Hello from Sue!
June 2007
Welcome to my website! Thanks visiting and I hope you enjoy browsing.
A few things to mention first…
- I am very excited to be teaching with my sister Pat Holly for Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California. The dates are August 28-September 2, 2007. This is one of the few opportunities students will have to attend a workshop that both Pat and I will be teaching the machine appliqué techniques from our new book. There are still a few openings, check out the detailed information about this great conference by going to their website: www.emptyspoolsseminars.com Enjoy attending a great workshop in one of the most beautiful areas of our country!
- I am also looking forward to teaching on a cruise to the Mexican Rivera Feb. 5-15, 2008. We will depart out of San Diego aboard the Holland America Line’s ms. Ryndam. I will be teaching along with these wonderful instructors- Mary Sorensen, Nancy Pearson, Cindy Walter and Kimberly Einmo. For more information go to www.quiltcruises.com under the Mexican Rivera Quilt Seminar at Sea… I would love to see you there for this great mid-winter break to quilt and play in the sun!
I am happy to announce “Appliqué Inspirations” a pattern line that Pat and I are designing for JWD Publishing. We will have new patterns available for both spring and fall markets. The first pattern “Ashley’s Flower Basket” was introduced at spring market and is now available for purchase by going to my store. It is the first in a series of flower basket designs that we are naming after our daughters! Look for the next pattern “Jessica’s Flower Basket” due out for Fall Market…
It is a wonderful pattern company, founded by Joen Wolfrom, a leader in the quilt industry. For information on the other designers and patterns available go to www.jwdpublishing.com .
The first part of 2007 has been hectic and I have visited many great places and I have met quilters from around the globe! I always start the year with a quilt retreat at The Icehouse Quilt Shop in Grayling, Michigan. This year students worked on a new machine quilting 
concept called Kaleidoscope Feathers. We are looking forward to next January’s retreat which will be on machine appliqué and students will choose from Ashley or Jessica’s Flower Basket!
I spent time in Florida (Venice and Ocala), Georgia (Atlanta) and Texas (Austin) in late January and early February. I had to cancel a trip in mid-February in Northwest Indiana due to nasty blizzard, but will try again in June! I squeezed in a Sunday in February to teach at home in Ann Arbor for the Viking Sewing Center, a really great quilt shop! That takes me to the trip of a lifetime- Pat and I traveled to Australia where I taught at the Australasian Quilt Conference in Melbourne. It was a fabulous experience and we loved the Aussie quilters! We were treated great, Australian quilt teacher Gloria Loughman hosted us for a few days after the conference and we saw the beautiful coast and then inlandto Gloria’s home. We then enjoyed five days in Sydney, just being tourists and it was beautiful. Go to my travel page for a few photos of this trip. (I will also keep the travel photos from 2006 on the page for you enjoyment!) On the way home Pat and I stopped in Honolulu, Hawaii to teach for the Bernina Shop. We had two days of classes and enjoyed teaching machine techniques to about 40 students each day! Whew!
March, April and May took me to the following cities: Fort Lauderdale, Florida- Ironwood, Michigan- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania- Omaha, Nebraska- Houston, Texas- Denver, Colorado- Lockport, New York and Charleston, West Virginia!!! It was a great winter and spring and I look forward to the summer and fall…
Currently I am booking workshops for 2009 and 2010. I have a few scattered openings in 2008, if you are interested check Sue’s schedule for availability. Please check my workshops page for a list of my workshops and lectures. I am including supply lists for each workshop and photos if available. My biography and fees and requirements page are on the website. I have been using a camera and projector in the classroom for demos and it has been a fabulous teaching aid. Because of this I have a few extra requirements in the classroom, please be sure to read this in the classroom requirements. I am still working on my goal of having my lectures in power point by the end of the year. I will let you all know when this happens! My shopping page has my three books (including the newest “Stitched Raw Edge Appliqué” co-authored with my sister, Pat Holly). It also has some items I use and sell when I am on the road teaching. My thread line- King Tut “Tone on Tones” from Superior Threads is available in a 16 spool set. This is a great thread for both machine quilting and machine appliqué. If you are interested in individual spools or larger quantities go to www.Superiorthreads.com.
Please visit my Gallery of Quilts page which features a sampling of my quilts. I have included information about our award winning “The Beatles Quilt” and “The Space Quilt” as I am often asked to explain the details of these collaborative quilts. I am working on my goal of creating new quilts in 2007, so look for these soon!
My family is doing great! Our beautiful yellow lab, Rubi, is still the best dog ever. I hope to see you on the road this year, doing what I love to do- teaching machine quilting and machine appliqué. Thank you for visiting my website and please come back soon…
Fondly,
Sue Nickels
I am proud to be participating in the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, a program raising awareness and funding research for Alzheimer's disease. It has two parts: a traveling art quilt exhibit interpreting Alzheimer's in fiber art that will tour the U.S. for three years, and an on-going sale of small art quilts. All proceeds will go to Alzheimer's research. www.AlzQuilts.org
