Where have I been?

Roxy says we've just been hanging around! Silly dog! Life is easy for a dog in our house! Can't say she's been working too terribly hard!! I can't believe it's been a month since I posted! Wasn't it just Thanksgiving yesterday? Good Grief! Well, Thanksgiving was a nice quiet holiday for us and even though it was the 2 of us plus the dogs, we had a big turkey and all the fixins! It was really a very relaxing restful day, and I haven't seen one since!! The very next day it was time to decorate and get back to work! But we enjoyed it while it lasted. Christmas is now definitely upon us and we are getting ready to leave for the kids homes in Sacramento by this weekend. Yes, dogs and all. Sadly though, we won't have Cindy with us anymore. She was not doing well, and it was time to stop her suffering. We will miss her, as we had her for almost 16 years. She lived a long happy life, and now Roxy and Peanut will have to do their best to help us heal.
In case you haven't found this issue on the news stands yet, my Geisha Palace quilt was featured in the Feb/Mar 2010 issue of Quilt Magazine! You can find it on page 30. This quilt is really fairly easy to do. A couple of templates, but they are large so it is easy to put together. The fabric is Memoirs of a Geisha by Benartex.

I've had some requests to put pics on my blog that show different colorways of the Spiral Tree Skirt. So here you go, this is from a class I taught last month at Quiltique in Henderson, NV.

This is a 3 hr class, and as you can see, the students are making great progress in a hurry. In no particular order, you can see Sarah, Karan, Chelsea, Cindy, Jan and Patti, Dixie and Margaret! Beautiful girls!!

We have a Winner!

Drum roll please! You all had a great chance to win this giveaway! I put your names in a basket, closed my eyes and drew one! Congrats to Sherri, of A Quilting Life, you have won the giveaway for a new Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine! Sherri, send me an email with your address so I can ship it out to you! Thanks for all who participated. I really appreciate your comments and hope you do enjoy the magazine, even if you have to go out and buy one!!! It has lots of great blocks in it to inspire some wonderful new quilt designs.

Today is Shop Hop in Vegas, so the girls and I are going to be all over town today, checking out the shops and of course finding a great lunch somewhere!! Eating is a top priority after all! I'll fill you all in on how it goes, and all the great new finds! Sherrie, since you live fairly close by, maybe you are coming into town for Shop Hop too! That would be fun. Just look for the crazy bunch of ladies who laugh too much!!

Have a great day everyone---and keep quilting!

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks! Giveaway too!

Check this out! Quiltmaker has come up with an ingenious magazine issue with 100 blocks from todays top designers! This is a collectors edition issue. Here is the link to find out more about this magazine--http://www.quiltmaker.com/100blocks . Follow the 100 Blocks Blog Tour daily from now until November 13th at quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures for inspiration, ideas and giveaways galore! Look for 100 Blocks from Today's Top Designers in your local quilt shop, or purchase it at www.quiltmaker.com/100blocks. I feel so fortunate to be asked to participate along with other designers to make my own block which I call the Star Crossover block you see above. This block works well as a secondary design when set side by side in rows. Use any colorway you choose. This block was made from the line called "Sophie" by P&B Textiles! Make a comment on my blog and be eligible to win a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks! The winner will be chosen by Thursday, November 12th, so tell your friends. If you are quick you might win! The winner will be chosen at random. But even better, keep visiting www.quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures for new links and more prizes each day until the 13th! And don't forget to keep quilting!

I love Fall

I just love fall. The crispness in the air, the cooler days and evenings, you can almost smell Fall!!
In the latest Fabric Trends Fall issue, they are showing off my Radiant Poppies design, from the Flower Show 3 line by Benartex. Unfortunately, there is a mistake on the measurements for the corner blocks only, and it didn't get caught before the magazine ran the issue. They have the correction posted on their website, and just so you know, the corner squares are cut 10 1/2", not 12 1/2", and the same for the little borders on the corner squares. So please make sure you change that part on the pattern if you decide to make the quilt!! I guess it had to happen sometime, but I just hate having mistakes in the pattern!!!

