A Little More Market

 A little more market never hurt anyone, right? So here is a peek into the wonderful Bonnie Blue Booth. The quilt on the back wall is the Cotton Club BOM that we are seeing all over. It is awesome!

 Pictured above is Paula Barnes and Mary Ellen Stoddard from Bonnie Blue Quilts. More nice people with whom I am happy to connect. I really love their quilts!

 The Bonnie Blue booth always blows me away!

  This is my own quilt, Celebration Stars, which, I am proud to say, was hanging in the Marcus Fabric booth!

 This is the darling and talented Kathy Schmitz! Always in the mood for Christmas....

 When we first spotted Kathy it was the day before market began and she was down on her knees painting her floor! What a girl!

 We came across Kathy later while she was visiting her sister, Bonnie Sullivan's booth. Can you tell they are sisters? Bonnie's company is All Through the Night. check it out! Can you believe her booth? It was drop dead gorgeous! Wool applique on flannel. Watch for her new book coming in the fall.

 Here is a cool looking new book on the market by Kathy Brown. Sorry, I don't know her website. But do a title search and you will find her book all over just now!

I had the pleasure of meeting Kathy while in the Sew Unique Creations booth. Also met Granola Girl, Debbie Field. I was introduced as Patchalot by Tara Lynn Darr and told that heretofore that is what I would be known as. Never mind Marcie.

This is the adorable Renee Plains of Liberty Star in her equally adorable booth.

I bought her book, A Bird in Hand, and can't wait to dig into it and make something! I wonder if they call Renee Liberty Star?

Hope you enjoy viewing a few more photos from Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, Utah. For me it never gets old!

Too Much Fun!

Let's begin with these adorable babies! These are the adorable twins that I got to see while I was in Salt Lake City. You may already know that they belong to Becky, my granddaughter. They are now four months old. I have lots more to share, but wanted to grab your attention with these little cuties first! Grey and Micah!

It is not an easy thing to be a dedicated blogger, and as much as I enjoy it, I must admit that at times it seems a burden. You may have noticed (or not) my absence of late. First I was in SLC for Quilt Market, then visiting family out west while there, then I came home and had a hysterectomy and that laid me up for a while. Actually I pretty much slept for a week. Now I am working my way back into the game. Ideas are streaming. But I still have hardly touched on my trip and market and the babies, etc.

 

 So let me begin by saying that I met up with the wonderful and charming Tara Lynn Darr of Sew Unique Creations while I was at market and I got to see all her darling quilts that are in her new book, Simply Charming, and they are just that! Simply Charming! Her book is available all over the place, including her website. But you might get lucky and win it in my drawing! 

 Also while in Utah I met up with Kairle Oaks who I met thru blogging a few years ago. Now we have met face to face and I can honestly say how wonderful it was to meet her! Kairle took a day from her busy life and showed me and Joan some darling quilt shops in the Salt Lake area. 

This place, Quilt, Etc. actually has storefronts on two sides of the street and people carry things back and forth. They treated us with little bags of Utah's famous Salt Water Taffy, and also had cookies and drinks sitting out for customers. Hospitality plus, I would say! Click the link for a virtual tour of the shop on their website. It's great!

Next shop on our tour was Material Girls! The Utah shops seem to be especially fond of clean, bright colors. I would have to change my whole color palette if I lived there. This shop was darling and visually appealing. 

Then it was on to Gardner Village! We loved this place! Just look at the trees in bloom and the mountains still covered in snow and the bright blue sky! The village contained many darling shops that we visited, but of course our main destination was Pine Needles Quilt Shop, pictured right there with that darling deck over the stream.

These pretty pastels rule in this area, and I had to laugh when talking later to Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill about this shop. I told her it looked like it was painted to match her fabrics! 

Then take a look at the darling cutting table and the big drawers. I love it! I would love to do that in my own sewing room.

What a wonderful day it was, and we owe it all to the generosity of my blogging buddy, Kairle! Aren't blogging friends the best!

Here are a couple more pictures of the twins with two of their grandmas. On the right is Mary Brandt who also came to town for Quilt Market.

Mary works for Shelley Stokes and Cedar Canyon Textiles. They have those nifty Paintstiks that so many people are enjoying. They always do a huge business. People love those Paintstiks! It was nice to enjoy their company again!

