Dana helped me make a little video to introduce my new pattern.

Available on the Patterns page at kaymackenzie.com.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Goin’ to Tehachapi

Filed Under Quilt shows | Comments Off on Goin’ to Tehachapi

This weekend I’m off to the Tehachapi Mountain Quilters Show.

I just love saying “Tehachapi.” I’ve never been there before, and I always enjoy visiting new places. According to the Chamber of Commerce, “The beautiful Tehachapi Valley is an oasis located in the mountains between the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert, offering a cool haven from the arid desert heat and the sprawling lowlands of the valley.” I’m glad about the words cool and oasis. :)

If you’re in that area, I hope to see you there!

Don’t forget the Christmas in August free shipping special on selected items, through the end of this month.

Until next time,
Kay

The PayPal shopping cart that I use for my website doesn’t have the capability to issue coupons (argh). BUT, I can set the shipping to zero on individual items, and that represents a good amount of savings.


So that’s what I’ve done for my book A Merry Little Christmas to Appliqué, through the month of August 2013. Free shipping on this collection of Christmas-time designs in a variety of sizes that play nicely together! My tips for hand appliqué using freezer-paper templates are included, but of course you can use your own favorite method.


Just for good measure, Growing Hearts to Appliqué is also included in the special! Free shipping as well on this collection of 16 flowering heart blocks and the sampler quilt pattern.

Adding to the bargain-ness of it all, the current web special is that any book purchase gets you a free copy of the pattern book for Home: A Heartfelt Nap Quilt. You don’t even put it in the shopping cart; it’ll just come right along when you order any other book!


Also worth mentioning is that there’s free shipping all the time on hand and machine needles.

That’s a lot of free shipping goodness!

This is an unadvertised special, just for you blog readers. You won’t see mention of it on the website. The special goes through August 31, 2013.

Happy Christmas in August!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Congratulations go to Kathy Lancaster! She came up the winner of the Flourish on the Vine pattern pack! Kathy, I hope you enjoy this gorgeous project. More giveaway goodness next month, so stay tuned.

The quilt exhibit in Long Beach was fabulous, as always. After I put up the post mentioning that I was leaving for the show, I received this comment from Carli Heinrichs:

Hi Kay,

If you get to see the “O Canada” exhibit, you’ll have to check out my little ditty there, look for ‘Beach House Crazy Quilt.” I’d love to see a photo by someone I know out there in blog-land that may have come across my little part of the vast world of quilting. Send me a photo, I’d drool for that!

All the best,
Carli

Of course I sought out Carli’s entry and found it right away in the O Canada exhibit. So darling!

Thanks for dropping me the note, Carli!

The next appliqué quilt that made me stop and get out my camera:

Never Again...Again by Joan Dorsay

Strikingly beautiful against the black background.

A friend stopped by my booth and told me that she had seen a Christmas quilt by a Japanese quiltmaker that had made her brain full for the day. I neglected to ask her the name of it, and it took me a couple days to track it down, but when I found it, it was worth the wait. OMG. I’m not usually one for Daiwabo taupe (I just don’t live in the neutral world) but I’m telling you…

Christmas Song For You by Hiromi Yokota

This was the type of piece that had you standing there studying, taking in all of the precious detail.

Amazing.

When I uploaded my Long Beach photos to my ‘puter, I was dismayed to discover that I hadn’t captured the label for another one of the spectacular appliqué quilts. After some show program and internet research, I found it! The quilt photos are mine, but the label is from a different show, probably the Rosemont Festival.

Bird of Paradise by Connie Watkins

I just love the folk-art quality of this quilt.

It was the last International Quilt Festival in Long Beach. Next year the summer edition of Festival from Quilts, Inc., is moving to Portland, Oregon, and is rebranding itself as Quilt! Knit! Stitch!

I’m sorry to see it leave California. Portland is a loooong drive for me and I wouldn’t look forward to that. The fact that the show is reaching out to a broader base of stitchery-types is good, but it might dilute the number of attendees who are interested in appliqué. The jury is out on whether I’ll be there, as it was for many of my fellow vendors. What do you think?

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

The winner of the IQA Founders Award in Houston in 2011 was a masterpiece appliqué quilt by Kathy K. Wylie called Flourish on the Vine.

Flourish was also on the cover of the April/May 2012 issue of Quilters Newsletter, so you may have seen it there!

C&T Publishing has collaborated with Kathy to publish a pattern pack with full-size pattern sheets and complete instructions to make your own version of this graceful and sophisticated quilt.

They sent me a copy to share with my readers! Thanks C&T!

Kathy used a focus fabric to pull together the soft palette she had in mind. Inspired by wrought-iron work and a Bible verse, the quilt took two years to complete. The pattern has the quilt top divided into 12 sections for ease of completion. Suitable for experienced appliquérs who like luxurious, intricate details, the cover makes the point that it also has comprehensive instructions with template tips that make it approachable for ambitious beginners.

If you’d like to win a copy of the Flourish on the Vine pattern pack, please leave a comment here on this post before 7:00 p.m. on Friday, August 9.

Contest open to U.S. and Canada mailing addresses only. Do not reply to your email feed; leave your comment on this post on the blog on the internet.

Good luck to all, and thanks for reading All About Appliqué!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie