Back to My Beloved Studio

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Classes, Food for Thought, High-Tech Studio, My business, My Family, My Studio, Workshops

A couple of days after I got home from California I came down with a monster cold that has totally shut down my work for weeks. I am finally emerging from that, though I still have a cough here and there. Coughing, even though it is far less, does not work well with precision quilting. LOL. So for a few more days I will do a little video watching, a little writing, a little planning, and a little design work. Still, it is progress for me to get back to work finally. It is my sincere hope that you, dear readers, do not catch something like this. Apparently it is going around, since a lot of my quilty friends seem to have had it too. It’s a bear and antibiotics do nothing for it.

Sew we recently bought a ROKU device and I have been playing around with it while recovering. One of my favorite things is that you can get YouTube on your big screen TV with ROKU along with whatever additional streaming service you have subscribed to. I have what came with Roku, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. Yesterday, I found Alex Anderson’s Simply Quilts from years ago on the HGTV channel. I also found It’s Sew Easy on Amazon Prime. What a delightful way to be entertained while I lay around like a coughing couch potato. I tell them where they could improve their techniques, and learn something to try later…hahaha. I still have to watch TQS and my BluPrint and IQUILT videos on my computer, but I can connect to my tv with a cable for that. It’s just not as convenient. I’m thinking I really need another day of video watching before I fully launch back into quilting and writing in my studio.

I did arrange with G Street Fabrics the other day that I will be teaching four workshops in April and May similar to the ones I taught last year. I have also talked with my oldest son Ken about helping me get fully set up for making some videos for YouTube on a regular basis. He has designed and built a couple of camera holders that are attached to the ceiling and can manipulate them to give different angles for the cameras. He just needs to install them. I also need to purchase a second video camera to work with them. I plan on launching a periodic video showing my techniques very soon, probably in early March. I have slowly been assembling everything I want for this and am close to launch.

Beyond that, I will be spending most of my time making show quilts and samplers for my books all year, as far as i can determine. I think I want to hang out at home and avoid any further disruptions to my work. I am excited about that now that I am getting over the monster cold.

Sew happy everyone! Stay healthy, enjoy your studio, and find a way to share what you learn. Let me know what you think about my video plans.

Upcoming Fun Events and the “Leather” Coat Project

Posted on November 30, 2019 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Embellishment, Exhibits, Fabrics, Food for Thought, Making Clothes, My Family, quilt shows, Workshops / 2 Comments

Hi everybody! I have several items of news, which some of you already know about if you read by Facebook posts, but I’ll tell you anyway.

First of all my Embellish This! workshop at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, MD suffered a delay because on my way to the planned workshop my car quit running. I was on the toll road and right at an exit that went downhill, which was quite a good thing since I was able to coast off the exit ramp onto a generous grassy side and was completely out of harms way. Turns out it was some kind of air hose had come disconnected for no known reason and that was all. But the nice AAA tow truck rescuer towed the car and gave me a ride all the way back to my preferred car repair place and they fixed it for nothing and did the annual checkup at the same time, which revealed I needed new brake pads and a new belt of some kind. I did get those fixed the next day. So the new class date is now December 15 and there are still places left, and I would like to fill them. A full class is a happy class! This class will be totally fun and result in a top that could be made into a nice wall hanging or pillow for a Christmas present and leaves you with a lot of knowledge of the techniques needed to embellish your projects.

Embellish This! workshop sampler for December 2019 class.

Secondly, I have been, as you know from my past several blogs, making a faux leather, aka “leather” coat for my youngest son David, who is a big and tall man of noble stature. You can read the past two blogs to get an idea of what this entails, but I will say that it has been the hardest thing I have ever made in my entire sixty plus years of sewing! And no, it wasn’t difficult just because it is “leather”. The “leather is fairly easy to sew with, but it is black and slightly shiny and you can’t take anything out if the stitches are going to show. But I had made the Frankenpattern from three patterns and then did a substantial amount of size changing.

