Monday, July 20, 2015

The Quilting Bee, Niagara Falls

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Last month I had the best opportunity to go and teach at the Quilting Bee in Fonthill, Ontario Canada.  I was lucky enough to meet Kelly at Market a couple years ago and we have been planning this teaching trip for a while now. I think this is the cutest fabric store I have ever been to, seriously. They have a lot of amazing fabric, kits and fun gadgets - be sure to visit if you are in the area or check out their online store.
 
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See, I told you it was the cutest store ever!  The ladies working there are super nice as well.  In the four days I was there I got to know Lisa and Nellie - they were so kind to me. Thanks ladies!

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This is my first group of ladies and I had the best time with them.
 
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Me and Kelly, love this lady.  She is so sweet, and made me feel right at home. I will cherish her friendship for a long time. 

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This is an example of my Fantabulous Fillers class.  I made this especially for Kelly. She said she is going to frame it ;-)  Love it! 

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It was an amazing 4 days of teaching and I was lucky enough to witness this fabulous sunset on one of the nights I was there.  There is beauty to be found everywhere.
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The best part of my trip was having the family with me.  It was so wonderful being able to teach and come back to the hotel with my family waiting for me.  So much better than sitting in a lonely hotel room with my heart aching for them. Lucky for us, Fonthill is close to Niagara Falls.  It was absolutely gorgeous there, our first time visiting (the view from the Canadian side is amazing).  The weather was so nice as well. 

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The view from our hotel.  Simply gorgeous! 

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The clouds were a gift on Friday night as we took the kids on the Ferris Wheel.  I am so grateful that teaching has given me the opportunity to travel and see places that I have always wanted to see. Taking my family is an added bonus.

I hope you are having a great summer.  It is going too fast!   

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Bohemian! New Pattern!

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Yay!! Bohemian is finally finished and the pattern is complete and off to the printer. I am excited that I can now share this quilt in its entirety with you.  If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook, I am sure you have seen snippets of this quilt which may or may not have been frustrating. ;-)  Thanks for being patient with me as I worked hard to get this quilt finished and the pattern written. I hope you love this quilt as much as I do.

A couple of things about the quilt:  I pulled fabric from my stash to complete the quilt top, using what I had and mixing designers and manufacturers. I wanted this quilt to have four basic colors. I love how the orange, blue, yellow and turquoise green work so well together.  I used Moda Bella Solids 9900-97 for the white background fabric, which works out perfectly when I want to show off my quilting. 
 
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I used two layers of batting.  I used Hobbs bleached 100% cotton for the top layer and Hobbs cotton wool blend for the bottom layer.  I really love the combination of those two battings.  It gives the quilting a little more pop, especially when I quilt densely. I used Glide thread for the top and Magna Glide classic bobbins for the bottom.  I love the combination of the two and I ended up with perfect tension on this quilt.  That is always a bonus. ;-)

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The center medallions were really fun to design and quilt up.  It pulls in the designs from the outside border area and compliments the quilt design nicely. 

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When I design a quilt, I plan on creating space for the quilting.  The quilting on Bohemian is not how I planned it though - I changed my design as soon as I started working on the quilt. 

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The border squares really look amazing going around the pieced blocks.  I really hope that you can see this quilt and all its possibilities.  You don't have to quilt it like me to make a beautiful quilt top. However, if you want to make the quilt top - then learn how to quilt it like me, I will have a class available starting next year sharing the quilting process and all the details and quilting designs of this quilt.  I will keep you posted on that. 

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Love. 

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I had a lot of fun with the backing fabric.  A fun chevron from Riley Blake.
 
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The texture on the quilt is just fabulous.  I am so excited to have this quilt finished and hanging out in my studio to enjoy.  I look forward to sharing the quilting process of this quilt in the classroom - I also plan to enter this quilt into quilt shows as a competition quilt.  We will see how it goes.
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 So, I have the paper patterns available as a pre-order here.  These paper patterns will ship starting the week of the 20th this month.  If you want it sooner, you can get the PDF version here. Also, be sure to share your quilt with me using the hashtags #bohemianquilt and #judimadsendesigns - I look forward to seeing your quilt tops.