December is winding down fast along with the special discount to the Mystery Quilt Club and FiberBytes Magazine. The Quilt Club includes lots of perks including discounts for quilting services, half price for archived patterns, 6-8 mysteries this year, a BOM for 2013 and more. Part 1 of the first mystery will be posted soon. And, we have so much planned for FiberBytes we're sure you won't want to miss a thing. View the current issue at http://www.fiberbytes.com/menu.html to see what it's like. Go to http://www.anilee.net/huntspecial.html to join.

Til next time.

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays as the case may be.

Lee

With the exception of the patterns (available to subscribers only), the FiberBytes publication is now free for viewing starting with the December issue.

We'd like to invite you and your friends to check out the new FiberBytes digital publication at http://www.fiberbytes.com/menu.html.

If you like what you see and wish to subscribe, we are offering a special until Dec. 30, 2012. Just visit http://www.anilee.net/huntspecial.html .

The offer also includes a special to join the new 2013 Mystery Quilt Club.



We hope you'll join us for the fun.

Lee

After visiting Facebook this morning, I have decided to stay away today. I realize there are going to be both happy and sad voters but, being a poor loser or a gloating winner is not going to make things better. It will only antagonise and create more hard feelings between the parties. So, being the peacemaker I try to be, I will be the first to step up on the fence post and try to work with both parties. I guess you call us fence sitters.

If we look back at the last four years, regardless of who you voted for, it seems that some of the problems we have now stem from lack of cooperation among our leaders. I could be wrong of course but, I would like to believe that things might not be quite as bad if there was more cooperation to work things out rather than dropping everything just because they can't get along.

I learned during this past round of campaigning (if the TV ads are true) that many of our representatives wouldn't attend meetings or even vote on things. How is that going to help make things better. If they had at least shown up and discussed things and added input, maybe negotiations could have been reached to make things a little better.

We also have to take into account that this former office had several natural disasters (i.e. tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, etc.) across the country that money was given to help out that also contributed to the debt.

I don't disagree that frivolous spending needs to be halted but, I do think that our record of pointing fingers and blaming the last few years has done nothing to improve our situation. If democrats and republicans could learn to work together better this time around, maybe we can make this country great again.

Now, it's JMHO but, I think we should get back to quilting!

I am quilting the submission quilt today so I can bind and ship by Sat. As I was making it, I found it to be a little on the boring side so I added another fabric.

(this one)

I now have the two dark greens and two light tans mixed together. It has a sort of watercolor feel to it and I think it turned out quite nice. It isn't one of your bright flashy quilts. It has a soft, quiet feel - something to cuddle in. I will be excited to post a picture next spring when the issue comes out.

If you want to have a great day, pull out some quilting, play a cd or dvd and stay away from the TV and radio.

Here are the fabrics for my next submission quilt that I will be working on to get done in the next 8 days. Many thanks to Robert Kaufmann for the beautiful fabric. I am very anxioius to see how this one turns out. Sorry, but you have to wait till next spring when it's published. I will post the pic then for you to see.

Off to work on it. Have a great quilting day everyone!

Hello Quilters,

I was excited to get my quilt back from Quilter's World that was featured in their "Simply Solids" publication. I hope some of you will drop by and get one. Here is a peek at my quilt...

Every Which Way

Here is the link to get the book containing 12 great projects.

http://www.annieswsl.com/quilting/bed_quilts/

I am currently working on another submission. Robert Kaufman was kind enough to supply the fabric for this one. I will post more in the spring when the publication comes out.

Till next time,

Happy Quilting!

Cleaning House

I have lots of books for sale. Mostly quilting and a few patterns for half or
less than half of retail. Most are in mint to like new condition.

Prices do not include shipping. I will ship as cheaply as I can. PayPal
preferred.

Email what you are interested in along with your address and I will quote a
shipping price. If price is agreeable, I will send a PayPal money request.

Visit http://www.anilee.net/books.html for a list of the items I have for sale.
Click on any title and it will take you to a picture of the book cover/pattern.

Thanks for looking.

Lee of AniLee
located in WI

July is up and running

The July issue of FiberBytes was posted a few days ago. I waited till now to post so that everyone didn't try to access it all at once. As with everything on the net, too many users at one time can create some glitches.

It has come to my attention that some of you are finding load time is a problem. I am in contact with the software company and we are trying to figure out why load time is taking so long so we can fix it.

The .pdf link is also given if you find loading the magazine program difficult. I will keep you posted to progress trying to get this issue fixed.

Some non-subscribers have also emailed asking to know what is in the magazine before subscribing? I am working on the website and will soon have a short description with each issue of what can be found in that issue. Hopefully this will help you make the decision to subscribe or not.

I will also be sellling off a huge amount of quilt books for half price or less. The list along with links to the picture of the book will be listed on site. This will probably happen in a couple weeks as there are a lot of books to get listed. I will post and let you know when the list is ready and how to get to it.

Well, I have a busy day ahead of me so I best get to it. I hope you enjoy the new issue of FiberBytes.

Be sure to let us know if there is something in particular you would like us to include in a future issue.

Lee of AniLee

The June issue of FiberBytes was fun to create. I hope you enjoy the site we share about quilting with Dad's ties. The quilts you will see are a great ways to get ideas for creating your own Dad's tie quilt.

