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[ Advice and Life Lessons ]

Quilt Shows

Before I recap my visit to a recent quilt show, I have to say… Island Batik, I just can’t quit you!

can't quit island batik

I made the hard decision to step away from the Ambassador program, but I am excited to see all the new fabric and fun projects from the 2023 team. You can meet all of them on the Island Batik blog.

2023 Island Batik Ambassadors

New Fabric

Designer Tammy Silvers, from Tamarinis, has a new collection from Island Batik called Emperor’s Treasure. She let me play with some of the digital scans and I love how my Favorite Stars pattern looks mocked up in purple and green! Would you choose the dark background or stick to the lighter one?

Favorite Stars with Island Batik Emperor's Treasure darkFavorite Stars with Island Batik Emperor's Treasure light

Join me over on Instagram tomorrow for a giveaway loop featuring this beautiful new fabric. The celebration starts at 9am Friday, January 27, 2023.

On the Road

I visited the Road 2 California show last week. I had a fabulous time taking classes from the incredible Claudia Pfeil and the delightful Daisy Aschehoug.  I practiced my free motion quilting with Claudia and even tried some yarn couching.

couching with claudia pfeil

Then, I learned how to design quilts in Adobe Illustrator with Daisy. Yippee, I can now make paper pieced designs with ease! And try some modern layouts with alternate grids and lots of negative space, woo-hoo!

adobe illustrator sample

 

There was so much inspiration at the quilt show. I loved how they hung quilts in the main hallway. There was plenty of seating on the 2nd floor so you could really get a good look at the quilts from both sides.

look up at Road 2 CA quilt show

I think my favorite category was the Abstract group. A member of my local group, Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild, brought home a ribbon. Congratulations Claire!

abstract quilts at Road 2 CA Floating Pyramids by Claire Victor

Frogger

Alas, I came back to real life and faced my current disaster project. In knitting, we call this phase of un-sewing “living in the frog pond,” because frogs say “Rippit, Rippit.” LOL. I need to dedicate at least an hour a day to ripping out all the free motion quilting on a customer quilt because I loaded the top wrong and there is a directional backing.

danger seam ripper at work

Hard lesson learned about double- and triple-checking placement before starting the longarm work! Luckily my customer is very patient and I will be back to stitching soon.

Isn’t the warning sign cute? That was a serendipitous discovery in Muppin.com‘s booth at the show!

**Linking up to Put Your Foot Down, hosted each week by Denise at For the Love of Geese.

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About Author

TrueBlueQuilts

Longarm Quilter, Pattern Designer, Teacher

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5 Comments

  1. So sorry about the directional fabric and long arm quilting. I recent heard a tip, from Pat Sloan. She staples a piece of paper to all her quilts tops and backs when she sends to her quilter so they know which side is the the top.

    After seeing your problem, I need to start doing that too. Good luck

    1. Yes, marking the top edge of both the top and the back are very helpful to the longarmer. I just need to slow down and pay attention. Lots of time to think about my mistake and repent!

  2. I feel your pain on the last photo! Been there done that. Did your client mark the top of both pieces? If not, they were at fault. It’s not always obvious to busy LA quilters. That warning sign is LOL! And the photos of RTC look like so much fun!

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