Happy Birthday Hugs!

I'd like to give a shout out to my friend, Ardis. She's a fellow quilter and one of the Batty Babes. Last year her church acquired an additional facility to use for group gatherings, meetings, etc. She quickly approached them about a quilt ministry and "Healing Hugs" was born. The first Thursday of February, 2010, several quilters got together to sew quilts to give to cancer patients who are undergoing treatment. We make them and she takes them to the local cancer treatment center and they hand them out to new patients. These quilts are theirs to keep and there is a note that goes with them that says we are supporting them by wrapping them in quilts as well as our prayers during this difficult time in their lives. She has also given a few to other people she has heard about who are going through an illness.
The first Thursday of every month we gather and enjoy an afternoon/evening of sewing, snacking, laughing and fellowship while we create these quilts. We usually average about 8 to 10 workers. This year we had a lousy, sleety day and we had one of our biggest crowd of sewers ever! Can you say "cabin fever"? :)

At first she and Page, her "right-hand", would lug ironing boards, irons, batting, etc. in from home every month. But a few months into it, she talked the church into giving her a space in the back room for a supply room. Now she can keep those things, as well as donated fabric, etc. right there on the premises. That has made it a lot easier.

Some of us will sit and sew quilt tops while others put on bindings or attach labels and cards. Others take the tops home and quilt them and bring them back the next month. In this first year of "production" she has been able to give away 155 quilts! I think that's an amazing number from a group that only meets once a month and I'm so pleased to be a very small part of this productive group.

Thanks, Ardis, for including us in your ministry. It warms our hearts as it warms the cancer patients' bodies -- and hopefully their hearts as well. Well done, my friend.

Designing Women

I got word the other day from McCall's that another one of my designs will be in the October/November issue of their Quick Quilts magazine and will be out to subscribers and on news stands between August 10 and 31. That means any day now...so I'm watching the mail for my copy. It's always fun to see what they do with my quilts. I made this one as a birthday gift for Ardis -- one of the Batty Babes -- last fall. She quilted it and we sent it to McCall's. I called it "Falling Stars" because of the fall colors I used and the way the different sized stars fall across the quilt. They call it "Patchwork Galaxy"...and I like that name, too. This will be my 8th design published by McCall's and there will be another one next spring.

I know a couple of ladies who have granddaughters about Savannah's age and they are enjoying showing the girls how to sew. I've tried with Savannah, but she's not really interested in the accuracy required or the techniques used. But she is very artistic and loves and appreciates quilts. Her eyes lit up one day when she came over and saw me sketching a quilt design on graph paper with colored pencils. So when she adopted her little Cabbage Patch girl, Ella Rose, one of the first things she talked about was me making a quilt for the little baby. We were still on vacation, so she was trying to describe to me what she wanted. Finally she told me just to wait. She said that when she got home she would draw a picture of how she wanted it to be. So here we go...the next generation of quilt designers! I couldn't be more proud. And sure enough -- next time I saw her she had drawn a picture for me.

So I went to my fabric stash and started to pull little pieces of fabric that looked as close to her design as I could come. I paid attention to the details she had about the sizes and colors of the squares. She made it clear that she wanted some blank ones that she could write words on. (She got this idea from the quilt I made for her when she was born.) And she wanted some pictures on it. I surprised her by printing pictures of her with Ella Rose on the squares she had planned to draw pictures in. She was surprised by that because she didn't know I could do that. She was very happy with the final results. It seems we make a good team. Who knows what we'll be able to collaborate on in the future? I can't wait to see!

Looking Back

I spend a lot of time beating myself up for not getting enough done. I'm always focused on new projects I want to do...or "works in progress" that I feel I should be working on. And it's true that I waste an awful (and I do mean "awful") lot of time on Facebook these days (yeah...thanks, Jess!). But once a year I allow myself an opportunity to go back and look at what I have actually done in the past year in the way of my projects.

I spent the first several months of 2009 going through my mom's photos...and then my own photo albums. I made great progress, but I can't actually say that task is "finished" because it's an on-going struggle to keep up with pictures, etc. Especially now that we take so many great digital pics and then have to save them somewhere or print them or whatever. I did manage to make two pretty neat scrapbooks this year. One was for Jerry. It was some of my favorite pictures of his mother. He was very touched by it. Another was a Christmas present for my brother. It was all of my dad's pictures from WWII and it was fun to make and I love the way it turned out. Through an odd set of circumstances, I got to give it to him in person for Christmas -- even though we haven't had Christmas together for many years. And while I was in scrapbooking mode, I also made a scrapbook calendar for a friend for Christmas.

But most of my focus in looking back is to see what's been produced in the sewing room. Particularly in the quilting department. Since I hand quilt, it takes a long time to actually piece and quilt a final product. The only ones I can count that way are a wall hanging that I made for this year's quilt guild challenge and the annual family Christmas quilt. Jessica won the drawing for the Christmas quilt this year. But I also completed a casserole caddy, a tote bag, a wool table topper, 5 crosstitch projects and a dress for Savannah. I was able to complete two old quilt restorations for customers, too.

Each of the Babes...me included...made 20 pillow cases for children with cancer. Ours were combined with ones made at Sweet Home Quilt Co. over Thanksgiving and Melisa was able to deliver 334 pillow cases to the ConKer Cancer organization. Here we are at our Christmas party, showing off our bagged-up and ready-to-go pillow cases.

By far, most of my sewing room time this past year was spent piecing quilt tops (unquilted). As I've documented, I made 7 for the Babes for their birthdays as well as one for Elaine for Christmas. I didn't quilt these because they would never get finished -- and they can quilt them however they like. I also pieced two quilt tops for charity that were quilted by my friend, Ardis. My goal was to make lots of scrappy quilts and really use up some of my fabric stash. Right. Using your stash is like eating a salad...you do it and do it and do it and nothing seams to disappear! But it was a lot of fun and since I still have lots of stash left, I guess I can do a couple (hundred) more!

So, as I look back, I guess it doesn't sound too bad. 10 tops need quilting, 9 other projects, (I can't finish the song because I don't have 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, etc.) 20 pillow cases, 2 restorations, 2 quilts completed -- and a partridge in a pear tree. I already have big plans for this year. Some of those plans even include getting back to started projects. So I guess I need to get off the computer now and get busy!

Retreat

re-treat (ri tret') n. 1 a withdrawal, as from danger 2 a safe, quiet place 3 a period of seclusion, esp. for spiritual renewal.

Hmmm... I went to a quilters and scrapbookers retreat this weekend. But according to Webster, I wonder why we call it that. We do withdraw...but not from danger. As a group we withdraw from the duties, responsibilities, and loved ones in our lives that interrupt our pursuit of our creative hobbies and make accomplishing things difficult. As for it being a safe, quiet place. Well, let's just say it's very safe. We go to the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield, GA. They have a huge, wonderful facility on 6,400 acres of natural wooded beauty. They have motel-style rooms and a large conference room where we can set up tables, ironing boards, a huge food spread and still have plenty of room to spread out and work. The quiet part of this definition, however, doesn't quite fit. There is no TV reception out there, but they have a big-screen TV that we can play DVDs on. We also bring our portable music and I'm still singing all the songs from Mama Mia in my head today. Definition 3 doesn't quite fit, either. Rather than it being a period of seclusion, we invite lots of good friends. This time 20 of us "retreated" to this wilderness together.

There were a few special things about the relationships of the group this time. Jodi and I almost always are there together. Me with my quilting friends, and her with her scrapbooking buddies. This time a good friend and one of the Batty Babes, Liz, who hasn't been to one of these in a very long time not only came along, but brought her daughter, Ellen, who is a scrapbooker, too. So we had two mother-daughter pairs. What's more fun than spending your weekend with your friends AND one of your grown daughters? Well...maybe the answer to that is spending it with a sister who is also a good friend. Another of the Batty Babes, Deanna, retired and moved to Charlotte, NC last year. She comes down to visit often and especially when we have something like this going on. This time she brought along a very good friend, Ilona, who also happens to be one of her sisters. Ilona lives in Columbia, SC, so they met up along the way and rode down together. We all enjoyed meeting Ilona and having her with us.

We were also glad to share some part of the weekend with a very good friend that most of us hadn't seen in a long while. Becky has been a nurturing care-giver for her husband, Robert, who has been battling pancreatic cancer for the past two years or so. He lost his gallant fight quite recently and went home to heaven...so she was able to come and share the love of good friends and the soul-nourishing time for creativity.

But you can never find a time that meets everybody's schedule, so we missed a couple of the "regulars". Ardis never misses, but she was off on a great anniversary trip with her husband. And Pam was able to only squeeze out a couple of hours from a weekend filled with working and caring for her mother who is having some health problems. All in all, I would have to say that I agree with most everyone who said, "This was the best one yet! When can we do it again?"

Quilt As Desired - Part Three

The third Batty Babe to have a birthday so far this year was Melisa. She turned the big 5-0 last week (and lived to tell about it). The weekend before, we all took to the mountains to celebrate with her. This is her sittin' and knittin' on the back porch. What else would an old lady do?

It was great that all 9 of us could get away for a few days at the same time. Amelia, one of the Babes, has a cabin in the north Georgia mountains and it is a little bit of heaven up there. Usually at least 15 degrees cooler than here at home, it is wonderful to sit on the porch morning, noon and night and listen to the creek nearby. We sew, and read, and laugh, and play card games, and eat and laugh and even drink "a little". We have a great time.

This is the quilt top that I made for her to "quilt as desired". For those of you who don't know, it's called a String Quilt. Varying widths of fabric strips (strings) are sewn together with lights being on one side and darks on the other. It's a very addictive project once you get started...and a great way to use little leftover pieces of fabric that you just can't throw away.

So thanks, again, Amelia. We all had a wonderful time helping Melisa over this big "hump".

Quilt As Desired - Part Two

Early last February, I posted a picture of a six-point star quilt top that I made for my friend, Pam's, birthday. I said that it was my intention this year to make each of the Batty Babes (my quilting group) a quilt top for their birthday. Each of them can "quilt as desired" by hand or machine. This is the longest stretch that we go between birthdays, but the other night we celebrated again. This time it was Elaine's turn to be spoiled with our gifts and good wishes.

I dug into my stash to find old fabrics, again, and made her this design called "Birds in the Air". Elaine is a long arm quilter. For those of you not familiar with that term, that means she has a professional quilting machine. It will take her no time at all to turn this top into a snugly, warm quilt. Here is a picture of her (she's on the right) at our party...with some of the other Babes...studying all the little fabrics. Such fun we have!

From now till the end of the year the birthdays will be coming fast and furious...so I need to get busy!

I Could Already Be a Wiener

I was proud and happy last Thursday night to bring home a 3rd place ribbon for my challenge quilt at the guild this year. This year's challenge was "designed" by Melisa and it was a lot of fun. I always enjoy the challenges and usually participate. This year the rules were pretty easy and very creative. There were the usual limits on size, but that's' where the similarity to other challenges ended. She had gone to Lowe's and gotten some of those paint color strips and put them in a bag. Without looking, we were to pick a strip out of the bag. Those colors were to be our "inspiration". On the back of each color strip, she named one particular block and two different techniques. We had to incorporate those into our design also. It needed to be a one-person project, which meant we couldn't design it and then have someone else quilt it for us.

My color strip is in the photo above and here is my finished project. The block I had to use was called "double aster" and it is the one in each of the 4 corners. My techniques were "flying geese"...which make up the saw-toothed border, and "yo yos"...which you can't see on here but they are the flower centers.

Here are pictures of some of the other entries. The blue and yellow to the right of mine is the one that won 1st place. This picture is not good and no photo would do it justice. It is a strikingly beautiful quilt. I was so impressed with her use of color and design. She had to use the double aster block, too, and hers is in the center. One of her techniques was foundation paper piecing and the other 4 stars are done using that method. They are impossible to see here but have perfectly precise points.

This one also won the "viewer's choice" award and that was no surprise to anyone.

The second place winner was this very creative yellow/red/blue one on the bottom in this picture. Again...the pictures are terrible and the quilts were beautiful. Very creative and meticulously executed. I don't remember all her "requirements", but I know one of her techniques was hand quilting and she is a consummate machine quilter. :) That's the idea behind a challenge...get us out of our ruts.

The blue and green one above the 2nd place winner did not win a prize, but it was one of my favorites. Her block and techniques were exactly the same as mine, but with a different color chip. Look at the difference in the two designs! That's one of the joys of this creative hobby of ours.

