Is it too late to be saying “Happy New Year”? It’s February 2 already, and this year is off to a great start! 2012 for me is the year of being organized and working to a plan. Despite having spent several years working in the corporate world as a Software Engineer and Project Manager, both roles requiring a good amount of being organized and able to keep up with a plan, in recent years I have felt incredibly unorganized and there hasn’t really been a plan in sight!

This year I have a plan! I now know what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by – and so far it is working extremely well. The best part is that I am being productive – and there are some good results to show off. But… you’re going to have to wait until May to see what it is that I’m working on!

In the meantime, on January 16 and 17 I spent 2 days at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, CA with a group of ladies in my “Embroidered Applique for Beginners” class at Road 2 CA. This was a 2 day “retreat” where we worked on one project for the entire 2 days. The project was a GO! Bloom pillow – the 15″ one with tulips on it:

I really enjoyed the 2 day class format – and some great results were created. Everyone was working on a Bernina 580 embroidery machine with a Large Oval hoop. That meant that every design you see on the pillow (4 tulips, 4 corner motifs and the center motif) had to be stitched as a single hooping. The students were getting really creative – using the 3 different tulip designs that are found on the GO! Bloom CD – and even using artistic license when it came to which way around the tulips were placed on the pillow top.

Check out the wonderful pillows in progress from some of the students in the class.

 Tamara

 Gayle

 Audrey

 Susan

  Maureen

 Linda

 June

 Roxanne

 Sally

Which one is your favorite?

It’s not quite half way through December – but it is definitely time to bring you the AURIfil Designer of the Month!

Before I do that, there is a winner for November. Gill in England answered the question correctly – the color of AURIfil 50 wt thread used to embroider the designs for Jacquelynne’s new pattern, A Beautiful Day, is… 2360.

As soon as Gill sends me her snail mail address, I will be sending her a sampler pack of gorgeous AURIfil threads!

Now onto the Designer of the month for December…

Sharon Pederson

Click here to read all about Sharon, and then come back to answer the following question:

What is the color that Sharon is currently in love with?

Leave your answer in a comment at the end of this post and it might be you I am sending some gorgeous threads to in the new year!

Check out Sharon’s project here.

Remember… if you wrote a comment for 6 or more of the Designer of the Month posts here on my blog, you will be in the running to win a Silk Hearts AURIfil thread collection. You can always go back to previous months to enter a comment now!

And… if you’ve made any of the Designer of the Month projects, post a photo in the Flikr folder here, and you’ll also be in the running to win some gorgeous AURIfil thread!

Until next time!

As I write this, I’m sitting in the Denver International Airport waiting for my flight home to Phoenix. I’ve spent the last two days in La Veta, a small town in South Western Colorado, known in the quilting world as the home of Ricky Tims!

“What were you doing there?” I hear you ask. Well, let me tell you!

Back in January, I got an email from Ricky which said “We gotta talk!” In March we finally connected on the telephone and he asked me the immortal question: Will you design the 2012 Block of the Month quilt for The Quilt Show? Now there’s really only one possible answer to a question like this, right? “Yes, of course I will!!!”

A good part of my year has been spent working on this project, coming up with a design and making the quilt. If you were at Quilt Festival in Houston at the beginning of the month, you may have seen the quilt there, but if not, here’s a pic:

There are actually two versions of the quilt. The one on the right (the “colorful” one) is the original. The one of the left was pieced and quilted by Lisa Sipes (aka McLisa Tangerine Starfish Sipes on Facebook, and That Crazy Quilty Girl in blog land) in a more “traditional” color scheme.

The last part of the project was filming a 5 minute video for each month, showing some tips and tricks for creating each part of the quilt. That’s what I have been doing in La Veta for the last couple of days!

We did the taping in Ricky’s studio at the Tims Art Quilt Retreat Center. Ricky had been busy working on a new project and there was “stuff” all over the place. I’m very happy to know that I’m not the only person who ends up in chaos while they are working! This pic was taken after a LOT of picking stuff up off the floor.

Here’s another view of the room:

And this is what I spent the last two days looking at!

This is what you’ll get to see if you ever watch the videos. Looks nice and clean, doesn’t it!

And here’s some proof that I really was there!

I’m really hoping that I don’t have an expression like that on my face during any of the videos that we shot!

I had a ton of fun designing and making this quilt and shooting the videos. If you’d like to join in the fun next year and make your own version, make sure you’re a member of The Quilt Show (you can sign up here if you’re not!).

