I am happy to report that Sweetie has been adopted! Here I have spent all this time trying to get her hooked up with so many agencies and exhausted my social media efforts, when all I really needed to do was simply walk the dog through my neighborhood.

The other night I realized I had no food in the house and wanted to walk to get take-out for dinner, so I took Sweetie with me. A woman entering a restaurant saw Sweetie and just fell in love with her. Her name is Kimber and she called me yesterday morning and told me that she very much wanted to adopt Sweetie. We had a long conversation, and last night, armed with a tote of treats, a bag of dog food, six months of heart worm preventative, Sweetie’s medical records and tags, and a Ziploc baggie with a Kong filled with frozen peanut butter, Sweetie and I walked to the same location to meet her new mom. I handed her leash over to Kimber, knelt down and gave Sweetie a hug goodbye. I admit I got really choked up, and on the walk back home alone I felt very wistful yet so happy Sweetie will have a happy life ahead of her.

Sweetie’s last morning at my house, napping with Clarence.

Thank you for sharing your rescue stories and your ideas for quilters to reach out and support strays. I have printed out all of the responses and have some ideas that I will share with my team. One thing I thought about doing in the meantime is stitching some doggie bandanas that fostered dogs could wear on walks to let passers-by know they are adoptable. Something like this drawing I whipped up this morning…

When I get back from the Quilting Arts TV taping next week, I want to issue an online drive on my blog to make some so we can all drop off at our local shelters. Are you game?
Speaking of QATV, I leave this weekend for Cleveland, and beginning to pack up my segment prep:

Some very talented guests are coming next week, and I will post pictures and behind-the scenes stories when I get to Cleveland. In the meantime,  I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! And congratulations to Becky Bowles–you won the doggie fabric! Please email me at pokeyb@quilts.com with your shipping address and I will get the fabrics to you when I return home.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was busy: I adopted another furry creature (more on that tomorrow), did some QA TV prep for our upcoming taping, and stitched a market tote for a friend who recently underwent surgery. Essentially I was closeted in my studio with my animals and a stack of DVDs, and that is how I like it.

To kick off the work week, I thought to giveaway a recent book I got from Stash Books, an imprint of C&T. It’s called Sunday Morning Quilts coauthored by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison. In it you will find 16 quilt projects to use up all those colorful scraps in your stash that you can’t bear to throw away. These projects are pretty easy and straightforward, so they are great for the budding quilter and the art quilter alike who may want to stitch up something pretty quickly.

To be in the running for this book, all you need to do is answer the following question, and I will randomly select a winner tomorrow.

Question: If you could watch a quilter in action in his/her studio, what process, technique, project would you want to watch them do? In other words, if you could watch quilt demonstrations, what kind of demos would you like? (And yes, I am asking for a reason!)

And congratulations to Wanda Myers! You are the winner from this past Friday’s fabric giveaway. Please email me at pokeyb@quilts.com with your shipping address, putting “Fabric Winner” in the subject line, and I will get these fabrics to you shortly.

Happy Monday,

I have spent some time this week looking at all of the Pinterest boards people posted in the comments section of this blog post, and I am mightily impressed by the sheer number of pins! I admit, I’m not a prolific pinner…and that’s simply because I know I would while away my nights pinning on Planet Pinterest rather than stitching in my studio.

Even if I only pin sporadically now, there is something to be said for surfing other people’s Pinterest boards because you never know what great ideas they may inspire. Take for instance this “radial” board by Hilary Frye. I love how she is using her board to explore and celebrate a simple geometric shape.

Hilary Frye’s “Radial” board. Great images and I especially like her request at the top of the board: “Please keep any photographer or artist credits associated with photos when repinning. Thank you for this courtesy. Also, please make note in the comments if credits are unidentified and you know the proper associated identity with the image.”

I also discovered a fantastic tutorial through Lynn Provencher’s ATCs–Quilted Postcards–Mug Rugs–Tags board. (What I circled below on this board caught my eye.)

I then clicked the link to the photo where this was sourced and discovered this cute little mug rug tutorial by Darci of stitchesandscissors.com.

And it got me thinking…IQF/Houston will soon be upon us, and wouldn’t it be fun to expand the trading opportunities on the show floor beyond just ATCs?

So here is my Free Fabric Friday question:
If you could create your dream trade or swap at a quilt show, what would it include?

