Honk if you love flying geese!

I'm at it again with the flying geese! And this cute quilt is called Gosling-Go-Round. I'm happy to be able to finally share this quilt with you, thanks to the kind ladies at McCall's Quilting.

 Pretty darn exciting! McCall's Quilting September/October issue is featuring this quilt. If you follow me at all you may be surprised at the colors, as I am quite faithful to Civil War repros, but these fabrics actually fall into the reproduction genre. In fact, much to my delight, Judie Rothermel has two new lines that will work very well if you are looking for these colors:
 Judy Rothermel's Strawberries, Blueberries and Chocolate and also her Party of Twelve, both from Marcus Fabrics. According to Marcus Fabrics, "Madder reds, indigoes, chrome yellows, poison greens, double pinks and other colors were used prominently in the 1800s, resulting in vibrant, lively quilts that would brighten any room." 
We are so lucky to be able to find these fabrics by simply doing an internet search! 


If you have a subscription to McCall's Quilting it will be in your mailbox soon, otherwise, look for it in stores around July 30th. 
Now about that name...baby geese are called goslings, I am sure you know, and the geese are rather small, and they are going round and round, and the colors seem young and playful, hence the name, Gosling-Go-Round. You know I love to play with words, I just can't help myself.

I hope you like my quilt! 

Fabric Love

I have to share some yummy fabric I got in the mail recently. On her blog Barbara Brackman has been showing her new line called Metropolitan Fair, by Moda. I fell head over heels for it and had to find some for myself. 
Then Judie Rothermel, who designs for Marcus, has a beautiful new line called Civil War Melodies, and I gasped when I saw it online. 

 You know how we all try and set up a pretty little vignette when we display something. According to Wikipedia, "a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, idea, setting, or object". So here is my attempt. But now I have to look up "trenchant".

And here is a close up so you can get a better look at the wonderful fabric. Oh yum!

I have not purchased fabric for a really long time and so I didn't even feel guilty when I got it. No, in fact I felt so good that I decided I better clean my obscenely messy sewing room to justify feeling this good. Still cleaning...

How Many Quilters???

I had to call an electrician last week because the light in the bathroom just wouldn't stay on. It would work for a week, then not work for a week, then work for a week, etc. Finally I made the dreaded call to bring in the experts. Surely there was a short in the wiring or something. No, that wasn't it. Turns out the bulb was the wrong wattage and finally burned out. You know where it says inside the lamp, "don't use a bulb with watt higher than...". Well I ignored that advice. The electrician replaced the bulb with a lower watt and went on his way, laughing, no doubt. How many quilters does it take to screw in a light bulb? None, we are busy with other things. My husband said he told everyone at work this story and I told him he should be ashamed of himself, he didn't even TRY to fix it! Talk about burned out!

So what have I been so engrossed in? Well, my friend Pati at Marcus Fabrics sent me a parcel of fabric and asked if I wanted to make a quilt for their booth at Houston Quilt Market.  

 I am not sure if I should be posting this because it isn't even on their website yet, so don't tell anyone, but here are a few pieces of the new Cocheco Mills fabric by Judie Rothermel. They have had four versions of this and I think this is the prettiest one yet! This fabric will be available in October. Watch for it!

And here is what I have done with it. I used the larger brown floral for the borders and the corners in the star block. I brought in creams and shirtings and the tan fabric from other Marcus lines to complete the quilt. It is very old and romantic looking in person. Now I can take a deep breath and get it off to be quilted! I will show more of this when I get a pattern out, hopefully by the end of October.


Hope you are all enjoying nice fall weather!

Celebration Stars

I don't always post this often, but since I have a few things to show, and I thought I would do it before I am knee deep again.I showed a few stars a couple posts back that I am making with Marcus Fabrics. They are mostly from the Civil War Chronicles line, by Judie Rothermel. I began assembling block units before I actually assembled the stars because I had to order additional red for the corners, as I wanted them all to be the same. Doesn't that look nice and neat? One would draw the conclusion that I am very organized in my sewing room. Don't assume. It became necessary in this case, which I guess means I am capable of organization, but it just doesn't happen all that often!

That box of block units turned into this. It  is pretty set like that, don't you think? But I have other plans, and they are almost completed. Come back next time to see the completed top!

