I Have A Notion

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Patsy Thompson Designs at Spring Quilt Market 2010 in Minneapolis

Hi Patsy!!! I was thrilled to see Patsy Thompson at Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis. She lives locally here but I had only met her one other time in person. I'll put our first meeting in the foot notes of this post...it is too funny not to share. Patsy had a end booth so when you walked up all you could see was her beautiful quilts being displayed and a big TV screen playing one of her DVD's. I have to say, I don't know why anyone would bother looking at her DVD when a Diva of Free Motion Quilting is sitting right there with her machine!!! I prefer the real thing....and that is what I got :)

Patsy got to work showing me first hand how she creates her signature feathers. I had a bit of a time getting the right angle to take the pix so you'all could see too....after all I want you right next to me seeing the same thing I'm seeing.

Zip, Zip, Zip.....see....that's all you need to do.....besides practice fearlessly!!

These are photo's of the booth, Patsy Thompson Designs. I say it is Patsy's but really Patsy has her partner in crime with her. His name is Ernie and he is the fortunate man that is married to Patsy and vise verse I'm sure. Earnie is the talent behind the camera for all those incredible DVD's and he is just as pleasant and interesting as Patsy. Funny how that works isn't it? Wonderful people marrying other wonderful people....you gotta love that.

The photos above are the real life quilts that are featured in Patsy's work. Can you imagine my absolute pleasure and joy when Patsy and Earnie agreed to let me help them pack up after the show. Here they thought I was being nice.....nope!!! I wanted to touch all those beautiful quilts and see them up close. I got to take down all those lovely quilts and roll them up. Talk about a gift....and they thought I was doing them a favor....go figure!!

Oh, how ever did that red bag get there on the floor? Hmmmm.....I wonder if Patsy has noticed anything missing. See, she does not know my antics.....that truly I'm the Quilt Market "Ocean's 11 Type Girl." You all thought it was Julia Roberts who was the Ocean's 11 Girl....but I'm just the "older" Oceans 11 Woman!!! If they haven't noticed yet, that Fish Quilt hangs in my livingroom.....or does it? I'll have to run look...lol.

This is Patsy's new book, "Feather Adventures!"

Patsy was a hand quilter for 25 years before she started doing free motion quilting on her machine. Since she had made so many feathers by hand she thought it might be natural to interchange the motions for machine quilting. NOPE....didn't happen. After struggling for so long she was about to give up.....and then it happened. She was able to make a feather.....can you imagine where quilting journey may have gone if she had not persevered? A perfect example of having the desire but not the skill. I know for sure the desire is the fuel that will get you and anyone else to their destination. No guarantees that you'll be a Diva like Patsy.....but I'm guessing most of us would be thrilled to just be able to make ourselves happy with our work.

"Feather Adventures" is a book about her journey and it is full of some of the most beautiful close up photos of her work. This substantial book has 137 pages (12' x 9" by 1/2" deep) of excellent information and incredible photos. It includes:

General Advice
Tools of the Trade
Anatomy of a Feather
Types of Feathers
Tracing the Spine Guideline
Stitching the Basic Freeform Feather
Perils and Pitfalls
Feathers Flowing from Feathers
Feathers Flowing from Other Structures

And that is just the first chapter!!! Weather you are a beginner that has never stitched a feather (that would be me) or you have already made feathers and want to branch out with your creativity....this book is the book for you. And you all know I don't say that if it is not true right? RIGHT!!

Oh, and did I mention the first person to order the book from IHAN gets this autographed copy? I just did, so if you want it....click here and order away :) You may also want to check out her new DVD, Free Motion Fun with Feathers! Volume 4 . You can click here to see all of Patsy Thompson Design DVD's. Patsy writes a great blog and hosts fun giveaways so you may want to put her blog in your reader.

The winner of the Autographed Quilt Life Magazine is Marcia. Congratulations Marcia. I chickened out and used the Random Number Generator and it selected number 1 who happened to be Marcia. There is no way I could have chosen from that list.....I loved the comments which only reinforces for me why I love to write the IHAN blog. Thank you everyone for being such an important part of this journey. You may not realize how important it is for me to have this part of my life....it has given me brighter days, laughter, joy and a part of myself back that had been dormant for some time.

