June Newsletter

First, an important note regarding the links on these pages. Clicking on them will open new, separate windows. Bookmark the ones you would like to visit again, but then be sure to close each one before clicking on the next. Too many open windows can cause your computer to slow down and some older computer systems to crash.

Note to New Computer Users: You will recognize the links by the fact that each one is underlined.

I hope you enjoy this month's issue and look forward to receiving your comments.

Our News

Starbursts and Diamonds Quilt Pattern

We were very excited to be asked by Michele Crawford of Sullivans International to make our pattern with their beautiful new Versatiles fabric line - and even more excited that it was displayed in their booth at the International Quilt Market held in Pittsburgh in May. I loved working with those fabrics! Be sure to click on the link above and see them for yourselves. - Michele is a full-time designer of quilt, needlework, and craft patterns. Look for a feature on her in an upcoming newsletter.

The effects fabrics have on quilt patterns are fascinating. By changing them, a quilt pattern achieves an entirely different look and feel as you can see in the samples below.

I pieced the original quilt in solid, jewel tones and paper pieced the new version for Sullivans in their prints. They had several wonderful varieties in each colour. I made up samples in each and happily mixed and matched for a day and a half before making my final choices. It would have been quite easy to spend a week on that alone, but there was a deadline to consider so I finally had to settle on one. The others would have been wonderful, too. 

For a larger view of the Sullivans Starburst and Diamonds, click here.
Click  Back in your browser to return to this page.
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Part two of my article on quilt newsletters appears in the current issue of The Professional Quilter Magazine. It is always exciting to see one's work in print!
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We are now accepting Ads

In order to keep this newsletter free and to help pay for it, we are now offering space for advertisements for products, books, and services related to quilting, needlepoint, and cross stitch. For details, please click the following URL. Please pass it on to anyone who may be interested. http://mariamichaelsdesigns.com/newsletterads.htm
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We are setting up to accept Credit Card Payments

We have begun using the services of 2Checkout (2CO) for credit card payments.

2CO currently accepts: VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover/Novus, Diners Club, and JCB. They also support all  derivatives of these brands and accept electronic check drafts as well. 2CO provides a secure,  SSL-encrypted order page, which guarantees the security of personal and payment information.

2CO will be responsible for credit card and e-check purchases and the products will be sold and delivered, as usual, by Maria Michaels Designs.

I will be setting it up in daily increments and should have it completely ready by the end of the month.

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Don't miss reading our next newsletters as they appear.
Look for our upcoming contest with a wonderful quilt book as a prize!

Featured Quilter

Meet quilter, quilt designer, and writer/publisher Kay Mackenzie, resident of Santa Cruz, California and owner of Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs. Kay has always felt artistic and creative, though she insists that she cannot sing, play music or draw stick figure as well as a first-grader. During her earlier years, she was so busy going to college and then working at two or three jobs that she did not have time to think about what she would then have called "a hobby." In her thirties she married, moved to central Ohio, and found, for the first time in her life, that she did  not have to work full time. This luxury gave her the time to try something artistic. She started by taking a class for folk-art painting at a local crafts shop. She states, “I liked it but I wasn't all that swell at it, and sitting alone painting wooden stuff  was a pretty solitary activity.” She jokes, "There was no folk-art painting guild with monthly meetings."

At about that same time, a quilt displayed in a fabric store caught her eye and  she says, “A light bulb went off in my head!” The quilt looked like a little picture she had at home and she realized suddenly, that quilts have patterns. “What a concept!” Kay thought as the idea of it occurred to her.

She then proceeded to "drive the store person crazy trying to figure out how much it would cost to sign up for the class and buy all of the fabric for the quilt. It seemed to come to about $80. Oh no, I thought, that's too much. What a laugh, thinking back on that! I had not yet caught the quilt pox. Wait until I tell you what the quilt was... a double wedding ring. It's a good thing I didn't try to take that class... not exactly a pattern for the absolute beginner.”

Instead, Kay bought a book she thinks was called “Small Quilts and Wall Quilts” which she no longer has. Her first quilt was  from that book - a log cabin wall hanging using construction paper templates, scissors, and the very basic sewing machine her mother-in-law had bought her. At first, she could not understand the quilting directions so she tied her quilt using perle cotton. She still has that log cabin quilt.

Lollipops, Candy Bars and Jujubes

Kay then learned about the quilt shop in town and discovered that the owner taught beginning quilting and appliqué. “I can still remember my eyes getting big at the very word. Ooh! I thought. Appliqué! I made my way to the shop, and ended up in a class of one and got a great introduction to hand piecing with templates, hand quilting, and a little appliqué.” One day a lady she had previously met saw her in the quilt shop. “Within one minute she was telling me that she would be taking me to the next guild meeting. I didn't know what it was all about but I said okay. The day of the meeting, a different lady called me up and said she lived around the corner from me and she would be picking me up. I hung up the phone and told my husband, ‘Somebody's coming to pick me up. I don't know who it is, but if a car stops outside the house, I'm going to get in it.’ That's about when the quilt pox took hold.” The quilt pox is something Kay first learned about when visiting Ohio's Holmes County, where  many of the Amish live. “Miller's Dry Goods had the famous sign up warning about the quilt pox and its contagion.

