Hello, thank you for inviting me to be a guest writer here on Stitchin’ Heaven.

Ok, so where should I start??

My patchwork interest started after the birth of my first son, David in 1981, baby David may have looked sweet and angelic but he sure could wreak my fancy knitting in a moment! I decided I needed a hobby that was very portable and easy to pick up and put down so I took a night class and made a traditional sampler quilt which I thoroughly enjoyed stitching entirely by hand, I was totally hooked!

By now I was the mother of two gorgeous boys and in 1984 my family moved to the Channel Islands, UK. I started teaching from home as there was no quilt store on the island, we had to get all our supplies mail order and there was no internet to make our shopping easy, we had to trust the wonderful lady at the quilt store on the mainland to send us things we would like. I was also able to sell some of my handmade pillows and small quilts at the local craft centre. I organized the making of several quilts for charity with the help of all the wonderful ladies in my classes.

Now the proud mother of three sons, I moved to Australia in 1990 and in 1995 I started designing and producing my own patterns under the label Lynette Anderson for The Patchwork Angel, the name angel was chosen as my Dad always called my brother and I his angels! I am very fortunate as my patterns were popular immediately; some of those early patterns are as popular today as they have ever been.

In 1997 with the help of my Mum, Ruth we opened a quilt store, The Patchwork Angel in an old church, on Queenslands Sunshine Coast. Many people would be forgiven for thinking that the trading name was chosen because of the old church that now housed the quilt store but in fact that name had been chosen two years prior when I released my first patterns.

After almost ten wonderful, busy years I decided it was time to focus full time on my designing and I sold The Patchwork Angel.

These days I live by the beach and I am very lucky as all four of my boys and my parents live here on Queenslands Sunshine Coast, so we get to spend lots of time together.

The inspiration for my designs comes from everyday life, whether it’s a memory from my childhood, where I grew up in a small country village in Dorset, England or from something that’s occurring in my life today. My newest block of the month quilt, ‘A Kittens Tale’ was inspired by our dog Hugo and Felix an unweaned, tiny, fluffy kitten who was found in a tree at the end of our street. Hugo and Felix took to each other straight away and are totally inseparable, whether they are bug hunting, sharing a bowl of food, playing in the garden, helping me put the binding on a quilt or just sleeping snuggled together.

Give me a pencil and paper and I am one happy girl, of course that then leads to needing fabrics, needle and threads! The end result could be a simple design for a pillow or …….. something bigger.

Besides patterns and books I also produce handpainted wooden buttons, you will find these adorning and enhancing several of my designs. The buttons are created by Leanne a friend of mine, she works from my drawings and then paints them in a style that suits my work, I just love them and I hope you do too.

This year I have had the extra excitement of working with Henry Glass &Co producing two fabric lines. It has been a wonderful experience, from posting off my little paintings to seeing how their design team interpreted them and now I am trying to be patient waiting to see the fabric! The team at Henry Glass have made me feel so welcome and although I am a bit bias I think you will love the fabrics.

I love coming to the US and have just had the most wonderful time at Quilt market, catching up with old friends and making new ones. Thank you to everyone who once again who made me feel very welcome.

You can visit me on my blog www.lynetteandersondesigns.typepad.com, don’t forget to say hello.

Talk soon,

Don’t forget, all comments during the month of April will be entered into the drawing for this adorable Scottie Dog Quilt! Keep those wonderful comments coming!

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Pat, first through Facebook, where I joined in on her OP Challenge in February.  It was so much fun and it was my first time to do an online class/challenge type event like that!  Did anyone else join Pat for that challenge? Anywho,  she was so gracious in my endeavers to blog that weekend!! I really learned a lot from her! She’s such an awesome coach!  We keep in touch on Facebook and Twitter and I make it a point to check out her blog often! You’ll have to check it out : Pat Sloan’s Place. 

Did you know Pat used to be a computer programmer? Yeah! From programmer to quilter extraordinare! That’s probably how writing patterns comes so easy for her.  Pat is known throughout the quilting world as a designer of patterns & fabrics, a lecturer, teacher, you can find her in several magazines and in several online quilting groups, on YouTube…hmmm…what else? I know you can find her just about anywhere on the internet and when you google her there’s page after page of links on where you can find her or read about her. She recently posted to her blog about where you can find her.  So, check her out!

Pat’s style is mostly of the folk art style and is inspired by anything from fabrics to flowers! Pat usually has a theme in mind when designing like with ‘Ma Ma’s Garden” wanting the feel of her great grandmother’s gardens and ‘Cottage Rose’ that began from one of her favorite traditional quilt blocks!

I found this neat video from Pat on YouTube. There are many more where this came from! Hope you enjoy! 

