JWD Publishing Blog

In one of my blogs while at Quilt Market, I mentioned that Camilla Watson was awarded an honorable mention for her beautiful appliqué quilt Menamorphosis, I not only misspelled her quilt’s name in the blog, but I reported that Camilla was from New York. Although Camilla would probably love to visit New York someday, she happily makes her home in New Zealand….and plans to stay there.  To the left you can see Camilla’s needle-turned appliqué quilt, with more detail of the appliqué in the other picture (click to see a larger picture).

Congratulations, Camilla. Your appliqué is superb!

I just got back from promoting my new Snap, Grab and Go pattern in Northern Indiana over the last few days. I want to get back to tell you about a couple more things that I was thrilled to find at International Quilt Market.

Have you ever found a product that made you want to stop and say, “Shut Up!”?  Well, I did when I visited the Sunday Best Quiltworks booth at IQA Market this year.  Sunday Best Quiltworks, a shop in Ellerslie, GA, now offers new stencils that make accurate half-square triangles in different sizes! The stencils go from 1″ to 2 1/2″ and retail from $5.99 to $9.99.

Here is how it works.

• Cut squares or rectangles from contrasting fabrics.
• Pin stencil to one fabric using small round holes found on the stencil.
• Mark grid.
• Remove stencil.
• Pin fabrics, right sides together.
• Sew continuously as indicated by red lines. There is a diagram on the stencil to follow.
• Cut squares apart.
• Cut each square in half on the dashed lines.

You can make 32 accurate finished half-square triangles! Faster than the bias strip method. They can be used for blocks, borders and more. I think this is a great product. The pictures show quilts that have been made using their new stencil method. This is awesome!!

You can also find a Half-Square Triangle Stencil Demonstration (with pictures) at their website to see it in action.

Got to go for now but keep on quilting.

I have several more things to tell you about that I saw at the International Quilt Market. I spoke with Luveta Nickelsof The Junk Jeans People and she showed me her pink drill. It was pink and it was cute and wait till I tell you what you can do with it. First, you get the pink drill that has five stones that come with it.  You pick one of the five shaped stones and place it on your drill. You then dip the stone end in household bleach. Turn on the drill and just start drawing on your old jeans!! You apply the bleach with no splatter!  With three pairs of jeans you can make a pizzazzy jacket (check out pattern #Exj-1016). If Luveta was here she would tell you that she hoped you have a riveting day! So for her and me keep quilting.

Tennessee Quilts, a magnificent quilt store in historic Jonesborough, is currently exhibiting the quilt Memories of Monet by Joen Wolfrom.  We think you’d love to take a quilt field trip to Tennessee Quilts to see Joen’s quilt and browse through the shop’s amazing 8000+ bolts of beautiful fabric. Tennessee Quilts is one of the best quilt stores in the U.S. You’ll love it!  They have also joined over 100 fabric and quilts shops in the FabShop Hop, a virtual shop hop offering some great prizes (more info).

BTW, Joen will be teaching a 2-day color class and a 3-day design class at Tennessee Quilts November 10-14, 2009. If you’re interest in either class, contact Tennessee Quilts or register online.

Tennessee Quilts
114 Boone St
Jonesborough, Tennessee
http://www.tennesseequilts.com
linda@tennesseequilts.com

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I spent mine at Nancy J’s Fabric Shop in Wabash, Indiana, promoting my new pattern, the Snap, Grab & Go Tote and Quilt Ensemble.  Nancy’s shop and 12 other shops in the surrounding area are having a Shop Hop this week.

First, let me tell you about Nancy’s terrific shop. Nancy J’s opened in 1980 and has grown to 4000 bolts of fabric! They specialize in tone on tone, bright novelties and contemporary prints. They have so many fat 1/4’s that they have a “Fat Corner Pickin’ Patch”…It’s great! They are open Mon-Fri 10am to 5:30pm and Saturday 10am to 5:00pm.