Your local quilt shop may carry this line, and you can find some of these fabrics at Sew Unique Creations. Check it out! Tara carries all my favorites!

Catch you later!

SPEAKING MINNESOTAN

I am packing up this top to be mailed to the quilter at long last! It is one of the first quilt tops that I made, and it never got quilted. When I first started quilting I fell in love with the 30's prints. They are so clean and fresh, and such cute little prints! I thought this quilt would look lovely in a beach house, like the one we had when we lived in Minnesota. We always dream of returning to that lifestyle. In Minnesota they call it "the cabin" no matter how big the house is. But it was the summery, beachy look that I was longing for. I was always going to make one more row so that it would fit a queen bed, but that never happened. Now my four year old granddaughter is asking for a quilt of her own, and it occurred to me that this one would be perfect and I could get it done fairly quickly. Today I prepared the binding. I cut a multitude of colored strips. They all look so pretty to me that I feel inclined to make another quilt from 30's prints! Now here is the sweet part of this story: I am sending the quilt to the Plumpkin's other grandmother, who is a long arm professional quilter. She will give it the finishing touches that will make it beautiful! Hopefully some day Plumpkin will find it special to have a quilt that both her grandmother's created!

Above is a picture of my latest purchase! I love all Judie Rothermel repros, and was so excited to find this fabric on sale at a local store for $3.50 a yard! I bought the whole 8.25 yards left on the bolt. My darling granddaughter Becky, pictured below, was with me, and I commented in jest to her that she would inherit all my fabric some day. "Well then don't buy THAT!" she replied. Sorry dear, you are out of my will. It is essential that my large and glorious stash go to someone with my same vision for beauty!

Becky left today to go to Minnesota. We loved having her here for the past six weeks. Last night Becky and I watched that Renee Zellweger movie, New in Town, which takes place in Minnesota. It was kinda cute and hokey too. I wondered aloud how actors can speak with a Minnesota accent because I lived there for forty years and I can't talk that way. Becky immediately started speaking Minnesotan. It was so funny to hear it coming out of this home-grown Minnesotan girl who never speaks that way, but obviously has the ability. The accent comes from a high percentage of people who are of Swedish decent. Ya, and Norwegian too, don't cha know. No one can make fun of Minnesotans as much as they make fun of themselves. The Sven and Ole jokes are a good example. Minnesota is a great place to raise a family. Funny thing, all the movies focus on the cold winters, and the truth is, if they ever made a movie about Minnesota in the summertime on the lakes people would be flocking to move there. You can't beat it!

"So, Ole --- I see you got a sign up that says, 'Boat For Sale'. But you don't own a boat, Ole. All you got is your old John Deere tractor and your combine."
"Yup, and they're boat for sale."

MARCUS MERRIMENT

It's not midnight yet, so I wanted to squeeze this in under the wire! I actually did finish a UFO this month! I bought this pattern last fall while in Arizona and started it there. It is designed by Renee Plains. Pretty darn cute design! I had fun with it! I finally completed the quilting and hung it on the wall. My quilting isn't that great, so don't dwell on it. Lol! This one contains fabrics designed by my hero, Judie Rothermel. Most are from the Sturbridge Miniatures. The sashing is hers also from a few years ago. I felt happy to find it and incorporate it into a project with some of Judie's newer fabrics. I think I even said, "Oh look, you can live here with your new family". Do you ever talk to your fabric? Aren't they like old friends? By the way, I saw Judie's Merrimack line today (by Marcus Fabrics) while I was at the quilt shop. Be still my heart! I wanted that fat quarter pack sooo bad! Someday soon it will be mine! In the meantime maybe the anticipation will help keep the blood pumping through my veins. My own form of aerobic exercise! I gotta run...(don't take that too literally).

WILLIAMSBURG TOILE

I asked my friend, Marae, to let me take a picture of her with my new quilt. She lives here in Mesa, AZ, and does most of my quilting. As always, she did a beautiful job quilting for me. I love doing my part of the designing and piecing, and she frosts the cake with her beautiful work! Thanks Marae!

I am excited about this new design. The toile is from Windham Fabrics Williamsburg Centennial Line. I probably should have bought more from that line, but I had just received the fat quarter pack from Judie Rothermel's Old Surbridge Scarlet. They go beautifully together, along with a couple pieces from Barbara Brackman.  I leave here for home on Monday and then I will get the pattern directions written, etc. It always feels so good to see each stage completed. More later from Virginia!

