new kits!

Finally kits are arriving on my website. I've had lots of requests, and while I generally can't provide a great quantity, I'll do my best. I'm starting with two--the "Tied with a Bow" quilt as well as the cream rose version of "Frilly Farm Bag". I have an extremely limited quantity of each kit, so if you've been wanting to make either project, you might not want to wait.




Each kit contains the exact fabrics used in the original project--the quilt kit is for fabric for the top and binding, and the bag includes all cotton fabric plus the floral handle. Patterns are also included.

an upcoming class!

I'm pleased to announce that on March 19, I'll be teaching Coffee with Friends at Wooden Gate Quilts in Danville. So if you're a bay area quilter, I'd love to have you join me. I understand that some spots have already been taken, so if you're interested, you can click here and make sure you reserve your spot.

This is the quilt that was in the premier issue of The Quilt Life magazine and was designed to commemorate the drive to Houston that Pam and I made that fall.

It's an easy project and a good way to learn how to do fusible web/machine blanket stitch applique.

The class fee includes the pattern, a delicious lunch, and a pack of charm squares from my stash of vintage fabrics for you to use for some of your coffee cups, if you desire. (And if you're like me and prefer tea, you can call 'em tea cups and nobody can argue.)

Also, you might want to check my website...I'm doing lots of downsizing this year and have some great fabrics at equally great prices.

last project of 2010...

Although it feels like we just finished Quilt Market, soon it'll be time to be knee-deep in designs for Spring 2011 market in Salt Lake City. Before that happens it's good to recharge and spend some time on projects just for fun...

For me the projects don't always have to be quilts--it's fun to find something to make that I wouldn't ordinarily do. The only requirement for a "fun" project is that someone else has written the instructions.

The internet is an amazing thing. I'd gone searching for something, found a shop, found that the shop has a blog, and next thing you know, I'm making a tiny pincushion house.

Obviously mine's not Christmas themed--I used some of scraps of my Red Rose Farm as well as bits of Lecien's latest Flower Sugar. I knew I would not be capable of cutting out tiny window panes like Jo did, so embroidered mine.

It was lots of fun and I got it made in a day. I'm planning an entire village now--wouldn't a whole row of houses be darling?



It's also the last day of 2010...and I'd like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year...and may next year be filled with inspiration and creativity for all of us.

winners!

Somehow everything got past me this Christmas...well, except for the shortbread. Ended up making endless quantities of that.

Don't even have any festive photos...the best I can do is a picture from the Sharks game I attended awhile back. Of course for me, that's very festive.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas...and while it's too late to get these prizes out in time, I'm pleased to announce:

Blop wins the fabric (hey, there, blop!)

And Sentimentally Me wins the patterns.

Please send your mailing addresses to latebloomerquilts@yahoo.com...I actually do have the packages ready to go...

P.S. Last few days for free shipping on my website...and fabric bundles have been added and more goodies will be added in the days and weeks to come (including quilts!)

I'm someplace else today

Where? Over here! How exciting to have Pat Sloan ask me to do a guest post for her blog while she's on vacation. Those are pretty happy shoes to fill, let me tell you...

Pat's blog is an easy place to spend endless time, but before you go over there, you might want to leave a comment...I've got two giveaways going--one for a fq bundle of Red Rose Farm, and the other winner will receive a copy of each new Late Bloomer Quilts pattern, including the new ones from Pam.




Also, there's still time to order a Fun Flowers kit--and free shipping continues on all patterns ordered from my website, and if you order two or more patterns you'll receive a fq of Red Rose Farm. There are also some patterns that have been deeply discounted, so you might want to wander around a bit...

fun flowers

Every year around this time, Holly of LakeHouse Dry Goods hosts an event that's lots of fun for everyone...plus benefits a good cause. I've been lucky enough to have been involved in the past, and I'm happy that this year is no exception.

Holly has designed an adorable twin size quilt using her just as adorable "Fun Flowers" fabric collection. It's a super easy to make twin sized quilt, and the kit can be purchased here, and all details are available via that link as well.

Here's the great part: for every quilt kit purchased thru my website, Holly will make a donation to my favorite animal charity--Tri Valley Animal Rescue--a wonderful organization that finds homes for animals in my area.



It's not just about guinea pigs here--Melvin shares the place with Presley, Rosie, and Jane. All of whom were rescue animals. This week, my son Eric's cat, almost 6 year old Huey, is here while he's on vacation. Without caring foster parents from TVAR, at his age, Huey would not have had a chance--but because of them, he and Eric have been the best of friends for the last year.



If you know Holly at all, you know that rescuing animals is near and dear to her heart...I'm so glad she's chosen this cause for her event this year.

Please go to her blog--she's got lots of fun things going on including giveaways you won't want to miss!

new patterns!

Based on all the orders I've received, some of you have already discovered that the website has been updated with all the new patterns featuring Red Rose Farm.

I've also added a few bag handles that work with Pam's Tammy Tote pattern as well as her Frilly Farm bag pattern. More handles are on their way and will be added as soon as I receive them.

