Minneapolis/St. Paul ASG Embellishment Workshop

Posted on 08. May, 2012 by gail in Blog

Had a fantastic time in Minneapolis this past weekend—May 4, 5 and 6th. Jori Whitehead met me at the airport and gave me a full and fabulous tour of greater Minneapolis, St. Paul and Rochester, MN. We started at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden—it was a lovely Friday morning. Here’s a pic of Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg.

After walking through part of the garden, we headed to St. Paul and drove down Summit Avenue where the Governor resides. What a beautiful street. And an interesting bit of trivia—Dept. 56 (Christmas Villages, etc.) was started there and many of the miniature structures are based on buildings on Summit Avenue.

We then headed to Rochester (home of the Mayo Clinic) to Ginny’s Fabric Store. Talk about a spectacular collection of fabric. Have you ever heard of 90% linen and 10% steel fabric? Or fabric that has a milk component? Well if not, Ginny has it. It’s well worth a visit. Ginny is a lot of fun and highly knowledgeable about any type of fabric.

Jori (left) Ginny (right)

Did I mention that she has an amazing collection of buttons?

Friday night we had a Meet and Greet with a large group of  ASG members and Saturday was a full-day hands-on Embellishment Workshop. Here are some of the ladies hard at work!

Jori and I tried on Fascinators while waiting for our reservation.

Jori and her husband Ron hosted me at their gracious home and Sat. evening, I saw a tiny bit of the Mall of America after a yummy dinner at Twin Cities Grill. Had a horseradish crusted salmon that was delicious and my sinuses were as clear as can be afterward:-) Thanks for a wonderful weekend.

N Jersey ASG Chapter weekend event

Posted on 03. May, 2012 by gail in Blog

Had a wonderful time last weekend (April 27, 28 and 29th) with the N Jersey ASG Chapter. Drove to Parsippany on Friday (quick ride 2 1/2 hrs.) and got set up at Centenary College. Finally met Paula French (left), with whom I’d been emailing and coordinating for months. Judy Spinney, the Chapter President, is center and I’m on the right. We even received flowers Sunday afternoon. Mine are still looking beautiful in my breakfast room!

Saturday we had an all-day hands-on Embellishment workshop and Sunday was all-day Cosmetic Serger-y. Everyone did a fantastic job. Did I remember to take pics Saturday? No—sorry, but here are a few from Sunday. Thanks to everyone for a great experience with your Chapter (and for helping pack up my car:-)

Here’s Susan Spier (from the Albany ASG Chapter) giving Charlotte a few tips about sergers. Charlotte was a newbie to sergers-good job!

“It’s Sew Fine..” Expo Carrollton, Kentucky

Posted on 23. Apr, 2012 by gail in Blog

Had a fantastic time at the “It’s Sew Fine for Home and Family Expo” in Carrollton, KY last week. It’s presented through the Extension Services of U of KY, Kentucky State U and Purdue. Grace Angotti, Judy Hetterman, Valerie Holland, Ruth Chowning, Robbyn Wainscott and several other committee did a superb job organizing the event. It ran like clockwork.

I was the honored to be the keynote speaker Tuesday night at the banquet. Tuesday afternoon I presented the Cosmetic Serger-y workshop. Everyone did great learning lots of new techniques that they might not have known their sergers were capable of. And all day Wednesday was Collage It! It was so much fun seeing each jacket. Some of the ladies worked with felted sweaters and others used sweatshirts, but all of the jackets were stunning. Great job, Ladies! Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera to the class—:-(

But here are some from the Collage It! class.

(I’m wearing the brand new Template Set 3 and it’s made from 4 different denims—love it!)

General Butler State Park is a treasure. The grounds are beautiful and there are a bunch of cabins in the park for visitors. I shared one with Ruth Chowning—lots of fun.

Valerie Holland was my official driver from the airport and at the end of the Expo, back to my hotel. Valerie, Ruth Chowning and I had dinner together before saying goodbye and as we were driving to the restaurant, Valerie realized taht Churchill Downs was right around the corner. She drove into the parking lo and I jumped out and snapped a couple of pictures. What a thrill. I watch the Derby every year on TV, so it was fun to actually see where the Run for the Roses happens. Thanks, Valerie.

(Also drove by U of Louisville.) Great stadium!

This was my first trip to Kentucky, and…how lucky can I get? I’ll be back in Louisville in September to present a program for their ASG Chapter! See you soon.

Original Sewing & Quilt Expos Chicago and Cleveland

Posted on 11. Apr, 2012 by gail in Blog

Wow! I’m way behind on my updates of recent events. Pam Schneider and I drove to the OSQE in Chicago. We stayed overnight en route in Cleveland. From there it was just under 6 hours to Shaumburg, IL where the Expo was held. When we stopped for gas, I looked at a map and saw that we would drive right through South Bend, IN, so thought a side trip to Notre Dame University was in order. What a gorgeous campus! It was like a summer day—86 degrees, sunny and everything was in bloom. It was a very quick walk around but here we are on campus. I felt smarter already;-)

The Expo was great, but the best part was visiting with my cousin, Joan and her husband, Russ for a couple of days afterward. We took the El downtown to see Millennium Park—incredible.
Below is a shot of “The Bean”.

