Sue Bower - Quilter's Finishing Touch

A client project that I agreed to do in the summer led me to a new way of doing things, and has already become a significant part of my business. I discovered the fascinating world of dye sublimation and am having a ball with it.

It all started because I needed to print a somewhat “challenging” organization logo and apply it to small tote bags, While it printed nicely onto cotton fabric, it would not cut out smoothly to make a patch. What to do, what to do?

I learned that it was possible to print onto a special type of heat transfer vinyl, cut out the artwork, then heat press onto the tote bags. Got that job done (and the client was very happy), then I attended a dye sublimation workshop in Branchburg NJ. I was NOT planning to purchase a mug press (a special curved heat press for, you guessed it, mugs) until I created a mug with a photo of our Kerry Blue Terrier puppy Sally at the tender age of five weeks.

And then the monster came to life. I’ve done almost 100 mugs in a short period of time (as well as other items), and have been approached by several purebred dog clubs about working with them to prepare their awards for upcoming dog shows.

Stay tuned. This is a fascinating art form with which to work!

Who would have thought that showing a Kerry Blue Terrier (Macie) would lead to a new aspect of my quilting business? Check out my home page slideshow, and the Services page on my web site for more info on digital printing of photos to fabric. It’s very cool and I look forward to hitting the ground running in 2019!

Many things have happened since my last post. No, we have not moved again, but we are *still* unpacking and figuring out where everything needs to go. It’s a slow process but we continue to move ahead.

The big news is that, in November, I saw competition information for a Mid-Century Modern category in the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. I decided to make a wall quilt based on a 1960’s romance comic book panel, requested and received permission to use a specific piece of art, and charged ahead. I made the entry deadline, and entered a second show (Machine Quilter’s Exposition–MQX).

The entry was accepted by the juries for both of these shows, and the Mid-Atlantic show is this coming week. Cross your fingers and stay tuned.

In the meantime, the person who gave me permission to use the original art (John Lustig, of Last Kiss Comics) posted an article to his blog. Here’s the link: Dottie’s Lament.

The good news is that business is growing, but in a manageable manner! The bad news is that our beloved Dr. Mac left us to cross the Rainbow Bridge in late August.

Here’s a photo of me with Dr. Mac

Lillie still greets our clients, but her short-term memory is *very* short. She forgets that a visitor is here, barks for no good reason, and then gets embarrassed when she realizes that it’s the same person who has been in another room consulting with me.

I’ve been busily changing the site, ordering new business cards, and setting up my PA sales tax id, and will be good to go effective tomorrow. Still need to contact current customers to give them my new e-mail address but that will happen sometime today or tomorrow.

I’m not going to quote David Bowie or Bob Dylan, but many changes have occurred since the last time I wrote a blog post.

The biggest change is that we have moved out of New Jersey. We are now in Pennsylvania–my original home state. I was born and raised in Western PA, and will always “bleed black and gold” for the Pittsburgh sports teams, but we are now in beautiful Bucks County, not too far from the New Jersey border.

We’re currently in the process of closing the NJ quilting business and setting up as a new business entity in PA. The web site will be re-branded with our new name, and the e-mail addresses will change, but the service and quality of work will stay the same.

I have also been working part time in a wonderful sewing store in New Britain–Byrne Sewing Connection. My main area of expertise is embroidery software, but I’ve become very well versed in sergers and the Brother Scan N Cut, too!

The 23rd annual Going to Bat for B.A.T. dinner was held at the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York on Tuesday, January 24. Let me tell you, MLB puts on one heck of an event!

Imagine the largest wedding reception you have ever attended, and multiply it to equal 110 tables of 12 people, plus the MLB staff, and hotel staff, and event volunteers. Whew! Let it suffice to say that we had a really nice time, although we had to leave early to catch the train to get home.

The silent auction was amazing, and I can state with 100% accuracy that there was only one quilt up for auction 🙂

The quilt sold for $1500, the high bidder was thrilled (if you’re reading this, please contact me–I’d love to know how you plan to use it) and the BAT people are very happy with the money it raised. The project was a success, and I’m glad it worked out as it did!

It’s been more than a month since my last post. Work, holidays, family issues, and a boatload of other things have gotten in the way and the “companion quilts” are not yet done. So they are on my to-do list for the first quarter of 2012, and BAT will still get them in a timely manner.

The “main event” (the BAT dinner) is a little more than two weeks away, and I’m really looking forward to attending it and seeing how this all plays out!

I’m currently pulling together a booklet to accompany the quilt, so that its new owner will have the documented history of how it came to be, and, how to take care of it to preserve it for years to come.

I promised photos of the labels, and here they are. This is the order in which they are attached to the bottom of the quilt.

A photo of the quilt (with me standing next to it) is now posted on BAT’s Facebook page. You can only see the top three rows, because the ceilings weren’t high enough to extend the photographer’s stand to full height. If you want to see the entire quilt, look through the previous posts, or, better yet, come to the Going to bat for BAT dinner in January 🙂

Spent part of the day yesterday taking the train to New York to deliver the quilt in person. It was a beautiful day, albeit a little chilly and rather windy, but that was OK. I had made arrangements to meet with two members of BAT’s operations staff–Erik Nilsen (Manager) and Dominique Correa (Coordinator), and took my portable photographer’s stand to show them how a quilt with a hanging sleeve can be displayed.

They loved it, and told me that BAT has never had an item like this for their annual fundraising event. So now they get to decide how best to present it to maximize its exposure and fundraising potential. They have some ideas, but need to brainstorm a little more.

The “Going to bat for BAT” dinner will be on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan.  Here’s the link to info about the event:

http://web.mlbcommunity.org/programs/baseball_assistance_team.jsp?content=dinner&partnerId=ed-5312883-231829216

I’ll post more details when I have them, but let it suffice to say that I was *very* happy with the reaction to the quilt and I’m enthusiastic about several of the ideas that we discussed.