Hi Everyone,
Since I returned from the MQX show in New Hampshire, I have had many emails from students asking me how I lost weight. I have only lost 25 lbs so far, but it has really made a difference for me with my energy and attitude. I’m not finished yet, but I am certainly feeling better.
By the way, the MQX show was fabulous, as always. I love meeting new friends and seeing friends from previous years. Thank you to all of the wonderful quilters who took my classes. I had a blast. Janet-Lee and Mary are always fun to be around and do so much work on the show - and it pays off. This year Janet-Lee had foot surgery and was having a tough time being on her feet too much. I hope she can recover quickly. Next year the show will be in Providence, Rhode Island. Can’t wait.
Anyway, back to the diet. It is drops under the tongue of a substance called HCG. I order it on the internet and here is the link you can go to and read about it for yourself. It is not a diet for the faint of heart, only people who have tried everything else and are very serious about it. Good luck!

I will be happy to send you a pdf file of the entire Dr. Simmeon’s book if you email me at Linda@lequilters.com
I’m off now to the HMQS show in Salt Lake City and then to Kansas City for MQS. Hope to see some of you there!

I’ve been working on this new dream catcher with a star in the middle for my hands-on Fancy Feather Classes this spring and fall. I thought I would share it with you. I believe that we can achieve all our dream with quilting! Never give up.
I’ll see some of you soon at MQX, HMQS, or MQS, and some of you I will see in Ireland this June. Please be sure to introduce yourself to me. I want to meet all of you.

Catch a Falling Star.....

I don’t want to belabor the point, but I have to share more exciting news with you about the plant that my sister, Roma, sent to me. As you may recall, she ordered these plants for my sister, Arline, and I, two weeks before she died in September to be delivered on New Year’s Eve. The bulbs grew and bloomed beautifully and I posted a picture on my blog. Every day it reminded me of her. I thought the plant was finished, so I cut the stems down and stopped watering it for a few days. Then, lo and behold, I saw another plant coming up out of the center of the basket, so I started watering it again. I could tell right away that this plant was very different from the others in the basket. It grew and grew, taller and taller. Now it has bloomed. Interestingly, there are three bright red blooms on it. I like to think it is for the three of us sisters.
Again, the joy it has brought to me each day and the memory of my sister is still so close to my heart. It reminds me that death is not the end, and there is a grand and glorious purpose in this earth life. A chance to love and cherish each other and to learn and grow as individuals. It is only in sharing that love with one another that brings joy to us in this life. I hope you will all cherish your families, count your many blessings and hold each day close to your heart. Please know how much joy it brings into my life to teach what I have learned about longarm quilting to so many wonderful friends, and I learn so very much from you. The opportunity of association with all of you has enriched my life beyond expression. Thank you and enjoy these flowers as I have. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week we had the privilege of filming with Alice Wilhoit, my dear friend from McKinney, Texas. She is an expert on applique and is a wonderful designer. She just wrote a book for American Quilter’s Society that will be out in April.
The exciting part is that we filmed her new block of the month! It will take a year to complete the piecing and applique if you follow along on the internet. This is the quilt that I quilted a couple of weeks ago and we filmed each segment of the quilting as well. This will give you a fabulous new project that is absolutely complete with visual instructions as well as written instructions and the pattern. I fell in love with this quilt, I hope you like it as much as I do. Here are some pictures of Alice on the set.

Hi,  I’ve been busy quilting a new block of the month for Alice Wilhoit. It is a beauty! I’ve had so much fun with this applique and embroidered quilt. I am posting some pictures for you to see how we did this. Rick held the camera right over my shoulder so it will look just like you are quilting it yourself.

This is a new feature that will be added to thequiltingschool.com beginning in March. You won’t want to miss out on making this quilt and quilting it along with me.

I just received my copy of Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine (Feb-March issue) and I found a nice surprise inside on page 42. I was voted the Favorite Quilting Teacher, stand-up machines in the Readers’ Choice Awards!

I feel very honored and humbled to be on that page with such prestigious quilters and personalities. All I can say is thank you so much for believing in me and taking your time to vote. This is way better than a “best of show” award. It means I have friends who care. It really made my day, no, I think it really made my YEAR!!

THANK YOU!

I wrote earlier about my sister, Roma, who passed away last year in the fall. But now I want to continue with that story because she surprised me with a wonderful gift which arrived New Year’s Eve day. Apparently, she had ordered it months before. She was an invalid, but could still pick up the phone and read off her credit card. She kept it a secret.

What was delivered to my door was a basket with dirt and a note to water it. So I did, and it started to grow. I swear it grew 2 inches a day. Rick said if we held still, we could watch it grow. I thought of her every day and how much she loved flowers. They reminded me of my love for her and her love for me.

Roma sent the same gift to my sister, Arline. We called and emailed each other with how well our plants were doing. And there was just a quiet reverence about this plant.

I wanted to share this with all of my friends. What a loving legacy to live on. When it stops blooming, I just stop watering it and plant the bulbs in the fall. Then they will come up again next spring. I think I will even divide them with my children so they can enjoy and remember. Here is a picture I took to share with you.

Hi Everyone,

The last three days have been filled with lots of quilting. My son-in-law, Todd Fletcher, has been filming a new video with me for thequiltingschool.com It is filled with tons of ideas for blending freehand quilting with computerized quilting. It has really been fun to see all the ideas come together on this quilt. Please, when you get a chance, visit thequiltingschool.com and watch it! I think quilters who have a computerized machine will love it because it shows them how to complete a custom quilt, complete with turning and remounting the quilt. Likewise, I think many other quilters will be interested in the technical skills that are shown from start to finish. Check it out!

	Rick, the camera man.
	Linda & Todd working on the Statler

I took the opportunity for a little down time during the holidays and reorganized my quilting studio. After just a little while, it looked like the cupboards had thrown up on the floor. It was then I realized I needed to concentrate on one area at a time or I would be over-whelmed (I already was). I was amazed at how many quilt tops I have to quilt. I have been buying and collecting them and trading quilting for them over the years. I imagined in my mind what it would be like to have them all finished and suddenly I realized if they were finished, I wouldn’t have the space for them. Okay, that means I have to give some, okay, a lot of them away after I get them quilted. Now I don’t know about you, but I enjoy giving quilts to people I love. Boy is this motivating. I am so ready to quilt. I just want to be in that studio all the time working on those quilt tops.

Don’t worry, when I get a new idea or brain storm, we will film it on thequiltingschool.com                             Most  of the quilt tops I have to finish are very common patterns and I intend to find creative ways to finish them.

You can be a part of my plan and finish some of your tops this year too. Let’s make a deal. At least one top a month that we quilt, has to be our own! I know you have a ton of them too. And then, let’s enter them in a quilt show just for fun. Whenever we get them finished, just find the next show date and enter it. I will if you will.