Vietnamese Embroideries

When i was vending at the Quilt Show in Amherst, Mass. last March the booth next to me was filled with wonderful batiks and textiles from all over the world. The quilter owner, Caroline Kearney and her husband take their booth, called CBStudio55 to shows all over the Northeast. Caroline loved the Vietnamese embroideries and purchased a number of them from me this fall. She stitched up some wonderful samples for her booth and was kind enough to send me some photos. She is also a well-known teacher and pattern designer.

This is their booth.

Frog Jacket

This is a sample jacket for a class I will be teaching for high school seniors next year. Several years ago I made my daughter several scrub tops from frog fabric. Some of the scraps were too large to just throw away. I had a granddaughter who loved frogs and I had purchased a beautifully embroidered tee shirt for her in Nepal which she subsequently outgrew and gave back. So I decided to add a few "frog" half yards of current prints and make a jacket. The front is asymmetrical.


The beautiful machine embroidered frog from Nepal.

Barbara Ackley's Jacket

I had a wonderful surprise in my mail today...photos of Barbara Ackley's new jacket. Barbara took one of my classes at Quilting by the Lake last summer and, as always, made a gorgeous jacket. (You can see her last prize winning one on my web pages under students work). This one has her usual fabulous touches. You can see the beading on the back of the coat. Click on the photos for a closeup.

And more beautiful beading and trim in a closeup. Just wonderful.

Here Kitty Kitty

Well, it has been a fun day. Apparently the January issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine is arriving at some homes today as I have had several calls and emails inquiring about a pattern. I don't have a copy of the magazine yet but you can see it online at their website under Purrfect Portraits. What impressed me the most is that my quilt is being shown in a set of 5 with the likes of Nancy S. Brown, Barbara Campbell, Ann Fahl and Janet Fogg!

Things Don't Always Work Out The Way You Want

I had the best laid plans of attending the annual Christmas Party meeting at the Genesee Valley Quilt Guild site in Rochester. It was beautiful this morning but unfortunately a heavy snow was expected by mid morning...to continue all day. Not a good idea. So I reluctantly decided not to attend. Some of our beautiful leaves lingered until just a few days ago.
Now its beginning to look more serious.

I just completed a long jacket I began working on 2 1/2 years ago. Most of the fabric is called Key West Batik...a batik fabric with a sort of shiny finish and lots of gold applied. Interesting. More like a light chintz finish. The "checked" strips are a lighter batik in lots of colors from a "jelly roll" to give it more interest and lighten it up. I always heavily pin the outside seams before I press them. The jacket has slit sides for walking ease.
Am I happy with it? I'm not sure.

For some reason it reminds me of cotton candy.

The Jacket is Finished

I finished the jacket today. The pattern is The Keystone Jacket by Golden Thyme Designs. I had never heard of this company until I saw them in a booth at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I liked their samples and its an easy pattern. For my first sample I made it pretty much by the directions. The only thing I changed was using flannel instead of muslin as the base.
And in their samples the slanted strips next to the feature strip on the back were darker...giving a slimming effect. Mine were pretty dark but not reading as dark as I might have liked.
And the directions don't call for interfacing or shoulder pads. A big no no with me but I gave it a go. The front closes with the lapels turning back a bit and showing the lining. Hard to photograph without a lot of pinning.
I just showed it closed in front in this photo. One could also add some interesting closures on the front as well.

Sample for Jacket Class

I spent my time yesterday sewing a sample jacket for a possible upcoming class. I had purchased the pattern at the International Quilt Show in Houston and wanted to give it a try. By spending the day totally working on it yesterday I could get a good handle on how long it would take someone to make it up. This photo is of the sleeves. The pieces are still rough and haven't been trimmed up yet. One sleeve is made from scraps from constructing the other pieces.
The back has a focal piece and the strips are sewn on the slant to be a little slimming.
The fronts.

Sewing Day in Webster

Once again Lisa Feor organized a fun sewing day for around 20 of us at the Webster Library. Toward the end of a productive day she showed us the gorgeous quilt in black and gold which she recently finished sewing for her daughter. Claire Welch looks on.
Val Schultz who will be quilting this beauty discusses possible options.
Julie Brandon works on some Laurel Burch fabric on her trusty Featherweight.

Paula Melino casts on yarn for a handbag made from some wonderfully textured yarns.