I have only got the hems and the buttons to go on this project. I just had a fitting with David and it looks fabulous, fits perfectly, and I am surprised after all the struggle I had getting it right. Partly it was difficult because it has been decades since I made anything tailored for a man. Partly it was difficult because some of the pattern needed so much adjusting. Partly it was difficult because I made several stupid mistakes (probably lack of practice) that resulted in my having to recut the right front piece along with its pocket pieces, and the collar, which didn’t lay properly (I used the Burda pattern collar and it was probably right if I had been working in wool, but it did not work for “leather”, so I remade it. But anyway, I am down to the hems and buttons and I am happy. Only one more day of sewing on it and it will be complete. I discovered it is hard to work on it beyond 4 or 5 pm because I have to rely a lot on the light coming in my studio window for this black shiny fabric. Once the light oustide goes down the artificial light makes it simply too hard to see. This is why I made the mistake on the front pocket that made me have to remake the front and its pocket, and I was too stubborn to stop sewing. But I learned the hard way…LOL.

And now for the really fun news. My quilt The Wizards’ Duel got into Road to California quilt show in Ontario, California, which is relatively close to San Diego where my brother Pat and his wife Carol have one of their homes, and where my nephew Whitlow and his family live. Now since I had to purchase a new machine the middle of this year (you can read about that in several previous blogs..it was necessary) and have had some additional unexpected expenses this year, I told Pat I was unable to come out to see him and go to the show around that time, but that my quilt had gotten into the show. The next day, he called me back and let me know that Carol and he were going to give me the plane ticket and most of the expenses for the trip for a nice ten day visit with them! You could have blown me over with a feather! He and Carol are going to drive us up to Ontario on Wednesday night before the show and stay all day Thursday and the morning of Friday! They have been to the show themselves whenever I had a quilt in the show and it will really be fun for us to go together! So I now have the ticket reservations, we managed to get into one of the preferred hotels, and the tickets for the show. How about all of that?! What a lovely present from my dear SIL and brother (it was her idea I was told)!

Wizards’ Duel. Since this picture I have improved the mountainous rocks in the scene per a judge’s suggestion at MAQF. I then sent it to PA Nat’l Quilt Extravaganza and it won a blue ribbon (Best Interpretation of Theme) and had wonderful comments from the judges. R2CA will be the third show it will be shown in. I entered it into several AQS shows but they rejected it from all of them for unknown reasons. Perhaps I should have had it rephotographed, because the rocks make a difference and the flash made the bottom scroll work too bright.

So in my blog from Nov 2, I so confidently laid out grand plans for November in which I would do a lot of clothing sewing and end up with a refreshment to my wardrobe and David’s coat. I had thought David’s coat would take about a week and a half, but it has gobbled up all of November. These things happen, but now I have to decide whether to keep on with the clothing sewing or go back to quilting and fit the clothes in a little at a time across the winter and early spring. I think I will do a little bit of both, in light of my trip to California and the fact that I have lost a full size over the past year. If I make one pair of slacks at least I will greatly improve my traveling wardrobe. I would also benefit if I could fit in a jacket…either the jeans jacket or the faux suede jacket with lots of embroidery. I’m inclined to do one of those also. both have embroidery and would be fun to flaunt at the show. I KNOW they won’t take very long because the patterns are already fitted and don’t require massive refits. I looked at my wardrobe and figured I can get by with just the slacks addition. Sew we’ll see. Nevertheless, I will still make all the items I listed for my November sewing plans but will spread them out over three or so months in between the quilting because I need them. BUT, I WANT TO FINISH MY MOM’S MEMORY QUILT!!! LOL Not to mention I want to make several additional show quilts for 2020. We’ll see how it goes. And don’t forget, I’m working on books.

Sew happy everyone! Even if you end up having to struggle through a project, make something wonderful for you or your family. Stretch your sewing and quilting skills a little further. Send me pictures and I’ll post some of them here if you would like. Also, you are free to ask me questions if you run into difficulties. I know a lot (just a fact, not a brag). LOL

Upcoming: A Really Fun Class at G Street Fabrics

Posted on November 8, 2019November 8, 2019 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Embellishment, Embroidery, Workshops

Embellish This! workshop sampler for November 15 2019 class.

Hi everyone! Next Friday, a week from today, I will be teaching a super fun workshop called “Embellish This!” at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, MD sewing machine department. There are empty spaces…so come and fill it up. My classes usually have a waiting list, and often this happens in the week before it starts. Call 301-231-2998 and ask for the sewing machine department to sign up.

