Karen Kay Buckley

This week my travels took me to Milford, PA.  It’s about a 3 1/2 hour drive from where I live.  And the nice thing was…..it’s fall in Pennsylvania which means some beautiful colors on the trees.  I taught for the Milford Valley Quilters Guild https://sites.google.com/site/milfordvalleyquiltersguild/home  This is the third time I have been invited to teach for this wonderful guild.  It’s always a good feeling to be asked back.  One of the guild members started quilting with me a while back when she lived in Camp Hill, PA.  Judy then moved to the Milford area and became very active with the guild.  Judy brought two of her quilts to show and tell.  The first one she started while taking my year long Baltimore Album classes.  Here is her amazing finished quilt.  I love it and greatly appreciate all the work that went into making this quilt.  Judy is pictured on the right in this photo.

Then Judy showed another Baltimore Album quilt that she has started.  She decided to use some nontraditional colors on her second undertaking.  I love her choices.  It’s good to break out of the box sometimes.  I am so happy that Judy shared her quilts with us.  They are indeed incredible.  Judy said she is currently working on the borders for this project.  I can hardly wait to see what she comes up with.

And I have two more photos to share from someone who purchased two of my patterns.  The first one was made using my Magical Medallion pattern.  Awesome!  The maker is Terry Engleman from the state of Washington.  Terry told me she won first place for applique and machine quilting awards for this one.  I can see why.

Here is a great close-up photo to show the wonderful machine quilting as well as the great applique.

And then Terry also shared this photo of her finished project from my “Japanese Garden” pattern.  Again, I am in awe.  And check out all the ribbons.  She won first in applique, Outstanding Machine Quilting and the President’s Award.  Congratulations Terry.  Very much deserved.

Here are some scenes from Pennsylvania during the recent week.  The colors this year have been breathtaking.

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BOOK REVIEW

Because I had so many driving trips recently I was able to listen to Lee Child’s newest book “A Wanted Man”.  What are the odds that our reoccurring character, Jack Reacher, would get himself into trouble again?  Pretty good.  I do enjoy this character.  Reacher, who is known for hitchhiking, gets picked up by two men and a women and he knows right away there is something wrong.  What are the chances that the two men are connected to the murder an hour down the road?  Pretty good.  All Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia.  There are some good twists and the book definitely held my interest.  One of the reasons I enjoy Lee Child’s books also has to do with the reader, Dick Hill.  He always does a great job reading audio books.

This week I am off for my annual trek to Houston for the International Quilt Association show.  I’m certain I will have a lot to share with you when I return.

I meant to blog about this last week and then forgot.  Old age….

Joe and his buddy have gone to a couple of the Steelers football games over the past couple of years.  They always have a great time.  Joe thought that I should go to one game because “being there is not like seeing it on TV”.   So, Joe was able to get us tickets for a Pittsburgh Steelers game.  Our team of choice.  Our seats were in the front row on the 50 yard line!  I could almost touch the players.

And to my amazement there was a quilt involved.  How is that possible you might think?  Well, since October is breast cancer awareness month there was a presentation prior to the game and many cancer survivors were recognized.  There was also one quilt shown on the field to show a sample of some of the quilts that were made to raise money for cancer research.  Way to go ladies.  Great quilt for a great cause.

And my favorite player, who got injured during the game…..Troy Polamalu.  Get better Troy.

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This week my first trip took me around the Catonsville, MD area.  I was lucky enough to be invited to teach for the Village Quilters.  You can find out more about this guild at http://www.villagequiltersmd.com  The ladies told me that some members only joined because they have a big luncheon where all the members bring something to share.  Well, now I know what they were talking about.  They had a ton of food and every single thing I had was good.  So, not only are the members good at quilting they are also good at cooking and baking.

Here are some of the ladies in the Wednesday workshop.

One of the ladies brought the project she made using my Magical Medallion pattern for show and tell.  You know how much I enjoy sharing projects people made using my patterns.  This quilt was really beautiful.  I must apologize because I have forgotten her name.  If you read this blog and know the makers name, on the far right in the photo, would you please email me so I can add it to the blog.

