welcome event for me. The snow came in the evening and watching it by the yard light was like watching buckets of white ribbon whipping and dancing by the bedroom window. The next morning was so still and white I hated to be the first to disturb it as I wondered down to the studio. But what better place to hang out in the winter?

I showed you this sneak preview a few weeks ago. The piece is finished and I will share it with you now. It is almost a whole cloth quilt, but not quite. Sometimes a fabric is so pretty that it deserves to be left alone to make a statement all by itself. So the body of the quilt is a selvedge to selvedge cut of the plum Primrose Posy fabric from the Early Birds collection for Free Spirit. The print is large and graphic, but also very feminine.

So I simply framed it with apple green sashing and a border of the Strawberry Serenade, also in the plum colorway. The circular quilting is the icing on the cake. It turns a very simple quilt into an elegant one.
On the chair is another "whole cloth" quilt made from another selvedge to selvedge cut of the Potato Vines and Rose Hips fabric from the Prairie Gothic line from a few seasons ago. Hopefully these will encourage you to dig some of those big beautiful prints from your stash and give them a chance to shine in one of your creations!

Lots to do this week, too, since I have some big teaching adventures coming up soon. Check my schedule... perhaps I'll see you in class!

Winter Color Fix

Photography for the new Dragon Threads book, Patchwork Sassaman Style, continued this week. The skies have been heavy and gray, so it has been nice to be absorbed in so much color indoors. Here is a picture of a new quilt made with the Early Birds Fabric. It is a traditional Cross in a Diamond design.

It uses two colorways of the Strawberry Serenade fabric, one with a dark background and the other with a white ground. They are five and a half inch finished squares divided by 3 one inch strips of the Curlicue fabrics, for a 14" finished block. The border is made from the Berry Patch Border design. It was quite the perfect subject for Valentine's Day photography.

Wrapping up the Details

This weekend we took some "glamour" shots for the new Dragon Threads book, Patchwork Sassaman Style. Between spells of sunshine and clouds, we set up scenes to show off the quilts around the house.

Here is Pumpkin, Greg's other assistant, taking a cat nap on the set! A few more words and photos will supply my editor and designer will plenty of goodies to work with. Now back to work!