The new July/August 2014 MQU issue. Order at www.mqumag.com or find it at Barnes and Noble (among other places).  The Quilting Ergonomics article on the cover is mine! WOOT!

Editor Kit Robinson asked me, a while back, if I would like to do an article on ergonomics at your sit-down sewing machine, and I jumped at the chance.  I’m not a physician, and I start the article by saying that “no one size fits all,” so be sure to check with YOUR health practitioner, but I have learned some things that will make your life easier when you are quilting.  I talked about quilting aids in the last issue (which I apparently in my busy-ness forgot to blog about…coming soon!   Naughty Sarah!) and in this issue I talk about making your space work for you.

After all, if you are thinking “Ouch” or “oh my aching back and shoulders” you’re not thinking about where your next stitch goes.  So that’s what this article is all about!

Thumper decided to read the MQU ergonomics article while I had the camera out to take a picture. Ahem.

So for this article, I put on make-up, sucked in my gut, and got hubby to come down and click the shutter after I set up the tripod and lighting for all these photos–so now hubby is published as a photographer!   Thanks Paul and Kit for the byline for him!  It was much easier than using the timer and me trying to dash and get into position before the shutter tripped.  I’ve clearly got pictures of what NOT to do as well as what you should do.  Speaking of which, I really should get back to doing those crunches and stretching exercises!

Another big thrill was seeing as I flipped to my article that Brenda Gael Smith had an article on the hanging system used in Australia that has artists putting velcro on the backs of quilts to adhere to the rigid walls used there.  Helps the quilts hang beautifully!   So then I went to see what all was in the magazine, discovered there is a companion article about the Living Colour Textiles exhibit and one of the quilts included was mine!!!! (and yes, I still need to do that blogpost about dyeing the fabric and making this quilt…too many things to do, not enough time…it will come, I promise!).   Anyway, here’s that page–what a delightful, welcome surprise!

Living Colour Textiles exhibit curated by Brenda Gael Smith.  Amaryllis, bottom right, is my entry.  To see the exhibit, go to livingcolourtextiles.com/gallery.html 

Gotta run:  today is the last day of Eli’s sophomore year, and it is a busy one.  Exam this morning, memorial service for a cross country teammate who died of a brain tumor just days after receiving his diploma (thank heavens the school graduated him, he missed most of the school year); I’m planning on a LOT of kleenex.  After that there is a picnic at his house and the runners are going to run his practice course in his honor and memory (and I’m tearing up just thinking about it).  Then, finally, the delayed wrestling team potluck and awards.   Phew!  But we get to sleep in tomorrow.  More anon!

Especially in my house!  Think rural.  Think cats.  Think Sarah.  But you don’t want dust inside your sewing machine!  I was so happy when editor Kit Robinson asked me to do an article on the care and feeding of your domestic sewing machine.  That article has just come out in the March/April issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited:

Machine Quilting Unlimited March/April Issue with my article on dust along with other great articles. LOVED the one by fellow-Mainer Margaret Solomon Gunn on scalloped bindings and one on Jenny Bowker’s quilts.

I was even more elated when just a few days after copies arrived in mailboxes across the US, Publisher Vicki Anderson forwarded this email to me:

My wife just received her March/April 2014 issue and I want to compliment you on the Sarah Ann Smith article titled Dust Happens.
 
I am a Bernina Certified tech that repairs anything that walks in the door and all brands of Long Arms. I also give presentations to the local guilds on Care and Feeding of your Domestic Machines. Her article is the most comprehensive that I have read to date. I feel as if she had a copy of my Power Point in front of her (right down to the needle photos!).
 
Outstanding! I agree with 100% of what she said and applaud her for the article.
 
Please use this and pass this along in any way that you see fit.
 
Duane Sellers
Bernina Tech
Lafayette, In

WOW! Talk about a HAPPY RUSH!  You all know I’m a Janome girl, but we also all know how GOOD Bernina is in terms of service and support, how good it’s repair folks are.  To have a Bernina Tech say that about my article just gives me goosebumps!  Thank you Mr. Sellers!

Here’s a peek at my article–to read it you’ll need to get a copy, which you can do online at mqumag.com or in places like Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million.

The first page of “Dust Happens,” my article about caring for your machine. Just a few moments every time you use your machine will keep it much happier!

And HUGE thanks to Marie Z. Johansen (BFF!) and Silvia Dell’Aere (a.k.a. Orkaloca) for photographs used in the article.  I needed a specific view of a Bernina bobbin case and, astonishingly, despite having hundreds of photos available for press use, Bernina didn’t have the view I needed, so I called Marie–who is a fabulous photographer–and asked if she could save my bacon and photograph her Bernina’s bobbin case (right before deadline no less), and she did!  THANK YOU!  And Silvia has allowed me to use a photo of hers of the tips of new vs. slightly used needles in my class presentations for years.  I asked for a print-resolution photo, but she had to take a new one–Thank you!  So please, visit their blogs and say thanks! Here’s the page with their photos:

Two more pages from the article. In the “nine patch of photos,” Marie’s photo is middle row, right. Silvia’s is on a different page.  Thank you both!

