Beth Ferrier’s Blog

 I’ll be heading out to Naperville, IL next Tuesday, for a lecture and my fav workshop, Hand Applique by Machine. There are still spaces available in the workshop. If you are interested, please contact Valli.

Lecture: When Finishing is Highly Overrated

Tuesday, June 9 at 7pm

Grace United Methodist Church, Fellowship Hall

300 E. Gartner Road

Naperville, IL

Workshop:  Hand Appliqué by Machine

Wednesday, June 10, 9:30 amd to 4:00 pm.

See you there?

With the AQS show at Paducah less than a month away we’ve turned the studio into a workshop kit factory. My two piecing classes need the most prep work. Ordinarily the students would have received a supply list with directions to cut and sort their fabric before class. One of the classes even has a little bit of sewing in the prep work. For the kits, all of that work fell to me.

First I had to convert the directions from cutting for one to cutting for thirty. Good thing I like math, huh? Of course because the numbers were so large I would second guess myself, cut only half what the calculator said I should and then have to go back and cut the rest. Geesh.

This kit (for the Slick Slicing workshop) required a bazillion (which comes after a trillion if our congress is wondering how much to spend next) 2 1/2 inch strips and squares. I don’t use this short cut ruler very often, but for something like this it’s an amazing time saver.

Finally the pieces are sorted into numbered zip top bags. Each kit gets five bags. We’ll add thread, a sewing machine needle and the class note book, and pack them all into a nice string tie plastic envelope.

The fabrics for the Tools Rule! piecing class have been ordered and are on their way. In the mean time we’ll move on to the applique kit. To make thirty kits we’ll need templates for 120 large flowers, 180 small flowers, 300 leaves and 360 berries. Guess I’d better get back to work.

Almost all of the applique shapes for Now & Forever have been trimmed. Tidy little seam allowances quietly wait for their turn with the glue. For the next how ever long it takes you can expect to find a little zip top bag, packed with appliques and glue, tucked into my purse or tote bag. I’m off to Morris, IL in a couple of days for Pieces From The Heart Quilt Guild’s quilt show. I’ll be glue basting at the airport between flights and in the evening while resting up from a busy day of teaching. With any luck, by the time I head home on Sunday I’ll have all the flowers basted, docked and ready to stitch. See you there?

It could be the mid-winter blahs, or perhaps it’s post-manuscript blues. What ever it is, I’ve just not been inspired to blog. I’ve opened the writing screen several times only to stare at the monitor wondering what on earth could be interesting enough to write about. In short, lately I’m just not that into me.

That said, I have been busy working on my Now & Forever quilt. (Except when I’ve fallen into the Facebook Scramble hole. I swear I need a twelve step group to tear me away from that goofy word game.)  

I’ve worked out a bit of a plan for my fabric choices for each block. I’ve gathered five shades of each color, mostly to make the applique more interesting, but I’m only using three fabrics in any given block or applique shape. Here are the five shades of pink I’ll use for the quilt. 

From those I chose these three for my Pink Spinel Block. The block calls for Dark, Medium and Light fabrics. While I didn’t choose the darkest dark or the lightest light I still have dark, medium and light fabrics for my block.

For other blocks I may choose the three darkest, or the three lightest, or even every other fabric (the darkest, the lightest and the middlest). The variations in value will make the quilt sparkle.

Here are my first blocks.

I think pink is just a happy color, and we sure can use a little happiness right now.  And here’s a sneak peak at a quick layout of all of the blocks. I’m working away on the applique now, all the freezer paper shapes are cut and pressed to the fabrics. The trimming has begun and soon I’ll be a glue basting fool.

 I’m off to Lansing, MI tonight to giggle with the Capitol City Quilt Guild. Will I see you there?

In early March I’m teaching at a quilt show put on by Pieces From the Heart Quilt Guild of Morris, IL. These ladies have been working hard to make the show a success. I have to admit, as an avowed quilt show shopper, the vendors list has me looking forward to my free time!

To make it easy for folks to register online they’ve put the classes up on eBay. Of course, the event planners asked my permission before posting the class, and I happily agreed. This is a first for me, and I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. It seems like a terrific way for a guild to be able to handle credit card (or pay pal) payments for classes without having to deal with a merchant account. It also allows for online registration without having to pay for a high end web page.

 What do you think? Would you buy a class on eBay?

