I left yesterday to travel to Houston to attend the International Quilt Market and then Quilt Festival. It is such fun to meet up with old friends and make new ones. One of the first people I ran into last night was Mimi Dietrich. Mimi and I go waaaaay back and it was fun to catch up with each other last night at dinner. Here is Mimi and Norma smiling and ready to go.

This past week I fullfilled a request to come to my local Barnes & Noble book store to sign books. Now typically I am at quilt events where everyone is a quilter so it was a bit interesting talking to lots of people who are not necessarily quilters. There were lots of oohs and ahhs over the quilts and vests and lots of conversation about my quilts and family quilts. There were some quilters who were delighted to see some of the projects from my books and add a book or two to their library. Surprisingly there were lots of gentlemen who stopped by to tell me their wife or mother was a quilter. See, they do notice. One delightful husband called his wife and purchased two books for her and one for himself. I would say he is a keeper!
The Carol Doak Yahoo Group is getting in the swing with our new Scenic Block of the Month. Creativity is alive and well in this group. Joan made this delightful October Block with a wonderful feel of fall and Holloween.
The deadline date for me to select a random winner from all of the 4,000 Member Celebration Blocks that have been uploaded was last week. Carol in New York won 60 Fat Quarters!!! I had the chance to look through all the submitted blocks again and just marvel at how different they all over. Isn’t this block above made by Gloria in Moline just gorgeous and so different?
Members have been completing their tops from the past block of the month and showing us their creativity. The quilt settings are quite varied as are the color schemes. This quilt was made by Amy Robertson. If you want to join in the fun, just click on the link above!

Me, I am beginning to pack for my trip to the International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston next week. With talks, demonstrations and classes to teach, I have lots of packing to do!!! The thing I bring the least of is my clothes because my suitcases are filled with quilts but this year I am bringing about 15 Reversible Vests so I am all set. If you will be in Houston, this is my schedule:
Carol’s Houston Schedule Appearances

Friday, Oct. 24
10:30 a.m.Schoolhouse Presentation on Easy Reversible Vests

Saturday, Oct. 25
1 to 2 p.m. In the Martingale & Co. booth

4 to 5 p.m. In the C & T Publishers booth

Sunday, Oct. 26
11:30 to 12:50 In the Checkers Distributors booth

2:30 to 3:30 In the Martingale & Co. booth

Teaching Monday, Tues and Wednesday

Thursday, Oct. 30
2:00 p.m. Meet the Teachers Presentation at Festival

I am going to bring my camera and laptop and hope to make posts from Houston to keep you all up to date!
All the best,
Carol

I just returned from Klamath Falls, Oregon where I lectured and taught a couple of classes. What a fun group of quilters I had the pleasure of meeting. Above Georgie Reed of Klamath Falls, is showing off a wonderful group of Mariner’s Compass Star blocks she had made using a variety of scrap bright fabrics. Georgie is joined on the floor with a few toads.
Georgie came to both workshops with several friends….including the toads! It was really neat for me to see these blocks done in such a festive way.
After seeing the accompanying toads, I had a feeling they inspired the bright colors!
Students worked on both 4″ blocks and miniature blocks. Students are always so surprised when they discover that making minis is really quite easy and lots of fun.
I do try to make the workshops fun….but I don’t often see students with scissors through their heads…gotta love the fun quilters in Klamath Falls!
All the best,
Carol

Yesterday was a sewing day for me!!! I love to spend time in my sewing room, working with fabric and getting lost in the creative process. Northcott Fabrics recently sent me some fabrics from their new Oriental Odyssey collection in two different colorways. Since the focus fabric had the look of a vertical and horizontal patchwork detail, it was perfect for whipping up some new vests. When I started the above vest, I have to admit this was not my favorite colorway, but the finished vest ended up being my favorite!!!
I am definitely more of a teal type of person, so this colorway was perfect for me. I loved the accent colors of the navy and rust.
So, I was on a roll…..I got out the unfinished pieces that I used for the step-by-steps when we shot the DVD and decided to complete the vest. The above vest features a delicate batik on one side and a collection of squares and diagonal strips on the other side. The radiating paper-pieced block offers just a bit of detail.
I loved this focus fabric!!!!! I purchased it while I was away teaching on the New England cruise this summer and I mighty happy I did. Love, love this one and look forward to wearing it on my next trip.

So, have you made your Easy Reversible Vest yet?
All the best,
Carol

Perhaps the reason that Block of the Month projects are so popular with quilters is because they are taking on that elephant one bite at a time. For the past 12 months, I offered a block of the month for the members of the Carol Doak Quilting Group and it was very successful with lots of participation. It was time for me to put on my thinking cap and come up with a new Block of the Month. Several members have requested scenic style blocks, so this new BOM should be a hit with our members. I know it was a hit with Mona from San Diego, because after uploading the first pattern to the group late last night, I woke up to Mona’s wonderful October block. Mona wrote of her block “I just posted a photo of my little tree. Mine became a fall colors tree instead of an apple tree. I bought this great fossil fern fabric ages ago, and have been waiting for something that needed those colors. I only wish trees around here would turn orange. They don’t,they turn brown, and then the leaves fall off. But I’ve been to New
England in October, so I know what I’m missing!” Mona in San Diego
I do live in New England and am anxiously awaiting all the fall color to decorate our world. My block is very different from Mona’s and I look forward to seeing all the member’s blocks and seeing how their world’s are colored. There will be a new scenic block each month for the next 11 months. If you want to join in the fun, please do by clicking on the link above to join our group.
Speaking of fun, a couple of years ago, I taught on a cruise where I had the pleasure of meeting Barbara Wendell. Since then, Barbara has joined me on several other cruises. The picture above was taken on this cruise showing some of the blocks made by the students. But on this cruise, I taught a workshop based upon my book, Simply Sensational 9-Patch Stars. The focus of the workshop was to share all the creative opportunities the foundations in this book offer.
Barbara made the decision then to make lots more blocks after the workshop to create a 9-Patch Star quilt. Well, taking on the one-bite-at-time challenge, Barbara finished her quilt and just sent me a photo of this stunning quilt. Wow, I was impressed!
This close-up shows the exquisite quilting of Barbara’s quilt.
So perhaps, this one-bite-at-a-time might just have a stunning reward for you when you are finished.
Until next time…