In the meantime, I’m wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Life has been a little hectic around here recently! Two weeks ago I was in Houston, TX for International Quilt Market. Sarah Vedeler Designs was featured in the Brewer booth, showcasing my newest design, “Jazzilicious”!

Here’s the full view of the quilt, 64″ diameter:

And the pillows, 30″x30″:

Jazzilicious uses my 2 new dies from AccuQuilt, Heather Feather 1 and Heather Feather 2:

Just in case you’re wondering, these two dies go with the new Jazzilicious designs and the existing Heather Feather designs!

Both CDs can be purchased here:

Sarah Vedeler Designs Shop

Last weekend (actually it was Friday), I went back to Houston to spend a day in The Quilt Show booth at International Quilt Festival! Earlier this year, Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson (hosts of The Quilt Show) called and asked me if I would design a quilt to be the 2012 Block of the Month Quilt offered to all Quilt Show members. This is not an offer to turn down, and this is the result:

There will be a lot more news about this quilt in the coming months, but if you’d like to join in and make your own, become a member of The Quilt Show (if you aren’t already)! You can sign up here.

Hopefully you haven’t forgotten about the AURIfil Designer of the Month! Should I confess that I did forget all about announcing the October winner and introducing the November designer? Please don’t tell Alex and Pat about that slip of memory!!!

In October you were introduced to Marianne Byrne-Goarin, AURIfil’s queen of AURIfil Lana, and asked to answer the following question:

What weight is Marianne’s favorite thread, AURIfil Lana?

The correct answer is 12 wt.

And the winner is:

Sally King!

Just goes to show, if you enter every month, you may win again and again! Sally also won in September – it really is a name drawn out of a hat!

Now for the November Designer of the Month! I’d like to introduce you to:

Jacquelynne Steves 

from The Noble Wife.

Read all about Jacquelynne here, and then answer the following question:

 What color of AURIfil 50wt thread was used to embroider the designs for Jacquelynne’s new pattern, A Beautiful Day?

Leave your answer in a comment for this post.

Check out Jacqueline’s project here.

Until next time!

Since I’m so late selecting a winner for the September AURIfil Designer of the Month, and the new October DotM has already been announced, I’m going to combine both in one post today!

So… The winner of this gorgeous sampler pack of AURIfil threads for the month of September is…

Sally King

with the correct answer: A Few of My Favorite Threads.

Just in case you’ve forgotten, the question was: What is the name of Edyta’s AURIfil thread kit?

Just as soon as Sally sends me her snail mail address, I’ll get the thread to her!

Now onto the Designer of the Month for October:

Marianne Byrne-Goarin

Marianne is AURIfil’s resident wool thread guru, doing wonderful things with AURIfil Lana, and her projects are lively and fun!

Read all about Marianne here, and then come back to answer the following question in a comment at the end of the post:

What weight is Marianne’s favorite thread, AURIfil Lana?

Can you hear Marianne’s gorgeous Irish accent as you read her interview? When I first met her, I thought (since I knew she lives in France) that she was French. It was quite a surprise to hear her perfect English spoken with her soft Irish lilt.

You can find the instructions to Marianne’s gorgeous project here. And the templates are here.

Remember… if you post a photo of any of the projects that you have made on the AURIfil Flikr group, there is thread to be won! And… if you have left a comment on 6 or more of the AURIfil Designer of the Month posts on my blog, you are in the running to win a Silk Hearts Thread Collection. There are only 2 months left! But… you can always go back and leave a comment for previous months.

I’m busy getting ready for Quilt Market, which happens the last weekend of October in Houston, TX. My new fall collection is “Jazzilicious”. Stay tuned for photos coming soon!

It’s September 1 already – this year is flying by!

Time for a winner… someone is about to win a sampler pack of gorgeous AURIfil thread!

And the winner is…

Brenda

who left comment #28 – which I thought was curious as the correct answer was AURIfil 28 weight thread!

As soon as I hear from Brenda, I’ll be getting some thread in the mail to her. And as soon as I hear from AURIfil, I’ll be letting you know all about the September AURIfil designer of the month.

In August of last year, I went to Boulder, CO to meet Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson… and tape an episode of The Quilt Show! The show aired live on TheQuiltShow.com starting on August 15, and I am happy to report that I have a link to the show for readers of this blog to watch (just in case you don’t already have a Quilt Show Membership!).

