Karen Kay Buckley

I returned from my trip to Tennessee just in time to get to Quilt Odyssey.  I only had about an hour and 1/2 but I was able to walk through the quilt exhibit.  For those of you who were unable to attend you might like to see a few of my favorite quilts from the show.  You can find out more about next years show at www.quiltodyssey.com

I have no desire to make a miniature like this one made by Pat Kuhn of Nebraska but I can certainly appreciate the difficulty level on this 17″ x 17″ quilt.  Pat named her quilt “Emiline”.  It really is amazing.

Rachel Wetzler made “Chromatic Transitions”.  Love this quilt. Fabulous color and design balance.

“Sakura Sakura” was made by Hiroko Miyama from Tokoyo, Japan.  I loved this wall quilt.  Adorable.  It won the best pictorial quilt and I can see why.

“Forever In My Heart” was made by Lahala Phelps from Bonney Lake, WA.  It was made in memory of her mother who passed away from heart disease.  It won first place in the large applique category.

Nice looking circles….don’t you think?

This crazy quilt made by Mary Chalmers from Willmar, MN.  was very impressive.  The name of the quilt is “Crazy With a Twist”.

“Tequila Sunrise” was made by Jean Lohman from Illinois.

Great color combination.

Great border.  More perfect circles.   And the ribbon effect was very interesting.

This attractive quilt was made by Mary-Margaret Morton from Ann Arbor, MI.  The name of the quilt is “Nine Vases”

This beautiful wall quilt was made by Solomon Gunn from Gorham, ME.  The name of the quilt is “Zen Garden”.   I really like the color pallet and the balance of color and design.

The quilting was also very impressive.

I loved this group quilt submitted by Pat Durbin from Eureka, CA.  The name of the quilt is “Floral Promise”.   If I read the information correctly each panel was made by a different person.  I loved the balance and creativity.

Another great group quilt was this one made by Suzanne Mouton Riggio and Friends.  The name of the quilt is “The Jennings Homestead”.

Until next week……..

Jonesborough, Tennessee’s oldest community, is one of the first towns in Tennessee to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The county was the first district to be named in honor of George Washington.   The town published the first periodical about abolishing slavery.  It is also the first and only home of the National Storytelling Festival.  Stories make up the fabric of Jonesborough and stories are a living oral tradition. Each year in the fall they hold a National Storytelling Festival and it is the biggest event in the town bringing in thousands of people.

When you first enter town you see this lovely sign.

In the middle of town sits this wonderful old court house.

Here are some of the houses on main street.  There were some amazing old homes with very inviting porches.  My first thought….southern hospitality at it’s finest.  You could tell the people in the town take pride in their properties because they were nicely manicured.

This is the front of the B&B where all the teachers stayed during our visit to Jonesborough.  The rooms inside were fabulous.

During the summer several blocks downtown are closed on Friday evening and local bands come to play.  As you can see, they are well attended.

This is the Christopher Taylor House which was built in 1777.  Andrew Jackson lived here from 1788-89 while practicing law in Jonesborough.

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“Ties That Bind” by Marie Bostwick.  This book is about Margot Matthews who lives in New Bern, Connecticut, a nice little town that has a quilt shop, Cobbled Court Quilt Shop, where Margot works.  Margot is turning 40 and is still unmarried.  Friends are trying to be match-makers, but Margot has all but given up on finding the right man.  Philippa,  the new pastor in town, and Margot become friends.  Philippa faces challenges because her father is a pastor and people know his good reputation.   There is a terrible tragedy in Margot’s family and her life takes a major turn.  Being a quilter and reading books that include quilters, quilt shops, quilting classes, etc., makes for a good read.

In my next blog I’ll share some photos from Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA.  On my return from Tennessee I was able to get to the show just long enough to take a walk through the quilts.

I just returned from teaching for the Tennessee Quiltfest held in Jonesborough, TN.  I’m having a hard time trying to decide if I should start with the quiltfest or the town itself.  I think I’ll start with the quiltfest and quilt shop and next week I’ll share some photos and information about the town of Jonesborough.

I was invited by Linda Crouch to come and teach for the 12th annual Quiltfest.  One of the first things I did was to checkout Linda’s shop: Tennessee Quilts.

