Author Archive

This morning, I was walking the dog, glanced at our garden and saw it was moving! At a closer look, it was filled with butterflies. They were moving from flower to flower and the impact of orange moving against purple and green was inspiring.

I grabbed my camera and snapped some photos. I tried taking a close-up. It is blurry, but I liked the play of color.   

I’ve seen lavender wands at craft shows and want to try making one. . .

While at the Minnesota Quilters Show, I visited the vendor’s mall.  . .okay, more than once!

During one of my visits, I spotted the Sew Ezi Sewing Table.

It is lightweight and folds flat for transport and storage. The wheels make it easy to move. What a perfect table for class, use at a vacation house, take in an RV or for the sewing studio.

The work surface is large and the clear inserts are cut to the owner’s sewing machine. I ordered one for my Pfaff 7570.

I was impressed with this table. It is very versatile. I’m always looking for something to use for a light box. This table has an option insert that turns it into a light box.

An Ott Light will fit under the clear light box insert and this creates a perfect space for tracing a design.

I talked to several students in class about the table before I purchased one. I asked “Who has one? Do you like it?” One of my students, Twilia has TWO! She keeps one at her cottage and uses one at her home. She uses hers all the time and even has used it when having a party and needing some extra table space for serving. I thought that was another fantastic use for this table.

I ordered one, along with the light box insert and an insert for my Singer Featherweight machine.   I think it will be a perfect table for many reasons. . .

I’ve never been to Rochester, and found it is a great town! My hotel was in the middle of downtown, just two blocks from The Mayo Clinic.

Right across the street was the shops at University Square, a small mall filled with unique shops. Counterpoint was just one of the stores. I loved the window, how retro! I remember Marimekko from the 60’s and 70’s.

Outside the University Square, I found a courtyard. Since it is summer, the dusk came late. I enjoyed many evenings in this courtyard.

The iron fountain is certainly unique and amazing in this close-up photo.

This little fellow had fun running to the water, touching it and running back to his mom.

Semva Art Gallery was also in the Courtyard. Their window displays were inspiring.

I love this design. . .I’m thinking quilts!

The courtyard was filled with flowers. This petunia was so bright, it almost glowed.

As I looked around, I noticed a Celtic design around this tree.

Another great quilting idea. . .

While I was in Rochester, a downtown festival, Rochesterfest was happening at the same time. I enjoyed the nightly music, the parade and the Art Festival.  One evening, the downtown was filled with booths. 

This booth featured woven rugs and blankets. They were all Peruvian designs, all of them beautiful.

One booth featured iron work. This copper birdbath had a beautiful patina.

Yet another booth had glass. . .these hand blown balls were fascinating.

I’m back from the Minnesota Quilt Show and had a wonderful time! I wanted to blog while I was there, but I forgot my “cords” bag. What was in it??  Only the cord to hook my camera to my computer and the battery charger. I was able to take a few photos before my camera battery died.  Now that I’m home, I can grab the photos and post them.

I had a wonderful time visiting Rochester, Minnesota, seeing the show and with the students in my classes.

My classes were the best. My camera ran out of battery before I could take many photos, but I did capture this one.

One of my students (Peggy, was this your fabric??) brought in this wonderful tie-dyed fabric. After we made some blocks, I played with the cubes and used the fabric as a background. We loved the effect and had to take a photo!  The cubes are from different peole in the room. It all worked so well and looks fantastic.

The Show was absolutely filled with quilts. There were three rooms filled with beautiful quilts. I took some photos of my favorites while I still had some battery left.

I love scrap quilts and this Friendship Star quilt is lovely. The play of light and shadow is perfect.

Of course, the hexagon is one of my favorite shapes. This quilt is very cool!  Wish I had a close-up.

Another scrap quilt, all done with warm colors. The illusion of depth comes and goes. I love it!

I must be wishing for fall!  I loved the leaves in this quilt. It looks like a fall day with leaves falling from the trees. Nothing like a walk in the woods in a beautiful fall day.

Have you ever seen a “Quilt on a Stick?” A great idea and a wonderful auction idea!

Everything is packed and shipped, my clothes are almost packed and soon, I’m off to Rochester, Minnesota for the Quilted Jewels, the 30th Annual Minnesota Quilters Quilt Show.  I’ve taught there in the past and have had a great time. I always enjoy my visits to Minnesota!