If you live any where near this area and like to quilt and want to meet some really, really nice people you need to visit this guild.

If I lived closer I would join this guild.

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And then I went to another great guild, the Shenandoah Valley Quilters Guild in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  You can find out more about this guild at http://www.svqg.org  Super nice group of ladies.  I taught for this guild once many years ago and it was very nice to be invited back.  One of the ladies in the guild brought her finished Kansas Rose project.  She took this machine applqiue workshop when I taught for a local quilt shop a couple of years ago.  Nice job.  Again, if you read this and know the maker’s name would you please be so kind as to email me so I can add it to the blog.

I do feel the need to pinch myself sometimes.  I am so lucky to have a job where you pretty much only meet nice people and your students are only there because they want to learn.  Thanks to both guilds for bringing me into their fold and making feel welcome and appreciated.

After we visited the Black Hills in South Dakota we ventured to the Badlands.  Wow!  One amazing view after the other.  Here are some of the things we saw along the way.  I love wildlife.

OK, the ladies in South Dakota do not love the prairie dogs but I do!  They are so darn cute.  Come on…just look at the cute face!

There were lots and lots of prairie dogs.  They would jump out of their holes and do this little whahoo noise and it just brings a smile to my face every single time I think of it.

Oh look, these two are kissing.

I took lots more photos of the prairie dogs but I won’t bore you with an entire blog of prairie dogs.

The Badlands are one of the most amazing places I have ever seen.

The landscape changes with each bend in the road.

As we were driving through the Badlands we came across a herd of buffalo in the wild.  Absolutely amazing.

I’d say there were at least 50 buffalo in this herd and they appeared to be very healthy.

It was very dry in this area and we did not see many blooming plants.  I saw just this one blooming plant during our hour long drive.

After spending several days seeing the area around Rapid City, I then went to The Storm Mountain Center http://dakcamps.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B51387DD1-CB11-4006-A45E-E75D83CA4473%7D  for the guild retreat.  You can see some great photos of this retreat location by clicking on their link.

This retreat was sponsored by the Black Hills Quilters Guild http://www.blackhillsquilters.org/.  The guild from Hill City, just a short distance up the road from Rapid City, were also a sponsor for one of my workshops.  I spent two days with the ladies from this area and loved being with them and the retreat. They had nice big classrooms and plenty of light.

On the last evening of the retreat, after my lecture, Charlotte, who was the co-chair of the retreat, brought her “Japanese Garden” quilt top that she is working on to share at show-n-tell.  It is stunning.  She told me she has the borders sewn and is now ready to connect them to the top.  Thanks so much for sharing your top Charlotte.  I can hardly wait to see it all finished.

Another very successful and exciting trip.

This coming week I am off to Maryland and Virginia.  Talk to you soon…….

I had a really hard time trying to decide what to share first from this trip.  I have lots and lots of photos to share.  So, here we go.

We started in Custer State Park in the Black Hills.  Here are some things we saw.  It is one amazingly beautiful area.  And there is lots of wildlife.

I could not fly in until Tuesday after teaching in Wisconsin.  Joe had done some research on the Black Hills and surrounding area and found out at on Monday, the day before my arrival, was the annual buffalo round-up.  I understand they do this round-up to check the herd each year.  Joe took some photos that I would like to share with you.  Apparently, first, they round-up the people….many thousands of them.

And then they bring in the buffalo.  There are cowboys on horses and some in trucks to control all the buffalo.  I would not have expected the trucks.

When I arrived the day after the round-up we drove through the area where they held this event and they still have some of the buffalo corralled.   One big guy was outside the fenced area and he was not too happy about it.  I think that is his girlfriend inside the fence!

You do not want to make an animal this big angry. Seriously.  This guy is bigger than my car!

And then we drove through Custer State Park and found some more incredible sights.

It’s not every day you see one of these signs.

And then of course if you are in this area you have to go and see Mt. Rushmore.  How could you not?

I want a disclaimer before you look at the next photo.  Joe made me do it.