Here are a couple of quilts that went to Houston Market this year, this one is called Snow Days by P&B Textiles.

This next one is the finished quilt for P&B Textiles line called Elizabeth Anne by Alex Anderson. I call the quilt Sherbert Showcases. I still have a Block of the Month coming out with Benartex soon, and I'll update some pics for it as it starts to arrive. Maybe a quilt shop near you will carry it!!

It is nice that market is over, and I've been working hard on a class at college trying to learn Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It's an art class actually, and I'm really enjoying it. But there is so much to learn, I'm going to have to practice, practice, practice.

Last week when California got the big rain storm we didn't get a drop, but the clouds really came in and gave us some beautiful sunsets. This is one of my favorites. You can really see the rays coming through.

So in the spirit of Fall, I thought I'd share just a few of my favorite things, collected, or painted by me a long time ago, and a quilt to boot. After the long hot summer, I am so happy to see Fall here, and know that it won't be long before we see the kids and grandkids for Christmas. Oopps, I guess I said that way too early. Are we ever really ready for Christmas?

At least now I'll just keep on sewing, quilting, painting and try to enjoy the season. Maybe I can even keep up on my blog!!!! Have missed you all and it's nice to be back.

Until later, keep quilting!!

Market is right around the corner!

Time is going faster than ever, and this year Houston Quilt Market is two weeks closer!! I have a few sneak peaks of some quilts that willl be hanging at market this year.

This one is ready for the longarm machine right now. A BOM for Benartex, soon to be made out of a new line by Nancy Halvorsen called Tried and True. This photo is a sample for show before the new line arrives.

Alex Anderson's new line by P&B Textiles. This block shows off the large print. These colors are so beautiful!!

One of the blocks in the BOM

There was a great side trip 2 weeks ago, even at Market time I can't miss out on the yearly Loa retreat by Marsha Chappell. It was nice to get away from the Vegas heat and enjoy some rain and thunderclouds in this tiny little town of Loa, Utah.

The trees were starting to turn color in the higher country.
You can see the yellow and gold high on the mountains.

This is part of our group ready to unload all the "stuff" we need to sew to our hearts content.

Becky and Kelly are just hating life. You can see some of the quilts coming to life in the background as we start laying blocks on the design walls.

Janet is working hard too, see that intense face?

More quilts coming together.

All the quilts looked so different, it was a really fun project.

This is my quilt, still needing a few more vertical seams to be sewn.

After all the fun, it was back to work when we got home, and the midnight oil is burning.

Soon market will be behind us, and I'll be able to get out the fall decorations and recover my dining room chairs! Maybe even make a quilt or two just because!!

Until I can get back, keep quilting!

Surprise Cover of Fons and Porter!

Well I had some really exciting news last week! I had no idea, but my Country Sunflowers quilt, made from the Farmyard Toile line by Benartex, made the Fons and Porter Cover!!!! It's my first magazine cover, and I was thrilled. It's not a hard quilt to do at all, and the appliqued sunflowers are very easy. So I hope that some of you get to see it!

It has been a crazy busy couple of weeks, with market fabrics coming in and I am now also a new college student! So my time is really getting filled up with work and learning, and sewing and quilting! I'm so excited to be taking a class in digital imaging, which will really help me in my business of pattern making. I have huge goals but it is always many baby steps to get there. I just keep plugging along, and I know with time and much effort, I will get there!

I just had to share with you a beautiful quilt that one of my customers, Kimberly made, and I got it finished for her on the longarm recently. This is one of my favorite patterns called Cottage Garden by Alma Allen from the Quilting in the Garden book that came out a couple of years ago. I love the colorway that Kimberly chose.

I believe she took this quilt class at Darlene Finney's company workshop, Quilters Quarters, in Henderson. One of the teachers, Eileen Hersley is fabulous when it comes to applique.