I’ll be teaching

2-Day Patchwork Illusions

Christmas Cube

Celtic Pieced Illusions

The show is always wonderful and I can’t wait to see the vendors! If you are a blog reader, be sure to say hello!

Yup, that’s right. Hollywood, right here in Tennessee!

Last month, the new Hannah Montana movie was shooting in our town. 

When we moved here 18 years ago, we fell in love with the southern charm, the rolling hills and our small town. Our town has a traditional courthouse square, with stores surrounding it. Part of the film was shot around our courthouse and the square.

 Our Courthouse Square

I decided to wander into town several times during the filming. Nope, I was not interested in spotting Miley Cryus or in getting her autograph. However, I was very interested in seeing a major motion picture being filmed!

After arriving on the set, which included several city blocks, I stationed myself to watch the action. When I arrived, many of the extras were on their marks, waiting for their cue.

  Extras on their “marks”

I guess the scene included rain, since the prop crew kept wetting down the street. It was 85 degrees, so the water was evaporating almost as soon as they put it down.

 Oh looked, it rained!

It was interesting to see the “new” businesses that appeared for the movie. Apparently, we needed an Italian restaurant, a shoe store, a music store, a hardware store and a real estate office downtown. While we really do have all these things in our town, it would be nice to have them all together just off the square. I had to take a photo for our “Disney downtown.” Too bad it is not real.

 Disney Downtown

It was fascinating to watch all the activity.

  Setting up a shot

We can’t wait to see the movie next year. It will be fun to see our hometown on the big screen.

My husband Rick and I have been working on some video clips for our web page and for You-Tube. He is my resident “geek” and helped me put everything together.  (Actually, he did most of it!)  Currently, we have three clips on our web page.

Piecing tips and illusion tricks from my book: Celtic Pieced Illusions.   Click here to view on YouTube!

More Illusion tricks and piecing tips from my book:  3-D Fun with Pandora’s Box.  Click here to view on YouTube!

Piecing tips and the Illusion of Transparency from my pattern: Transparent Stars .  View on our website.

I’m looking forward to my visit with Quilter’s Guild of Indianapolis tomorrow and Friday.

I’ll be presenting my “Quilts of Illusion” lecture on Thursday evening.

On Friday, I’ll be teaching my “Patchwork Illusions” class.

See everyone soon!

Value can make or break a quilt. The right value can make a quilt shine and the wrong values will make the quilt look flat. It is one of the most important parts of selecting fabrics.

You may be asking yourself, “I know it’s important, but what is value?” Value is the lightness and darkness of a fabric, not how much you paid for it at the store!

Many quilters are afraid of value. They don’t know whether a fabric is light, medium or dark. It may seem confusing, but it does not have to be. There are a few tricks and tips that can help you determine the value of a fabric.

HOW TO SELECT VALUE

Remember; the value of the fabric is the lightness or the darkness of that fabric. Many times the value of the fabric is relative to its neighboring fabrics. This demonstration may help you understand how value is determined.

When this fabric is viewed alone, it looks light.

However, when lighter fabrics are placed next to it, it looks darker.

When very dark fabrics are laid next to it. The fabric looks lighter again.

You can see how a fabric’s neighbors can influence its value.

Some fabrics will always be a light or a dark. For example,  off-white fabrics are light and very dark fabrics are dark, no matter what fabric surrounds them.

As you can see, the value of a fabric depends on the fabric that surrounds it and it’s own lightness or darkness.

VALUE TOOL

There is a tool that is helpful in determining the value of a fabric. A value finder is a tool that takes away the color of the fabric and shows the lightness or darkness of a fabric. It is as if the fabric was photocopied and the color was removed.

The red value tool will work on all colors of fabric, except red. When you are determining the value of red fabrics, use the green value tool. The green value tool will work on all colors of fabric, except green. When you are determining the value of green fabrics, use the red value tool. Consequently, you will need both the red and the green value finders as you work with different fabrics.

If you have a multi-colored fabric, overlap the tools and use them together. When placed together, they create a brownish color and this will work on almost every color of fabric. You may find using both tools together a bit dark, but you will still be able to see through them.

