Quilting Retreats on the Go – the terrific business and owners Dottie Montgomery & Jean Welker offer quilt retreats in numerous locations. This year, I taught a Quick Broken Star workshop for Dottie & Jean on Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas. What a ship!!  Our workshop conference room was WONDERFUL – spacious, great lighting, plenty of table space and seating.

Here is the first photo album of our workshop – I am trying to get all the photos uploaded for your reference. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox photobook

I have just returned from 4 wonderful days in the greater Atlanta area. I taught 3 workshops, each in a different location– and presented a trunk show / talk on Saturday in Peachtree City.

If you’ve never heard about Peachtree City, Georgia, it is a planned community with golf courses and paved golf cart trails throughout the town. Friends Judi and Catriona came to give me a fun afternoon ride to Judi’s home! Don’t you love Catriona’s cute quilt & totebag?

The two-day workshop in Montana was awesome – we had a great class and here are some photos of the students and their work!

I traveled north to teach in Montana – what an adventure in February! Brrr! My hostess, Karen Vosen picked me up at the airport in Great Falls, and drove me to her home town in Havre, MT. We stopped and saw the sights along the way, which I am sharing in a travel log. The most interesting things I saw were the great big open sky, the wide open prairie of eastern Montana, river ravines, historic Ft. Benton, and two great quilt shops! Ok, here is a peek at the day!

Mark your calendars! The participants for Quick Star Quilts & Beyond will be signing the book for all customers at Quilter’s Paradise in Escondido, CA.

What:  Author & Artist Book signing

Where: Quilter’s Paradise in Escondido, CA  map

1451 Montiel Rd # 140
Escondido, CA 92026
(760) 738-9677

When: Sunday, March 8, 2008    from    1 pm -4 pm

Additional Activity:  5th San Diego Quilter’s Run – a multi-shop “hop” with special prizes

See the quilts from Quick Star Quilts & Beyond on display, and meet the artists who created them! Many of the artists will be present to sign your book!

Hurrah! I feel so victorious! My new Quick Star Quilts & Beyond book has arrived! C&T sent a beautiful live plant, which arrived about an hour before the book. What a great day this is!

A couple of years ago I taught on a Carnival Cruise to the Mexican Riviera. The quilter’s cruise was sponsored by my friend, shop owner Nancy Amidon of Amidon Quiltworks. My workshop was Diamond Landscapes with a new fusible technique, and the cruisers created either an underwater or beachy theme. Each participant embellished her creation with applique, found items, and inspiration from the cruise excursions ashore.

Martha Knox proudly shares her beautiful underwater quilt with you! Great Job, Martha!

The diamonds were arranged on a gridded fusible foundation, with the edges overlapping by 1/4″. All the finishing of seams was completed after the cruise.

Hi!   I’ll never be accused of posting too frequently! <wink>  I have just met a BIG deadline……. and I rewarded myself!  I called a friend, took her a lunch, and we walked in the sunshine. Wow, the weather is terrific here this past couple of weeks – we feel so thankful when we hear of all the troubles and awful weather in other parts of our country.

I am so grateful – and it made me think – what are YOU grateful for? How do you treat yourself when you’ve done a good job and finally get a break?  I’d love to know! As for me – here is a short list – and there are many more things – this is just the things I am thinking of right now!

• Faith – God’s blessings!
• friends and family
• health
• a home – a roof over my head
• food on our table
• coffee, chocolate, margaritas, salads, fresh berries
• the sun on my shoulder
• having a sewing studio
• sunny bright afternoons – the studio gets great light
• having goals to meet
• having the energy and perserverance to stick with it until I meet my goal
• watching the dogs lulled to a stupor, sleeping on the warm patio
• listening to the birds, the breeze in the tree tops
• sharing quilts and great  ideas with other creative people
• feeling satisfaction in hard work
• feeling a sense of accomplishment once I complete a difficult, extensive task
• a good night’s sleep

This is an older photo – look a the project I’m working on. See the finished quilt in the previous post.

I look forward to hearing what YOU are grateful for today!

Wow! What a terrific show! I just returned from Road to California in Ontario (east of Los Angeles). My friend and fabulous machine quilter, Janet  Stuart and I entered our first quilt collaboration into the show, and we were awarded 3rd place!

The quilts at Road to California were spectacular! Janet and I were proud to be accepted, and humbled to receive an award from the judges. The award winners are listed on the Road to CA website.

Working under a short-term deadline, the quilt was originally designed in 2006 to feature my Timeless Treasures Textural fabric line.  The large quilt’s appliqué took longer than expected, and was not displayed in the fabric booth at Market that year.

My favorite reasons to visit a quilt show: 

• Viewing spectacular quilts inspires me to take time and add special touches to my own quilts
• Meeting friends – quilt shows are reunions between hundreds of quilters!
• Shopping at the vendor booths – treat yourself to new gadgets, fabric, patterns and tools!
• Watching demonstrations of new products.
• Refreshing your imagination with new colors, patterns and ideas.

I had a great time with friends Cheri Meineke-Johnson and Janet Stuart as they worked in Cheri’s Crystals booth. Cheri sells beautiful Swarovski crystals that are applied with a special heat tool to fabric. Her award-winning quilts with quilter Linda V. Taylor are gorgeous!

Lois Smith, USA — Christine Porter, Bristol, England — Pam Holland, Australia