Nov

6

Winner, plus nice surprise in Roseville

Filed Under Prizes, Quilt shows | 2 Comments

The winner of Cheryl Almgren Taylor’s Inspirational Appliqué is Debra B.! Debra says that she is very new at quilting and it’s something she has a deep desire to learn about. She’s very excited to get Cheryl’s book and try some new techniques. Congratulations Debra, and welcome to quilting!

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

What's in Your Basket? by Clareen Bolton

clareen-blabel

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

Fair Meadow in Lincoln by Clareen Bolton

clareen-fairlabel

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

Oct

6

Florida appliquérs do bang-up baskets

Filed Under Books, Patterns, Prizes, Show & Tell | 5 Comments

The Fall Into Fall Quilt Bloggers Giveaway is in full swing! If you haven’t checked it out yet, by all means do so. Winners will be drawn on October 15. Visit my giveaway here.

Now to today’s topic. I recently received the most amazing message from Rebecca Hoffmann of Plant City, Florida. It made my day and then some!!

I am a member of Feather Princess Appliqué Guild of Tampa, Florida. One of the sewing circles of the guild is “Sewrority Sisters Appliqué Sewciety.” We meet once a month for four hours of sewing and fun at one of the local libraries. We wanted to give something to the library for allowing us to use one of their rooms, so we decided to make a raffle quilt and donate all the proceeds to the Riverview Library.

I contacted you last year about using your basket patterns for a raffle quilt, and you gave us permission. My group has finally finished the quilt and I’m sending a photo of it.

Basket Quilt by the SSAS, 80 x 100

Basket Quilt by the SSAS, 80 x 100

Is this not a masterpiece of a quilt? I am totally blown away. This is a group of gals who are not afraid of appliqué! They enlarged the blocks, designed a new setting, and embellished many of the blocks in a most delightful fashion, I love it!

Rebecca continues:

Each person donated $10 towards the cost of fabric, batting, etc., for the quilt. Sixteen women volunteered to make blocks, one person did the piecing, another the quilting and another the binding. We used your 16 patterns from Baskets to Appliqué, and I designed four more to make a total of 20 blocks.

My friend Shari Gillis and I designed the sashing for setting the 12″ blocks. Some of the women added their own designs to the baskets and one person changed it completely. The quilt is finished, and we are now in the process of selling the raffle tickets. This is a beautiful quilt, I wish you could see it in person. Thank you so much for allowing us to use your patterns. We are hoping to make a large donation to the library.

Oh my goodness, I should think so! Huge thanks to you and your group, Rebecca, for choosing my basket designs for your quilt. I feel honored. You have elevated the designs and you’ve inspired me!

Here are some closeups of the blocks.

4-blocks

2-blocks

I’m so glad Rebecca sent me closeups so that I could see the delightful sewing doodads that were added to these blocks. How fun! My hat’s off!

4-more-blocks

6-blocks

rebeccas-blocksHere are the four blocks that Rebecca designed herself. As I told her, they’re so lovely and entirely to my taste. Do we see a new pattern designer emerging here?

Here are two labels for the quilt that Rebecca did up in EQ7.

sewrority-label

label bask (2)Great job with the computer work!!

basketscover
Now a word of news about Baskets to Appliqué. Gentle quilters, it’s very nearly out of print. That’s right, there are now exactly 14 copies left in captivity. But never fear, the designs will still be available once these copies are gone. I’ll be offering all 16 designs in a different format, an unbound pattern pack in a baggie. There won’t be any color photos or instructions, just the designs for your appliqué pleasure. The baskets will go on!

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Dec

6

Victorian Baskets

Filed Under Books, Color, Hand appliqué, Needleturn, Patterns, Show & Tell | 3 Comments

I met Gloria Foley a couple years ago at my home guild’s quilt show when she came into my booth and spotted my Baskets to Appliqué designs. Gloria is the proprietress of The Victorian Quilter, a traveling quilt-show shop specializing in patterns and fabrics with that romantic, Victorian patina.

Gloria gave me an order on the spot for a batch of the books and told me of her plans to make a sample to hang in her booth. Since that time she has become a wonderful friend and a mentor to me, sharing her knowledge of area quilt shows and giving me great tips. Every time I would talk to her or see her at a show she would tell me that the baskets were coming along. Last spring I saw the blocks, completed but not set together yet. They were just gorgeous… soft and rich looking.

Well, at the recent River City Quilt Guild show in Sacramento, I checked in with her during setup and there was the quilt, finished and up on the wall.

Victorian Baskets by Gloria Foley

Victorian Baskets by Gloria Foley

Wow!!! Look at that red setting. Talk about punch! It looks so different from mine, I love it! Gloria used needleturn appliqué and, instead of a dogtooth border, she used prairie points in the border.

Sixteen Baskets by Kay Mackenzie

Sixteen Baskets by Kay Mackenzie

vq-baskets-3

vq-baskets-4

At the Sacramento show, people had fun walking back and forth between our booths to look at the two versions.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie