A finish

Now that the house has sold, I can mess up my sewing room again.   I always thought I wanted a nice and tidy room but I now know that I work better in chaos.    

I hadn’t realized that it had been over a year since I last worked on my Wool Garden block of the month.  And…I only had one more block to go.   So, I got busy this week and finally finished it. 

My friend, Nadine, had changed the border and I really liked what she did, so I borrowed her template for the scallops and now it’s done!   

It sure feels good to get back on track!

Fall Quilt Market

I told you I’d be back.  Thanks to all of you who stopped by to say “hi”.  It means a lot that you didn’t give up on me. 

Well, another Quilt Market has come and gone.  Sometimes it feels like a blur.  This year even more so because it was just Anne and me there handling the duties.   I didn’t get very many pictures because we never really got a chance to get out of the booth.   Here are some pictures of the booth and the quilts of Bunny Hill.

Anne’s newest fabric collection is called Lily and Will II and it is done in the most luscious colors of aqua and yellow.

While I haven’t been sewing for myself much, I did make these quilts for Anne. This first one is called “Cape Cod Baby”. 

Next up… “B is for Baby”

And… “The More the Merrier”

I also did all the machine applique on “The Night before Christmas”.  Cute new Block of the Month, huh?

I also made another color variation of “The More the Merrier” for the Moda booth.   I got so tickled seeing it displayed there.  Wow….I made a quilt that’s hanging at Moda!  That’s Bob, Lissa, and Diane.  Bob and Diane are married Moda reps who I met when I worked at Sew Many Quilts here in Bend.   Lissa is the genius Marketing Director for Moda.  They are all so cute!

Look who our next door neighbor was. Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs!!!  I’d say we were in good company, wouldn’t you?  Her booth won 1st place for a single booth.   I wish you could have seen her laying on the floor during set up, with her nail gun putting the walls together for the booth.  Barb was only there the opening day.  She had to go back to work.  Boo Hiss work!

Our neighbors on the other side were the hilarious Barb and Mary of “Me and my Sister” designs.  We had so much fun with them.

Our section was loaded with such talented designers like Laurie and Polly of Minnick and Simpson.

Kate Spain with her new line of fabric, “Central Park”.  Check out the darling plates on the table.  They are made using Kate’s designs and sold at Crate and Barrel.  She also designs greeting cards that are sold at Target.  Quite a talented young lady.  And…she’s as nice as she is talented.

Another special and talented designer is Deb Strain.   I’m always excited to see what new paper products she’s come out with.

Check out Jan Patek with her friend and helper Jenny.   They were having such a good time.   You would have thought it was Halloween or something! LOL

More pictures of her booth.   These are all so “my” style.   I wanted to move in.

This is Sandy Klop of “American Jane”.  I’ve known her since my California days.  She’s the best!

And here’s Kathy Schmitz with her wonderful stitchery designs.   I met her for the first time at Spring Market and she’s the kind of person who makes you feel like you’ve known her your whole life.  Such a sweetie.

And, winner of 2nd place, single booth, was Karla Eisenach of “Sweetwater”.  This was the first time I had met her but one night when we went to dinner with her I discovered that she used to be the brains behind “Farmyard Creations” quilts and doll patterns.  I was so excited because I think I still have all her patterns!  From Farmyard Creations, she went into scrapbook paper design with her daughters and now with Moda and fabric designs.  A very creative family there!

Then…anyone who knows me, knows how much I love Lynn Hagmeier’s Kansas Troubles fabric and patterns.   Her booth always feels like home to me.   This year was no exception with her new  “Perennials”  fabric.   I picked up a fat pack at Sample Spree and it’s just as wonderful as all her other lines.  

It was so good to see Mary (Mary’s Cottage Quilts) along with her friend, Val.  They are always such fun.  Don’t you just love Mary’s smile?   And her quilts too, of course.

And, last but not least, I quickly grabbed my camera when I walked past Buggy Barn’s newest creation.   The quilt is called “Farm Fresh” and I just fell in love with it.  

So, that’s it for another Quilt Market.  It’s so much work but so much fun.  So much creativity under one roof. It never ceases to amaze me!

On another note, Linda is having a giveaway.   It’s an Accuquilt GO!   Go on over there and enter to win.   Those little machines were huge at Market.  