And she lives within walking distance of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio so that was also a “must see.”


Cleveland is always one of my favorite venues —as long as it’s not snowing or icy. Mary Mulari and Rita Farro did their Midwest Ya Ya sisters program Friday night. I had seen it in Minneapolis, but Pam wasn’t with me and it’s well worth seeing again.

Mary talking to a fan.

Template Set 3 is ready!!

Posted on 18. Mar, 2012 by gail in Blog

I’m headed to Cleveland tomorrow on the first leg of Pam’s and my car trip to the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Chicago. It’s about 9 hours from home to Cleveland and part two of the trip (Wed.) is less than 6 hours. The SUV is all packed (and I mean ALL PACKED) with just enough room for us and 2 small suitcases. After Chicago, we’ll head for Cleveland again for that Expo.

Wanted to post pictures of Collage It! Template Set 3. It will be in my web store soon. Also, check out the cool scissors I’m now carrying. They’re “un-beweavably” great for grabbing single threads or fibers and pulling out delicate stitches.

Sewing & Stitchery Expo Puyallup, WA and “Sewing Rookies”

Posted on 14. Mar, 2012 by gail in Blog

What a fantastic first experience we had at the Expo—it was sew much fun! Pam Schneider (my trusty assistant and traveling companion) was terrific getting the booth set up and organized. I just get out of her way because she knows what she’s doing. Classes were a great opportunity to interact with students and meet new friends from all over the country.
I wanted to share a very special part of this wonderful event—the Coats & Clark Pro-Am Sewing Exhibition. Because I was scheduled to teach a class during the fashion show, I wasn’t available to walk the runway with my 2 “sewing rookies”, Ruth Stuart and Maya Rodriguez. Maya and I couldn’t get our schedules to jive, but I did meet Ruth. She’s 9 years old and did a lovely job on her dress. Here’s a picture of us in front of my booth and Maya did sent a photo of her lovely outfit. If these 2 young ladies are any indication of the future of sewing, it certainly looks bright with promise and talent.

Posted on 15. Feb, 2012 by gail in Blog

OK, I admit it—I was weak and couldn’t wait any longer! As a Christmas gift, my husband ordered the DVD set of PBS’ Masterpiece Classic Season 2 (UK Edition) of Downton Abbey. It just arrived Feb. 13th. (I think they purposely waited to ship copies.) So last night, for a Valentine treat, we watched the final episode. I won’t spoil the suspense for Sunday night’s airing, but suffice it to say…nope, I’m not even going to say anything else. But I’ll definitely re-watch it on CPTV!!!!

Sewing & Stitchery Expo Puyallup, WA

Posted on 10. Feb, 2012 by gail in Blog

Thank you Rhonda Pierce of Schmetz Needles for the post about me! I first met Rhonda at the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Chantilly, VA last year. If you get a chance, stop by the Schmetz booth in Puyallup. Rhonda is a font of knowledge about every possible needle Schmetz manufactures and she’s a lot of fun!

Am very excited about my first visit to Puyallup, WA and participating in Sewing & Stitchery Expo March 1 – 4—see you there!

Press wrinkles out of linen easily!

Posted on 23. Jan, 2012 by gail in Blog

There’s nothing like photo flood lights to show every little wrinkle in fabric—especially linen! Even with lots of steam, pressing wrinkles out of fabric can be a challenge. I discovered this incredibly simple solution last summer when I tried in vain (8 times) to press out stubborn wrinkles from a linen skirt that was being photographed for my upcoming book. All of a sudden the lightbulb when on(!) when I spied a bottle of Downy Wrinkle Releaser (that I hardly ever used) in my laundry cabinet. It’s great for smoothing out wrinkles from casual golf shirts, etc. without using an iron, but it’s fantastic for hard to iron fabrics. Just spritz it on your garment and press as usual. Using a press cloth is always a good idea to prevent fabric shine.

When I travel for sewing events, I pack a bottle of Wrinkle Releaser to touch up garments in my trunk show. It smells good and is a huge time-saver too.

Handweavers’ Guild of CT and a Peek at Template Set 3!

Posted on 21. Jan, 2012 by gail in Blog

Many thanks to the Handweavers’ Guild of CT for inviting me to speak (and for a yummy lunch) at their January meeting. It was a very snowy Saturday in Connecticut and I was amazed at how many members ventured out from across the state. Sewers and weavers are brave folk!

You’ll get a preview of my newest Template Set 3. It will be ready for the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, WA March 1 – 4.
I got to view some of their beautiful creations during the “show and tell” portion of the meeting and wanted to share the pictures with you. Enjoy—I did.

Many thanks to my Book Club buddy Diane for taking the picture of me.