With only a few days left until Christmas, I thought I would share this cute video of my son Robin, and 60% of his band, Sleepwell. As you know, Robin is interested in music as he has performed on my podcast. What you don’t know is that his band has put their recent album on iTunes for purchase — which is a pretty big deal for them.
Here is a video of Robin (on the uke), Jonathan (middle), and Joe (far right) singing their rendition of “Let it Snow.”

I hope you enjoy it!

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Running time: 01:24:00 Size: 38.50 MB

To see the complete listing of award winning quilts from Quilt Festival visit Quilts.com. For the first time, Quilts.com has vidcasts to enjoy. I loved being able to see the videos and the award winning quilts. I saw the quilt exhibit but none of the awards are bestowed until Quilt Festival opens. It’s especially great to see the quilts that were displayed if you didn’t get to attend Festival.

The website also added a monthly festival gallery of quilts.

Drum roll, please…………….. the winners of the podcast #138 prize drawings are:

for Cassie Barden’s book:
Tammy Maybry of Christiansburg, VA
Penni Smith, Burlington, NJ

for Virginia Coles’ Quilt Study book;
Carol Mallozzi of West Seneca, Ny

for a Prairie points ruler:
Joan Gunter of Othello, WA
Sheila Fuhrmann of Fairburn , GA
Tami Dunham, Anaheim, CA

Congratulations, gals!! Your prizes are on their way.

Three interviews, four great quilters:

Beth and Karen – I finally got to talk with my friends –

Karen Boutte and Beth Ferrier – best friends and great quilters

Karen’s Grand Canyon jacket – Would you believe it started out as a sweatshirt?

Beth’s groovy hand-knitted sox and shoes – hear the story about these too cool shoes!

For a chance to win one of the their books, visit Beth’s blog and Karen’s blog and leave a comment for a chance to win.  Comment by Dec. 27th

Don’t forget to visit Beth’s website and Karen’s website for complete details, all about them!

I finally had the chance to meet Pat Sloan, wonderfully warm, funny and creative quilter. I have always loved Pat’s folk art style of quilting and her whimsical nature. It was a real thrill to talk with Pat.

Here we are in the Leisure Arts booth, Pat’s publisher. Check out the sign on the right and Pat’s picture. I love this picture of Pat in the ad — the smile on her face is simply infectious.

For a chance to win one of Pat’s books, visit her blog and leave a comment, too. Oh — and don’t forget Pat’s website, which is full of all kinds of cool quilty things, including Pat’s videos which offer great how-to tips.

I was star-struck to meet Philippa Naylor in person! I have a profound respect for her machine quilting skills. Philippa won Best of Show at AQS in Paducah for her Limelight quilt.

Here is a close-up detail pic of the quilt Philippa entered in Quilt Festival, which won the  Pfaff Master Award for Machine Artistry. Can you guess why?!

Listen to what Philippa said about creating this quilt in time for the Festival deadline!

Speaking of Limelight, Philippa has a new book out called “Quilting in the Limelight”, which you could win! Leave a comment on my blog, below for a chance to win Philippa’s new book.

Rest of the pictures from Market:

Only the left hand side of the line into Sample Spree – which goes back at least 100 yards. The right hand side was as long and the front of the line is only half as wide as the picture shows. It’s a virtual nut house — but oh so fun!

My Market buddies, Holly Mabutas of Eat Cake Graphics and Aneda Phillips of YoYo Stitches. I love to travel with these two quilting buddies.

How fun it was to meet Jay McCarroll, the first winner of Project Runway’s debut season. He is truly a kick. His new fabric is divine.

The infamous quilt and coat pose for a pic with friend Valerie Burton.

One of the most darling items that I found at Market was this robe designed by Cindy Taylor Oates using Lakehouse Dry Goods new fabric. Isn’t it sweet? You can find it on Cindy’s website and blog. Look for the Any Season Robe.

I’m always looking for inspiration and found this in the bathroom window at the house where we stayed while we were at Market. Our dear friend, Pat Steapp’s mom,  Jean Lauderdale showcases her shell collection this way:

Isn’t this beautiful?!

I can’t leave this trip without telling you about at least one place that we ate that was truly inspirational — Holly and I both agreed that our favorite place was the Black-Eyed Pea -no, not the rock band, the restaurant.

We still think about that lovely meal with Pat and Jean. They have the best chicken fried steak –oh, it must be time for dinner!

One last picture for my trips of 2008

I just thought you’d like to see what my bathroom looked like when I traveled to Kenora, Ontario, Canada. What could be better than a new quilting magazine, a bubble bath, and Oreos and milk? (Sorry, no pictures in the tub. That would be too much information, as my kids would say.)

Warm wishes for the very best of the Holiday season – Merry Christmas!