Bring your machine and obtain the kit (a $45 kit worth over $100) that is filled with an interesting variety and weights of decorative threads and cords, and even some yarns, sequins, and needles to play with. You will have a lot of threads leftover to use on several other projects. It also has a marked test fabric and a 15 x 15 inch fabric panel that I designed just for this class to embellish that will make a fun decorative pillow top, wall hanging, or table topper when compete (a nice present). The fabric practice piece and the panel are both already backed with fusible tear away stabilizer. Be prepared to have a LOT of fun. I also have asked that students bring a free motion couching foot, an open toed embroidery foot, and an embroidery foot like Bernina embroidery foot 39 or 6 that has a small hole for cording to use with decorative embroidery.

You will be amazed what you can do with your machine, and you will enjoy yourself. You will go home with a strong understanding of how you can use it to give your projects a special touch. This is a stress-free class designed for all levels of sewists.

I hope my local friends will come and launch their Holiday sewing with this fun class.

Wardrobe Analysis, Slopers, Muslin Test Garments, and a Fashion Fabric Stash

Posted on November 2, 2019November 2, 2019 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Embellishment, Food for Thought, High-Tech Studio, Machines, Sewing Clothing, Workshops / 2 Comments

It’s November! I have a plan for November. Now I know my topic is usually related to the art of quilting, but I decided I seriously need to do some garment sewing for a bit, delaying some of my quilting plans while I do. I have a really beautiful collection of fall, winter, and early spring fabrics stashed in three under bed storage units and in my blanket box I had built to match my bed some years back. I also recently added a full 8 yard bolt of faux leather, and three pieces of fabric suitable for dress slacks for me. It’s literally been a decade or more since I replaced or added significant clothes to my wardrobe, and my son needs a new coat.

Over the past few years I have lost a couple of dress sizes although I am still quite a large woman with long arms, a smallish waist, and big hips. So purchased clothes seldom look good on me, though a few simple styles can serve. I also have worn out most of my old collection of nice shirts and slacks I used to wear to work even if the style and fit is still ok. Then there is the fact that I am now a fabric artist, retired from government work, so even if it was still serviceable, my wardrobe doesn’t fit my lifestyle anymore.

Analysis of my current wardrobe tells me that the addition of several nice pairs of slacks, a few simple jackets, and some tops would make the rest of it work (I no longer wear dresses and I have black jeans, blue jeans, some nice sweaters and just a couple of shirts).

Now I know from having once had my own fashion design/tailoring business long years ago that once one gets a perfectly fit pattern for slacks, I can make a pair in less than a day. At my top speed at that time, I could make a beautifully finished pair of well fitting slacks in an afternoon, including the cutting. The big problem with that is getting the pattern perfectly fitted. So the first step is to get a sloper (or basic slacks pattern) flat fitted from measurements and then make up a pair of muslin test slacks. After that I will make any changes to the test slacks and adjust the flat pattern. That is step one. Then I can zip through the three pairs of slacks. I might make my poly/wool pants I have stashed away and add a simple cute jacket to get a nice dressy suit for winter…but maybe in December.

For my son David’s “leather” coat, I already have a sloper pattern and need to make a muslin fitter test for that before I add the style touches and make the coat. That will probably take me a week or week and a half to make his coat.

Faux Leather..looks good. Has a nice weight. When I finish sewing it, one may not readily be able to tell it isn’t real leather. Real leather was out of my budget.

I recently flat fitted the cutest McCall’s jacket pattern to make a denim jacket out of some of the on hand denim. It has places for adding some interesting embroidery. I’m not going to make a test muslin for that, mostly because it has a lot of style ease in the pattern and also because I have a whole lot of denim, and since I have had it for a long time, I figure it is about equal to the cost of the muslin. I buy my jeans from Lee Jeans, which has a style that fits me well surprisingly. I may take a pair and add some corresponding embroidery at the bottom of the blue jeans, thereby giving me an attractive blue denim suit to wear when teaching or even go to church or some such. This will probably take me less than a week.

This is the denim jacket pattern. I will do the embroidery too.