I was so pleased with my beginner's sampler quilt and with the social aspect of knowing other quilters, I really became interested. In fact, I took off like a jet engine. I didn't take a whole lot more classes right away, but I absorbed lots of books and quilting magazines, paid attention, and started an avalanche of projects. Along the way I got on to rotary cutting and got myself a Bernina.”

For years Kay made quilts for herself, for family members and as gifts for friends. She also made some to sell. “Even back then I was trying to make a profession of quilting.”

Kay has always been a “writerly” person and has been interested in desktop publishing since first hearing the term. She works part-time at a community college and has taken classes there in digital media where she learned the principles of professional typography and page design. To her surprise and delight, she found that using digital illustration enabled her to draw. “I can't draw with my hand, even a little bit, but the computer proved to be the tool I needed.”

"One day, driving in the car, the idea came to me. I could combine my love for quilting with my interest in writing and digital illustration, I could get into the professional side of quilting, and I could prepare for retiring from the day job! It was a convergence and a fever in the brain that persists to this day. I set out right away, setting up a company and creating my first product. Anyone who asks, I tell them I wouldn't call it a mountain of work... it's five mountains of work! I fill every position in the company, from designer to quilt maker to author to techie to bookkeeper to fulfillment department to web mistress.”

Puppy Doodles

"Digital illustration is probably not for everybody, but I took to it. I use Adobe Illustrator®, starting with what we did in class and then learning a lot more from reading the manual, using the program, reading forums, etc. It helps me create patterns and illustrations that I could never create any other way. All of the illustrations in my books are mine, no clip art. I also use Illustrator sometimes to design quilts, and it's perfect for creating graceful curves for appliqué designs." Kay also did a few of the illustrations for the book, “The Big Splat, or How Our Moon Came to Be” published by Wiley & Sons and written by her science journalist husband, Dana Mackenzie. In 1996, Kaye entered the Keepsake Quilting Challenge and received an Honorable Mention. Her quilt appeared in their catalogue. She has won other awards as well: Best of Class in miniatures, ribbons from shows such as the Marin Quilt & Needle Arts Show Road to California, and Viewer's Choice in her own guild's show. “They all mean so much to me and they're stuck up on the wall in my studio. The neighbors thought they were dog

show ribbons for years. LOL.” Recently she has exhibited in the Pacific International Quilt Festival and while she continues to exhibit, she concentrates on writing and publishing.

Kay says she works very hard at communicating with her readers. “The comment I treasure most from shop owners and quilters is when they tell me that one of the things that stands out about my books is that they are so clearly written.”

Visit Kay¹s  Quilt Puppy  site to see the projects in her books and also her personal gallery of quilts, some of which are her original designs while others are her adaptations of other patterns. Her own quilt patterns have whimsical and delightful names: "Poodlepalooza, Puppy Doodles, Catty Corner, and I'd Rather Be Quilting" are a few examples. Two are pictured to the left above.
                    
Kay's two books are featured below. She is currently working on her next one, “Teapots to Appliqué” which will have 16 different teapot designs. Each design can be made with our personal, favourite appliqué techniques. However, Kay does plan to include her own tips for hand appliqué which most closely resembles traditional needle-turn. She shares one of her teapot patterns on her site. Be sure to see "Teapot Vase" aka "Broke the Lid," a delightful, free pattern which will give you a preview of what is to come.

Quilt Books

	In a Twinkle: Youthful Quilt Designs by Kay Mackenzie This book includes patterns for 5 quilt tops using simple piecing and some easy appliqué plus detailed directions for a very easy form of machine appliqué using fusible interfacing. There are also directions for a quick flannel un-quilt. Children will love these patterns and adults will enjoy them as well.
	Dog Cabin: A Fast Fun Theme Quilt Project by Kay Mackenzie This quilt pattern book is a little different from the usual.. It is more like a road map for creating theme quilts using your own favorite novelty fabric as a starting point. The designs are flexible and variations can be endless. Each quilt will be unique. It is a very good book for beginners because it gives a lot of information on the basics of rotary cutting and chain piecing. More advanced quilters will enjoy this project too as a break from more fussy sewing. It really is fun and addictive making the blocks. There is also a dog biscuit and a guppy fish block that serve as an introduction to foundation piecing, plus instructions for making a "piano key" border using the "shrinking strips" technique. *Remember to support your local libraries and quilt shops.
Quilt Tools	6th Finger Stiletto by Tri-Sharp Sharon Darling has written an excellent product review of this handy tool in her weekly newsletter, Quilter's Review . Included is a list of places where it can be purchased. Click on the link to read about this stiletto. It will make a handy addition to your quilting and sewing tools.
	Miracle Fabric Sheets - Reviewed by Christine Thresh I just bought some new fabric printing sheets called Miracle Fabric Sheets. They are manufactured by the C. Jenkins Company which also makes BJS 2000 (Bubble Jet Set 2000). The sheets are 100% cotton, permanent press, 200 count fabric. They are heat reactive and very easy to use. You run them through your ink jet printer. Let them dry for a bit, then peel off the backing and iron them with a dry iron (no steam) then wash them in cold water for 1 minute. Dry them on a towel or use a blow dryer, then use them. So simple! (I suppose Bubble Jet Rinse 2000 liquid is cheaper and good when you are doing lots and lots of sheets.)