Thanks, Melisa, for a fun challenge!

For the Cause

My quilt guild, the Cotton Boll Quilters, does a lot of charity work of which I am very proud. One of their on-going ministries is called "Journey of Hope". Guild members make quilts for children of all ages and we try to keep a stash on hand so that if we hear of a child who is suffering an illness, has lost a home due to fire or some other tragedy, has lost a parent, etc. we can hand them a quilt of their own and offer them comfort in a very tangible way.


Our stash is low and so we've all been reminded and encouraged to "make quilts for Journey of Hope!" I made a top last week that I hope will be the first of several. I was inspired by one I saw hanging up at Sweet Home Quilt Co. It was quick and easy...and in bright colors that I hope will cheer a child who needs it. I mostly hand quilt, but that is very time consuming. A friend volunteered to machine quilt some if I would put the tops together. So let's hope this is just the start of a productive collaboration.


P.S. If you click on the picture, it should enlarge and you can see these fun fabrics better.

Waiting to Brag

I've been waiting quite a while to make this post. McCall's told me that early this year...they were hoping for some time in January...they were going to start up a new web site. Featured on this new site would be my spring quilt called "Bunnies and Baskets". So I've been watching and waiting. A few weeks ago they said they were pretty sure it would be up and running the following week. Well...you know how temperamental computers -- and their systems -- can be. So the other day they e-mailed me their apologies and said they had posted a link to it on their regular web site.

If you look on my right-hand side bar...under the green part where it says, "about me"...there is a white part. The first link under "Check this out" is McCall's. Click on that link and scroll down under the picture of the March/April issue of the magazine. There are several links underlined in blue. The last one is: SPECIAL ONLINE-ONLY KIT OFFER. Click on that and you will see the quilt and me getting credit for the design and my friend, Ardis, getting credit for the machine quilting. Also an offer to get the kit (everything you need to make it) from Sweet Home Quilt Company which is my friend, Melisa's, quilt shop.

It's fun to see my designs photographed by someone else and fun to share it with my friends. And the link from my side bar under the McCall's one is for Melisa's shop. Take time to check it out -- often.

"Quilt as Desired"

Last night at our regular Batty Babes' quilt group get-together we celebrated Pam's birthday. We always have extra fun at the birthday parties. She got lots of wonderful things, because we spoil each other quite a bit.

I've decided that I want to dig into my fabric stash this year and make a scrappy quilt top for each of the Babes for their birthdays. I chose the six-point star pattern above for Pam because I have a scrappy six-point star quilt that she's admitted to "coveting". The stars on this one are a little bigger than the ones on my quilt, but otherwise, they look pretty similar. I tried to use old looking fabrics in this one and even more solids that we usually use in quilts today. I was trying to make a new quilt that looked old. I like the way it turned out and so did Pam. On her card I wrote, "quilt as desired". Since I quilt almost all my quilts by hand, I would never have enough time to make each of the Babes a quilt. But since they are all quilters, I figured I would give them each a top and they could then quilt by hand or machine in any way they liked.

The next birthday isn't until July, but in the fall they come pretty close together so I'll have to be working on the piecing pretty steadily all year. I have a few others started and ideas for a few more. Sew much fun!

New Kid on the Blog

On the right side of my blog page, under the green box, is a white box. In the top of that box are two links to other web sites. The first is McCall's and the second is Sweet Home Quilt Co. If you've clicked on Sweet Home before, it's just said it was a "work in progress"...just like me. Well, I'm here today to say, "Ta Da!!" Click on it now and you can see all kinds of good stuff. Everything from pictures of the sweet house that is Sweet Home and all the wonderful displays inside to a calendar, a newsletter, info on classes and workshops and you can even shop on line for patterns, kits, and fabrics...including all the latest. If you can't find what you need or want, just drop Melisa a line. Now no matter where you are, you can enjoy Sweet Home Quilt Co. as much as we do who live around here. She's also going to be blogging on there. So be sure to check back often. Also check back because it will be evolving. She says it still isn't exactly what she wants it to be, so she'll be tweaking it for while yet. Check it out!

Week in Review

Okay, okay. I've had some comments (complaints, too) because I haven't posted for a week. What can I say? I've been busy just being retired. Following my nose around most days, just giving into my adult ADD. I didn't think there was much to write about. But looking back, I guess it was a pretty good week.

