Needleworkers Rock My World

A year or so ago, I was approached by Essex County Needlecraft Guild about a lecture and  workshop combo. I'm always terribly giddy when I open happy email about a guild wanting to hire me to talk about myself and hopefully inspire quilters to try new things, and this was no different, but with one notable exception. ECNG (not to be confused with Energy Management Consulting Group in Canada, who apparently come first when one Googles "ECNG" despite the fact that their name should be EMCG and I am going to be confused about that for the rest of the day) was not a quilt guild, but a Needlework guild. It said it right there in their name.

What exactly was a Needlework guild? Would there actually be quilters? Should I bust out the crewel work teddy bear I made at age 9 to prove I was one of them? If only I hadn't sold it in my last yard sale. Now you are dying to see it, but sadly it is too late. Who knew I'd regret letting it go for a dollar?

Needlework in this guild is, unsurprisingly, defined by "anything done with a needle," and when I met them on Wednesday of this week I was greeted by a roomful of 100 knitters, embroiderers, tatters, crocheters, needlepointers, and yes, quilters. The only needle activity that seemed to be absent from the fray was "professional splinter removal." Although I would not put it past these ladies to let someone with that skill join in. It sure would make for some interesting show and tell, anyway.

ECNG was so many things beyond a room full of needle lovers. They were a hearty group who were completed unfazed by the snow that fell all.day.long. which I found unbelievably refreshing. They had the best show and tell ever, because there were so many different art forms represented. Those who weren't quilters were just as enthusiastic about the idea of "Perfection is Overrated" in whatever craft they preferred, proving we all just need a little more forgiveness in our own work no matter what our media. And last but not least, they were hands down the Best Dressed Guild I have ever met, possibly because many of them had made their own dresses, scarves, sweaters, etc and they had me wishing I had polished my boots the night before. Not to scare any future guilds I may speak to, but the bar is way high now, and if you are not dressed to the nines, you won't come close. It was delightful all around.

I wasn't sure how many members might be interested in a quilting workshop, so I had suggested to the program chick that maybe an Embellishment Sampler class might work well; members could learn some cool techniques to use on other projects, and maybe discover a new product or two.

I won't lie. There may have been Jewel-It involved.

My sample for the workshop. You may have seen this before. Humor me.

I structured the three hour workshop to include several of my favorite simple but elegant embellishment techniques: couching, gathered ribbons, iron on threads, beading using Jewel-it, and my favorite new invention, 3D petals and leaves. Everyone had to bring a simple quilted quilt sandwich to attach their pieces to; I will remain mute on whether all ten people did their homework, but nine of them were able to start the first embellishment technique right away.

We started with the 3D leaves, which I figured since I just came up with them by accident myself would probably be a new thing for everyone.  

We all worked well sharing the iron. I love how quilters are just so nice.

Might have been nice of me to move my suitcases so Barbara had more legroom, huh? Love her two-colored flower, though.

The 3D petal technique really is so much fun, and really quite easy to master as long as you aren't afraid of singeing your fingers with the iron. These ladies did a great job with it their first time out!

Look how great these look!

 The next technique I showed was the simplest one, but everyone was quite enthused by it as it just is one of those things that is so simple and yet awesome. The gathered ribbon technique was embraced by all, I am thrilled to report not one thread was broken in the actual gathering process, and Susan did a lovely job of sewing hers on first.

Someone has to be the winner.

This photo was snapped at the end of class to prove that even those who didn't arrive to class prepared (see, you never live it down, do you?) were able to finish most of the techniques. Here we can see how this quilt, which may have been my favorite for the fabrics, will eventually look when the beads are glued and the cord is couched.

It's very "Pond Lily Classy."

 I'm actually considering making my first video (!) and showing the 3D leaves and petals technique. What do you think? Would that intrigue you? Would that scare you? Would you watch it only to see if I am as wacked in person as I can be on here? Would you try such a thing in your own work if you could see it done? I'd love to know. This would be a larger venture for me than the average person sine I am such a complete moron when it comes to technology, so do help me decide if it is worth the trouble!

Thanks to ECNG for a lovely day of quilty, needly, and guildy fun!

 

First Finish of 2014, aka All Praise the Hard Deadline

I'm sure many of you, like me, are wondering when the holiday season will officially be over and we get to go back to being just our normal, pleasantly cranky selves who vacuum no more than twice a week and are in pajamas by 8pm, from the hopped up.always "on," always perfectly groomed and silver polished party animals we have been since late November. I was kind of banking on yesterday for the transition back to school and normalcy, but Mother Nature decided I needed a full two weeks of fun and excess with the fam.

So you can imagine the amount of sewing that has been accomplished.

I was feeling pretty down about it yesterday, actually. It's no secret I've been in and out of a design slump since May, and as Murphy's Law would have it, it always seems that the second I get a few ideas in my head and am ready to sew my face off for a few days straight, summer vacation hits. Or a hurricane. Or Christmas break turns into 16 full days off. It's really very similar to the way our snowblower has been broken for two years, and Mr QH decided to finally send it out to get fixed the morning we were expecting 10" of snow.

 We were clearly made for each other.

I'm thankful the girls are older now, and do now and then allow me to accomplish something while they are in the house, but there is nothing that kills a sewing buzz faster than the seven year old sneaking downstairs and asking "Why is your phone talking with an English accent, and what is a corset? And by the way, Paige started a fire on the stove."

