Blog-stocker!

I am totally a self-proclaimed blog-stocker.

One of the cool things about Quilt Market it getting to meet all the crazy-peeps that I see everyday in blogland.

 This is me and Rachel being a little gangsta'!  :o)  It was so fun to FINALLY meet this girl in person. We hit it off right away (can you tell!?)

 Of course a little V and some Jaybird to brighten up the day. Let me tell you- it got a little (LOT) crazy with these girls in the booth!  :o)

I met up with lots more peeps, but this chick is TIRED. Time to get in bed. Tomorrow is the last day and take-down. Can't believe it's almost over already.

Market Mayhem!

Hey there!  I really wanted to post the last 2 days but let me tell you it's been BUSY!

On Wednesday Shannon and I took a trip to the coast. The Gulf Cost, that is.

I grew up in CA so the Pacific and I are good friends. But I couldn't miss the opportunity to dip my toes in another body of water. The sand here is SO soft. And the water is cozy cool. People ask if it's warm. Well, it's not like a bath. But it you've ever felt the north California Pacific (very COLD!) this was warm in comparison.

Yesterday we started booth set up. It was a long, hot, sticky day. I got most everything in place but had to wait to hang the quilts until today after my Schoolhouse presentation.

The presentation went ok. I always feel like a dork. But my friends said I did ok. Afterwards we went back down to finish booth set up. This is what we ended up with:

I'm pleased. It looks super crowded in this picture but doesn't have that feel in person. I think it's all in the details so there's lots of fun sports equipment scattered about. And of course, QUILTS!

See that yellow jersey in the middle? It belonged to my hubs when he was a teen. It's a pretty gross jersey and he was shocked when I told him I was bringing it. But hey, it works PERFECTLY in the booth.

The show starts tomorrow. That's when things get really crazy. :o)

On the road again

 Shannon and I were up at the crack of dawn to board our plane to Houston. It may look light outside, but I promise the sun was barely coming up. Don't I look sleepy!?  :o)

Here's Shannon and I with our chauffer (Stuart- Shannon's sweetie pie husband). Shortly after this photo we were on our own. Let the party begin!  Oh yeah, first we have to endure a 2 1/2 hour flight with the most annoying woman on the planet sitting behind us. UGH!

It is 8:30 and we are ready to go to bed...NOW! Just spent the last few hours driving around Houston trying to find a Target. Really? Why can't the GPS understand "Target". Took us forever!  Finally had to look up target stored on my phone, then type the actual address into the gps. Aaaahhh...Target at last!  Just a few last things to pick up for my booth.

Ok. That's all for now., Tomorrow we're doing some more traveling and a little sightseeing.  :o)

Ta-ta for now!

Learning is GOOD!

It's probably a good idea that I give you a little information- especially if you're going to Houston next week.

I will be teaching my first ever- SCHOOLHOUSE!  I'm excited and you should be too. Actually, I'm a little nervous because I've never done it before but I hear it's pretty cool. I'll let you know how it turns out. But if you're going to market and are planning on attending schoolhouse make sure to come see ME!!!

Also, my booth number at market is 1651. I'll be with the rest of the gang over at Michael Miller showing off my newest creation- Hall of Fame. Make sure to stop by and say 'HI'!   :o)

I've got a lot to do the next few days but should be posting again right before I leave. Have a good weekend!

The name game

I'm teasing again.

Did you know my next collection has a name? It does. And it's a good one.  :o)

Market prep this go around has been mostly on the computer. I am SUPER EXCITED about a new venture that I'm a part of and can't wait to share it with you.

As for the cutting and sewing- I have some of the most AMAZING friends who have jumped right in to help me. Really. Some are sewing. Others are quilting. Even more are Binding. One is even doing ALL 3!

I got my fabric less than a week go and I'm going to have 6 new quilts to take to market.

There is NO WAY I could've done that by myself.

And so a HUGE

THANK YOU!

to all those helping to get me ready for Houston.

In other news- have you checked out this today?

I only ask because my friend is the designer and she's having a giveway on her blog. Check it out!

Time to go do some more spray painting.  ;o)

Looks what's coming!

...and look who's on the front cover!

Follow me during the blog tour Nov. 7-11 to see all the blocks up close and personal!

SEW FUN!

My friend Pam that I met at The Sewing Summit is having a quilt retreat and I am SO EXCITED about it!


(image lifted from frenchknots!)

This is going to be that perfect opportunity to finish up all those Christmas gift projects that you need to get done. I'm telling you- its going to be AWESOME! She has even asked ME to do a trunk show on Saturday morning. Ok, so maybe that's not a selling point to get you to go- you can leave and get donuts while I'm talking. But the rest of it is going to be SO worth it!


Click HERE to find out more!


Hope to see YOU there! :o)

Pirouline

Sometimes Saturday ia a lazy day. Sometime Saturday is the extreme opposite. Sometimes you just need a little treat to help you get through. Oh, and a Dr. Pepper.

 I snapped this pic quick. I didn't adjust my camera settings. I wanted it to be raw. Not RAW like professionals. Raw like I-don't-have-time-for-this-but-have-to-document-somehow. Don't you love the flash? :o)

 It's funny what you can see when you aren't really looking.

Aaaahhh. That's better.

*That's all I can do for now. I've been asked not to show before everything is in the system to reduce hype. Hype? Is there going to be hype? Gee, I hope so. Until then...enjoy this little snack.  :o)

INSANE

That's that life is right now. I really wanted to post more about Sewing Summit and have a swag giveaway- but it's going to have to wait. Between new patterns, booth setup, waiting for fabric, etc., etc., etc. I feel like my head is spinning around like Linda Blair's. Yesterday it took all of me to not run to the nearest mental facility and check myself in. So please bear with me as I take a break for the next week or so. I promise I'll come back to show you what's NEW before I head to Houston. AND...when I get back I'll have all sorts of fun stuff to give to you folks!

Thanks for understanding.  :o)

Best. Weekend. Ever.

First, let me just start by saying that The SEWING SUMMIT was awesome! You (yes, YOU!) have to go next year. Really. I'll be looking for you. We (Terry and I) had so much FUN and met so many awesome people!

 Shannon and AnnMarie were the first gals we met when we got there. They were chillin' in the Lobby waiting for the whole shin-dig to start and were nice enough to point the way towards registration. I'm sure they're not regretting that since we kinda' attached ourselves to them the whole weekend. We just couldn't help ourselves- they're THAT cool!  Oh, and they're from Utah too!

 This lovely lady is Pam of French Knots. She was so nice and friendly. Saturday night we all stayed late to sew and then stayed later to chat the night away. I'm looking forward to hanging with this chic again soon!

 This was the closest to 'lunch' with these gals that we could get. Amy (on the left) from Diary of a Quilter (NOT diarrhea quilter) and Vanessa (on the right) from V and Co. both taught classes at Summit. I didn't take Amy's (quilting 101) but I didn take Vanessa's. It was SO GOOD. She taught us about setting up a shot and lighting and bunches of other things. She told us how to NOT get yellow-tinted pictures when we photo projects but told me it was "ok to flash your friends"!  :o)

 And here I am sewing the night away....

It seemed like Terry and I were the only ones that brought our OWN machines, everyonle else used ones provided.

 Hello Lola and Busty Larue, whatcha workin' on!?  They were sewing in their PJ's smart girls!

 Melissa Esplin from ISLY. This chick is HILARIOUS!  She taught me all about "royalty". Sorry, can't share that story.  :o)  This picture cracks me up because it looks like she's sitting on my lap. She could, because she's tiny. But she isn't. I kept it because it makes me laugh and reminds me of our silly meeting.

