Red and White Flurries

There is a flurry of activity around blogland as many bloggers have returned from New York with glowing reports about the Red and White Exhibit. Also photos! I hated to miss this exhibit, but we can't do everything, can we? So luckily a few of our friends attended. I was going to link to a few of the blogs, but if you go to Sue's blog, I Sew Quilts, she has already done just that. 

 I don't have any red and white quilts to contribute to the frenzy, but I found a block! Honestly, all these red and white quilts are very inspiring. I downloaded an app to my i-pad that shows all the red and white quilts! You can find it on i-tunes. Search under quilts and Folk Art Museum. Very cool! And it is free!

I do use a lot of red however. This quilt just came back to my from my local quilter, Rose Skinner. She did an outstanding job! She actually feathered it to death! Rose loves to do feathers and they look great. The columns are all cross hatched to give a little break from the feathers. This quilt is made primarily from Civil War Chronicles, tho I added a few other Marcus fabrics here and there. If you are going to be at the International Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, look for it hanging in the Marcus Fabrics booth. Yeah, I am excited about that!

Two Versions of the Same Thing

Those little twin boys of ours are growing! Yesterday my granddaughter, Becky, was able to bring them home from the hospital weighing 5 lbs 10 oz, and 6 lbs 2 oz. I think that is pretty darn good! She would be 38 weeks along in her pregnancy, but instead has babies that are 2-1/2 weeks old. Becky is happy about that! They are nursing well and getting lots of love from both Mom and Dad! I love that she labels the pictures. Years from now they won't have to guess!

 This morning we got to Skype together and I was able to do everything but hold them. I watched them wiggle and coo and blink their little eyes and stick out their baby tongues. Adorable! I could almost believe I smelled that sweet baby smell, but that really would be pushing it. I will just have to be content with instant photographs and instant visibility through the computer.

Mary Flynn at Quilt Hollow emailed me this morning and said "Isn't this your quilt?"  She sent me a link to Shakerwood Quilts, and what do you know, Cathi had photos from a quilt show and someone had entered a quilt made from my Saddle Tramp pattern that was in McCall's Quick Quilts last year. I was very pleased to see it made up by someone other than myself, and she did a lovely job of it too. It is blue and done in plaids. Looks great! Thanks for sharing that Cathi! Now we can all see two versions of the same thing, kind of like the twins! 

I plan to have that pattern available soon as I get a good photo of it.  You can see my version of it on my website homepage. 

I always love to see quilts made from my designs, so don't hesitate to share them with me!

Finding Inspiration

 Recently I picked up a DVD at the grocery store. It was $9.99! What a deal! I knew I had seen it before.Turns out I saw it in 1982! It was a TV miniseries called The Blue and the Gray. Yes, a Civil War drama with the very young and handsome Stacy Keach as an aid to Abraham Lincoln, played to perfection by Gregory Peck. It has an all star cast, including Lloyd Bridges, Paul Winfield, Robert Vaughn, etc. Right in the middle of the Battle of Bull Run they focus in on a woman in bed while the battle rages around her home. Of course I focus in on the quilt on the bed!

I loved it! It stayed in my mind and I tried to remember what it looked like as I sewed strips of fabric together from Cocheco Mills, a line from Marcus Fabrics. It didn't occur to me until much later to try for a picture of the quilt. I paused the movie and took a couple photos off the computer. This photo, above, turned out pretty well. 

 This one is my rendition, and except for the hour-glass in the center of the block, it isn't even close! Shows where my memory has gone these days. I like them both, but now I want to go back and make something closer to the original. Meanwhile I will enjoy this version with all those luscious Cocheco Mills fabrics in it! These fabrics are reproductions of fabric from 1882, so a few years after the Civil War.

Yesterday I had a lovely day of sewing with two friends, Joan and Sue. We met at Joan's house and she fed us lunch. I brought fabric and pattern for making a quilt and the three of us went to town on it. Let me tell you, this is the way to make a quilt! The quilt consists of two alternating blocks and we got all 32 of one of the blocks done!

