savoy060

Hello everyone and welcome to a book tour and review of Karen McTavish's latest release  "Mastering the Art of McTavishing 2nd Edition ~ Expanded and Revised" ~ published June 2014 and available for purchase from   On-Word Bound Books . Photo Courtesy On-Word Bound Books You all know that I absolutely love using McTavishing on my quilts -- especially as a background for wool applique. If you're looking to learn Karen's beautiful signature technique to enhance your quilts,  this is the book for you! I received a "review" copy from the delightful Sara at On-Word Bound Books , and couldn't wait to dive into it.   The book is 128 pages long and includes 2 DVD/Videos (2.5+ hours) with awesome, down to earth, McTavish instruction. The fun part of this publication is that you receive both the 1st and 2nd Edition DVD/Videos for the price of one book!   If you already own the 1st Edition you'll be thrilled with the new content and teaching approach of the...

Greetings fellow quilters -- I hope you're enjoying some summer fun or sewing time.  We're fortunate to have spent the last week with family at the lake.  A few more days before they all head for home, so we'll squeeze as much fun as possible out of our family time together.  Thanks for your patience with my lack of sewing and blogging -- family fun is the best! Oh, and those reviews and giveaways I mentioned here -- they're yet to come -- stay tuned. This week I would like to feature a two pillow designs that share techniques but use unique applique templates.  Both tutorials include a little bit of piecing, a little wool applique, the fantastic #Aurifil Mako Cotton 50wt Thread for beautiful Free Motion Quilting, and are just fun to make!! First up is the Family Tree Quilted Envelope Pillow. This was my first Moda Bake Shop recipe and was the result of my winning some "Family Tree" fabric scraps from the very talented Moda Designer, Deb Strain.   One thing ...

Hi everyone -- and welcome to another Throwback Thursday Featured Tutorial. It's been a busy week here in the Finger Lakes, USA - the weather is perfect for lake fun!   Swimming, skiing, tubing and just having fun with our family - there is no better way to spend the summer. A couple of other fun things going on this week -- first the Throwback Thursday featured tutorial " Wool Lovers Tips and Tricks " was written last year for the Wool Lovers Blog Hop. This tutorial features Wool Applique Tip and Tricks and includes a free bookmark design for your personal use.  I hope you enjoy reviewing it. You can see a complete list of my tutorials by clicking the " My Tutorials " tab on my blog header ;) Next, my blogging friend Carole at " From My Carolina Home " blog finished a beautiful pillow rendition of my "Spring Basket" pattern and is having a giveaway of Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Scissors on her blog. These serrated edge scissors work wonderfu...

Summertime in the States... Sew much fun!!  Hope ya'll are enjoying summer vacation.    For those of you outside of the states enjoying a different season -- good for you!  Here's to finding time to sew.  We're having fun making memories with friends, family, and grandchildren at the lake. We're very blessed to have all of our children nearby so they can spend time with us as their schedules allow.  Very thankful for our time with them. I wanted to share this picture of me with our granddaughters, Emily (16) and Jenna (11). This year was Jenna's 1st year swimming across the lake - about a 3/4 mile swim.  We are so very proud of her!   Grampa, mommy, and the rest of the cheering squad were in the boat spotting us and taking pictures.  We had fun! I haven't had much time to sew or blog lately but I did do some late night updating of the "My Tutorials" page on my blog header recently. Click on the image below (or on the My Tutorials t...