I've also decided to offer free shipping thru Christmas--and if you order 2 or more items, you'll also receive a fat quarter of Red Rose Farm.

I can't wait to show close up photos of all the new designs--but currently they're all at Wooden Gate Quilts--my favorite shop!

Quilt Market, magazine winner, and so on...

OK, so I said a winner would be picked on Friday. And she was. I did not, however, promise to announce it that day, right? Right.
If farmhousequilter8 would email me at latebloomerquilts@yahoo.com, I'll get the magazine and pattern book out right away.

It's probably crazy to even be posting about Market...I know everyone on Twitter has moved on to talking about Salt Lake City, but I've got a few rather blurry pics to share so why not just do it.

Like last Houston, Pam and I had a mostly really great time. You've heard about her fall...and I'd like to clear up a persistent rumor once and for all...no, I did not push her. She missed quite a bit, and lots of people missed seeing her as well.

Remember the speeding ticket in New Mexico last year? Well, we were feeling pretty smug, determined to not let that happen again. And it didn't. Something else happened instead. And I really need to say that getting a flat tire in the middle of New Mexico is not as much fun as you'd imagine...luckily we were close to a mechanic, but I don't think he'd ever seen a metric tool before and there were some tension-filled moments. I prefer having my son Eric do all work on my car, but he seemed to feel that coming to New Mexico was a little bit out of the question.



Obviously it all worked out alright...and it's a whole different experience setting up a booth using your own fabric...



I'd surprised Pam with a custom footstool to go with her "throne" (the slipcovered chair) but of course had no idea it would actually be needed...

We had lots of visitors, and here are the least blurry of them...I'm sure you recognize everyone--Sandi Henderson, Natalie Lymer, and the queen of Parisville, Tula Pink.





I was also lucky to have help getting Red Rose Farm projects made for my booth as well as for the P&B Textiles booth...




My good friend Becky made 2 beautiful bags using her new pattern, Monica made a whole bunch of her super-cute gift bags, and Jona outdid herself with adorable little girls' outfits from two of her new patterns. As if I wasn't giddy enough with the little-girl cuteness, Mary made an outfit from her book and gave me a photo of her beautiful daughter wearing it. I had to frame it and place it front and center--where it captivated everyone.



So that's a brief Market report--the new patterns are this close to being loaded onto my website...and soon they'll be appearing all over the place. Yes, that means both new bag patterns and some handles as well.

I'm also figuring out some new teatowels for kits--and yes, this time there should be plenty for everyone.

where'd the Red Rose Farm go?

It went with me. To Houston...but now it's back and so am I. Well, sort of. Market was wonderful, as I'm sure you already know since most people have managed to post about it already...I'm still editing photos and trying to get things back to normal. I consider myself lucky--the house is still standing, and as far as I can tell, nothing was broken.

So what's all this that I'm showing today? Pam and I were so lucky (again) to have wonderful neighbors across the aisle. That definitely helps when you're in a booth for three straight days! We got to know Carolee and her beautiful daughters--they've started a new fabric company, but if their designs look familiar it's because they've been in the scrapbooking industry for many years. Carolee gave me this piece of canvas--can't wait to play with it. Their fabrics are fresh and bright--you'll want to be looking for them.



What's that on top? Oh, no big deal...really...just what I think is the best issue of "The Quilt Life" ever. The fact that my house is featured? And a new quilt design? Purely a coincidence.



It just so happens that I've been given an extra copy of the magazine. So you know what that means. Leave a comment and on Friday I'll send it on its way. Carolee also gave me a copy of one of her pattern books so I'll throw that in as well.

Hopefully you're already subscribing to "The Quilt Life" but if not, it's available at many independent quilt shops or at Barnes&Noble.

I need to get back to shoveling a path to my studio...

just in time

for Halloween is a new teatowel! Yes, I do enjoy making them...they're quick and fun. This kit was a big hit at Quilting in the Garden, so I came up with a few more to offer to the rest of you. The kit includes the teatowel, all fabrics and trims, Cosmo floss for embroidery...I even covered the little button for you and pregathered the hat trim. All you need to add is a bit of lightweight fusible web and a bit of time.

There are a very limited number of kits available--I'm now fresh out of towels!

we have winners!

Whew! Just made it! I did say I'd pick winners on Saturday and technically I've still got a little time. I relied on my standard method of picking winners--sending a text message to each of my sons asking for a number and then calculating the average. And don't worry--I'm pretty sure they didn't mind having me interrupt their Saturday night activities...

So without further ado, the winner of the fat quarter bundle is Goosegirl! I do believe she's a twitter friend as well!

The winner of the teatowel kit is Kathleen Grace.

Please send your address to me at latebloomerquilts@yahoo.com and I'll get your prize out to you right away!

And yes, the photo above is a sneak peek of an upcoming pattern that I'm really excited about.

let's give some stuff away

I've been going on and on about Red Rose Farm...would you like a fat quarter bundle of your own? I sure hope so!
The bundle consists of 16 fat quarters, and they're all pretty nice, if I do say so myself.



I also have a Red Rose Farm teatowel kit to give away...the kit includes all the fabric needed to embellish the waffle weave towel, which is also included.

