Still Stitching...

Well I am still puttering along with my stitching. I am working on this quilt, Prairie Burgoyne, that was a Block of the Month (BOM) from Temecula Quilt Company in 2015. I love the block, Burgoyne Surrounded, and this is the third quilt I have made with this pattern. You can see the many versions of this quilt on my Pinterest page. I think it will be really pretty. The beautiful fabric is a line from Pam Buda at Heartspun Quilts. Pam is amazing! You will love her website!

I made this blue version years ago. It is worn to shreds!

And this is the one I made in the 

APQ Quiltalong. I love it! The pattern was in their magazine and designed by "Moda Lissa", aka Lissa Alexander from Moda Fabrics.

So on the subject of APQ Quiltalongs, last year 

they had a 4-Patch quiltalong going on and I 

jumped into that one as well. Rather than use 

the options in the magazine, I came up with my

own plan and went to work. Below is the out-

come. As you well know by now, I love scrap 

quilts, and this has bits from all my favorite Civil 

War Repro designers. (I can't get rid of that white!)

Someone will ask what size the blocks are, so let me tell you that the 4-Patches are made with 1-1/2" squares, then combined with 2-1/2" plain squares to make the double 4-Patch. For the triangle corners cut two squares at 3-3/4" then cut in half diagonally. You may get by with 3-1/2" squares, I really can't remember, but try one if you like and see what works for you. You will then have to trim the block, leaving your 1/4" seams on each side. My whole block finished at about 5-1/2". Hope you like it!

Now to get a little sewing done!

Spring Morning

Spring Morning isn't quite happening for us yet as January storms prevail in many parts of the USA. However, McCall's Quick Quilts has a way of giving us a nice boost into spring in their February/March 2015 issue.

This magazine is full of lovely quilts that will get you in the mood to decorate for spring! I am happy to say that one of my little quilts was chosen to be in this cheerful magazine! It is called Spring Morning! I made this as a baby quilt for my son's third baby, Olivia Patch. McCall's graciously published the quilts I made for his first two children as well, so I was pleased that they accepted this one also. How can a grandmother explain to a grandchild that their quilt didn't make the cut? Haha! My friend and quilter, Marae Harris quilted this for me. She always knows just what my quilts need!

I have always loved the pink and yellow combination and I was looking for something sweet and girlie. And this is why-

Isn't she sweet?

Be sure and look for this issue of McCall's Quick Quilts!

And on a similar note, this quilt design is almost the same. Can you spot the differences? Well, obviously the colors make a huge difference! The blocks are the same size, I just changed out the four-patch in the block for whatever that little triangle block is called. You can see in both quilts that the Monkey Wrench block was altered so the seams lined up with the corner squares of the other block. See what options you have when you design quilts? You are in charge of the decision making! I am particularly proud of the border in this one. It is the first time I ever made a zig-zag border and I love it! The lovely blue-grey fabric in this quilt is by Olde Green Cupboard, for Marcus Fabrics. It's called Londonderry. You might still find it on whittlesfabrics.com. It is an old release at this point. Most everything is by the time a quilt gets published.

It pleases me so much to be working with McCall's Magazines and the great people there. I thank them for the recognition they give me as a quilter and for the opportunity to share my work with others.

            Piecefully Stitching,

Lincoln's Promise

 My life has taken a dramatic shift and therefore so has my attention to blogging, quiltmaking, etc. Here is the deal. My 90 year old dad became quite ill in September and my siblings and I felt he should not be living alone any longer. The most logical solution was for him to move in with me and my husband in our Arizona home. So I flew to Arizona earlier than I intended, and my brother came from Minnesota with his two sons and they moved Dad and his belongings into my house. Dad's health has greatly improved, I am happy to say. His strength has increased and so has his desire to get back behind the wheel. That is our only bone of contention. Aside from that, things are going well. He is hooked on Netflix and watches lots of TV, and I am attending to his needs. I am happy I can be here to help him. Don't expect lots of new patterns from me however. That department has taken a back seat to Dad. Life changes, doesn't it? 

Before I came back to AZ I had the pleasure of designing a quilt with some fabric that Marcus sent me. The fabric is from a new line by Pam Buda of Prairie Women's Sewing Circle fame. Her quilts are wonderful and so is her fabric. I have had the pleasure of getting to know Pam as we email back and forth. Her new fabric line is called American Gothic and if you follow the link you can take a look at it. It is all wonderful little black and cream prints. I combined just a small amount of red with those beautiful prints and came up with this design that I call Lincoln's Promise. Somehow all the black prints made me think of Abraham Lincoln as he was always seen in his black suit and tall black hat. Lincoln has been called Honest Abe for his reputation of honesty. A promise made was a promise kept. Here is a man to whom all politicians refer, but few actually emulate.  So here is my small tribute to a great American President. May he long be remembered and cherished as one of our greatest!