On Monday we went with the Yorks to the Pumpkin Patch in Watkinsville. That's just south of Athens, so Jess and I went up earlier in the day and went clothes shopping at the mall...then met up with the rest of the family at the Patch. It turned out to be a very nice warm and sunny day. There was lots to do besides pick pumpkins. Emery and Grampy are pumping water into the pvc troughs to race their ducks. There was a cow train ride, a big slide, a petting zoo, a hay ride, a bale maze (similar to a corn maze, but easier and less scary for the little ones) and pig races. Savannah's pig won the race, so she got a pig nose as a prize. After the Patch, we ate dinner at Rafferty's...always a treat.

On Tuesday I finished piecing the fish bowl quilt that I'm going to give Emery for Christmas. I started it back in April at the retreat. Tuesday night we had Batty Babes and I took it to one of my friends there to machine quilt it for me. Then I spent a lot of time in the sewing room the next few days working on Savannah's pink and purple that I also started last April. I want to hand quilt this one for her for Christmas and I need to get on it!!! I also finished a wall hanging that I made for a friend for Christmas. It's the same as one I made for myself last year, but the border fabric is different.

On Wednesday we had some good friends over for dinner and played cards. It was fun. I don't know why we don't do that more often.

Then yesterday I dug into a new craft project I've had on my mind. I can't go into details here (more Christmas presents), but I will tell you that there is a HUGE mess on the dining room table. But I like the way it's coming along.

So there you have it. My week in review and it was a good one.

Newly Inspired

Yesterday I went with a couple of friends to the Georgia Quilt Show at the Gwinnett Convention Center in Duluth, Georgia. It's been a while since I've been to a quilt show, and this was a good one. So many beautiful quilts to admire and be inspired by. I usually find something in many of the quilts I look at that I want to try or a part of them that I want to incorporate into my work somehow. Whether it's a new color combination, a slightly different spin on something I've done before, a new technique or the way a quilting pattern changes the look of the piece. Sensory overload at it's best! Many shows have a "vendor mall" also. That's an area where quilt shops, sewing machine dealers, etc. have things you can buy. And, boy...did we buy! There were lots of vendors at this show and I came home toting bargain fat quarters, new patterns, and a couple of really cool storage/tote bags. So I will have fun today putting everything away in special places and in the next few days/weeks dreaming of all the new things I'm going to be trying.

Speaking of Quilting...

Actually, I haven't been speaking of quilting for quite a while. In January, I boasted that I had finished 3 projects in 3 weeks. Well...that's exactly how long that pace lasted: 3 weeks. Then in February I posted pictures of a table runner I did for a class and a new pattern I made for spring. In March and April I showed pictures of two of my seasonal table runners that were published in McCall's. Then, for some reason, I quit telling about my quilting projects. Too busy working to write about it, I guess. But I have stayed busy. In February I also made two tote bags. And my fall and winter table runners have been published by McCall's. (Here's a picture of the fall version)

I keep busy piecing and quilting other projects all the time, but in the spring I had to get really focused on one with a deadline. We were going home to Sheridan in July and I wanted to take a quilt to my BFF Shirley. I finally decided on the colors and design just before the retreat in April and I started on it that weekend. I finished piecing the top on May 24th, then I had it hand quilted by July 1st! That's a pretty good feat considering it is 63" x 72"!! It's a good thing she liked it.

Like most "good" quilters, I have vowed to start making scrappy quilt tops using up my stash. For those of you who don't know, "stash" is what we call the enormous amounts of fabric we have amassed over the years. I have been working on a few of those, too, and in May I finished one. I did something different with the border than what was planned, but I still like it.

In August I made another table runner top as a class sample. September has so far been a great month for crossing things off the list as "finished". I love doing that! Last spring I saw a picture in a magazine of a stylized bunny and I thought it would make a cute quilt block. From that idea, I sketched out a spring wall hanging with bunnies and baskets and eggs. I e-mailed the sketch to the editor at McCall's and she liked it. So I had to get it made, write the pattern, and send it to her by October 1st to meet her spring publishing deadline. I'm glad to report I got that in the mail last week. :) Also, last week, I put the finishing touches on one that I've been quilting on for quite a while. It's my version of one I saw in a magazine called "Cranbrook Christmas". It's another biggie - 63" x 81" and it will go to some member of the family. It's this year's Christmas Quilt and I will draw someone's name when we have our fall get-together in November.