Then I will make myself a faux leather jacket, for which I have a pattern that I already know fits me, though I still think I will make a muslin fitter before I cut the leather, since it cannot be unstitched even the slightest because of the holes from the stitching. Leather…faux or real…has to stay like you sew it! This is a more complex jacket and will probably take me a week to make. This will be fun. My new machine came with some feet designed to sew on leather/faux leather.

I have a stack of blouse/top fabrics that will make nice year round tops and also a piece of black faux suede to make an elaborately embroidered, but otherwise simply styled jacket to wear for Holidays or some such (I’ll make this for Christmas, but not until December). I just ordered a couple of new tops patterns that look fairly simple to make. I’ll make those across the next year with one every once in a while. So I am not counting them on my initial wardrobe redo timing.

Sew my initial wardrobe update seems to me to be doable by the beginning of December, especially since I am still quilting my Mom’s memory quilt, which is coming along nicely. Don’t forget, I made myself a beautiful overcoat last year that has a faux fur collar and I love it. It also told me I still love making clothes, but doing them right and carefully fitting them. This wardrobe update will be using on hand fabrics and thread. I probably have all the interfacing and other additional notions I may need. So the entire cost of this year’s update will be really low and I will end up with a wonderful wardrobe. I will construct most of the items so I can take them up as I lose more weight. I am, of course, planning on embellishing, embroidering, and adding some interesting style touches for most of the new clothes I make (not the slacks). That’s what makes constructing my own clothes so much fun. I’m excited.

Meanwhile, I have made a very nice start to the quilting of my Mom’s memory quilt. I will work these things together. This makes it really fun for me in my studio. I also have gotten mostly ready for my next workshop I am teaching at G Street Fabrics on 15 November…Embellish This! in which we embellish a fabric panel I designed that makes a 15 inch by 15 inch square suitable for a pillow top or wall hanging (Christmas present?). That class is going to be a lot of fun and not a lot of stress, plus you end up with a very nice selection of decorative threads you can use for Holiday embellishment (purchased kit $45, worth at least twice that much). So I encourage my local friends to sign up. I think there is still room in this class. Call G Street and ask.

So I have a plan in addition to continuous periodic work on my Mom’s memory quilt:

November sewing
- David’s “leather” coat
- My three slacks
- My denim jacket
- My “leather” jacket
December sewing
- My “suede” embroidered jacket for Christmas
- My wool suit????
- A new bag from leftover “leather” and “suede” together
- A simple top or two

Will I finish all of this? I’m thinking I actually might with careful planning with no additional costs. That way I will save a lot of money and have a good wardrobe for my current lifestyle. Then I can get back to focusing on quilting full time.

Happy sewing everyone! Make yourself some lovely garment or garments to make you happy, but I encourage you to make a muslin fitting test piece before you cut your expensive fashion fabric if you do not already know the pattern fits. Then you can make the same pattern with different style touches with several fabrics…stack them up, cut them out, embellish them, make them all at once! Then let me know how it went.

Sew Happy with My New Machine

Posted on October 3, 2019October 3, 2019 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Classes, Embellishment, Embroidery, Food for Thought, Machines, My business, My Family, Sewing Clothing, Show Quilts, Workshops / 2 Comments

I have been blessed with a really fine new Bernina 880 Plus, aka Odette. I have been doing a lot of work with the machine since I got it all settled down and I learned its little ins and outs.

I have been working on a quilt in memory of my Mom. Mom was a great beauty, a fabulous sewist. a woodworker, had been a nurse, and a home decorator. She was a wonderful mother and wife during her life. She taught me to sew and knit. This quilt is a hug and a bow to her sparkling memory. I’m really enjoying working on it as I remember all the wonderful things she taught me and shared with me.

Mom (Zephana Bivens) in her woodshop at 78.

So my design for Mom’s memory quilt has a considerable amount of in-the-hoop embroidery in it. Some of the embroidery designs came with my new machine, were some I had purchased or collected in the past, and two of them I purchased just for this quilt. In spite of when I got them, all the designs are from OESD and are amazingly well digitized and have stitched out wonderfully on my new machine. I am so impressed with how beautiful the stitches are, how they don’t overly pull, and how wonderful they look when done. I have three more to go, each requiring about two hours to complete. Then I will sandwich, quilt, paint, wash and block, bind, and add crystals and pearls.

