Chicago Area! My Episode of Quilting Arts is Airing!

If you are in the Chicago area, my episode of Quilting Arts is airing on January 5th at 1 pm on WYCC (channel 20). It's episode 811, called "Quilts Gone Wild".   On Comcast Cable near me it's even in HD on channel 240.  Please check it out!

New Video Posted! How to Fix an E-Textile!

I'm not sure if I mentioned before that during a recent exhibition, one of my e-textile pieces was damaged during the show. While I was upset, I turned lemons into lemonade by making a video about how I planned to repair it, since I was taking the piece with me to Houston the following week. Enjoy!

Dunkelheit

This is my most recent e-textile piece, called Dunkelheit.  The name means "darkness" in German.  This piece is sound reactive, using a Schemer board from aniomagic.  It was easy to program, and I love the effect it makes in the piece.
This is the companion piece to "Shattered" which was rendered in cream colored fabric.  
I hope to get the video on this piece done just after the new year so you can see it.  It's really a great effect.

Grüß vom Krampus!

Greetings from Krampus, the mythical creature that is one of jolly St. Nick's companions.  Far be it from me to exclude the guy who punishes the children who have been naughty!  If you weren't the best behaved this year, Krampus would not only lock you in his chains, but also beat you with his switches!  I'm sure that was the 1800's version of "Scared straight".  But needless to say, when I heard of the Krampus, I had to make him into one of my weekly quilts.  This theme set is "mythic monsters".

I hope you and your families have a wonderful Holiday season!

What I bought in Houston

It's a tradition of mine to post the stuff that I spent my money on in Houston to feed my fabric and thread addiction.  Here's the stuff I bought while at the Houston Show!

MMM thread.  I had all of the brights of this line of Superior thread, and it's time to fill in the rest of the colors.

Yummy fabrics from Friestyle (Frieda Anderson) and matching dyed thread from Artfabrik (Laura Wasilowski).

Oh Cherrywood dyed fabrics... how I love thee.  You have outgrown your storage bin and these need to evict other fabric so that they can all live together.

I love these tokidoki style prints.  I have absolutely NO idea what I will make out of them, but I love them.

More awesome Japanese-kawaii (cute) fabrics.  Yum!

More that just were too cute to resist. All of these fabrics in the last 3 pictures came from the same booth!

The show if full of booths with all kinds of wonderful things, and sometimes you find a treasure.  I loved the Victorian era buttons turned into earrings, and just HAD TO HAVE the same period gold mourning brooch. It's the perfect thing to wear in my "Creepy Victorian" parlor room!  

It's Blog Hop Party Time! - GIVEAWAY!!!

Welcome to my blog!  I'm doing a great giveaway today for a few cool things!  Please take a look around my blog and I love feedback on what my readers think.  Also, I'm one of many bloggers doing a giveaway today, so please click the graphic with the balloons and go to the entire list (starting Dec 10th!).

I'm "the one with the light up quilts" and you are in luck today as I'm giving away one of my LED Deluxe Kits (with Yellow LEDs)!  In addition, you'll get a copy of Quilting Arts' "Stitch Issue" and one of my own handmade flower tussie mussies!  All 3 items will go to the winner!


Here are the rules:
1. One comment per person to enter this contest. Multiple entries will be disqualified. Comments must be on this post only.  If you do not sign in with your Google or Blogger account, make sure I have a way to contact you, such as leaving your email address. 
2. The winner will be selected randomly.
3. Sorry, I can only open this giveaway to people in the USA or Canada. 
4. Entries will be accepted until 12/17/11 at 6 AM Eastern Standard Time.


Don't forget I have a newsletter you can sign up for!  It's on the right hand menu at the top.  We''l be doing a giveaway JUST for people who sign up and get our newsletter in January of 2012!
Good luck! 


UPDATE: The time for entries is over, and I'll be selecting and posting the winner soon!  Thanks for all of your lovely comments!  


UPDATE: Our Winner is Kathy with the  Shahann email address!  Congratulations and look for my email for your address! 

My Make It University Class

I'm more than a little overdue to talk about how my awesome class that I taught at Make It University in Houston went.  I was riding that post-Houston "high" and then time just got away from me.  
That said, you can't really take pictures and stuff while you are teaching, so I am going to rely on my fab friends to fill in...
It's hard to believe it went by in an hour.  I feel like it was the fastest and slowest hour ever...  But it was so worth it.  I learned just as much as they did, I think!

The class filled up so fast! Pic by Catherine Redford

It was hard to make sure everyone heard your instructions, the microphone helped. Pic by Catherine Redford

You don't realize how hectic it can be helping 23 people with the project! Pic by Catherine Redford

Making sure everyone's project lit up was also important! We had 2 dud LEDs in the group.  OOPS! I had it covered with extras, which means "Be prepared!"  Pic by Judy Perez

A quick second to say hi.  It was a lot of fun. Pic by Judy Perez

That's Lindsey from QA/Interweave, who gave everyone in my class a free magazine!  How cool was that?  Pic by Catherine Redford

You also forget how big a crowd 23 people can be! Pic by Becky Glasby

Yup, a guy took my class!  He was super nice and emailed me after the show to say he had fun. Pic by Becky Glasby

It was important to me to make sure I helped everyone, and tried very hard to make it around to each person as much as I could.  Pic by Becky Glasby

My student's work!  So cool! Pic by Catherine Redford

This student was from Australia and clipped that little koala onto my shirt as a thank you! I had a great time teaching and hope to do it again! pic by Catherine Redford

Paying it forward...

Lately, I have had some great things happen to me, and I'm so grateful for everything that has come my way. But for every happiness that I have received, I wish I could make others just as happy.
When I was at Houston, my friend Catherine and I wandered past the Machine Quilting Unlimited booth. One of the ladies working the booth asked "Are you the one with the light up quilts?". I told her that I really appreciated her comment and that it made my day. It really did. And right there, I realized that for every compliment and encouraging word I got, I should pass on at least 2 more of my own. 
So, when I saw someone with a jacket they might have made themselves, I stopped her and asked about it.  Sure enough, she had, and I told them how much I loved it. As I walked away, she turned to her friends and said "Wasn't that nice?" 
Also in Houston, I asked my friend Pokey to write a note for my online friend Jackie who could not be at the show and mailed it to her. 
I know EXACTLY what it feels like to have someone tell you they recognized your name, or knew of your work somehow. I know what it feels like for a "famous" quilter to say something encouraging. Just think how wonderful we all would feel if someone else took a second to say they liked your quilts.
So, if you are a "famous"/published quilter, tell someone you don't know how nice their work is. If you are a quilt teacher, tell a student how wonderful a job they are doing. If you are not famous or a teacher (like me), spread some happiness to 2 more people by complimenting their work too.  You don't know how much it will mean to someone to get that compliment.  Maybe they are waiting for that compliment before they launch an art career of their own... you never know what the effect you will have on others!


P.S. Lyric Kinard is doing a really similar thing all through December as her way of saying "Thanks", which I have been following along with. Check it out!