I just got home from the Pioneer Quilt Guild show in Roseville, California. It was a lovely weekend and I got a nice surprise! Hanging in the show was a beautiful basket sampler quilt made using the designs in my Baskets to Appliqué.

What's in Your Basket? by Clareen Bolton

I read on the label that Clareen made this quilt during a class with Betty Kisbey at the Quilter’s Stash. The shop is closed now, but while it was open Betty used to teach appliqué using my patterns, which I appreciated so much. Thank you, Betty and Clareen!

Another quilt that grabbed me with strong magnetic attraction was one using my favorite pattern in the whole wide world, Fairmeadow by Jeana Kimball.

Fair Meadow in Lincoln by Clareen Bolton

And it turned out to be by the same quiltmaker, with the same teacher! Fun.

Until tomorrow, with the start of the 100 Blocks blog hop,

Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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I was delighted to be there, though, because the amazing Janice Whittington was one of the featured artists!

Jan Whittington

Jan’s daughter Shamara runs Second Chance Fabrics, a genius concern that rescues unused fabric out of quilters’ stashes and gives it a second chance! Jan helps out at the booth at shows, and mom and daughter have become buddies of mine.

Part of Jan’s display was a collection of Biology Quilts. Let me see if I can get the story straight. Jan’s husband Nathan, Shamara’s dad, is a high-school biology teacher. When they moved to a new building, the high ceilings made the room echo. Plus, the articulated cow skeleton couldn’t come along, so the space that had been dedicated to it in the new classroom was now bare. On top of that, the school administration sent down a decree that there could be no nails in the new walls.

Now you know what a quilter does with bare spaces and echoing halls. Jan immediately started on a series of quilts to go in that new classroom. The rebel in her came out. She went down there herself to put the nails in the walls. “They’re not MY boss,” she says LOL!

Here are some of the pieces in her amazing biology series.

Octopi for Nathan

Inspired by her husband’s many coastal class field trips.

The Bug Collection

The first quilt Jan made to help baffle the echoes.

Wee Beasties

My personal favorite. Now how many people do you know who’ve made a bacteria quilt?

Here’s another of Jan’s quilts that I just loved.

Aztec Rose

From the Aztec Rose Garden pattern by Colette Belt. Longarm quilted by Cynthia McGunigle of Mac Quilting, Fresno.

Beautiful pattern, beautiful colors, beautiful appliqué.

Well done Jan!

By Sunday the temperature had gone down to “only” 85. The local residents said they were grateful for the cool weather.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay

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At about 3:30 in the afternoon the hall went pitch dark. An “oooh” went up all around. A few seconds later the emergency lights same on, about one-eighth power. You could see to get around, but the quilts in the show and the wares in the booths were only dimly visible.

The convention center announcer came on the loudspeaker and informed us that the power had gone off.

Really?

A few minutes later, the voice of the cenvention center came back on and told us that the power outage was county-wide. Wow. That’s when we knew we were in for it.

The show attendees started to trickle away, because really, when you go to a quilt show it’s nice to see the quilts. We vendors hung around for awhile to see what was going to happen.

Rumors started flying! No power from Mexico to California! It’s all the way to Phoenix!

My neighbors and I were chatting in the twilit aisle, and what should come around the corner but a conga line of show committee members. We laughed and laughed. “It’s all we’ve got!” they said as they conga’d down the aisle. I thought that was so sweet.

There was no water in the sinks at the convention center. They were those fancy automatic power faucets. The custodian helpfully suggested that we could rinse our hands in the water fountain outside, which was still functioning.

At about 5:30 the vendors started to straggle out. Getting back to the hotel was not that much fun. Rush hour, and no traffic lights. A ten minute drive turned into about half an hour with the lovely four-way stop at each intersection. There were lots of emergency vehicles and sirens whizzing around, as apparently some folks forgot that a dead traffic light is like a stop sign.

I made it back to my hotel safely and was very glad of it. Thankfully the room key card worked. Fortunately (because there were no restaurants) I had a salad in the mini fridge and a microwavable lasagna, but of course no power for the microwave. I ran the last of the hot water over the container. Lukewarm lasagna… hey, not that bad considering the circumstances!

It was still light out but the dark was coming. What in the world would I do until bedtime? There was no TV! I tried calling my husband, who was at Cape Kennedy in Florida to observe the launch of the GRAIL moon mission. There was no connection to the cell-phone network. The towers were down. By the same token, there was no email function on the phone either. No wifi, no internet. I picked up the landline in the hotel room. Nope.

It got truly dark and I dug something out of my purse that always stays in there but is rarely used: an itty bitty flashlight that Dana had given me years ago. You squeeze it for a burst of light.

