Sew Mama Sew Give Away!! Don't miss out on this!!!!

My Quilting Friends! It's time to get on the band wagon for my first   BLOG GIVE AWAY!!!
I am so excited to see how all of this works. As I meander through Blog Land I agree with others that 'Quilters' are definitely the most generous people on the planet.

So here is what I am contributing for the give away.
Yummy Christmas Quilting Fabric to get you started early on some homemade Christmas gifts and some darling Christmas embellishments to go with it. As well as a miniature book on Quilting and a miniature display of fabrics on bolts that I picked up at a "Country Store" in Yuma during  their annual Quilt Show.

All you have to do is leave a comment and become a follower! Please leave me a way  to get a hold of you, and you will be entered into the drawing.
Here is a close-up of the fabrics:

Make sure to head over to Sew Mama Sew to see all of the/bloggers that are participating in this wonderful give away: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=7239

Quilting Hugs,

John'aLee

P.S. I ship internationally

Home Machine Quilting Show

There's nothing like a shot of inspiration in the arm that one gets from a Quilt Show! We were happy to be invited to vend at the Home Machine Quilting Show in Sandy Utah last weekend. It was so great to see all of you...our faithful customers and to catch up a little bit.

I thought I'd share some of the quilts that were hanging in the show. Both batteries went dead on my cameras as I was taking pictures the last day, and because I was working I couldn't go and buy some new ones. So there were several other beautiful quilts I wish I could have taken pictures of.

This is a close up of the following quilt. Magnificent work! It is amazing how much embellishing adds to a quilt. This was so stunning!

The picture of the label I took on this one didn't come out. So if whoever made this wants me to add their name and story about this quilt please email me.
I loved this color variation of this pattern. It is a super popular pattern out there on the quilt circuit. It's fun to see what all you creative ladies have done with it.

This pattern is by my good friend Verna Mosquera. If you have never checked out her website you must: vintagespool.com

That's all for now folks. I'm headed to St George to spend some time with my kiddos and grandkids!

Inspiration - The Design Process

So how do designers take their inspiration to final product?

I'm sure everyone's process is a little bit

different...but I will share mine with you.

First I build around a theme.

The quilt in process that I have been sharing with you titled.......Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

started with of course....Christmas. 

I then fine tuned it to a few things:

Mistletoe, ribbons and hearts.

From there I started sketching.

I sketch, I play with fabric, I throw that sketch out, I start again....

over and over again.

Until finally I come up with something I am happy with.

This doesn't mean there still won't be changes.

I do not work with EQ6. If only I knew how!!

Mine all happens organically.

And then, I commission fabric after fabric, sometimes
 making several templates with several different colors.

I adjust

I readjust...

and I readjust.

Until I finally have a finished product.

A quilt that has been pieced, appliqued, quilted and
 bound.

All the while I am writing the instructions to share with
 you my beloved customers.

I then completely make another quilt from the instructions I have made, correcting any errors.

I then send it to my darling "Marla" who is my angel!! No
other word for her!

You all need a "Marla" in your life.

She then makes the quilt and catches any of my errors
 and sends them to me.

If there is time I too like to run a class on it, to make sure
 everyone knows what I am saying.

Then the final quilt goes to the photographer.

And those pictures and instructions to the printer.

From beginning of thought process to final result will
 take hundreds of hours.

This my dear friends is why us designers are such 
 sticklers about copyright.

It costs us not only hundreds of hours, but hundreds o
 dollars to get a pattern off the ground right.

And it is how most of us make our living.

So a big huge yummy "Thank you" to all of you who do
respect the copyright issue!

We love you!!

(P.S. The picture above is of the pieces I am working on
 for the final border of.

"Meet Me Under the Mistletoe"

They may be too big...

They will probably have to be minimized...

we will see...

I know all of you at the shows whom I have shown this 

"quilt in progress"

are dying to get your hands on the pattern...

I'm working on it girls....really I am!

Quilting Hugs to all of you quilters out there busily
 working away today!

Johna'Lee

Inspiration

Just a short little post today. Inspiration. It is what keeps us designers of all kinds going. I remember asking a designer whom I have the utter most respect for once, "Where do you get your inspiration?"  Her answer. "John'aLee it is very simple. It is everywhere. In nature, in books, in coloring books, children's books, blogs, shows. Just start looking deeper into `what you see`."  And those words changed my 'designing life'!
Above is some new embroidery thread I picked up just for the 'color' inspiration. The embroidery book has some stitches I haven't used before, so I figured I would combine the two and come up with some new designs.

