It’s as much as I can do, to stop myself adding an exclamation mark after the title today. Whatever I write I always have to go back and self edit, taking out at least half the exclamations and well more than half those dreaded three dots that mean there’s more to say but I’ll leave it up to your imagination…!!
Let me introduce you to Jenny Lyon. I first met Jenny on line when she was writing about her experience with International Quilt Festival and being juried into the show. Having been a juror this last year I was interested to hear what she had to say.
When I got to Houston there she was in the teacher’s lounge! There had never been any doubt amongst the jury about her quilt and it was a delight to make Jenny’s acquaintance. Here’s Jenny.
And here’s the quilt!
It’s called Morning Breeze and you can read all about it on her website.
As you can see Jenny is an extremely accomplished machine quilter and she loves to teach. She says,
“I call myself the Quilt Skipper because once while quilting my own quilt, I was so delighted by the unexpected beauty of it and what emerged from my needle, that I found myself cheerfully skipping around the house when I took my breaks. It is my hope that each student finds their own “skipping moment.” “
No wonder her classes fill. She’ll be at IQF/Chicago in Rosemont in April so I’m looking forward to meeting up with her again there. Jenny has agreed to be on my Iron Quilter team. We are going to have fun!
For today’s placemat I’m moving onto borders. Not many of my quilts have borders these days so I like to designate a border replacement amongst some straight line stitching, just for fun.
The vine, ocean waves or Greek Key design design work great in a narrow space. I always have to draw out the Greek Key on paper before I stitch to remind myself exactly which way round those lines go! I take it as a complement if people look at one of those little designs and ask me if it’s a stitch on my machine…
I’m loving reading all your comments. Some of you are coming back daily and I hope you are beginning to feel like we’re friends. Maybe one day we’ll actually meet in real life.
Here’s the list of blogs again. Everyone has a slightly different perspective to add. It’s fun to read isn’t it?
Don’t forget to comment. Just two more chances after today and I’ll be drawing numbers on Sunday.
And just because I should, the final reminder…
If you’re not lucky, or you just know you can’t wait? The DVD or digital download is available at the Interweave store by clicking on the widget at the right hand side of the page.
See you tomorrow with Chicago’s best kept secret (or may be you know already?).
Love reading your blog. Always something new to explore and learn.
I love reading your blog. And it was nice to see you in person this week!
I love this effect. Will definitely give this a try!
I am intrigued by your comment about Chicago’s best kept secret . . . what can it be???? You can be sure I’ll be reading tomorrow’s post! (too many dots and exclamations?) :o)
The quilting on the placemat is breathtaking. You make free motion quilting less intimidating. Like something I could do with practice! Love your work.
It truly does look like a pattern from your machine. Can’t wait to try it!!!
Another beautiful assortment of stitches! I’m enjoying your blog very much. Thanks!
It’s like u make ur quilts with a magic wand 🙂
Must be the Art Institute or CIA, haha. I had a friend who raved, alas, I’ve never been.
So did you do the gently curved lines with the walking foot and then go back and do the free motion designs in between? Thanks for another chance to win!
Free motion way beyond what I’ve been doing on my own. Thanks for the inspiration!
Love reading your blog…first thing I do every morning!
I’ve always struggled with the greek key design which is why I don’t usually use it. Maybe trying it in a more narrow space would be better. I’ve tried it in larger border areas and it’s more obvious that I’m not consistent in my spacing. Thanks again!
Love the quilting, I will definitely give this one a try.
Good Morning Catherine!!!!!
YOU never disappoint…I am going to get my skippy happy needle moments soon because of your special blog!!!!!!!!! LOL
It’s great to see our local artist Jenny amongst the elite!
Hope to find the joy in machine quilting studying your DVD.
Lovely quilting! Your idea of practicing on a beautifully pieced placemat is clever. Most inspirational.
I’ve been sketching your fillers and I love the curvy lines. But when I add the Greek
key, vines, etc., I tend to straighten the bottom line. Oh well! Practice, Practice!!!!
So many happy ideas!
Love Jenny–you are both great teachers!
Loved your sharing about Jenny Lyon. I had not heard of her or seen her work. She is so delicate with her quilting. Your blogs always push me out of my comfort zone to explore places I have never been. Loved your placemat with that striped border. It really set off the colors and your quilting perfectly. You have so much talent and we are so lucky that you share your talent with us. Thank You!