Don’t forget about the Drawing for the Scottie Turns 20 Quilt! All comments made during the month of April will be entered in for our drawing of this totally adorable quilt!

Stitchin’ Heaven introduces…
Charm School!

Ladies! We must be on our best behavior at all times. As quilters, we should be “charming” and sophisticated. No, wait! Just kidding, gals! It’s not really that kind of charm school. Our classes will help you with those two intoxicating little cravings that we love to spoil ourselves with … 5″ square Charm Packs, and jewelry! Stitchin’ Heaven’s Charm School is here to help you indulge yourself. There will be no tests and no pop quizzes, just fun!

Upon registration for Charm School, you will become a member of our elite sorority, the Phi Soa Quilto. Our sorority motto is “Sewing Sisterhood Together”. As a member, you will be invited to join our Phi Soa Quilto Yahoo Group where you are encouraged to discuss school projects and build on your sisterhood bond. Then, each month you will receive a shipment, which will include 2 charm packs, a pattern, and a collectible charm to add to your bracelet (which will be free with your Charm School membership).

Don’t worry, you don’t have to come by the shop, we’ll mail your lessons to you. We’ve developed a “Class Schedule”, so that you can expect to be billed for your monthly shipment on (or near) the 2nd of each month, beginning in September 2008. You will be able to come back to the Charm School web page and view the “School Supplies”, which will feature the upcoming charm packs for each month, a sneak peek at the project, and a list of any additional supplies needed that you may want to purchase to complete the project.

Charm School Membership includes the following benefits:

• Two Moda charm packs per month from the latest collections.
• A Pattern
• Collectible Charm
• Charm Bracelet (included with your membership)
• Option to purchase additional charm packs to complete monthly projects (if needed), at a discount.
• “Snow Days”- Three passes in a 12 month period to “skip class” on any project you do not wish to receive.
• “Teacher’s Pet” – Send in a picture of a completed Charm School project, and receive a Teacher’s Pet status and another neat charm!
• “Graduation” – For every 12 months you are enrolled, you will be promoted with a “Charming Degree” and a gift from us!

See? School can be fun! Invite your friends, and be prepared to make some new friends, too!

Don’t be late for our first class. Sign up for $15, and it’s only $25 + S&H monthly.

Just for you! When you sign up online, put BLOGCHARM in the coupon code box of your order form, and we’ll give you a free membership for Charm School! Stop by the shop website at www.stitchinheaven.com, and check out our huge selection of sewing and quilting needs, and while you’re there, sign up for our weekly Hot Flashes newsletter, and check out the latest one here.
Until we meet again, may your days be pieceful! -deb

It is finally here! Our 4th Patchwork Party is scheduled to begin officially April 1st but I wanted to invite all of our very good friends at Stitchin’ Heaven to a “Sneak Peek” on Monday, March 31. You can view our page with all the details here.

Patchwork Party 2008 - Summer Edition is the original Party. You may see some programs out there that look like the Patchwork Party but they are copies of this idea. I originated the Party after doing a similar program called “Hop Around Houston” during the years of having a booth at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Many of you may have seen similar programs at large shows. The idea is that you are provided a passport with the names of the 12 participating booths. As you travel around the show (which would be similar to a shop hop except that it is all under one roof), you stop by each booth, get your passport stamped, and you can pick up the featured block for the shop. Most of the shops have the 12 blocks put together in some kind of quilt design with a finishing package for sale.

This is also the idea behind the Patchwork Party – on a bigger scale. We still have 12 participating shops but we have many more opportunities to share the fun since our Party is primarily executed on the Internet. Each of the participating shops has a finishing kit so you can collect all 12 blocks by purchasing them from each shop’s website and then choose the design you like the best for your quilt. Our quilt is titled Stars on the Prairie and features a Feathered Star Medallion surrounded with Ohio Star blocks.

All of the blocks and finished quilts in this Patchwork Party are made with the new fabric collection from Moda Prairie Paisley. This beautiful fabric line was designed my Minick and Simpson and features beautiful flowers with a unique paisley. Also used are Perfect Patchwork Template Sets A and C from Marti Michell. It is recommended that you use these acrylic templates with these blocks as they are quite complex and the templates will help you be more successful in making them. Paper templates are provided in each pattern, however. I have included Tips from Marti on the main Patchwork Party 2008 website. Please read these tips prior to starting with the cutting of your blocks. You will be glad you did!