We also introduced Meladora who offers fun crochet patterns as well as finished items you can also purchase.

I also asked my friend Nancy to share her Trout quilt story with us. In honor of Dad's Day, I thought it would be a fun story to share with you.

Last but, not least, are the regular articles you find each month. The Alpha-Dorable's are still keeping busy and Carol and Paul Streif are entertaining as usual.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Betty of Betty's Bytes. Her schedule has gotten so busy she is unable to maintain a monthly column. You can still see what Betty's up to and contact her through her site at http://www.bettyalofs.com . Our best wishes go out to her in her new endeavors.

Visit http://www.fiberbytes.com/menu.html to log in or purchase the issue or membership.

Till next time, Happy Quilting!

Inviting quilters to join me for my workshop Aug. 1 at MQToday in Oconomowoc WI http://www.mqtoday.com/classes/main/301.html . I have been adding more things to offer in the class as well as lots of quilting tips and hints I want to share with you. Door Prizes are planned so get registered for a fun day of quilting know how.

April FiberBytes

So far this has been an amazingly busy month and due to a long for me illness this winter I am very behind in my quilting. I rarely get sick but, I managed to pick up some kind of bug that knocked me for a loop. It took almost two week to get rid of the durn bug and another few weeks to recoop back to normal.

 

As you can imagine, I am very busy now trying to catch up and meet all the quilting deadlines I need to meet. On top of the quilting, I had a special exhibit to finish for MQX East and West and a spring quilt show to help organize and present as well as a four day retreat that just finished up. The retreat was a much needed thing as it allowed me the extra R&R I needed to be able to continue with a very busy schedule.

 

There are several graduation and wedding quilts to get done yet this month and then to market in May. I have wanted to go to market much of my quilting career and am finally able to do that this year. I will be attending Spring Market in KS and am really looking forward to it. I will also take some time to hop across the river to attend the MQS show in Overland Park. If you haven’t attended MQS I would highly recommend it. Besides a wonderful showing of quilts, they have many informative classes and they put on a heck of a banquet on Friday night (visit their site at http://www.mqsshow.org/).

 

Before I leave you this month I would like to share a little about the April Issue of FiberBytes (www.fiberbytes.com). The featured guest this month is Jim Simons who started the upper Midwest quilt show in Milwaukee a couple years back. This year the Milwaukee show has been moved to Oconomowoc and renamed MQToday (visit their site at www.mqtoday) for information and details about the show. Jim is working hard to offer a large scale quilt show here in the Midwest for those who are unable to travel to the far away shows. If you haven’t attended, you might want to consider putting it on your list for 2012. There are many wonderful teachers that will be offering some great classes you should check out.

 

I will be teaching an all day workshop on Wed. and would love to have you join me. I will be teaching bread and butter ways to quilt applique quilts, hexagon quilts and borders. I will also talk about pantograph quilting and binding on the longarm. There will also be lots of hints, tips and shortcuts that I use discussed as well.

 

Till next time, Happy Quilting!

 

Lee of AniLee

www.anilee.com

www.fiberbytes.com

Frixion - Miracle Tool Warning

I was introduced to Frixion pens at a quilt show in Wa. a couple years ago and started using them. I have since had some bad experiences I thought were worthy of a warning to quilters using this tool. I am not going to tell you not to use them. I still do but, I am more careful as to where and when.

If you quilt for yourself it isn't as much of a problem but, if you quilt for customers, you do need to tell the customer if you use it to do marking on their quilt. In one of those bad instances I used one on a customer quilt that she picked up in Jan. Apparently it was kept in a place that was cold enough for the lines to return by the time she got around to taking it out of the bag. I can imagine her horror when she found the black lines all over her quilt.

She decided to wash it right away instead of calling me. Of course, she washed it in cold water so, the lines did not go away. She then called me and I had her come over. We tested and the lines did iron out again. I told her to take it home and place it in her freezer or somewhere very cold for 24 hours to make sure they didn't come back. Fortunately, when I talked with her again, all seemed to be ok.

I have to say that I was lucky in that instance but, I have not used them on customer quilts since unless they are also good friends and I ask them first.

In another recent incident, some friends were helping me make quilts for a special exhibit (we are in the north so it was cold when we were making them). One of my friends used the markers and ironed them away. Then held the piece up to a window to try and trace something she missed. The cold just from the window made the lines come back. She then washed the quilts in hot/warm water in hopes to remove the lines permanently. Hopefully that is the end of the lines but, until it gets very cold again, we won't really know.

I think those who want to use these marking tools need to be aware and very careful. Another instance to be very careful would be something you are entering in a quilt show exhibit. If the quilt were to get cold enough (think about the cargo bay of an airplane that gets very cold) or, shipping to a show late in the year when it's cold, even placed too close to air conditioning or in a very cold room, the lines could possibly return and I'm sure the judges would just pass it by.

My suggestion as with all marking tools is to test, test, test and then still be careful. I myself did run tests when I first found them and all seemed ok. However, each time I freezer tested the lines got fainter sometimes taking several ironings to remove completely. Over time now, it looks like different fabrics can react differently so you need to be careful. I am even finding that their are variations of outcome due to the color of ink you are using.

I would also suggest that you visit and read another warning at http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/warning-frixion-pens-t108544.html .

Bottom line, BE VERY CAREFUL! You don't want lines appearing on your masterpiece every time it gets cold.