It's a Birthday Month!



John and I on our honeymoon 18 1/2 yrs ago!!


Happy Birthday to my husband John, my son Mike and my stepdaughter Christy! I'm so proud of you all and thankful for you in my life!

And what a birthday month it is!  Someone is turning the Big 4-0 this year, and I don't think it's my husband!!! lol!!  We are celebrating with a fun poker/birthday party on Friday night for John. 





My son Mike, and his lovely bride Deanna


Mike has the best birthday present of all- a new baby is on the way, due the end of June.  Grandma can't wait!!

Christy and my oldest grandson Justin!

 And my beautiful stepdaughter, Christy, who gave me my first 4 grandchildren has a great day planned with friends and a fun trip.
Congrats to all of you!!  Wish I could be with ALL of you! 


I've also been working hard on new quilts and new fabrics not yet out in the stores.  They are pretty cool lines and I'm having a ball working with them.  Here are just a couple of sneak peaks!!

This is a Benartex line called Floralicious and the colors are so much fun, I just had to make a fun design with butterfly appliques and easy blocks in a horizontal row setting.  It goes on the long arm machine today!

This is a new quilt I designed using the House and Home fabrics by Benartex.  You can tell that spring is what we are working on now!  One way to beat those wintertime blues!!  I'm honing up my longarm skills and really enjoying a new way to fill in the background of appliques. 

It's a fun line, with a border print.  I have more coming so stay tuned for the next two quilts going out this week.  Never a dull moment here at Peddlecar Quilts!!  Enjoy your week, and keep quilting!!!

Maggie's Medallion quilt in Mc Call's Quick Quilts Magazine!

The newest McCall's Quick Quilts magazine just came out with my Maggie's Medallion quilt in it to share with everyone.  This is a flannel quilt, made from an RJR Fabrics line called Sutton Hill. 

Like the magazine says, this is a pretty easy quilt to make.  It's all large half square triangles, with the added trim of a pink strip across the diagonal seams on part of the blocks to emphasize the on point  look. It's a pretty good size, measuring 85 1/2" x 85 1/2".

I'm working on some new lines for Benartex right now called House and Home, Floralicious, Rural Jardin, and Berkley Square.  I'll have more to share soon with those lines as the tops get finished and ready for the longarm.

Well I can't go further without mentioning the beautiful weather we have been having here in Vegas!  We hit a record high this week of 74 degrees!  Which has been kind of a shock after the snow we had just a few short weeks ago!

I couldn't resist the temptation to get outside and prune more plants, clean up the back yard and take the dogs for some really nice walks.   The weatherman says we are soon to drop about 20 degrees so I guess we have to enjoy it while we can!! lol! And speaking of cold weather, I know we don't come close to comparing with the rest of the country's cold weather this year, but it really puts me in the mood for baking goodies, cooking soup and getting out my favorite books, like Pillars of the Earth and the book I just finished, World Without End, by Ken Follett.  He is such a great storyteller and has a way of bringing his characters full circle.   Not to mention the research he has done to support his story lines during medival times in the 1200-1300's.  So facinating and educational to boot!

I highly recommend these great novels.  They weren't to the point of making quilts in those days, but they did make a beautiful scarlet colored cloth, so I'm sure that quilts were to be in the distant future!  lol!

I'll have much more to share by next week as my projects progress, and I'll be back with you then, so until next week, keep quilting!!!

Fons and Porters Easy Quilts Spring 2011

I got a real surprise in the mail the other day. It was two copies of the new Fons and Porter's Easy Quilts magazine for Spring 2011.  My quilt was on the cover!!  I knew it would be in an issue at some point and time, but I wasn't expecting the cover!  This is exciting I thought!  Then I started to thumb through the pages and found two more quilts I had made last fall.  Now this is really exciting!!

The cover quilt is called Rainbow Hippy, and is made from the Flower Power Line, by RJR Fabrics.  Here is a computer image of the design.  It is a flip and sew method that is much easier than it looks. After sewing the strips into certain combinations, you sew them in a certain order on a foundation paper--(NO not foundation piecing)
and flip and press the strips as you go.  Then trim the whole block and it's done!  Sew blocks together and you're done.  This is also a great pattern for all those leftover scraps.  The strips are all 1 3/4" wide. But be creative too--you can make strips any size you want and do a clever version of this quilt.

