Appraisals, and workshops and QUILTS, Oh My:) -part 3

Houston Bound and I haven't stopped squealing with delight:)

So SWIMMING SEAHORSE which I recently taught to the West Pasco QG will be my second class and I didn't want to push both together in one post because I had so many lovely photos to show!

Below you will find photos from the latest Seahorse class and it really shows how different fabric choices change the look.

Here is the original sample made by me:

This is such a great Quilt As You Go technique 

that can work for so many things!

We all LOVED the polka dot seahorse!  

That is the fun of workshops to me, seeing what 

fabrics everyone brings and then the 

subsequent, "why didn't I think of that?".

 This seahorse has great value and 

keeps its soft feel!

You don't have to go bright to 

get a good composition.

 I say you don't have to go bright but

I LOVE this orange one...what a surprise:)

For those of you that don't know, 

I love the color orange:)

Better than the orange seahorse is 

the gorgeous smile behind the quilt:)

Marilyn started her

piece in class and once home decided there wasn't enough contrast so I received this pic later in the week where she made a sweet coral seahorse and WOW!

THANK YOU to all the students who gave me permission to photograph their works in progress!!

I love my job and meeting Fantastic students.  I really love lunch time when I get to hear the stories behind these quilters. I try to find time to ask, "what did you do in your life before quilting?".  

This last class had a Navy Veteran, a retired RN, and a retired Judge who is in her 80s. They are all inspiring to me when I think of the times they lived in and what they accomplished.

Keep quilting ~~

I LOVE October!

Hexie Pumpkins

Not just because it is my birth month, but we have somewhat cooler temps in FL (80s instead of 90s) and pumpkin 'everything' comes out of everywhere:) and my FB feed gets bombarded with beautiful Autumn pictures that I am so envious of!  My energy levels jump off the charts (usually) when surrounded by all that color and crispness.  Here in FL not as much but I can feel a difference than before all the aforementioned.  I just want to design design design!

 

This year I haven't had as much time to do so since I was still playing a bit of catch up over my crazy summer and preparing for my trip to Virginia to teach workshops at the Fairfax Quilters Unlimited guild.  If you are in the area, contact them and come play!

Beaded Holly class



Seahorse Workshop

Make sure you tune in for the November, Quiltmaker 100 Quilt Blocks Blog Hop of which I will be participating in for the release of Volume 12.  I have a fun new block in there.
In other good news, I have 2 quilts to finish when I get home for upcoming magazines so stay tuned for that as well. 
If you read this particular post because of the pumpkins, maybe you don't know about my shoe BOM.  Scroll through a few other posts and if you are intrigued, you will want to watch for the fun October boot next week:))

In the meantime, keep quilting!

New Hand Work patterns



So the hard part about being a designer is not being able to share immediately!!  There can be months between creating and editing and publishing.  Those are months I keep things in the vault so that when you see them, it is a WOW moment vs. "oh yeah, she showed that 4 months ago and 2 months ago, etc.".

 

The patterns below are perfect examples.  I worked on these feverishly during Jan and Feb for a March show.  Then Market preps started and I didn't get around to sharing with you.

You can find these on the What's New page of my website and don't forget my new shipping policy for your guild.



CELTIC MUSIC # 511

I have a newly found appreciation and love for doing hand embroidery.  There are so many lovely threads out there and I don't limit myself to what is right or wrong.  If the color is right, I use it.  Many times I have been asked if something was done on the machine due to its delicate look....NOPE, I just used machine quilting thread 40 weight because the variegated color was too luscious to pass up! 
For so long I have wanted to do a Harp piece and Celtic Music is just that with a vine of shamrocks added for whimsy.  It was stitched with YLI machine quilting thread.

HARLEQUIN HEARTS #510

Harlequin Hearts is a reboot of my Hearts in Bloom design with a new layout.  That is the absolute fun of applique.  If you like the design, buy it because you can applique, hand embroidery, or do wool work with the templates.

SWEET SWIRLS #509

Sweet Swirls is a revamp of my Benign Fusion.  Again I am donating 10% of MY sales of this pattern to Colon Cancer education just like with Benign Fusion.

The Swimming Sea: SEAHORSE #429

The Seahorse was so so so fun to make and I already have an octopus and some fish designs waiting for me to find time to play.
This is the first in the series so check back occasionally to see how far I have gotten:)

Next week I will be posting the run down of the Market booth designs....Stay tuned!