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.

Great expectations of what the offices would be like comes to fruition.

This morning was more fun than I could have imagined.

Group B met at the reception area to sign in and wait for our tour guide.

This is me in front of the official door once again.

Do I look happy or what 

Here is that famous logo once again with guess who is beside it.     The entire wall is covered with quotes and inspirational words.   Group B really hit the jackpot with our tour guide Hannah Milman.

Hannah is the Editorial Director of Crafts and is very passionate about her work. She took us to her office to store our coats and purses.

While we were there she shared some of her recent projects.

This is a wreath made from glittered acorns and leaves that she made to hang in

the Blair House in Washington, D. C. for Christmas.This bird is a decoration made using a copy of a bird in the wallpaper that was blown up,

glued to stiff paper board, and then glitter and gold paint was added. 

It was beautiful to see in person.

Hannah loves working with and glittering shells. (Actually I think she would glitter anything.)

This shell was glittered to make an ornament.

As we started our tour we met Lucinda Scala Quinn and Sarah Carey in the hallway.

Lucinda is the Editorial Director, Food & Entertaining

Sarah is Deputy Food Editor Martha Stewart Living. 

If you watch Everyday Food on PBS you know them very well already.

They were so kind to us, just talked to us like we were neighbors.

Lucinda has a great blog called Mad Hungry Feeding Men and Boys.   From there we went to the test kitchens. In this kitchen they were testing recipes for Everyday Food.Some of the things they were testing were - Feed your family of four for $10, healthy snacks, etc. 

      From the test kitchen went to a room called the cake room.

If you read Martha Stewart Living, Weddings, or the Wedding Cakes book, then you have seen these cakes. This  is another huge test kitchen. Wouldn’t you love to cook here? 

I am not sure what they were testing here but you can be sure it was good. These are cabinets in the hallway full of cookbooks. 

We then went to the Prop Room or ROOMS!

The beautiful ladies below run the prop room, and what a job it must be.

Please bear with me on the amount of pictures. You just can not imagine how much stuff is here.

 

   Stools & Chairs

  Candlesticks

Tables, stools, chandeliers 

Dishes and more dishes!!

Cutting boards

Linens

More dishes

Cake stands

Vases

Wall boards and floor tiles.  They sometimes create a whole room.

This is Fritz Karch. He is the editorial director of collecting.

He told us his office is Martha’s nightmare!  

This is the view of the river out of one of the windows.

We also got to meet Emeril Lagasse    He has a new television show starting in March.

Half of our tour was on the side of the offices housing the magazines where we met

Gael Towey.

Gael is the Creative Chief Officer. She was very friendly also and talked with us for a long time.

She talked about helping with the first Martha Stewart Living magazine. She has been with Martha for 20 years.

Gael also told us they are anticipating the arrival of the new Apple Notebook or iPad as we now know it.

All magazines are checking out alternative delivery methods.

Maybe someday we will be reading Martha Stewart Living on our iPad.

By the way Gael’s husband is Stephen Doyle. He designed the logo we love so much.

When you have a little time check out this video about Gael and Stephen’s collaboration on logos for Martha.

We could not take any pictures while we were in this area because they were working on future magazines.

The April issue of Living was spread out on boards. I was great fun to see what no one else has seen yet.

Hannah then took us to see the marketing area for furniture, out door items, linens, all things Martha.

On to the craft supply area. Oh my gosh!!

Glitter of every kind, color and size. Punches, punches, punches and more punches. Paper goods and tools.

I have never seen so many wonderful craft items.

We also got to see the corporate offices but those are private sanctuaries and so no pictures here.

Alas, after 1 1/2 wonderful hours we had to leave to go to the studios for the taping of a show.

It was a great joy to tour offices and meet wonderful, friendly and happy people.

Everyone seemed to love their job.

THANK YOU HANNAH!!!!!!

Check back tomorrow to read about the taping of the show.

Sisterhood of Dreamers Into Doers Shelter Event

This is the official logo for our wonderful Martha Stewart Dreamers Into Doers trip to New York.

It was designed by Michelle Biondolillo of Schuylark Designs 

Those of us who were there on Monday evening went to a neat little restaurant eighty 8 for drinks or dinner.

Emily and I went there for drinks and to get a chance to get to know some of the ladies.

It was the beginning of the wonderland trip.

More Dreamers Into Doers  Kim McCool, Terry Grahl, Sue Koons

      GiGi Page and Karen Keller-Eyer

After visiting for a while at eighty 8, Emily and I went for a wonderful dinner at

Gramercy Tavern.