 As you can see, one block has a four-patch in the center and the second block...well, it is a mystery. It is only partially done, so until we get those blocks completed I will leave you guessing. Haha! I vote for another session with my friends. Those girls know how to sew like the wind! 

Better with Cheddar

I don't know if that is true or not, better with cheddar, but I sure have been eating it up lately! (purposeful pun) I just finished this little cutie that I am calling Button Box Stars. 

 I just ordered pattern covers, so it will be a couple weeks before it is available. I will post it when it is on my website. Meanwhile, I have been getting lots of bounce back from Quilt Hollow and comments on the beautiful job Mary has done quilting my big cheddar quilt! Be sure to see the nice things she says about me too. (Aw shucks) My patterns are not widely available because I am just a little runt  on the totem pole of designers, but most shops are willing to order if someone wants to buy something, so please ask at your local shop and have them call me. Otherwise, purchasing on my website is as easy as can be with Paypal. If you haven't used Paypal before, don't let it scare you, it's easy!

This is the quilt that Mary just quilted for me. She sent me a photo, so I haven't seen it in person yet. But her quilting is amazing. Be sure and see close-ups on her blog. And seriously consider asking her to quilt your next special quilt. You will be as thrilled as I am!

So what do you think, is it better with cheddar?

Photo Ready

I actually went outside today, and it was beautiful! This is a big deal for me as I have been slaving over the sewing machine for hours every day. One project I will be so glad to finish! It is from the beautiful Cocheco Mills line of fabric from Marcus Fabrics. I have had to send away for more fabric a couple of times. I just ordered a different border fabric than what I originally intended. That is because I design on the fly. I think I know what I am doing, but I regularly change plans in mid stream. I am not sure what that says about me as a designer, but the best laid plans, and all that...  Photos of that quilt will be coming.

Today I went outside with a mission in mind. I needed to take new photos of a couple of my quilts. I am working on new covers, getting ready for International Quilt Market and all. The weather was beautiful and sunny and so I headed over to Stoney's Market, which is not officially open for the season yet, but I got great shots there once before, so I thought I would try it again. Stoney's is a garden and vegetable stand that is very rural in appearance, but sits right in the middle of office buildings, mostly doctors. They are very nice about me commandeering their walls and fences and plants and props.

And while I was searching for places to display my quilts for photos, look who was watching me. Goats, sheep and lots of chickens too. The rooster kept crowing me off his turf, so I left him and his harem alone. 

Here is Dream Catcher with a few of the props I appropriated from Stoney's. 

I got a couple shots of Pioneer Trail as well. Not being a photographer by trade, I do a lot of messing around and never know if I will get anything I can use.  I think I like the one with the goat the best, but I can only use that for blogging! Not such a great pattern cover!

Here is a new release. I showed these little quilts a while back and then sent them off to Karen Mowery for photos because she has antique dolls from when she was a little girl. (Hee hee-I'm gonna hear about that!) Didn't she take a nice photo for me? She is talented in so many aspects that I value, and I count on her way too much. In this pattern you can use a focus fabric for the center or cross stitch a sampler from a chart in the pattern.

Getting ready for market has been taking my attention, and I have three quilts out being quilted. You can catch a glimpse of one of them at Quilt Hollow. Mary Flynn is doing her magic on a new one. Normal for her, thrilling for me! You may recall that Mary recently quilted baby quilts for the twin boys just born to my granddaughter. I enlarged one of the designs to adult size just so Mary could do the pattern that you will see on her blog. Awesome is all I can say, just awesome!

Hope your weekend is as happy as mine!

Lets Hear it for the Boys!

Remember that song from the movie Footloose? It has been going through my head because we are so excited about the arrival of "the boys"! And here they are, my granddaughter Becky's twins, born Friday, March 4, 2011.

 I believe they are happy to have a little room to stretch, but still stay close together.

 The miracle of birth never ceases to amaze me!

 Mary is now an aunt and my daughter, Polly, a grandmother! They look pretty pleased about it all!

 More little bits of the family and babies! A very exciting event!

And the best news is that everyone is healthy and doing well!

They are in Provo, Utah, so I get to see them when I go to Salt Lake City for spring quilt market! I can't wait!