When I arrived in town late Tuesday evening the shop was closed so I had to wait until morning to walk down to the shop.  When we drove through on Tuesday evening I thought the bottom level of the shop was probably the store and the second floor was storage and maybe classrooms.  But no, I was pleasingly surprised to find the shop encompasses both floors.

Here is what the inside of the shop looks like.

The shop is really nice.  If you are any where in the area you do want to stop and plan to spend a few hours.  As the people who work in the shop as just as nice as they can be.  They will make you feel right at home.

On Wednesday I was asked to judge a small group of quilts that were part of a challenge.  The challenge was called “Out of the Box”.  Everyone wrote a small paragraph about how their quilt related to the theme and some people really went out of the box.  There were four main awards, the first being the best Group Quilt.  I gave this award to one of the most impressive group projects I have ever seen.  Here is a photo of the box with the quilt inside.  Darlene and Jeff Neil, husband and wife, collaborated on this project.

Darlene made the quilt and Jeff made the box.  Jeff brought in some of his wooden boxes to share with me during our lunch break one day.  His work is beyond amazing.  You can find out more about his work at www.southernhighlandguild.org/neil

The next award was for Best of Show and it went to Nancy Norwood.  The quilt is called “The Marshall Islands”.  Nancy made this based on 14 photographs she took.  As soon as the show is over she is giving it to her friends who appear in the photos.

I liked the entire quilt but my favorite part were the faces.  They were so well done.

Checkout the reflections in the glasses.  Awesome.

Nancy shared some of her photos with me and I have to tell you the quilt blocks looked exactly like the photos.  I really liked this one of the mailboxes.

And Linda Lyle made “Butterfly Fantasy” which was awarded the best hand quilting.  And it was well deserved.

And the final ribbon award went to Kathryn Zimmerman for “Stellar Bright”.  This quilt won for the best machine quilting.

I had a great time in Jonesborough.  In next week’s blog I will share my photographs from downtown Jonesborough.

At the recommendation of my friend Laura I read “Still Life” by Joy Fielding.  And I am glad I did.  Boy this book keep my attention.  Casey Marshall is the main character.  She is beautiful, happily married and owns a successful interior design business.  While returning to her car after lunching with her two best friends she is hit by a car traveling at 50 miles per hour.  Every bone in her body is broken and her odds of survival are not good.  What no one knows is that Casey can still hear even though she cannot move or talk.  Casey finds out a lot while she is in this comatose state, including who tired to kill her.

Next I read “The Surgeon” by Tess Gerritsen.  I am a fan of the TV show Rizzoli and Isles.  Since this book is about the characters in the TV show or maybe the TV show is about the characters in this book……I thought I would check it out.  Rizzoli is a female detective in Boston and is working on a serial killer case.  She feels the need to prove herself being the only female detective in the squad.  One of the lead characters in the case killed her attacker years ago…..or so she thinks.  This person in question is a surgeon and still has a hard time not looking over her shoulder after her prior attack.  I enjoyed this book and when I read more about the author I found that she was once a surgeon who became, in my opinion, a very good writer.

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I have just a few more photos from the Santa Fe trip that I’d like to share with you.   On our drive to Santa Fe I was reading an article about a drive north of there called the Enchanted Trail.  So, on day two of our journey in New Mexico we decided to make the trip and drive on the Enchanted Trail.  Here are some of the things we saw.

You don’t find people with their horses parked in front of there house around where I live so this fascinated me.

This week I am off to Tennessee to teach.  Sounds like it will be a fun event.  I’ll tell you more when I return.  I have a five hour layover in Charlotte on my return flight so I hope I can find another good book to read.

I promised more from Santa Fe so here we go.  As we walked early in the morning on Canyon Road we found the most incredible sculptures.  I thought I would share some of them with you.  If you see anything you like many of them were for sale.  You can make a trip to Canyon Road and see them for yourself.  You would not regret the trip.  Do take your credit card!

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This week in my email I received some great photos from Jamie Kouba.  She made my Japanese Garden Quilt.  She renamed it “Japanese Water Garden” because the fabrics she chose reminded her of flowers floating in sunny water and the leaves on pebbles along the water.  Jamie entered her quilt in the Minnesota Quilt Show and won Best of Show for her machine quilting on a stationary machine, top honors in her division and a faculty award.  Well done Jamie and very well deserved.  I absolutely love Jamie’s fabric choices.

Jamie, I cannot thank you enough for sharing your photos.  I really appreciate it and I know my blog readers do also.

