Four years of Patchwork Pie

Happy Birthday, Patchwork Pie! It's hard to believe this blog is four years old.
Thanks to all my fantastic Followers (who have re-appeared on the side bar since I switched to Chrome for my browser), and also the many other people who drop in for a piece of pie occasionally.

I wanted a pumpkin pie to celebrate today, but the bakery sold out already by 1:00.
So here's a picture of pie in Paducah, which is a very good place for any quilter to be!


Tomorrow I'll be visiting with the Honeybee Quilters Guild. They meet at Cinnamon's Quilt Shoppe right here in Jacksonville. Not only are they part of the seven-guild group who put on QuiltFest every year, they also have a great annual "retreat" in February with several national teachers.
We're going to be talking about quilt shows and why "I Ain't Afraid of No Judge!" (that's my new lecture). As always, it should be a lot of fun! I will bravely expose my judges' critique sheets, most of which note the machine quilting knots on the back...
...as if I didn't know!

Business & Busy-ness

Tomorrow is the birthday of Patchwork Pie, and I am feeling guilty about neglecting my posts!
Sometimes a person just gets tied up with so many things, nothing gets done. That's a good time to ask: Is this business...or it just busy-ness?
I bought a wonderful new Janome 7700 Horizon back in August, and this is as far as I've come:

It's about 1" too wide for the cut-out previously home to my Pfaff 1475. I'm hoping this is the week it finally gets installed. I'll use the extension table that came with the machine to go around the free arm, which means I'll have to adjust the shelf (it is hanging in there on screws) so the machine is just a tad bit higher than the edge of the desk.
I hope that is not too high to keep the pressure foot knee-lift (not in the pic) from working.
I did quilt most of two small quilts while my new machine was on the dining room table. That only reminded me of how terrible it is to quilt when the machine is at the wrong height.


So I have been busy with business, thanks to Cherry-Cherry (AKA "The Business Manager") who keeps me on track. I published the "Shining Sea" pattern, and am now at work on one called "Groundhog Day".
I always wanted to have a Groundhog Day pattern, and never quite found the right idea. Then as I was working on one called "Monkey Business", I discovered that there are are currently several patterns with that same title!
This was a no-brainer....it is now called "Groundhog Day", and you will understand why when you see it.
For those who made the "Monkey Business" quilt in a Mystery Quilt class, it's almost--but not quite!-- the same pattern.


It's a busy week coming up here! I have to celebrate the Patchwork Pie blog tomorrow, then lectures to give for two different guilds in town, the Bad Girls Pie Club is meeting Thursday, and Saturday is a quilt guild Tag Sale. After all that is over, it's time to sneak off for a 4-day Quilters Retreat.
Whew! Hope you are also busy with good things. 

QuiltFest 2011 catch-up

QuiltFest, the local show that has grown to regional status, flew by this year. My mind was involved with so many things I did not get nearly the photos I wanted...but here's the one you want:

BEST of SHOW
"Tree of Lfe" by Wilhelmina Vandevoode (Sieverville, TN)

This hand-quilted beauty is really a work of art. The details are outstanding, with too many techniques to mention!

Wonderful applique work is emebllished with tiny embroidered leaves. Notice the subtle color changes throughout the quilt!

The beadwork was so tiny I couldn't even get a good close-up!

And the reason QuiltFest hangs the Best of Show by itself...to make the back easy to view!
All these things go into the judge's decision about Best of Show, which is chosen from the first place winners in all the categories.

I had nothing to do with it, so The Sunshine State Quilters Association raffle quilt won the blue ribbon in the Collaborative Quilts category!

SSQA 2012 Raffle Quilt
"Batik Garden"
(from Mary Sorensen's pattern "Delectable Pathways")

What a beauty! It should raise a lot of money for the grants program SSQA has to help Florida groups do quilt-related eductional and charitable events.

My quilt did not really deserve an award, but in the same category (Intermediate Pieced Duets, menaing two people worked on the quilt) this one did:

Honorable Mention
"Stars and Rosettes, My Version"
Elfriede Echt (Jacksonville, FL)

That's a lot of little hex shapes! Love the two-tone purple border!

My quilt? It's my latest pattern, finally being published this week:

"Shining Sea"
Sunnie Malesky

The pattern has two smaller quilts, just the Day part and just the Night part, plus instructions on how to make a reversible quilt. Lots of fun, and super easy blocks. This was originally designed for my Personalized Mystery Quilt class in 2009 for the Seaside Piecemakers in Satellite Beach, FL.

Well, that's it! Pitiful, but I'll do better next time.

Now that cooler weather has arrived in Florida, it's time to get busy.

I'll be taking my famous Over-Flowing Scrapbasket down to the Ocean Waves guild in Miami this weekend for a lecture, and two classes: Trapunto By Machine and BLOOMS.