Would it be mug rugs, or perhaps fabric postcards with recipes on the back? Or maybe ATCs in the modern quilt aesthetic, or something else entirely? Please share your ideas and thoughts in the comments area, and on Monday morning I will randomly select a winner who could win this set of fat quarters by Lotta Jansdotter for Windham Fabrics:

Have a great weekend!

UPDATE! Congratulations to Judith Reynolds! Please email me your shipping address to pokeyb@quilts.com, and I will ship the fabrics to you!

And everyone,  thanks for responding and letting me know what you are quilting these days!

Aaaaah, it’s Friday! Weekend forecast calls for several dog walks, a manicure, a Houston Modern Quilt Guild meeting, a Sunday bike ride, quilting, and sunny skies with temps in the mid-90s.

I am also going to play with Khaleesi, my newest quilt studio pet as I want to bond with her more before I leave Monday for Long Beach for International Quilt Festival next week.

Since it is Friday, it’s time to give away some free fabric, and in honor of my little tabby…

I thought to give away some orange fabric!

Free Fabric Friday Question

My question to you on this lovely Friday afternoon has to do with wanting to know what kind of quilting you are doing nowadays. I, of course, love art quilting and surface design work, but right now I find myself making lots of small projects, and wanting to make finished quilted throws that I can colorfully stack in my console table behind my family room sofa. So I guess I am making lots of scrap quilts, and want to make some modern quilt-type quilts, too.

What about you? What kinds of quilting activities are you doing right now or want to explore? Leave a comment and I will randomly choose a winner tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon and post the winner in this blog.

Have a great weekend!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was certainly eventful.

We have had so, so much rain over the last week and on Friday night I got a phone call from Amanda Schlatre, a coworker of mine who went home from work that night to find a little kitten huddled on her front porch. Amanda is highly allergic to cats, and she knew I had gotten my dog Clarence from Friends for Life, a no-kill animal shelter in Houston, and wanted to know how to get the kitty into their program. I told her to drop off the kitty on Saturday morning to my house and I would foster it, then take it to the shelter.

Problem was…kitty and I started to bond.

I knew this bonding business could be trouble, so after I fully bathed and fed her, I went to the shelter to see if they were taking kittens, and found out they are not for at least another month. So I went back home and well…more bonding happened––this time in my quilt studio where she was very curious about my equipment.

She was fascinated by my Bernina!

And after trying to figure out what my Thermofax machine did exactly, she thought my ironing pad was a great place to perch and tease Clarence.

We auditioned my fabric locker bins with various colored fabrics to act as a temporary kitty bed. She looked great in blue, her complementary color!

She blended in a little too much with all of that orange.

But she seemed to really like the green bin, which just so happens to be my favorite color.

So for the rest of the weekend I carted her around in her green fabric locker basket, where she could observe weekend chores like juicing.

I knew I needed to give her a name, and I reflected on how fierce she is, and how she stands her ground with Clarence. She is a little she-dragon, and so I have named her…

The Khaleesi, Mother of Dragons from HBO’s “Game of Thrones”

Khaleesi!

Khaleesi is separated from the other pets in my house, but tonight I have a vet appointment and will get her fully checked out and all of her shots in order. If she doesn’t pose any health problems that would be problematic to my other pets, then she will be my newest quilt studio pet—a nice way to start my week.

Do you have a studio pet on your blog? If so, please leave a link to your blog in the comments area so we can see!

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SATURDAY UPDATE! Congratulations to Pam Biswas! You won the fabric! Please email me at pokeyb@quilts.com with your shipping address and I will send you this blue fabric next week.

Everyone, I am pondering some ideas for a quilt-along. Thank you so much for your comments, they were very, very helpful. I hope everyone is enjoying a creative weekend. Today I inherited a six-week old stray kitten to foster. My hands are full, but this little guy is very darling. Enjoy a good rest of the weekend!

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If you live in Houston, you know the weather this past week has been pretty soggy, to say the least. These storms have given me my first real taste of severe weather in the Lone Star state, and like most things in Texas, they are big! However, the rain and flooding have meant that I have enjoyed more indoor activities, which is fine by me as I love any reason to be holed up in my studio. Unfortunately Clarence doesn’t share my sentiments…

Clarence looking outside the window, wondering when he will be able to play (if ever) in the backyard again.

To stave off those rainy day blues I thought it would be fun to give away some blue fabric:

If you want a chance to win this set, just answer my question below in the comments area, and I will pick a winner tomorrow (Saturday morning) and post the winner in this same post. So check back tomorrow for an update to see if you won!

