Hello, Goodbye

Recently my hairdresser (and quilting friend) asked if I had designed any new patterns lately. My reply was, "Only in my head"!  I haven't designed anything for publication in a couple of years. I have had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I have really slowed down. I haven't been able to admit, even to myself, that I was done with my quilt pattern business. I just don't want to work that hard anymore! 

I am happily involved in my life, still making quilts, but just for myself and family. I have also been devoting a lot of time to Family History, as you can see from my previous post. 

As a result of all this, I will be taking down my website patchalotpatterns.com

I want to urge any of you who may be interested in buying any of my patterns to do so before the site is gone. Also, if you are interested in any of the free patterns on my site, get them soon! Once the site is down they will be gone. 

I have moved some of my patterns to Etsy, but don't see this working very well so don't know if I will continue. Let's face it, there is always something new attracting our attention! The world keeps spinning! I enjoy all the new stuff too!

Just for fun I have pictured three baby quilts I made recently. Our family is growing! The blue and white one you will notice, has a twisted block in it. This gives credence to the fact that my eyesight is going, among other things!

Thank you so much for liking my patterns and following along with me over the years. Some of you have been online friends for a long time and I hope that will continue. Patchalot Patterns has been a very enjoyable and important part of my life! 

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,

Heat Stroke

Greetings from the desert where the temperature is hovering around 100 degrees. The streets are deserted and people do not venture outside unless they must.

I finally have a little bit to share, so here goes.

Last year my nephew was expecting a baby boy and they opted for gray in the baby's room. I found some really cute Buggy Barn fabric to make them a baby quilt. This summer I decided to try and use up the scraps on an additional quilt. I changed the design somewhat, but think this will be a nice little boy quilt as well. It has gone to the quilter. Yay!

Now we have a new grandbaby coming and thus another new quilt to create. I am using the same chain block, but in soft and sweet colors for our new little girl! I really need my cage rattled to come back from the Civil War, but this is a nice change. Today I will sew all the rows together. It feels good to get something done!

Last week I got a nice surprise. A message was left on my home phone from Judy Hodges in Tempe, AZ who wanted to share her quilt with me. This is the second memory quilt that Judy has made using my Saddle Tramp pattern. Follow the link to see my original. Judy did an outstanding job of taking my simple design and changing it into this beautiful memory quilt. She placed photos in the stars and chose a palette of purple and green. Since I am still in Arizona I was able to meet Judy and see her quilt in person. Let me tell you, this photo does not do it justice! It is a beautiful quilt! It was taken directly to the quilters after we met, so maybe I can share a quilted photo in the future!

Anyone wondering about Rembrandt can rest at ease. I hear from Sandi regularly letting me know of her well being. She is adjusting in her new home and has taken to snuggling in bed at night with Sandi's son. I know Karen would be pleased. I sure am! 

A week ago we drove a little way out of town to find this pretty sight. Saguaro Lake, with boats even! Saguaro is the name of the cactus in the foreground. The saguaro cactus grows only in the Sonoran Desert which is in Arizona and Mexico. The photo shows buds where the cactus is getting ready to bloom. This lake was a pretty sight, but let me tell you, it is so blasted hot that it didn't even tempt me. Give me a good old Minnesota lake where they actually have breezes!

Signing off from under the fan in Mesa, AZ.

Progress

Can it actually be July 21st? I just returned from Arizona, land of heat waves and dust storms and also my family. I have a very nice LA quilter there who finished up three little quilts for me. This one I made years ago and uncovered it recently and decided that my new little granddaughter could use it while she is still so small, then later have it as a doll quilt. It is 30" square, so she will not use it for long, probably. The quilting is adorable and really makes it, so I hope you can view it close up. I hate to see unfinished tops languishing in boxes. The colorful border gives this just the right finish. It makes me smile to have it done!

 Also, thanks to Carol at Brown Quilts, I got going on patriotic pillow cases. After making a couple to send Carol for her friend's cause (distributing to hospitalized soldiers) I decided my grandkids needed them also. You know how easy it is to make several while you are on a roll? I bought some fabric and used up some from my stash. That wavy flag fabric has been around for years! If you would like to use up some of your patriotic fabric for a good cause, hurry and make a pillowcase or two to send Carol.

