Back in February, I took 5 of my friends to Kiva Elementary School where Heather is in 2nd grade, and we stitched out some silk hearts as part of the Masterpiece Art Program. Today Heather presented me with a book of thank you notes that the class had written to me. This is what some of them had to say:

Dear Mrs. Vedeler,
Thank you so much for teaching us how to use the sewing machine and may be once I will see you again.
Your friend,
Donya

Dear Mrs. Vedeler,
You are a great sewer. You are so nice. I love the work you do.
Your friend,
Jaydah
p.s. Thank you so much!

Dear Mrs. Vedeler,
Thank you for coming and helping us make the quilt. It was really fun.
Your friend,
Lucas

Dear Mrs. Vedeler,
I loved doing sewing. It was awesome. The hearts were cool. Art Masterpiece was graet!!!
Sincerely,
Lexi

Dear Mrs. Vedeler,
I loved sowing with you. I hope you will do it again.
From Danelle

Dear miss, vedeler
I really like how you make the quilts it is so interesting how you do it without getting hurt or anything else
Sincerely,
Gigi

Dear Mrs. Vedeler,
Thank you for teaching us how to sow. It was very fun and the heart was really cool. I bet everybody liked it.
Have a great summer!!!
From, Cole

Dear Mrs. Vedeler,
Thank you for what you’ve done in Art masterpiece. I loved the quilts that you made because you probably put a lot of hard work into making them.
Sincerely,
David

Dear Mrs.Vedeler
The quilts you had us make were so fun. I wish we could do it again.
(No name on this one)

Dear Mrs. Vedeler,
Thank you so much for the wonderful quilt. Sewing is so cool! You are very good at sewing.
From Jake

Dear Mrs. Vedeler,
I think you were the best Masterpiece Art parent. You are so cool. I love when you come.
Your friend,
Kloe

Dear Mrs. Vedeler
Thank you for helping inart masterpiece. I saw how you do it and I was amazed. I also love the quilt we did. Thank you for coming to do that.
Thank you, from Tommy

All in all, I think it is very safe to say that these kids really enjoyed themselves!

International Quilt Market this Spring is being held at the Minneapolis Convention Center in, you guessed it, Downtown Minneapolis!

I’m staying at the Best Western Normandy Inn & Suites with my two roomies, Donna Morales-Oemig (FollowThatThread.com) and Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero (KalCollections.com).

As hotels go it’s certainly not the swankiest, but it’s comfortable – and it has free Wi-Fi in the room which is a big plus in my book! I wasn’t sure when I first saw the building if the plaster missing from the outside walls was by design or because it fell off. Apparently it is by design – trying to imitate Old English Tudor styling.

This morning Donna and I took a walk to find some breakfast and got a glimpse of Downtown Minneapolis. It’s a mixture of old and new – towering glass sky scrapers next to ivy-clad brick buildings.

The reflections in the glass are quite spectacular, especially in the early morning sun.

Tomorrow will be a busy day – the first “official” day of the trade show. More photos to come!

After a very hectic couple of months, I am sitting in my hotel room in Minneapolis after my first day at International Quilt Market.

Three weeks ago today I moved into a new home – twice as much space, with a dedicated studio which has really opened up the flow. Still a few boxes left to unpack and lots of sorting still to be done, plenty of room to dance, and I could even lay a king size quilt out on the floor – if I really wanted to!

The project that has taken up most of my time in recent weeks is my new design collection – GO! Be Dazzled – which was introduced to the world at large today in my School House at Quilt Market.

Do you recognize the GO! logo used on the cover? GO! as in AccuQuilt GO! the fabric cutter.

This quilt was created as a Block of the Month to specifically use the dies for the AccuQuilt GO! Each month 2 blocks are created – they can be identical or use diferent fabrics and/or thread colors.

Each month one or more of the following dies is used:

• GO! Circle 2″, 3″, 5″
• GO! Stars 2″, 3″, 4″
• GO! Hearts 2″, 3″, 4″
• GO! Funky Flower
• GO! Round Flower
• GO! Feathers

The title of my School House was:

Embroidered Applique Meets AccuQuilt GO!

Subtitle: A Match Made in Heaven.

It really is a match made in heaven! The biggest challenge that most people have with any applique project is creating the applique shapes. Using the GO! cutter and dies ALL of the challenges go away. No printing of templates, no tracing temlplates and no cutting on the line with a pair of scissors. Simply apply fusible webbing to your applique fabric, place the fabric on the die and crank the handle. Finished in seconds!

