Aurifil Blog Hop

Aurifil Blog Hop and The letter T

 

Hello Aurifil Blog Hoppers and welcome to the IHAN (I Have A Notion) blog.  Have you had fun this past week?  I know I have enjoyed visiting all of the blogs and collecting some great block patterns.

I was given the letter T for this blog hop.....an easy letter when speaking about Thread...don't you think?  Other T words that come to mind immediately:

Thread Tension

Tips, Terms and Techniques

Tools

Truthfully the reason I think I got the letter T is because I'm a Thief.  It's True and I have photos to prove it.

 Taking The Thread.....can you blame me? 

I only wish I had worn pants with an elastic waist.  I could have gotten that entire container in my waistline and covered it with my shirt. 

Instead, I had to go for the smaller box....shoved it down the back side...better know as the Tush.

I could not stop at a few spools....I Took the fork lift and Trotted off with the entire crate.  You know what?  I have no shame and no regrets.

Are you wondering what could possible cause an otherwise honest woman to become a Thief?  Try Aurifil for yourself and then tell me you don't want it ALL....yes a spool or several in every color and weight.  Just try to tell me if given access you would not attempt the same heist?   No lint, no breakage, beautiful colors, 12 wt, 28 wt, 40 wt, and 50 wt Thread.   Yep, I'm Thinking you would be Tempted to be a Thief Too!  By now you have read all the other Testimonials from the other Blogs in this Hop so you know of what I speak. 

The quilt blocks the other Bloggers designed are wonderful.  I'm a notions girl so designing blocks is not my Temptation.....instead I made this Joseph's Coat block pattern.  Tickled that I made the block Then I was Tormented when I realized I had been calling it "Jacob's Coat."  

Click here to download the pattern :)

I invite / Tempt you to Try The Thread That Tempts The Thief To Take it, AURIFIL.

Leave a comment on this post for your chance to win an Aurifil Thread Sampler. There will be Two winners selected from this post AND.....

(Photo Thieved from Pat's Blog)

Everyone will have a chance to win the Grand Prize, Pat Sloan's 50wt Machine Quilting and Applique Thread.

Today you will want to stop by SewCalGal's Blog as well...don't miss it :)

I wish you all the best of luck in winning some Aurifil Thread....if you don't win and you would like to Touch The Thread That Tempts The Thief To Take it, you can check your local quilt shops as well as Pat Sloan's Quilt Shop, Pink Chalk Fabrics, Stitchin' Heaven and of course right here at I Have A Notion. 

Triumliterarum Smiles,

Kelly

Footnote: I didn't really Take The Thread That Tempted me....I just Tricked The Troupe To Think That I did :)

Sarah Vedeler in Houston Quilt Market 2010 - GO! Be Dazzled Takes First Place

Sarah Vedeler’s GO! Be Dazzled quilt has earned First Place in Houston.  Congratulations Sarah!
(Computer-Aided Machine Embroidery category the International Quilt Association in Houston)
I posted photos of her 2 entries, Heather Feather and GO! Be Dazzled, yesterday on this blog.

These are photos of Sarah's School House Presentation last Thursday, Oct.28, 2010.  Schoolhouse is a series of classes/mini-commercials/introductions to new products and designs sponsored by the various companies and occur the day before Quilt Market Opens.

This quilt was made using Sarah's GO! Be Dazzled Machine Embroidery Software.  It is amazing how quickly Sarah's designs have taken off and now there are Silk Fabric Collections ,AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutting Dies , Aurifil Thread Collections and Isacord Thread to go with her designs. 

I love this AccuQuilt GO! Die.....you don't need to actually put up a Christmas Tree this year.....Just make a wall size tree and hang it on the wall.....EXCELLENT idea!!!!  No cleaning up pine needles for the next 3 months :)  This is perfect for those who can't put up trees or don't want to be bothered by the work involved.  No one says you can't stitch on loops to hang ornaments either!!! :)

 

Although Sarah looks great in her silk shawl.....it is actually a Christmas Tree Skirt :) 

How did Mrs. Rosemary sneak into this photo?  She seems to turn up everywhere :)  Isn't the wall hanging Sarah's holding up absolutely stunning? 

Sarah was showing the Sparkle Thread Collection by Aurifil.  

Speaking of the Sparkle Thread Collection....IHAN is sponsoring the Bloggers Quilt Festival over at AmysCreativeSide Blog and our gift is a box of the Sparkle Threads by Aurifil :)  I hope you entered a quilt!

 Are you seeing Stars?  Me too.  Lots and lots and lots of Stars.  Not only has Sarah come out with this new Machine Embroidery Software but Brewer Quilting and Sewing have come out with some Exclusive AccuQuilt GO! Dies to go along with Sarah's Designs. 

Another Brewer Exclusive-Stars Silk Collection and Aurifil Stars Thread set to coordinate. 

 

These are the Brewer Exclusive AccuQuilt GO! Stars Dies I was talking about earlier.  Many of them are available now at IHAN!!!

Sarah demonstrated why she likes to use the AccuQuilt Dies in her designs.  She had used her Embroidery Machine to make a Star and then asked asked AlexVeronelli ,of Aurifil, to trim around the Star.