My brand new iPhone also provided a modicum of light if held out before me like a beacon. Together with the itty bitty flashlight I could get around the room okay. But I was worried about the battery in the cell phone.

All of a sudden, I remembered that I had brought the netbook along as a “backup.” A backup to what I wasn’t sure, except that the cell phone was so new. The netbook had a really good battery! With it I could charge up the cell phone! So that was one less worry.

For something to do (did I mention there was no TV?) I considered using the netbook to write a draft of this post, then realized that I couldn’t see to type. (Alas, touch typing is a skill I never acquired.) But I discovered that if I slanted the monitor way forward, it shone enough light on the keyboard so that I could see and type! Amazing.

Since the hubby and I were supposed to talk that night and couldn’t, I hoped he had heard about the power outage on the news or perhaps googled “Has San Diego fallen into the ocean.”

So many things we take for granted in our day and age. It was very interesting to be powerless. It really gets you thinking. Just imagine:

No traffic lights
No cell phone
No telephone
No TV
No restaurants
No microwave
No internet
No email
No wifi
No light
No air conditioning

It was a lot like Falling Skies except that the cars still worked.

But I was safe and I was fed, and that’s what really mattered. The power came back on in the middle of the night and the next day at the show we were back in business.

More later,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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Debbie is a regular blog reader and reports that she has been trying to get this book from the library but apparently someone liked it a little too much to bring it back. She plans to use the designs for some Christmas things this year, so hopefully we’ll see some photos soon! But Debbie, no pressure .

In other news, I’m about to embark on a busy spell of traveling to quilt shows. I just finished a couple of mini quilts made out of single blocks from my Baskets to Appliqué Pattern Pack to hang underneath the sampler quilt.

Daisy Basket

Knitting Basket. This one is actually a combination of two different designs. It's fun to mix and match the contents with the baskets.

Here’s where I’ll be.

Sept 8-10, 2011
San Diego Quilt Show
It’s the 30th annual show of the San Diego Quilt Association! The show is held at the beautiful San Diego Convention Center, right on the water.

Sept 17-18, 2011
Quilts & Threads Show
This is the Sierra Quilt Guild’s 22nd annual show, held at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds in Sonora, California.

Sept 24-25, 2011
Kings River Quilt Festival
The Kings River Quilt Guild puts on this 300-quilt show in Reedley, California.

I’ll be home in between times, so I hope to get a few posts in there.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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On the left that’s Orion Burns, son of the illustrious Eleanor Burns. On the right that’s Chris Burns, Orion’s half-brother-from-another-mother. Both of them are instrumental in running Eleanor’s Quilt in a Day store in San Marcos, California.

These guys are a hoot! Both just as friendly as can be, as cool as cucumbers, 100% knowledgeable about quilting products, and comfortable (to say the least) around the ladies. They kept me entertained all weekend. They let me take their picture once I promised to say how smart and handsome they both are.

I was right across the aisle from Eleanor this time at Festival-Long Beach.

The lady herself!

Rubbing elbows with a quilting luminary.

At one point Eleanor came over and asked if I had an extra plug so she could charge up her phone. At first I didn’t think so, but then I realized that the extension cord for my cash register had a couple extra outlets on it, so we plugged it in. Awhile later it rang. Eleanor was surrounded by her adoring public, and for a wild second I thought of picking it up and saying, “Eleanor Burns’s phone,” or “Joe’s bar, Joe ain’t here,” or something equally clever, but I was too chicken so I let it go to voicemail LOL.

After that, Orion came hustling over, handed me his cell phone, asked me to tell his wife how to get there, and fled back to their busy cash register. Thanks goodness I used to live in the area a long time ago! I directed her as best as I could. I think she still managed to go the wrong way on the 710. After a couple more calls and helpful passersby, she finally arrived with the baby.

I had such a great time this year! I felt that the energy and spirit in the quilting world was really up. And I enjoyed my neighbors very much.

Eleanor gave me a hug and made me promise to tell the cell-phone-charging story.

Back soon with a very cool book from the Lizzie B gals!

Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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The Spring 2011 edition of the International Quilt Association’s
IQA Journal is now on line.

It has some absolutely gorgeous appliqué quilts in it, and the stories behind them. Be sure to go and flip through the pages electronically!

www.quilt.org/journal

I’m off to Long Beach in a couple days, so see you in August!

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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I wrote a little bit about this in the Back Basting Redux post. I’ll repeat that bit here.

The culprit in chunky curves is the turning allowance and how it’s acting underneath the appliqué edge once it’s turned. First, make sure your turning allowance is not too wide. A quarter of an inch is actually too much. Trim to about 3/16″ of an inch, and distribute the bulk of the turning allowance smoothly underneath as you stitch. Make sure it’s not pleated up on itself under there.

