MQResource

Question of the week July 5

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:14:29 +0000

Happy Fourth of July! I hope everyone is enjoying a fun and safe holiday weekend.

In honor of independence and this being a nation of immigrants, I thought it would be fun to look back at where we all came from for our question this week.

So, the question is: "What are your roots? Both maternal and paternal national origins. And which generation are you?"

Our international members can play too, as many nations today have populations that originated elsewhere.

So look up that family history if you don't know it and join us in the forum with your story!

Celine Spader, Designer in the Spotlight

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:00:00 +0000

This week we are featuring quilter and designer Celine Spader of Attleboro, MA. I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting to know a little more about her; and I know you’ll love the photographs of her quilting that she has shared with us. Please be sure to visit the forum and thank Celine for taking the time to participate in our “In the Spotlight” feature.

MQResource: (MQR) Can you tell us about your family?

I’ve been married for just 13 years to a great, loving husband who helped me get started in my quilting business; and I have three children ages 29, 27, & 8 (that is another looooong story). We have no pets at present, but I am thinking about a dog again.

MQR: Where do you call home?

I live in southeastern MA in a city of 45,000 people called Attleboro. I am 45 minutes south of Boston and 20 minutes north of Providence, RI. I’m close to Cape Cod, too! I love this area.

MQR: How long have you been quilting?

I started quilting in 1986 thanks to my mother. She was always exploring some craft or art. She loved all forms of art and is very talented IMHO. One day she came to my home with the latest cool craft tools…rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat and of course fabric. Right before my eyes she put together a quilt top. I was totally enamored and of course I had to try it. Shopping for fabric was so fun. I loved making quilt tops and collecting fabric and books.

My first quilt was a very simple sampler. I tied my first quilt and loved it to death. My second quilt I machine quilted in the ditch. (I hated the quilting process and felt it was much like wrestling a bear). I also tried some hand quilting and was discouraged with how child-like my stitches looked as well as how long it took. I also did not have space to leave my sewing machine out; so in time, I put it all aside. I did a few small projects but no “bear-wrestling” quilts.

After having a difficult miscarriage in 1999 and while I was recovering, I picked up a new quilting magazine and read an advertisement for a quilting machine. All I could do was say WOW at every proclamation!!! And look honey, it’s got this bell and that whistle!!! Wow, wow, wow! My husband said I sounded like a boy with a car magazine. Well, I had to find out about these machines. This is what I really needed and it could make the quilting quicker and fun too!

Over the next six months, I schemed and saved and planned until one day I found an ad about MQS in Springfield, IL. My husband lived in the general area before we were married and had friends that he talked about visiting all the time. So my plan came together quite well. We went to visit his friends in May during MQS! I had already shown him I was serious about quilting and because he was a business-minded man, we started a business before the trip. I signed up for classes and signed him up for some business classes, too! He came out of class saying “No honey not that little machine but this one”. I am sure I heard a choir of angels at that very moment!!! By the way, as a little side note, I got pregnant on the trip to MQS. My machine was delivered in September, and I learned to quilt with a big belly. My precious baby girl was born in February.

MQR: Do you still do much piecing, or are you all about the quilting?

I wish I was better about scheduling my time because I love piecing. I usually have to go away to quilt camp to really have time to quilt. Not that I will then have time to quilt it. I still try to squeeze some piecing in when I can.

MQR: How did you get into designing?

My friend Lisa Calle told me of her experience and encouraged me to talk to someone about my freehand designs, which I did but was not quite ready to commit to a contract. In time, Lisa and Karen started up their business “Intelligent Quilting”; and again Lisa encouraged me to give it a try. Thanks Lisa!

MQR: Where do you find inspiration for your designs?

I have no idea, maybe a wonderful accident! In a way, my inspiration came from the fact that I loved the look of pantos because the spacing could be kept even but hated that it was so easy to find the repeat. I wanted to design patterns that have the consistent spacing of pantos; but it would be more difficult to find the repeat (like rows of freehand).

MQR: What is the most challenging part of quilting for you? Finding time to play, refresh and recharge.

MQR: What are your favorite quilting tools?

Oh my gosh, I love tools! But, truly, I collect them instead of using them. Still I love rulers, stencils, chalk, marking pens, books, and the internet. The truth is my most used tools are school chalk and a tiny crochet hook for frogging!

MQR: What hobbies do you have (beyond quilting)?

Is there anything else???? No, I’m kidding. I love many other hobbies including gardening, scrapbooking, reading (especially MQR & MQP lists), listening to praise music, and playing with my grandchildren (my favorite).

MQR: What are your three favorite foods? Lobster with butter, bread with butter, any veggie with butter! I love butter!

MQR: What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Peppermint

MQR: Do you prefer salty or sweet snacks? Both

MQR: What is your favorite beverage? Coffee… is there any other?