To use the value tool: Select several fabrics whose values puzzle you. Place them next to each other or slightly overlap them. Put the tool up to your eyes and look through the tool. The fabric should appear light or dark, almost black or white. You can now tell if the fabric’s value is light or dark.

 Fabric viewed without a value tool

Viewing fabric with value tool

Some quilters have trouble using a value tool; usually when this happens, they are not using it correctly. They are laying the value finder on the fabric instead of putting it up to their eyes. To work correctly, the tool must be put up to your eyes and looked through. If, in the past, you have trouble with value finders, give this a try.

After learning how and why to use a value tool, it will become a very important part of your quilting tools. It is invaluable in distinguishing a fabric’s value.

Today, I was writing an email to my Aunt Vonnie.  She has sewn all her life, but is starting to learn to piece and quilt. I’m having so much fun helping her.

As a “seasoned” quilter, there are just things I take for granted. Chatting with my aunt helps me to remember these things.

For example, a Fat Quarter. I throw this term around and realized not everyone knows what a Fat Quarter is and why we like them.

A 1/4 yard is normally 9″ x 44″”. As a quilter, this is not a very useful piece of fabric. A Fat Quarter is better.

A Fat Quarter is a piece of fabric that is 18″ x 22″. To make one, cut a 1/2 yard of fabric (18″ x 44″), cut this piece of fabric in half. This makes a Fat Quarter, 18″ x 22″.   (I keep a list of Common Yardage cuts on my website.)

I recently sent my Aunt Fat Quarter bundles of my Gilded Greenery fabric.

I was explaining that this fabric is a basic. That means it is a co-ordinate, it “goes with” fabrics with more texture. For example, here is a Variable Star with Gilded Greenery in the background and Blank Quilting’s Chelsea collection in the Star.

By placing the Gilded Greenery fabric in the background, the more textured Chelsea fabric is allowed to ”pop”.

This contrast or difference in value is important. It lets each part of the block be seen. If the values are too close together the parts of the star and background will blend together. I often use this trick in my quilts. I like to see a strong contrast between parts of my designs.

In the block below, the value of the background and the star points are close to each other. The patches blend into each other.

Here is the Variable Star block with stronger contrast, set into a quilt. I’ve played with the coloring. Each background is the Gilded Greenery collection and each star is made from Chelsea. Notice how the background “pops” the star pattern. The different colored backgrounds also add a secondary design to the quilt.

 While the colors are beautiful, it is really value that is doing all the work. I like to say, in my quilts, “Value does all the work and color gets all the credit.” A Value Lesson can be found on my website.

I’m so excited!  My quilt, First Light Log Cabin is featured in the July/August issue of Mark Lipinski’s Quilter’s Home.  (I just love Mark and I love this magazine! His blog is fantastic!)

This quilt is fast and is so much fun to make!

First Light Log Cabin is made with my Shade Cascade fabric. The quilt uses the colors Iris, Blossom and Pumpkin.

 This fabric is available on our web page or at your local quilt shop.

Another beautiful day in Portland, Oregon, so I decided to walk to the Convention Center. Along the way, I spotted this art installation in the lobby of a building. I don’t remember the name of the building, but I certainly remembered this artwork.   .    .   interesting inspiration for a quilt!

Once in the Blank Quilting booth, we had a few minutes to say hello to each other and get ready for our day. Here is our Vice-President, Jeremy Jeffries with two of our sales reps, Kathy Hewitt and Cathy McLees. My buddy (and AMAZING sales rep) Cheryl Aldrich is sitting in the table in the background.

During a break, I visied the Handi Quilter booth. This is the creator of the first portable home machine quilting frame, and these are amazing quilting machines.

I had to try my hand at it!!

Headed back to the booth, I ran into this lovely shop owner and was admiring her shirt. She was kind enough to pose for a photo.

I don’t know about you, but I see a very cool optical illusion quilt in this shirt!!

During lunch, I spotted this arrangement on a table outside Starbucks.  (Okay, I didn’t eat lunch that day, I had a latta!)

I thought it was interesting and took a close-up.

After three days of Quilt Market, my mind is full of inspiration and my heart is full with the new (and old) friends I’ve been with. Back at the hotel, I noticed this stained glass in one of the restaurants.

Now it is time to pack and head back home, I can’t wait to get into my studio!