The C. Jenkins Company was started by a woman named Cathy Jenkins. She is the CEO and President. She started sewing neckties with a sewing machine from a J.C. Penny outlet, "piecing her vision together one stitch at a time." She began by selling neckties door to door.

Questions and Answers

Answers are provided by our Answer Team which is made up of quilters Hancey Hansen, Maria Hrabovsky, Frances Moore, Elaine Phillips, and Edna Summers.  

I am doing large scrolling on a baby quilt but the quilt does not want to move smoothly (feed-dogs are down.)  I seem to be fighting to move the quilt. Is there a secret to moving the fabric?  Back to front, front to back, or side to side? Where should I start quilting?

A: Our reply mentioned using a product named "The Slider" and we promised to include more information on it. We wrote to the manufacturers and received the following information:

"This product is a sheet of pure Teflon and attaches to the sewing machine bed with Scotch tape. There is a pre-punched hole for the needle. The Slider eliminates the dreaded "drag." Instead of using shoulder muscles and palms, you just use fingertips, as the fabric sandwich just "floats" on the teflon. Approximate size:  8 X 11 inches. It retails for $20.

Ordering is available at this e-mail address:  Quiltpack@aol.com .
Quilt shops can order from Checker...# FMS-12

Pat LaPierre [machine quilter and developer of the free-motion SLIDER]
LaPierre Studio
11514 E Tamiami
Naples FL 34113
Do you have questions you would like answered in our newsletter? If so, email them to Maria.

Quilting Sites 

The Quilt Pattern Patch is a new List on Yahoo! Groups. It is a group for everyone who would like to learn about what is new in quilting. Members are a combination of quilters and people in the quilt business. New patterns and specialized quilts are introduced, questions are answered, quilt related news is discussed, and new patterns are introduced. Judging by the rapidly growing subscriptions numbers, it is proving to be quite popular. Sign in and enjoy the conversations and the quilt news.

Do you have a good quilt site you would like to see featured here? Send me the URL and a few sentences telling me why you like and recommend it.

Free Pattern Winner!

Congratulations to Theresa - terrywyckockoff@.................  and  parechuk@............., our free pattern winners for the months of May and June.

You may have your choice of any pattern on our site that is available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Please send me your name and pattern choice and your pattern will be emailed to you.

Please note: Winners have until the next newsletter is published to claim their free patterns. Free pattern draws are awarded monthly even though the number of newsletters published varies from 8 to 12 issues yearly. (Our Santa's Visit Blocks of the Month counts as three separate patterns.)

Humour 

Paper Piecers - take this test for patience and tenacity:

Print out on very  lightweight paper, a 3 inch (finished) paper pieced quilt block with at least 19 pieces in the block.
Now start out with the "know it all" attitude of not really needing to pay too much attention ... after all, you've made hundreds of paper pieced blocks and you're sure you know the process.
After putting almost half of the block together, you realize that the sequence you disregarded was essential...soooooo...you gently rip out parts of seams hoping you can make the block without having to take out the entire seam of all of the pieces you have finished.
The paper is slightly torn in spots, but you doggedly continue to reconstruct.
Along the way you sew at least one piece with the wrong side of the fabric showing, and one piece that didn't quite cover the numbered piece.
The completed little square is just slightly askew due to the fact that one of  the torn paper seams shifted just a little, but you dig in and reconstruct the little *!'%!&*!

Draw a circle around the numbers of the actions you have performed:

1. Shouted words that would make a longshoreman cringe.
2. Thrown the seam ripper across the room at least twice.
3. Kicked the legs of your sewing machine chair, instead of kicking the cat/dog.
4. Fed the family cheerios for Sunday dinner.
5. Finished an entire jumbo bag of M&Ms.

If you haven't circled any numbers you win the Mother Theresa Gold Cup.
If you circled  3 out of the 5, you get another not so jumbo bag of M&Ms.
If you circled all of the numbers call me and we'll have lunch, my treat.

- by Jean Laino
Amherst, Mass.

Thoughts 

Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered,
but a maze of passages, through which we must seek our way, lost and confused,
now and again checked in a blind alley.

But always, if we have faith, a door will open for us,
not perhaps one that we ourselves would ever have thought of,
but one that will ultimately prove good for us.

--A. J. Cronin

Newsletter Archives

A complete archive of previous newsletters is being prepared. Here is a partial list for now. If you are new to our newsletters, I highly recommend reading the previous ones.

April 2004
March 2004
January-February 2004
December 2003
November 2003
September 2003 

Suggestions?

Your questions, suggestions, wishes, and recommendations are welcomed. Please email them to us.

Errors?

Did you spot an error in this newsletter - a misspelled word, a typo, a broken link, or any others? If so, please report it and it will be corrected.

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