Just one more thing to point out, some of you might want to do some fussy cutting with the fabrics to insure there is a floral motif in the center of the blocks. If you do, you will need to purchase 3 extra fat quarters of fabrics C-14573-13 blue floral, H-14573-11 red floal and B-14570-11 red with paisley. On the Stitchin’ Heaven Patchwork Party page you will find these fat quarters available in a Fussy Cut Party Pack.
Over and over I get comments from my friends of how much they enjoy this event. We host a Party twice each year. This one will end on June 30 and blocks will not be for sale once the Party is over so get your blocks now.

Until we meet again, may your days be pieceful!

deb

website: www.stitchinheaven.com

Register for our e-newsletter “Hot Flashes”

For those of you who may have missed it, Ricky Timms was featured on the CBS Sunday Morning News today. It was a wonderful segment as it not only was about Ricky but was also about quilting as a multi-billion dollar industry. Featured in this video were attendees at the International Quilt Show in Houston, Ricky the “Rock Star”, and just good promotion of quilting over all. It is a nice tribute to our passion and you can watch it here if you missed it today!

We have several of Ricky’s books and products available on our website. Just go there and enter “Ricky” in the search tool on our site.

Enjoy!

Until we meet again, may your days be pieceful!

deb

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I was pleasantly surprised to pick up the January issue of Texas Monthly to find a really nice article on quilting. More specifically, this was a really nice article about a specific quiltmaker, Jane Hall , written by her son, Michael Hall who is a contributing editor for the magazine. Michael made a video while he was with his mom at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and it is very interesting to hear the opinion of someone who is not a quilter. You can launch this video here to watch it.

Michael says: Quiltmaker Jane Hall—author of The Experts’ Guide to Foundation Piecing, teacher of classes such as Pineapples Plus and Log Cabins Revisited, and the woman from whose womb I emerged fifty years ago—stood in front of her quilt Galaxy and had her picture taken while a steady stream of women walked past, eyeing her and the sharp blue points of the dozen mariner’s compasses floating behind her. She was tired after spending the whole day teaching at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Plus, her knee was killing her.

A woman approached. “Are you the artist?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“It’s just beautiful! Beautiful! How did you get the points so thin?”

“I used a foundation of freezer paper.” The mariner’s compass is a difficult pattern, and Mom was pleased to have the chance to teach a little more.

Until we meet again, may your days be pieceful!

deb
Stitchin’ Heaven is located in Quitman, TX populaiton 2030
Email: deb@stitchinheaven.com

Dear Deb,

I’ve just finished piecing my second quilt and am ready to start basting. I have it all sandwiched together ready but I’m nervous about starting. On my last quilt I made an awful mess when I got to the basting stage, and I don’t want to ruin all my hard work. Fortunately, it was my “practice” and I need to do a better job on this one.

Basting Blues
Dear Basting,
Well, you won’t be the first and you won’t be the last to have this happen. You’re so proud of your creation and then, almost before you know it, its all wrinkled and bumpy looking! All I can do is share my own method with you and hope that helps. I’m sure that others will write in as well, so you’ll end up with a number of methods for this stage of the game.

I pin my layers together with quilters’ safety pins. These are different to regular pins, they have a curve in them, which makes it easier to get the point through the sandwich and back up to the top again. Most quilters recommend laying your quilt out on the floor so that it keeps smooth but I have a secret tip here:

Get your dining chairs and spread them out around the room, with the backs forming a square, then get your cutting boards or some hardboard and lay these across the back of the chairs – in effect you are making a big table. Lay your quilt sandwich on this ‘table’ and pin. You’ll find it much easier pinning at waist height than sprawling around on the floor! Ooh, I almost forgot – it’s really important that you start pinning at the center of the quilt and work your way outwards, that way any potential wrinkles are pushed to the edges!

There are a number of really good books that can help you as well. One that I would recommend is by Alex Anderson titled Machine Quilting with Alex Anderson. In this book, you will learn about the mechanics of the quilting process from basting to quilting and then even to binding. There are some really great projects in this book as well. It would be a great reference for you if you are new at this. You can order it from my website.

Another equally good book is one from Eleanor Burns and Quilt in a Day Machine Quilting Primer. No one makes things easier than Eleanor Burns. Detailed explanations of commonly used tools and methods are followed by samples to practice techniques. I truly love this book although it has been out for many years. It is one of those that you really must have in your library! You can order it here.

Just remember that all of this is a learning experience and the more practice you have the better you get at it!

Until we meet again, may your days be pieceful!
Deb
Stitchin’ Heaven is located in Quitman, Tx and has a population of 2030
Visit our website!
**Do you have a question about quilting? If you do, there are other quilters who have the same question! Simply email it to deb@stitchinheaven.com and she will answer it for you!

