This weekend at Quintessential Quilts in Madison, eight tuffets were created by eight exhausted tuffeteers! They sewed throughout Saturday and did their finishing on Sunday. I can't tell you how impressed I am with their work!

I usually love to include lots of action shots, but we were so busy, I didn't get a chance to take many. But I got one!

Are you itching to take a tuffet class? Check out the schedule on my classes page. If you have a shop or guild within a few hours' drive from Madison, I'd be happy to come and teach your group!

I've decided to add some great services, tuffet finishing and custom tuffets. What's the difference, you might ask? 

Well, tuffet finishing service is for when you can sew, but you don't have the tools or desire to build your own tuffet. I'll send you the pattern (if you already have one, just message me and I'll send you a coupon code for the difference) and you sew the top together. Then send it back to me in in a few weeks, you'll have a completed tuffet! It's like magic!

Custom tuffets are for those of you who are non-sewers! You just send me the fabric (or I can provide it) and I'll do all of the work! And YES, this includes necktie tuffets!

Deadlines. I'm terrible without them. To wit: my daughter's teacher gave me a bunch of her sister's  t-shirts to make into a quilt. This was in 2009. I'm mailing it to her today. The quilt has been done for months; it actually spent some time as a sample in one of the shops I teach at (yes, I got permission first). I figured, it was already this late, why rush? Ugh. I know I'm not the only one with this problem, but I hate it.

Anyway, I thought I'd show you some photos! I love doing this style of t-shirt quilt. I think it's much more interesting than the straight set ones.

I have been talking a LOT about tuffets on this blog, but that's really a recent development in my life. I'm about to get heavily into the other "side" of my sewing life, which is making skating dresses. Sadly, these aren't as photogenic in process and will take a long time, not to mention there is a bit of the element of surprise, especially for the skaters. So while you may not see them as much in the next several weeks, they will be happening in the background.

My daughter skates on her own, but her real love is Synchronized Skating. This is the fastest growing skating sport and we are hoping it becomes an Olympic event soon. I'm in the process of making costumes for at least three teams this season. So stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, my daughter skated in a competition this past weekend. The girl she skated against was on her Synchro team last year, and I made this 60s-inspired dress for her a couple of months ago.

And here is my daughter and her dress:

It's been a little while since I've posted but that's because I've been so busy with Quilt Expo! I was lucky enough to be able to give my Rinky Dink class as a one hour lecture all three days. Plus, I spent a lot of time in the Quintessential Quilts booth and was also able to spend some time helping out the friendly faces in the Bungalow Quilting and Yarn booth. I just discovered that Bungalow also has an Etsy shop! Dangerous!

Anyway, we prepared dozens and dozens of tuffet kits for sale through the Quintessential booth. We brought home a lot of them, but I made countless contacts and think that classes will fill up really quickly. Be sure to sign up for a class before it fills!

On to photos!

And now four of my favorite quilts that I saw. Sadly, I didn't even get a chance to see the whole show, I was that busy! First is the whole quilt and then a closeup.

Something else happened at the show, but I'm going to save that for another post.. Stay tuned!

We had some repeat tuffeteers at Quilt-agious in Mukwonago! These ladies are quickly becoming experts. If you've already taken the tuffet class, you can sign up for Tuffet II (or Tuffet Finishing) and do your sewing at home.

On the same day another group finished up our Tula Pink class. We worked on some blocks from her book, 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. We didn't make all 100 blocks, but I have photos of a few!

If you're in the Mukwonago area and are interested in the Tula Pink blocks, Quilt-agoius is starting a club. Give them a call!

I can't believe it -- in just three days, QuiltExpo will be here! I'm going to be giving a lecture based on my Quilting with Less Stress on a RInky Dink Machine class. There is still time to register for the class; in fact, you can even register the day of the show. QuiltExpo is held at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, September 10, 11, and 12. My lecture is held all three days at 1:00 pm. I'll even be having a giveaway of fat quarter bundles courtesy of Quilt-agious in Mukwonago.

Several shops that I teach at will also have booths where you can sign up for tuffet and other classes. And at Quintessential Quilts' booth, I'll be selling tuffet kits at a reduced price!

Speaking of tuffet kits, here's what about 100 of them look like, all stacked up in my guest bedroom:

I am so grateful to my friends and my husband who helped me box all of these up!