Tuesday, May 31, 2016

A Day Away from Home


Montesano is a city, with as population of 3,976, on the way to the Washington coast. It is not really very much of a tourist destination, but loving small towns, we just had to stop.





 
A prominent feature of the town is the 1911 Grays Harbor County Courthouse. This is a three-story structure with a domed tower. The interior features murals of local history. Not to be missed is the dent in the front door made by the Sheriff as he fired at a fleeing felon

The city was first settled in 1852 by Isaiah L. Scammon. According to Edmond S. Meany, in 1860 the county seat of what was then called Chehalis County was moved to "the place of J.L. Scammons". Mrs. Lorinda Scammon was very religious and wished to have the place named Mount Zion. Another early settler, Samuel James, suggested "Montesano" as having a more pleasant sound and meaning about the same. The suggestion was approved and soon after, a post office was secured with the name Montesano.



The Shafer House

Monday, May 30, 2016

Memorial Day


Memorial Day is a time to honor, reflect, and remember those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Stitching Through the Layers: The Workshop



This workshop focuses on straight line quilting designs! You’ve made a beautiful quilt top – now what? I'll show you, step-by-easy-step, how to decide on the right quilting design - what works, what doesn’t and why. Perfect for hand and machine quilters, both traditional and art quilts.

Learn how to take you quilt from this

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

About my book: Stitching Through the Layers; The Art and Elegance of Straight Line Stitching





Quilting for me is part of the original design idea. It’s as important as the color or piecing design. I like all the parts of quiltmaking, but design and fabric selection are my favorites. As I travel and teach quilting design workshops, it became obvious to me that many quilters find choosing a quilting design to be very challenging. Most realize that a good design can make or break a quilt. But free motion can be very intimidating. There had to be a better way. 

In my machine quilting workshops I try to help everyone get past that apprehension. Sometimes I find that we just don’t have enough hours in the day for all the things we need to do much less want to do, and good free motion takes practice, lots of practice. There just had to be a better way. So Stitching Through the Layers; The Art and Elegance of Straight Line Stitching was born. The slogan became “Move your quilt one big step toward stardom! This book makes it EASY for you to decide how to maximize the ‘wow’ factor by using the right stitching in the right way and in the right places!”


Order Now

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Stitching Through the Layers - the book tells all!

I love straight line quilting, it works so well on so many quilts, and it’s so easy! The possible combinations of straight lines are endless. Don’t stress with the process, remember to breath! I like the look of lines that aren’t perfect. I do try to keep them from looking too messy. Depending on how densely you quilt it can be time quite consuming (take breaks! You don’t have to finish quilting all at one time!). The end results are wonderful. Have fun playing with straight lines! 

 Order now!

Friday, May 20, 2016

No Fire Flies

One of the things on my list to see is fire flies. But this is as close as I got this trip! I was sorry to miss them, they like warm weather. But on the other hand glad the weather was cool ... no tornado's which is something that is not on my must see list!
Thanks Cherrie for the book!

The Meeting and the trip the the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

Lively group, lots of show and tell.
























The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum features a superb collection of classic and contemporary Western art, including works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, as well as sculptor James Earle Fraser’s magnificent work, The End of the Trail. The exhibition wing houses a turn-of-the-century town and interactive history galleries that focus on the American cowboy, rodeos, Native American culture, Victorian firearms, frontier military and Western performers.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Edmond Quilt Guild, Edmond Oklahoma

The mission of the Edmond Quilt Guild is to preserve, teach and share the history and art of quilting. And they do it very well. Everyone was so warm and friendly what a great guild. My special thanks to Cherrie Hampton for being a great hostess!

The workshop of the day was Simple Surfaces:
Learn all about applying paint sticks and foil to cotton or silk quilts and clothing. Come explore lots of different ways to creatively apply these fun and permanent mediums to your own projects in this casual, hands-on workshop.
 























A Day of Travel

Airports can be fascinating places. The people watching is always fun. Many airports have interesting art. Sea-Tac is no exception.

The Pilchuck Glass School's Exhibit
The Pilchuck Glass School is an international center for glass art education. The school was founded in 1971 by Dale Chihuly, Anne Gould Hauberg and John H. Hauberg (1916-2002). The name "Pilchuck" comes from the local Native American language and translates to "red water". Pilchuck sponsors one, two and three-week classes each summer in a broad spectrum of glass techniques as well as residencies for emerging and established artists working in all media.


It's always fun to take another picture of Mt Rainier!

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

About Oklahoma City

Tragedy and Love in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the state of Oklahoma. As of 2015, the Oklahoma City metropolitan area had a population of 1,358,452, and the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,459,758.

Oklahoma City, lying in the Great Plains region, features one of the largest livestock markets in the world.Oil, natural gas, petroleum products and related industries are the largest sector of the local economy. The city is situated in the middle of an active oil field and oil derricks dot the capitol grounds.

Oklahoma City is on the I-35 Corridor and is one of the primary travel corridors into neighboring Texas and Mexico. The city was founded during the Land Run of 1889, and grew to a population of over 10,000 within hours of its founding.

Annual high temperature:    72.2°F
Annual low temperature:    50.8°F
Average annual precipitation - rainfall:    36.46 inch

Monday, May 16, 2016

Oklahoma City - Here I Come!

I'm visiting the Edmund Quilt Guild on Tuesday, May 17.

I'll be presenting Quilt Toppings as the lecture;
Wanted quilters seeking new ways to express their creativity. This lecture taps into the strong emerging trend toward embellishment of quilt surfaces. Paint, foil, paint sticks, thread, crayons, buttons, ribbons and beads are all fun, easy ways to add that final design element to traditional and non-traditional quilts.




 
Simple Surfaces as the workshop.
Learn all about paint sticks and foiling on fabric. Applying foil or paint sticks to silk or cotton is easy, fun and permanent. This informative hands-on workshop is for both traditional and non-traditional quilt and clothing makers.

And I'm hoping to see my first fire fly!

Friday, May 13, 2016

The Ruffler




The ruffler sews small, individually adjustable tucks. You can set it to gather every 12, 6 or after every stitch. The variation allows for ruffles, gather and pleats. Once you get comfortable with it, you can stick a garment under it to sew it on while ruffling.

Ruffler Foot in action