 

 

 By the way, if you are going to Quilt Market in Houston the quilt above will be hanging in the Marcus Fabrics booth, and the quilt below will be hanging in the American Patchwork and Quilting booth.

I hope you have seen this quilt in the Dec. 2013 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. I had lots of fun making this quilt and yes, it took a while! But this is what I love, playing with little pieces of colorful scraps and seeing what comes of it. I love traditional designs, and I have fun making them a little unique to give them my signature. 
 “Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2013 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

I have to show this additional quilt as well. It is designed by Pam Buda and is made from the American Gothic fabric line. It is just gorgeous! Check it out at Homespun Quilts, Pam's website. I just noticed that Fat Quarter Shop has it kitted, if you are interested. 

On a totally different vein, I HAVE A NEW GRANDDAUGHTER!   

 

 Her name is Olivia Ann Patch, 7 lbs. 7 oz.

Isn't she the sweetest? I am now blessed with 9 grandchildren. Three boys and six potential quilters! Plus Micah and Grey--my great-grands! 

All is well with the Patch family! Thanks for stopping by!

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! 

Hi everyone, I have been absent from Blogland for a while, traveling and spending time with family. Not much quilting going on with me, but nevertheless, I am hearing from people who have questions regarding my quilts.This makes me happy to know that someone remembers me, even tho I have not been "on the scene"!

I got a phone message from Sylvia in Australia asking about the fabric I used in the quilt Picks from the Past, above, published by American Patchwork and Quilting, Feb. 2012 issue. Sylvia did not leave a way for me to contact her, and I am not at home to answer the phone, so maybe Sylvia might read my blog. Like fruit, fabric does not stay on the vine very long. It is replaced regularly by something new. The fabric in that quilt was out of season by the time the magazine hit the stands. I can tell you that the fabric line in that particular quilt was called Civil War Chronicles, by Judie Rothermel, from Marcus Fabrics. And even tho that fabric is long gone, you can check the Marcus website and see that there are new, beautiful fabric lines available. For Civil War reproductions, Judie Rothermel always has a new, irresistible line available, as does Paula Barnes. Also Pam Buda is designing for Marcus now and has a great new line called Prairie Dobbies! If your LQS doesn't carry these lines you can do an online search of the name and find a store. 

On another note, a quilter contacted me regarding my table topper, Calico Pennies, in the recent Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine (Summer 2013). She was having trouble  tucking in the ends by the tabs and didn't have enough fabric left to do so. Since the directions call for quilting the little top before tucking in the ends, I believe the quilting gathered up the fabric just enough to cause this problem. If you make this project you can hopefully avoid this by adding an additional half inch to the length of the back and give a 1/4" for each end to tuck in. I suspect that when I made my own I pinned it tight to prevent this, but the small additional length should help avoid this problem. 

Back to my actual life, my husband and I are in Arizona. He retired May first and then we flew here to spend some time and see family.

We were here to see our darling Danielle go off to prom. Yup, she was wearing HIGH heels, and I definitely was not! I'm the little short grandma! (OK, I may have been bending my knees a little for effect.)

We took a drive to Carson City, NV to visit our kids there. Kathryn, now 8 years old, was baptized while we were there.

We got to spend some time with Becky and the twins both in Nevada and in Utah. Here is Micah and Grey snuggled up under one of my old quilts watching TV. So fun to see them AND my old quilts! Notice that Becky had Grey's hair cut shorter so we can tell them apart. It really helps!

We visited Ellie and Isaac in Provo, Utah. They are our youngest and so full of life and cuteness! They loved watching Netflix on my i-pad. I miss these kids so much, I can't stand it!

Back at the house in Mesa we are delighted to have Mary, one of our oldest grandchildren, staying with us. She was slicing watermelon and look what she found! A heart was inside the melon! Must be a good omen for Mary, right?

My quiltmaking has come to a standstill for the past several weeks. I have been designing, and I have a few things that I need to start working on. I'm excited to get going on it all! 

That's it for now--more will be coming, hopefully soon!

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...

Friendship Sampler

I got a big surprise the other day when the mailman delivered this darling quilt to me from Mary Flynn at Quilt Hollow! For some reason Blogger decided that it should be shown vertically rather than horizontal.

 

 Luckily, it doesn't matter! Mary said she was following a pattern from Pam Buda, and she even used Pam's wonderful fabric line, Heart of the Prairie, from Marcus Fabrics. Would you believe this is my first sampler quilt? I have always meant to make one, and the blocks in this one are so adorable! Also you can see Mary's wonderful feathers quilted on this little quilt. Mary does wonderful work. She has quilted a few of my larger quilts and I know I can always count on her! Thanks Mary for this darling gift! You are the best! 