The next one is Prairie Flowers , a line by Benartex.  I didn't realize this would make the Easy Quilts magazine, as I didn't think it was so easy!  But really when I think about it, the pattern is easy--it just has a lot of pieces so it takes time.  The title didn't say Quick and Easy!  LOL!!

Then I found a great EASY quilt that I had made last year (it sounds so long ago!). It is called Brooklyn Blues or Brooklyn Heights if you go by the fabric line name by Benartex.   It looks like Fons and Porter is now giving bonus patterns online, and this is one they will have on their website soon.  You just click on the Bonus Quilt Patterns button and it should be there for you to download free!!  Keep checking, as the magazine is not yet on the stands, nor posted on the website just yet!!

So I can hardly believe that I have been so good as to come back and post in exactly one week!  I intend to keep this up, (it is my resolution you know) and I'm really appreciative of all of you that have not given up on me in the past few months.  I'm working on my time management skills and posting more tasks on my lists to make sure I get everything done without a stress headache!!

I wanted to also share some great sunsets we have had in the last couple of weeks.  Winter is out best time ever for sunsets, and luckily for us, our large back windows stare right out at the western sky.

This was the first pic I took that evening, right off the back patio, and then as the sun went further down, I got the beautiful reds I love so much.

Well, as promised, I will be back next week!  Have a great week and Keep Quilting!!

P. S. Let me know if you like my new Logo! 

Happy New Year! I'm going to be a new Grandma!!!!

The best news ever came to me while I was at the cabin with my friends.  My son called by conference call with his lovely bride and my husband on the line to inform us that we were going to be Grandparents in June!   I was so excited it made me cry.  I am overjoyed and so happy for them.  We won't know the sex of the baby until Feb and then Grandma will be very busy collecting baby things!!  What fun this will be and I can hardly wait.
Heres a pic of the lovely parents!
What wonderful parents they will be!!!  I'm so excited!!!

I was shocked when I saw how long it had been since I last posted.  It was just before Market and the days have been spinning by ever since!!  One of my New Years Resolutions is to post at least once a week.  I've never had as busy a year as 2010 and for awhile there it was all I could do just to keep up with the workload, the holidays, and having friends and family with us which was so much fun!

I have so much to share with you all and will do my best to not bombard you all at once!!  I have had quilts in several magazines recently, and started a personal project by Leanne Beasley called Leanne's House.  Four of my best friends are working on this Block of the Month project with me and we are having a great time.  Everyone is going at their own pace, and one is learning how to do stitchery!  Here's my first blocks so far.  I haven't finished the stitchery part yet, but I'm well on my way!  This is so much fun and very relaxing having something to do in my chair in the evenings. 

I wanted to share my latest magazine issues with you also, as I made cover for Fons and Porter' Jan/Feb issue!  What a great way to start the year!
This quilt is called Interlocking Stars and I've been getting wonderful response from quilters.  I am so blessed and grateful for this business in my life!  Fons and Porter also featured me in their Best of for the year of 2010.  It features my Country Sunflowers quilt from last year.  I was thrilled!
Below is the Country Sunflowers quilt they show.

Country Sunflowers quilt

Finally, I have a new "cyber image" in the latest Fabric Trends magazine Winter 2011 for a special issue showing only computerized images instead of the real quilt! I designed this Moonflower image from RJR's Thimbleberries line.

I have a few pics to share with you from Market.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas and have gotten through the crazy winter weather the country has been enduring without too much hassel.  I will be back on a weekly basis or sooner--I have so much upcoming news to share and I want to keep my resolution!!! Happy Quilting!



Me and the Interlocking Stars quilt at the booth in Houston!



Floral Fancies quilt at the Benartex booth in Houston

Prospect Park for Benartex at Houston

Scarlet Story for Benartex

Habitat for Benartex

A is for Annabell from RJR