I love the different motifs each day. Today’s placemat is really catching my eye.
Love the idea about quilting in a ‘border’. Great idea for a way to sort of punctuate the whole design.
So glad Bonnie Hunter pointed me to your blog. I am enjoying this.
Love the idea of using placemats as samplers for your stitches!
Thanks for introducing us to some wonderful people who have so much to share. I have made coming to your blog the first thing I do every morning. Love those fun, rerpeating patterns like the greek key. It’s one i use often along with, what I call, a jelly roll. Now I can add more designs to my regular patterns.
Your blog hop is such great fun. Love hearing more about your FMQ DVD, as well as all the participant and seeing such inspirational quilts and FMQ. Sounds like you are going to have an amazing Iron Quilter team. Good luck.
QuiltShopGal
http://www.quiltshopgal.com
Jenny’s Morning Breeze quilt is stunning!
Love Jenny’s quilt! I’m really enjoying “meeting” these artists and seeing their work. It is inspiring for me. Thanks for doing this blog hop!
I enjoy your blog! Each of your stitches is amazing – EACH one!
Thank you.
Am enjoying the blog hop and love the idea of no borders to agonize over!
It has been great to read about so many wonderful quilters and learning new designs to add to our quilting. Thanks for the border ideas.
You have shown beautiful quilting each day and I thank you for all the inspiration.
New to your blog and love it!
Love seeing all the quilting ideas and learning more about your dvd. Thank you.
Great blog hop. So much inspiration!
Your quilting is fantastic!
More enticing samples! Reminds me of Zentangle Quilting which I love! (I, too, use a lot of ! points!!) Can’t wait until Sunday’s Drawing. Off to see what jenny has to say. Betsy
I was just introduced to your site by Jenny Lyons and happily looking forward to enjoying your contribution to my quilt journey!
So many ideas to try.
Jo N.
I am late coming to this — I can tell I am going back to catch the other entries. The quilting is wonderful!
[email protected]
I am enjoying meeting so many talented quilters via this blog tour. Very inspirational.
Day 8! So few left! I may be a new ‘constant visitor after this week – have really enjoyed your blog and feel so inspired, thank you
I just discovered your blog today !! Exclamation points are sooo appropriate for your work !!!!!!
This blog hop is so much fun and so much inspiration. Thanks
I am so happy that “sit-down” quilters are finally getting much deserved recognition. Thanks to both you and Jenny for great ideas and inspiration.
Jenny does beautiful work…and so do you. Thanks for sharing all your great ideas.
I like Your DVD, iT should be very Nice to win . Thank you for THE oppertunity
I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog on this Blog Tour! I’ve got you in my “favorites”, and think I’ll add yours to my “daily list” of reading!! And thanks for a chance to win something while I’m here!!
New ideas, new people, hopefully a new book in my library! This hop has really opened some eyes.
You are so inspiring! Thanks for sharing these designs.
Love Jenny blog and her whole cloth quilt. Can not wait for the great give a way.
I used to live in Chicago so will be interested to see what the best kept secret is.
This is so much fun. Thank you for all you wonderful inspiration!
Thread inspiration. Nothing else.
.. is better than that.
I am enjoying reading the other blogs, especially seeing Jenny’s page. I still hope to take a wool class from you sometime!
Am loving meeting these different quilters. Stirs up so many new ideas. Love the idea of working on small projects like placemats. So glad I found this blog!
Thanks for detailing the borders!
Love the wood, greek and vine designs! Heu, in fact, all of them!
Just got another idea for finishing a quilt from this blog. Amazing how another person’s work can be so inspiring. And I do feel lucky and will be excited to win the contest!
Ei am enjoying the different quilters each day. I first practice with paper and pen. I then quilt on my charity quilt.
This looks like a great DVD. Your quilting is fantastic.
Love reading thru your Blog! And found you thru this Hop…an yes! Already feel like I am popping-in to visit a dear Friend already too! Would love to meet you someday! you are amazing! Love Jenny’s Morning breeze Quilt!! AWESOME! (I would love to have a skipping moment going on when I quilt…Some day!!..i will! giggle…)
Catherine, I love you and Jenny! It was so great to see you both in Houston last year! I hope I win your dvd!!!
I like your placemat the binding is eye catching ty for sharing… [email protected]
Really enjoying this blog and the hop going on.
