Cindy Needham, creator of wholecloth linen quilts

I lost my autographed copy of Wholecloth Linen Quilts in the forest fire
that took our acreage, home and my professional quilting studio in 2013.
I've been looking for a replacement of the book ever since, which has been
difficult since it is out of print. Recently, I found one, and Cindy signed
 my second copy today. Blessings restored.

I met up with Cindy Needham again today at a workshop my guild provided. I initially met her in 2009 at a guild in another state, where I bought her book Wholecloth Linen Quilts after her lecture, which she autographed.

She is an incredibly talented designer and teacher, highly respected and awarded in the quilting world. I've been a Needham groupie since I began my longarm quilting business.  Those of you who know of Cindy's techniques may think that's a bit odd: being a longarmer and pulling design implementation from one who uses a domestic machine to create a wholecloth, which Cindy does. But I've found her designs universally adaptable toward any quilting process, which I believe is the test for truly great design.  

One of Cindy's creations at class today.

Cindy's quilted linen.

Cindy has been a quilter for more than 45 years - with the first 25 devoted to her first love of hand quilting she began in the 8th grade - and the last to her passion for machine quilting, when she couldn't keep up with all her quilt tops. Her book, Wholecloth Linen Quilts, published in 2007 by AQS, contains her own wholecloth patterns and designs.

Another of Cindy's creations.

Cindy says, In the late 90's I became a bit bored quilting on "regular" pieced quilt tops and decided to try my hand at quilting a tattered linen that was on my night stand. I marked it with a beautiful design, put it in my machine, and created the world's very first linen wholecloth quilt. It was a moment that changed my life forever. Not only had I created something fabulous out of an ordinary linen but it justified my huge linen stash! Now I had to make more of them!  

Cindy's wholecloth linen.

Passing on her love of quilting through teaching is a dream come true. In what Cindy calls a "Leap of Faith", in 2005 she left her full time job in the medical field to start teaching nationally for Superior Threads. She has written articles for Quilters Newsletter Magazine, American Quilter, Machine Quilting Unlimited, The Quilter and Machine Quilting.  Cindy received the national Machine Quilting Teacher of the Year award at MQX in April, 2011.

Blog followers know I have a passion for antique quilts. After purchasing Cindy's book, I discovered I could actually quilt vintage linens! I still purchased vintage quilt tops, but now I could also search for linens, with Wholecloth Linen Quilts being one of my 'go-to's' for quilting inspiration. I've written several posts on wholecloth quilting from the longarm perspective. Look through my blog archive, specifically the August, 2015 blog post The Vintage Tablecloth seen as a Wholecloth, featuring my quilt, at left.

Another of my vintage longarm quilted linens, inspired by Cindy Needham.

To learn more about Cindy, watch videos, purchase products or view her gallery of stunning wholecloth linen quilts, go to cindyneedham.com. And there's hope for the discontinued book I've featured today: Cindy now sells ebook downloadables, as well as updates :).

I was so happy to meet up with Cindy again! I just wish we could've had more time.  Perhaps another time!

From my Studio to Yours...Merry Christmas!

Thank you for a year that surpassed my imaginations.

It's been a lot of work to continue my quilting business in a new locale.

But you've all been so supportive:

quilt shops, guilds, both new clients as well as returning ones.

I look forward to seeing your new quilting creations in the New Year,

and helping you complete them.  I value your trust.

May God bless!

The Second (and Final) Raffle Drawing for Free Longarm Quilting

Same rules apply (see previous post) 

except only the winning number (1896145) and following dates have changed:

I’m giving the winner (whose identity I know) until 10:00 a.m. PST on 10/31/16 (Halloween) 

to contact me via email or phone (see my "Contact Me" tab) 

when this raffle will be called to an end.  

Hopefully, it will produce a real winner this time!!

And the winner of the *Free Longarming Raffle is ...

*Free quilting services only. Raffle offer excludes products (batting and thread), binding service, shipping and WA state tax. 

(Entrants were told to watch their email for a subscription verification email within one week of drawing their ticket on 10/8/16 and given instructions on how to verify it. Only those who verified their subscription would receive this blog post via their email.  Raffle drawing winner has been drawn at 3:30 p.m. 10/20/16 and should be posted on my blog within 48 hours of that time/date).

Important:  The lucky person now needs to come forward!   If you drew Ticket #1896153 as pictured please contact me (click on "Contact Me" tab on my blog site at ppatchworks.blogspot.com.  I do have your name but for privacy reasons am not posting it here.  If I am not contacted by 10:00 a.m. on 10/25/16 I will redraw another number and repost.

Thank you everyone who participated!

Raffle for free professional quilting!

Sneak peek of a booth item

Clark County Quilters Stash Bazaar

Saturday, October 8th; 9-2pm

Salmon Creek Methodist Church

12217 NE HWY 99, Vancouver, WA

This is a reminder to get your free fat quarter at my booth (in the gym - look for my business sign) when you mention this post/email. I'll have quilt kits, vintage quilt blocks, So Fine quilting thread, rulers, stencils, seasonal items, wideback yard goods, fat quarters and yardage, quilt patterns, and more priced to go. Free admission and parking. Fat quarter available only to those present at the show.

Also, I'm holding a raffle for free longarm quilting, one quilt top any size, edge-to-edge only, quilting services only (offer excludes products, binding services, shipping and WA state tax). 

