I am part of a group of Quilt Pattern Designers and Tamarinis put together an event where 6 or so designers would share their Quilts on Facebook Live everyday from April 1st through the 10th. I know that by the time you receive this newsletter the videos will no longer be live but you can still check them all out. You can go here on my blog and you can find all the links to the various designers. Each of these Videos is 15 minutes long so grab a cup of coffee and your computer and enjoy!

Here is mine! Thank you for checking it out. Please remember this was my first time.

I am going to begin doing more Facebook Live posts and the next one will be different quilts and I am going to talk about ways to quilt them. If you are not on Facebook I will be saving the videos and posting them on my YouTube Channel. If you would like to subscribe to my channel you will receive an email when I add new videos.

Travel projects

Food and Friends, Part 2

I mentioned in an earlier article, one of the side benefits of traveling to quilt show: local cuisine. Another benefit is connecting with friends.

Unauthorized use of our quilt images

Last month I shared the following quick note with you:

Earlier this month one of Nancy's students and an additional customer asked us if we had given our permission to a company that produces rugs and bedding to use our Herd of Turtles design. We were shocked to find out that this company APPEARS to be selling products with our Herd of Turtles, Halloween and Dragonflies in Flight designs on the products. This company, AZCOZY has not been given the rights to use any of our designs! We hold the copyrights.

Have you ever made a quilt and used scrap fabrics that you are not sure of their history and decided not to wash them before you began cutting out your quilt? I am sure we all have.

Textiles and More

While in Ecuador we took a little trip to Otavalo. Otavalo is known for it's textiles and their Saturday Market. We spent some time wandering and took it all in. I have created a slide show of some of the sights. We were there for the Saturday Market which is the biggest day of the week. It was a bit overwhelming there was so much, however we went back on Sunday and it was so much smaller but there were no food vendors. It was fun to be able to see the spices and fruits and vegetables out on display. I think the thing that got me was how these hard working people set up and take down each day. I just can not imagine doing a quilt show where I had to pack it all in, set up, sell all day, pack up and haul it out... Every single day!

This month was the first time I have had the opportunity to vend at the Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara California. What a wonderful experience it was! It was a lot of work for sure but it was all worth it. I knew it was a large show with many vendors but it caught me a bit off guard. It is huge! Not as big as the International Quilt Festival in Houston but it was BIG.

So many of you came by and introduced yourselves and you were all so very kind! I have said it before and I will say it again, I LOVE my customers! You are an inspiring amazing bunch and THANK YOU!

Choosing a batting

A characteristic of Hawaiian quilts

One of the distinctive characteristics of Hawaiian quilts is the echo quilting. Echo quilting is not a different way to make quilting stitches, rather it is the pattern of quilting lines that radiate out from the applique edges on a Hawaiian quilt. These quilting lines are often described as looking like the waves approaching an island, or the ripples created when dropping a pebble into water.

Do More with what you have

Quilts come together when you have inspiration, tools, materials, and time. The perfect blending of these four ingredients result in complete satisfaction. But, what happens when you find you have inspiration, tools and materials - but no time? Frustration, that is what happens. So, here are our tips for squeezing moments of productivity from your already too busy day.

1. Whether you use a pillow case, a zip-close plastic bag, a shoe box or a pizza box...keep everything you need for a project in one bag or box. (Yes, even the special notions, thread and tools you need.) Having everything together in one place means that when you are ready to work on that project no time is wasted hunting for anything

We find it is often the outside points that are the most off-putting to people considering an applique pattern. Far too often we watch someone put back a pattern with a comment like, "Too many points!" It makes us sad to think that someone would not choose their favorite pattern, just because they don't feel they can applique the points. So, we want to show you our technique for outside points, and hope that you will never again turn away from a pattern you really like, just because of the points.

We are frequently asked if a wall-hanging pattern can be enlarged for a bed quilt. Or, if a bed quilt pattern can be reduced to make a wall-hanging. Here are our thoughts and suggestions.

If you want to make a small quilt larger: first consider these things: