I'm Just Sayin

Spirit Stars by Karen Garth. Based on Pineapple Stars by Sharon Rexroad.

Ricky Tims Inc. is happy to announce that Karen Garth of Henderson, Nevada has been awarded the 2010 Ponnie Brinkman Retreat Scholarship. Karen receives free tuition and $500 towards her retreat expenses. 

Karen was nominated by the Desert Quilters of Nevada. The nominating board of directors for the Desert Quilters of Nevada state, "Karen's enthusiasm, willingness to volunteer, and desire to learn and to share what she has learned, in an inspiration to us all."

Congratulations to Karen Garth on being the first to receive this scholarship. Congratulations to all the Ponnie Brinkman Retreat Scholarship finalists.

Karen says about her quilt shown above:

 I added digitized machine embroidery and applique to the setting blocks of this broken star pattern. The embroidery is from OESD's Spirit Song set, hence the name of the quilt. I entered this quilt in the "Ugly Fabric Contest" at Quiltique, my LQS. The "ugly fabric" was a Shibori-style commercial cotton fabric that I fussy cut for the center and point portions of the pineapple diamonds.

How would you like me to come to your town and do one of my holiday concerts? You can make it happen! Next year, 2011, I'm planning to go to the town that registers the most holiday memories at www.christmasinasmalltown.com.

Start your own email/Facebook campaign right now. Tell everyone you know in your town to share a memory and to get all their friends to do so as well. Register your town and share memories at the Christmas In A Small Town website before December 31, 2010. I'll be packing up my little red toy piano to bring to the town with the most registered stories.*

*over 100

While sorting through scraps of fabric I found a piece that spoke to me as a mysterious sky. I quickly cut out a tree shape from red fabric. That sparked my imagination and led me down a path inspired by the famous tone poem by Modest Mussorgsky,  Night on Bald Mountain. 

I didn't get a photo of the very start, but here is what the quilt looked like after a few hours of playing.

The tree needed to come to life so a face was added.

The music is complex and I felt the quilt wasn't fully telling the story so I continued to improvise and add more - working upon the framework and themes already established.

Another full day of playing around has the quilt in this current stage. I'm not really sure why this has turned into a fantasy cartoon. I've got a few ideas of what will happen next so there's still more to come. Stay tuned.

Libby Lehman, well-known goddess of threadplay, has a new DVD coming out in October.Libby Lehman's A Day of Threadplay (produced by Ricky Tims Inc.) is sure to help you improve your score. The DVD contains three of her most sought-after techniques: Potluck Applique, Sheer Ribbon Illusion, and Sheer Thread Play. Learn Coach Libby's techniques and get your next quilt in the winner's circle.

The DVD will soon be available right here at www.rickytims.com and quilt stores everywhere. Look for it mid-late October!

A new project was started today. Even with a few interruptions I got pretty far along. The center applique still needs to be cut out and fused, but the applique shown in this photo is ready for double blanket stitching. It is about 45" square. Nite nite.