Quilt Market started on Friday. The weather was perfect and the skies were clear. From our hotel, we had a beautiful view of Mt. St. Helen AND Mt. Hood. It is rare to see both so well. It was a good start for Market.

Mt. St. Helen

 Mt. Hood

Since the weather was so perfect, I decided to walk to and from the Convention Center, about a 4-5 block walk. As I walked, I took note of the scenery.

The fence and the trees created a nice perspective view. On closer look, the flowers made an interesting scene, against the wrought iron fence.

A few blocks away, the spire of the Oregon Convention Center.

A close-up.

 Once on the Show floor, I was able to meet many shop owners and Vendors.

Janet Rice-Bredin from Bontanical Art Quilts was only a few booths away from our Blank Quilting booth. We noticed her beautiful booth and her friendly personality at once. (You can read her blog at http://janetricebredin.blogspot.com/)

We loved her patterns and her placement of color.

On closer look- Allthe fabrics were from Blank!

She loved our fabrics and used Gilded Greenery, Splash, Essence, Bali Rain, Floret and many other of our lines in her patterns!

Gilded Greenery by Karen Combs for Blank Quilting

Essence by Karen Combs for Blank Quilting

 Bali Rain by Blank Quilting

More Market news tomorrow!

I’ve just returned from Spring Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon. This Market is like every Market I’ve ever attended:  exciting, inspiring and exhausting! There is nothing like it!  I plan to post photos and thoughts over the next few days.  .  .

I left for Portland last Tuesday. Alarm was set for 2:45am in order to make a 6am flight. There is just something WRONG with getting up for the day at 2:45am!!

After flying most of the morning and a significant time change, I arrived in Portland at 1pm. Due to misplaced luggage and and meeting up with the other members of the group, it was 3pm before we arrived at the hotel. I could not wait to get into my room, unpack, freshen up and get something to eat!

The view from my room was beautiful. It was a “city” view.

 We spent the remaining few hours getting ready for set-up the next day and I could not wait to get some sleep!

On Wednesday, we set-up the booth and prepared for Sample Spree and Schoolhouse. This is a photo of the booth after many hours of set-up!

Thursday or Schoolhouse/Sample Spree day is always a long, but exciting. We finished setting up the booth during the morning, presented four Schoolhouse presentations during afternoon and set-up and worked Sample Spree during the evening. By last count, it was an 18 hour work day!

 Here we have people coming in for my “Creating Illusions in Quilts” Schoolhouse.

I showed a slide show and a trunk show at this Schoolhouse.

 I just LOVE being with quilters! They are the best! Just look at these smiles! (For all of you in my Schoolhouse - I TOLD you that you would be in my Blog!) 

 I enjoyed all of our Schoolhouse presentations and met many wonderful people.

After cleaning up from Schoolhouse and hauling many, many boxes to Sample Spree, we set up our tables.

 It is hard to picture, but this HUGE room is filled with tables and right after this photo was taken was filled with shop owners -  ready to buy! Sample Spree is open from 8-10pm.

Back at the hotel, it is midnight and we finished setting up the booth, Schoolhouse and Sample Spree. Tomorrow, the show opens and I can’t wait.

 More Market news and photos tomorrow!

I’ve been working like crazy, getting ready for Market and my upcoming trips in June. This afternoon, I decided to take a break and sit on our front porch.

 The weather was perfect, some sun, some clouds and 75 degrees. We just had rain, so everything was green and the air was crystal clear. As I looked into the distance, it view was beautiful.

While sitting and reading, I snapped this photo of the ferns. I love the play of light and dark in the palm fronds.

This week, I planted some lavender in our front flower boxes. They smell great. They must be happy, I see some flowers.

Again, I love the play of color lavender and green with the white fence and the play of shapes; lavender against the straight fence.

 On the back porch, I have pots of herbs; sage, thyme, basal, dill and rosemary. Two tomato plants are waiting to be planted in our small garden on the hill.  After 5″ of rain two days ago, the ground is still a bit muddy. . .perhaps in a day or so.

I love having these herbs right off the kitchen. There is nothing like fresh basal with garden tomatoes, fresh rosemary with salmon, baby carrots with a hint of dill. . .yum!

Interesting where a cold, gray day can lead! 