Then just last week I came up with an idea for another design. I'll keep you in suspense until it's finished, but it's a small (31" x 32") wall hanging. I designed and pieced it last week and have it mostly quilted. I hope to finish it this week.

So...that's what's been going on in the quilting department! (If you click on a picture you an see it better.)

Here's the Next One!

With all that was going on last week, I was only vaguely aware that I got a new quilt magazine in the mail. That's usually a priority...drop what I'm doing and sit down and look through my magazine. It didn't dawn on me until I had time to pick it up this week that it has one of my quilts in it! The July issue of McCall's Quick Quilts is out to subscribers now and it has the second of my series of 4 table runners in it.

As soon as you run right out and buy one, check pages 51 and 52 for pictures and instructions for making my summer version of this pattern.

Sweet Home is offering kits again, and again we've already had orders from various places across the country. Pennsylvania and Arizona last week...and who knows where we will ship to this week? We sent kits for the spring one to places as far away as Canada, Mexico and even Germany! This is still a lot of fun.

Sew Many Pretty Quilts

I'm still on a creative high after this weekend. This was our quilters and scrapbookers' retreat at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center. It is always a wonderful experience. This year we had a great crowd. I think the total came to 30 and it was pretty evenly split with quilters on one side of the big conference/work room and scrapbookers on the other side. Every once in a while someone from one side of the room would need to stand up and take a stretch break from what they were working on and wander over to see what's going on on the other side of the room. We are each in awe of the artistry and creativty of the others. But with all the mutual admiration, I believe we only had one "cross over" this weekend...that is one quilter who decided she now wants to be a scrapbooker, too. I believe she's going to Hobby Lobby today to start shopping for her scrapbook and some accessories. My friend, Mellie, has a son, Sam, who is a junior in high school and is an awesome football player. He has been scouted and talked about in college football circles for a couple of years already. He was delighted to be offered a scholarship to MSU. That's where Mellie and her husband, Lin, went to school and where they met. Their older son, Ben, will graduate from MSU this spring and Sam will graduate from high school next December...a semester early...so he can be at MSU in time to start training with the football team in the spring. All this to say that Mellie has a lot of newpaper articles and pictures and items she has printed off the computer at scout.com about Sam and his football abilities. I have told her she needs to put them in a scrapbook. She realized she needs to keep them for him somehow, but she has seen the adorable scrapbooks Jodi has of the kids and although she thinks they are wonderful, she couldn't picture doing that sort of thing for her son. Well, as luck would have it, there was woman at the retreat who was working on a FOOTBALL SCRAPBOOK for her son! It was awesome and Mellie got sucked right in. She fell in love with the layouts, the specialty papers, the stickers and the book itself (with a 3-D football on the front). Here is a picture of her deep in conference with her new "mentor".

In other "retreat news", there were a lot of beautiful quilt tops completed by our group. I was so grateful to get away for as much time as I could. Jerry and Jessica were wonderful to stay with mom and take very good care of her for the better part of 3 days so that I could attend. I came home each night instead of staying in the rooms there, but I did get in a lot of quilting time and it felt so good to get a chance to do that and to be doing it among my friends. I just worked on a project for a while and then switched to another. So, even though I did work, I don't have a whole lot to show for it. I made some more fish bowls for Emery's fish quilt and started making blocks for Savannah's pink and purple pinwheels quilt. The only quilt top I actually finished is this brown/tan/blue half square triangle quilt. It is a reproduction of an antique quilt that I saw in a magazine a while back and I just liked it. It has no deadline so, of course, it's the one that got finished!

As soon as I get time...either later today or tomorrow some time...I will try to upload the rest of the pictures I have from the reatreat so that you can look at some of the other projects that got finished.