Grateful Smiles,
Kelly

Post Note: I was standing near Patsy and had no idea who she was. I heard her talking about going to Market so I asked if she had luggage tags. She said not really so I suggested she go to my blog for a free tutorial for bag tags. She asked what my blog was so I told her. She said, "You are Kelly Jackson? You don't look anything like your picture." I laughed and said I get that all the time. I should post a "regular day" photo of me and a "cleaned up" version of myself.....two different people really.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Famore Cutlery at Spring Quilt Market 2010

By now most of you know Brint, Famore Cutlery, "The Scissor Man" at Quilt Market. You already know that I think his apron is "scissor porn" and I've fantasized about stealing it from the first time I laid eyes on it. I know lust is typically frowned upon in most religions.....but I've not found one yet that said I could not lust after some of the best scissors made that all attached to one apron. If there is one....I'll just change the post to read, "strong desire."

So, you can imagine my shock when I rounded the corner to find Brint stark naked. OMW (oh my word) I could not believe he was standing there completely "undressed." Did someone beat me to the goods? I played it cool.....I took a very deep breath and casually inquired about "THE APRON." Apparently Mr. Brint had shoulder surgery a few months ago and it is best that he gives his shoulders a break. So I say, " Hi Brint....oh I'm so sorry to hear about your surgery." The entire time all I could really think was......OH YES!!!! (just like Meg Ryan in When Harry met Sally.....just the exact same feeling :)

Much to my dismay Brint just had the apron put away. I imagine there are armed guards like Mr. T watching the thing all the time....again just my imagination....I did not ask.

Notice the close up.....I zoomed in on his apron while he was doing business with some man from another country. I'm thinking.....thank you Mr. Foreign Man....keep talking.....I've got some work to do here. James Bond has nothing on me.....I'm thinking about Jason Bourne type action now....I'm ready for the music to start playing with that heart thumping drama type noise.

Just after the man walked away, Brint sat down and invited me to chat for a bit. Imagine my incredible luck when he needed to excuse himself for a minute. "No problem Brint....I'll smile and be welcoming to all passersby and I'll let them know you will be right back.....I just need to have that apron for just a minute however....go on and take care of your business....I'll be right here when you get back." See....I'm a good tricker....I learned it from my youngest co-worker!!

The security cameras caught me with this "Cat ate the Mouse" smile wearing "The Apron."

I hate security cameras. When I go to Houston I'm going to send in Inspector Gadget to remove all the electrical wires from the cameras and paint the light on them red so folks think they are really on .... but actually they have been dis-armed!!

I was caught going for the "goods"....I mean the "best scissors at a great price."

So....when you are caught....what do you do? Dance of course....throw them off a a bit.....do a IHAN Ninja move on them......

Evilness lurks within the IHAN scissor hands.....theft and lies are my destiny.

Who honestly cares that I'm 46 and have a little more IHAN than expected? Come on....Life is too good to waste at home when I can be feeling the "wild Yoda" playing with all these incredible scissors. I may be a little nuts....but I ain't crazy you know!!

A contortionist move before the finale........

Wahhhhhh Lahhhhhhh......I emerge the Scissor Queen of the Universe.....feel the joy and the elation :)

Oh yeah......It's my birthday.....oh yeah.....it's my birthday...( I spent forever looking for a you tube of that dance....you know the one where you say-"oh yeah it's my birthday and you move your hands around your mid-section like you have a shower curtain there? I'll find it and put it on here :)

These are wonderful for machine embroidery....so I tell Brint I need to buy some of these for my Machine Embroidery customers but I need the points to be blunt. "Ok, I'll just machine them for you and make them blunt"....says Brint. You don't get better than that!!! Famore Rocks Planet Earth....but gently because of the hot lava flows...LOL

Ok, now you know why I love Famore Cutlery.....excellent scissors.....great prices......THE APRON and a guy who will machine scissors for you.....can't beat that even with a big stick. Oh, yeah did I mention....he is not too hard on the eyes either!!!

Oh, dear.....how ever did that lovely apron get into my bag? Hmmmmm.....I'm so sorry I misplaced it Brint.....I'm still looking for it....maybe Gene knows where it is.....then again....maybe not....oh I'm bad.

So, what did I do? I gave Brint my new camera strap that I made the night before Quilt Market. He does not quite look the same does he? A little girley at that.....but.....I had to offer something up since I "lost" the apron.