Sharon Pederson

Monday, May 23, 2011

Happy Victoria Day - Canadians

When I was in grade school we were taught a rhyme : The 24th of May, the Queen's Birthday, if we don't get a holiday we'll all run away. The 'Queen' of the rhyme was of course, Queen Victoria, but to make it easier for everybody (and more pleasant) the holiday was moved to the Monday closest to May 24th so we can all enjoy a long weekend. Of course that only applies to those who are not self-employed. For some reason we never seem to 'remember' that weekends are supposed to be for goofing off. Well, maybe not exactly 'goofing off' but - relaxing. OK, so what is more relaxing than making a quilt? That's what I'm doing this Victoria Day - oh, and getting ready to fly to Toronto.

I've also been going through my photos and found some more good ones from Quilt Market in Salt Lake City -

I bumped into Brenda Miller and her friend, Lisa Hill in the airport in SLC and we shared a shuttle to our hotel. Brenda and Lisa got to witness the hilarious sight of me chasing the aforementioned shuttle as it drove away from our hotel with one of our suitcases still on top. The driver had removed the bungee cords holding the bag down, then went to the back of the van to take the other bags out. After emptying the back he assumed he was finished so he started to drive away. Fortunately I saw the bag on top and yelled at the driver - he didn't hear me - so I started running - and screaming - after him. When he got to the curb he had to stop or I'd never have caught him. After I banged on the rear window he got out and I just pointed to the top of his van. I would love to have a video of the whole thing - it was amusing after the fact. At the time all I could think of was 'will he notice it if it falls off? The people coming out of the hotel who witnessed the whole thing gave me a round of applause for my efforts.

A much more relaxed meeting took place with Brenda and Lisa in Brenda's booth at Market. That's Brenda on the right and the name of her company is Among Brenda's Quilts. Brenda is from Strathroy, ON.

One of the fun things we did in SLC was participate in an Aurifil Thread commercial. Jodie Davis from QNN filmed a number of us catching a large cone of thread that was thrown from off camera. We were to catch it, say what we love about Aurifil Thread, then throw the cone to somebody else - also off camera. In this picture we have the 'pitcher' - Alex Veronelli, I'm the catcher, and some of the infielders are Linda Pumphrey in the pink t-shirt, and Jodie with her back to the camera.

The filming took place in the AccuQuilt booth and I have some exciting news about AccuQuilt and me. I get to appear on The Shopping Channel - demonstrating how wonderful the Baby Go is. It will be shot in Mississauga, Ontario and shown live on May 31st at 12:00 noon, 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. - all Eastern Daylight Time. You can watch it on The Shopping Channel in Canada or online anywhere. I'm looking forward to it and urge you to watch and buy your very own Go Baby and the very useful dies that are also being offered. I'm sure the prices will be very appealing.

So, back to packing - and then I plan to sit in the greenhouse and enjoy happy hour with my DH. Happy Victoria Day all you Canadians.

Sharon Pederson

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Spring Market Salt Lake City

As many of you know, Elizabeth and I travel twice a year to see all the new stuff available at Quilt Market - sometimes we are showing new stuff too. Our newest DVD, Dorothy's Sampler, was introduced in Salt Lake City - the location of this Spring's Market, and here I am doing a demo of the Drunkard's Path block from it.

This time we had an additional reason for going - we were 'reporters' for The Quilt Show. Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson are 'fixtures' at Market but were unable to go this time because they were off doing one of their Super Seminars - so we were 'deputized' to be their eyes and ears at Market.

This required being able to shoot video and send it electronically to The Quilt Show and Elizabeth found this amazing gizmo - a steady cam - that allowed her to use her iPhone and not get the wobblies that you so often see with hand held video cameras. In the below photo we are taking advantage of two comfortable chairs in our friend, Jackie Robinson's booth, and you might be able to see the device I'm talking about - Elizabeth is holding it.

As you can imagine, every techie fan wanted to see what it was and find out how to get one. Elizabeth joked that she had never had so much attention in her life - but it wasn't her they were interested in, just her 'equipment'.

Market is always interesting, exhausting, but a 'not to be missed' event and this one was particularly fun. To see our interviews please visit www.thequiltshow.com and click on Daily Blog. I got to talk to some 'legends' in the industry and also some exciting 'up and comers' that I know we'll be seeing more of.