So there will in fact be two prizes this time around. I'll pick a winner on Saturday.

In the meantime, head on over to Charlie's blog where you can win a GO cutter! You'll have to hurry on that great prize--he's giving it away on Thursday.

Let the comments begin!

Quilting in the Garden 2010

What a weekend! It was absolutely awesome and I still can't quite believe that I had the great opportunity to be a Featured Artist at such an amazing quilt show. The only thing that could have made it better would have been up to Mother Nature...it was around 100 degrees both days.





Quilts were everywhere. Hanging between the trees, on the buildings, between the buildings...and Alden Lane always looks amazing without the quilts, so believe me--photos (especially mine) don't do it justice.



I was at my table most of the time, so didn't get much chance to see everything. I was so happy to get to "work" with my eldest son--aka known as my Number One Son, especially since he volunteered to spend his entire weekend with me!



The other featured artists were fellow bay area quilter Denise Sheehan (check out her quilt "Bird Haven"--I want to make that one so badly...)
See the darling daisy quilt hanging above my table? That's one of Denise's patterns and if I had a dime for every time I heard someone going nuts over that quilt...well, I'd be someplace cooler right now.



And the star of the show was Sue Nickels. Yes, her quilts are beautiful, but one in particular, called "Tea at Tenby" (above)absolutely took my breath away. I've never seen a quilt as beautiful as that one. My photos turned out horribly--please look at that quilt on Sue's website.

Of course Alex was there--my son thought she was pretty cool. Well, duh, right?



And Pam came for awhile. Here she is with my fantastic quilter Darla, of Wildflower Quilting.



On Sunday I got to see Bari and Verna. Bari was on her way to Day 2 of her trunk show at Wooden Gate Quilts and you'll want to mark your calendar because Verna is going to be the Featured Artist at Quilting in the Garden next year.

It's so great to meet and talk to other quilters. Some I already know, others I'm just so happy to meet. Case in point would be Loni. She's a local quilter and she does beautiful work. She brought her Garden Fresh quilt for me to see and I was blown away by the quilting. And it's so exciting to see a finished product made from my book!

If you can possibly make it next year, it's so worth the trip.
And because I know he occasionally does check out my blog...here's a special shout-out to my son Eric. Thanks so much--I couldn't have done it without you! And no, I don't just mean that your moving out made it possible for me to have a studio...



P.S. You'll want to check back later in the week...it just so happens I have an extra little kit and some fat quarters of Red Rose Farm, and so it seems appropriate to have a giveaway.

Quilting in the Garden

Took me long enough to get this post up, right? The event is this weekend! Alden Lane is the most wonderful nursery in the world. I can't tell you how many times I've gone there just to stroll around and take in the beauty and the quiet. It's such a thrill that this year 24 of my quilts will be on display at one of my very favorite local places.

If you're in the bay area, I sure hope you'll stop by...if you click on the above link you'll learn all about it--including all of the artists who will have their quilts hanging in the garden for you to enjoy.

I'm also pleased to tell you that Wooden Gate Quilts in Danville is having its official grand opening this weekend as well--and Bari J will be there showing her amazing fabric and new designs.

It's going to be plenty warm, but the oak trees keep it nice and shady. I know a great time will be had by all.



Oh and by the way...Alden Lane's gift shop is packed with neat gifty items geared toward quilters...darling ornaments, bags, frames, and the cutest little bracelets ever. (Mine's pink.)



P.S. I want to try to catch up a bit on some things...I'm so happy so many of you are interested in the new bag pattern and handles. I will be carrying handles, in several styles on my website, but bear with me--Market prep is overwhelming right now. I'll let you all know when they're available. New bag and quilt patterns will be up soon as well.

In the meantime, Fat Quarter Shop has Red Rose Farm in stock as well as the cutest ever bag designed by Pam Kitty Morning herself. It's an exclusive pattern and kit.

If you're local, Wooden Gate Quilts in Danville has the entire collection on its shelves. Which is more than I have right now!

sneeky peeky

Yes, it's that time of year again...I've got nothing interesting at all to talk about, because every waking moment is spent in the studio, but I'm starting to have some pretty cool stuff to show off.

Pam has designed yet another adorable bag and it's my job to test the pattern and make samples. She comes up with the prototype, sticks some notes inside, and then pretty much tosses it out her car window to me as she drives by. And that's not much of an exaggeration. I figure if I can make a bag, anyone can. I'm definitely 3D challenged.

This is the first version, 100% Red Rose Farm. I'll be making at least a couple more for the pattern cover and for our booth--with different fabrics.

It has a scrappy gusset that's perfect for charm squares or left over jelly roll bits. Of course it has ruffles--while you certainly don't have to add them, why wouldn't you?

I just love it--it's pretty and very practical--nice size, not too deep, big wide pocket inside. I'm seriously looking forward to making a few more. And that's just one of the new bag patterns for this year!




I about died when I first saw these handles--aren't they perfect? I'm thinking of starting to carry that sort of thing on my website, so let me know if that's a plan you like!