TREES ON THE TABLE

It has been fun getting so many opinions on this quilt. I played around yet again and came up with this option. I like it a lot, but then I liked all the other versions as well! So I just had to make a decision, and since the response was pretty much half and half, this one works for me. It finishes at 24" square. If you want to make it, I have spent a couple days writing directions. Believe me, you can make the quilt faster than that! Go to my web site and click on the free pattern link on the right side of the opening page. If you make this quilt I would love to have you send me a photo to post on my web site. Deal?

Saturday I went over to the LQS to see a quilt that one of the ladies (BC) made from my pattern, Pioneer Trail. It turned out really great! Several of the quilters have a Friday Bee that meets at the LQS and they did a block exchange using this pattern. They asked me to come to their meeting in January to see all the quilts that they completed from this pattern. I am excited to see them. I told them each person with a completed quilt can choose one of my patterns. This is the first one that I have seen completed. Yes, it needs binding, but essentially, it is done. BC has made at least two others of my patterns that turned out really neat. Last year she made Christmas Kisses from Judie Rothermels Spirit of the Season line, and she made Quilt Jam in pinks and browns. Both are gorgeous!
Hopefully you can enlarge those photos for a good look!

WINTERGREEN, ETC.

The local quilt shop, What's Your Stitch 'N Stuff , is having their Open House on Saturday to introduce new classes. They do this a couple times a year so people can come in and see what classes are being offered, talk to the teachers and ask questions, etc. I have a new design that I already sent off to the quilters, so I made up a sample version to display until I get the larger one back. Except for the green and white 4-patch blocks, the fabrics are from Judie Rothermel's Christmas line, Spirit of the Season II, by Marcus Brothers. At the suggestion of my good friend I am calling the quilt Wintergreen.
By the way, Tazzie has a photo of her newest class project on her blog. It is really darling. You should go take a look! She also used Judie Rothermel's fabric, but from a different fabric line. She used Charm Squares and gives big hints on how to make it.

I am going to cut this short and get some work done around the house today. I am not happy about it, but my maid hasn't shown up here since, well, ever. So here I am, quilt designer turned house cleaner. I read recently someones opinion that quilt teachers are nothing more than glorified housewives. I think it was supposed to be an insult, but really I wonder if that person thinks that housewives and homemakers should never do anything else? Why do people feel the need to denigrate housewives and mothers? I say YOU TRY AND DO IT! I always loved being a housewife and mother. I like to use the term "homemaker" because it sounds like it describes someone who creates a special place--home! But you can't hurt my feelings calling me a housewife. It's a good working description. Although of late I am more of a retired housewife! But I did my time with the kids and the canning and the cleaning, and the laughing and the loving and the laundry. Not always pleasant, sometimes annoying, but very rewarding, and I wouldn't trade it for the world! And guess what? I can do other stuff too!

CHRISTMAS APPLIQUE

Here is my latest project! Remember I mentioned scheduling a class when I had not made the quilt yet? Well, this is it. The center design is from a vintage quilt that caught my fancy, then I added a sawtooth border. I really loved the cheddar in the original and was excited to have the perfect color, thanks to Judie Rothermel's wonderful reproduction lines. The outer border is from Judie's latest Christmas line. There is no cheddar in the fabric, but it looks as though there is a hint and it brings the whole thing together. Next time you are in your LQS take a look at this fabric and see if you agree. This piece is hand appliqued. I kind of got hooked on that after the Home Sweet Home quilt. I am doing another by machine applique because the class I am teaching is at the Bernina shop, A Different Touch, here in town. By the way, the background isn't as white as it appears here. More the color of muslin.

I am still sewing in the DR because I am still without AC in my sewing room and office. I can sit here in the office for short periods of time, but sewing is another story. At this point my repairman is probably afraid to face me. He claims he went to California (3 weeks ago!) and forgot his cell phone. What are the chances?

Meanwhile, I finished a couple of good murder mysteries, An Unquiet Grave, and A Thousand Bones, written by two women who collaborate and write under the name P. J. Parrish. My husband enjoyed them also.