My final day in Manhattan started with a trip to the fabulous quilt shop

The City Quilter

It is located at 133 West 25th Street  between 6th and 7th Ave.

When you enter the shop you see a great floor cloth with New York images.

The wonderful owners of the shop are Cathy Izzo

and her husband Dale.

They have owned the shop since February 1997. The shop is absolutely jam packed with goodies.

Everywhere you look there is something to catch your eye and interest.

This is just one of the samples on the wall.

Cathy and Dale have numerous fabrics that are exclusive to their shop.

Below is Statue of Liberty exclusive to them by Hoffman Fabrics.

I love this black and white!

Fashion District retro New York.

This is subway maps in three color ways. 

They also have projects pertaining to Manhattan.

This is a perfect trip memory quilt.

I was told that almost all of the employees are multi talented.

One is an artist, one a costume designer,  and one is a model.

Think of all that creativity! 

These beautiful ladies are two of their employees.

This is an example of a wool project that is a kit. 

Little wool creatures.

Wool cake and cookies.

A pillow kit and a sample of another quilt to make.

Cute quilt with bicycle embroidery. 

This is more of Cathy and Dale’s exclusive fabrics.    

It has vintage New York postcards on it.

This is a quilt made with the post card fabric.

What a great memory of a trip to New York.

Another quilt example to use Photos or photo style fabric.

A great little pincushion book and sample. What do you think about the bacon and egg?

Cathy stocks unusual ribbons for embellishing.

And a stash of silk fabric to make scrumptious quilts and table runners.

They will be carrying my Fine Dining pattern that is great done in silk with ribbon embellishment.

This is the classroom.

They even supply the sewing machines so you can take a class while visiting the city  Cathy and and another employee in front of a wall of fabrics.

Check out the classes they are offering for this spring.

Paula Nadelstern will be teaching as well as Kaffe Fassett and Liza Lucy.

     Below are some class samples.

A wall of books and patterns.

This quilt is going to be a pattern someday. I love it.Another little niche of patterns and samples.  

More wool. The colors look good enough to eat.  I simply adored these story book panels. Kaffe Fassett fabrics to drool over.

Cathy and Dale are now Bernina dealers.

Cathy also cuts 2 1/2” strips for their City Strippers kits.

While I was in the shop taking pictures and talking to Cathy and Dale,

Three couples came into the shop.

This is Brian and Susanne from Denmark.

   Maria and Elmer from Brazil.

I was unable to get names for this couple from Japan.

This is definitely an international store!

I loved this quilt that looks like a kaleidoscope of the Empire State building.

One section of the store is dedicated to fabrics from Japan.

I love it when the employees are happy and smiling even first thing in the morning.     

Dale took me to the basement to show me what was down there.

One thing was his desk with the first quilt he ever made. I think he did a great job. 

They have a long arm quilting machine and offer custom quilting.

More fabrics!

There is storage that goes all the way under the store.     There is also an appliqué group called the Appliqué Support group that meets in the basement.

All of the New York fabrics can be purchased online at The City Quilter.

I has so much fun at The City Quilter, I wanted to stay all day.

I did have to leave to go to Timeless Treasures Fabrics to see Emily Cohen.

She gave me a tour of their new space and I got to see what is new for spring

and a hint of what will be new for fall.

We just finished packing the quilts I am donating to the

Martha Stewart Dreamers Into Doers Shelter Event

All three quilts were made using my Modern Art With Fabric book.

This quilt is made with Moda Fabrics.

This quilt is also made with Moda Fabrics.

This quilt is made with Timeless Treasures Fabrics

I am really getting excited. To read all about the trip go to my December 15, 2009 posting.

Be sure to check out the Enchanted Makeovers website to keep up with all the fabulous donations.

Tomorrow I am off to give a lecture for the Land Of Lakes Quilt Guild in Lewisville Texas.

July 9, 2009

I hope everyone is having a great summer.

We are enjoying 100º+ days that are typical for July in Texas.

We just returned from 10 glorious days in Seattle, WA and Victoria, Canada.

The days were in the high 70s and the nights were in the high 50s.

It was perfect and very hard to come home.

I am leaving again next week to go to Jonesboro, Tennessee to teach three days at Tennessee Quilts Quiltfest.

If you are in the area it is a three day extravaganza.

