As many of you know, I am a team member with  Enchanted Makeovers which is a

nonprofit organization bringing awareness to the needs of women and children in abusive situations.

If you have the current American Patchwork & Quilting magazine

you can read about Terry and her journey on page one.

Terry Grahl has dedicated her life to making the shelters a better place

for these women and children so they can have hope and love in their lives.

This year EM has been on a nationwide tour to spread the word.

The final event for the year will be in New Jersey on October 16.

 We need help from all you quilters and embroiderers for this event.

The ladies are going to be learning about yoga and we need 30 handmade mats for this activity. The mats will be used as

lap quilts after the event and will be very simple but very bright.

We want encouraging words embroidered around the borders.

I will have a very simple pattern to follow and a list of words to be embroidered. If you can only do some

embroidery (hand or machine) or only sew the quilt – that is fine, we can tag team the process.

If you need fabric, we can take care of that also.

There is a time constraint. I will need the finished mats by October 1.

For more information on Enchanted Makeovers go to the website.

Enchanted Makeovers website

Check out Terry’s facebook page

Enchanted Makeovers Facebook Facebook link

Check out Enchanted Makeovers and Terry Grahl on

the Martha Stewart Dreamers Into Doers site.

Terry was recently honored as one

of People Magazines 30 All-stars Among Us

I do hope some of you have the time to open your heart to this cause.

I have been blessed beyond words by working with Terry and all the other volunteers.

Please let me know that you can help to make this

event very special for these ladies by leaving a comment with your email address

or email me direct info@calicocarriage.com and

I will contact you ASAP on how to get started.

I am a little behind on posting to my blog so I am going to start

with my most recent trip and go backwards in the next few posts.

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

I was doing a lecture/trunk show and class for the Delectable Mountain Quilters Guild.

Let me tell you they are a fun bunch of ladies! If you live in the area you need to join them.

Their quilt show was going on at the same time we were there so we got to view that.

It was held at a local gallery and this piece of sculpture was out front.

I do believe this is the epitome of embellishing!! 

These are some of the quilts from the show. I tried to get names for all the quilts but I missed a couple.

I apologize to the quilt makers.

Moulin Rouge

Jackie Grimaldi – quilt maker

Carol Wylie - quilter

Flora & Fauna

Sue Leeson – quilt maker

Madeleine Vail - quilter

This is Jean Spring our hostess/ tour guide with

her quilt from a picture she took in Italy.

They are both lovely.

Jean pieced and quilted this quilt.

Snow Buddies

Peggy Hoft – quilt maker & quilter

Such a fun calendar quilt.

Sorry – no info on these, but aren’t they great?.

Squares

Holly Rogers– quilt maker

Jo Stack – quilter

I really like this quilt.

If the Hat Fits

Jean Spring – quilt maker and quilter

Bear Hollow

Madeleine Vail – quilt maker and quilter

Koma Mai

Tami Buskirk – quiltmaker & quilter

Sunday Stroll

Jackie Grimaldi – quilt maker

Ginney Dominquez - quilter

Rocky Mountain High

Jackie Grimaldi – quilt maker

Madeleine Vail - quilter

I Spy

Gail Nelson– quilt maker

Jane Adams - quilter

Tuscan Cobblestones

Peggy Holt– quilt maker & quilter

 Mom’s Flowers

Linda Pinnt quilt maker

Ramblin Rose Meets Jamestown

Cheryl Spahr – quilt maker

Judy Kendall – quilter

Egg Money

Marci Spitelli quilt maker

Jo Stack – quilter

I justEgg Money love this quilt. The red background just makes the blocks pop.

The cross hatching is one of my favorite quilting designs.

Yampa Valley Memories

Annabeth Lockhart – quilt maker

Madeleine Vail - quilter

Light Houses

Rita Greenburg – quilt maker

Madeleine Vail - quilter

This is one that I did not get the information on.

Summer Serenity

Sue Leeson – quilt maker and quilter

Quilt Diva

Rita Greensburg

I just can't tell you how great this show was.

