Stitching Through the Layers.

I had a blast quilting the ten new quilts for Stitching Through the Layers.
Move your quilt one big step toward stardom! This book will help you decide how to maximize the ‘wow’ factor by using the right stitching in the right way and in the right places!From one happy reader: "Congratulations on your latest book. I LOVE it! So easy to read - fabulous photographs and a lovely encouraging tone! Thanks for the nice inscription which made me smile!! I can't wait to whip up a simple pieced quilt and try your terrific ideas for the quilting!"
Just $19.95 Order yours now!

I Am Always Looking for Inspiration

Just look at all that embroidery. And they wear it every day. Reminds me a little of the embroidery I added to my jeans in the 70's.

Quilt Show

The Good Earth

Dimensions: 48” w x 66” h

As an artist, I am always enveloped in color especially the colors of flowers. Every minute of every day is about glorious reds, warm, rich browns, the thrill of that perfect shade of purple, the myriad shades of green. I love them all.

Cotton fabric, painted, and machine pieced and quilted.

What Does Your Favorite Color Say About You?

Black
You strive for power and control in life, but are often artistic and intuitive and do not share things well with others.
White
You are organized and very independent, and you rely on logic to solve every problem.
Gray
You are cool and composed and a very reliable person who tends to conform to keep the peace.
Red
You have drive and determination, and you prefer action and risk-taking behaviors. Your biggest need is for physical fulfillment and fitness.
Purple
You are a perfectionist who requires emotional security in life, and you are a good humanitarian who helps others in need.
Pink
All you want in life is unconditional love and to be accepted for who you are by your peers.
Orange
You love to be with people and socialize with them, as you want to be accepted and respected as a part of a group.
Blue
You want to find inner peace and absolute truth, and you always make an effort to think of others and their needs.
Green
You are loyal and very frank with others, and you consider your reputation a very important part of your life.
Yellow
You enjoy learning and sharing knowledge with others, and you feel a need to always express your individuality.
Brown
You are a great friend, and you value a stable and simple life over material things.

Color Preference by Gender

Blue: Male 42%, Female 29%
Green: Male 25%, Female 19%
Purple: Male 12%, Female 27%
Red: Male 8%, Female 9%
Yellow: Male 5%, Female 6%
Orange: Male 7%, Female 3%
Pink: Male 1%, Female 7%
It’s surprising to me that purple is cited as the third most-liked color for both males and females. But they didn’t include brown, white, gray and black in this study. I’m guessing a lot of men prefer those neutrals over purple!

5 Fascinating Color Facts

40% of people worldwide say their favorite color is blue, by far the most popular color.
Red is the first color a baby sees, at around 2 weeks of age.
Pink is the most calming color, and is used in some prisons and mental health institutions to calm worked-up prisoners and patients.
White is considered the safest color for a car. I’ve seen studies on this – it’s the color that’s most visible both day and night.
Red and yellow together are the most appetizing colors. That’s why they’re used in a lot of fast food signs.

Quilt Show

Hypnotic

Dimensions: 73” w x 85” h

I make quilts that celebrate life. This piece combines a love of traditional technique, craftsmanship, design and the desire to experiment with shape and color to create a fantasy. I find quiltmaking in the twenty-first century exhilarating.

This quilt is machine pieced and quilted, hand and machine appliqued using hand painted and commercial cotton fabrics.

QuiltWEEK - Landcaster March 29 - April 1, 2017

I will be teaching at QuiltWEEK in Lancaster PA  March 29 - April 1, 2017. Here are the classes! Sin up NOW!


Beads are a BLAST!
Day: Saturday, 8:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Heritage Ballroom D

Beads are a fun addition to many quilts and garments. Come learn how to use beads. Learn what to look for when you shop, how to sew those little beads that add so much to your designs. Melody will share with you design ideas, handling tips, and sewing techniques.

Fantastic Fabric Foiling
Day: Friday, 8:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Susquehanna Board Room
(Kit Fee)

Bring your projects to life with instant glitz and shine. Foiling on fabric is easy, fun, and permanent. This informative hands-on workshop is for both traditional and nontraditional quilt and clothing makers.


Joining the Blocks: Quilt-As-You-Go Style
Day: Wednesday, 8:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Conestoga AB

Learn to join prequilted blocks using several innovative techniques. Go home ready to make larger machine quilted quilts without all the work of trying to get it into your machine. The Quilt-As-You-Go method allows for more detailed quilting using a standard sewing machine since you’re only quilting a small section at a time.

Paint Stick Magic
Day: Wednesday, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Location: Susquehanna Board Room
(Kit Fee)

Make elegant fabric with the look of airbrushing! Paint sticks applied to silk or cotton are simple, fun, and permanent. This revealing hands-on workshop is for both quilt and clothing makers.



Quilt Toppings   the Lecture
Day: Friday, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Heritage Ballroom C

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 nontraditional quilts. Supplies are not required for a lecture, although you may want to bring a pen and paper to take notes.

Super Fast Binding and Piping




Day: Thursday, 8:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Federal AB

Is binding the quilt your least favorite part? Tired of humdrum finishes? Come and learn piping and binding techniques to make your quilts stand out in a crowd. In class you will be making samples of finishing methods to take home and use on your own quilts. Bindings will never be boring again!

 SIGN UP NOW!

Hand vrs Machine Quilting

Hand and machine quilting in essence are not interchangeable. Although it is possible to make machine quilting resemble hand quilting, each technique has its particular look and its limitations. The look and limitations arise from the very different ways by which the two processes accomplish the quilting.

