believe it or not, a Quilt Market post!

How can I do this since I wasn't there? Well, Pam asked me to "guest blog" since she's now traveling incognito in Minnesota with her cousin enjoying the sights, shopping, trees, water, and all the other wonderful things I've been told that area has to offer. So she's forwarded some pics to me that she figured I could speak about.

Here goes!

We're at the Lecien booth. Which is a pretty cool place to be.

Brenda's second line of fabric is absolutely beautiful. I've always been a big fan of the Durham collections, and now that Brenda's adding her touch to it, it's especially pretty. I had some 1/4 yard cuts and some amazing Lecien eyelet edged cotton and made some ruffled scarves. I believe kits were given away at their schoolhouse.



The bags you can see on the table are so pretty...but I'm afraid I don't know who made them.



It's so exciting when a good friend has their own fabric and I understand there was a huge buzz about Monica's "Holiday Happy". It's one of the most fun Christmas lines ever! Pam and I both got to make some goodies using the fabric. It coordinates awesomely with Lecien's Color Basic collection so fabric choices are no problem.



Monica's quilt, "Glow Happy" could not be cuter! And yes, that's the free pattern. (btw, you'll also find the freebie that I designed that goes with the pillow sham pattern on my sidebar).

You can see bits of Karen Snyder's darling "HMS Twinkle" quilt hanging in the corner next to Monica's quilt, and "Holiday Joy" with the sweet embroidery is by Plumcute Designs.



Pam surprised Monica with a custom version of the "Tammy Tote" she designed. There's no link to the pattern yet...we still have to write up the instructions and pick the fabric to be used for the pattern cover. Pam used her signature ruffles on the bag we gave Tammy Tadd for her birthday, and on Monica's she used fun fuzzy santa beard fabric and those wonderful red polka dot handles.

I made a "Celebration Banner", a "Little Purse" and then flew by the seat of my pants decorating a child-sized pair of jeans and a hoodie from Old Navy. Here it is in the booth, and here it is finished on my design wall before I sent it away. Those little cherry buttons came from Joann's ages ago and I was so happy to finally find a good use for them.





Pam and I are huge fans of the "Flower Sugar" collections and this new group is no exception.

You'll spot Pam's new "Sugar Stars" pattern which based on the orders coming into my mailbox, is going to be a popular design.



I made a version of "Zig Zag, Too!" and am really looking forward to having that quilt come back to my house. Flower Sugar works well for Pam's "Flower Power" pattern, and I had fun adding the "Flower Sugar" logo to the towel.



There are some darling bags on display but even at super-zoom I can't read the tags, sorry!

I hope Pam approves of the job I did...and I know she's having a great time on her well-deserved vacation. I'm glad of the opportunity to do this post for her--that will be my excuse for why my studio is still in disarray!

there will be a bit of a delay...

Something rather disturbing has happened and I don't understand it. I have removed TONS of stuff. I've donated yards and yards of fabric. Filled several hefty bags with junk that I'll never use. And yet...

All the stuff I took out of the room? Won't fit back in.

Meanwhile I've been enjoying reading quilt market tweets. Seriously--if you aren't on Twitter, you really should consider it! Lots of fun tidbits and photos!

OK, so that's it for now...hopefully I'll get this mess figured out before Pam gets back from Minneapolis. I've told her it's all going fine but I know she's skeptical.

a holding pattern

Twice a year, when I get home from Quilt Market, I do a major cleaning of my studio. It's a well-loved tradition--it's necessary after all the crazy, last minute project messes and it's good to have a fresh start for the next round of designing.

This Spring, for the first time in years, I'm missing Market. The timing just wasn't right for a variety of reasons. It's gonna be so hard to miss out on seeing some of my favorite people, but I'm looking forward to what's ahead.

So that means the tradition has to change a bit. While everyone else was finishing their last minute projects, I was painting my bathroom. While everyone else is getting ready to leave for Minneapolis, I'm getting ready to do a top-to-bottom clean up of the studio.

So today, everything came down. And I do mean everything. Shelves are bare...



All the little tidbits are off the bulletin board...



Lots of reorganizing to be done.



I'm ready for a bright, fresh new look. So knock on my door...I can't wait to show you!

ooops...

It's always fun to pick up a magazine that you know has one of your projects in it. Something about the glossy paper and the professional photography...it's a thrill.
So I was really looking forward to seeing the summer issue of Fons & Porter's "Easy Quilts".

Last Market I'd made a quilt for Alex using her brand new fabric...it was VERY last minute, as Market projects tend to be, and in this case many things seemed to go wrong. Including finding out that the hotel I'd shipped the quilt to had put it in a storage closet "for safekeeping". So the quilt (and the name I'd given it completely escapes me) barely made it to Market at all.

I thought things were looking up for this quilt when I was told it would be published. Excitement turned to nausea when I saw that a key piece of information was somehow left out...



Darla Padilla, of Wildflower Quilting, is one of two quilters who I totally trust to make magic with my projects. She'd dropped everything to get this done in time and did an amazing job. Believe me--it's the quilting that turned this simple project into something special!





P.S. That bit of quilt behind the magazine? That was quilted by Darla as well. It's a version of Zig Zag, Too! I made for the Lecien booth using their new Flower Sugar collection.

Anybody still out there?

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. I keep tweeting stuff, but obviously that's not the same thing!

I will try very hard to be better about this...especially since lots of cool stuff is coming up before long.



For starters, you may have noticed the new free pattern up on my sidebar. It's for a pillow sham that will be shown at Quilt Market later in the month. I designed a quilt for Lecien that is going to be a free pattern on their website...I'll let you know when it's up there. So anyway, I had some fabric left over and the new Lecien Antique Roses are too pretty to just fold up and put away, hence the sham.



The other cool thing is that I've managed to be ahead of the game with our new patterns. Yup, they're already up on my website...a couple weeks before any of the shops will get to see them!

I've gotten lots of requests for "Coffee with Friends", and I'm pleased to report that it's up there too.

The photo at the top is from one of Pam's adorable new patterns..."Flower Power". She's had creativity overload this time around...you'll see 3 new patterns from Pam.

To celebrate the release of the new patterns, I'm offering free shipping thru the month of May.

It feels great to be back...and I can't wait to share more!