beyond the reef: That Patchwork Place

Showing posts with label That Patchwork Place. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Amy Ellis is here! Amy Ellis is here!

Amy Ellis is here!

thank you, Amy, for being a part of the Book Blog Tour

yes, Amy Ellis is here.

Amy seems to be a constant in my quilting life

she wrote the very first book I ever reviewed for Martingale/That Patchwork Place

long before we ever met

she participated in some of the compilation books of which I was lucky enough to contribute

and then one day she was the big sister I was calling on

for quilting advice

regardless of how much Amy has going on at any given time in her OWN life

she always seems to be able to graciously still have time for friends

Amy Ellis is here!

and....

okay, you get my point

how many of you subscribe to the podcast?

but, before I go, I have to tell you a story about the last place I saw Amy

it was at

QuiltCon

I was in the beyond the reef booth, helping someone with a fabric bundle explanation,

and ringing up another someone, and writing up an order for even yet another someone else

and all of a sudden

I felt a presence

a presence.

and there was Amy Ellis.

peacefully, quietly, standing shoulder to shoulder with me.

she was just

t h e r e.

and that, my friends, is Amy Ellis.

'nuff said.

head on over to Amy's site - there is a whole lot going on!!

be.do.create

natalie.

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Carolyn Friedlander + Color

I want to take just a moment to let you know

A Modern Twist

BookBlog Tour today is being hosted by

Carolyn Friedlander + Color

one day, while walking down the aisle at Quilt Market with Carolyn,

I was trying to carefully ask if she had time in her days to post about other folks' works

she was gracious, and quiet, and let me fumble around for quite some time

before she said

"are you asking me if I will be a part of your book blog tour?

simply stated.

a bit like her studio pic

everything in it's right order

not only is Carolyn producing her own patterns

but she has written a fabulous book

she has been designing useable fabrics for Robert Kaufman Fabrics

and if you head on over to her site

you will find

she is giving us something more than just technique and mechanics to think about

this part, along with

Slow Sewing Studio

is what I find to be the most exciting part of Carolyn's vision about quilting

you will see that she has a very demanding travel schedule

which is why I want to say,

simply stated,

thank you! Carolyn.

for taking the time to be a part of the BookBlog Tour

for

A Modern Twist

please remember, you have until March 15 to leave comments on every blog post

in the series

and each post has information from the quilter and artist

Color + Contrast + Composition

02 March - Victoria Findlay Wolfe + CONTRAST
Victoria Findlay Wolfe
www.bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com

03 March - Teri Lucas + COLOR
Generation Q Magazine
www.generationqmagazine.com

04 March - Julie Herman + COMPOSITION
Jaybird Quilts
www.jaybirdquilts.com

05 March - Jenny Wilding Cardon + COLOR
Martingale
www.blog.shopmartingale.com

06 March - Rose Hughes + COLOR
Rose Hughes
www.rosehughes.blogspot.com

07 March - Amy Smart + CONTRAST
Amy Smart
www.diaryofaquilter.com

08 March - Carolyn Friedlander + COLOR
Carolyn Friedlander
www.carolynfriedlander.com/blog/

09 March - Latifah Saafir + COMPOSITION
Latifah Saafir Studios
www.latifahsaafirstudios.com/blog/

10 March - Amy Ellis + CONTRAST
Amy's Creative Side
www.amyscreativeside.com/blog/

11 March - Angela Walters + COMPOSITION
Angela Walters/Quilting is my Therapy
www.quiltingismytherapy.com

be.do.create

natalie.

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

Saturday, March 7, 2015

OUR Amy Smart

it's Amy! it's Amy!

not this Amy Smart

(not the woman that was in Robot Chicken)

THIS

AMY SMART!!!

crinkle your nose, smiling, happy, fun

sparkle in her eyes,

lovely, thoughtful, grounded

AMY

see that smile?!?!???

that's OUR Amy Smart!!!

(okay, now that we have THAT straightened out!!)

our Amy Smart has been a busy busy quilter

she has a new book of her own

fabulously fast quilts

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1940655048/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=7000636871&hvqmt=p&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_7wtt4xy2ty_p

and she has contributed to

Scraps, Inc.