Mom, Dad, and my brother Pat before I was even on the way.

I also have done some additional sewing just to see how the machine works, testing all the attachments. I got some special feet designed to work with leather and vinyl. Just this week I bought enough beautiful faux leather to make my youngest son, the writer who shares this house with me, a coat and myself a jacket. I’m excited about this project.

One of the things that came with my new machine is Bernina’s Big Book of Feet. I have been reading through it while babysitting the embroidery module doing its work. I find I have most of the feet, since I had a Bernina 830 prior to this one and had collected them across the eight years and I got some new ones that came with the deal. It’s so exciting when I can do and I will be sewing a lot of clothes and home decorating items over the next year as well as the planned show quilts on my list to explore some of these interesting techniques. I’m thinking I might make some of the clothes as wearable art and enter them into shows also. Maybe I will make a few bags and hats too.

Mom and me in May 1967. I am showing off the dress I made.

How exciting! Will I get it all done? Probably not, but it will be fun trying. After nearly three months of working to get a good new machine following the breakdown of my 830, and another couple of weeks learning Odette’s ins and outs, I have concluded I have the best machine I have ever had. It sews evenly, beautifully, and smoothly. I foresee many years of exciting new projects ahead. Knock on wood! LOL

I’m currently writing a book about embellishment that will include several sampler projects, just to fill in my spare time…hahahaha. (Also, I am going to teach a class at G Street sometime in November on embellishment).

Embellish This! workshop sampler for November 2019 class.

Sew happy everyone! Take time to learn what your machine can do. Even some of the more basic machines will help you do some remarkable work if you take the time to explore it, but especially if you have a more advanced machine….take that time to read the manual, and try some new techniques to enhance your sewing. It will give you lots of happiness in the process and with the items you make.

Embellish This!

Posted on June 16, 2019 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Design Work, Embellishment, Fabrics, Food for Thought, Machines, My micro-business, Panel quilts, Techniques, Workshops / 2 Comments

So yesterday I got the printed fabric I ordered from Fabric on Demand with my little 15″ x 15″ panels I designed for my fall class on embellishing techniques primarily by machine. It came out wonderfully, and I have already washed and dried it so I know it won’t run or shrink.

Sew I can play with embellishing one or two of them to make the sampler and save the rest for the class. I am thinking these would make perfect tops for decorative pillows.

This made me realize how much fun it is to use the different feet and techniques we now have for decorating our fabric art projects and I am really looking forward to decorating these.

Sew I had a crazy idea I would love your opinions on. I am thinking I might design some more of these and publish a short book on how to accomplish the various techniques. Then I could sell the “Embellish This” squares from my website so those who bought my book, which will be sold on Amazon, could buy them and embellish decorative pillow tops or sides of bags, or some such. I will aim to get these ready by October so people could have time to make pillows or tote bags or anything they could think of for using them to give as presents. Oh it would be so much fun. What do you think?

Sew happy everyone! Remember to take out your machine feet, read your manual, look at YouTube and sling that bling around!

Workshops, Quilt Plans and Start!

Posted on May 25, 2019 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in A Little How-To, Classes, Quilt Journal, Ruler work, Show Quilts, Techniques, Workshops / 2 Comments

Blessed Memorial Day everyone! I like this eagle on this old label.

Yesterday I completed my four part quilted fabric art workshop at G Street Fabrics for 2019. I am planning on doing the same set next April/May session there, but nothing in between. I have other plans for the rest of this year.

We finished up with ruler work for sit-down machines. Everybody seemed to enjoy it, though I think they all (but maybe one) felt a little like they needed to go away and practice a lot before they really feel comfortable with it. For those people, do that practice and to help ou out please go to my downloadables and links page and find the info there for making more marked practice sandwiches. I will also add links to some products we talked about in the classes.

* * * * * * *

Coming up with a plan

I think of things in steps. I don’t know why, possibly it came from my long years of sewing clothes before I did any quilting and progressed through solving problems at work and back to sewing again. So I have come up with steps for making a major quilt, masterpiece quilt, or show quilt that you probably already do in your everyday quilt making but I have defined them below just because.

