Thursday 11 September 2014

It's here too!...


The Fall 2014 issue of Quilter's Connection magazine is here!  On the front cover is local pattern designer and free motion quilter, Karen Neary's spectacular New York, New York quilt! ( kind of poignant to be posting on today- Sept 11th ) 

Peeking out from behind those magazine covers is the actual quilt.  That's a really proud feeling for this quilt shop owner.  It's pretty neat to have both these on display together!  Remember, you could win this quilt for $10 on the NS Fibrefest draw in Oct or now....with the magazine, you have the ability to make one like it! 




Friday 5 September 2014

It's here!...

This lovely quilt by local and internationally renowned quilter, Karen Neary, is actually here at Mrs P's! 


It's also the cover quilt of the Fall 2014 Quilter's Connection magazine....meaning that the pattern to create this luscious, New York Beauty quilt is inside.  The magazine is travelling at Canda Post speed towards Mrs P's and hopefully the print copies will be here next week.  If you do not want to wait or do not have access to this great CANADIAN quilting magazine! it can be downloaded from their site. www.quiltersconnection.ca    http://quiltersconnection.ca ( not sure the links will work but you can copy and paste if necessary) 

 
Their magazine cover!  It's so pretty. The coolest part is, Karen has graciously allowed this quilt to be part of the prizes to be awarded in the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival Pin-It draw.  The tickets may be purchased at a variety of fibre places around town ( and yes, Mrs P's has the tickets for sale :) 

The money raised goes back into The FAF ( Fibre Arts Festival) budget.  Tickets are $10 each but you may also win one of 11 other prizes.  The quilt  is one of 2 Grand Prizes!  The other is a trip for 2 to New York City via Showcase Production Tours ( also from Amherst).  You will stay at the Muse Hotel and I think it is tour C-1 that you are on.  www.showcaseproductions.ca and pick the tour, Christmas on Broadway.   Mrs Pugsley's Emporium Inc is very happy to offer this as a prize on the ticket.

 http://www.showcaseproductions.ca/Theatre%20Tours/2014%20Tours%20PDFs/Brochure-Christmas-on-Broadway-2014.pdf

The tour is in recognition of Karen's other project, a new book! It's a book on New York Beauty Blocks and it's cover will look like this...


Mrs P's is hoping to launch this book as part of the FAF 2014 celebrations.  It really depends if the book is back from the printers and it up to the publisher not the author, so we live in hope it will work for FAF. 

I want people to understand, Karen has put a lot of hard work and energy into making all these things happen together to give the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival, this kind of publicity.  Writing a book on any scale is a daunting project, but to make a pattern book and have people actually make your samples and give you imput back to help tweak the pattern for the book and still keep it on track is amazing.  There's also the, 'wow, look what I created', but because you are under contract to the book publisher, you cannot show your work!   To a hugely talented artist as Karen, that had to be the worst part.  

In addition to these accomplishments, Karen had a run on Craftsy.com ( an American based crafting site) where her Rhythmic pattern was the number one seller for a week or more.


You certainly need to be a dedicated business women to create this much hype and deliver! 

Kudos Karen- you have worked hard this past year and hopefully this fall, all that hard work will deliver your book when you want it!  

I'm so looking forward to the fun and creativity in the book!  

Yes, this post is all about singing Karen's praises and recognizing what a moving force she is for both the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival and the quilting world in general.  Awesome! Awesome! 

For more on this proffesional quilt designer and artist, her web site is located at www3.ns.sympatico.ca/sewkaren/

...And her quilt sparked me back to blogging, which I've been terrible at over the summer.  Mrs P's is also on twitter occasionally under @MrsPsAmherst  ...