(tutorial:howtoworkwithquiltpatterns)

but here's the thing

OUR Amy

has a way of being gracious

while

writing and contributing to books

creating patterns

posting tutorials

attending industry events

teaching, traveling

and

sharing

THAT

is the Amy for which I am thankful

I hope you will take a moment to visit

Amy's post about A Modern Twist

she has added some great information of her own

thank you, Amy, for your sparkle

and thanks to all of you

for visiting

and leaving comments on everyone's BookBlog Tour posts

for a chance to have your very own copy of

A Modern Twist

be.do.create

natalie

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

Friday, March 6, 2015

Rose Hughes

thank you

Rose

for your lovely post, written from the heart

as the saying goes

if you are lucky enough to call Rose "friend"

you are lucky enough

you will find stories about Rose in the very first pages of A Modern Twist

and you will find her books noted in the Sources pages on the last pages of A Modern Twist

because that's where friends are

they're there at the beginning, and they are there at the end

friendship is not a sometimes thing, it is an every page of the book thing

have you seen Rose's work?

I love her - well, I call it - Studio Work

Poppy Dreamin'

she just returned from Island Quilter

where many of her pieces were in the gallery

(hope you were able to take her class)

Mules Ears

one of the most lovely things about Rose

is how much of herself she gives

while her Gallery pieces are just incredible

what is also incredible is how much she shares of her techniques

the very tools she uses to create these masterpieces

simple things

mean so much

what needle to use for beading

how to fill up the spaces of a piece with quilting and decorative stitches

how do you do that thing that you do with color

I hope you all have a chance to take a class with Rose

but if you can't, I hope you will add a few of her books to your library

here is the most recent release

Rose Hughes

writes for Martingale/That Patchwork Place

and has a great new book out

right now!

thank you Rose, for being there every page of the book

and thank you for being a part of the BookBlog Tour!

remember to visit every stop along the way

you can leave a comment on every post

and each artist is giving their own ideas on the subjects of

color + contrast + composition

Thursday, March 5, 2015

It is Martingale's turn!!

you might think it is too late in the day to post

about today's

BookBlog Tour

but I say, no.

this is the type of subject that requires the quiet of the day

as I have been visiting different quilt shows

and lecturing

and teaching

and telling people proudly,

"I wrote a BOOK!!!!!"

I have been also telling everyone

"no one writes a book by themself"

(could that even be correct grammar?)

this may seem counter intuitive

but I truly believe it to be the case

and I am sticking with it.

(there may not be very many pictures in this post, by the way...)

look at the credits

publisher

editorial director

acquisitions editor

technical editor

copy editor

design director

photographer

production manager

illustrator

elke and don who allowed their home to be used for the photo shoot

then there's the marketing person

the social media person

the person that coordinates and sells to all of the quilt shops

the person that wrote today's blog

(thank you Jenny, who, by the way, is ALSO a book author)

all of these people are

"my publisher"

it has a wonderful ring to it

my.

publisher.

"who published your book?"

Martingale/That Patchwork Place

I proudly reply.

that's my story, and I'm sticking with it.

no one writes a book alone.

nope.

be.do.create

natalie.

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The Dog Days of Summer

It's a Martingale and Company book giveaway!

It's also the dog days of summer

I had to look that one up, just to be sure it was okay

The Farmers Almanac tags the dates to be July 3 to August 11

Ancient Rome, July 24 thru August 24

The Gregorian Calendar adds, leap years delete, but overall let's just call it "good"

It's the time of year when Sirius, the Dog Star, appears

and when we have our "warmest summer temperatures"

when dogs hit the pool, or the beach, and then begrudge us the bath that follows

(yes, yes, just like the kids playing in the sand, getting dunked in the bay for a quick clean up)

I think I will put it on next year's calendar

and make it a tradition

people are enjoying the last few days of summer, taking vacations and flocking to the beach
with that kind of
"oh, my gosh, it's August and we haven't even been to the beach yet"
look in their eye

(insert lake, hike, camping, bike riding, hula hooping, having any fun at all, word, here)

the arugula from the garden is growing again after the birds have had their share of salad
and having friends over for dinner means sun tea, frosty beers, light wines and a cold crisp salad

many of us, as quilters or sewists, are thinking

"oh my gosh, the holidays will be here in no time and I haven't even started those gifts"