Teeheee…can you tell I’m excited?  My Video workshop, Art Quilt Design from Photo to Threadwork (with Fabric Collage and Machine Quilting) is now available as a digital download on the Interweave Store here (both regular AND [!!!!] High def) and available for pre-order here on my website and on the interweave site.  If you pre-order your DVD from me, shipping is free from now through September 24th (and a modest $3 after that).

Now available!!!!

I haven’t downloaded the video here at home yet, but I think I am at least as excited about this as about the entire DVD:

The Closing Credits…son Joshua is there, too! I had so much fun playing his music on my iPhone to get psyched before and celebrate after taping, too!

Yep, JOSHUA’s MUSIC, written, performed and recorded by my firstborn son, runs during the closing credits!!!!   You can hear the entire song on SoundCloud, here.  (Note:  link coming soon…gotta listen to the video to hear which song they chose but too eager to get this posted to wait for the download to finish–will update on the 11th.)

And as always, THANK YOU to Janome America.  They have sponsored me with a sewing machine through their Artist and Teacher program for a VERY long time, and I am incredibly grateful for their generosity and support.  I’m also thrilled that the dealer in Colorado,  Quilter’s Stash of Windsor, Colorado, was able to arrange for me to sew on an 8900–as I do at home–on the DVD set.  It made taping so much easier to be sewing on a familiar machine!

To celebrate, I will be having a bloghop giveaway in about ten days (September 2013) and another one in November 2013, just in time for the holidays.   Stay tuned for more on the bloghop and giveaways!  Now I’m gonna go float up in the clouds somewhere!

WOW…to say that I am happy is close to an epic understatement!  I know I’ve got plenty left to learn (like white feathers), but if you’d told me a week ago that I could produce this, I would never have believed you.  As a friend also enrolled in the Drawing Birds with Colored Pencil class said, I attribute this utterly to the quality of the instruction!   Who knew that if you just take it step by step, following Val’s instructions, that every single one of us that has shared a photo has been able to do this, and this well?   WOW!   Once again, here’s the link to Val Webb’s website.

This week’s lesson was first about eyes, highlights, and the “caustic”, the place where the light the creates the highlight in the eye comes out on the other side of the eye…a sort of “shadow” highlight.  Then we moved on to drawing this ferruginous hawk from a photo.   Holy Schmoly, I did it!

Completed colored pencil drawing of Ferruginous Hawk. Instruction was for the head, hasn’t yet covered white feathers, but I wanted to try anyway!  (and sorry about the shadow from my hand–new camera and haven’t yet figured out how to activate fill-flash!)

Here is where I began:

Starting out with the eye and beak, doing an underpainting/sketch.  That’s Val’s instructional sketch on my laptop. 

In progress:

With the outline done and initial layer of colors applied.

And the final with the photo for comparison:

I’m happy!

Each week for 8 weeks, Val posts a lesson on her website.  You download handouts, watch videos on the website.  Access is for four months–for her Lettering class she made a DVD with the online videos which you could buy if you wanted.  The cost of the 8-week class is only $50–a major bargain!  Even buying the CD for an additional $24 kept the class in the eminently reasonable price range.  I hope that over time she’ll be able to make additional DVDs available, as watching her draw in real time is SO helpful!   Anyway, gotta run!  Chores need doing!

Just for a giggle I thought I’d share some behind the scenes with you all.   I can say that the dress and make-up (or rather, total lack of make-up) is rather different than when I usually teach!   Here I am waiting for the web seminar on the Mechanics of Machine Quilting (at the interweavestore.com) to begin:

Sitting with my laptop, waiting for the web seminar to begin!

A web seminar is sort of like a live radio broadcast with some slides thrown in.   I prepared the slides and notes, then share them via the internet with Laura at Interweave.  She works magic on her end, and using the GoToMeeting process we have a broadcast.  Each person gets an invitation to join the meeting (or seminar) via the internet.  Just before the appointed hour, you click on the email link, and it opens up a viewer for each person:  the Presenters, hosts and viewers.

The other side of the laptop! (Think of the great and powerful Oz behind the curtain….)

The Welcome screen is what was being displayed at that particular moment.  On the left is a printout of the screens with my notes to myself in case I lost track of where I was.   I will admit, I was more nervous than I thought I’d be—hope it didn’t show!  at least not much.   On the right is the Go To Meeting control panel, which showed Laura and Cate and me online; at the moment, I had my microphone muted while Cate did the intro.   On the lower right is a section where Cate Laura and I could communicate by typing notes to each other without having to speak aloud for all to hear (like when I managed to not have the correct software open at the start…OOOOPS, Sarah!).

It went well, I had fun (even with the nerves), have now finally had lunch and am now ready for the rest of my day:  raking dirt behind the garage, grocery shopping, picking up Eli after sports, and the usual evening stuff.   I think I need a nap, chocolate, or both!

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.