 My main purpose in going to Arizona in heat that is over 100 degrees was to make some decisions on a house that we own there. Our renters moved out and since we are so close to retirement we are fixing it up for us to move into...eventually, but not immediately. This is what it looks like now. We tore down a wall here and really opened it up. I was trying all kinds of paint colors and I finally chose one that I hope will work. None of those in the photo, however. I seem to know what I am doing with fabric colors, but when it comes to paint I am a disaster. It never looks the way you expect it will and then it changes to different colors as the light changes. I seriously am praying that I picked a good color because they are going to paint all the walls in the whole house that color!

Meanwhile, the twins passed their 4 month mark! We celebrate every day with new pictures on Becky's blog. (Oh right, so today she doesn't have any!)

Most of the country is under a heat wave, so stay cool my friends!  

 

A New Baby and a Quilt, of course

When I was in Utah last month (yes, it was only last month!) I mentioned to my son that the quilt hanging on the wall was looking wrinkled at the top and the rod appeared to be bent. He jumped up and said, "well, this is why!"

Isaac loves to hide behind it and then surprise everyone!

And now look who came home and surprised Isaac! A new little sister! She was born Friday, June 24, and named Eleanor Louise Patch, after my husband's mother, Eleanor, and my mother, Louise. Quite a handle for one so small.

 As you might imagine, I have been working on a baby quilt for her. The above photo shows my favorite spot for pressing pieces as I go. It is right outside my sewing room and very handy.

 And this is the finished top! It would have been nice to have finished it BEFORE little Eleanor was born, but there were too many other things that jumped to the head of the line. I think it turned out sweet tho. I love pink, and already had several pink FQs set aside from a Blue Hill Fabric line called Little Pink Stars. Plus I added another one or two from my stash. Quilt delivery is scheduled for mid-July, after it gets quilted!.

Twice Blessed

Time for some twin talk! To update new readers, my grand-daughter delivered twin boys on March 4, 2011. 

She has been keeping us posted daily on her own blog with photos and info. Her mother, my daughter Polly, has been staying with them for the past couple of weeks, along with her sister, Kathryn, shown below.  

(Becky's sister, Polly's daughter, my granddaughter and now aunt to twins!) 

As you can see, Aunt Kathryn gets her turn taking care of her very own Bitty Baby! 

 Isn't this the cutest little bundle? But wait, there's more!

 Hey buddy, you awake?

Here are the boys, each with their own quilt. The boys are identical, the quilts are similar but different enough that they will someday be able to tell them apart. It remains to be seen whether we will be able to tell the boys apart.

Here is Aunt Kathryn keeping a diaper tally. Wow! 24 per day!!

 This lovely lady is Travis's grandmother. She has four grandchildren who have identical twins! Can you believe that? And they say the splitting of the egg is just a fluke. 

Makes one wonder.

 There are more photos of these beautiful babes 

than I could possibly share, but I have to leave you with one last image that was created last weekend after it snowed in Utah.

 SNOW BABIES!!

Kathryn and Travis had some fun!

Come back and see us again. 

Share a Story

Tuesday night I had a very nice time speaking at the Peninsula Piecemakers Quilt Guild in Newport News, VA. I forgot my camera, so no photos. :(  They are a lovely group of ladies and made me feel very welcome. My voice has been acting up the past two years in that I sound like I am hoarse and losing my voice. They had a mic, so that helped a lot. I showed my quilts and talked about them and told a couple of funny stories. For example, I told them about Karen Dianne at LeeHaven and the time she was sewing in her kitchen and used a cutting board to press her fabric, and then realized that the odor of onions had permeated her fabric! I told them she cries whenever she uses that quilt, which probably isn't true, but sounds good!  I also told them of living  in Minnesota and the things people do to keep their car's engine from freezing, like covering it up with a blanket. My sister-in-law was driving down the street one night and saw that someone had placed an old quilt across the hood of their car. Being a lover of quilts, she drove home and picked up and old blanket, then drove back and grabbed the quilt off the car and threw the old blanket on it and drove away. Clearly this person was not "quilt-worthy". I would love it if any of you have funny quilt related stories to share. 

