Bursting with Blessings

I have been sewing! Yes, it is true! One thing I made recently is this little doll quilt. I love it just the way it is, but kind friends have told me that I should actually have a little stitched sampler in the center. Well, OK, so now I need to work that up after Thanksgiving. But in the meantime, here is a peek at my little doll quilt--not yet quilted, as you can see.

 On other news, my pregnant granddaughter, who I pictured in a post recently, is having twins! Twin boys, in fact! We have never had twins in our family, so we are all aflutter over this. Let's just say that Becky is bursting at the seams with this exciting news! 

I have been sewing like a mad woman this past week and have a terrific quilt as a result. I am not sure how soon I can show it off, but I am very excited! For one thing, it is totally scrappy. Does that sound like anyone you know? Above is a block from the quilt. I made a ton of these! More later on that!

Thanksgiving is once again upon us, so today, like most women in America, I am cooking! I am presently working on cinnamon rolls. They are rising on the counter in the kitchen. I think I can manage the rest of the meal tomorrow, but it is nice to get a start on the rolls. Two of my kids have already called for recipes, so food is on their mind as well. If they lived closer recipes wouldn't be crossing their minds, they would just come here. But alas, they are spread across the county, as I have lamented in the past. Nevertheless, blessings abound, and I am grateful to have a big wonderful family, even tho they are not nearby. The internet certainly contributes to keeping us close. Last Sunday I watched one year old Isaac climb all over the furniture as we visited on Skype. Every so often he would stop and wave to me. What a joy! 

Good wishes go out to you as well, where ever you may be. Enjoy the season and count your blessings. They are everywhere!

Market Neighbors

 You have probably seen lot of blogs showing booths at Houston Market that include lots of famous quilters, I have enjoyed those as well. And I have to tell you, I didn't get around market as much as I would have like, so it has been fun seeing pictures that are published on other blogs. Being newbies, we were out in the boonies. We had fun getting to know our neighbors and I thought you might like to meet them as well. 

 Let me tell you about this groovy couple. This is Paul and Janna Thomas of Block-Loc. Paul saw all my quilts with half-square triangles in them (you know I love HSTs!) and he told us to come and look at their rulers. Well we didn't get over to their booth soon enough so he came to ours and gave us a demo. Joan and I both fell for him with his cute Australian accent and flirty personality. Then we met Janna, his wife, and we liked her even better. What a neat couple they are. So back to the rulers. These rulers are square and have a groove going diagonally across the back. You lay the ruler on a half-square triangle and the groove nestles right into the seam line and holds the ruler so it doesn't wiggle and then you can square it up! If you make lots of HSTs, like I do, you are always squaring them up to the exact size needed. This ruler is so awesome. Other rulers have a tendency to rock a little on the seam, and the ruler may slide out of place, but the Block-Loc ruler holds it right where you want it while you trim. Joan and I ordered a couple sets of these and sent everyone we knew to their booth! I also ordered the rulers for squaring up flying geese. I will be promoting these all over the place. They are traveling to lots of quilts shows, so be sure to look for them! And tell them I sent you!

 Michelle Civetti, on the right, put lots of work into preparing for market. She had lots of great kits for darling die cut wool projects. Her friend Barb was there to help with the customers. We enjoyed visiting with them. Check out her website, Grab'N Go Kits, to see some of her darling kits. A few are shown below.

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 This is Debi Weinert, from My Own Fringemanker. Let me tell you this girl can make fringe! And pom poms! Her booth was full of all kinds of things that she figured needed fringe. She and her husband invented this little gizmo that you can wind with funky yarns or just plain string and with a little sewing it magically becomes fringe. She was a busy girl at her booth. In fact, people walked right up to her booth and never turned around to look at mine. I thought about being insulted, but let's face it, people interested in fringe are probably not interested in my lil' old homespun projects anyway.

 

 This picture is of Melinda and my Turkey in the Straw quilt. Melinda was there helping Debi and we got to talking. Turns out she has an on line fabric store called Melinda's Fabric Shop. I was very pleased to meet her as I had ordered the Turkey red in this quilt from her shop! That was kind of exciting for both of us! If you haven't visited Melinda's Fabric Shop you really should. Her prices are great! Plus, she is a very nice lady!

This is my friend Mary Brandt who happens to be my son-in-laws mother, which makes her my grandchildren's other grandmother! She is a quiltermaker and a longarm quilter. She goes to market to work in the Cedar Canyon Textiles booth. They are the ones with the Paintstix.  She has made some lovely quilts using this product. We meet  in the strangest places!