I am new to machine quilting and your dvd sounds like something that I could definitely use!
More fun ideas on this placemat, so creative.
I love this blog hop. I am learning so much and being introduced to new quilters. Thanks for this opportunity to imptove my free motion quilting. I am looking forward to getting your DVD.
Love the quilting!
love jenny’s quilt and i really am looking forward in the drawing coming up.
Jenny is, indeed, a very gifted quilter! I love reading about her work.
Your placemats are getting more fun each day! Love them all (exclamation points)
So wonderful to meet another talented quilter. Jenny’s quilts are beautiful. Well, one day, maybe. Thanks for introducing her to us. Yes, absolutely, those Greek Keys are perfect. Love this blog.
I do love coming here every day! Thanks for the introduction to all these new to me blogs, too!
Catherine, I really like the detail you put in the center of your leaves above–and the fact that your quilting doesn’t look computer driven–it looks like it was done by the hands of an artist. And I, too,k am totally guilty of OVERusing exclamation points, but dashes are my real nemesis!!
Enjoyed reading your blog and looking at the wonderful quilting.
Just discovered your blog from watching and listening to Bonnie Hunter. I plan on ready previous posts tomorrow. Love your quilting.
Jenny’s quilt is amazing! Thank you for sharing your designs, you’ve given me quite a few new ones to add to my design idea book.
Love the wonderful designs – a lot of eye candy!
Your quilting is awesome!
Yours will be my new blog to follow. I love to FMQ!
I am fascinated by the variety of designs that you show. My simple attempts have a long way to go!
Looks like a very good dvd. Would love to own it.
Greek keys! So many new ideas from this blog hop!
I’ve just found your blog at the suggestion of Bonnie Hunter, and already learned a lot. Thank you! I would love to win your DVD. I have 3 quilts that I need to start quilting, and can’t afford to have them done, or even to rent the long-arm, this time, so am trying to learn a few more things before I begin. 🙂
I’m looking forward to reading tomorrow’s post! Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful quilts, hope I can do something as nice some day.
I saw your DVD on Bonnie Hunters blog. It looks like a wonderful book. Thank you for sharing your talents.
I just discovered you from Bonnie Hunter. I am a hand quilter, but want to lear to use my machine, because I want to finish more!, Helen
I’m really enjoying your posts. Glad Bonnie Hunter “introduced” me to you.
Just came from Bonnie Hunter’s site. So glad I saw her post about this as I’m moving more towards FMQ and your DVD looks just like what I need.
Love it!! Thanks for the chance to win!!
I can’t help using exclamation points either! I just came here from Jenny’s blog post, and am very “straight-line challenged”. Any tips I can glean from your DVD will be welcome!
Catherine, you are filled with creative ideas, and your joyous blog is such a treat! Thank you for all you share with us!
Just catching up on my blog reading – still loving seeing all your different machine quilting ideas! Thanks!
I love all these options you are giving. My creative juices are starting to bubble!
I love the idea of practicing on placemats. Thank you. You really do enliven our creative juices.
…!! Oh dear, those little marks just seem to flow out of me – but even if they are true, I’m going to have to watch and edit myself, too. I’ll bet you have lots of ‘skipping moments’, just like Jenny; your designs are plain wonderful. I can’t believe how many wonderful things I’ve been learning on this hop. Thanks.
Lucky me at leaving comment 101!
Love the way you are breaking down the quilting filler bits to fill in a cloth.
Enjoyed talking with you yesterday at PAQA andbought one of your DVD’s just because it was YOU 🙂 but haven’t had a chance to view it yet. So, I am new to your blog!
Thanks for inspiring us with all these ideas!
I’m learning so much from this hop. Thanks for all the tips and designs.
Love the quilting! Thanks for the chance to win!
Thanks for the inspiration.
I hope to have a skipping moment like Jenny one day 🙂
Thanks for giving me inspiration, a newbie.
Quit quilting years ago because I made tops and couldn’t afford to pay anyone one to quilt them. Now I have started doing a large stippling and need to learn something else.
Thanks for the creative ideas!! I always have a tendency to do the same quilting over and over again. I really like how you have stitched on ‘borders’ and integrate the different stitches!
Bonnie sent me here. Love the little birds in freemotion.
Love the reminder to sketch. And practice
Enjoy looking at all your ideas