©2008  Annie Smith   All Rights Reserved

Did you know that there are warning labels on sewing machine parts — like specifically, your walking foot?

I didn’t. Now I am sad. Really sad. Like $150.00 worth of sad.

I have been working like a crazy person on Christmas gifts for my family, interspersed with working on sample quilts for upcoming events. Of course, I was inspired by a family member who saw an old flannel rag quilt that I made several years ago, so I’m working like a whirling dervish on something like that… I can’t really say or post pictures yet…

Anyway, as I was feverishly sewing tonight, I noticed that the top flannel piece was no longer easing itself with the rest of the layers and there was puckering going on. The realization always dawns on me slowly in a sick way – so I: changed the needle, cleaned and oiled the machine, rethreaded the top thread and bobbin and went through my little check list of things to do when my machine isn’t sewing right. I tried sewing another set of squares — and no dice. Something was definitely wrong.

I called my local Bernina dealer to see when they could take in my machine in — and more specifically “how soon could I have it back?”. After explaining what I was doing when it stopped working right, it was determined that I had a broken walking foot — no repair necessary — just buy a new one… $150.

Ugh! Not just before Christmas! This goes along with WebGuy’s car repairs and Robin losing his brand new Birthday iPod last night. Trouble comes in threes — and I guess I’m glad that it’s not worse.

So, WebGuy, wonderful handyGuy that he is, wants to see the walking foot to see if he can fix it. He  is pretty handy, too. He fixed my foot pedal when Ryan was four and used it as the accelerator on an imaginary race car and broke the carbon contacts that power the pedal. Repair cost for that in 1986 was $150 (hmmm, there’s a thread here). HandyGuy hunted the two little carbon pins down at a local parts shop for 75 cents a piece and fixed the pedal – so I have a high degree of confidence in my DH’s abilities.

After spending about an hour on the walking foot, HandyGuy realized this was one problem he can’t fix. So my Bernina walking foot now looks like this:

Boo hoo.

My advice — heed the warning on your sewing machine parts. The fine print reads:

CAUTION Always sew slower when using a walking foot. A maximum of 70% speed is recommended.

Who knew?

©2008 Annie Smith  All Rights Reserved

RIGHT-CLICK THE PODCAST ICON BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST – SELECT, “Save Link As…” to SAVE THE PODCAST TO YOUR COMPUTER

Running time: 00:58:30 Size: 26.87 MB

New features on the new SimpleArts site:

• Pattern blow-out sale in the SA store — Patterns are 30-50% off through Dec. 31, while supplies last.
• How would you like a collection of all of the Quilting Stash shows from program #1 to all of the shows recorded through Dec. 31, 2008? We are going to retire many of the early shows so we can have room for new shows. You can receive the Quilting Stash 2005-2008 shows as a thank you gift when you donate $30 to Quilting Stash. Just click here.
• For complete details for the March 2009 Cambria retreat, click here.
• Have you seen the December issue of Quilter’s Newsletter magazine? Page 46 has an article on podcasting!

Featured artists and products on this show:

To visit Virginia and her website, click here. I love Virginia’s heirloom creations like Quilt Study:

that incorporates buttons, lace, words, pictures and all of the little keepsake items that I have been saving of my Gran and Mom for years and haven’t known what to do with. Wouldn’t something like this make an excellent gift, any time of year?

The Ultra-cool Bias Tool

See how easy this ruler is to use?

This is the coolest ruler. Listen to this podcast as Susan Brown, President of The Quilter’s Mercantile demonstrates this great tool! The Quilter’s Mercantile is the apparent home of The Bias Tool.
You can contact the Quilter’s Mercantile by phone at 507-385-7777.
I can’t wait to be able to make more sturdy bias binding for my quilts, but especially — to be able to make bias vines for all of my applique projects!!

Janet Platt, demonstrating the Prairie Points Ruler

How great would it be to make Prairie Points in one long piece instead of little squares that can get mis-aligned? Visit Janet’s website for complete information at QuickPoints ruler.com.

Cassie Barden of Martingale and Co. So talented and so cute!

You can win this book. See how below!

The indomitable Lizzy House with her Lizzy Dish fabric line. You go, girl!

Details of Lizzy’s apron – what a nifty idea!

The House girls – Lizzy, mom Cherri, and Ashlee. A multi-talented bunch.

Other products mentioned in the show:

• Art Gallery fabrics

Sheri Berry Halloween and Christmas from Northcott Fabrics

Moda’s fabric packaging. Did you know that:

• Sweet rolls are 40 – 1 ½” x 45 “ strips?
• Turnovers are 80- 6” cut half square triangles?
• Jelly Rolls are 40 – 2 ½” x 45” strips?
• Layer cakes are 40 – 10” x 10” square

What is Accuquilt??