I’m pretty excited about my new collection – and I hope you will be too!

Here are some close-ups of the embroidery.

Thanks to everyone for being so very patient! The cutting instructions for the Silk Hearts Quilt are now available for download here: Silk Hearts Quilt Cutting Addendum. Right click on the link, and then choose “Save target as”. If you haven’t already downloaded the Hearts Pattern, you can do that by going here. This now includes a zip file with both the Hearts Quilt Pattern and the Silk Hearts Quilt Cutting Addendum.

It’s pretty exciting when you make a quilt that people love - especially when there is not just one, but two kits available so that other people can make their own version of the quilt!

My Silk Hearts Quilt is such a quilt. I am very happy to announce the introduction of the Silk Hearts Collection – 16 fat quarters of silk dupioni, and 12 large spools of AURIfil Cotton Mako 50 wt – which provide everything you need to be able to create your own Silk Hearts Quilt, using the designs from my Hearts CD.

The Silk Hearts Quilt started out looking pretty plain when it was just blocks sitting on my design wall.

Then I added the hearts to get an idea  how it was going to look:

Then there was a lot embroidery, followed by a lot of quilting:

The quilt was finished with a piped facing – for no other reason than I did not have enough silk to put a traditional binding on! But I love the look – more about how to do it in another post.

Coming soon… detailed cutting intructions for the Silk Hearts Quilt.

The Hearts Quilt Pattern is finally available!

Go to http://sarahvedelerdesigns.com/hearts-quilt-pattern/ to download your free copy now!

Imagine 10 Bernina 830 machines in one room with 40 excited students learning a ton of embroidery tips and techniques from Bernina Educator Nina McVeigh. That’s where I spent my day today!

4 different projects and endless inspiration. From reverse applique to cutwork. Then monogramming and tassels.

The technique to achieve reverse applique using an embroidery module is very similar to that for doing cutwork. In both, you first stitch out an outline, and then you cut away the top layer.

For reverse applique, there will be another piece of fabric underneath the top piece – this is revealed when you cut away the top layer. There is also the stabilizer underneath everything.

For cutwork there is only stabilizer, so when that has been removed after the project is finished (you will probably want to use a water soluble stabilizer that can be completely removed) you are left with a hole!

For reverse applique you will typically use a running stitch to finish – this will be close to the cut edge, but not covering it. You are left with a raw edge and the effect can be varied depending on how close to the initial stitching line you cut.

For cutwork the edge is finished with a satin stitch to completely hide the cut edge.

Nina brought one of Bernina’s new cutwork tools to show us. It should be available sometime in October, and I can’t wait. The possibilities are endless!!! As well as being used for more traditional cutwork designs, the tool can also be used to cut out applique pieces. Since my passion is embroidered applique, this tool opens up all sorts of doors for increased accuracy and even more complex shapes cut in much less time than you could do with a pair of scissors.

Tassels are definitely going to be added to my design toolbox! Basically, create a longer than normal satin stitch. Make sure that one end is anchored by an additional outline stitch. Then cut away the bobbin thread from behind the satin stitch. Tassels are revealed!

What better day to start writing a blog than the first time an article about me as a quilter appears in print!

This year (2009) has so far been an amazing journey. January saw the demise of the investment club that was providing about 80% of my income. What an eye-opener that was! It did cause me to get really clear about my purpose in life:

I create beauty, inspiration and infinite creative joy!

It certainly seems to be true that when you know what you are here to do, the Universe opens up in amazing ways.

January saw the birth of Jewels in Chocolate, a quilt I made to enter in the 2009 Arizona Quilters Guild Annual Show. It eventually won 2nd place in the Machine Embroidery Category. In February I became a Travelling Teacher for the Arizona Quilters Guild, and have since taught for chapters in Wickenberg, Coolidge, Kingman, Kearney, Litchfield Park and several in Phoenix. In April, I started teaching at Sew from the Heart, my local Bernina dealer here in Scottsdale, and also at 3 Dudes Quilting, my now favorite quilt store in south Phoenix. In May I was given a heaven sent opportunity to attend International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh, PA. This led to several introductions, and an invitation for Jewels in Chocolate and another of my new creations, Heather Feather aka the ‘Be You’ Quilt, to be showcased in the Brewer booth at Bernina University in San Francisco in June.

That brings me to today – the first time that an article about me as a quilter has ever appeared in print! It’s on page 6 of the August edition of Brewer Advantage, the monthly newsletter of Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies which is distributed to Bernina dealers and quilt shops across the USA.

So… Thanks Brewer! This is definitely the start of something new