Come up with a plan. I don’t necessarily mean a pattern, but it could be. This can be as simple as drawing a basic project design in your sketchbook or on your digital drawing package on your computer and enlarging it to full size. Or you can find a pattern you simply love that another quilter has designed and purchase it. Some notes about this:
- I will tell you that for most of my quilts, this part of making the quilt is about one-third to a half of the work. Sometimes, however, I only need basic placement guidelines for something so clear to me where I’m going, and kind of organic or freeform in nature that I don’t really need a pattern. I do however always need help in keeping parts properly sized and placed.
- If you are using someone else’s photograph or drawing for this, make sure you have permission from that person to use it for your quilt. This may involve purchasing the rights (something I have done on occassion) or writing a letter and requesting the use of the inspirational piece. Get that answer in writing to protect yourself.
- Frequently you can find an inspirational design in royalty free designs, such as that available on Dover Publications books, or even online at museum sites for ancient documents that are so old they are free to use.
- Don’t assume that the inspirational resource is free to use just because the creator has passed on. The families or organizations behind these people may still hold the rights. They must be in open domain.
- Or you can draw it yourself. Even just a simple placement drawing will help you keep things right.
- Enlarging to full size for printing is not difficult. You can use your printer’s tiling (if it has one), Microsoft Excel where you tell it the size of your picture you import and it divides it into page-sized tiles for printing to tape together, or a drawing package such as Corel Draw that does the same thing (remember, if you have Bernina Design software you have a limited version of Corel Draw that includes tiling).
Now build your background. Once you have your plan in hand, you need to have a quilt top background.
- Even if you are making a whole cloth quilt, you need to get your fabric sized, cut, and marked, allowing additional space around the edge to make up for the drawing in that occurs in a lot of stitching. You square it to size when ready to bind.
- If you are making a landscape, you need to start from the farthest thing away in the background and move forward piecing or applipiecing (piecliqueing) the parts together forward. Darkest to lightest maybe. You might find that working through this on freezer paper or tracing paper will help you, which is how I started, but now I find I don’t need it at all.
- Or if you are making a pieced quilt, you need to do the piecing and build your quilt top. I’m not a piecer, so I have no real advice for this step.
Assemble any applique parts. One thing that might help you, is to make free motion or in-the-hoop embroidery parts of your design independent from the top and then applique them on. I mostly use black or appropriately colored nylon bridal veilling for this with washaway stabilizers. It can save a lot of tears. LOL

Remember to do the best job you possibly can. Take the time to draw it right, print it right, tape the pattern together right, wash your fabrics, if washable, and starch and iron the fabrics, and piece the background right. Also if you are using a very light drapey fabric, such as silk or polyester dupioni or satin, backing it with a very light weight fusible interfacing will help it behave. Redo if it is wrong.

Turning Pages in My Studio and Practice

Posted on April 28, 2019April 28, 2019 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Classes, Design Work, Food for Thought, My micro-business, My Studio, Ruler work, Show Quilts, Workshops / 2 Comments

Sew my second workshop on quilting with feed dogs up at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, MD went well on Friday and I am nearing completion of preparations for workshops three and four, which are both reportedly full and may even have a waiting list.

Ruler workshop sampler/design just completed the quilting. Ready to block and bind.

Yesterday I finally completed designing and quilting the sampler quiltlet for my fourth class, which is ruler work for sit down machines. I had quite a challenge with that one, because G Street asked me to use the Bernina ruler set for sit down machines. So it has taken me several designs and test samplers, but I wasn’t pleased with them until the one I finally finished yesterday (I still have to bind it). I will now adjust the schematic for the handout to match the end results and that is all I have to do to complete the handout. I was so happy to get this class designed.

Now I can turn the page to creating for the rest of the year and can think about my new show quilts I will make.

Speaking of pages, I created a new page with a link at the top of the blog on the right called Downloads and Links of Interest. This page so far has schematics for markging guidelines for practice quiltlets. In all my classes I am recommending that the quilters make themselves more quiltlets and practice, practice, practice. Actually, that sounds like work, but really it is more like play.

One of my students said she has been making a baby quilt to perfect her quilt making, though she has no baby in her family coming and was going to give it away. I suggested she give it to Project Linus, so I added a link to that on the new page. This is a wonderful way to improve your quilting and do something wonderful at the same time. Don’t send them real disaster quilts, but as you get some that are pretty and nice, though not necessarily perfect, wash them and go ahead and send them.