Now back to the Shop Hop. It runs till Oct. 24th, so you have time to participate. You pick up the free passport at any one of the participating shops. All 13 shops must be visited during the Shop Hop week and passport stamped at each shop to qualify for the prize drawings of gift certificates and baskets. The shops are :

Creative Stitch Quilt Shop, North Manchester, IN
Nancy’s Stitches, Kendallville, IN
Lowery Sewing Center, Warsaw, IN
Sewing Treasures, Angola, IN
Heaven On Earth, Wabash, IN
The Country Cupboard, Van Wert, OH
A Quilt Of Many Colors, Leo, IN
Edwards Sewing Center, Fort Wayne, IN
Caroline’s Cottage Cottons, Rome City, IN
Engine House, Berne, IN
Cozy Cabin Quilts, St. Marys, OH
Nancy J’s, Wabash, IN
Quilts N Gifts, Bluffton, IN

Now go out there and start hopping. See ya later.

As I walked down the aisles of the International Quilt Market in Houston,TX I will admit to you that I was pretty overwhelmed. But I knew I had to rise to the challenge to find you lots of things that you “know” you must have. “Fabric Organizers” by DeNiece’s Designs is over the top!! You can store up to 10 yards of fabric without creasing! Organize strips, borders, bindings, ribbon, trims and more. Here’s how it works. It comes in two sizes 10″x14″ or 5″x14″. The fabric organizer has tabs where you place your fabric to snap it on, then you just roll on your fabric. Fab U lous! It fits most bookshelves and storage containers. They are acid free and reusable. Now quilters, think about this. If you are able to make more room in your fabric stash what does this mean? We can buy more fabric! Take a look at http://www.thefabricorganizer.com/ but make sure to stop back here too for more product reviews. Until then keep quilting!

I just got back from the International Quilt Market in Houston, TX, and I found a lot of fantastic things that I bet you never knew you needed! Over the next few weeks I thought I would share with you what I have found. Today I would like to tell you about a couple of really cool things that I have never seen before. They are really awesome. They are a new felting tool and mat by Clover Needlecraft,Inc…O.K. I know what you are thinking. You have to use wool to felt and it takes too long to do. Wrong! This is over the top. The demonstrator had a silk scarf, you can get this from Pagewood Farms with the fibers needed, she laid the scarf on a felting mat. The felting mat looks like a big brush. She then placed all kinds of fibers, that come in a kit, on the scarf. She took the felting tool, his has 5 barb needles with a spring action, and punched it up and down. In minutes, yes minutes she had a finished scarf. It was so beautiful! What a great Christmas gift. Like I mentioned the felting tool and mat are from Clover and the kit with the scarf and fibers are from Pagewood Farm. You need to check these out. Stop by again and see the next great thing I review. Till then keep quilting.

Cindy Walter greets Andrew Dunlop of Tiffanies Treasures,  our favorite (and only) New Zealand distributor.    

The Gleesome Threesome: Ricky Tims, Joen Wolfrom, and Libby Lehman at Quilt Market

Boy, either the lighting is really bad or we’ve had an exhausting day. Behind us is Ricky’s booth where you can see portions of two of his beautiful quilts, as well as a poster featuring Ricky’s newest CD, Christmas in a Small Town (you’ll love it J).

Quilt Market in Action

A smaller attendance than usual made Quilt Market a more leisurely event for attendees to search for the perfect items for their customers. Looking down the aisle on the right, you’ll see a glimpse of Teresa Field’s new Snap, Grab, & Go quilt, as well as stacks of Ricky Tims’s luscious hand-dyed fabrics.

Houston is still abuzz with quilters. They are on a hunt to see as many wonderful quilts, fabrics, books, patterns, and notion as they can find. They are filling their brains with new ideas and techniques that are being shared by scores of teachers. Clearly, a high level of energy is prevalent in the hotels, restaurants, and the convention center.  It’s exciting to see so many happy, eager quilters coming together to spend every waking hour thinking, dreaming, breathing, and talking about quilts.

Yesterday morning it was time for me to say goodbye to Houston, as I headed for the airport to begin my journey home. We are so happy with our new pattern releases and are pleased that shop owners were excited about our product, new and old. Soon you will find our patterns in your favorite quilting store.  For us, another year of designing begins for talented designers and staff, as we plan for next lineup of exciting new projects for you.  We’ll see many of you again at the 2010 Fall Quilt Market.

Great Quilts ―Happy Quilters!