Check out the website Tennessee Quilts.

On July 16 I will teach the Shooting Stars class.

This quilt has six different stars on a field to make a twin, queen or king quilt.

'No Diamonds / No "Y" Seams' ~ just half square triangles.

Easy but beautiful. You could do one star for a wall quilt also.

The Carpenter's Star is the class for July 17.

It is a timeless quilt that is beautiful in any style fabric from reproductions, batiks, brights, holiday, to juvenile prints.

The 'No Diamonds / No "Y" Seams' technique makes it a

good class for beginners to advanced quilters.

The Road to Success with Silk is scheduled for Saturday July 18th.

This is not an art quilt class but a guide to using silk in your quilts.

We will cover all aspects from what size needle to use to how to stop raveling.

The class project is a Table Art table runner or vertical wall quilt.

If you will be in the area I would love for you to join me in one or more of the classes.

Be sure to check out the Tennessee Quilts website to see the other great teachers listed.

Also check out the Spring/Summer issue of Quilt Sampler Magazine.

The Quilted Hill Quilt Shop in Yamhill, Oregon

showcased my Bali Sky pattern with a sample on their wall.

They also have a kit for sale in the kit section of their on-line catalog.

I hope to meet some of my readers in the near future.

Debbie

On day three of our road trip we went to The Villages, Florida.

Located close to Orlando, The Villages is a community of mostly retired people with 65,000 residents.

They drive golf carts for most of their daily activities.

The community is surrounded by restaurants, shopping, and medical facilities.

You would not have to travel far for any of your needs.

I did a lecture trunk show for the Quilting Guild of the Villages that night.

The next day I taught a workshop for Sew Cherished Quilt Shop of Fruitland, Florida.

We had a great time working on the Shooting Stars pattern.

There were 18 lovely ladies sewing and eating lunch together.

Here are some of their projects in different stages.

That night we were treated to a fabulous dinner at the home of my hostess Christine Brant.

She prepared an Italian feast for nine.

We spent the night with Christine’s mother Klementyne who told us wonderful and

sad stories of growing up in Poland and being sent to Siberia then immigrating to the United States. 

She was a very sweet and interesting lady.

The next day I did a lecture trunk show for The Quilting Sisters Quilt Guild of Leesburg, Florida.

After a lunch in quaint downtown Leesburg, we left to go to St. Augustine, Florida.

      Don’t forget to tell your guild program people and shop owners to check out Ami Sims’ new website.

Find A Quilt Teacher .com

It is a great resource for finding teachers and lecturers for your meetings and classes.

Several Friends and I went on a road trip to the Dallas Quilt Show.

We left Graham around 8:00, stopped in South Lake to pick up another friend

and arrived at the show around 11:30.

Just in time to eat lunch!

We always put the most important things first.

We beat the crowd and then started to shop and look at the quilts.

There were lots of beautiful quilts to see this year.

These are just a few of the quilts:

Bail Out

Liz Joe maker and quilter

Butterflies and Bloomers

Dee Ann Hodges maker Meri Pinner quilter

Corazones, Corazones y Mas Corazones

Sherry Evans maker Liz Coker quilter

Corks

Carol Morrissey maker and quilter

Dancing for Savannah

Nancy Howse maker and quilter

Deep in the Heart of Texas Childhood Home in Grapevine

Glenda Jones maker

Suzanne Louth quilter

Cranes in Stars

(made using my Chick ‘N Stars pattern)

Jolene Mershon maker

Susan Corbett quilter

This quilt is made from jeans. I am sorry I did not get the maker’s name.

This is my friend Gail

Glowing 9 Patch

Theri Dufour maker

Karen Nelson quilter

Glowing 9 Patch close-up

Jacobean Dream

Janice Bentley maker

La Vie en Rose

Eliane Bailey maker

Richard Larson quilter

Spring

Paula Baxley maker

Dana Goyer quilter

Urban Reflections

Lu Peters & Connie Akers makers and quilters

Vertigo

Kathy York maker and quilter

That is my friend Becky looking at the quilt.

Victory Garden

Sherry Evans maker

Lisa Coker quilter

Whose Woods are these

Jane Kennedy maker

The Diva and The Musician quilt made with my

Carpenter’s Star pattern for the center.

Kathryn Taylor maker and quilter.

This is made with Betty Boop fabric.