A hand-stitched line is the most subtle of quilted lines. The process of hand stitching dictates this characteristic: stitch by stitch the hand quilter runs a needle and thread in and out of the layers leaving a delicate, dotted trail. Delicacy of line does not preclude a significant design statement. We respond to hand-quilted antique quilts, modern quilts with well-designed patterns stitched by hand, and innovative quilts that are hand-stitched with original designs. The beauty of hand quilting is the quality of the line itself and the texture created.

On the other hand, the process of machine quilting lays a continuous line of thread on the fabric

surface. This line is obvious in a way that a hand-quilted line never will achieve. Machine stitchers, embracing this quality, have exploded the possibilities in the quilted line. We are seeing threads in every texture, color, and material as design elements. Innovative lines, almost like drawing with pencil on paper, are becoming part of the visual design vocabulary on machine-made quilts.

In addition to differences in the effect of the stitched line, some designs are simply easier to accomplish with one method than the other.

For hand quilters, starts and stops are easy. Starts and stops are more problematic on the machine and must be carefully handled. For this reason, machine quilters will want to reduce the number of starts and stops by designing long lines of continuous stitching.

For machine quilters, tiny circles and twists and turns are quickly and easily accomplished using free motion. A hand quilter working with a hoop or a frame either will have to turn hoop or body continuously or learn to quilt wrong-handed and backwards to execute these same designs. The hand quilter will find it easier to design quilting with gentle curves and less frequent changes of direction.

In sum, both hand and machine quilting have their characteristic looks and limitations. As designers of the quilting, we can learn to use these characteristics to our advantage.

It's All About the Fabric

Shopping is certainly my passion, or I should say collecting fabric. I look at my collection as just that, something I love to look at, fondle, and even use. But I must say using it isn't the high point. I find myself drawn to the green section of the quilt shop. Haven't any idea what I am going to do with it, time will tell.

Inspirations

The Library of Congress, Washington DC

Do you keep a file of ideas for future use? I do! I love to spent time just looking at the pictures to see what I thought was interesting. I see the same kinds of images more than once. I'm quilting and looking for ideas.

The Lincoln Memorial

A Look Back in Time

The corset has been an important article of clothing for several centuries, evolving as fashion trends have changed. Women, as well as some men, have used it to change the appearance of their bodies.

The corset first became popular in sixteenth-century Europe, reaching the zenith of its popularity in the Victorian era.  corsets.

When the waistline returned to its natural position during the 1830s, the corset reappeared and served the dual purpose of supporting the breasts and narrowing the waist. However, it had changed its shape to the hourglass silhouette that is even now considered typical both for corsets and for Victorian fashion. At the same time, the term corset was first used for this garment in English. In the 1830s, the artificially inflated shoulders and skirts made the intervening waist look narrow, even with the corset laced only moderately.

In 1839, a Frenchman by the name of Jean Werly made a patent for women's corsets made on the loom. This type of corset was popular until 1890 when machine-made corsets gained popularity. Before this, all corsets were handmade - and, typically, home-made,

Believe me when I say that we should be more than a little grateful the we are here now! Just looking at the size of them, much less the boning was an odd feeling.

But, the workmanship nothing short of inspiring!

There were lots of corsets (my photo's just did not do them justice), other inner garments, but the boxes, besides being beautiful, told a story all by themselves. Just look at the different body shapes shown on there boxes from the 1880's and 1924.

Color of the Year?

A refreshing and revitalizing shade, Greenery is symbolic of new beginnings. Greenery is a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.

Greenery is nature’s neutral. The more submerged people are in modern life, the greater their innate craving to immerse themselves in the physical beauty and inherent unity of the natural world. This shift is reflected by the proliferation of all things expressive of Greenery in daily lives through urban planning, architecture, lifestyle and design choices globally. A constant on the periphery, Greenery is now being pulled to the forefront - it is an omnipresent hue around the world.
A life-affirming shade, Greenery is also emblematic of the pursuit of personal passions and vitality.

What is the PANTONE Color of the Year?
A symbolic color selection; a color snapshot of what we see taking place in our global culture that serves as an expression of a mood and an attitude.

 GREENERY COLOR PAIRINGS 

Nature’s neutral, PANTONE Greenery is a versatile “trans-seasonal” shade that lends itself to many color combinations. As displayed in the 10 palettes below, Greenery is paired with neutrals, brights, deeper shades, pastels, metallics and even the enduring presence of PANTONE Color of the Year 2016, Rose Quartz and Serenity. These palettes easily cross over fashion, beauty, product and graphic design applications.

Think Scrappy

Note the boxes, full of scraps, stored above the cabinets

Scrap quilts are a distinctly American art form and I love to make them! Why? it is all about the

fabric. One of quilting's biggest appeals is the ability, or more accurately the need, to collect and keep lots of different fabrics. I love my stash, and a scrap quilt project allows me to use some of my long forgotten favorites.

I have talked about this before, but I cut my scraps into usable pieces. Squares of various sizes work best for me. So I cut 1 1/2, 2 1/2 4 1/2, 5 1/2 and 6 1/2" squares plus a few strips.

This year as always I plan to make more quilts!

Happy New Year

When the clock strikes twelve on December 31st, people all over the world cheer and wish each other a very Happy New Year. For some, this event is no more than a change of a calendar. For others, the New Year symbolizes the beginning of a better tomorrow. So, let's look forward to a good year ahead, spread happiness with Happy New Year wishes.