As you can see from the photos we had a lot of fun and saw a lot of amazing things while in the Black Hills.  Next blog will be the Badlands and the reason I was in the area, the Black Hills Quilters Guild retreat.

Until next week…….

As I mentioned in my last blog I was stuck at the airport for awhile and then on a long flight so I had some reading time.  I also took an audio book that I had started at home and finished it while driving around Arizona.

I listened to another of Robin Cook’s books called “Critical”.  I like the characters from the ME’s office that carry through his books.  Medical Examiner Laura Montgomery and Jack Stapleton return in this medical thriller.  There is a surge of drug-resistant staph infections coming through the medical examiners office.  Laura Montgomery is intrigued by the similarity in the deaths of her and other colleagues patients. As she investigates she opens up a lot of problems for the healthcare facility from where the patients are coming.  Her investigating opens threats to her and Jack also.

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“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” was written by Jonathan Safran Foer.  After Oskars father is killed in the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11 Oskar finds a key in his fathers belongings.  Oskar is a very intelligent nine year old and he tries to find the lock to go with the key based on some clues he came across.  This adventure takes Oskar through every borough in New York City where he meets some very intriguing people.  Interesting style of writing.   You’ll want to follow Oskar’s story.

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I believe this is the first book I have read by Robert Olen Butler.  It was recommended by a blog reader.  “A Small Hotel” was set in contemporary New Orleans but the story takes you back in time as we find out about Michael and Kelly Hayes who decided to separate after 24 years of marriage.  The book starts on the day the divorce is to be finalized.  Kelly decides not to go sign the divorce papers and instead takes a journey to the hotel where her and Michael fell in love.  Kelly finds herself about to make a decision that will have a profound effect on her, Michael and their 19 year old daughter, Samantha.  I liked the way the story went between present and past and how the author developed the characters.  Good read.

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When I was in Tucson Marilyn Sohn shared her quilt with me.  Marilyn used my “Midnight Floral Fantasy” pattern and then added two birds.  Her quilt was a wedding gift so the birds were a great addition.  Marilyn, thanks for sharing your beautiful quilt.

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I was fortunate enough to be invited to teach for the Lighthouse Quilters in Racine, Wisconsin, http://www.lighthousequiltersguild.org/  My guild contact, Kirsten, had everything well organized for my arrival.  She was kind enough to book me a room along Lake Michigan so I’m sharing some photos of the area around my hotel.

And a short distance down the road was this beautiful lighthouse.  Maybe that is where the guild got it’s name?

The water front area in Racine is just beautiful.  I hope the people who live there appreciate the beauty.  I know the fisherman appreciate the area because a lot of them were out in the mornings, even through it was in the 40’s!

I really enjoyed my visit with the Lighthouse Quilters.

My next blog will be on my recent trip to South Dakota.  Man, did I get some awesome photos.  See you next week.

This was one long but memorable trip.  I started with a canceled flight out of Harrisburg after sitting in the airport for 8 hours.  That was a very  long day.  Thank goodness I like to read and I had lots of reading material on my ipad.  I got a flight out very early the next morning and presented a lecture that evening for the Tucson Quilt Guild.  You can find out more about this very active guild by going to their website http://tucsonquiltersguild.com  I told them I was glad the lights in the front of the room were off for the Power Point presentation so they could not see how blood shots my eyes were!  I did sleep well that night.

The program chairs for Tuscon, Kathy and Mary, took great care of me while I was there.  I was thrilled to be at a hotel that had a fantastic walking trail right outside the door of the hotel.  I love to walk in the morning.  Here are some of the ladies hard at work from the Ocean Sunrise workshop.

Kathy was kind enough to take me to the Tuscon Historical Society to view the 100 quilts on display for the Centennial Celebration of Arizona.    Here are some of the 100 quilts on display.

“Cowgirl Boots Celebrate Arizona” was made by Georgia Heller from Scottsdale, Arizona.

Karen Fisher from Tucson made “Tucson: The Heart for Arizona”.

Clare Aylward from Tuscon made “Big Sky Agave”.

“Mariachi De Los Muertos”  was made by Nancy Arseneault from Tucson.

