Greetings everyone,

Mother Nature planned for winter to be a time of great rest and internal reflection. A time for plants, animals, and people to slow down, be present with yourself, incubate your dreams for the new year, and explore your creativity. A precious season - with time to create. I hope you have been able to embrace the season! 



"Mother" is a tribute to the season. 70" x 42". (12 little animals are hidden in this silent forest.) I used lace, tulle, beading, and yarns for embellishment.

Surface Design: 

Any technique that manipulates or changes the surface of fabric.  Thread painting, Beading, Embellishments, Painting, Quilting that creates texture.
At the Road to California show, I taught a workshop on how to use various art media on fabric. As you know, I often manipulate commercial prints with my transparent fabric paint crayons to create new hues, highlights, and shadows.  Seta Silk paints are my favorite for painting large pieces of fabric (like a whole sky). I also incorporate a lot of embellishments like yarns, tulle, lace, and sequins to add visual layers of interest. In this quilt, all of my hidden animals are actually small hand appliquéd little critters.

But you can also quilt in images. 

Trace over an image using Golden Threads tracing paper or tissue paper. Pin the image to the top of your quilt sandwich.  Shorten your stitch length and free motion quilt over the traced image. Use the side of your wonderful Apliquick ergonomic tweezers to loosen the paper and then pull out any small left over bits with the tweezers.

One of the things I saw over and over in my classes was students struggling with giant scissors to cut small applique shapes. Or hearing that, like me, they are developing arthritis in their hands. Creating needs to be fun. The place we go to relax and play. Using friendly ergonomically designed tools made for the job, vastly improves our experience.
Use 4" applique scissors made to cut out those small complex shapes Sale price -$35.00 till Feb 1st.
Make sure to use that third finger position for greater control and less strain on your thumb.

Medium scissors-  On sale $48.00. till Feb 1st.  
 My Go TO Scissors! 5.5 inches, ergonomically designed to prevent strain on fingers and joints. All five fingers lie in a natural position as you cut. The microserrated edge grips the fabric, holds it in place, and cuts without fraying. 

Star student work!! by Joan Maguire. Joan is making the entire Audubon Christmas quilt and doing a fantastic job. Look at the wonderful fabrics she used for her Chickadee block. All hand appliquéd. Thank you so much for sharing photos with me. I love getting pictures from you all.


Teaching Schedule.
March and the onset of Spring will launch me back into a full time traveling and teaching schedule. I will be visiting many guilds and shows.
Maybe you can join me at one of these public events!

AQS show in Branson, MO, March 23rd-26th  www.quiltweek.com

Empty Spools, Monterey, CA. www.emptyspoolsseminars.com April 10th. 5 day seminar at the ocean. Quail family-

Genesee Valley Quilt Festival, May 17-21 https://www.geneseevalleyquiltfest.com

This is filling quickly  - Christmas Market tour to Germany and 3 days Northern lights in Iceland.  November 27th-December 7th

This is a fully supported tour for Quilters, family, and friends to see some of the highlights of the famous German Christmas markets. Bruce and I will be traveling with you to explore these magical places.  We have one afternoon set aside for a lecture/demo/workshop. I will provide a pattern and kit to make your own Nutcracker wallhanging. Embellish with lots of memorabilia we find in the markets. We will be met by local Bavarian and Icelandic guides when we get there.  They speak the local language and can share with us all the best of what we will see.
www.usquilttours.com
 
Wishing you all lots of love, good health, and inspiration.
Kathy