  It is my favorite restaurant in New York city.

When you enter the foyer these flowers are there to greet you.

These are the flowers along one wall and below is a close up view of the end of the table.

We ordered a bottle of wine that was very good.

Our waiter brought us an amuse-bouche. I love these little surprises.

On the left is a vegetable skewer, in the middle a little bruschetta, and on the right is a foie gras terrine.

This is Emily’s first course

Shrimp Salad with Carrots, Sunchokes and Apple Cider Vinaigrette 

My first course was Butternut Squash Custard with Quince and Pine Nuts.

It was to die for!

   My main course was Poached Lobster with Turnips, Radish and Lobster-Squash Sauce

Emily had Spanish Mackerel with Foie Gras, Savoy Cabbage, Mussels and Sunchokes.

This was our pre-dessert

  For dessert I had ice cream Caramel, Pumpkin Spice and Milk Chocolate Coconut.  Emily had Peanut Butter Semifreddo with a Chocolate Macaroon. These are the flowers (peonies) in the ladies room.

Roses and Hyacinth in the ladies room also.

I don't know what was in the men's room.

This fabulous mural is above the bar in the Tavern area. I think it is fabulous!

Such great graphic design with wonderful colors.

  After dinner we met Emily’s friend Tien Ho.

We went to a little champagne bar called Flute that is next to Gramercy tavern.

Tien is chef /part owner of restaurants in the Momofuku group of restaurants.

There will be more about Tien and Momofuku later because we ate there on Tuesday night.

It was a fabulous first day in New York.

The view out of the airplane window as I flew into NYC

A view of Citi Field, home of the Mets.

Statue of Liberty

A view of lower Manhattan

The Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges going from

Manhattan at the top to Brooklyn at the lower left.

The middle of Manhattan.

The welcome sign at LaGuardia airport upon landing.

Checked into Hotel Indigo in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

Everything was new, sleek and contemporary. The rooms have beautiful textile murals over the beds.

Don’t you think they look like quilts?

My daughter in law, Emily Winkler Maddy who is the chef de cuisine at Bolla in Dallas, went with me on the trip.

After checking in we were ready for lunch.

Restaurant Blu is located in the Indigo. This is the dining room.

Another view of the Dining Room.

The lunch menu and the bread basket.

One of the things I love most about NY restaurants is their wonderful bread.

I ordered short ribs with parsnip puree and broccoli.

After lunch we went to the Bowery to shop the kitchen supply stores.

What do you think about the ladle that Emily found?

They have every size ladle, scoop, tart pan, etc., etc., etc. that you can imagine

We had a great afternoon.

Check back soon for Part Two of Day One.

Be sure to sign up for automatic notice of new blogpost, so you will not miss out on

my Dreamers Into Doers trip to NYC.

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.

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

     Sightseeing in Savannah was so much fun. 

Savannah is full of beautiful old churches with wonderful stained glass windows.     

 The inside of this church was absolutely beautiful.

We drove over to Tybee Island to see the water.

It was a little chilly that day but people were still swimming and fishing.

That night we went to The Olde Pink House for dinner.

True to southern cooking, I had fried lobster.

Wonderful!!

Bread Pudding for dessert for me.

Chocolate torte for Barbara.

We started our trip home.

We traveled through Georgia,

Alabama,

Mississippi,

We stopped for the night in Vicksburg.

The river was covered in fog the next morning.

Louisiana and

finally back to Texas.

I am going back to Florida next January to teach at a retreat in Panama City.

It is being put on by Quilting By The Bay.

I plan to do another road trip to see some more of the country.

Maybe I will see some of you on my travels, or better yet in my classes.

Check out the itinerary on my website to see if I will be in your area.

My friend Barbara and I spent several days in Savannah, Georgia

on our way home from the road trip to teach in Florida.

We stayed at the Mulberry hotel. It was very old and quaint.

We walked around the entire city and ate at some really good restaurants.

The first meal was lunch at Mrs.. Wilkes’ Dining room.

There was a line to get in and the seating is common table for ten.

We sat with two ladies from Alabama and 5 students from Penn State.

This was their first taste of truly Southern Food.

The tables were brimming with wonderful things to eat.

Fried chicken, barbeque pork, chicken and dumplings, okra,

beans, grits, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, greens, etc. etc.

It was all wonderful.

There was ispiration for quilting designs everywhere we looked. This is the ironwork on a window.

An opening filled with iron work under a staircase.

A beautiful planting in one of the squares.

I will show you more of our stay in the days to come.

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.