JWD Publishing Blog

This past Monday Joen Wolfrom was on American Patchwork & Quilting Radio with Pat Sloan!  If you missed the show you can listen to the podcast at their website:

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/radio/index.html

Hi Everyone

We are SO happy to have our new website FINALLY finished—-there are still things to do, but we’ll work on them as time allows. I hope you find this webiste clear, well organized, and easy to navigate. That was my goal. You’ll find some special features wandering around this site……some for shop owners, some for teachers, and others for quilters. More will follow.

Other tidbits:

• My upcoming color blog is scheduled to begin in July. If you have color questions or ideas for me, let me know.
• Speaking of blogs, Teresa Fields is more than ready to begin blogging on a new group of wonderful products. She’ll have two product review blogs per month. Her first one will be posted this week. If you have any ideas for Teresa or would like her to find something in particular, let us know. She’s great at hunting things down, believe me!
• Also, send us a jpg picture of your quilt projects made from our patterns. We’d love to put as many onto our upcoming gallery as possible.

It’s a happy day for us:  The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and the new website is up.  Wow!

Joen

Hi Everyone!

One of the organizations that is dear to my heart is Project Linus. If you do not know what it is, let me give you a brief summary. Project Linus is comprised of hundreds of local chapters and thousands of volunteers across the United States. Each local chapter and volunteer work together to help achieve the mission, which is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need. Project Linus provides gifts of new handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer blanketeers. Together over three million blankets have been distributed since the inception of Project Linus in 1995. That is great news, but what does that have to do with Skip-Stitch? Read on…..

I was in my local quilt shop, the Little Scrap Quilt Shop in Kokomo, Indiana when my eyes stopped. What is a Skip-Stitch™? It is a blade that can be used on most 45mm rotary cutters. It perforates your fabric, making perfectly spaced holes. It comes in three sizes. The holes are a perfect size, so that you can add fringe, crochet around a blanket, or do lacing. The Project Linus website provides several ideas for making fleece or flannel blankets and then finishing them with the Skip-Stitch.

Now let me tell you how this great idea came about. I spoke to Joyce, the co-owner of Skip-Stitch.  (To digress, I must say she has the best Georgian accent. I am always go, go, go, but her slow, relaxed voice just slowed me down for a minute or two.) One day Joyce was making holes for fringe on the edge of a fleece blanket for the Project Linus. She was using an ice pick and was at her dining room table. You guessed it; she slipped. It made her start thinking that there had to be a better way. Joyce came up with the Skip-Stitch tool. Her co-owner husband makes this tool one by one in his garage.

Joyce, this is a great idea!

Everyone, please check this wonderful tool out at www.skipstitch.com. Then, after you have purchased it, make a blanket for Project Linus. See ya later.

Teresa

Hi everyone,

Recently I was the guest speaker in Marion, Indiana at the Philanthropic Educational Organization luncheon. WOW! That is a mouthful. I guess that’s why they go by the name PEO. There were about 30 lovely ladies there and we had a wonderful lunch. The PEO mission is to raise money for scholarships for young women entering educational fields. This year’s theme is Women Moving Onward and Upward. Since I am a new woman in business, they wanted to hear how I got started with my business, what I am doing now, and what I have planned for the future.

I told the ladies how I came up with the idea for the Sole Cool Hot Iron Bag pattern and my newest pattern release, Snap, Grab & Go. They loved both of these products. They especially liked Snap, Grab & Go because the pattern comes with a quilt and bag all in one. They also loved the snap-in and snap-out vinyl liner in the bag. (I love it too!) I had a wonderful time at the PEO luncheon. At the end of the program, my friend Cindy Beall presented me with a bouquet of roses.  So nice!

Now, I know you want the tip of the day:

Do you sometimes have leftover binding?  If you save your leftover binding, you can use it to put around potholders or placemats. I sew my leftover binding all together. Then I use this multicolored binding around my placemats or other items.

Hi everyone! I can’t wait to tell you where and what I have been doing:

Last weekend I was invited to go to the Winter Woolen Workshop in Kokomo, Indiana. What a treat! It is put on by the Howard County Historical Society and Beth’s Main Street Folkart. It is held the last weekend in February, so mark your calendars for next year. It takes place at the Seiberling Mansion and the Elliott House in Kokomo. This year there were day workshops and demonstrations in early samplers, colonial painting, punch needle embroidery, rug hooking, spinning, weaving, hand quilting, tatting, rug punch, needle felting, knitting and crocheting. Wow! What a weekend! And there were 22 vendors! The mansion….. oh my gosh…. it was sooooo beautiful.

Let me tell you about one thing that I did learn while I was at the Winter Woolen Workshop:

Kumihimo? Know what it is? I didn’t until last weekend. It is where you weave ribbon on a braiding loom to make cords for necklaces, bracelets, etc. They use eight bobbins and a loom. The loom is about the size of a large grapefruit. You bring the ribbon up and across― and the next one down and across. Thankfully the loom has numbers on it, so you don’t get confused. It was really cool to watch and it looked pretty easy to do!

Tip of the Day is something we should all do…. Put things back where they belong. It sounds so simple, but sometimes we get in a hurry and we don’t. When we do put things back, what we are looking for is always there waiting for us the next time we need it.

See you next time! Keep quilting!

Is it something to eat? No, it is “Grandma’s Pure and Natural Hand Soother.” This is the best lotion you will ever try! It contains jojoba and shea. It is never sticky or greasy, and is scented with grapefruit oil that everyone likes…even men. When I got it I was a little hesitate because my husband gets migraine headaches with perfume smells. It smells like you just peeled a grapefruit, delicious and fresh. Another good thing about it is it only takes a dab to do it. Quilters could use it as well as knitters or someone that crochets. Check with your favorite fabric shop to see if they have it or ask them to get it, you won’t regret it.

Now I promised you some sewing or cooking tips. Today it is a sewing tip.

If you are collecting a certain color of fabric, for example black and white, keep a small swatch of it in a small notebook in your purse. If you are like me you get into the fabric shop and wonder, do I have that one? Just take out your small notebook and look it up. It saves time and money. Have a wonderful day and keep quilting!