So here's a page from my sketchbook where I play around with designs. This is a rough starting copy of the new BOM I am working on out of Fig Tree's two lines, Millhouse Inn and Fresh Cotton.
This is the beginning. Hundreds of hours later, a finished quilt.
And it all starts from.......a little bit of......Inspiration!

And here it is on top of the fabrics I'm working with.








So today....look somewhere new for some of that dynamic little thing we call....Inspiration!

Check outside...go see what is in bloom...

Wander into Blog Land and see what others are working on...

Go to Moda's website and check out all of their upcoming new fabric lines...

Go pull some fabrics out of your own stash that you usually wouldn't put together..and make a block out of them.

Trade some fabrics with a good friend and create a challenge...

The best place.....Borders or Barnes....Ahhhh..my favorite get away  to get inspired.

And have....an inspirational day!!

Quilting hugs to all of you,

John'aLee

Great Goodies found on my travels....

One great thing about traveling around the country is all of the awesome people we meet! The other thing....is the great range of things to purchase! These are a few of my finds in April:

                                                                     This is my find at Hancocks of Paducah. A lot of you probably get their catalog which is amazing. It was different to see that they are basically just in a big old warehouse!
These are the new fabrics from Fig Tree called Fresh Cotton. Love them. I am working them into one of my new Block of the Month designs.
                                                                     
  An adorable pattern for a pretty easy sweater (so they say) that I am dying to make. They had the actual sweater made up in a wine color at the Pueblo show. Gorgeous!!

I was thrilled to find this book. It is an older book, but is exactly what I need for a design I have been working on for over  a year. A Block of the Month quilt with Christmas houses. This book tells how to construct houses from fabric! Nothing like perfect timing!

I am learning to stitch! This was the book I found at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. They are actually stitches to use for hand quilting, but most of them can and will be used for hand embroidery in some of my new designs. This was another perfect find with perfect timing!

And this is my first finished project out of the book that taught me so many stitches!





Jennifer Chiaverini's new book! I can't wait to dive into this one. I love her books.

My first ever 'wool' purchase, from my dear vendor friends Attic Heirlooms. If you've never checked out their booth....please do. She is an amazing designer. What some of you may not realize, is that on the road, us vendors are like a family meeting up each week, in different cities all over the USA. Everyone helps each other, and we all can commiserate about "Life on the Road"...

And one last amazing book. I think it is so special that authors out there are willing to teach the rest of us, how to make their incredible designs. The quilts in here look impossible, but she breaks down the process. She tells how to do roses....which is the thing I am most interested in. Someday....I will have my own 'Rose Design" quilt out there for you all. A special "Thank You" to all you generous authors out there!

One last picture to make you smile...this is baby Heston who was born in December. For all of you who got to know our daughter Ashley out there on the road....this is her new little one. She also wants you all to know that she misses you!! (But she has made it clear...she sure doesn't miss giving demos!!)

It's after 11 pm...we have to get up at 3 a.m.

to be on the road to the next show

so I will sign off.

I stayed up last night until after midnight

photographing a tutorial for you all

on the Dresden Plate

so hopefully I will get that

posted tomorrow.

Until then....

Happy Quilting!

Paducah or Bust!!

My Quilting Friends....you must, you must, you must put Paducah on your upcoming travel list at some point. It is amazing the way this town turns out for our once upon a time 'little passion'! It is no wonder that it is called Quit City USA.

Ken just came in and told me that the odometer read in our car that clocks the hours we spent in the car as well as miles, said that we were in the car 64 hours on this trip! Wow! But it was worth every bit of it. You might wonder what I do all that time while he is driving so I will tell you and show you. 

Because of my bad back, I have a fluffy feather bed in the back seat, where I am either laying down watching movies, quilting videos, reading, working on new designs or sewing. Amazingly the time flies by. And yes, I can hear some of you now...what about a seat belt? I don't wear one, unless the roads are bad, or we are in a snowstorm. I've come to the conclusion that if we get in a wreck, well, we get in a wreck. It is the only way I can travel to all of these shows, and both Ken and I hold hands and audibly pray together for God to protect us on our journeys. So if something happens after that.....whatever will be will be!

After leaving Mom and Dad's we drove16 hours the first day, and on Monday, the 19th it was Ken's 56th birthday. This is us outside of the hotel, getting ready to hop in the car and head out once again.

The Quilt Museum here in Paducah is now recognized as the National Museum for quilting which is quite exciting. Ken and I stopped in on our last day out. We couldn't take any pictures inside, so I decided to take them outside to at least help you to get a picture of it. They also had a great little shop inside with books that aren't always easy to find.

This was a statue out in front of the museum with a closer look at the write up about it.

     I will post more later. The hubby is wanting to take me to breakfast.