On other current events in our family, guess whose little grandson turned three years old! Yup, mine! This is our darling Isaac with the Curious George cake that his mom made for him. She is so clever!

More later!

 

More from Quilt Market 2012

I am back home in Virginia Beach for a few weeks. I haven't been on line much, and you may have seen tons of photos from Quilt Market already, but I have more to show, so check it out!

 Meet Becky Delsman of Plays with Wool Designs.
 I got to meet Becky and her partner Kim Schueffner at their booth at market. You may recognize the project she is holding, "the Great Pumpkin" from the Fall 2012 issue of this magazine below--Primitive Quilts and Projects. This is such a stunning wool project.You can order a kit at the Plays with Wool website. Order now and you will have it ready for next fall!

This magazine is, of course, everyone's favorite! I am excited to tell you that I have another project coming up in this magazine next year. Below is a photo of me with "the Prim Sisters", as Kimber likes to call them. Jeni, me, Judy and Gretchen! Their booth was close to mine and I ran into them every day. These sisters got the magazine going and it took off like a shot last year. If you can't find it in your LQS, look at Barnes and Noble, or even better, get a subscription! Be sure and tell them that I sent you! Follow the link: Primitive Quilts and Projects.

I love meeting people at market that I "know" but haven't had the pleasure of meeting. Above is Kathy from the Cottage at Cardiff Farms. I bet you have seen her work in magazines, etc. I was definitely a pleasure to meet Kathy. My friend Joan kept raving about her booth and so I went to see her. She is so nice and so full of talent. You have to check out her website and see the great projects she has available.

This is my dear friend Janna from Bloc-Loc Rulers. I met her and her husband Paul in Houston two years ago when their booth was close to mine. Now we are always so delighted to run into one another. Their business is going like crazy and I LOVE their products. If you go to their website you can see the nifty rulers they have created for trimming down small blocks. I use them all the time because I love perfection! And these rulers give you that. I wrote about them previously HERE.

This final photo for today is from the Marcus Fabrics booth. You know I love Marcus fabrics, and Judie Rothermel is at the top of my list. You can follow the link to their website and peruse the wonderful fabric lines that they have out. You can also download these fabrics to EQ7 if you have it and see what they look like in your quilt designs. Love that!

At long last I can reveal the quilt that I have been working on. It really didn't take as long for me to complete it as it seems . Well, maybe it did, but I have excuses! Blah, blah, blah.The lovely fabrics in this quilt all come from Marcus. Something old, something new--that's the way I sew. I have a lot of trouble sticking with all one line of fabric.

Now I need to bundle it off to be quilted, and hopefully get it all packaged in time for Quilt Market in Houston in October. That means that my sewing is done for a while because I need to write pattern instructions. I am beginning to feel the panic coming on.

I received a lovely little bundle in the mail this week from Julie Letvin. Julie is the artist behind the lovely jewelry on her website, Me and My Stitches. I have been admiring her work for quite a while and to tell you the truth, I was having a hard time making a decision on which pieces I wanted to purchase. Now that they have arrived I have to tell you, they are even nicer in person! The first link is to Julie's blog and the second takes you to her website. Go-go-go!!!

Thank you for all the words of advice and encouragement in my last post. I'm drinking lots of water! (Pretend you hear that last sentence gargling).

Well, here we are in the last week of August. I don't know how that happened, but already the weather has cooled just a bit. My grandkids are back in school already! They begin earlier in the west than I am used to. Enjoy this last week of summer!

 

Picks from the Past

Remember this quilt? I showed it way back when. This month it is showing up in the Feb. 2012 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting! I am so pleased to be published in this great magazine. It has long been one of my favorites!

 

I don't have this magazine, but have seen that some of you have received your issue. Since I am not at home to receive mine in the mail, I need to go on a search today to try and find it. 

This is what the cover looks like, depending on where you live. It seems they couldn't decide which quilt they wanted on the cover. I would have been happy to help them make that decision. No brainer, right? LOL!

Anyway, I am thrilled with the photos of my quilt in this magazine. They really know what they are doing at APandQ.

By the way, the quilt was made primarily of Marcus Fabrics Civil War Chronicles by Judie Rothermel. Such a fabulous line of fabric! I previously called it Celebration Stars in honor of Marcus Fabrics 100 years in business.

Just so you know, Christmas music is filling the house here in Arizona. But since the most influential person here is 15 year old Danielle, we are listening to Justin Bieber's Christmas album. If only I could get it out of my head!

Marcie