It was hung like a true art show and the

quilts were certainly pieces of art. 

Tomorrow I will show the sights around Steamboat Springs as we saw them.

My final day in Manhattan started with a trip to the fabulous quilt shop

The City Quilter

It is located at 133 West 25th Street  between 6th and 7th Ave.

When you enter the shop you see a great floor cloth with New York images.

The wonderful owners of the shop are Cathy Izzo

and her husband Dale.

They have owned the shop since February 1997. The shop is absolutely jam packed with goodies.

Everywhere you look there is something to catch your eye and interest.

This is just one of the samples on the wall.

Cathy and Dale have numerous fabrics that are exclusive to their shop.

Below is Statue of Liberty exclusive to them by Hoffman Fabrics.

I love this black and white!

Fashion District retro New York.

This is subway maps in three color ways. 

They also have projects pertaining to Manhattan.

This is a perfect trip memory quilt.

I was told that almost all of the employees are multi talented.

One is an artist, one a costume designer,  and one is a model.

Think of all that creativity! 

These beautiful ladies are two of their employees.

This is an example of a wool project that is a kit. 

Little wool creatures.

Wool cake and cookies.

A pillow kit and a sample of another quilt to make.

Cute quilt with bicycle embroidery. 

This is more of Cathy and Dale’s exclusive fabrics.    

It has vintage New York postcards on it.

This is a quilt made with the post card fabric.

What a great memory of a trip to New York.

Another quilt example to use Photos or photo style fabric.

A great little pincushion book and sample. What do you think about the bacon and egg?

Cathy stocks unusual ribbons for embellishing.

And a stash of silk fabric to make scrumptious quilts and table runners.

They will be carrying my Fine Dining pattern that is great done in silk with ribbon embellishment.

This is the classroom.

They even supply the sewing machines so you can take a class while visiting the city  Cathy and and another employee in front of a wall of fabrics.

Check out the classes they are offering for this spring.

Paula Nadelstern will be teaching as well as Kaffe Fassett and Liza Lucy.

     Below are some class samples.

A wall of books and patterns.

This quilt is going to be a pattern someday. I love it.Another little niche of patterns and samples.  

More wool. The colors look good enough to eat.  I simply adored these story book panels. Kaffe Fassett fabrics to drool over.

Cathy and Dale are now Bernina dealers.

Cathy also cuts 2 1/2” strips for their City Strippers kits.

While I was in the shop taking pictures and talking to Cathy and Dale,

Three couples came into the shop.

This is Brian and Susanne from Denmark.

   Maria and Elmer from Brazil.

I was unable to get names for this couple from Japan.

This is definitely an international store!

I loved this quilt that looks like a kaleidoscope of the Empire State building.

One section of the store is dedicated to fabrics from Japan.

I love it when the employees are happy and smiling even first thing in the morning.     

Dale took me to the basement to show me what was down there.

One thing was his desk with the first quilt he ever made. I think he did a great job. 

They have a long arm quilting machine and offer custom quilting.

More fabrics!

There is storage that goes all the way under the store.     There is also an appliqué group called the Appliqué Support group that meets in the basement.

All of the New York fabrics can be purchased online at The City Quilter.

I has so much fun at The City Quilter, I wanted to stay all day.

I did have to leave to go to Timeless Treasures Fabrics to see Emily Cohen.

She gave me a tour of their new space and I got to see what is new for spring

and a hint of what will be new for fall.

We just finished packing the quilts I am donating to the

Martha Stewart Dreamers Into Doers Shelter Event

All three quilts were made using my Modern Art With Fabric book.

This quilt is made with Moda Fabrics.

This quilt is also made with Moda Fabrics.

This quilt is made with Timeless Treasures Fabrics

I am really getting excited. To read all about the trip go to my December 15, 2009 posting.

Be sure to check out the Enchanted Makeovers website to keep up with all the fabulous donations.

Tomorrow I am off to give a lecture for the Land Of Lakes Quilt Guild in Lewisville Texas.