Here is Alex hard at work.  He was very focused.  I did notice he seemed a bit awkward with the scissors....do you think he's a quilter or a stitcher?  Me either.

He gave it a good effort and this was the result.    I don't have an Embroidery Machine but I can certainly understand why someone would want their designs to come out better than this!!!  Yikes

These photos were taken at the Brewer Quilting and Sewing Booth in Houston.   You certainly could not just walk on by without taking notice of Sarah's beautiful designs....and those Silks.....and Threads.....and Dies.....Oh My!!! 

 

Can you imagine something this beautiful under your tree?  Incredible!

 

 

Armed with a camera at all times....at least one....there were times I had three.....I seemed to run into Sarah everywhere I went.  Check out her bag.....I should have waited for her to set it down....but I was not thinking at the time...dang.

A glowing smile.....and that was before she won first place!!!! 

Ok, so photo overkill.....but you know what?  I enjoyed photographing Sarah's work and I enjoyed seeing her recognized for her beautiful Quilt Designs.  I hope you enjoyed them too.

Smiles,
Kelly

Sarah Vedeler at Spring Quilt Market 2010 in Minneapolis, MN

Prior to going to Spring Quilt Market,  I had never met Sarah Vedeler.   IHAN sells her designs, coordinating silks and threads but I had never met Sarah.  The most I knew about Sarah was from what I read on Facebook. 

Imagine my surprise when I learn Sarah will be giving a presentation at Schoolhouse.  I ran, yes ran (feel free to ask around....people definitely saw me running and walking extremely fast) to get to the room where she was presenting so I could get some photos and see her new designs.

Sarah Vedeler, I'm pleased to introduce you to the IHAN Blogifers.  Blogifers, meet Dr. Sarah Vedeler, designer, software engineer and mother :)

GO! Be Dazzled is Sarah's latest machine embroidery design and pattern.  Isn't it beautiful?

GO! Be Dazzled is a  block of the month quilt featuring AccuQuilt GO! dies. The multi format CD contains 49 individual designs as well as designs formatted for a 12 month block of the month program with illustrated instructions.

The GO! Fabric Cutter Dies Sarah used include:

GO! Circle-2”, 3”, 5”
GO! Feathers
GO! Funky Flowers
GO! Heart-2”, 3”, 4”
GO! Round Flower
GO! Star 2”, 3”, 4”

I am just amazed at how beautiful the combination of machine embroidery and quilting can be. I'm an old time hand embroidery gal, I had no idea such things could be so lovely until the last year or so. I guess I have been living under a mushroom.

Later I walked into the Northcott Schoolhouse where there were no seats left and I was waiting to see what yummy fabrics they were introducing when I noticed I was standing next to Sarah Vedeler.  I could not help but smile and ask Sarah if I could take a picture of her purse.  I honestly felt like I was in Hollywood , casually asking Anthony Hopkins for a photo....Quilt Market is the Red Carpet for us quilters and I LOVE getting to meet and see all these talented folks.

This was the pretty bag Sarah was carrying.  OM Goodness....can you imagine walking around town in a GREEN quilted SILK handbag?  I wanted to grab it but Sarah looked too much like a lady and I did not want to make her chase me down the hallway. (I bet I could run faster....only because I would be fueled with envy....the dark emotion with lots of power!!!...LOL)

By now you must be thinking I had followed Sarah around the entire Quilt Market just waiting for her to appear.  Truthfully, I just happened to be walking by the Bernina and Brewer booths and Sarah was there next to a Bernina 830 (ok....if you have one of these....keep it to yourself....honestly....I don't even want to know....because I don't know what I would do) that was embroidering one of her Heart designs.

This photo is just too cool for words....so I'll be quiet.  Hear that?  Yes....the silence!!!

Here is part of the Brewer Booth at Quilt Market.  There will be more photos in other posts but this one grabbed me.  Here is Sarah's Silk Hearts Collection:  The Silk Hearts CD, the Dupioni Silk, the Aurifil Thread and the GO! Fabric Cutter dies that coordinate.  Yes my heart was pounding being so close to all those delicious things.  I really should take Valium before I go because my central nervous system goes haywire and I feel like I have a hangover when I get home.  It takes me at least a week or two to recover....no kidding.

Sarah was standing right there, so of course I asked her if I could photograph her in front of her latest design, GO! Be Dazzled Quilt .  I know I take a lot of photos but I want everyone to feel like there are with me on these adventures.  If a photo is worth a 1,000 words.....then my posts are at least 100,000 plus words :)

I wonder where Sarah stores this quilt when it is not on display.  Do you think her co-workers use it?  (Sarah has two girls)  My co-workers think I make every quilt that I  photograph and I love that they actually think I could make something like this.  One of them will walk up when I'm writing my blog and ask, "Momma, did you make that?"  My favorite co-worker questions are when they ask if the photo is a picture of me when clearly I don't look anything like the photo.  They both though the Bionce you tube video post was me dancing....you gotta love kids!!!

 

This is the Isacord GO! Be Dazzled Thread Collection that will be released soon.  It coordinates with the GO! Be Dazzled CD and pattern.

All I have to say is Sarah Vedeler is one talented lady and I can't wait to see what she does next!!

Smiles,
Kell