My burning question: Have you ever participated in a quilt-along? No? Yes? If so, what did you do? If you haven’t participated in a quilt-along, would you ever want to and what would you want to do?

Inquiring minds want to know!

I had a very industrious weekend. Saturday was filled with sunshine and photographic possibilities whereas Sunday was steeped in rain, which meant for a lot of indoor creative endeavors.

My weekend in pictures:

My night water lily. It is a little groggy to close in the morning, so I can usually catch it still in full bloom at 6:00 AM.

A hibiscus blossom greeting me first thing in the morning.

Plumeria! This flower is so fragrant, not to mention velvet to the touch.

A water lily, just waking up and spreading her petals to embrace the day. I thought this might make for a nice Thermofax screen, so I imported the image into my computer.

I used the magnetic lasso tool in Photoshop to focus on the central flower shape.

I then dragged the flower to a white background.

Using the photocopy tool in the filter menu, I turned the full-color image to a black and white rendition.

Then I opened a new file in Photoshop and dragged three of these flowers to create a row. Later, I copied this row a couple of times so I had a sheet of three rows of waterlilies.

I then printed the sheet of waterlilies on my inkjet printer, placed a piece of screening material on top, and ran them through the carrier of my Thermofax machine. The bulb in my Thermofax machine heated up both sheets, and where the black carbon ink appears on the sheet of paper, it melted the screening material, creating the graphic impression on the screen.

I usually run the print and the screening material at least three passes through my Thermofax machine to make sure the image took on the screening material.

I chose pink paint to screen the images onto a rich lime green background. I created about 1/4 yard of fabric with this image, and screened with a variety of colors.

I had an idea to incorporate this piece to create a stitched cover for a recycled aluminum can to hold my watercolor pencils.

And here it is: my new watercolor pencil holder. I guess I should make greater strides to keep a sketchbook now!

When I was done, I experimented in the kitchen and made  spinach and parmesan dumplings in a ginger broth:

I enjoyed a nice couple of quiet days. Did you stitch or quilt this past weekend?

Blog update: The fabric winner has been announced at the end of this post. Thanks to all for playing along and commenting!

What better way to gear up for an industrious weekend of quilting than to give away free fabric, and give it away right now?

Here is some fabric that I got at Sample Spree at this past Spring Market. Isn’t it just divine? I have an “installation” of it in my studio at home and just love to gaze at it from time to time.

I got a fat stack of half yard cuts of linen fabrics from Seven Islands. Look how cute these fabrics are. I mean…really! Polka-dots and deer with glasses?!

And sorry…I am too selfish to give any of this away.

But…I also got fabrics that have multiple designs in them: zebras and stripes and chevrons…oh my!

I am keeping one to make a wholecloth table runner, but am giving the other away. And I am giving it away right now!

All you have to do is fill in the blank below, and by 3:00 Central Time today (Friday, July 6), I will select a random winner and announce in this blog post! Just make sure to fill in the blank and leave your response in the comments area by 3:00 P.M. Central–today!

My Pondering to You: If I won this fabric, I would make _____________.

WINNER ANNOUNCED!

Well, it is 3:00 PM and time for me to pick a winner! And through blind pointing at my screen, the winner is Sue Chef! Please email me at pokeyb@quilts.com with your shipping address, and if you make that shirt for your little grandson with this fabric, please send email a picture!

I think this was a fun little Friday afternoon activity so I will definitely be doing this again soon, maybe even next Friday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, stitch-filled weekend!

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July celebration yesterday! I spent my day quilting in my backyard:

My portable Gidget 2 sewing table that I wheeled onto my back porch and set my Bernina on for an afternoon of stitching.

I thought about past July 4th celebrations, many of which I had spent on the water on my dad’s boat in the San Francisco Bay as a kid, and got the idea to make mini nautical quilt flags…

These were so fun to make, and only took a few hours!

Materials:

• 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of card stock

• Tracing pen or pencil

• 9″ x 12″ pieces of fabric. You will need one for the front, and one for the back. I chose plain white fabric for the front of the flag so I could thread paint designs as well as appliqué colorful pieces of fabrics.

• Fabric scraps for fusible appliqué.

• Fusible webbing (I used WonderUnder.)

• 9″ x 12″ piece of low loft batting or sheet of craft felt

•Fabric scissors, paper scissors

• Thread of choice (I used black thread.)