Betty Boop is quilted on it.

A Quarks Tale

Best of Show

Kelly Monroe maker and quilter

Broken Star quilt from my Simple Stars Beautiful Quilts book

hanging in the Prodigy Quilter booth

Evening Star quilt on a table in the booth of

Heirloom Quilt Shop from Fort Smith, Arkansas

Evening Star quilt in another booth.

Modern Art With Fabric

covering a table in the booth of

Houston St. Mercantile Granbury TX

Modern Art With Fabric

hanging in the booth of

Poppy Quilt and Sew from Georgetown, TX

Shooting Stars quilt

hanging in the booth of

Quilts With A Heart from Priddy, Texas

We had a great time at the show and stopped to eat at

P. F. Chang on our way home.

I recently taught at a retreat held at

"The Ranch at Possum Kingdom Lake".

There were eight ladies from the McKinney area and we had a great day.

They were a lot of fun to be with and I enjoyed teaching in such a beautiful venue.

The Ranch is a gated community on the Brazos river with gorgeous views of the river and ranch land.

 This is the entrance gate. 

 The home where the retreat was held was a stone structure decorated with a Texas theme.

This is the the living room

and the staircase to the bedrooms.

The upstairs bedrooms were all decorated around a theme.

The bluebonnet room was blue and white. 

Notice the headboard made out of a door and crown molding.

The blue and white quilt was perfect.

The fish room had a fish over the bed and a great bookcase made out of a canoe. 

The cowboy room had rustic bunk beds.

The western room had an Indian to guard everything.

The master bedroom had a rock fireplace with boots and a great rabbit on the mantel.

Take a look at this bath tub!

This ironing station was one of a kind.

The ladies worked hard and made great progress on their

Evening Star or Shining Star quilt tops.

 I love looking at the different fabric choices everyone makes.

The fellowship with such wonderful people is what really makes my job fun.

I also want to announce the winners of two contests.

The contest on my blog as a guest blogger for The Quilting Gallery was won by Sandra Keesee.

  The winner of the contest on dellaQ Textiles was Christi Scheffel.

Congratulations to both of you.  

I am a guest blogger on The Quilting Gallery.

I am certainly honored to be blogging with the others in the group.

Visit the site to read all the great blogs.

There are some fabulous giveaways going on so be sure to read about those.

This is what I will be giving away.

I have exciting news.

I have a quilt on Page 20 of the Spring 2009 issue of

Better Homes and Gardens Quilts and More magazine.

It is a very simple but fun quilt.

Be sure to check it out.

I also have new fabrics that I am playing with.

They are from Moda Fabrics.

This is The Caroler by Mary Engelbreit.

 This is Snippets by American Jane.

I am using the Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, and Turnovers 

in a new series of Kindergarten quilts.

I will post pictures as I make the samples.

Today I received email from two separate quilters. I would like to share their pictures and stories with you.

They both sent pictures of quilts they had made using my patterns.

The first one is from Cecelia. She wrote

Debbie-

I just want to thank you for the Simple Stars, Beautiful Quilts booklet and the Broken Star pattern.

I'm putting the borders on my very first one -- a king size for a customer, and it has turned out great.

Also, thank you for the mystery....it looks like your Carpenters Star quilt but that would be such fun.

Here's a pictures before the borders and I will send a photo of the completed quilt once it's quilted. 

Hugs

Cecelia

Edna, TX

The second one was from Joanne

Ms. Maddy,

We emailed a couple weeks ago and I told you how much I appreciated your patterns.

Below is the Texas Star quilt, queen sized, I made from your book (Southern Stars).

Close up view

It is for my graphic designer/illustrator daughter who works in Manhattan and lives in Brooklyn.

Last June she and I bought some vintage fabrics at the Brooklyn General Store, with this project in mind.

Then I built out the palette locally mainly with Amy Butler prints.

With my husband out of town and a flexible work schedule, I cut & sewed this quilt in 3 ½ days.

Now it is with my wonderful machine quilter,

Paula Rostkowski, www.aquilterswork.com, and she will quilt the light green fields with feathered paisleys.

Paula is super, if you are ever asked for a reference for a machine quilter in northern Illinois/northern Chicagoland.

Thanks again for the great patterns

Joanne

Wouldn’t you love to go shopping for vintage fabrics in Brooklyn.