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!

Oh the Sunsets!!

Living in the desert has it advantages. Sure, it's HOT this time of year, but oh those sunsets! Monsoon season is here, and last night we were out on the back patio watching the thunderstorms roll in, with lightning across the sky and the thunder rumbling. It rained for a good 20 minutes and it really smelled so good. We get so little rain here that I so enjoy the storms when we have them.
The last couple of weeks the sunsets have been so beautiful. Golds, pinks, crimson. I ought to make a quilt out of all these colors!!
You just had to watch as the sun went down because every few minutes the sky changed.

I took these pictures right out of my own backyard!
I wanted to thank all of you who wrote in about what you do with your quilts. It was fun to hear how you use them, and if you wash them. I started a batik quilt for a client, and I have to admit that I ALWAYS wash and rinse the batik fabrics because they never fail to run. But thanks again, it was fun to hear from you!!

So these last few days I've been a little busy with a bit of everything. I decided to go through my tons of old magazines to save the patterns I really want to keep, and have filled a binder or two. I've also been working on my applique blocks, and this one here still needs a 3 dimensional butterfly, but I'm not so sure I'm going to put him on! The background borders you see here are from the block underneath, and I still have to sew the borders on this one too. What else have I been up to? Well, I just couldn't resist another painting job. My husband learned a long time ago

to leave me the painting! I love to paint, but I must admit I was sore the next day! Just couldn't take those beige walls any longer. I tried, but I just didn't last. Had to have some color in the room to warm it up! This is a quilt I finished longarming recently.

I've been working also on last year's BOM that I love. Here they are on the design wall. Now mind you, I have absolutely no green in my house, but I love this quilt. It is a Marti Michelle template quilt called Hidden Stars, and I finally finished it!! I'm still in shock. A quilt done for me, imagine that! Now to get it in line for longarming sometime this year.

My sweet daughter knows me so well. Here is my birthday present, and who can resist a stack of layer cake and jelly rolls and charm packs by Moda? I started digging around my stash to find another set very similar that I'm going to combine with these fabrics and start my sampler quilt from the Elm Creek series. The blocks are 6 inches. I haven't decided which format to use yet, but I think these fabrics will be so perfect!! I'm a lucky Mom for sure. Tomorrow will be a busy day, longarming and cutting out another project. Houston Market will be in full swing before we know it, and the new

projects are already starting to roll in. In the meantime, I'm going to keep working on that UFO pile!!

Until next time, keep quilting.

What do you do with your quilts?

I was just browsing my favorite blogs when I came across "Sisters Choice Quilts" (you can find the link on the right) and she was talking about how to store and use quilts, how to wash them and whether or not to prewash your fabrics! Check out her site, she has some great information there. She lays her quilts on all the furniture and beds, (imagine that!) and I tend to hang my quilts all over the house!!! So I thought I would share with you how I use my quilts so that I can enjoy them as much as possible in our home. I have yet to finish a quilt big enough for my bed, but it is in the making. I, like her, have little dogs, and I always worry that they might tear one of my quilts! I guess that must mean I like my quilts better than my furniture! LOL!!! I have one exception, and that is these two older wedding ring quilts that are in pretty bad shape, and I let the dogs lay on these when I am sewing. I love this couch now in my sewing room. It is a cozy place to stop and relax, read a book, or just have a nap with Roxy and Peanut by my side. The design wall is above the couch, which isn't terribly easy to get to, but it's the only spot I have, and I can't get along without a design wall!

I try to make sure that my quilts don't hang in direct sunlight at any time, and I do move them around as the seasons change. In fact, I love quilts with a seasonal theme just for that reason!! Another wall in the sewing room. Here is a 4th of July wall hanging.

I just love color, and I'm a contemporary enthusiast as well as loving the traditional quilts. This one is so easy, and a free pattern for the Kona Cottons. If you look down the hall to the front door, you can barely see another quilt hanging from a rod, using two curtain tiebacks turned vertically so the rod can hang on the "hook". This makes it really easy to switch out the different quilts. Again, those Kona cottons. I did this a long time ago, making Amish blocks, and framing them to hang above my kitchen cupboards! I have 2 more to make, and finding a 12" square frame is not easy. I just cut the mats down on the inside to fit the 9" blocks.

There is a machine embroidered quilt in the bedroom. I'm now in the process of finding a quilt that better suits the space. Too much of it hangs behind the headboard.

In the longarm room, I love hanging quilts to inspire my quilting and I just love looking at them!

I painted two walls last week in this aqua/greyblue historic color and I really like the warmth it gave to the room. I might still attempt the other walls!

So the question is, what do you do with your quilts? Besides giving them as gifts, which I think every quilter does!! Do you prewash your fabrics? Do you throw your quilts in the washing machines? Do you really USE your quilts? Write and let me know! I love sharing information!

Until then, keep quilting!!

Congratulations to Mike and Deanna!

Yes, I know, I have been missing in action for awhile now. Not that I had that much to do for my son's wedding, really, but oh the anticipation! We went to the mountains above Lake Isabella, CA., where I raised my kids, and my son and his beautiful fiance, Deanna were married under the pine trees on a beautiful, even if a little bit cold, day! Here is the happy couple right after the ceremony. We are so happy for them. It has been a long road to each other, being separated for 10 years before they found one another again, and I don't think anyone had a happier face that day than the two of them!!

I loved their cake, it was so darn cute. Her colors were black and white and the cake was adorable, and very good!!!

The wedding party together, down the hill. It was so much fun for my husband and I to see and visit all the kids that use to hang out at our home when they were young, and raz some of them about raiding the refrigerator in those days!! Deanna was so beautiful, and oh that dress!!

My husband and I with Mike.

Their flower girl was so adorable!!! And that cute little black and white dress!

My twin granddaughters were enjoying the day.

I really didn't want to come home, we had such a wonderful time. But I did get SOME work done before the wedding! Here is a quilt for Benartex that I just finished.

I've been keeping a secret for a long time! But the secret is out!! This quilt on the longarm will be featured as the store quilt for Quiltique in Henderson NV for the fall issue of Quilt Sampler magazine!!! I am so excited!!!

The pattern will be available in the magazine, but I must warn you, it's not a beginners pattern!!! I did my best on the quilting....and I'll let you know when the issue comes out again!!

Until then,

keep quilting!