And how about that “Miracle on the Hudson”? I just can’t seem to get that crazy water landing out of my mind. I’m not afraid to fly, but flying has become a bit of a test of wills. The vast majority of the time I arrive on time, with all of my luggage. My trip karma is good, all of my travel adventures, so far, have been on the way home. But each I time I leave for a trip there is always that little worry in the back of my mind that I won’t be on time for my lecture, and that there’s really nothing I can do about that.

As I watched the news unfold, seeing the folks plucked off the wings of that floating plane, all I could think about was how they were now all late for whatever they were heading to. (As if surviving a plane crash is nothing more than a hiccup in their travel plans.)

And then I thought about my quilts. My favorite quilts, would be under water, in the belly of the plane, for how long? How long would I have to wait to get them back? And what kind of shape would they be in after being wet for so long. (The good news, the Hudson is salt water at that point and salt helps to prevent colors from running.)

If nothing else, this amazing event has reinforced my habit of asking for exit row seating. Prized for the extra leg room, it comes with the bonus of being the first out. Works for me.

Some things you just say yes to, no matter what. When the wonderful folks at American Quilters Society ask if you’d like to teach at the show in Paducah, KY there is pretty much just one answer.

 The request came the day after my first book deadline, while I was in Houston at Quilt Market. I was already booked for the weekend of the show and ordinarily I would have just declined the invitation. But since AQS is a pretty big deal, and the group already camping out on those dates was able to shift to the next weekend, I was very happy to say yes.

 What I didn’t figure in was the amount of paperwork that would need to be done immediately. As in, before the next book deadline. As in, the instant I returned from Houston. Yikes! But  it all got done and now registration is open.

I’m thrilled to be teaching a ton of classes. One class is on a new applique technique that will be included in the new book.

Two piecing classes are available. The first is Tools Rule. This is a fantastic class for those of you who chop your stash up into strips or noodles or worms. Of course, the class will also include tons of my favorite sneaky piecing tricks and tips. (The fabric is way prettier than shown. I need to work on my photography skills.)

The other piecing class is Slick Slicing Tricks. I’ve squeezed lots of my very best sneaky piecing tricks into this little quilt.  Kits will be provided for all three of these classes, with lots of the prep work already done so we can get right down to business.

And finally, I’m teaching three classes on free motion quilting. It’s kind of funny. Guilds book me mostly to teach applique and piecing classes, but when I lecture most of the questions are about the quilting on my quilts. Even though I do mostly traditional quilts I would say that my quilting style is a little more contemporary. It is most definitely playful.

The first class, Romancing the Stitch, is an all day workshop that covers from basic design, specialty threads, bobbin work and fills galore.

Feathers and Ferns focuses on creating marvelous motifs in our quilting.

And finally, Beginning Free Motion Quilting is just the right class for those who have never dropped their feed dogs but would love to learn how.

Registration is already started and classes are beginning to fill. I’ve never been to the show at Paducah so it will be quite an adventure for me. Have you been? What words of advice do you have for me?

Yes, I’m still here, not blogging but feeling very guilty about not blogging. Does that count? There always seems to be something else to do, something more immediate, more pressing, more interesting.

I’ve heard from the publishers and they liked the proposal. I got the “yippie call” about a week ago. I’m still smiling about that. And sobered by an October deadline for the first draft. I’m so glad I kept working on the book all summer!

I don’t know how much I’ll be able to say or show about the book. Since I’m used to being my own boss (and at times a pretty hard to work for boss, very demanding!) it will be interesting to see how this new relationship blossoms.

I’m doing a lot of local (meaning within driving distance) teaching in the next week. One of the projects I’ve been working on but not allowed to show has been an exclusive pattern for The Quilted Cottage here in Saginaw, for their Moda University club. I used Moda’s new fabric line called Cotton Blossoms.

The shop sold out of their kits in an afternoon, but the pattern, called Cottage Blossoms, is still available. You can order it from them or through my website if you like. It finishes about 50 inches square, perfect for cuddling on the couch on these cool fall days.

On Monday, Sept 22 I’ll be at The Quilter’s Garden in Fenton, MI. The Sneaky Piecing Tricks class is already full, but the trunk show at 6:30 is still has room.

The Sew What Quilt Gathering is next Saturday and Sunday (September 27 & 28)  in Wyandotte, MI. I have no idea if the classes still have openings, but I’ll bet the lecture is still available.

As for today, I’m supposed to be writing an article for my column in American Quilt Retailer, and I’ve got nothing! I keep throwing words at the page hoping something will stick. It’s so bad that doing laundry seemed like more fun. I need five hundred words before I leave for Fenton in the morning. Actually, I need five hundred words strung together in a meaningful fashion. That’s the rub. But for now, the laundry needs to be rotated.

