Well, maybe that header is a tad misleading…but I got you to read this far, right?

I owe the final entry on the QA TV taping that took place last week, and a little known show on PBS called Downton Abbey made it’s way on set, thanks to Cheryl Sleboda…

Me with my friend Cheryl Sleboda who taped a whopping five segments for this next season.

A fellow die-hard Downton Abbey fan, Cheryl demonstrated how she made small portraits of Downton Abbey characters based on her cartooning and sketching techniques. In the picture below (if you squint), you can get a glimpse of the steps she took to make portraits of Sybil, Edith,  Cora, and even the Dowager Countess!

Closest to Cheryl, you can see the “step-outs” to create Lady Mary.

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I also taped a segment on International Quilt Festival’s Pet Project to raise funds for Friends for Life, Houston’s premiere no-kill animal shelter. I am hoping thousands of PBS viewers  take my request to heart, and send in pet postcards for this next fall’s show (or better yet, come in person)!

Above I’m holding a postcard I made featuring my beloved Lou Lou.

I was so happy to get Sue Bliewiess to tape with us finally. A fellow Boston girl, she is very, very talented and makes the most adorable pet postcards. She did a lengthy segment, explaining her techniques for creating them.

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My friend Judy Coates Perez came back this season to tape two segments on dying and fabric painting, and she looked fantastic with her new Farah Fawcett hairdo!

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Linda McLaughlin taped a couple of segments, one on a variation of deconstructed screen printing (which was so cool and I will be trying this weekend), and a segment on “365 Days of 65” where she hand-stitched small quilt squares every single day during the year of her 65th birthday.

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Her newly adopted discipline of daily hand stitching inspired other finished works, including this black and white quilt that I was rather tempted to steal off the set…

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The very colorful Dianne Springer was a newbie to QATV, but she was a total pro on camera as she demonstrated how she takes scraps of fabrics to create a vibrant mailbox that will definitely set one apart from the neighbors!

Fellow thermofax screen passionista, Lynn Krawczyk was back this season, too, to demonstrate how to turn one’s love of surface design techniques into wearable art and home dec. projects.

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Silk dyer Marlene Glickman was back, too, to demonstrate a unique way of creating fabric collage using elusive bits of dyed sheers.

Modern Quilter Debbie Grifka demonstrated five small modern quilt projects that were so clever and that all can be completed in an afternoon. (By the look of my bangs in the shot below, it seems Judy Perez wasn’t the only one channeling Farah Fawcett!)

And lastly, Heather Jones was back this season to demonstrate other modern quilting techniques…some of which she will be demonstrating at Open Studios at International Quilt Festival/ Cincinnati next week! The guy between us is Mike Murphy, our Director. (He loves to ham it up.)

And speaking of behind-the scenes folks…here are another couple of guys that I stare at all day:

Floor director Billy with camera man, Brandon (and Hulk Hogan in the middle).

Have a great weekend, everybody!

I actually can’t believe I wrote that subject line…Season 12 already!? According to my calculations, that means we have taped 143 episodes over the last 11 seasons. This number, ironically, means “I love you” in text speak. How appropriate…because I love my hosting job and watching guests get a chance to share their amazing talents with a greater audience.

For season 12, we have taped two days of guest segments so far, and not even the constant misting of snow or bone-chilling temps in spring could dampen the energy in the studio.

Some highlights so far:

Vanessa Christenson of V and Co. fame came to demonstrate several projects for us, and also shared her new fabric line debuting for Moda Fabrics at Spring Quilt Market. Stores are going to gobble this line up, it is simply striking!

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Barbara Schneider braved driving from Chicago to Cleveland in a snow storm to tape several segments. I am a big fan of Barbara’s, and I’m hopeful that I have convinced her to be a featured artist in Open Studios at our Chicago Quilt Festival in June. She does spectacular surface design work, including creating vibrant, abstract fabric interpretations of her nature photographs.

See what I mean? She had yards and yards of this stuff on set.

Ana Buzzalino and her bright smile were back to dazzle with five segments for QATV this season. She is one of the kindest, most generous art quilters I have come across, and she told me on set that she is teaching for International Quilt Festival/Houston in the fall!  Believe me, if you are coming to Festival, you will absolutely want to take one of her classes! She is extremely talented (and is a very patient teacher).

The quilt above is one of Ana’s and it was at one time totally white. She pieced, appliqued, and quilted it (all in white fabrics and threads), and then took the plunge into a dye bath and dyed the entire piece orange. She is a brave soul!

Pauline Salzman came to tape two segments, too, including one on how she created pet postcards for our Festival Pet Project (which will run for two more years). She is a pretty hilarious person, and pushes the envelope so to speak, so it was very, very hard for me to keep it together during her segments and not laugh the entire way through. (When you see the segment where she shares her quilt of a close up of Bruce Springsteen and what she actually said on camera about his anatomy, you will understand why.) She made MANY postcards for the taping, most of which will go towards our Festival Pet Project this fall!

She said she is addicted to making postcards now because of the project…

And lastly, Luana and Sophie Rubin from eQuilter came to tape. As seasoned guests, they were great on camera and shared many inspiring quilts and fabrics!

And Sophie was pretty charming when she explained different ikat fabrics from different cultures…

Two days down, and three to go. More soon!

Today was Day One of our next season’s taping of Quilting Arts (airing late January of next year), and it was an industrious day. Eight segments down, 31 to go!

Here I am with Penny McMorris (one of my favorite people) of Electric Quilt Company and a new acquaintance, AnneMarie Cheney, who started her local Modern Quilt Guild chapter in Columbus, OH.

AnneMarie brought her baby! Our first baby on the set! Oh, he was so adorable…I think we need an entire baby episode next season. Calling all babies with quilting mamas…

Heather Jones from the Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild came to tape, too. Wait until you see her quilt!

Ellen Anne Eddy taped three segments today. If you only know her through her art and her books, you should meet her in person. She is absolutely hilarious. In this shot she is showing me how she stores her keys (and other things) on her person.

Not only is she extremely talented, but she is cute, too…

And when not on set, she could be found entertaining Sophie Rubin in the green room. (Sophie and her mother Luana from eQuilter.com came to tape today!) Here, Ellen and Sophie are free-motion quilting a little horse drawing.

Sophie with her free-motion stitched drawing. Sophie is growing up so quickly…

More from the taping tomorrow. I am in need of some food and a little sleep.

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.