Only the hoppin’-est booth at Quilt Market

and the coolest product at Market this year, ready to turn quilting on its’ ear.

• Quickie Chicks — Sole Cool Hot Iron Bag and find which store is carrying their pattern on the JWD Publishing website

Don’t forget to check out the serendipity studio website and Kay’s blog. Keep your eye out for the ultra-cool patchwork rug in Kay’s booth

• Shades brand Soft Fuse by Stacy Michell, my new favorite fusible web for machine applique

I hope you’ve enjoyed this show. Now, if you’d like the chance to win some of the cool things that I spoke about in the show, like these:

Virgina Cole’s Quilt Study book

-or-

one of two copies of Cassie Barden’s “The New Handmade” book

-or-

one of three Prairie Points rulers

-SO-

SIX fabulous prizes are up for grabs in this show. To enter, send an email to Annie with your name, address, and which of the prizes you would like to be in the drawing for. Prize winners will be chosen at random on December 15th, so don’t delay!!

I hope you enjoy the new look of the blog! It’s so much easier to use. Pardon our dust as we continue to add all of the features that you’re used to seeing here and add new things, too. Check back often to see our progress.

And hey, Happy Quilting!!

©2008 Annie Smith All Rights Reserved

Okay, you guys asked for it, now you’ve got it. The new retreat information is up and waiting for you to reserve your place. Click HERE for info.

This session promises to be both the biggest and best session ever. If you’ve ever thought about coming to my quilter’s retreat, please plan on attending this one.

If you aren’t sure and have questions, be sure to email me or call me.

See you there!

Hi All,

I feel like I have just been transported in to 2008!!

“Hello, Annie, are you ok?”

I am better than ok — I am ecstatic!! I now have a new website server and am using new blog software that actually works and a new blog that is actually USER FRIENDLY and won’t allow creepy spam comments. Isn’t it pretty so far?

We are in reconstruction phase of this new, more robust website, so please bear with us while we get everything back together and decorated again.

We know over the past couple of months we’ve had problems with our site. We’ve had even more problems with our hosting service. Today we are announcing we are leaving our old hosting service and joining a new service. While we are sure that nasty things will happen to websites no matter where they’re hosted, we are certain that our site will be better protected from the problems you have been seeing on our site. Hopefully you now will have a much better experience here on our new site.

The blog and the temporary site are not connected yet, but to take a look at the temporary site as it’s being built, please CLICK HERE

We are bringing all of the blog archives and podcasts with us and we hope we’ll can make them all searchable. What’s more, we’re updating our software in favor of more up-to-date features.

Most of this will be transparent to you. Some of our functionality and some of my content will be off-line for short time. I promise we will do our best to bring you an online experience that is exciting, enjoyable, entertaining, educational, and SAFE for you and your computer.

These changes don’t come without cost. Donations have been slow in coming lately – probably because I haven’t been able to update the site the way you’ve expected. Plans are afoot and we’re going to make progress quickly. If you would like to help the effort, please consider making a donation by clicking HERE.

All of the podcasts are here – not all of the blogs are here yet. That will be one of our first priorities.

Also, in the next few days, I will be announcing something really BIG. So please, come back soon, and see what we’re up to!

Happy Quilting!

Annie

Running time: 00:55:30 Size: 25.5 MB

The First Lady of Quilting, Karey Bresenhan, and McCall’s Quilting magazine Editor-in-Chief, Beth Hayes

It was so fun to talk with these two incredibly talented ladies.

Karey Bresenhan, founder of Quilt Festival and Quilt Market — a totally remarkable lady!! Karey was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in 1995.

I found a way-cool treat while visiting the Quilts.com website — when you visit the home page, there will be a link for you to click on that will take you on video tours of Quilt Festival. Or you can visit the online Festival Gallery here.

The quilt shop in Paris that Karey spoke of can be found by clicking here: Le Rouvray.

One really fun event that you can do while attending Quilt Market/Quilt Festival is to take one of the bus tours that are offered along with the class schedule. Make sure to peruse the itinerary, even for Chicago and Long Beach festivals. The one place that Holly and I treated ourselves to before returning home was on one of the bus tours — Hi Fashion Fabrics — An oh-so-groovy store filled with fabric goodness — Holly and I treated ourselves to fabric we could never find at home for some hand-made skirts and dresses. I can hardly wait to get to them.

Beth Hayes, Editor in Chief of McCall’s Quilting magazine, also a lovely and gracious gal. You can visit McCalls’ Quilting online and check out all of the details for McCall’s Quilting Adventures. Don’t forget to visit the Quick Quilts online spot as well.

Stayed tuned for more Market offerings — coming soon!!