I also added links to rulers I like and videos of their creators using them. I will be adding more links in time, and plan on making videos myself of work at my machines and more Bernina V8 embroideries, and I will provide links to those on this new page.

I was considering stopping making show quilting earlier this year, wondering if I was accomplishing anything with them. So after some thought and prayer, I woke up one day really excited about work in my studio. I decided I can use my show quilts for examples in new books and showing how tos for my classes. Making a show quilt keeps me on my fabric art toes. I don’t let things that should be unstitched and restitched go by. I fix what is “wrong”, and I come out with a better quilt. So for a few more years at least I will continue to compete. I always get excited when I start working on a show quilt. I get frustrated too, but will usually come up with a solution when I run into a problem.

So the future in my studio now seems bright and interesting with a concentration on show quilts and books, together with the occassional set of classes. Join me in my journey…check out the new page. I am also planning on providing more little tutorials here in my blog space and alerting you to my videos in the future.

Sew happy everyone! Try something new in your sewing space and practice…consider it playing because it is fun! Be sure to branch out and make a beautiful project. Smaller quilts are great first items…table runners, lap quilts, baby quilts, dog quilts, vests, and quilted bags.

Bunches to Do

Posted on March 22, 2019March 22, 2019 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Art Quilt Techniques, Books, Church banners, Classes, Food for Thought, My micro-business, Quilt Journal, Ruler work, Workshops

This nice drawing is from Dover’s Chinese Designs. Whatever would I do without Dover!

Oh, dear readers, you knew it was coming didn’t you? I have gotten to the place where I am feeling a bit swamped with things to do. That’s why I have been lagging in my blog writing. It would be ok except I seem not to have time to do my favorite thing right now…work on show quilts. And I have show quilts that need to be made!!!

Sew I am preparing for a book signing party on April 20th and four classes I will be running at G Street Fabrics in Rockville MD this spring. Each has handouts that need to be updated or created and kits that need to be assembled.

The real project right now is for my church, that asked myself and my bff Anita to make a new Easter banner for the church. I was already swamped, and the addition of this project is a bit of a time draw. Fortunately, Anita has been working with me for over a year now to learn to use fabric and thread as a medium for her own art. So she is doing most of the work, though not all, but coming here to do it where I have the machines and tables and paints and bunches of fabric and thread. LOL. I am doing a lot of the specialty items, like machine embroidering the words and guiding the methods.

Easter banner concept drawing

In case you didn’t know, I now have published both Ten Skill-Building Projects for Bernina V7 and Twelve Skill-Building Projects for Bernina V8. So if you have one of these programs for digitizing your in-the-hoop embroidery, you might find this of interest. I beg you, please, if you buy the book and like it, please please write a review on Amazon. It does not have to be very long…just a single sentence or a couple of sentences. Reviews really help the authors. So far I have a single review on both books. Much appreciated, but I need more.

New book!!!

Sew I am preparing to do a book signing at G Street on April 20th, and plan to show some demo videos of the software. This has taken me a considerable bit to learn how to do these videos…live screen capture, editing the resulting videos, trying to get them right. I will post these on my new YouTube channel (Betty Jo’s Fabric Arts), when I get them complete.

And the fourth workshop listed above for G Street..the ruler work..is not fully designed yet. I have been working on making a sampler and made much progress on what I want to show and teach, but it isn’t done yet!!! Yikes!!! It also will provide a kit with a little quilt sandwich, premarked with some guidelines.

Show Quilts…what am I doing, or trying to get time to do?

The Bob Ross challenge by Cherrywood Fabrics.. Due July 1st. I have the fabric, I have a design concept…will I get the time? It’s small, so that helps, only 20 inches by 20 inches, but it will need a bit of time.
A train quilt with a steam locomotive to showcase a number of interesting applique and embellishment techniques. No real deadline, but I would love to finish it in time for the fall Mancuso show in Oak Pennsylvania. Deadline is sometime in August.
A stack of other interesting, fun, hopefully beautiful, other ideas I won’t discuss right now.

