The Lone Star State

I just returned from working with a wonderful guild in Beaumont, Texas. That is the third guild that I have been to in Texas and I am always amazed at how polite and pleasant people are in Texas! I love when they call complete strangers "Sugar". It just puts me in a good mood! I stayed at a wonderful quilter's home that was on a lake and I almost felt I was on vacation instead of working (of course I love my job so it isn't really work)!

I have lost track of time so I need to pick a winner for the free membership to Victoriana Quilt Designs......(drum roll please).... congratulations Dee M.! I will be forwarding your name to Benita.

Millefiori block featured in McCalls Quilting March/April 2010

In Texas I taught my Millefiori quilt workshop for the first time. It is a fun class where we get to play with mirrors and find interesting designs in the fabric. Many of the quilters I meet say they have mirrors but have never used them and others say that it opens up a whole new world of quilting for them. I love going to quilt shops in the towns I teach looking for new fabric to "play" with. This fabric line is from Benartex. Paula Nadelstern is one of my favorite fabric designers because her stuff is wonderful to fussy-cut! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and created some beautiful blocks. I was lucky enough to purchase this same fabric line from Benartex in a different colorway and I will be offering a limited number of the kits for sale on my website.

I also taught my Stars Over St. Louis workshop. It is another workshop on using mirrors and it is always interesting to see what kinds of fabrics people bring to create the quilt. Even if two people used the same fabric each quilt would be unique. My book is still selling well, which I am thankful for!

Tic Tac Toe featured in June/July Fons and Porter

I do have some new kits available on my website. Tic Tac Toe, featured in Fons and Porter features more of the Habitat collection by Benartex. That fabric was so much fun to design with I created 4 different quilts with it. The other kits using the collection are Yin and Yang, featured in McCalls Quilting and AraBella a free web pattern on Benartex's website.

AraBella

I will also be adding some new workshops to the website. They will feature the use of my Cutting Corners template set. The workshops will be on how to use the templates for different kinds of blocks that require cutting squares and drawing a diagonal line. This tool eliminates the need to draw the line. The quilts in the different workshops will be Tic Tac Toe for the advanced beginner and AraBella for the beginner. I will be adding more workshops using this wonderful tool.

Northstar

St. Louis Star

My retreat center is taking off! I am going to offer a summer special workshop "Christmas in July" (or August if more are interested). It will be an overnight stay with a workshop using one of my holiday patterns; Northstar or St. Louis Star. Both can be made as place mats or table toppers. The workshop will start in the afternoon and you will have the evening and the next day to work on it. Three meals will be included. I will be posting dates and fee information in the next week. Gather your quilting friends and reserve an evening or choose one of my dates to join other quilters! Minimum 4, maximum 9.


Well, this has been a very long post! Better get back to quilting.


As always, everyday do what you love and love what you do. Toby Lischko