“Remember Us” was made by Betty Hallen from Scottsdale, Arizona.

“Ring Around The Aloe” was made by Lois Podolny from Tuscon, Arizona.

The show offered a wonderful variety of quilts along with their stories.  If you live anywhere in the area or plan to be anywhere close to Tucson it would be worth your time to stop and view the quilts.

Gayle Strack brought her project, “Heard It Through The Grapevine”, to share with me.  She made it when I taught there nine years ago.  Her block looks great.  Love the butterfly fabric she found.

From Tucson I moved to the Phoenix area to teach for the Arizona Quilters Guild.  You can find out more about this group by going to http://www.azquiltersguild.org  Diane did a great job of organizing my classes and lecture for this group.  Here are the great group of ladies who took my Saturday workshop.

I moved from the Phoenix area up north to Prescott.  I have to tell you that I had very little down time on this trip as I was moving from one place to the next. So, I did not get to take as many scenic photos as I normally do.  But, I have to tell you that if you ever get a chance to go to Prescott is one of the most beautiful areas.  And Linda and the ladies from her guild were great.  You can find out more about the Mountain Top Quilt Guild at http://www.mountaintopquiltersguild.com  Here are some photos of the ladies hard at work during the two workshops I taught for them.

And I had another nice surprise.  Noreen Poole from this guild had the center portion of her top completed from my book “Applique Basics: Flower Wreaths”.  She’s currently working on her borders and promised to share her photos when the quilt is complete.  Fabulous job Noreen.  I am so happy you shared this with me and my viewers.

We were able to make it to one of the local quilt shops after class.  It was a great quilt shop called “Seams So Right”, http://www.seamsewrightquiltstudio.com

I loved the displays in the shop.  It was very inviting.

It is well worth your stop if you are in the area.

Finally, I wanted to share photographs of  some of the stained glass windows in the church where this guild meets.  I thought they were incredible.

Just before I was ready to finish this blog I got an email from Brenda Morrison from Carthage, MO who just took my “Oriental Flower” workshop a couple of weeks ago.  Brenda made some fun modifications to the block and here is the result.  Thanks for sharing Brenda.  Nice job.

This coming week I am off to Wisconsin and South Dakota.  Should be fun.

While I was in Missouri I had a little down time one evening and was able to complete the applique on the block for my quilt guild’s (the Letort Quilters) raffle quilt project.  I showed the paper pieced and machine appliqued area a few weeks ago in the blog.  Here is what it looks like with the applique added.  There will be 13 blocks like this.  I’ll keep you posted as the project progresses.

I found this tool which is new to me but I think has been around for a couple of years.  It is called “The Binding Tool”.  It has directions printed on the product.  It is used to connect the ends of your binding and I really like the way it works.  The way I did it before added a little guess work because of the thread tails there were created on the bias.  This tool took away that guess work and gave me a very smooth connection.  It is available on my online store if you are interested.

Here is what the connection looks like.  I used two different colors so you could really see the connection. This is the step right before I flipped the folded edge over to hand stitch the back.

This week my journeys take me back to Arizona.  I have not been there in…I think about 5 or 6 years and am looking forward to going back.

I just returned from teaching for the Ozark Piecemaker’s Quilt Guild in Missouri.  My guild contact, Elaine, was wonderful.  You know I always mention how much I like an organized program chairperson and Elaine was very organized.  That always makes me happy and the workshops run smoothly.  The first thing Elaine did was to drop my stuff off at the hotel and then she took me to their meeting location.  When she said they had their own meeting room I did not understand what she meant until we arrived.  The guild actually has their own meeting location in a strip mall.  I have been traveling and teaching for a very long time and this is a first.  The guild is very proud of their meeting room and talked about all the fund raisers they have in order to keep the location.  But, they all said the same thing, “It’s worth it”.  And I would have to agree.    The space is awesome.  They hold their meeting, workshops and lots and lots of open sews in the room.  In the back they have tons of storage and a very large library.  Below are some photos I took during the morning and evenings meetings so you can get a sense of their great space.

There is no doubt if I lived in this area I would belong to this guild.  Every guild member I met was positive, upbeat and really appreciated all they had.