MQR: What is your least favorite food? You’re kidding right?

MQR: What is your favorite time of year? Love it all; but if I have to choose, it’s summer!

MQR: What are your favorite books/authors? Anything by Jane Austin and the Bible

MQR: What are your favorite movies?

Pride and Prejudice and all classics--Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, where you actually have to listen to the words and use your brain to understand what is really being said.

MQR: What is one of your goals for 2009? Quilt one of my own quilts! Another is having more time to play.

MQR: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about quilting or your business?

I love quilting, all of it!!!! It is my passion. But it is the quilting that drives me to create and inspires me to play. I have been surrounded by very talented, artistic people. When I was younger, I thought I missed it, I did not get that gene…….until I found what inspired me. It’s the quilting that makes the quilt!

All photographs were provided by Celine. For the newest designs, check out DigiTech Patterns.

http://community.webshots.com/user/celinespader

http://stores.digitechpatterns.com/StoreFront.bok

http://www.intelligentquilting.com/

Thanks so much, Celine!

Please don’t forget to visit the forum.

WIP Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:54:39 +0000

Wow! July is here! How quickly the first half of this year seems to have passed for me. I want to wish all our American members a happy and safe Independence holiday, coming up this weekend. I get Friday off from work, and we are going to visit my parents. I hope that everyone will take some time to stop by our weekly work in progress post, in the forums, and share your projects with us. What have you been working on this last week? Stop on by and show us some pictures, too! Thank you for your participation. These WIP posts have been a lot of fun, lately.

Wednesday WIP

(If the forum link doesn't work for you or you get an error message indicating that you don't have access, you may need to log in to the forums. After logging in, scroll down the list of forums until you find the one labeled "WIP Wednesday" -- click on that, look for the current week, and join the fun!)

Premier Membership

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:24:14 +0000

Interested in becoming a premier member? All of the information you need can be found in a post in the forum:

Premier Membership Details

You'll find all of the benefits (the main one being our monthly video series!) and a link to the page that will let you purchase a membership.

In order to view the page that the link above takes you to, you do need to be logged in to the forum. Registering for a free forum membership is pretty quick and relatively painless.

Follow the steps to create and activate your account. After you've logged in, you can come back to this page and visit the link above, or go to the Announcements forum (it's the first one listed) and look for the post labeled Premier Membership Details.

For questions, you can contact Suzanne (admin @ mqresource.com) or Deb Levy (ragsnquilts @ gmail.com).

Thanks for being here!

Whistlestop Web Tour Vol. 5

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:04:22 +0000

It's June 30th and there are only 6 months until Christmas! Maybe we can get started early on making some of our Holiday gifts. Through November I am going to post one issue each month with a list of tutorials for great gifts. Since we love our sewing and quilting buddies, let's start this first issue with gifts for our friends:

Everyone loves pincushions. This site has a list of 46 pin cushion tutorial links. Some of the links are broken but most are OK. You should find something you like in this list. I also found a cute prairie flower pin cushion on the Moda site. Keyka Lou has a tutorial for a pin cushion cuff and my little mochi has a wrist pincushion made from a gatorade cap, it's really cute!

Here's a little arm chair caddy for sewing notions

White published this tutorial for a Clover Iron Travel Bag

Did the Crazy Quilting post from last week interest you? Yo might want to try this Crazy Quilt scissors keeper as gift wrapping for a new pair of scissors.

Here's a really cute needle case from Sew Prim Khris.

A thread catcher and pin cushion combo set would make a nice gift with a few spools of thread as a gift. Here's another version with embroidered bluebirds

Lupinbunny has a nice knitting needle roll you can make for your kitting buddies.

About.com has a nice tutorial for making a custom fit sewing machine cover - their actual model is kind of ugly, I'm sure we can do much better! If you want a fancier one though, Anne's Glory Box has a pattern for a pretty embroidered sewing machine cover.

Of course your buddy needs a pretty checkbook cover to whip out at the fabric store and this gift box would be great for a few fat quarters. In fact, Two Creative Studios has lots of other great free projects.

Do you have any great ideas for gifts for your sewing buddies? Please share them in the forum. Next month we will make gifts for the men in our lives.

Vicki Welsh

blog: vickiwelsh.typepad.com

Etsy shop: vickiwelsh.etsy.com

Question of the week June 28

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:25:09 +0000

Good Sunday morning to all! Can you believe June is almost over? I'm busy preparing for two of my granddaughters to come visit, yippee!

The question this week, is from our Randi and is very timely for me. So here it is:

What provisions, if any have you made for your "stash", fabric, machines, thread, gadgets, UFO's...all of it...upon your demise? Have you given any consideration to what will become of all of it if something happens to you? I think about the thousands of dollars I have stacked up in fabric, and would hate for it to end up in a garage sale somewhere. I would rather some of you guys have it. What do you think?