I started this quilt several months ago when it was cold, wet and dreary outside. I wished for summer and let that inspiration lead me. The quilt, Summer Dream was the result. (Posted in “gloomy outside, cheery inside“  and  “the quilt glows“)

I just got the quilt back from my Terry, my Long-Arm quilter and she did a fantastic job!  (Terry Dramstad from Quilts, Ink. in Cooperstown, North Dakota)

I used my Shade Cascade fabrics for perfect shading from light to dark. The shading gives the quilt a beautiful illusion of depth and movement. The colors I used are Sky, Glow and Pansy.

The pattern is now on my website. . . You never know where inspiration will lead. I wonder what is next?

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day in Tennessee. We decided to spend Sunday afternoon riding with friends. Who could resist the call of the road, the sunny weather and the Tennessee landscape!

Rick and our friend Ross, getting ready to roll!

We took off, Rick and I are at the back of the pack. Perfect for seeing the open road, taking pictures and seeing our friends in front of us!

Our part of Tennessee is filled with rolling hills with beautiful overlooks,

hidden lakes,

fields ready to be planted (you can see the some of our hills in the distance)

and lovely creeks.

Yesterday was just the break we needed. . .now it is back to work!

It has been an interesting few days.

My computer started acting funny.  This is unusual, since this workhorse has not given me a moment of trouble for the past 3 years I owned it.

Long story, short, I turned it off, waited 5 minutes and turned it back on. The instant power hit the computer, a fireball shot out of the back of it!

Okay, it was not this bad, but I thought it was!

My husband, Rick is a computer technician. He diagnosed it as a “dead shot” and guessed the power supply took the hit. We spent the morning driving to the computer store and purchased a new power supply.

Of course, my biggest fear was my information on the computer. Since this computer runs my business, this information needs to be backed up constantly.

Rick has solved that problem. He remotely backs up all our computers to a separate server. This happens several times a day and during the night. The server is also backed up on a separate hard drive. All in all, our information is backed up on three separate places every day.

Is this excessive? No way! I have lost information in a hard drive crash in the past and I never want that to happen again. Rick has solved that. Once we got home, Rick opened up my computer tower  and replaced the power supply.

After a few tense moments, we powered up the computer and all was well. All information was intact and the computer is fine.  Whew!

Now I’m off to back up my laptop!

As a traveling teacher, packing and unpacking are part of my job. As soon as one trip is over, another is upcoming. For the few weeks, I’ve been making lists and packing for Spring Market. Everything has to be shipped tomorrow, so I’m getting down to the wire.

This year Spring Market will be held in Portland, Oregon. It is a beautiful city.  It has a population of over 2 million residents. The city covers 130 miles and is listed as the cleanest city in the U.S. Companies such as Nike, Adidas and Intel fuel the local economy.  Portland is located an hour from the Pacific Ocean and is close to Mount Hood. (Check out the link for the Mount Hood web cam!)

There is always lots to do, to prepare for Market. I’ll be doing two Schoolhouse Sessions for Blank Quilting: Secrets of the Selvage and Creating Quilts of Illusion.

I will debut new colors in my Gilded Greenery collection.

And my new collection called Nami will also debut.

Often I am asked, “How do you design fabric?” Sometimes I am inspired by a concept, sometimes a texture, sometimes by a need I see as a quilter. Many different things inspire my fabric and quilt designs.

For Nami, I was inspired by antique and traditional Asian textures. To give the collection a clean, yet traditional feel, I used the combinations of indigo/white, black/white, red/white and red/black.

In order to have designs that worked well together, I selected curvilinear designs and geometric designs. These play well off each other and can be used together in a quilt.

The three curvilinear designs are:

The floral designs are inspired from traditional Asian textures. The wave design is inspired from an antique kimono texture.

The three linear designs are:

Each of these designs were directly inspired by traditional Sashiko quilting patterns. In the third design, the stitching lines show.

What is Sashiko?
Early 18th Century, the wives of Japanese farmers, fishermen and lumberjacks made warm garments by stitching     two pieces of heavy fabric together. They used fine running stitches throughout the entire garment. At first, the    stitching was used for reinforcing and repairing damaged fabrics but later became more decorative. The cotton fabric was dyed very dark blue with the root of a native plant. We know this color as indigo.

By the end of the century, this particular style of stitchery was known as “SASHIKO”. Around the late 19th Century, sashiko appeared in cities. The style was adopted for warmth but the stitching designs became more elaborate.

