Three Essentials for the Traveling Quilter

Hello, it's Kelly's friend Jean(ie) popping in to keep the blog going. Kelly is busy and unable to post, so I thought I'd pop in (surprise!) and take a task off her list.

This past week I've been blessed to get to know more members of my guild (Stray Thread Quilt Guild in Woodinville, WA) during a couple of sew days. These amazing people inspire me. We have a wonderful assortment of quilters among our group -- art quilters, traditional quilters, modern quilters, quilters who play with scraps, crazy quilters (aren't we all crazy?), and those who adore handwork.

What unites us all? Thread, fabric, pattern, color, and texture. And sew days. Days in which we all "get away" and get together and just sew. This past weekend I spent two days sewing with my guild and I had fun!

When I go out sewing -- whether it's at a local shop or meeting place, there are several things I don't leave home without. First up on the list is my handy-dandy Tutto bag. I have a large machine and this rolling bag makes it easier for me to carry my full-size machine to classes. Plus, it has tons of extra room to stuff all sorts of notions, thread and fabric. To read more about the Tutto Machine on Wheels case, click here.  They make these cases in a multitude of sizes. And just so you know, I've even used this very case for a suitcase during a car trip. I was able to cram a whole lotta stuff in there! It has handy pockets for thread, notions, rulers and a really roomy interior.

The extra-large interior space fits my oversize machine, 2 small tackle boxes, a quilt top and backing, and an iron!

Another thing I take with me are my Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Scissors. These stay in my handwork bag. Kelly recommended these to me and I absolutely LOVE them! I use them for my applique work and fabric cutting. I've been hot into hexies for handwork. I trace my template on fabric and cut. The scissor blades really cut through the layers of fabric cleanly and without issue.

Another Must-have for the traveling quilter is the Scrap-Ma-Bob Clamp On Holder for Beverages and Scraps. I get lots of comments on this one. Folks always stop by my table and tell me how clever it is! Why do I love it? It's impossible for me to spill my drink on my sewing machine and workspace. And believe me, if my water is by my machine, the machine will get soaked, but not when I use my Scrap-Ma-Bob. It keeps things dry. And the little scrap bag, I've got tons of bag space for those thread clippings and fabric scraps that are too small to recycle.

What are your traveling must-haves when quilting (besides chocolate)?

IHAN CEO Goes To 2nd Grade

You know when you have "arrived" in mommy life when you are invited to give a talk at your child's school.  A rare and savored moment when my son was so proud and pleased that it was "his" mommy talking to the entire 2nd grade class.  Remember those days?

The kids are reading a book about a quilt so I was invited to come and talk about quilts today.  I literally had 10 minutes to set up and 10 minutes to take down ....that is why the quilts are piled on the table.

I brought my current sewing machine and an older model (made before I was born...good to know I was not the oldest in the room :)  I was thinking that children who come from families who don't sew might not have ever had the opportunity to see a sewing machine.  There were several who raised their hands when I asked if this was the first time they had seen a sewing machine. 

 I started by showing them a quilt made by Mr. McSteamy's Grandmother (who will be 100 in 2 weeks).

This is a mug rug (one of you will recognize it, it was a gift : ) that I sent around for kids to touch.  The loved seeing such a "small quilt."  I told them that people from all over the world swap these and fabric postcards too. 

Of course I had to get my pitch in for recycling.  I showed them a feed sack dress and shared how it was recycled from feed sacks.....just in case they thought recycling is a new invention.

 

Nanny, Rick's Grandma, made this one and gave it to Rick and I for our wedding.  She was 89 when she made this and it is hand appliqued.  Could we all be so lucky?  I sure hope so.....especially since I have projects to keep me busy until I'm 124 years old.

Aaron was beaming when I showed this "Crayon" quilt.  I made it for him when he was a baby.

Then just 18 very short months later came Zach so he got a panel quilt....nursing one and two in diapers does not leave much time for piecing....know what I mean?  It has a lot of hand embroidery and trapunto.  (I made it while living in PA.  Took it to Needles to show the girls and they said, "I love your trapunto."  I said, "No that is not trapunto....I stuffed it."  ROFL....I had no idea what trapunto even was...gotta love it.)