I am working on a magazine project and want to show you the beautiful silk fabrics.

The fabrics are so scrumptious I think they look like something good to eat.

This post is short today because I have lots to do.

       Hope you have a good day.

July 9, 2009

I hope everyone is having a great summer.

We are enjoying 100º+ days that are typical for July in Texas.

We just returned from 10 glorious days in Seattle, WA and Victoria, Canada.

The days were in the high 70s and the nights were in the high 50s.

It was perfect and very hard to come home.

I am leaving again next week to go to Jonesboro, Tennessee to teach three days at Tennessee Quilts Quiltfest.

If you are in the area it is a three day extravaganza.

Check out the website Tennessee Quilts.

On July 16 I will teach the Shooting Stars class.

This quilt has six different stars on a field to make a twin, queen or king quilt.

'No Diamonds / No "Y" Seams' ~ just half square triangles.

Easy but beautiful. You could do one star for a wall quilt also.

The Carpenter's Star is the class for July 17.

It is a timeless quilt that is beautiful in any style fabric from reproductions, batiks, brights, holiday, to juvenile prints.

The 'No Diamonds / No "Y" Seams' technique makes it a

good class for beginners to advanced quilters.

The Road to Success with Silk is scheduled for Saturday July 18th.

This is not an art quilt class but a guide to using silk in your quilts.

We will cover all aspects from what size needle to use to how to stop raveling.

The class project is a Table Art table runner or vertical wall quilt.

If you will be in the area I would love for you to join me in one or more of the classes.

Be sure to check out the Tennessee Quilts website to see the other great teachers listed.

Also check out the Spring/Summer issue of Quilt Sampler Magazine.

The Quilted Hill Quilt Shop in Yamhill, Oregon

showcased my Bali Sky pattern with a sample on their wall.

They also have a kit for sale in the kit section of their on-line catalog.

I hope to meet some of my readers in the near future.

Debbie

Welcome to the Quilt Designers Blog Tour

I can't believe I decided to show my "studio" to the world.

Studio is a very loose term pertaining to my work space.

It is a long narrow room on the back of our home that has many functions.

At the moment my "studio"

is also my "office"

my "shipping department"

my "sewing space"

my "storage" area.

my "design wall"

and "ironing station".

I did volunteer for this tour because I have a new "Studio" in my immediate future.

The new area is an old guest house at the back of the driveway. It is about 20' X 24" with a kitchen and bath on the back. We are almost to the painting stage and the flooring will go down on April 29.

Please come back to visit this blog in May to see my "New Studio".

I really must add that for many years my studio was a corner of the den or the kitchen table.

I have come a long way even now.

The bluebonnets are up and blooming in Texas.

My teaching road trip will continue soon.

Next on the agenda was Savannah, GA.

On day three of our road trip we went to The Villages, Florida.

Located close to Orlando, The Villages is a community of mostly retired people with 65,000 residents.

They drive golf carts for most of their daily activities.

The community is surrounded by restaurants, shopping, and medical facilities.

You would not have to travel far for any of your needs.

I did a lecture trunk show for the Quilting Guild of the Villages that night.

The next day I taught a workshop for Sew Cherished Quilt Shop of Fruitland, Florida.

We had a great time working on the Shooting Stars pattern.

There were 18 lovely ladies sewing and eating lunch together.

Here are some of their projects in different stages.

That night we were treated to a fabulous dinner at the home of my hostess Christine Brant.

She prepared an Italian feast for nine.

We spent the night with Christine’s mother Klementyne who told us wonderful and

sad stories of growing up in Poland and being sent to Siberia then immigrating to the United States. 

She was a very sweet and interesting lady.

The next day I did a lecture trunk show for The Quilting Sisters Quilt Guild of Leesburg, Florida.

After a lunch in quaint downtown Leesburg, we left to go to St. Augustine, Florida.

      Don’t forget to tell your guild program people and shop owners to check out Ami Sims’ new website.

Find A Quilt Teacher .com

It is a great resource for finding teachers and lecturers for your meetings and classes.