I have decided to re-release this pattern, called Our Home. I measures 14" x 16" and contains some patchwork and some simple embroidery. You can personalize it with your own name and year of marriage. It will be on my website on pattern page #5.

Dream Catcher, that was in McCall's Quilting last year is also now available for purchase at my Patchalot Patterns website. Of course if anyone out there has a shop and is interested in any of my patterns please give me a call. (See website for phone number)

 Also, Mary at Quilt Hollow has completed baby quilt number two for my soon to be born twin grandsons. Her work is beautiful! Hop on over to her blog for more photos! See the funny photo she took of the quilts lined up together. You will see how alike, yet different they are. Both quilts measure 40 inches square. What will I do if a baby does what babies do on these quilt? I will close my eyes, smile, and take it like a grandmother!

Frosting

For those of you who love to piece quilts, like I do, and then send them to a long-arm quilter to be finished, you know what a thrill it is to have your quilt come back even more beautiful than you dreamed! I am blessed to have a short list of terrific ladies who are very talented indeed! Mary Flynn at Quilt Hollow is one of these! Not too long ago I sent her two baby quilts for the upcoming twin boys that my granddaughter is bringing into the world. She sent me photo of the one that she has finished so far.

Mary's brain is on a totally different level than mine. Just look what she has done with my simple little quilt! My brain simply cannot come up with these kinds of patterns. Much better to leave this to the experts and let me focus on what I can do!  I was surprised that she stitched those little arcs inside each square in the border. Those are one inch squares! I told Mary that no matter how good the cake is, it is the frosting that sets it apart and makes it exceptional. Mary makes great frosting!

Check out Mary's blog and see more photos of this quilt and lots of others!

 

Meanwhile, the babies are coming along!

One quilt top revealed

Well this is silly, but I just took several pictures of one of my baby quilt tops and went to download into the computer, only to find out that I had removed the SD card. Meanwhile, I had already packed up the quilts to ship off to be quilted, so no retakes for now. I usually don't report on the stupid things I do daily. Better to forget. Last post I showed the middle sections of two quilts with the promise to show them completed. 

 So here is one of them. I love checkered borders, even tho they take a while, still, they are worth it. The second quilt now sports a sawtooth border, which is another favorite. They are packed up and ready to fly away to Mary at Quilt Hollow so she can do her magic on them.

Mary is a long-arm quilter, and she has quite a talent, as you can see from the photo above. Lately my Fish Creek Cabin pattern has been flying off the shelf thanks to her showing it on her blog with her magnificent quilting on it. She turned a humble little log cabin quilt into a stunner. My own Fish Creek Cabin quilt was quilted in straight, stitch in the ditch quilting. Sad, isn't it? But I love mine very much. I do what I can, and when I reach a point where I can't, then I call in the experts!

Be sure and check out Mary's Quilt Hollow blog, to see how she quilted Fish Creek Cabin, and lots of others!

If you are interested in purchasing the pattern, go to my website on THIS PAGE!

Back to the sewing room. Can you believe I still have more to do in there?

Two much fun!

After completing the big queen size Celebration Stars, shown in my last post, I hopped to and began making scrappy baby quilts. I don't make the traditional cute and cuddly teddy bears and lambs. I make baby quilts like I make everything else, scrappy and happy. That is my style, so deal. I may have mentioned that my granddaughter, Becky, is pregnant with, not one, but two babies! Both boys, and yes, identical twins. She is thru the moon with happiness and I am grateful that she is young and healthy! So here are portions of the quilts I am creating for this double bundle of joy. Becky, if you are reading this close your eyes NOW!

 So far the center measures 30 inches. There is more to come. Such a little boy quilt, don't you think?

 

Here is number two baby quilt, again 30 inches in the center. Both will have pieced borders. I am having such fun with these little quilts! You may notice a few fabrics from my Celebration Stars in these quilts. Well, the fabric was sitting right there saying "me-me-me"! It is hard to say no to fabric. The other sweet thing about making these quilts is that I have my boxes of pre-cut scraps standing by waiting for the chance to go on stage. In this case I used pre-cut two inch squares. I stayed with the same blue in both quilts for uniformity, and the same light background gives the scraps a chance to sparkle. 

OK Becky, you can open your eyes now. (I sure hope she like them!)