How do you register? Come to the show Saturday and fill out a raffle ticket with your email. I will subscribe you as a blog follower with the email you indicate. 

How do you know if you've won? Everyone will be notified by email as long as you activate your subscription when you receive the subscription confirmation email a few days after the bazaar. (If you don't receive the confirmation email during this timeframe please contact me BEFORE drawing day). The winning number will be drawn 10/20/16 and posted on my blog within 48 hours (I can't control Google), so keep your number handy! Your name will not be posted.

Don't live in Washington? You don't need to be present to register or win.  If you live at a distance and want to enter send me an email at ppatchworks@gmail.com and I'll draw you a ticket and send you the number.  

Good luck!

Sue Spargo's "Folk-tails"!

Earlier this year I worked on a  woolen quilt for a client, the pattern taken from Sue Spargo's Folk-tails, which was published this summer. 

All 119 pages not only give the patterns for what you're about to see - they also delve into Sue's love of Africa, and are complete with African folk-tale short stories. 

I hope you enjoy the 'before and after' pictures of this incredibly appliquéd, layered and embroidered woolen quilt.

The "before" pictures:   Try to soak in all the beautifully handcrafted work!

I cannot imagine the hours and hours and hours it took to create this piece. Click on each photo to zoom in on the embroidery, the vivid colors chosen, and the lively theme.

I have to admit that from a longarmers' perspective, the quilting design of a 100% woolen quilt can be overwhelming. However, if two ground rules are followed, design is simplified and appropriate.

1) Try to avoid quilting through embroidery whenever possible (on woolens and any quilt having embroidery)...

2) On woolen appliquéd pieces, try to minimize quilting onto layers. The quilting focus is to use background stitching as a complement to the quilt, and to stitch around what has been appliquéd. Larger areas will certainly need stabilizing/defining, but as a general rule, stay off heavily hand-stitched appliqués, such as have been used in this quilt. 

You can see the quilting challenge! It is a thrill to consider designs...

Did I succeed with my ground rules?  The 'after' pictures follow with commentary by the author, Sue Spargo, on what inspired her to create this wild, woolly quilt.

  Africa is deeply embedded in my soul. 

 Childhood memories continually fill my mind…

...the beauty of the land that is rich with wildlife and wild land.

I can feel the hot African sun and dry breeze on my skin, the warm, rough sand beneath my bare feet...

...the smell of the bush veld — dusty and dry and filled with the scent of the animals that live there. 

 

I can see the sky so clear and so blue. 

Nightfall brings a massive river of shimmering stars that span the sky. 

Masses of tall grasses camouflage the seemingly endless numbers of animals that live there. 

The land is spotted with dense clusters of trees; the bare branches of the Baobab look like roots extending to the sky. 

I hear the songs of a thousand birds during the day...

...and the silence of a pitch black night is at times broken by the roar of a lion which shakes my body and cuts straight through my soul.   

To start on your Folk-tails project, go to http://www.suespargo.com/store-detail.php?cat=12.  You can also order the kit.

What an intense pleasure it was to quilt!

There's Something Fishy Going On...

No, it's just an old Building Block Series, Out & About from Pine Needle Designs by McKenna Ryan. I'll have to admit though; with my Ottlite providing plenty of light on a dark, rainy day earlier this year, it does look like an interrogation was conducted or watched through a key hole.  I assure you, no fish were hurt in the writing of this post and no secrets of the oceanic deep were revealed!

Anyone who has worked on a Pine Needle design knows it requires attention to detail and patience in the raw-edge appliqué process. I've chosen 'fishy' batiks from my stash, traced the designs, fused my fabrics, cut the appliqué pieces out, and am arranging them here using an appliqué pressing sheet on top of a placement guide for each block. Once arranged, the pieces will be semi-fused into place, then transferred to my background fabric and permanently fused. After that, I'll freestyle quilt the three separate blocks, loaded all together onto my leaders at the same time. Fast-forwarding to completion, the next picture shows how I mounted each block onto canvas to be displayed as wall art.

The first block, called Heads or Tales?, is my favorite because I think the colors are most accurate. To me, it seems my fish evolve in weird color combinations as they swim! Even the rocks are psychedelic. Thanks to Prince, there's Purple Rain. But purple rocks? Well, anyone who's snorkeled knows light dances in the water, making everything look 'otherworld'. So, it works!

Rock Bottom is the second block in the series with lots of color going on. Who's afraid of color?! Not me by now.

The fish get a good dose of realism if you'll look 'into their eyes'. I bought some sticky eyes off the internet and affixed them onto each fish after I put the blocks onto canvas. 

The last block is called Bali Dancing. Years ago when this series first came out, McKenna Ryan had these patterns packaged as kits with her special lines of fishy fabric. The background was a solid piece but had many hues. But not for my project. I used my own batiks on hand, and then had to purchase three shades of blue to translate depth; a light one at the surface, a medium tone for halfway down, and a deep blue at the river bottom for an illusion of depth.  

All the quilting was hand-guided, from the curls in the water to the appliqué stitching around each piece.

What a joy this was to construct and quilt this spring and summer! I gifted it to my husband who is a catch-and-release fly fisherman. While I don't think he'll catch fish quite this color, I know just looking at the likeness of fish makes him itch to get out on the river. Nothing fishy about that!