Well, that is certainly something we should think about, Thanks Randi.

So head on over to the forum and tell us what you plans you have made, and if you haven't made any....maybe now's the time, because if you don't decide, someone else will.

WIP Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:01:25 +0000

Good morning! I hope everyone is having a great week. I have been busy working, and trying to get my housework caught up. I really wanted to just quilt this past weekend, but made myself work on chores I have been neglecting, for quilting and traveling. How is your summer going? What fun, exciting things are on your agenda? I know some of you are just trying to stay cool right now. Be sure to stop by the forum and tell us about your projects, or even your summer travels. And while you are there, be sure to wish our lovely Queen of Quite a Lot, Suzanne, a happy birthday today!

WIP Wednesday

Whistlestop Web Tour Vol. 4

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:02:08 +0000

Crazy Quilts

Today's topic is one that I think most MQR find interesting but don't actually do. I have a dream of making a Crazy Quilt "some day". Until then, I drool over them on the web. This week I am sharing some of my favorite CQ sites.

Probably the most often accessed Crazy Quilt/Hand Embroidery site in the web is Sharon B's Pintangle blog. Sharon teaches classes on line through joggles.com but her blog holds a wealth of information. She has several tutorials on her blog, she has a band sampler that she has been developing and she share the stitch details and she is currently documenting a millennium crazy quilt that she made. She also periodically produces a wrap up of great crafting blogs. She does it alphabetically and is now on D. It was a big thrill the first time I saw my blog listed there!

One of my favorite crazy quilt artists is Allison Aller, her blog is Allie's In Stitches. She share incredible detail about every step of her projects. be sure to look back at some of her projects that are identified in her blog categories.

Another favorite is my friend, Debra Spincic, in Houston. Her blog is Debra's Design Studio. She was the first person to ever leave a comment on my blog! If you have ever seen the Hoffman Challenge exhibit you have probably seen her work. Here is a link to her Hoffman Challenge entries. Most of her work incorporates her own embroideries and she recently opened an etsy shop to sell her embroideries. She also does quilt lables and I have had her do some for me.

Barbara Curiel is another crazy quilter that I follow. Her blog is Thinking Out Loud. She and Debra Spincic make pieces with the Madonna as the focus. Her most recent one is called Fall Madonna

and here are a few others:
Melissa co-moderates the Hand embroidery yahoo! group and has a large Crazy Quilt section in her blog
Kerri has a beautiful Crazy Quilting blog

Jo in New Zealand also does some beautiful CQ

Maybe you are now interested in learning a little about Crazy Quilting. Don't leave your seat, here are some resources on the web!
The Caron Collection offers several FREE on-line tutorials and classes on crazy quilting and embroidery
Quilt University always has a few on offer during every session
Joggles.com is where Sharon B teaches her classes

and there's even an online magazine devoted to Crazy Quilters.

Still not enough? Then roam through the 300+ blogs in the Bloggers Who Embellish web ring.

Are you ready to give it a try? This site has a list of Crazy Quilt projects

Please share any sites that you want to add to this topic in the forum.

Vicki Welsh

blog: vickiwelsh.typepad.com

shop: vickiwelsh.etsy.com

Question of the Week June 21

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:57:53 +0000

Today is the Summer Solstice here in the northern hemisphere. The longest day of the year! Hope you have plans to make the most of this long day. Tomorrow the days start getting shorter again on the countdown to Autumn. Today also is Father's Day and I hope everyone remembers those special men in their lives.

On to the question for this week. As I was moving things around in the studio this morning trying in vain to find something I needed, I found this huge bin of leftover bindings. I always make too much. Better too much than not enough right? But now I have tons of binding scraps! So my question is:

What do you do with your leftover binding scraps?

Join us in the forum to share your ideas and read what others have to say. And have a great week!

Getting to know Sharon Dixon

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Once again, we've let way too much time pass between having a featured quilter on these pages. Jo Ann Gruber is now in charge of getting in contact with people, and hopefully we'll get back to having these more regularly. If she does contact you, I sure hope you'll consider participating. These articles are a way for us to get to know a little bit more about each other -- eventually we'd love to work our way through the whole list of members, so if you haven't been asked, keep waiting, we hope to get to you eventually.

This time, we are featuring one of the absolute sweetest, kindest women I've ever met: Sharon Dixon!! (She's pretty wickedly funny, too...) I know you'll enjoy getting to know her a little bit better, and always, you'll enjoy getting a view of some very pretty quilts.

Don't forget to visit the forum to leave Sharon a big thank you for taking the time to participate in our ongoing Getting to Know You Feature.