Click on the following link to watch the show:

https://www.thequiltshow.com/os/create_account_2.php/alias/904/coupon_number/180481380275

The link will be active until August 28. If you decide that you would like to become a member of The Quilt Show so that you can watch future episodes, you can use the coupon code “180481380275″ to receive a 20% discount on the cost of membership.

I’d love to hear from you with any comments and/or questions you may have! And next week I’ll have some photos to share on the subject of “something that not a lot of people know about me” that Ricky and Alex talked to me about!

Enjoy!

I love giving thread away!

I just picked a winner for the July Designer of the Month giveaway. I’ll be sending a sampler pack of gorgeous AURIfil threads to:

Linda Baldwin

just as soon as I receive her snail mail address!

Last week I was in San Antonio at Bernina University. It’s the first time I’ve had a booth all to myself at a trade show. Fortunately for me, AURIfil had a booth next to mine, and Alex didn’t mind me spreading out to cover half of his back wall as well as my own!

This was a show with long days – 7:30am until 6:00pm. Dinner in the evening was a welcome relief! I even got to do a little sight seeing, taking in the Alamo for a few minuntes even though it was after hours.

Here I am with Alex Veronelli (AURIfil), Linda Pumphrey (AccuQuilt) and Noel Couch (Store Manager and technician extraordinaire at Sew from the Heart in Scottsdale).

August is going to be pretty exciting, so keep a watchout here on my blog! It’s my birthday, so I have a gift for you to celebrate that. My episode of the Quilt Show will also be airing – make sure you’re on my email list so that you can watch this even if you’re not a member (you can sign up here). And to celebrate that, I have another big giveaway planned – remember GO! Bloom? It’s along those lines!

That’s all for now! Hope you’re having a wonderful summer.

It’s that time again – time for a new AURIfil Designer of the Month!

July’s designer is actually two designers! Barb Persing and Mary Hoover of 4 and 6 Designs.

Click here to read their interview.

Then answer this question to put yourself in the running to win some gorgeous AURIfil thread:

What are the colors that Barbara and Mary have always loved?

Leave your answer at the end of this post! If you don’t see a place to leave a comment, you’re probabaly reading the blog from the main page. If you go back up to the top and click on the heading for this post, you’ll see where you can now leave a comment at the bottom.

 Check out the fun project that Barbara and Mary have created:

You can find the instructions here.

Have you checked out the quilts that have been submitted to the Flikr folder recently? Remember… if you post a photo of a project that you have made then that puts you in the running to win some gorgeous AURIfil thread! And… if you leave a comment for 6 or more Designer of the Month posts on this blog, you’ll be in the running to win an AURIfil Silk Hearts Collection!

Next week I’m off to Bernina University in San Antonio, TX. I’ve been working on a couple of small projects to show off there, so I’ll be posting instructions for them soon!

Hope you’re keeping cool and taking some time to quilt!

WOW! What an amazing response to my new GO! Bloom collection, and the opportunity to win everything you need to make it. Thank you to EVERYONE who left a comment.

Today is the day… the day to pick a winner.

The prize… everything needed to make the GO! Bloom Quilt!

That includes:

• The GO! Bloom CD
• An AccuQuilt GO! Baby
• The three dies used for the quilt: GO! Daisy, GO! Tulip and GO! Fun Flower
• GO! Bloom Hand Dyed Fabric Collection by Ricky Tims
• AURIfil Silk Hearts Thread Collection

When I was about to pick a winner, 715 comments had been left. So… out came 3 bowls and 3 pads of Post-it Notes!

In the first bowl, 8 pink Post-It Notes with the numbers 0-7.

In the second bowl, 10 orange Post-It Notes with the numbers 0-9.

In the third bowl, 10 green Post-It Notes with the numbers 0-9.

Heather (my 9 year old daughter) picked out the first number from the pink bowl:

0

Jasmine (my 5 year old daughter) picked out the second number form the orange bowl:

3

Lauryn (my new assistant) picked out the third number from the green bowl:

0

So the winner is the person who left comment number 030

And that person is…

Leona from Menlo Park, CA!!!

Many congratulations to Leona. All the goodies will be on their way to you very soon!

Thanks again to everyone who left a comment. And thanks to those of you who pre-ordered the GO! Bloom CD. Free shipping for all pre-orders is still in effect until the end of May, so click here if you want to take advantage of that now!

Are you ready to GO! Bloom?