The ballroom was filled with high excitement at tonight’s Award Ceremony for the prestigious IQA Quilt Show in Houston, Texas. It was fun to watch the winners’ faces, as they accepted their awards. They came from all over the world, including Canada, U.K., France, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Japan had several quilt winners. Texas, California, and Illinois had the most U.S. award winners. I can only remember a small number of the winning results.  Even though this list is incomplete, you may find one of your friends or favorite quilters included here as one of tonight’s winners: 

Caryl Bryer Fallert won Best of Show, which brought her a $10,000 award prize. She also won 1^st place in the Digital Imaging category, which was a $1000 prize.  Karen Stone from Dallas, Texas , won a  major award, which earned her a $5000 prize.  Gloria Hansen won an honorable mention and 3^rd place in the Digital Imaging category. The Founders’ Award was a spectacular quilt created by a talented Japanese quilter.  Her award prize was $7500.  Hollis Chattelain won a major $5000 award with her woodland quilt,  Protection, which was in the Naturescapes category. She also won a 1^st place award for her quilt, Exodus. Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs won a 2^nd place prize for their stunning water scene quilt.  

Much-loved Hazel Canny of Houston, Texas won 2^nd place in the Merit Hand quilting category. In this same category, Cathleen Miller from Albuquerque, New Mexico won 1^st place with an exquisite quilt called Inner Beauty. In the Art Whimsical category, a crowd pleaser was the honorable mention quilt The Great Crate Escape by Pauline Salzman from Treasure Island, Florida. Pup Art received 3^rd place in this category. Once Upon a Christmas won 1^st place in this category.

In the Art People, Portraits & Figures category, the winner was a superb quilt of a young girl. This quilt was created by an Australian quilter. Pauline Salzman received an award for Portrait of an Artist. The wonderful quilt Broken Dishes by a quilter from Beaver Creek, Ohio won 2^nd place. This quilter also received an honorable mention for a quilt in the Art Miniature category.

Traditional appliqué quilt winners included a Christmas quilt by a quilter from Mesquite, Texas, as well as a quilt named Heart’s Desire.  In the Art Miniature category, Last Dance by Diane Doran received a 3^rd place.  The 2^nd place winner was from Japan, and the category’s winning quilt was a beautiful flower album quilt by Liz Jones from Leominster, England.

In the Art Pictorial category, Karen Hanken from Medford, Oregon received an honorable mention. Melinda Bula received a 3^rd place. The 2^nd place quilt was Morning Has Broken by Peggy Parrott from Lakewood, Colorado. The 1^st place winner was a stunning quilt by Barbara Shapel from Washougal, Washington.

 In the Group Quilt category, a crowd pleaser was the 3^rd place winner, Boston Fenway Park. The 1^st place winner was Grape Harvest, made by three quilters.  In Innovative Appliqué, Camilla Watson from New Zealand won an Honorable Mention with her quilt Menamorphosis. Kathy Wylie from Ontario, Canada won 1^st prize with Instrument of Praisenote: . In the Art Painted Surface category, honorable mention went to Moon Garden by Judy Coates Perez from Chicago, Illinois.

In the Naturescapes category sponsored by JWD Publishing, the results were a wonderful example of international talent and flavor. Crossing Over by Cookie Warner from Fort Collins, Colorado won 1^st place. Noriko Endo and an Australian quilter won 2^nd and 3^rd places.  An honorable mention was given to a Japanese quilter. I loved all of the quilts awarded prizes in this category. I thought the entire group of quilts was very strong.

Another quilt that won an award was Calamari Time by a quilter from Billings, Montana.  A beautiful quilt by Judy Mathieson won 1^st prize. A darling quilt with a cat trying to find a “mousie” also won a 1^st place. Roby Joy Ecklow won a 2^nd place for Eye Candy in the Art Abstract Large category while Rita Steffenson received a 1^st place award in that category. A Japanese quilter won 3^rd place honors in this category.

Well, I’ve hit the end of my memory of quilters, quilts, and awards tonight. I leave you with the thought that these quilts are truly superb. All should be proud of their accomplishments and creative adventure.  If you can see this IQA show during the following year, do so. You’ll love it.  

(Please note:  I apologize if there are any misspellings or incorrect information listed here.)

Happy Quilting!