First finish of the year

THIS is the year I will get a handle on my UFO's! A battle cry from many bloggers at this time of year. After the holidays, it's a great time to reorganize and get back on track with life again and so many of us are finding ourselves overloaded with too many quilt projects started and not enough finished. And I certainly fit in that category.

I need a quilt to give to a friend later this spring and was looking through my flimsies to see what I might have and found a quilt top that I made at LEAST 10 years ago, maybe even longer! I remember making it for the express purpose of practicing my machine quilting. Well, now I can practice doing my machine quilting on the long arm! And so I did, I loaded it up and practiced. Always striving to get just a little better each time.




And so I practiced doing free form feathers in the border, figure 8's in the narrow border and a semi loose style of McTavishing and swirly things in the center.




I finished quilting it last night and got the binding on this afternoon. I am posting this at 11 PM on the last day of January....just in time for Sew Its Finished! :)

Now on to February and trying to decide what on earth to do next! All the projects are calling my name. How to choose?

Stay warm and happy quilting!

Karen

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bonjour!

Enjoying our last few days in Paris, where we encountered snow like they have not seen in 20 years! But we bundle up and trudge on.  The only thing left I need to do is go to the fabric store where they carry ALL the Liberty of London fabric. Such a feast for a fabric lover. Such temptation though! It's still quite expensive, so I must circle the store over and over until I decide on the one or two fabrics that get to join me on this trip. It's so unfair to the other fabrics, hahaha!

Liberty of London fabric-from L of L site

NEWS FLASH!!

I am going to have to cancel the Friday PJ party on Jan. 25 and the Open Sew on the 26th. I will have out of town company. And it's good, but so sorry that I will miss you.

OPEN SEW on Tues. Jan 29 will move to Wed. Jan 30, from 9 AM to 4 PM.

Au revoir and hope to see all of you in February!

Karen

Pincushion Threadcatcher Tutorial

PQ Pincushion Threadcatcher Tutorial

Happy New Year!

Oops!  It's been just a wee few months since I have updated! Life can just get so busy, right?  Well, I vow to make more of a presence here so you don't think I got lost snorkeling or something.   By the way, I did go snorkeling with my friend, Ted, recently. BUT we had to do it our way. The excursion was cancelled due to high winds (it looked perfectly fine to us--but they didn't ask our opinion!). So, we went snorkeling in the next best place.......................the hot tub on board the ship! Hmmm, all we found were toes, pretty painted ones too!

Two fearless quilters venture out to snorkel!

We are the brave ones, aren't we! hahaha  oh well, life goes on...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are ready to start a BRAND NEW YEAR!  

I don't do resolutions, kind of sets you up for failure, ya know?  I don't know why we set really lofty, almost unreachable goals thinking that turning one page on the calendar will reveal a different person who is capable of miraculous things all of a sudden!  Nope, don't do that, but I do vow to do better each year. More on that later. 

Now on to important things....like, when is the Open House? 

Not happening. It just became a very huge burden to do one, and I'm only one person. So, I will try to keep up this blog with the most current upcoming events so you can always be aware of what is coming up.  Of course, you can always give me a holler and if I'm home, stop by the studio and see things in person. 

PJ Parties are back!  

First one: Friday, Jan. 4, 7 PM- ??

Subject: Kquilts Studio's own Pincushion/Threadcatcher!  I thought everyone had done one, but turns out that lots of people haven't and would like to do one. So here it is.  

Cost: $5, unless you wear PJ's, then it's free!  Please no negligees!  *LOL* I had to add that just in case someone tried!  Also--bring a snack to share, because you know quilter's get hungry. 

Supplies: Please click on the link above for Pincushion/Threadcatcher and print out your pattern. The supplies are also listed.  Please note: I WILL SUPPLY THE SAND AND THE STRAPPING MATERIAL.

RSVP: kquilts23@gmail.com 

Now, stay tuned to see more things added to the calendar.  Want an assured way to make sure you don't miss anything?  In the left column, there is a place to enter your email.  No, I won't bug you, but ANYTIME I post something new, it will automatically send it to your email, so you don't miss a thing! Now how handy is that?

I will be posting things all the rest of the week, including Open Sew days and some classes. So stay tuned, or sign up to get them in your email. 

Now....get into your sewing room and start sewing! THIS is THE year that we WILL conquer our UFO's, right ladies?  That's my plan. I'm serious, I'm really going to try. 

Quit laughing and go sew. 

New dates added for full classes

More class dates added!

Due to the response of some of the classes, I added a few more dates to choose from, so hopefully you won't get shut out.  

Check out the classes page for updates on classes that are full.  A few of the classes were overbooked, so I added a new date. So now there are openings in BOTH dates for Day & Night class and the Modern Workshop.   Unfortunately the Swoon class is full with no additional dates added at this time.

New classes are posted!

Finally..did ya think I forgot?  Nope, didn't forget, just busy.  How is it that the older we get, the busier we get?  I want to know who started that empty nest syndrome rumor, because it's just not so!

If you click on the tab for Classes, you'll see all the classes listed with the dates/times/price.  I decided not to have an Official Open House this year.  There are not enough Saturdays in the month, if you ask my opinion! My hubby's tournament had to be moved up by one week this year, so it left me without a Saturday to host an Open House.

But here's the deal, I'm offering discounts on classes and the more you take, the larger the discount! I will take registrations by phone or email or if you just want to stop by, that's fine too. Just give me a ring to make sure I'm here.  I will be out of town for a few weeks, one for hubby's tournament and the next week for our annual Kquilts Studio Pawleys Island Retreat!  Sorry, but we are full this year, but next year will come soon enough and I will be offering TWO different retreats, so no one gets shut out! Watch for pictures...coming soon!

Quilt Exhibition--mine!

1/3 of summer gone? How can that be?  As I write this, temps are rapidly climbing to hit 100 degrees! I hope most of you are in the pool or the cool A/C sewing! That's where I'm headed!  

For those that miss the monthly 

Open Sew

Saturday, July 14 from 9 AM to 4 PM. 

 It will be a salad potluck for those that like to participate.   Just let me know if you can make it.

BIG NEWS! I was asked a year ago if I would like to be the featured artist in the Kuhn Fine Art Gallery at Ohio State University, Marion campus.  Well, who wouldn't?  :)   My Quilt Exhibition started Monday, June 24 and will be there until Aug. 2.  It's open every weekday from 8-5, closed weekends.  There will be an

Open Reception on July 17 from 4-6 PM

 and EVERYONE is invited!  I feel so honored to have been chosen when I know there are several wonderful quilters locally.  It will be held at the Art Gallery at OSUM on St. Rt. 95 (It's in Morrill Hall)

Here are some of the photos of us hanging the show...

and my newest 'baby'.  who is really 3 years old! Yes! I looked it up and I started it 3 years ago! Shame on me.  It was aging on my design wall for over a year and thought it was time to get it done. Nothing like a little incentive of a quilt show to light a fire under my rear end! 

Hope to see you on the 14th--(remember? Open Sew) or the 17th!