After we checked out the meeting location Elaine offered to take me to two of their local quilt shops.  I think because I owned a quilt shop many years ago I love seeing other shops and I like to see what’s new.  Our first stop was Quilt Sampler.  Check out the photos below of the shop.  It was fabulous.  You can find out more about the shop at http://www.quiltsampler.com

The next shop we visited was called Merrily We Quilt Along.  The website is listed right on the sign below if you want more information.  Another wonderful shop.

There were some crazy people working in this shop!  My kind of people.

And then the next day in between the morning and evening lecture Betty took me to another quilt shop.  It is located in Ozark, Missouri and you can find out more on the shop’s Facebook page. Betty sews with a group of ladies at the shop on Tuesday and since it was Tuesday all the ladies were there sewing.

Here are Betty’s friends.  One of them even brings her wonderful dog along.  That dog was so well behaved.  You know how much I love dogs so I loved that she took her dog along.

There is no doubt that if I lived in this area I would be happy to be part of this guild and I would visit every single one of these quilt shops on a regular basis.

Thanks ladies from Missouri for making my trip a memorable experience.

One of the main characters, Clare Fergusson, is the first female priest of the small Episcopal church in Millers Kill, a small town in upstate New York.  Prior to being a priest Clare was an army pilot.  Shortly after her arrival in Millers Kill she finds a newborn baby abandoned on the steps of the church.  The mother is found brutally murdered.  Clare connects with the Chief of Police, Russ Van Alystne.  Together the Chief and Clare set-out to find the killer and father of the child.  I liked the characters and the twists kept me wanting to read to the end.

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I found these fabulous clips to hold your binding in place while you either hand or machine applique the folded edge.  They are called “Wonder Clips”.  The clip opens easily and holds the layers of fabric.  The bottom of the clip is flat making it easier if you use them when applying your binding on the machine.  They also have guide lines for both a 1/4″ and a 1/2″ wide binding to help keep your binding even.

They are in the store section on my website under “More Recommended Notions” if you are interested.

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Someone from my quilt guild persuaded me to design the next raffle quilt for our guild.  I’ve been refining the design for the past couple of months.  Because I have worked with my guild on the raffle quilt before I know my guild likes to have some piecing and some applique.  And I agree the combination is really nice for a quilt like this so that everyone in the guild, both the piecers and the appliquers, can participate.  I have designed a project that includes paper-piecing, some machine applique and some hand applique.  Hopefully this will keep everyone happy.

This week I spent working on some of the blocks that will be part of this raffle quilt.  Below are two sections.

As you can see from the lines drawn in the middle of this block there will be some applique sewn in the center.

On Friday ten guild members, including myself, put all the kits together for this project.  On the 6th of October I am holding a free workshop for my guild members and we are going to sew blocks for the quilt.  So I’ll keep you posted on the progress over the next year or so.  We hope to have the top together this fall and then it will be basted at one of our guild meetings.  From there it moves around to our hand quilters until it is finished.

My plan is to publish a pattern some time next year.  Again, I’ll keep you posted.

Last year I taught my Garden Medley workshop in Gold Beach, Oregon.  Helen McCrary took the panels from the project and laid them out in a very interesting and unique way.  She was trying to keep her project to a size to hang on the door.  I think she succeeded in a great way.  Thank you for sharing Helen.

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I usually give an update of the birds in our yard each summer.  So here goes.  The vultures had a baby.

That is one big baby.  I kind of think they are cute.  Some of you have told me from last years pictures “It’s the face only a mother could love!”

Mother and baby hanging out.

And yes, the mother has taught the youngster to get into the birdbath.

Sometimes they drink and bath together!  And after they are done the birdbath does need to be cleaned.  They are rather messy.

From the biggest bird in the yard to the smallest bird in the yard.

Our best photos are of the female.  She sits to drink.  The male never sits.   He stays in motion the entire time he drinks so it’s hard to get a good photo of him.

And finally we have Mr. Woodpecker.  He’s snacking on some suet.

And that’s the birds in the yard report for this summer.