 

My only sampler quilt, "Many Hands."  I thought it would be a good one to show all the variety of blocks.

This was not even washed....it was taken straight off the sofa and put into a box and to the school....nice ay?

Of course I had to show them some Hawaiian applique.  I explained the difference between hand stitching, needle turn applique and machine applique.  These were needle turn applique and hand quilted....by none other than MJ...Thanks again, and again, and again!

 

My signature quilt, "Crossroads."  Given to me by MJ...she had all my PA friends sign it when I moved away.  I cherish this piece.  The kids liked that you could "write" on your quilts.  Hope they don't go home and start autographing without permission....yikes.

Thankfully, my friend Diane, loaned me some quilts to take with me as well.  Believe it or not I don't really have any "fun" kid quilts.  I need to get that on my list.  Diane shared these with me and the kids absolutely loved them.  This Halloween one was done with machine embroidery so that was cool to be able to show them that as well.

This quilt was just way toooooo coool!  The kids were pointing and talking....Thank You Diane!!!

These two are Diane's stained glass quilts.  One of the kids said, "hey, they have that at my church."    I need to Google "possession" again....because if I remember correctly.....possession is 9/10ths of the law isn't it? 

This was the show stopper.  All at once the room went, "ooooooohhhhhhhhh" and they smiled.  I loved it...Thanks again Diane :)

Another one of Diane's quilts, a photo quilt. Neat for the children to see you can use photos on quilts.

Of course I took my, "Red Eyed Tree Frog" made by Susan Brubaker Knapp.  It was a fun  to see the kids eyes light up.  Who could not love this tree frog?  (my ears are plugged....and I'm humming loudly..I love frogs)

Waldo's grand daughter made this one.  Maddy made this using fabric swatches and she tied the centers.  The kids were interested in a quilt made by another kid.....hmmmmm....I gotta get my co-workers busy quilting too.

Of course I loved showing this table runner made in Kenya at Amani Ya Juu.  What fun being able to share a little of Africa with them today.

Then on to India.....still not quilted...."Passing the Sacred Orb."  Hey, a wild hair may just grab me and it will be done in no time.....oh yeah baby.

This was the insane part.  When I was asked to come and talk about quilting I opened my big mouth and said I thought it would be cool if the kids could make a paper quilt.  That was when it was just Aaron's class....then it was all of the 2nd graders....106 of them.  So, it went from a paper quilt...to one block!  We cut a zillion little pieces of scrapbook paper and put them into envelopes....a little block kit for each child.  I showed them how they could use their pencil or marker to do the stitching.  Note to self.....cutting a zillion little pieces of paper and counting them into kits takes a lot of time....next time....let them color in a quilt made on my EQ 7 Software!!! 

Speaking of the Electric Quilt Company, I phoned them yesterday to see if they had ever presented to children before and did they have any recommendations.  (Ya gotta go to the experts!!).  They were so kind to e-mail me a little demo so I could show the kids that quilting has gone high tech and you can design quilts on the computer (fascinating to this middle aged mind).  McSteamy came home for lunch and helped me pack up the van and off I went to the school.  Guess what was not in the van?  Yep....my laptop.  He figured I did not need it (he had didn't know what I had planned).  But....I'm ready to go next time :)  Thank You Penny and everyone at EQ who helped me out!  They rock....but IHAN blog readers already knew that, right?  Right!

Well....sheepishly I share this pix......my new Tutto Machine on Wheels Bag....was delivered the day before yesterday but I did not open it because I've been sick.  So this morning, I figure if I'm taking Martha to school....she needs her Mercedes to ride in....so I put baby Martha into her new Mercedes and off we went.  Dang....I love this Tutto Machine on Wheels.  Wanna know why I did not pick that pretty Red, Lime or Purple?  Yes you do....don't act like you don't care....ok, so you don't care....just let me tell ya anyway....come on please...... because everything I have gets dirty...this won't show the dirt so quickly. 

Thanks for listening :) 

Smiles,

Kelly