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My travels this week took me to O’Fallon, Illinois.  This is my second trip to the Hearts ‘n Hands Quilt Guild.   I always say being invited back is a good thing.  My guild contact Dana determined it was six years ago that I had been there.  I have good memories from the trip from 6 years ago and good memories from my current trip.  You can find out more about the guild at http://www.heartsnhandsquilt.com/

One guild member had her project to share with me from my previous trip.  Katie McMullen brought her finished project from the Magical Medallion workshop.  I love what she did with the corner elements.  Really, I love the entire quilt.

The guilds normal workshop location was not available so they had to find a new location.  They met at a cabin of sorts that was in the state park.  I thought the room was wonderful.  Lots of tables and lots of light.  There were windows on three sides of the room. The quilter in the front row in the red is Mary.  I shared Mary’s “Japanese Garden” quilt top in a previous blog.  Mary had her quilt quilted and brought it to show and tell at the guild meeting.  I was so proud of her and her quilt.

I’ve said this many times over, but I’m saying it again.  If I lived in this area I would be in this guild.  I really liked these ladies and they bring in many teachers each year.  Even though the business meeting was a little lengthy I did learn a lot about the guild.  If I’m still doing this 6 years from now maybe they’ll have me back again.  Oh, another thing.  I am a Cardinals fan, second to the Phillies, and being this close to St. Louis I find there are lots and lots of Cardinals fans.  Go Cardinals!

This week I added some new products to my website store.  I’ve been using the Sewline Fabric Pencils for awhile and I really like them.  I like the comfortable soft grip handle.  The marks are nice and thin and easy to remove from my fabric.  I have either erased them off, brushed them off using a micro-fiber dust cloth or washed them out.  All the colors I am showing in the photo below are available in my online store.  I had trouble removing the marks from the gray/graphite colored marker so I am not offering it in the store.  Each pencil comes with some replacement lead.  When you have used all the lead you can purchase more of just the lead.

The other new Sewline product I added to the store is their needle threader.  It may look odd but it works like a charm.  It is recommended for fine needles sizes 9 to 12.  I understand there were some problems with the original threader.  This is the new/revised version.  So far so good.

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Some of you may think this is crazy to blog about doors but, I could not get over how many different and interesting doors existed on the houses and store fronts on Canyon Road in Santa Fe.  So, enjoy the doors of Santa Fe.

I can honestly say that I have never in my life been on a street with so many interesting and varied doors.  I loved it.  And there were a lot more than what I am showing you here.  In the next post I’ll share more interesting things from Santa Fe and surrounding area.  And I’m off to Illinois to teach this week.

My trip to New Mexico was unbelievable.  This was my first time to visit New Mexico and I now understand why I have heard so many great things about it.  I started my adventure in Albuquerque.  The New Mexico Quilters Association invited me to do two workshops and a lecture.   To find out more about the guild check out their website at http://www.nmqa.org/   The guild held their workshops at

This is the business to the right of the shop.

And the business on the left side of the shop.

Johnnee picked me up at the airport and showed me some of the area and took me to one of their local quilt shops called Kokopelli.  This shop is fabulous and really has the southwest flair.  And I mean that in a good way.  You can find out more about the shop at www.swdecoratives.com

From the moment you walk in the front door you are drawn into the store.

The displays in the shop really reflect the southwest theme.

Here is a peek inside the classroom.

This was the view from my hotel window.  What a view.

Even the carpet in the hallway of the hotel had that southwest flare.

Joe flew in to met me so we could spend a couple of days seeing more of the surrounding area.  We drove from Albuquerque to Santa Fe on the “Turquoise Trail”.  It’s what I would refer to as the back way…instead of taking the freeway.  And oh did we see some beautiful scenery.

Here are some photos taken from the top of the Sandia Mountains overlooking Albuquerque.

I understand now why they refer to this as the “big sky” part of the country.  You can see forever.

As dry as it is in this area….we hardly saw any water in the streams.  It was really dry.  But, there are still beautiful flowers that can survive in this kind of weather.

Along the drive we found a place called “Tinkertown”.  It was kind of strange.  They had taken lots of recyclable items and used them in different ways.  I did like their wall.  Instead of stone and mortar they used glass and mortar.

The place was…….interesting.

I was hanging around outside of the Tinkertown structure and got some nice photos of the hummingbirds.