More exciting news! I have worked for several years, first as an employee, and then later as a teacher on occasion for a store in Henderson called Quiltique. It is a beautiful shop here in town and they made it to the Fall 2009 issue of Quilt Sampler magazine. Congrats to them!!! Since I am now in the business of designing, they asked me if I would work up a design for their quilt featured in the magazine.

Soooo, I said yes, and the results are this new "Out of the Box Argile" quilt made with very contemporary fabrics and colors which is so characteristic of the store!
We all got to pose for a store photo. The owners of Quiltique, the Tibesars, Jennifer, her Mother and Father, Jan and Bob, and sister Kara are in the foreground, from center to the right. I am on the front left, and the rest of the employees and teachers are all there, except for Kay McCain, manager of Bernina who was out of town. Sadly, Karen in the pink passed away unexpectedly last month after the photo was taken. She will be sorely missed.

Here is a picture of the quilt. Check it out when you get the chance!! It would be really nice in traditional fabrics too.

Last weekend I did manage to get away with a few friends for some relaxation (I know, at Market time, am I crazy?) at my friend Kelly's cabin in Utah, and this year we had new wildlife to enjoy. Thought you might really get a kick out of the family of chipmunks that came to feed on the porch. We started with seeds and nuts, and before long they were nibbling on watermelon rind and all kinds of goodies to fatten themselves up for the winter!!! Check out Mr. Cool and Casual, laying all stretched out while the others fed themselves. He looked just like my dog Roxy when she stretches out on the kitchen tile floor when its hot outside! He's a real mess! LOL!!!

It was a great weekend out of the smoke from the Calif fires and time to recharge my batteries for the weeks ahead. I will soon have some sneak peaks for you to see on my Houston quilt market projects.
I'll try to get back soon, you know if you don't hear from me right away I am busy sewing and quilting like crazy to meet deadlines! Until then, keep quilting!

Alex Anderson saw my quilts!!!!

I just learned some exciting news this morning. Alex Anderson, famous quilter, designer, Quilt Show host and author of many books like the one to the left, has been video taping P&B Textiles to help us learn more about fabric production and design. The latest video, at this link: http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog_video.php?video=pbtextiles12.html has 2 of my quilts in the video and Julie Scribner, who I work with at P&B tells the world that I made them! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that! I'm just so excited and wanted to share this with you. You do have watch the video for a few minutes before Julie starts to show many beautiful quilts they have hanging on the walls. So I hope you look into http://www.thequiltshow.com/ with Alexanderson and Ricky Timms because they have so many great things to share, teach, and help us all become more creative with what the good Lord gave us. The video was posted on Aug 11, part 12 of the tour of P&B Textiles, and is located on their daily blog.

So now, I have to come back down to earth and get busy sewing! You just never know what the day may bring! Like Alex's book says, Keep Quilting!

Christmas in August and spring flowers too!

It's that time of year again, time to teach the spiral tree skirt project! This has been my most popular class and they are fast and easy to make, with no need to match any points or seams! It uses a 9 or 10 degree wedge ruler and is completely made from strip sets! I have the patterns available for $9 each if anyone wants to order, just send me an email! Or leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

I had to make one more change to my sewing room, and that was to be able to actually REACH the design wall! So I moved a quilt and put it on a different wall and I love it. It is so much easier to get to!

I have been longarming like crazy lately and had to share this one quilt made by my customer Kimberly. It was such a detailed and beautiful pattern, all made with civil war fabrics. So of course I had to quilt each block differently!!

Here is just one of the 9 inch blocks in the quilt.

This pattern is called Golden Memories by Lori Smith.

And here is the quilt on the longarm. It was a beautiful quilt, now I want to make one too! hmmm, I wonder when I will get around to that! So many things on my list!

Just had to share some of the beautiful flowers I'm getting this year. I mean, for the middle of August, they are usually spent, and very droopy from the heat. But it's been a good years so far for plants, and they seem to be hanging in there.

I'm really glad too, because I just love flowers.

Even the African violets in the house are happy.

The monsoons were definitely here in August. So the rain has really helped. Nothing better than a good afternoon rain on a hot day.

Be back soon, until then, keep quilting!