 This is Jess from Urban Patchwork. She taugh the Improv. Pieceing class and now I have a quilting crush on her. Don't worry, I made it embarassingly evident! (I really am a dork!)  She was so kind though and didn't even call the police when I asked to have my picture taken with her.  :o)  ...more to come from her class later.

 It was so fun to see this familiar face at Summit. Lou who blogs at For The Love used to live in my neighborhood. I've mentioned her on my blog before because she makes super cute quilts. We did some catching up and even shopped a little.

Doesn't Terry look sick and tired of hanging around me all weekend?  :o)

So folks let me just say that there were gazillions of other cool people there, I just didn't get pics of them. But I do have LOTS of other fun stuff to show you. Could be tomorrow, maybe the next day. I'm not too sure. Look, market is only a couple of weeks away (mini panic attack!) - so.... yeah.

Ok....gotta go write more patterns.

A little of this and a little of that

Oh my gosh! Let me start by first apologizing for my last post. It's hard to convey sarcasm when posting on blogs so if I came across a bit (or a BUNCH) snarky - that was not my intention. Personally I thought the play on words was a bit funny. I just wanted to let everyone know about the correction before it caused any problems with your projects. If I offended any- SO SORRY!

Now, on to some FUN stuff!  I quilted the first WIP yesterday. I LOVE how it turned out. It's not a very big quilt- small baby or table topper, but I love it just the same.

I used a Charm pack of Fig Tree's FRESH COTTON. (Again, started these ages ago).

I pieced them together- square to square. Then I appliqued white fabric 'peels' over the seams and blanket stitched them. For the quilting I just echoed the curved lines of the scallop. There's not a huge border- just straight to the binding for which I'm going to use another Fig Tree fabric from Strawberry Fields. (Some complain that many designers' collections tend to look the same but I LOVE it because I know I can always find something to match those long ago pieced WIPS!  :o)

Another bit of fun is that it's raining. Well, the rain isn't so fun. But I am glad to have an excuse to use this:

And, just so you know, it works PERFECTLY!  I couldn't get a pic because I was the one holding the umbi in the rain- but trust me, it works like a charm.  :o)  To find out more about my fabulous umbi check here. \

One last bit of news: Tomorrow I am traveling not-to-far-away with Thankfully Sew to attend

I am so EXCITED!!!

I can't promise blogging over the weekend but I can promise LOTS of blogging next week. To find out more about who I'll see there click here.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Quit your BEACHIN'

As a pattern writer- it doesn't matter how many times I look over and re-read my patterns or how many people proof-read them for me, somehow a mistake or two is bound to slip through the cracks. I really do appreciate when someone calls them to my attention so I can make the appropriate corrections and hopefully save others from making a mistake on their project.


So here it is: BEACHIN' has a couple corrections I need to make. I'm posting it here so if you've bought that pattern you can run in and correct it now. That way, when you actually get around to making it you won't start cursing at me. :o)

Fabric L- requires 1 yd (NOT the 3/4)

Fabric D- when cutting needs [2] 2 1/2" x 18 1/2" strips (NOT 16 1/2")

Sorry for any inconvenience!

Productivity is UP!

I had a good weekend!

It was one of those weekends where I had a great excuse to sit around for 2 days and not go anywhere or do anything. Instead I had the radio on listening to most wonderful messages and my machine going full speed. It doesn't get any better than that.

I managed to get 7 WIP's finished! SEVEN! I even pieced several of the backs. Some of you may not count a WIP finished until it is quilted and bound. In my book- if the top is done and borders are on it's golden. (You don't know how many quilts I've had sit around for months with only borders to add!)

Now that they're ready to quilt they go into another stack. But since I already have backs for these 7 it shouldn't take long to get them quilted.

I've decided to show them up close and personal one at a time after they're quilted and bound. My goal- by the end of 2011. That may seem like a long time to give myself but market is coming up and things can get pretty 'CRAZY' around market time.  :o)