Have another article in the next issue of MQU..it’s been a good year for writing (which I love as much as quilting).  Thanks, Vicki and Kit, for the opportunity to write for MQU.  I’m so happy to have been able to bring good articles to you.  Thanks also again to Mr. Sellers for taking the time to write such a nice comment!

Woot! The January/February 2014 issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited is just out and includes my article on machine quilting feet.  Somehow the title (I submitted it without a title..ooops!) ended up being very similar to Barbara Hollinger’s article from last October, but we cover fairly different territory.  Anyway, I am THRILLED with how the article turned out.  The layout is superb!  MQU was great to begin with, but the formatting and layout is even better–if you haven’t picked up a copy, do!  And then subscribe!

Here’s the first two pages of my article, where I use one of my quilts as a teaching moment (that means I did something not so great, then explain how I could have done it differently and better since I didn’t actually rip out the stitches and do it over. Ahem.)

I haven’t read the whole issue yet, but I learn from each and every issue. And if you’re looking for a copy on the newsstands, here’s the cover:

Cover of the Jan/Feb 2014 MQU magazine.

Thank you to Kit Robinson (editor) and Vicki Anderson (publisher) for inviting me to do the article and for doing such a superb job presenting it.  This may be my best article yet!

Lookit what arrived in the mail today!   My September/October issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited, with my Metallic Threads article mentioned ON THE COVER!  I’m thrilled with the layout and how the article looks and reads, and hope you will be too.  You can find MQU at Barnes and Nobles (on Sept. 1) as well as order this and back issues online, here.

Machine Quilting Unlimited…notice the Metallic Threads on the left, that’s my article! WOOT!

I LOVE Metallic threads, and once you learn a few basics it really isn’t difficult to use at all!   My book, ThreadWork Unraveled, talks all about threads including metallics, but for the skinny on just the metallics, it’s covered in this six-page (!!!) article.

The opening spread on the Metallic thread article. The golden eagle quilt on the left, 13 x 13 inches, is a wholecloth quilt using one of my murky “background / forest floor” hand-dyes.

I was thrilled that my buddy Jim VanderNoot, who lives in Pennsylvania but will be returning to the best place on Earth (well OK, the are other really great places too, but Maine ROCKS) when he retires in a few years (or sooner we hope in the local guild…Jim is a welcome addition!), let me use his “Celebrate!” quilt for the article.  Jim’s a fabulous quilter, so I can’t wait until he and his wife get to move north.  Thanks, Jim!

Here’s the last page of the article with Jim VanderNoot’s quilt on the top–love his sense of whimsy and UBER LOVE his quilting. That’s my Garuda Dances Under the Ocean Moon on the bottom, made with Princess Mirah Bali batik fabrics.

AND…drum roll for thorough readers…. MQU has a “Web Extra,” a free PDF download of my 2008 article on sewing machine needles.  Click here to visit MQU’s Web Extras page and find the link.

I’ve finally finished the major house chores–well, except for painting ALL the trim on the garage–done, so hope to get back to a regular blogging schedule soon!   In the meantime, hope you can lay your hands on a copy of this magazine and enjoy this and the other great articles.  MQU is  one of those magazines that I read cover to cover AND keep all the back issues!   Thrilled to be able to write for them again.

P.S.  And one benefit to this article… in the past I had avoided bobbin work like the plague.  But I thought it would be good to include bobbin work in the article.  Guess what… I now LOVE using the Razzle Dazzle thread–I figured out a way to use it and still fill my need to SEE what I’m doing with something that needs to be worked upside-down!   So add one more technique to my arsenal…and a few more spools of thread to my stash.

Hi all! I’d like to invite you to visit the page for the FiberArt For a Cause fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society. This may be the final one ever for the FFAC, and I’m pleased to have been part of the FFAC efforts for several years. This year, I’ve made two donations. You can see both here, along with the other MANY generous donations by many quilt artists. (Click photo to see it larger.)

For the Tote bag part of Tote Tuesday: I have donated a copy of my Threadwork Unraveled book, the January 2010 issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited with my last design series article, some of my hand-dyed fabric, a pair of my funky hand-dyed socks, and a spool of Rainbows variegated thread from Superior Threads.

I also made and donated an 11×17 inch quilt made from one of the lino-cuts I made recently. You can see details in the post below! Thanks for taking a look, and for popping over to the FFAC Tote Tuesday page to take a look.