I created this kimono quilt as a free project giveaway for this collection. Be sure to ask for your shops to order Nami and ask for the free project sheet.

 I also played with Nami and Gilded Greenery in this quilt, Celtic Vision from my book, Celtic Pieced Illusions.

 I used the Cinnamon and Saffron colorways from Gilded Greenery and three textures Nami in this quilt. I think it is an amazing combination!

From time to time, I thought I would mention some of my favorite quilt shops, new quilt shops or shops that would make a good “mini shop hop.”

I don’t know about you, but I love finding a new quilt shop! I just heard about one in Cullman, Alabama:

Simple Pleasures Florist and Quilt Shop

1605 3rd St Ne
Cullman, AL 35055
(256) 734-5016

This is a photo of their beautiful display of Splash and Lava from Blank Quilting.

Cullman is a fun little town in northern Alabama. It has a large flea market, weekly farmer’s market and on May 17th, is Strawberry Day.  Yum!

While in Cullman, don’t miss the Sewing Gallery, another great quilt shop!

 

 Road trip anyone??

I enjoyed my time in the Denver area. While there, I drove from Denver to Boulder to visit the Celestial Seasonings plant. The view as I drove towards Boulder was beautiful.

As I took this photo, I noticed the ground in front of me was “moving.” As I looked closer, I saw dozens, if not scores of prairie dogs!

I love tea, so I was excited to visit Celestial Seasonings.

They offer a factory tour, so I was off to the Tour Center to book my place in line. The tour was fascinating! We saw how the tea was mixed and packaged. It all happens at this plant. The entire factory smelled wonderful!

After the tour, I visited the Tea Shop and bought lots of tea.  My favorites: Sleepytime, Mandarin Orange Spice and Goji Berry Pomegranate.  Yum!

Denver is a beautiful town. We took some amazing photos!

We were getting hungry, so we decided to have High Tea and the famous Brown Palace Hotel.

It is a beautiful building, built in the 1880’s.

The stained glass ceiling was amazing. Looks like a quilt!

We have a lovely tea, just look at this beautiful plate.

Last stop, the Molly Brown House.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown movie was my favorite as a child. I just had to visit her home.

 The house was closed, but we took lots of photos.

The house is a Queen Ann style and the gingerbread was amazing!

I played with my camera and was able to take a photo of the house in sepia. Looks like the photo was taken 100 years ago! (Can you see me on the stairs?)

While in Denver, I spent some time with my friend, Barbie and her daughter, Courtney. I’ve known Barbie for years and recently she and Courtney have moved to the Denver area.  I was exited to see them! We had a wonderful time, visiting some sights in and around Denver.

I fully believe in “filling the well”, or in other words, take time for yourself and fill your mind with inspiring people, places and things.  We decided to spend time time at the Denver Art Museum. Our first stop, the gift shop:

We found these cool woven place mats.

Some beautiful glass coasters.

I loved the light coming through these vases.

We viewed the new Gee’s Bend Quilts exhibit, an Impressionist exhibit and a small Amish quilt exhibit.

Next, off to walk through downtown Denver. At the capital building, we spotted this engraving, “One Mile Above Sea Level.” Well, we had to get a photo together, a mile high.

There are many sculptures around the city. We found this giant bear peering into the convention center.

More on our visit in my next post!

I’m in Denver, Colorado, having a wonderful time with the Arapaho County Quilters and the Columbine Quilters Guild.

The landscape is beautiful.

Travel is always interesting, you never know what you will see. When I pulled into the hotel parking lot after class, this is what I saw!

Just can’t wait to get on the road again!

All the electronics are charges, quilts are packed, workshop supplies have been shipped, clothes are washed and waiting to be packed and I’m headed back on the road. For the next 11 days, I’ll travel across the country, teaching and lecturing.

My first visit is with the Arapahoe County Quilters and the Columbine Quilt Guild, both in the Denver area.  Thursday night, my lecture at the Arapahoe guild is on  “Quilts of Illusion.”

On Friday, my class is a “Patchwork Illusions”, an easy way to create amazing 3-D quilts.

Next, a visit to the Columbine Quilt Guild. On Saturday, the hands-on workshop will be on the illusion of transparency. This is a fun illusion that uses color to create the illusion of transparency.  