 This is my friend Karen Bennett from Salt Lake City. We met at Spring Market in Minneapolis when I spotted her daughter, whose name is Monica Patch, and happens to be married to my husband's cousin. Joan and I really like Karen. She shared lots of good advice with me about market. Karen and Monica are the owners and designers behind Nellie's Needle. They have darling patterns. Check out their booth in the photo below.

OVERWEIGHT is not a term any of us like to hear, but that is exactly what the guy told us at the airlines counter! Joan was not happy when he told her it would be an additional $95! They had conveniently placed a luggage scale away from the line of people so we could go re-arrange our belongings. We ended up with three bags that weighed exactly 50 pounds each, plus very heavy carry-ons! I casually left my booth curtains on the floor at the airport. Too heavy and not worth it.

 I know this is a long post. I feel like I have been writing for hours and you feel like you have been reading this for hours, if you actually made it this far. And so I bid you adieu until another day!

Under Our Wings Takes Off

 The ladies from What's Your Stitch 'N Stuff, our LQS here in Virginia Beach, were involved in a booth at market sponsored by Marianne Fons. It is for a new program that was introduced, called Under Our Wings. It is in connection with Quilts of Valor. Above you see Kim McWherter, Joan, me, Holly and Sue. Where is Sandra??? She was there and working hard also!
Kim is married to the Commanding Officer of the Blue Angels and once upon a time she lived in Virginia Beach and worked at the shop. She made the Homeport quilt that is pictured in the previous post, and was featured with the quilt and her husband in American Quilter Magazine last summer. It was so great seeing her!

 This lady is a ball of fire! This is Catherine Roberts who is the founder of Quilts of Valor. With her energy and persuasive powers, it is no wonder that Quilts of Valor has become such a high profile organization in the quilting world. Just an aside, Catherine is standing in front of my Summertime Blues quilt made from the Wintergreen pattern found on my website. This quilt was hanging on the outer wall of the booth and I heard tell that Laurie Simpson saw it and liked it! It is made from the Prairie Paisley line by Minick and Simpson. Those ladies are terrific, by the way. They have been dedicated in supporting quilts for the military in any number of organizations, and have donated their profits from some of their work as well. (Let's just say quite a bit of their profits!) Their booth was wonderful and I was pleased to talk with them at some length. They have a new line of American Valor fabric as well as Charlevoix, both from Moda. Be sure and check out the Minick and Simpson blog for lots of great photos of their booth and others!

Here is the booth for Under Our Wings. It looked great! The ladies from What's Your Stitch 'n Stuff, with Holly at the helm, set up the booth and talked to lots of people about the program. They also participated in a Schoolhouse event with Marianne Fons promoting the program. Great job all of you in giving this program a good send off!

Adventures at Quilt Market

 Just got home from Houston last night. The whole trip went so fast! We had a wonderful time, and I have to admit,I don't have as many photos as I would like. I didn't wander around market to see other booths as much as I would have liked either. But all in all, it was great fun, we met some great people and made some great connections. We sold patterns and took orders, and I feel totally exhilarated!

 Here is part of one wall of my booth. My Homeport pattern,  in the upper left, was popular yet again! It  is the first pattern that I packaged for sale several years ago, and it is always a winner! I also took Williamsberg Medallion, even tho that focus fabric is long gone. Honor Guard and Cotillion are on the bottom.   

 Here is Joan in another corner of the booth. What a great friend she is! She worked so hard setting things up, working the booth and then taking it all down with me. I couldn't have even attempted this without her support. My Happy Place attracted lots of attention and we sold out of the pattern!

 

Look at this cute picture of Pat Wys from the Silver Thimble! I met her for the first time here at market. One of her quilts was in the same McCall's Quilting magazine as mine. You can see part of her Christmas quilt behind us. It is such an adorable pattern! Check out her block by clicking the link to see more of her booth.  And speaking of McCall's, I had the pleasure of meeting Kathy Hannah and Sherrie Driver, who both work at that magazine and with whom I have emailed several times regarding publication of my quilts, etc. So great to meet them both, and I could kick myself for not taking pictures. I just was not normal at market, whatever normal is.

Tara Lynn Darr came to visit me on the last day of market and brought us Halloween treat bags! She is so adorable and such a sweetheart! I met her at Spring Market and visit her blog and her online shop, Sew Unique Creations! Check it out! Tara didn't have a booth at market, but was going to set up for Quilt Festival, which is right after market, and is a retail show. We got to see the quilts that are set up for display and they are sensational!!! Maybe next time we will do Quilt Festival as well. Did I really just say that? Oh my gosh, we are so exhausted! I can hardly walk today!

All in all, I am happy to report that it was a wonderful experience! I was treated very well and had some awesome people buying in my booth. My first booth at market was a big success in my book. I came home all excited to finish some of my newer projects and the inspiration for others is bubbling over in my brain!