Quilt News

Maggie Ball

How wonderful is it to meet up with someone you have come to admire from what you’ve read on the internet? That’s what happened for me at Houston Quilt Market. Krause Publications author Maggie Ball of Dragonfly Quilts was at Market and our paths crossed several times, but it wasn’t until I returned home that I tied her together with her efforts to bring quilting and home industry to Mongolia, a project that I’d admired when I found it surfing the web.

Her new book is a treasure, Bargello Quilts with a Twist, and Maggie has also designed fabrics for David Textiles, in addition to traveling and teaching. I believe that I talked her into starting a blog – stay tuned!

Fuse It and Be Done!

Fuse It and Be Done! (co-authored by Barbara Campbell & Yolanda Fundora) is a primer to de-mystify the wonderful and intriguing world of fusibles for quilters, crafters, scrapbookers and all paper and fiber artists.

They fused in every way and on anything they could think of with all the fusible products and embellishments they could get their hands on and they want very much to show you how to do it too.

Available from the authors or Krause Publications.

C & T Publishing Blog

Quilters, don’t we all just *love* a behind the scenes peek and now C & T Publishing is giving us a peek into their world. Welcome to blogging C & T!

Fancywork & Fashion

I met Joan Hinds at Houston Quilt Market, 2007, and she impressed me so much for her creativity and professionalism. From her website Fancywork and Fashion, her newest pattern: Playfully Petite Fashions

Dress your dolls in the latest fashions on the market with this pattern for five mix-and-match garments. Each garment, including a Cross-over Bodice Dress, Skirt, Flared Top, Jeans, and a Baby Doll Top, was created to showcase doll-sized embroidery. Twelve machine embroidery designs, featuring Flowers, Hearts, and Butterflies, are found on the accompanying CD.

Formats included are ART, DST, EXP, HUS, JEF, PCS, PES, SEW, VIP/VP3, XXX.

Check out her patterns (with CD’s!) and her books for creative inspiration.

Martha Ann’s Quilt for Queen Victoria

Here’s Kyra E. Hicks’s newest book Martha Ann’s Quilt for Queen Victoria. Eighteen people gave this book a 5 star rating on Amazon.com! I consider that pretty impressive. She also has written Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook and an Amazon Short called The Liberian Flag Story & Love of Liberty Quilt. Her website is Black-threads.com and her blog is a great read.

Stars in the Meadow

Here is Stars in the Meadow by Judy Laquidara of Sunshine Quilts. She’s got some nice patterns and a book called Nine Patch Extravaganza published by AQS.

Stop by her blog, Patchwork Times, for some fun reading!

The Rest Is Easy

I have never seen so many gorgeous quilts on one web page – I can’t wait to see the book! Brenda Henning’s new book “The Rest Is Easy” uses her Triangulations CD (although you can make the quilts with traditional methods) to create the quilts in her book. They are all traffic stoppers. Here is Christmas Cactus from The Rest Is Easy.

Check out Bear Paw Productions for all of Brenda’s lovely creations.

Square In A Square Quilting Videos

I’ve always been partial to Jodi Barrows’ Square In a Square techniques. She puts on a good show at Quilt Market and now she puts on a good show right on her website. It looks like she’s figured out “patchwork perfection” and made it easy with her new Crosscut Rulers. Check out her video demonstration of the rulers, her new line of fabric, and her new book “Moving On With Diamonds”.

Penny Haren’s Pieced Applique

Penny Haren has spent years perfecting a new technique that turns the tables on traditional applique. Available soon from Landauer Corporation, her new book is sure to be as big a hit as her Schoolhouse Sessions were at Quilt Market.

Crazy Shortcut Quilts

Marguerita McManus and Sarah Raffuse announce their book, Crazy Shortcut Quilts. A quilt-as-you-go how-to for making crazy quilts from fat quarters and using the decorative stitches of the sewing machine to do the quilting.