One of the biggest joys of attending Market is getting together with old friends. Often it is the only chance we get to see each other - however briefly.

Fellow teacher and author, Charlotte Warr Andersen and I shared a hug, and it was fun to run into Val Jensen and Leslie Burtch from Quilty Pleasures Quilt Shop in Ottawa.

When we weren't filming for The Quilt Show it seemed I still ended up in front of a camera - here Jodie Davis from QNN and I are setting up a shot in the Aurifil Thread booth. I have a new Sashiko Thread collection with Aurifil and I appear to be showing Jodie where to focus the camera to get a close up.

I'm sure most of you have been at a book signing at one time or another, but have you ever been at a 'thread signing'. I was highly amused when this lovely lady approached me with a pen and asked me to sign her box of my Sashiko collection threads. By the way, they are the most gorgeous 12wt threads and would look good in other applications as well as Sashiko.

As you can imagine, all this walking around filming, etc. requires you to keep your strength up and what better way than with ice cream. Well, it wasn't really ice cream - but raspberry sorbet is nothing to be spurned - and it was the perfect pick me up when I came across it in this booth.

What would a quilt market be without quilts. This was my absolute favorite and when I saw the picture of it in the show catalogue I was convinced it was a photograph of a dog. When we found it in the show I got up close and was absolutely amazed to discover it was all thread. The artist, Barbara Barrick McKie certainly knows her way around a sewing machine. The title - "I'm watching you" pretty much sums it up.

Sharon Pederson

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Everyone,
There were lots of requests to see Elizabeth grandchildren's blocks so here they are.

The kids were both very pleased with their results and Mommy is going to make them into a small quilt. It was all very exciting.

Greta took some inspiration from one of Carolyn Laukkonen's blocks that was entered in the Rose of Sharon Block Challenge.

Sonny had his own plan and made a bee family collecting pollen from flowers. I am particularly fond of his placement of leaves.

Sharon Pederson

http://ninepatchmedia.com/pdf/3-D_Sunflower_block.pdf

Saturday, May 7, 2011

3D Sunflower Block Pattern

Hi Quilting Friends,

As promised the link for the instructions for the 3D Sunflower Block is below.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Blog Tour. I loved all your comments and had a great time reading them and answering questions. I have really enjoyed working on the Rose of Sharon projects and I continue to develop new blocks, patterns, and projects. The possibilities are limitless.

The title of my book and DVD, Machine Appliqué for the Terrified Quilter really says it all. For those of you who have been afraid to try appliqué, I have included some photos of my "class" with Elizabeth's grandchildren, Sonny and Greta, as they put their Mother's Day Rose of Sharon block together. I have to tell you, it really is child's play.

Greta and Sonny had a great day preparing their fused blocks and even did the pressing when they were finished. I can't post the finished blocks until Mother's Day as their Mom, Sarah, is a blog follower and I have been sworn to secrecy.

Tune in tomorrow to see what they did - and then you'll have to ask yourself why you are 'terrified' to try appliqué.

Sharon Pederson

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Welcome Blog Tour Gang!

It's been great fun participating in Volume 3 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks and forgive me if you've heard this before - but I'm delighted to see my block on the cover !!! Of course with all the work I have been doing with Rose of Sharon blocks, mine had to be a Rose of Sharon variation. With just three simple shapes (a blossom, a leaf, and a circle) and various sizes of those three shapes you can make any number of variations - and the block can be any size you want.

If I were you I'd be first in line to get your copy of this issue - it's going to go quickly. It will appear by May 10th and after you've visited all the other stops on the Blog Tour I know you will want your very own copy.

I'm still playing with Rose of Sharon ideas and I wanted to share my sunflower block (who says you can't make a sunflower with rose shapes? ) While I was fooling around with this idea, it occurred to me that having some three dimensional petals would look good, so I fused two pieces of the same fabric together and cut them on my AccuQuilt Go cutter, then positioned them over a layer of already fused petals. I think it's fun and certainly 'robust'.

While I was making sunflowers Elizabeth's grandchildren, Sonny and Greta, were making fabric pictures for Mother's day. They love the AccuQuilt shapes from the Rose of Sharon die and they are fearless in their approach to their creations! Hmmm....now I know who to call in when I need help making blocks.

Oh Sonny.....Oh Greta......want to come and play at my house?

Sharon Pederson