So now I made you read all the way thru this post to find out what you need to do to enter the drawing for the Simply Charming book. Well, I think if you read this far you qualify to throw your name in the hat! Be sure I can link back to you or else leave me an email address. Good luck everyone! Let's give it one week and I will draw next Thursday, June 16.

Have fun clicking on those links! They are all great!

Quilt Market Friends

I have been so out of the loop with blogs lately! Since I got back from Quilt Market I have been catching up on orders and on ordering, etc. Tomorrow I am going in for a bit of surgery and that may lay me up for a while longer. So I want to get some photos posted from my trip before that happens. I posted photos of my booth last time, so here are a couple of photos of cute booths that were near me.

 This is Mary Jane Carey from Holly Hill Designs. I am sure you have seen her darling patterns, or maybe even made them! Her booth was right across from ours, so we enjoyed a lovely view of her quilts.

Waltzing with Bears anyone? I loved this darling booth and the banner hung above it! Cheryl was just down the row from me. She had lots of cute patterns with wool.

And speaking of wool, who should I run into at Waltzing With Bears but Karen from My Yellow Farmhouse! I love running into bloggers! 

 Also seen at my booth was our darling friend Anne from Cottons 'N Wool blog!

 You may remember that Anne works with Anne Sutton at Bunny Hill Designs! I enjoyed seeing them both at market!

 

 The Bunny Hill booth was darling! Anne has a new fabric line coming out in October that is just beautiful! Blue and gray and pink and gray--really pretty!

 I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet Cheryl Wall from Country Quilts in British Columbia. She is a real sweetheart! I wish our booths had been closer so we could have visited more. I love that quilt with the birds! This is one clever lady!

This is her beautiful book and you may know that Mary Flynn at Quilt Hollow has been busy quilting for Cheryl's new book!


I have more photos, but they will have to wait for another day. I hope you enjoy these, and as my friend Gloria Parsons from the Olde Green Cupboard always says, "Celebrate Handmade"! (I feel like such a name dropper!)

Destination: Salt Lake City!

Welcome to Salt Lake City! The biggest attraction here is Temple Square. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints is headquartered in Salt Lake City, and Temple Square is a destination for visitors and church members alike. Joan and I went there on Thursday night last week and took a brief tour. Then we had the opportunity to listen to the Tabernacle Choir as they rehearsed. We both loved it! Temple Square is beautiful! The gardens are always lovely, but right now it is full of thousands of tulips and other spring flowers. Wow! Gorgeous! All those photos are on Joan's camera. However, I found another blog with fantastic photos of Temple Square and the tulips--you really should take a look, as I don't want to steal them. 

The event that took us to Salt Lake City was, of course, Quilt Market! We loved being there and seeing all the beautiful quilts and booths and meeting up with friends we have met in the past.

Here is my booth, looking a little crammed with quilts! I guess I thought I had more room than I actually had! I am still learning about setting up, etc. Last year My Happy Place was the big winner, so I brought it again. I sold some of everything, but the big winners this year were Saddle Tramp, Prairie Fire and Country Baskets. It is always fun to see what people will gravitate to, I guess that is why I hate to leave anything out! Check my website if you want to order patterns.

We had so much fun and I have tons more pictures that I will parcel out.

So adorable of Joan! What would I do without her?!

We had a great time in Utah and saw lots of family and beautiful scenery as well. I hope to share more in the coming days. Right now I am in Arizona. I arrived here yesterday to visit with loved ones while I am still in the West. I am cramming in as much as I can! 


All is well! Come back again! And if you placed an order, please be patient, I will be home late next week.

Great Minds, and all that...

Yesterday I picked up the new American Patchwork and Quilting Quilt Sampler magazine. I am saving it to read on the plane, as I savor every page of these Sampler magazines. But this morning the cover really snagged my attention, and I had to grab my McCall's Quilting magazine to confirm what I was seeing. Yes! The cover quilt on McCall's Quilting May/June 2011 issue is virtually the same quilt design as the one on Quilt Sampler! I find this just a little amusing because I know both of these magazines really are outstanding and that they want original works, and for sure they don't want to duplicate one another. I am not laughing at their infallibility, only that it is getting more and more difficult to be original. As a designer I can't tell you how many times I see quilts that are so close to my own. In fact I have designed what I thought was a totally original quilt, only to see it published by someone else. And of course traditional designs get used over and over again. 

What can we do about that? What do magazines and pattern makers do about that? Most people these days are so caught up in copyright issues, but what about honest mistakes? What about two outstanding magazines that both have the same quilt on their cover? I say shake hands and have a good laugh about it. I doubt there is any blood percolating over this. These editors are certainly above that. I have worked a little with both teams and they are great!