•Sewing machine with free-motion capabilities

• Iron and ironing pad

• Wooden skewers

Optional:

• For thread-painted designs:  Small copy-right free illustrations from books, tracing paper, Sharpie pen, sewing pins. (If looking for copyright-free designs, look at the publications by Dover.)

• To make your flags curl: Stiffy Fabric Stiffener by Plaid, clothes pins, small paintbrush, small plastic container

Directions:

1. Draw flag shapes that are roughly 3″ x 5″ in size onto cardstock. I chose shapes found in nautical flags.

2. Fuse the top and backing fabric to the batting, and using card stock and a pen, trace the shapes onto the front fabric.

3. Cut fabrics that have fusible webbing applied to the back into small shapes and fuse to the front of the flags.

4. Now the fun part: stitching! Take your sheet of flags to your sewing machine and with a 1/4″ foot and black thread, outline the flags with a straight stitch. Stitch around each flag a few times to give them a little doodling flair. Then with a free-motion foot and your feed dogs dropped, doodle around your appliquéd designs.

5. If you want to create thread-painted designs, trace the designs onto tracing paper, cut loosely around the traced design with your paper scissors, and pin to the top of the flag. Using a free-motion foot with your feed dogs dropped, begin stitching the design. Once done, take a sewing pin and carefully scrape away the tracing paper from the stitched design.

6. When all of your flag shapes are fully stitched, carefully cut them out.

7. Now it’s time to add a sleeve for your wooden skewer. Simple cut a scrap of fabric (with no fusible on it) the width of the flag side you want the skewer to go through. Using a 1/8″ seam allowance, straight stitch the fabric scrap to the front of the flag, right sides together. Cut the excess thread, then pull the sleeve to the back of the flag and stitch it in place again using a scant 1/8″ seam allowance. Once finished, cut excess sleeve fabric as close to the stitched line as possible.

Poll sleeve has already been stitched on the front of the flag. Here it has been pulled around to the back, and is being stitched in place to create the tiny sleeve for the wooden skewer to slide through.

8. Stick your wooden skewers through the sleeves and set the flags into a little glass jar filled with buttons, beads, or other embellishments that will keep the flags in place.

9. If you want your flags to stay curled like they are blowing in the wind, you can use Stiffy Fabric Stiffener. Simply pleat the flag and use clothes pins to keep the pleats in place. Set the flags over a tiny plastic container, and apply the Stiffy Fabric Stiffener with a paintbrush. Paint the flags liberally, making sure to get into the creases. Let them dry overnight, then remove the clothes pins.

Example of curled flag on the lower left (the red and white striped flag).

All in all making these mini quilted flags was so much fun, and I am going to make fresh ones each season. Next up: a bouquet of fall harvest flags– pumpkins, witches on brooms, a full harvest moon, thread-painted candy corn images… the list goes on and on!

When I was finished with my mini quilt flag project yesterday, it was time to relax on my new chaise lounge with a chilled margarita. I love summer…

Save

Ok, I don’t really mean a battle, per se, I just love alliteration. (If you haven’t noticed.)

Years ago, I fell head over heels in love with “Sugar and Spice” a quilt that Kathy Mack featured on her Pink Chalk Studio blog. See what I mean? It is so adorable…

Kathy Mack’s baby quilt for a friend, entitled “Sugar and Spice.”

Kathy used Tracy Brookshier’s Bento Box pattern, and I just was so enamored with this quilt on Kathy’s blog, I immediately bought the pattern…and spent so much money on pink and orange fat quarters, I am embarrassed to tell you how much. (About $200)

Here’s the full, frontal view of Kathy’s quilt:

I never did make the Bento Box quilt with all that pink and orange fabric, but I did finally have a reason to make a Bento Box quilt–my colleague Rhianna Griffin had a baby boy end of last year. So at the International Quilt Festival/Cincinnati this past spring, I bought some really cute boyish fabrics from the Anna Griffin fabric booth, combined them with some Marcia Derse fabrics, and this past weekend I finally finished Rhianna’s baby quilt:

If you are looking to make a baby quilt, this is really a terrific pattern. It’s easy, fun to make, and I wanted to give this specifically to Rhianna, New Media Coordinator, because the pattern reminds me of a QR code!

And yes, Kathy and I really aren’t battling. See? We are very friendly with each other…

Kathy and me on the set of Quilting Arts TV in 2010.

Hope everyone has a GREAT 4th of July! I hope to stitch and relax in my backyard. Hope you have some quilting plans!