Linda is here and we made a movie to show you the applique with perle cotton that we've both been having fun with. I made my AAQI World Series Quilt with this kind of applique and it has lots of attitude.

The perle cotton is here on our site. Our favorite crewel needle is at the bottom of that page as well.

We are really having fun with this and we hope to post some more movies soon. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Be sure to go to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative booth at Quilt Festival in Houston. After you  enter the show, hang an immediate right and it is just before you hit the wall. Look for the big booth at the front corner, row S (like Simms).

There will be lots of mini-quilts for sale AND the World Series Challenge quilts will be hanging! Remember that these are the quilts I've written about before. Hollis Chatelain, Caryl Bryer Fallert, John Flynn, Judy Mathieson, Sue Nickels, Mary Sorensen, Ricky Tims, and I each made a quilt. If you are there, you can drop $1 in the jug to vote for your favorite – I hope it's mine :-). Later you'll have a chance to own these quilts!

Here's a video that will tell you more about what you'll find in the AAQI booth:

Quilt market is practically here and I'm not ready!!! Can you me taking deep, calming breaths? I did finish the quilting on this one and I took a photo of the quilt clamps in use that I thought I'd share:

This quilt is not that big and there were times when I had to have some of it hanging off the table. The quilt clamp helped to support that weight like this, and they worked even better when most of the quilt was on the table. I will continue to use the clamps because they really do help.

NOTE: The clamps can swing around a bit if you aren't careful when you release them. I've had to clear the cute stuff off of my windowsill so that I didn't break anything.

At 4:00 EST Linda and I will be the guests on Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Network. You can listen to the 1 hour interview live or download the podcast to listen later. Click here to go to Pat's site where you will see the interview link. We have lots to talk about out!

I forgot to say… we are giving away a My Whimsical Quilt Garden pattern. Leave a comment on Pat's blog and she will draw a winner.

I am happy to tell you that there is now a Piece O' Cake deck of playing cards. We think they are just pretty darned cute!

The little 'blue bird of happiness' is on the back of every card. There are a variety of images from our quilts on the face cards and Linda and I are now officially jokers! You can find them here on our website.

Now I'm going to move my chair back to my sewing machine where I am quilting like crazy…

Thank you to everyone who responded to my previous post on knotting the thread. Since then I have watched people sewing even more carefully. I believe that quilters who over-manipulate the needle have the most problems. Right-handers often over-twist the thread while they sew, rather than untwisting it. Un-twisting the thread while sewing leads to problems. Left-handers are especially prone to thread problems because their hands move the needle in an opposite way from right-handers

I did learn a new thing. I can only say that I do not have a mathematical mind when I admit that I really thought the the twist at the far end of the thread was different. Brenda Stultz, a spinner and a student in a recent class, showed me that the twist is the same at both ends of the thread. Well – at least the light bulb finally went off in my head. This means that knotting the far end of the thread is just about the same as knotting the near end of the thread.

(I should add right here that it's hard to admit it when you are wrong, but I wish more people would do just that. No one is right all the time. I'll bet we can all think of people we would love to hear admit it when they are proven wrong. So, I was wrong before but I have learned something new which I am happy to share.)

I have come to believe that it makes no difference which end of the thread gets the knot when you are using very good thread. The important this is what you do with your fingers. If you are always fighting your thread, try not to twist the needle as you sew. Left-handers should be able to knot the same end as everyone else but pay extra attention to the way you manipulate the needle between your fingers as you sew.

I'll enjoy reading comments if you want to add one.

Here's the eye candy for this post. Linda and I both are frantically getting ready for market. I'm going to begin quilting on this just as soon as I sign off.