They were very active.

OK, that’s it for the first leg of the trip.  I still have lots to share with you from Santa Fe and surrounding area.  More to follow in next week’s blog.  Try to stay cool.  It’s been in the 100’s in our area and it was in the 100’s in New Mexico too.  Thank goodness for air-conditioning.

I had the pleasure this past week of viewing an exhibit of quilts called “Pleasing Mother”.  The collaboration of quilts came from Donna Lohman and Debbie Lohman.  They have an exhibit of their quilts at the Mechanicsburg Museum Freight Station in Mechanicsburg, PA. now through October 20th.  (You will need to check the days and times of the show if you plan to attend.)

There is no admission fee but a donation to the museum is appreciated.  The museum is located in the old railroad station.

The show is actually in the building behind the old station.  The brochure that was provided at the door to the show explained that Donna wanted to take my year long Baltimore Album Quilt classes but she did not want to take the class alone so she convinced her daughter, Debbie, to share in the experience.  Debbie agreed and went to her first quilting class to please her mother.  They both completed the class and their quilts and have embarked on a wonderful journey together.  I have shown several of Donna and Debbie’s quilts in my blog over the past year so I picked a couple of their quilts to share with you that I do not believe I have shared before.

I loved this little cow quilt.  I think this is a McKenna Ryan pattern.  Not sure about that.

This looks like it would have been fun and easy to make and get a really nice result.  The depth perspective is great.

This quilt was made as a result of a quilt teacher, Karen Eckmeier coming to the guild in Carlisle.   Debbie and Donna took the workshop offered by Karen and made this fun little quilt.  You can find out more about Karen at http://quilted-lizard.com

This Halloween quilt looks like it would have been a really fun quilt to make.

One year our guild, the Letort Quilters, had a challenge to create some fun signs to hang around our quilt show.  The signs were to let people attending the quilt show know  “Do Not Touch The Quilts”.  This one really made me laugh.  Very creative idea.

Thank you Donna and Debbie for sharing your quilts and for such a nice exhibit.  I think both of you are some of the nicest, most giving and sharing people I have ever met.  Thanks for being you.

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My recent trip took me to Heath, Ohio.  It was a pretty quick trip and there was not much time outside of the lecture and workshop to do a lot of sight-seeing.  However, my guild contact, Pam, was kind enough to drive me around the area a little and to indulge me in my Starbucks fix each day.  Pam did take me to see what I would consider to be one of the most interesting buildings I have ever seen.  It is the home office for Longaberger baskets.   I love this building.  Genius idea to build their home office to look like one of their baskets.  It is my opinion that whoever thought of that should have received a raise.  And Pam told me the handles are heated so they can melt the snow in the winter.  Nice.  Oh, the things I get to see in my travels.

I like to share interesting things from my travels.  The other thing Pam took me to see were the Newark Earthworks.  It is the largest system of connected geometric earthworks built anywhere in the world.  It is 2 miles square.  You can see the mounds toward the center of the photo below.  It was built by the prehistoric Hopewell Indians between 100 BC and AD 500, this architectural wonder of ancient America was part cathedral, part cemetery, and part astronomical observatory.

The Heart of Ohio Quilt Guild http://www.quiltguilds.com/ohio.htm had a very nice attendance at their evening meeting.  I was greeted by many members and asked repeatedly if I needed any help.  I love it when guild members are so willing to offer help to the speakers.  Based on the retreats and other events this guild offers it sounds like a really fun guild to be part of.  If I lived in the area I would join in a heart beat.

This week I am off to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I’ll fill you in when I return.

My trip this past week took me to San Antonio.  I had been in that area a while ago and was happy to be back.  The guild there is wonderful.  One of the things I loved at their meeting……. they recognized the people from their guild who have been doing volunteer work related to promoting quilting.  Some members go to a local nursing home and sit and sew with residents and some were making story book quilts.  If I got this correct….they are making a quilt to go along with a book.  So the quilt relates to the story in the book.  They then loan the quilt to school teachers to use in their classrooms.  Very nice idea.  Below are some photos from the meeting on Saturday morning.  Great attendance.

Some of the ladies who took the workshop on Friday went home and finished their projects and brought them for show-and-tell.  Awesome.

