At the risk of sounding like a broken record, tomorrow, September 5 at noon East Coast (US) time is the place!   Yesterday, the good folks at Quilting Arts and I  did a dry run of my online seminar on the Mechanics of Machine Quilting, and I’m so psyched about it!   You can order it here http://www.interweavestore.com/mechanics-of-machine-quilting; if for any reason you can’t be there (like you are sleeping because you live in Australia, or you are observing Rosh Hoshannah, or you can’t play at work), the seminar is recorded and can be played at your convenience.  As well, you can download a copy and save it to your device (laptop, iPad, etc) for listening again if you want.

Learn how to get ready to machine quilt with Sarah Ann Smith. Set up your space and materials so they help (and don’t hinder) you!

Keeping this short and sweet!  Write if you have questions or check out my earlier blogpost, here.  Hope to “see” you there!

I’m so happy to be able to share with you a lovely little booklet by art quilter Ann Fahl:  Applique Ann’s Way, A New look at Machine Applique, which you can order directly from Ann, here. This little gem is small but absolutely jam-packed with information, tips and ideas for machine applique.  I can totally see why Ann wrote it; as a teacher, you want to share so much in a class, but there often isn’t enough time, plus people don’t remember all those hints and tips.  In this modestly priced booklet ($10), her students (and now you!) can get all of that including photos.  Ann’s website is here.

Ann Fahl’s Machine Applique booklet, available for just $10, here.

One of the first things I need to do, though, is apologize to Ann!  She sent me a review copy in early April; I warned her I was swamped and wouldn’t be able to blog until probably June.  Ahem.  It is now early September.  I’m SO SORRY to be SO LATE!  But the good news is that it is a great little book and totally worth tucking onto your shelf.

The booklet is 36 pages long (18 sheets of paper, folded in half and stapled so it stays together).  The outside–the cover and inside of the cover–is printed in color so you can see a range of the techniques Ann teaches in the book.  The inside of the booklet is printed in black and white, but even when you are looking at the detail photos, you can still see the stitches clearly.  Ann covers:

• Supplies
• Fusing instructions
• Using decorative thread
• Thread and needle chart
• Satin Stitch applique
• Refinements of the satin stitch
• Starting and stopping
• Stitch placement
• 90 degree corners
• Tapering points
• Creating bold lines
• Open zigzag stitch applique
• Decorative stitch applique
• Messy stitch free-motion
• Straight stitch free-motion
• Florentine edge applique
• Trimming tip
• Problem solving

I was really pleased to see how many things she and I teach the same way from supplies to tapering at points, from decorative stitches to troubleshooting.  My only addition would be a caution about ironing; Ann recommends giving your applique a good pressing with steam.  I’d caution you to TEST that level of heat on a sample scrap first.  Many of the threads I use are delicate and would shrivel and/or melt with steam!  So just as with any sewing project, be sure to TEST your stitches and methods on a sample before you do it on the real thing!   If you need to apply more heat, try using a press cloth and ironing from the back, but whatever you do, TEST!

All in all it’s a great little book.  As a teacher, I wish I had thought of doing something like this to have for my students who want something in writing, on paper, but don’t want to spend a fortune.  There is as much packed into these few pages as in MANY full-length applique books.  A great book for those learning to machine applique!

PS:  if you are a member of AQS, check out Ann’s great article in the September 2013 issue of American Quilter on Florentine Edge Applique, one of the techniques covered in the book; the article is on p. 24.

I’ve got a new camera, a Panasonic DMC-FZ200!   I bought mine at Hunt’s Camera in South Portland in the interest of buying local, but they are also available here, at B&H Photo in NYC.  I’ve bought many cameras and equipment from B&H over the years, and highly recommend them.

My new camera (well, this is an internet photo, but mine looks like this minus the photo of the Jefferson Memorial!)

And WHY did I buy a new camera:  Well…..

Up until this summer, 2 1/2 years after purchasing my Canon G12, I would have given this camera 4 to 4 1/2 stars out of 5. I missed my previous camera, a Panasonic Super-zoom FZ-30 that had a 12x lens; I fatally damaged that camera when I slipped on a hike and it banged into a rock and knocked the lens loose (oops). I wanted something lighter and more compact so bought the Canon G12. After 30 months, it started acting up, buttons not responding, zoom not responding.

After searching on the internet, I discovered that many others are having this problem. The short-term workaround, to eject and re-insert the memory card worked for a few weeks. Eventually, I did a total reset, removing the memory card, the battery and reformatting the memory card. Also tried a different memory card. The camera became more and more locked up, couldn’t delete photos, couldn’t zoom, couldn’t even access the set up menus to do a total re-boot.

I called Canon to see about repairs: $179 plus about $40 shipping both ways. As a “loyal customer” they would sell me a “refurbished G12” for $279 instead. So a 20 percent discount off their current price for a 4 year old refurbished camera that no one is selling that is now two generations old? They would NOT allow me buy a G15 or G1 X at discount, full price only. NO THANKS, Canon.

Instead, I’m ticked off that I paid $469 for a supposedly great camera that died in less than 3 years despite being treated with extreme care: no sand, no water, not bumped, not dropped. Took baby-tender care of the G12 and it just quit. NOT GOOD.  Sounds like Canon’s program is profit loyalty, not customer loyalty!

So yesterday I bought a Panasonic Superzoom, DMC-FZ200. It weighs about the same as the G12. The processor isn’t quite as large, but the display articulates (unlike the G15 and G16), has an optical viewfinder, and 24x zoom. For super fussy I can use my Nikon DSLR.  And so far, the shots on the Panasonic look great.

Panasonic has done a great job… I love DP reviews for an expert review on cameras, and the FZ200 is tops for the superzooms.  Here’s a link to their info, just in case anyone is interested .  Astonishingly, it weights significantly less than my old FZ30, about the same as the G12, but is a bit bulkier.  Won’t fit into a pocket but easily fits into my purse!  WOOT!  All the better for blogging!

I’m taking another fantabulous drawing class with Val Webb (website here and class offerings here) this time Drawing Birds in Colored Pencil.  Our first lesson was timed sketches–supposed to be 8 minutes or so but some of mine were longer–in 2B pencil just to get down shapes and proportions.  The second exercise was starting with the colored pencils, this time a Dark Umber, doing an “underpainting” in a feather.  Once again, I am amazed that I’ve been able to do as well as I did; Val’s ability to give a few simple tips that lead to stunning results is why I keep going back for more classes from her (this is my third class).

I think I’m done…..photo of feather from Val upper left, my sketch on right

Here’s a photo from a bit earlier in the process

Just the first side sketched in, and a barest of outline on the upper side of the feather

And a detail:

Detail of feather, partially done

I’ll be back soon with a bit more info about the Web Seminar (see previous post, here) on or after Sept. 5, 2013.

One more done…adding reflective paint to the posts and putting up the French house number!   I found the house number on eBay UK–a real French one!  I needed to spray some laquer on it to seal the chipped areas on the back (to prevent rust).  Then I finally went to screw it to the post and discovered the screw holes were too close to the outside edge of the 8×8 post which was, of course, not quite 8 inches wide.  Sigh.  So that meant glue up some leftover baseboard on the skinny edge to make a wide-enough back, prime, paint, then screw backing board to the post, then the numbers to the backing board!

FINALLY got the house number up on the post!  That’s the first part of the driveway…a long skinny bit of land that takes you up to  our real lot, in the center of the “block”

But at last, what a concept.  I don’t have to say “There are three driveways, take the middle one, you won’t be able to see the house but we are really up there.”  Instead I can say take the driveway with the 339 on the post!  YEAH!