Getting Organized

I love getting organized. I like to work in an orderly environment, so when I sit down to sew or work on photo albums, budget stuff, etc. I like everything in it's place...and handy. And when I take time to get organized, I get all excited -- I feel like something may be getting accomplished some time soon. This morning I had to get a few things at Target. So, while I was there, I sauntered down the basket/box/container aisles and picked up a few things. This afternoon I treated myself to some time in the sewing room getting these new boxes, bins and baskets loaded up with projects to take with me on the "blended arts" retreat in a couple of weeks.

Jodi -- along with 13 of her scrapbooking buddies, and me -- along with 14 of my quilting friends, are going on a Friday to Sunday retreat at the Charlie Elliott Conference Center the weekend of the 18th of April. These are SOOO much fun...and we all get SOOOO much done! We "work" until the wee hours of the morning, then catch a few winks and are at it again early the next day. We don't worry about catching up on our sleep until the following week.

Here is a picture of what I got organized this afternoon. I always over-plan for a working retreat just like I over-pack for a vacation. You know...you take more clothes than you will wear, but you want options. Same with the projects to work on at retreat. In this picture there are enough supplies for making 6 or 7 full-sized quilt tops. Even though some of them are started already...like Jeremy's large stars (bottom left) in homespun fabrics, Emery's fish bowls (top center), and Jodi's Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks (top right), as well as the blue/brown/tan half square triangles (center right) which I'm making just because I saw it in a magazine and had to have it...this still represents a lot of hours of rotary cutting and machine piecing. I'm sure I won't get them all done, but it's great to dream big and have plans and options.

So the fabric part is ready to go. Now I need to remember to take all the tools and supplies I will need to accomplish these tasks. Then I will have to turn my attention to all the food and drinks I want to have handy for snacking on, a few DVDs to pop into the big screen TV, (Jodi says "no X-rated") and if there's room...maybe some pajamas and a toothbrush. I only have two weeks to get this all together, so it's a good thing I'm starting early!

PS: If you click on the pictures, you can see the fabrics and blocks better.

It's Here!

When I went into the shop to work on Friday, Melisa told me she'd received an order for my latest table runner pattern that was in May's issue of McCall's Quick Quilts. It gets to subscribers in different parts of the country at different times, so we didn't realize it was out yet. That was exciting. By Saturday, she'd received 4 orders. It never stops being fun to see my designs in print and how they photograph and diagram the quilts...or to see what parts of the country we send kits to. Of the first four, I only knew that one went to Michigan and one to California. When I saw Pam last night, she said she cut more kits yesterday because they had already mailed out 11 of them! :)

If you can make out the green print in the bottom left corner of the cover, it says, "New series - Seasonal Table Runners"...that's me. The article is called "a table for all seasons: Spring" and they go on to say, "fresh dining decor as the seasons change". On the next page they lay out their plan: "In this and the next 3 issues of Quick Quilts, we'll feature a table runner for every season, beginning with this lovely celebration of spring. Shown left to right are previews of summer, winter, fall and spring (this issue's project).

These are all my table runners and they are the same construction, but use different fabrics and different center designs to create a different "mood" for each season. The article is on pages 43-45.

Sweet Nome Quilt Company

Well, really, it's Sweet Home Quilt Company...but for this week it's been transformed into an Alaskan port of call on the Greater Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop's "Cruising Into Spring" fantasy tour. All of Melisa's great ideas and hard work have transformed our favorite little quilt shop. You enter through this glacier and then are greeted with an icy blue and white foyer, the centerpiece of which is a beautiful flannel quilt display that gets immediate raves. There are trees, bears, moose, owls, etc. in all the nooks and crannies of the shop and our Shop Hop quilt this year is called "Alaskan Nights" and looks like the Northern Lights with bright marbled stars cutting through a midnight blue-black background. Pretty cool.

To help shoppers get their passports stamped, their door prize drawings filled out, and their shopping needs met, there are lots of "lumberjacks" (or "lumberjills") on hand. Here are Janna Jo, Becky, and Mellie showing off their tattoos that say, "Born to Quilt". Hey, every lumberjack worth his/her salt needs a tattoo! And here's Becky being friendly with one of the bears.

Another shift of lumberjacks was upstairs. That's Liz just standing by while Bre takes her axe handle name tag to Pam's head!

All in all, we're having a ball...working hard...and hopefully making lots of money and many new friends for the shop. Shop Hop is always a lot of work but also a lot of fun. There are two more days...so come on in and don't miss out on any of it!