Faith of Friends

I'm so pleased with the progress I made on my 'so far unnamed quilt' yesterday, I managed to get it basted, and I also got about 2/3 of it quilted! I was worrying that I wouldn't have time to get everything done, but now I'm feeling great about my deadline. The project due date is 2 August.

Linda J asked when we would be able to see a picture of the quilt, and I feel so bad, but I can't post a picture of it until 2 months after the magazine is out. Contractually I'm not allowed to. The magazine won't accept quilts that have been published elsewhere, and on the internet is considered 'published'. Maybe I shouldn't tease you with information about it, but it's hard not to share what I've been doing.

Instead, I will share with you a picture of the first quilt I ever had published. It's called Faith of Friends. It was made for a beginners applique class, and when the magazine contacted Cheryl (from the quilt store) to find out if they had any quilts they'd like to submit for an applique special, she passed the details to me. The rest is history! That was in early 2004. Later, the quilt was on the cover of the AP&Q 2005 diary. A short time later, it's 'sister quilt' Purple Hearts was featured in another publication. I term it a 'sister quilt' because it has so many of the same colours and fabrics, they look like they could be twins. The two quilts were photograped together earlier this year when the magazine did a profile on me, and they came to my house to take pictures. It was super fun, I've been really lucky.

Cathi asked me what kind of classes I teach. Well, that's a funny one ... I do occasional workshops, but mainly I do a class called 'Dear Tazzie', and it's a class where people with a problem come along to get it fixed. Like if someone needs to learn how to bind a quilt, or they would like to learn needle turn applique, I help them out. It can be chaotic, as I don't necessarily know what I'll be dealing with, or how many people will be coming, but it's super fun! Some ladies just come a long for the social aspect, and that's wonderful too!

Hanne asked about where I got the pattern for the Atlantic Jewel block. I got it from Jinny Beyer's website. She has a block of the day, or month, or something there. I hope it's still there in her archives, as I printed it a while ago. I changed the centre of the block though, as hers has pie shaped pieces designed to look wonderful with her border prints, but I wanted it to be one piece. I just made up a new template.

Thank you so much to everyone for your ideas regarding 'to sash or not to sash'. I have decided I will wait until the blocks are finished before I make the decision. Then I can play with them. This is a wonderful forum for bouncing ideas around, and I appreciate everyones comments. Thank you!