Dear Deb,
What do you suggest – we marked a quilt with the blue water erasable pens – two Fine Point Mark B-Gone Pens. Now some of the marking comes off very easily but some is very difficult. It seems that one pen was different somehow. Hope someone has a suggestion as we do not want to scrub too hard and damage the material.

Thanks,
Too Blue

Dear Too Blue,
Is it possible that you heat set your work by accident? If you did, your markings are now permanent, unfortunately. But, assuming you did not heat set your markings here is what I suggest:

1). Wash the top in clear warm water. It is likely this will remove the blue residue. Fill up your washing machine with tepid (room temperature) or cold water, toss the quilt in, leave the lid up (so it won’t agitate), and let the quilt soak for several hours. Go see a movie. Drain the water and, if you need to wash the quilt, re-fill the washer with clean water and a mild soap. Swish the water if you must, but don’t agitate. That’s too rough a treatment for a hand-made quilt.
2). Be very careful with the detergent you use when you wash a quilt that has been marked with these pens. The pens are wonderful but if you are not careful you will end up with brown marks where the blue ones used to be. The laundry detergent has sodium carbonate in it, that is the ‘fixer’ for the color in the dye. This sodium carbonate, otherwise known as soda ash, can be found in its purest form in Arm & Hammer or any other detergent with whiteners and brighteners. Mountain Mist Ensure (not the vitamin supplement) or Orvis (you don’t need to buy a horse to go along with it) are nice choices.
3). In the future, be sure and keep a spritz bottle of plain water beside your workspace and dampen your project right away so you don’t take the chance of pressing it prematurely! Another good idea is to keep a small bowl of water nearby and use a small, soft watercolor brush to go over the lines as you finish wit them
4). Also, be sure and check the back of the block to be sure the ink has not migrated with the water and shows up on the back!

Scrubbing hard will most likely not impact how much of this ink will come out. Hopefully, a gentle wash in the machine will solve your problems!

Till we meet again, may your days be pieceful!
Deb

**Do you have a question about quilting? If you do, there are other quilters who have the same question! Simply email it to deb@stitchinheaven.com and she will answer it for you!

Dear Deb,
I want to start quilting! A friend of mine quilts and has been doing so for years but she’s not very good at teaching. Can you point me in the right direction please?

Thank you in advance
Just Starting Out

Dear Starting Out,
Thanks for writing in – I’m sure we’ll get loads of answers from happy quilters out there! The first thing I would say is – start small! Don’t try a Double Wedding Ring for your first attempt. What about a lap quilt, a small pillow, or even one of the great purses we are seeing everywhere?
The next thing I would say is – use the best quality fabrics you can afford when you start off, and make sure they’re 100% cotton. You will be putting a great deal of time and effort into your quilts so be sure they are going to withstand the test of time by using good quality fabric. The better fabrics are just more beautiful as well.
The other thing to think about is which pattern you’re going to be using. I started with the Log Cabin, which features strips of fabric placed around a center square. In times gone by, the center square used to be red as a reminder that the hearth is the center of the home. I would recommend Eleanor Burns “Log Cabin in a Day” book. No, you will not make this quilt in a day as the name implies but it is an excellent resource when you first start.
One last suggestion is for you to get acquainted with the gals at your local quilt shop. These ladies will become your best friend and can be a valuable asset when you get in a jam and need some help. They will surely become the support group you need and will offer you encouragement and an eager audience when you finish your projects! Sign up right away for the next beginning quilting class so you will learn the right way to do it from the start. While there are not many rules in quilting, there are a few that need to be followed very closely when you start out. A quilting class will give you the foundation you need in the beginning.
Try to remember that quilting started as a way of recycling fabric, including grain sacks! Our quilting ancestors didn’t color co-ordinate or spend ages deciding on what fabrics went well together – they used what they had. When you think of quilting in this way, it sort of takes the pressure off!

Till we meet again, may your days be pieceful!
Deb

**Do you have a question about quilting? If you do, there are other quilters who have the same question! Simply email it to deb@stitchinheaven.com and she will answer it for you!

I am thrilled to see quilting and sewing in the National news these days! There are many articles being published in major publications that report the popularity of our favorite hobby and the fact that so many of those who belong to the “younger generation” are picking it up. If you have not seen thes articles, be sure and check them out at:

Savanna Now : Hip to Hem – a story about the Gen-Xers asking for sewing machines for Christmas

MSN : This is a really neat video from MSN “Sewing Finds a New Life”

And then Time Magazine posted this article:

This is a video clip about the Sewing Surge brought about by televsion reality show “Project Runway“.

And then this wonderful article “On Pins and Needles” that ended up in the NY Times is very fun and entertaining and I know I can relate!Too Kewl!

Until we meet again may your days be pieceful!

deb