So to top it all off, I am working on another book..the first in a series of Quilted Art Techniques books. My concept right now…subject to change, of course…is for three books talking about techniques…one on building the top, one on quilting the quilt, and one on surface design and embellishment. The challenge for these is to provide a way forward for quilted art without just being the same-old same-old that is already out there. That’s a big challenge, but I also still think there is room for me to present my techniques in a way that will help artists and/or quilters to accomplish a vision they have in their heads but haven’t been able to do until now, or were had not yet figured out the steps to take.

Sew happy everyone! I have not abandoned my hope to do a weekly or more blog post talking about adventures in fabric art. Have fun in your studio, even if it is just a small space!

Happy 2019! Let’s Make this a Wonderful Year!

Posted on December 30, 2018December 30, 2018 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Art Quilt Techniques, Design Work, Embellishment, Embroidery, Fabrics, Food for Thought, My micro-business, Panel quilts, Ruler work, Show Quilts, Software, Threads, Workshops / 4 Comments

I always love the beginning of a new year. It is like turning a page on a well-worn journal that may not have worked out like we wanted and finding a crisp new space to fill with fabulous adventures. As some of my long-term readers probably realize, I like to publish my creative goals in my blogs and then see how much of them I can accomplish. It’s a challenge!

For 2019 I have four avenues for fabric and thread play planned and the timing has worked out so I am at the beginning of them all, which makes it all the more exciting.

Landscape quilts, using a variety of applique techniques, threads, couched yarns and roving I hope to develop pictorial quilts with a lot of dimension. I don’t know how many of these I will make, but I have two already planned–think “train” and the little Bob Ross challenge by Cherrywood Fabrics…and I hope to make more. I am thinking of developing a book on these techniques along the way, now that I know I can publish my own highly-illustrated books with some degree of professionalism.
Experimental quilt(s), developing a couple of wild ideas I have had floating around for a while. These include first of all polyester crepe-back satin which will also include some in-the-hoop embroidery that I digitize myself on Bernina design software V8 and develop a Ten Skill-Building Projects for Bernina v8, as an update to my new book on v7, that will be coming early in January. And secondly, seeing what I can do with some of the really beautiful commercial panels available and/or develop some background panels of my own for sale. Both of these things offer real possibilities for quilters with limited budgets, time, or confidence. Blogs will be coming.
Workshops, that I will be teaching a repeat to the ones on developing fabric art that I taught at G Street Fabrics this past fall and will be adding a basic ruler work workshop…all scheduled for April and May already. I am all ready for the first three except for making a few additional kits, and I still have to make the sample and kits for the ruler workshop…one week of preparation should do the trick.
Videos showing especially working with my Bernina Q20 sitdown longarm and possibly more. I have all the equipment, and this week I successfully went through the whole process to come out with one really terrible video, but I now know the process and will be practicing until I get it all just right. I hope to share these as inspiration for people here on my blog.

I am very excited about all this. It may seem too much, but I don’t think it is given how I hope to build quilt projects together with books, blogs, and videos, getting multiple uses out of the same work with only a small addition of work. We’ll see…(oh! and I also will be continuing the work on my appliqued quilt using a Sue Nickel‘s pattern I am making for my bed, but that’s just for relaxation and fun).

I was inspired to tackle improvements in my landscape quilts first by Bethanne Nemesh’s videos on yarn couching on her own quilts, then by the success I had in using yarn couching for tree limbs and 12 weight wool threads on my Night on the Bayou quilt for producing Spanish Moss, and finally by my purchase of the Bernina attachment for my little Bernina 350 that does needle punch. So I am going to put all this together with the applique quilting and embellishment techniques I already do and see what comes out.

I was also interested in how well a little testing of the leftovers of the crepe-back heavy satin I used for my coat did in quilting that I feel I need to make at least one and possibly more quilts using this product. I think it offers some great possibilities and it’s a lot cheaper than the now-discontinued silk/cotton Radiance. The every day quilter with a limited budget may find this a wonderful way to go. We’ll see, and I will write about it, at least in my blog if not a whole book.

Sew happy everyone. Peace and love be yours as we begin 2019. Encourage those around you. Let’s make this a wonderful year full of peace, love, and yes, fun! May God bless you and yours. Let the celebrations begin!