Happy 4th of July!

Diane shared this "Star Bright" quilt with us which will be a “Quilt of Valor” for her son and will be presented to him soon.  Diane shares: "He was badly wounded in the war in Iraq. He took a direct hit from a rocket propelled grenade which blew off his lower left leg.  Even with this injury he went on to become a police officer.   We know we were lucky to get him back and are thankful for every day we have with him."    Thank you Diane for sharing, and thank you to your son and all of the men and women who have and are serving and sacrificing for us, our freedoms, and our country.  Let's all take the time and make the effort today to personally thank our service men and women.   May God bless each of us.  Happy Birthday America!

Happy Flag Day!

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Happy Flag Day!  We are off to teach crazy camp today!  Everybody have a great day!  Our flag quilt, Old Glory, is found in our book, Celebrated Craziness.  Enjoy!

Cabin in the Woods

I've got the first block of Cabin in the Woods appliqued and blocks 2 & 3 glued down as seen here. We've been  contemplating this block of the month for awhile now, but could never figure out exactly how to stitch the blocks together, but after talking to the designer, Jan Patek, at Market, I feel confident that I can explain it to you all so that you will also understand and won't hesitate to get started! My instructions for putting the quilt together will be included with the last block.  I just love this quilt!  It's classic Brannock and Patek and a joy to work on!

Strip-Smart Quilts

Gloria has been busy testing out a new book and ruler, Strip Smart Quilts and the Creative Grid 90* ruler, and we've all given it a big thumbs-up! Gloria gave us all a quick demo that I thought I'd share!

Basically you start with strip sets, align the ruler with the raw edge of the strip set, and cut.

As you get to the middle valley, there's a circle cut-out in the ruler so that your rotary cutter can finish the cut and then begin up the other side.

Working with half strips, or strips cut from fat quarters, you get these three triangles.  The next strip set, you flip around and cut with the white strip at the base of the ruler so then you have three triangles that have a green base and three triangles that have a white base.

Then you stitch four different fabric triangles together for a scrappy block that may look difficult but are a snap with this ruler!  The Strip Smart Quilts book offers many different quilts all using a variation of this technique. One of our new favorite tools!  Thanks, Gloria, for sharing!

Harvest House has arrived!

Our newest fabric line, Harvest House, has finally arrived and is in the shop.  I'm so happy with the way it's turned out- I love the big paisley!  The word prints are fun, as are the two checkerboard star prints, and I've even used the Barn/house print as a border on the churndash quilt that you see in the picture. The Barn stripe cuts up nicely in 2" increments; this quilt, which will be in our next book, Absolutely Crazy, has a 4" border, but 6" or 8" will work well also. It seems that I always have my fingers crossed when waiting for a line.....I never know exactly what I'm going to get because those little 6" fabric strike-offs that I approve always look way different in big pieces on the bolt!  Our next book won't be ready for a bit, so be sure to pre-order a kit before the fabric is gone!

Here are a few more market pictures....  Pam with Alma Allen- Barb was late this morning!

Both of us with Jan Patek.  Even Linda Brannock stopped by our booth.  She's not usually at market, so it was a surprise to see her.  I was so happy to see her that I didn't think to get a picture. Darn!

Our fellow Henry Glass Designer, Annie Downs.....we can't wait for her Christmas line to get here!  It should be coming any day and boy is it cute!

And this is Paula Barnes, who will be here to teach Quilt Show week.  She was formerly Bonnie Blue Quilts, but had to change her name to Red Crinoline Quilts, but she's still the same fabulous piecer and fabric designer.  Both names have a "Gone with the Wind" reference, we're told.  Whichever name, we can't wait for her to arrive!






Thanks for checking in with me! It was a difficult spring for many different reasons, but I will try an keep you up to date!  Will be sharing a couple new Blocks of the Month that we have started as soon as we have something to photograph!  Have a great weekend!

We made it to market

I know it's been a long time coming,and you haven't heard much from me, but the new book is done and we've made it to market in Kansas City and back and thought I'd finally take a minute to get you all caught up.

We have Bird Brain,

and Prince Charming, because you have to kiss a lot of toads before you find your handsome prince!

There are Heavenly Days,

and Pumpkins on the Vine,

Oh Christmas Tree

and the newly rewritten and updated Crazy Cats

and here they all are in our booth! Ron made us stay in the booth to help him the first day but we made it out to shop the next two days. It was a great market: we've found a ton of favorite things and I can't decide what to do first..... Seriously, I can't decide where to start. You'll have to check back to see more pictures and to learn what we each start first!

Green, my color of the week!

I mentioned last time, that I've been designing and haven't been doing any piecing of my own, but have been living vicariously through those who are!  I'm just a tiny bit envious...just slightly pea green rather than the full blown, "wicked witch of the west" green with envy!  This is another quilt that I had to have.....but haven't had time to make!  Lucky for us, Gloria came to the rescue!  This is  "Flutterby", a pattern from Whimsicals, and the quilt is made from the European Taupe Collection.  The soft colors are beautiful!  Looking at this quilt, I know that spring is just around the corner....and now that we've lost all of our snow, I can actually  believe it might be true!

This isn't the only time Gloria has come to our rescue and pieced one of our "must haves"....she also got to make the "Circa 1934" quilt which I'm still wishing were mine.  I guess I'll just stuff another kit in my drawer for "someday"!

It will be in good company with "I'll be Home for Christmas"
and

"Settler's Pride", and

" A Boy's Story" and 

"Meadow Backpack" just to name a few!  I tried to clean out in my sewing room this weekend, but how could I possibly part with any of these?  Do you think I'm gonna live that long?  Not to mention my guilty little secret drawer full of Maggie Bonanomi's kits that she's taught here over the years.  I'm thinking I need to make them and put them together for a bigger quilt.  It doesn't hurt to dream!  It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood- the sun is out so I'd best quit whining about no time to sew, count my blessings and head on down to work! I've got to pick a kit for Sandi to piece so I can keep up my healthy green glow! TTFN!