So, if you made it to the end…congratulations.    Whew…this blogging thing is tiring.  Just Kidding. 

See ya later.

Hi

Remember me?    Sorry I’ve been gone so long.   Had a bit of a rough year but things are looking up and I’m ready to take you on a journey.   

 

First of all, I have to thank all of you that checked up on me the last few months.  You’ll never know how much that meant to me.  Things were chaotic around here and I just didn’t have anything to blog about.   Well, I did…but you probably wouldn’t have been interested in my super clean house and my complete meltdowns.    That was due to the fact that we put our house on the market in March and it finally sold a few weeks ago.  

This is all a good thing.   We decided to stay in Bend and downsize and after looking at a million (at least) re-sale houses, we decided to build exactly what we want.  

Funny thing.  The house is pretty much a smaller version of our current house.   The whole design process with the architect was so much fun.  We both thought it would be stressful, but so far, so good.   The plans will go to the city for permits next week and we might be able to break ground the first part of December.   The best part of it all?  The buyers have agreed to let us rent back until next May when, hopefully, construction will be completed! 

Here’s the lot and view.

See the mountains?  That’s what I will look at from my sewing room!   Yippee.   

So, I’ll be taking you on the home building journey.  We’ll be there the day they break ground and all the days thereafter.

Next up:  pictures of Quilt Market.   And after that, I’ll show you pictures from the past 8 months or so.   

A barter?

About a year ago I got an email from Mary at Quilt Hollow with a rather mysterious subject line. “Barter” was all it said. I had no idea what to expect when I opened the email but was really intrigued after I read it. She wanted to know if I’d like to do a “trade”. She’d quilt one of my quilts if I would make her a set of the Tisket a Tasket blocks in wool. After thinking it over, I thought it was a great idea!

So, each month as I posted my finished block we would “wink” at each other.

(I created a cute collage of these blocks but can’t get it to load to my blog. Hmmm, bummer!)

I had a medium sized quilt ready to go and she told me to send it to her right away so we could talk about how I wanted it quilted. We have such similar tastes that I knew it was in good hands. Little did I know that I sent her into a tailspin because she usually just did “all over” designs and she knew that this was going to have to be a custom job.

I felt really bad that she was so stressed about it so I told her to send it back and I’d send her another one. She refused and took it to her long arm gatherings for advice. I hadn’t heard from her in awhile (lots going on with my Mom) and then all of a sudden a couple of weeks ago, there it was on her blog. OMG…I thought I was going to hyperventilate! It was so gorgeous. Funny thing was…I had just finished putting the borders on Tisket and was getting ready to ship it off to her. Great minds….right Mary?

When mine arrived here, I quickly made and attached the binding so I could stitch it down in the car on another trip to Calif last week. Finished it by the time we got home and Wa-La, here it is.

Check out the quilting…

Isn’t it wonderful? (Somehow I think I got the better end of this barter…LOL)

Have you ever thought of offering up your talents to someone who does something you can’t or don’t want to do or don’t even have time to do? If you haven’t, it’s something you might want to consider. After all, isn’t that the way business used to be done in the “olden” days?

I’m so grateful to Mary for suggesting this trade and in my opinion, it was a win win for both of us.

Thanks Mary. I love it!

(My quilt is a pattern by Jo Morton called “Jo’s Whig Rose” and is in her book “Traditions”.)

Where in the world is….

Mystery location. Where are we?

Seattle? No…..

Alaska? No….

Believe it or not…it’s Florida. We spent New Year’s with some of our bestest friends in the Ft Myers/Naples area and needless to say, I think it was warmer in Oregon. That idiot cute guy in the shorts would be none other than Mr CnW. He refused to admit that it was cold. We were all lucky to even have coats with us. The only reason we did was because when we left home it was snowing.

Oh well, at least we were in good company. The guys all started working together right out of college and we’ve all remained great friends thru the birth of our children, grandchildren and now, retirement.

And today is Karen’s birthday so head on over to My Red Farmhouse and wish Karen a very Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Karen, and here’s to many many more.

I’m trying to get back my quilting Mo Jo and have been tackling some UFO’s. Hopefully, I’ll have a couple of things to show you at the end of the week.