My guild contacts, Karen and Mary, took very good care of me while I was visiting their area.  They took me out for some great Mexican food, something I don’t get much of in Pennsylvania.   Karen was also kind enough to take us to the River Walk area on Saturday evening.  I really like this area, even if it was 95 degrees and humid!  There is a walkway on each side of the river and it has some tributaries off on the sides.  The area is filled with shops, restaurants and hotels. Great place for a stroll and some Mexican food.

They offer tours of the area via river boat.  If you are in this area for the first time I highly recommend the tour.  I took the tour on my previous visit and it was well worth it.  Not very expensive and lots of good information.

Mary was making fun of me for photographing the ducks.  She asked if I did not have ducks at home.  And I said we did but I love the ducks. They are so cute.

Look how beautiful this guy is.  You wait Mary….I’m going to make a duck quilt some day!

Then we walked over to the Alamo.  You cannot go to San Antonio and not go see the Alamo.  We arrived to late to take a tour but we did walk around the outside for a while.

There was some great landscaping around the Alamo.  I especially liked this old oak tree.

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Mary Ellen took my class in Asilomar, California at the Empty Spools Seminar.  She sent me this photo of her finished block.  It is from my pattern “Around the Garden”.  This block has tons of little pieces and is rather time consuming.  I think Mary Ellen did a great job.

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BOOK REVIEW  This is without a doubt the best book I have read in many years.  I cannot tell you the last time I have read a book that I just could not put down.  Well, “Unbroken” fits that bill.  It is so well written.  (When I travel I normally hate long layovers at the airport.  But, not this time.  I had 3 hours in the Charlotte airport and it gave me just enough time to finish the book).  Even if you know the ending you still want to read more to find out all of the details about Louis Zamperini.  Louie’s plane was shot down during WWII while fighting the Japanese.  He and two other survivors were stranded on a life raft for over 40 days.  When they finally drifted ashore they were in enemy territory.  His weight had gone down to about 65 pounds.  He and his pilot, Phil, were placed in POW camps and the stories about the camps and how the prisoners were treated will leave you in tears.  After I read the book I saw a taped interview of Louie with Jay Leno.  This man is a true survivor.  If you have not already read this book you need to rush right out and get a copy or download it to your reader.  There were numerous people this year who recommended this book to me and I would like to send each and everyone of you a big THANK YOU.

I listened to another great book, “Lone Wolf” by Jodi Picoult. Luke Warren has spent his life researching wolves.  He lived with them for two years and has written about them.  He understands them better than his own family dynamics.  Luke and his daughter, Cara, are in a  serious car accident and everything changes for the family.  Cara and her brother, Edward, are put in an unimaginable situation of deciding to leave their father on life support or not.  The books goes back and forth between the characters and how their family relates to the wolf pack.  I am a big Jodi Picoult fan and this book did not disappoint.

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On Tuesday evening I did a lecture for the Four County Quilters Guild in Mt. Airy, MD.  A lovely group of ladies.  If you live around this area you will want to check out this guild http://www.fourcountyquilters.com  Based on their show-and-tell and business meeting there is lots going on in this guild.  They were planning their quilt show, retreats and more.

This coming week I am off to Ohio and then New Mexico.  Talk to you later.

I know some of you have been impatiently waiting to see photos of my newest project.  The name of this quilt is Fiesta Mexico.  I appliqued the top and then sent it to a friend of mine, Renae Haddadin, to longarm quilt it.  Renae approached me a couple of years ago about the two of us working together on some quilts.  I have been admiring Renae’s quilts for several years.  Every time I saw one of her quilts it had a ribbon on it and it was well deserved.  Not only was I impressed with her workmanship but also with her design choices.  When I saw what she did using her skills as a longarmer on Fiesta Mexico I was blown away.  I am thrilled to be working with Renae and to share our first collaboration with you. And yes, there will be a pattern for this quilt in the fall.  If you would like to be added to my newsletter list so you’ll be among the first to know when the pattern is ready send me your email address and I’ll be happy to add you to my list.

Block One

Check out the amazing quilting designs across the top of block one.

Block Two

Block Three

Block Four

Block Five

Block Six

Block Seven

Block Eight

Block Nine

Block Ten

Block Eleven

Block Twelve

I hope you enjoyed seeing the new quilt.  It has been in two machine quilting shows and won a couple of nice ribbons.  It’s next stop is Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA. the end of July.  www.quiltodyssey.com