©2008 Annie Smith All Rights Reserved

Running time: 00:39:00 Size: 18 MB

Quilt retreat in September:
Listen to Tricia’s long-awaited story about acquiring an industrial Bernina.

The Quilt and Coat for the “Off the Bed, On the Back” quilt exhibit at PIQF

The Coat — a monster that feels like I’m wearing a polar bear, in weight and heat <grin> Front and back.

Quilting detail on the coat courtesy of my super-hero quilter, Melodee Wade.

LizzyBCre8ive

Check out the LizzyBCre8ive blog to hear the whole story.

We got to visit High Fashion Fabrics in Houston that had the most wonderful selection of dress-weight fabrics. We all bought something to make a new skirt. It’s so unusual to find a fabric store that carries fabric to make clothes — and since our minds are turning back to making our own again, it was a delight to visit this place and come home with some treasures.

The Quilt Show Season 2 DVD’s are available now!! Visit the website to order your copy today!

Marie Osmond’s contest announcement — Visit Janome and Quilting Treasures websites for all of th details – and good luck!!
Or visit Marie’s website for complete information on what’s new with her!

Lot’s up just around the corner – so stay tuned!!

© 2008 Annie Smith All Rights Reserved

Running time: 00:32:36 Size: 15 MB

Did you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month? I didn’t, until Liz Hawkins, of LizzieBcre8ive, sent me an email about it — and I got an email full of pictures of the Utah Quilt Guild’s recent QuiltFest, featuring Valerie Burton’s drive for quilts and quilt blocks. They both came on the same day and I immediately knew what I needed to talk about for this podcast. In usual fashion, the message is best given to the Teacher by the Teacher. It’s been 5 years, at least, since I’ve had my last mammogram…

In this show, Valerie Burton shares her passion about easing cancer victims’ stuggles and makes us a little more aware of our need to annually step up to the mammogram plates.

Here are the pictures that Valerie sent to me from QuiltFest:

Huntsman Cancer Institute is a state-of-the-art facility in Salt Lake City, Utah mentioned in the podcast. If I ever have cancer, this is the place I want to go to be taken care of.

And here is the link to the LizzieBcre8ive blog, where you can see and get all of the details for the Breast Cancer Awareness quilt that is on display in the King of Prussia Brighton store.

Here’s a sneak peek at what the quilt and quilting crew looks like:

You may have the opportunity to win this quilt for a cause! Wouldn’t you like to own this special quilt?

Now, if you haven’t had your “annual” yet this year, go make an appointment!!

©2008 Annie Smith All Rights Reserved

WebGuy and I just celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. What did we do for fun? A Cruise, a long weekend getaway? Nope! We went to the Santa Cruz County Fair in Watsonville for the day. Oh, we lead such an exciting life!

We love going over to Watsonville for the Fair – a tradition for us ever since we’ve been married. Watsonville is my former home as a little girl, and I love Fall because of living in Watsonville. Apple orchards and strawberry fields were at the end of our street and we loved to play in them when we weren’t supposed to and got run off by a farmer with a shovel — scary!
Childhood memories are some of the strongest we have and that’s what takes me back to Watsonville each September:

This year, we went to see the quilts and got a pleasant surprise… this quilt that won Best of Show:

Look familiar? It’s the West of Baltimore quilt made by one of my students, Pam Hicks!! Was I ever surprised and proud of Pam! Her quilt is beautiful and worthy of being awarded the Best of Show ribbon (see it in the bottom right corner of the quilt?). Congratulations, Pam!!

Here is a close-up of one block that Pam creatively used plush minkee in the block, giving it a cool shadowy effect.

We met up with Guy’s sister, Pat and her husband, Roger, and four of their granddaughters at the Fair. It was fun to hang out with the young’uns and tour the livestock pens, which included this gorgeous rooster:

Isn’t he a gorgeous specimen of a bird? The colors on this guy are amazing.

One of our favorite traditions at the Fair is stopping by the Cinnamon Roll car and indulging just once, each year.

And what did I find, always a little something to put in my photo archives for quilty inspiration… the sign for the Cinnamon Roll car provided a nice idea for applique!

Enjoying the little pleasures of life make life worth living. Traditions, made without conscious effort, make life rich.

Speaking of traditions, the semi-annual Quilt retreat to Cambria just one week later was fabulous. Half of the attendees were returning retreaters and the other half were brand-new and became immediate friends.

I have intended to bring you a new podcast with cool and fun things to ponder… I recorded the funniest story I’ve ever heard about acquiring a sewing machine, and when I went to edit for the show… it appears that my computer hard drive decided that it was full during the recording and just simply switched itself off without notifying me!! Horrors!!
So… a brief delay with podcast #135… while I collect the story again, for your listening pleasure. Soon, very soon!!

© 2008 Annie Smith All Rights Reserved