Hi everyone, my apologies for the lateness of this newsletter, but I have a great excuse!! I’ve just spent the most fabulous two days with Rosalie Dace, and international quilter from South Africa. I participated in her Quilt Jazz class and it’s been a HOOT!!

I’ve learnt sooooo much in just two days, my head is spinning and all of a sudden the dust in my house doesn’t seem too bad!! I think I might get some quiltin’ done today!

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a quilting workshop, and Rosalie has whetted my appetite for learning more. Especially stuff outside my comfort zone. Quilt Jazz is all about taking a completely new attitude to machine piecing. No templates, just COPING with problems. I’ve loved it!! (Did you know that quilters are the world’s best problem solvers – we should be at the UN in numbers!!).

Anyway, I’ll try to pull myself back to earth to write this newsletter. I do hope you’ve been busy with your quilting delights this week, for some it’s the beginning of the thaw and spring awaits, and others, it’s the end of the horrible heat and hopefully the commencement of some civilized cooler weather. Funny isn’t it – the subscribers to this newsletter come from all over the world, and our weather can be a trial for all of us.

I had fun putting together a little tutorial for a Wedding block and posted it on the Quilting site last Sunday. Here’s the link to that tutorial together with a little background: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art1323.asp

I love the idea of creating something tactile, that’s loaded with love and best wishes, and has been created at the hands of all who have attending the wedding, and then presented to the bride and groom as they leave for their new life together. I hope you like the tutorial.

The forum has been bubbling along, and today I’m posting a question for the forum dwellers to ponder. The question is: Do you have an interesting Wedding Quilt Story? It might be about a particular quilt, the story behind the making, what happened to the quilt etc . It will be interesting to read the responses. Here’s the link to the forum: http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=43

My gift to you this week is a great collection of tutorials for making a door-stop. I have several in my home and use them daily. They not only look pretty, but perform a very useful job of keeping the door open. I hope you can make use of these patterns. Here’s the links:
http://bakeandsew.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/pyramid-doorstop-tutorial/ Door-stop 1

http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2007/10/my-first-tutori.html Door-stop 2

http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/files/ninepatch_door_stop_tutorial.pdf Door-stop 3

http://www.craftelf.com/Craft_elf_sewing_sofa_doorstop.htm Door-stop 4

Well, that’s all from me this week. I do hope this newsletter finds you all well and happy. I’m not going to be able to send you a newsletter for the next two weeks, but I’ll still be posting new articles each Sunday. The articles I’ll be posting are: Sunday 8th March – The Alzheimer’s Quilt Initiative; Sunday 15th March - Quilting – eBooks; Sunday 22nd March – Quilt Blocks of the States – Washington.

My next newsletter will be the 25th March 2009, Cheerio for now

Judie Bellingham, Quilting Editor
http://Quilting.bellaonline.com

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