My lecture will also be on Transparency. I’ll show different ways to put this illusion into quilts and will show many different quilts of illusion.

If you are in the area, be sure to stop by and say hello!

My next stop is a cross country flight home, hop in my car and drive to Johnson City, Tennessee for two classes at the Somewhere Sewing quilt shop.

The first class is Celtic Illusions is based on my book, Celtic Pieced Illusions. A fun way to create pieced Celtic quilts.

Christmas Cube is a beautiful 3-D cube and is so fun to create!

While I’m traveling, I will also be starting my “Combing Through Your Scraps”, online class at Quilt University.  For complete information, visit Quilt University.com.

What a wonderful time we had in Virginia! We loved seeing Jamestown and Williamsburg.

My visit to the Colonial Piecemakers was fantastic! We had a wonderful time at the workshops and lecture! What a fun group.

Here they are, hard at work, piecing cubes.

While everyone was working, I noticed Mary’s jacket. She had a beautiful mola on the back of it and had used batiks with it. The jacket was stunning and what a clever way to use the Mola she received from Panama.

The class was held in a beautiful church building. The rafters were open. With the sun shining in, I noticed a lovely design. Hmm, maybe a new quilt or quilting design??

Here are the cubes made in class, all together on a design wall. Pretty cool!

We have a fantastic time!

Williamsburg has always appealed to me on many levels. I love the historical nature of Colonial Williamsburg. I love the quaintness of the restored town. Everywhere I look is a charming scene.

As a quilter, this also appeals to me. I love the geometrical nature of Williamsburg. The fence along  this garden.

As I travel, I am always looking for inspiration for my quilt and fabric designs.

The lines of a gazebo and color play of a bright yellow against the white of the gazebo and the fence show me color and line combinations.

The straight line of a chimney, the angle of a roof and the perspective inspire me.

The repeating line of a fence against the octagon building intrigue me.

In this close-up, I find inspiration for a quilting design.

Everything where I look is inspiration for a quilt. This design along the edge of the roof would be another amazing quilting pattern.

This lamp has an interesting design that wraps around the lamp. I also enjoy seeing the play of light against dark in this photo.

I love taking photos through windows. This photo has an interesting grid pattern and a beautiful scene beyond the window.

In this courtyard, I noticed the shape of the buildings.

At the end of the building was a shed. At closer look, I noticed the patina of the roof.

At even closer look, I noticed the shape of the roof shakes as they covered the roof.

Yesterday, we woke up before 3am, left the house at 4am and caught a 6am flight to Virginia. I’m looking forward to teaching at the Colonial Piecemakers on Friday and Saturday. However, Rick and I decided to go a few days early and do some touring before my classes.

Our first stop was the Jamestown Settlement, first permanent settlement on America, 1608. It is on the banks of the James River.

While there, we watched some of the archaeological digs and met the “Chicken Lady.”

Here is a recreated barrack. Rick was interested in the construction.

Late in the afternoon, we went to Colonial Williamsburg. As we arrived, a fife and drum corp was marching down the street.

We also saw a new-born lamb.

All in all, Colonial Williamsburg is a magical place.

More in a bit.  .  .

We live south of Nashville, near the city of Columbia, Tennessee. This is a beautiful part of Tennessee with its rolling hills and beautiful scenery.

Columbia is the “home town” of our 11th president, James K. Polk.

This area is home to many antebellum mansions and historical sites.

Columbia is also known for “Mule Day.” During the 1st week in April, our town swells in size with the addition of 200,000 visitors from around the world.

What is Mule Day?

“Mule Day” in Columbia, Tennessee has been a tradition since around 1840, when the first Monday in April brought huge crowds to the animal livestock show and Mule Day Market (originally called ‘Breeder’s Day’).

Mules were such a big business in Maury County, that at one time, the Columbia Mule Day had the distinction of being one of the largest livestock markets in the world.

Mule Day, with its festive air eventually evolved into what is now an almost week-long celebration of the mule. Thousands of visitors come to Columbia to take part in the numerous activities ranging from working mule and best of breed events, to horse shows, arts and crafts booths, and a flea market. The smell of barbecue specialties and homemade pies blends with the smoky aroma of roasted corn and funnel cake sweetness.

It’s springtime in Tennessee.  .  . love it!