All my bags are packed, waiting by the door. Files have been moved from desktop to laptop. Cell phone and minicamera are charged. All of the agony of deciding what goes and what gets left behind is done.

Packing for a teaching trip is the hardest part. We are limited to two suitcases (and the airlines want to change that too!), which must weigh less than fifty pounds. I’m getting pretty good at 49 1/2 pounds!

I have to weigh (pun intended) my choices for clothing, the more I pack the fewer quilts I can bring. Of course I must also pack my face. Instead of being in a jar by the door, mine rests in a spiffy clear vinyl ditty bag in my suitcase. The older I get, the more it weighs.

 Then there’s the teaching kits, demo material, swap outs, step samples. And the digital projector, camera and tripod, and all the crazy wires, cords and plugs. I pack these things knowing full well that I will be unpacking them so that the TSA can admire them at the airport.

 The day is coming when I’ll tip over into doing a power point presentation and bring fewer quilts. But I know the truth. You don’t want to see me, you want to see the quilts. Having a great face for radio, I’m right there with you on that.

 For the next seventeen days I’ll be away from home. Tomorrow it’s a visit with the Quilter’s Guild of the Villages. On Thursday and Friday, I’ll be playing with The Quilting Sisters in Leesburg. On Saturday, I’m hanging out with The Busy Bee Quilters in Belleview, Florida. Let’s just say there’s going to be a whole lot of sneaky piecing going on.

Now here is where I’m going to lose your sympathy. Kent will be flying down next Saturday to join me for an anniversary cruise! Seven days of lounging on a really big boat, floating around the Carribean. Oh, yeah. In thirty-one years of marriage, this will be our first trip away since our honeymoon where neither on of us is working.

To end the trip, I’ll be teaching for the Southwest Florida Quilt Guild in Ft. Myers, FL. And then I’m home in time for Easter and grandbaby nuzzling.

Yes, yes, I know it’s been a while. At the moment, I’m writing from a lovely hotel in Huntington Beach, CA. I left subzero weather in Saginaw on Sunday. On Monday my sister and I were tooling around LA, in her oh-so-cool convertible sports car, with the top down, of course. Everything is blooming and beautiful and warm here, a sneak peak at the springtime still months away back home.

Lori and I had two wonderful days of play before the Orange Grove Quilt Guild meeting this morning. It isn’t often that guild engagements bring me closer to family, but it’s a real treat when it does. The guild meeting was fun and crazy. What a terrific, talented group! Tomorrow will be a big day, too, with a Hand Applique by Machine class for OGQG and then a lecture for Quilters by the Sea.

 So, what have I been doing the last couple of weeks? Lots of stuff, if you’ve got a minute, I’ll catch you up.

There’s the block of the month. The sample is almost done. The top is pieced, the applique motifs are all prepared and some are already stitched to the top. I’ve finally been able to figure out the yardage for the kit, and it’s now available to order.

Planning for a kit requires careful consideration. There needs to be enough fabric for the project, obviously, but how much extra for wiggle room for small mistakes? Can I really cut the pieced blocks and still have enough left to make the all the leaves or flowers I need? Once I had all the parts were cut out I could be sure that the kits would be just right, and the fabric order was placed. As soon as I get back from California we’ll be cutting kits like crazy. In fact, so many kits have been ordered that we’ll be placing another fabric order just as soon as the first kits are shipped!

The first step of the Pinwheels and Posies will be posted on February 15th. My wonderful hubby-webmaster is holding down the frigid fort while I’m off galavanting in sunny California. Make sure that we’re ready to rock and roll come Friday.

Let’s see, what else. Oh, yeah, there’s the fabric line. We had one more round of strike offs, and then the final choices were made. In an hour on the phone with my project manager we went print by print through the stike offs and made the final call on which patterns in which colors will be printed. The exciting news is that the order has been placed and in a couple of months I’ll have the first yardage in my hot little hands. How cool is that!

No, it’s not done, but it is at a point where we can take a prototype picture for the new book. I’ve been stitching away at it all week. As usual, the more I quilted the more I wanted to quilt!

Still to be done are the spaces around the pieced blocks and lots of little circles to fill in the voids between the feather garlands. I need to decide what to do, if anything, with the little space inside the sashing strips. I like the way the straightline stitching in the cornerstones looks like it curves. Perhaps I can reinforce that appearance somehow.

But for now, it’s time to do a mock cover of the new Ribbon & Blooms book so I can show it at the wholesale show tomorrow in Toledo. The book should be available for purchase around the first of September.