This red, white and blue quilt was designed by Leslie Knoop. It is great!

This blue and white quilt is from Sarah Maxwell and Delores Smith and is stunning!.


Congratulations to all these ladies on their beautiful quilts! And to American Patchwork and Quilting and McCall's Quilting I say keep up the excellent work on these great magazines! And any time you need me, I am here! (Oh, did I say that out loud?)

If you don't have either of these issues there is still time to rush out and buy your own copy. They never disappoint!

Go West O Quilter, Go West!

My ancestors were among the Mormon Pioneers that traveled across the plains and mountains by oxen drawn covered wagons to Salt Lake City, Utah. This Sunday I am making the same trek. Well, sort of. I am flying in a huge jet plane and will arrive there by noon! I am sure they would think me the biggest wimp, and they would be so right! But this is the time I live in, so there is no use holding on to the covered wagon tradition when we can fly! Of course I have to go thru airport security where I will get patted down once again because I am a suspicious looking character. This time I am going to avoid eye contact and not be so friendly. It doesn't help, and it may be what makes me so suspicious.But I can't help it, I am going to International Quilt Market and I am just so happy and excited! Market is in Salt Lake City this spring so I could not miss the opportunity to go there!

This is the flyer I will be handing out this year. The very talented Karen Mowery put it together for me. It turned out really nice and it makes me feel proud to hand it out. These are the quilts I am taking this time, plus a couple more. I have been in a mad frenzy preparing and I think I am just about done. I still have directions to finish for one pattern, and of course some packing. 

For those of you who may have been waiting for me to release the Saddle Tramp pattern, it is now available and on my website. If you want it right away, please order it by Saturday, May 7. Once I leave town I will be unable to ship for a while (tho I can have my husband do it if necessary). Prairie Fire is also available now and lots of other great patterns too, so feel free to shop with wild abandon!

I will take lots of pictures while I am gone, and hopefully I will get a chance to blog at some point. If you are going to SLC for market PLEASE come and see me in booth 1303!

PS: On a side note, I just read Carol's post at Brown Quilts. You should read her blog and her invitation.

Good Eats

I thought I would share two favorite recipes of mine. My reputation as a cook is minimal, so you can bet that my favorite recipes are easy ones! 

 Because I didn't think to take photos earlier, this is what is left of the ham quiche. I dolled it up with accessories for the photo. The creamer in the picture is one that belonged to my grandmother and it displays a portrait of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth commemorating a royal visit to Canada in 1939.Just thought I would throw that in due to the recent festivities. 


According to my recipe card I got this recipe in 1984 from WCCO radio in Minneapolis, MN. We didn't find things on line back then, so they had a home economist on the radio to inform us. Joyce somebody, I think. This is such an easy recipe and great if you have some leftover ham. I have change the filling to my liking.


HAM QUICHE  use 9" partially baked pie shell
Beat together 1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup,
4 eggs, beaten. 1/2 cup light cream (I used skim milk)
In the bottom of the pie shell place 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 4 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 cup or so of chopped ham, about a cup or so of cooked broccoli heads. Pour the mixed liquid into pie crust over the filling and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Test to be sure it is done. Let sit for a few minutes before cutting. Yum!

And this is what is left of the peanut butter Rice Krispie bars. I got this recipe from a friend in about 1970. It quickly became a family favorite.


PEANUT BUTTER RICE KRISPIE BARS
In a large sauce pan mix 1/2 cup sugar with 3/4 cup light corn syrup. Bring to a boil to melt sugar, but don't over boil or it turns the bars hard. Take off the heat and stir in 1 cup of peanut butter until melted. Add 6 cups of Rice Krispies. Mix together and pat into a 9x 13 pan.
Melt 6 ounces of chocolate chips and 6 ounces of butterscotch chips together (I do this in the microwave). Spread over the top of the bars. When the chocolate sets, cut into pieces and serve. Listen to the crowd go wild! 
Additionally, these can be shaped. My DIL shapes it into a football each year for their super bowl party. Shape it into a teddy bear, or birthday numbers, etc. Or just make it in a pan like I do!

And now for a quick pic of how our darling little twins are growing! They look like they have been eating quiche and Rice Krispie bars! But no, their mama is actually providing enough milk for both of them. Apparently they have good eats too! They are thriving!