In this illustration, I’ve made an appliquéd heart transparent so you can see what’s happening underneath the turned edge.

On the lefthand side, the bulk of the turning allowance in distributed evenly and the curve of the stitched edge is smooth.

On the righthand side, the turning allowance is pleated up on itself and is causing bumps and points in the stitched edge.

Just make sure your turning allowance is not too wide and that you work a little at a time, turning and distributing as you go. Don’t reach ahead and pull the turning allowance back towards you as you stitch. Hope that helps!!

In other news…

I just got word from my publisher that Inspired by Tradition is going into a second printing! It hasn’t even been five months! That’s gotta be good, right??

I heard from Kathy Delaney that she had a run on her needle packs after I posted about them last time! How cool cool is that! I’m sure that all the batik hand stitchers are now enjoying their Gold ‘n Glides!

I’ll be in Long Beach for the summer edition of International Quilt Festival once again this year. This is such a fun time, I’m really looking forward to it. Hope to see you there, July 29-31.

And, just received this from Ami Simms on one of my discussion groups:

If you have admired the work of Diane Gaudynski, Sue Nickels, and other celebrated quilters, here’s your chance to own one of their quilts. The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative is going to be auctioning 20 quilts from our first traveling exhibit, “Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece” in an online auction August 1-10. Details are here: www.AlzQuilts.org

Any help you can give us in spreading the word to quilters, quilt collectors, museums, and aficionados about the auction would be greatly appreciated. All profits fund Alzheimer’s research.

Thank you,
Ami Simms
AAQI Founder & Executive Director

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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I’d like to take this opportunity to announce another exciting thing coming up. Hey guess what! I’m a cover girl!

This is Volume 3 of Quiltmaker Magazine’s special 100 Blocks issue, coming out May 10. Lookie! My name’s right there, on the cover! Could this mean… possibly… that I’ve arrived?

And, my block is on the cover too! Can you guess which one it is?

Quiltmaker is conducting a blog hop May 2-6, with bunches of participating designers and giveaway goodness each day. My day is May 5, but make sure you go on the whole tour for the maximum amount of fun.

Here’s a link to the 100 Blocks page over at Quiltmaker. That’ll get you to the links for the hop.

In other news, I’ll be at the Seven Sisters Quilt Show in San Luis Obispo, California, April 30-May 1. I’m really looking forward to this event. It’s at the Expo Center at the Madonna Inn, which is quite storied and is as pink as pink can be. And there are horses pastured where we vendors park our cars! That’s an added treat for me. Full info at aqgc.org.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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Now for some odds and ends of a varying and diverse nature, in no particular order.

In December, blogger Violette Severin published an interview with me as part of a series of articles about quilters who blog. If you’d like to read a little bit more about moi, click on over!

Adel Quilting & Dry Goods in Adel, Iowa, is running a teapots BOM with my Teapots 2 to Appliqué. Click over to their blog and scroll down the right-hand sidebar to see some very cute teapots. You’ll also see lots of other yummy projects and some recipes!

Two quilt shows are coming right up in northern California. I’ll be at both of these in my cozy little booth.

And (very exciting) if all goes well and the creek don’t rise, I’ll have copies of my brand new book Inspired by Tradition with me, just a tad before the official release date!

Sidebar: Now if you’re not in that thin green strip of the weather map that shows highs in the 50s, my sympathies go out to you. I feel your pain. I went to college in Boulder, Colorado, and also lived in central Ohio for a few years. Lots of snow, and I remember driving home from a meeting of my small quilt group and it was 30 below. My stick shift didn’t want to shift.

San Francisco Quilters’ Guild Show, February 26-27, 2011

“Symphony of Color” is this year’s theme. The featured artists are Marcia Stein and Janet Mednick. The show takes place at the Concourse Exhibition Center. Check out all the information at www.sfquiltersguild.org.

Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association Show, March 5-6, 2011

The SCVQA holds a beautiful show every other year. The Santa Clara Convention Center is the same venue as PIQF so it’s a great space for a quilt show! Check out all the details at www.scvqa.org.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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Over at The Quilt Show’s Daily Blog, they’ve posted a slide show of a beautiful Baltimore Album exhibit that was displayed at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last fall.

The exhibit was entitled “Baltimore Album Review II: Baltimore’s Daughters — Friends Stitch Past to Future.” According to the blog post, the quilts are “some of the finest examples of the Baltimore Album Quilt revivalist movement and include many from the collection of Baltimore expert/artist/curator Elly Sienkiewicz.”

The slide show is available for viewing to all… you don’t have to be a member of The Quilt Show. The link is below. Enjoy!

Baltimore Album Review II

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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