So, you know. It's been fun.

In order to make myself feel slightly better about 2013's stops and starts, I took a page from Debbie Grifka, whom I called Debbie Esch on my FB page yesterday, of Esch House Quilts. Debbie is a fellow quilt designer whom I met in person in Portland after knowing her virtually through various designer forums, and she is very talented and prolific as well as just a very sweet person. She had made herself a photo collage of the highlights of her design year, and I decided to do the same.

I won't lie. It did make me feel a little better.

Reading it like a book, we have 1. All A-Flutter, Quilter's World Jan/Feb 13. 2. Flirtation, a Craftsy exclusive. 3. Ripple Effect. 4. Drop and Give Me Twenty 2013, my UFO busting blog creation. 5. Garden's Gate cover remake. 6. Taking Names. 7. My booth at Spring Market. 8. Quilt made from my QM 100 block and featured in the same volume. 9. Ka-Bloom! 10. Hope mug rug, a Craftsy exclusive. 11. Hidden Garden block, Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. 12. A little something I'm trying to make cuter but I'm kind of in love with it so I included it.

Which all goes to prove that when I'm given the chance to rally, I can be amazing.

You know what else makes me amazingly prolific? An actual deadline. We independent designers get a few of those every year, and I personally have to set many more for myself or else my photo collage would be more of a photo triptych. And just like in other careers, deadlines often happen at completely inopportune times, as was the case with the "Embellishment Sampler" class sample I had to get in the mail to a guild program chick no later than 1/2/14.

There's a terribly convenient deadline. Add in hosting family for Christmas and two back to back sleepover birthday parties for the 11 year olds right after, and we had extra people in this house for 8 days straight. Not exactly conducive to sewing deadlines. However, since I am Superwoman, I did get it done, with moments to spare. And therefore I think I can officially call this my first finish of 2014.

Another finish I look forward to is our planned January project of turning this sewing cabinet the thing is lying on into our powder room sink.

 I've known I will be teaching this mini-class to a guild in eastern MA in March for like a year. However, the logistics of a sampler that would encompass all the techniques I wanted to touch on was kind of escaping me. Enter the approaching deadline, and all of a sudden it came to me - stop trying to design something TO embellish, and just design something that is ALL embellishments. So I did.

The class will include these cool three-dimensional petals I kind of invented. I think. I've not seen other people do them yet, anyway.

I'm completely in love with this flower.

 It will include gathered ribbon techniques and working with Phoomph.

Are we not in love with these colors? I know I am.

  It will include couching and playing with iron on ribbons and threads.

Leaf? Rabbit ear? Either way.

 And of course, it will include smacking a whole bunch of beads on in about 3 seconds by using Jewel-it.

Casual elegance at its finest.

I love that I tried something new in quilting the base piece, which was just a simple block made from a bunch of batiks, in its entirety first, and then added the appliqued petals onto the entire quilt sandwich. I did it because I wanted everyone to be able to try all of these techniques on a quilted piece, as many of them really need to be done only after the quilting is complete, and to my delight it totally eliminated the whole "poofiness of applique areas" that can happen when you applique first and then quilt the background around the applique shapes. I think I'll be doing this a lot more often.

I highly recommend trying something new this year. I'm so cool I can check that off already.

According to the USPS, the sample should arrive at its destination today, well ahead of their guild meeting next week. Booyah and KaBam!

Now it's on to the self-imposed deadline of January 8, the day I will formally announce the details for the 2014 group scrap quilt. I'm still working out the final design, but I can tell you that the block itself features up to 12 scrap fabrics, all of which can be cut from the leftovers of 2 1/2" strips, because they are all exactly 2 1/2" wide. I'm going for ease of cutting for you. Check back on Wednesday for the rest of the details!

I can't wait to hear about all of your finishes of 2014!

Please think "50s music" not "way annoying mystery solving dog"

"Shoeby Dooby Doo"

EvaPaige Quilt Designs

Now and then the name for a new creation comes to me long before the actual design. And then the pressure is on...create something to fit or lose the fabulous name forever. This time it was a little bit a fabulous name popping into my head and little bit wanting to expand upon one of the applique shapes from "Once Upon a Time: Fairy Tale Puzzle Quilts" - the shoe block. Add in a little do-wop music courtesy of Pandora and here we are. Have I mentioned Pandora rocks?

Time and again at shows where my "Ode to Imelda" (and sorry, but that hands down is the best name for a quilt EV-AH!) mini quilt from the book is displayed, people adore it, but like all normal women, they want more shoes. They want heels. They want boots. They want flip flops. Some even want sneakers. And because I live to make quilters everywhere happy, I took their desires on as a challenge and created "Shoeby Dooby Doo", adding six new styles of shoe like "Here Kitty Kitty", "Kiss Me, You Know You Want To", and "Flip Flop Fling" to the already fabulous pump now named "Coffee, Tea, or Me".

Fun machine applique shapes to mix and match at will, the freedom to embellish however you choose, and it's fat quarter friendly! And if you follow the directions properly (which I know lots of you don't always do, and don't worry, I'm not judging), you won't even have to piece the backing! So get to sewing that fantasy shoe wardrobe for yourself or your favorite Imelda-esque friend.