Pre-Market Mania

Have you gotten your copy of the brand new "Primitive Quilts and Projects"?  We were sure surprised to see our project, "Winterberries" on the cover!  If you haven't ordered, there's still time!  We have been waiting on a few pieces of wool for the kits and it arrived today so tomorrow we'll be busy making kits.  The magazine is chock full of great projects from some of favorite designers.  It's hard to even pick a favorite project.  If this premier issue is any indication, this magazine is going to be a welcome addition to my reading list!






Bramble Baskets from Still Crazy



Ok, it's Easter week, so I really must confess that, yes, it's true, I've been neglecting this blog. Badly! Hopefully, you haven't all given up on me by now!  But truly, it's been difficult to keep my head above water trying to get our new book, "Still Crazy" and new fabric lines ready for Market. Only ten more designing days left!  Did you all feel that spike in my blood pressure?  Maybe a better name would be "Way Beyond Crazy" because that's what I'm beginning to resemble!  I'm currently waiting on our plaids from "Pumpkin Pie" which was suppose to absolutely be here last week and is still not here so no piecing Tom Turkey for me but hey, that means I'm finally here blogging with you! 

 

 



Crazy Little Teapots from Still Crazy



 

Maybe if I give you a little preview of coming attractions, you'll forgive me and won't turn me in for blog neglect!  So grab a cup of tea, and enjoy the preview!  Bramble Baskets was suppose to be made with our "Brambleberries" line, which was delayed but the colors are similar.







"We've Been Good all Year!"


"We've Been Good all Year!" is made with our "Merry & Bright"line due to arrive in shops in May.  I supose since I've been so neglectfully, you all are gonna report in that I really haven't been good all year and I can expect nothin' but coal in my stocking......



Put Your Heart in It from Still Crazy


Then we have "Put Your Heart in It"  This quilt is one very dear to my heart, because I made it with a very dear friend in mind.  And then amidst all the chaos of fabric and quilt design, an idea was born and Henry Glass generously agreed to have us design a line with this same name and they will donate a portion of the proceeds toward breast cancer research.  Again, the colors will be similar and it will hopefully be out early next year.
The book also has ice cream cones and hopefully there's gonna be a Tom Turkey if my plaids ever arrive! Just FYI, Pumpkin Pie fabric is also due to arrive in shops in May.  So be sure to pre-order your book now, and if you mention that you saw/read it on my blog, we'll even sign it for you! 

We aren't the only ones at the barn getting ready for Quilt Market!  Our own Mary Ellen will be heading off to Colorado for a graduation and sewing time helping her daughter Kristy get ready for Market.  Kristy designs these great bags and Mary Ellen whips them up like nobody's business so we affectionately call her our resident "bag lady!"







Pam and I have also been busy teaching Crazy Camp near and far!  Here are some of the great people we've enjoyed spending time with teaching them to be "crazy" like us!



Crazy Camp at Buggy Barn




Crazy Camp in Grand Junction Colorado




Crazy Camp in Hotchkiss, Colorado

 Okay, that's gonna be it for now, but I promise to try to be more diligent with my updates!



 









Is this not gorgeous?

OK, I know, I have this thing about one project at a time, but I really needed something to applique to take with me today and I only have the borders on "A Little Porch Time", and it's just a little too big to take along this time.  Not only would I have threads all over me, but all over my husband, which he doesn't like so much, and all over his car, which he doesn't like so much either because next week when he's all ready to go to work in his dark suit he'll have threads all over him again and he really doesn't like that, but I say that's what the lint roller in his desk drawer is for!  Actually, he's a pretty good guy to put up with me!  Cuz guess what?  It's time to go and here I sit trying to get one more thing done before I leave!!  You can guess how much he likes that!!  Anyway, this is a new Block of the Month we are running in the shop called "Pressed Flowers" from Blackbird Designs, if you'd like to join me in making this beautiful quilt!  I've picked and the girls have cut the first four blocks so I'm behind already!  That's a pretty common phenomenon in my life!

Sorry I've been absent on my blog for a bit, but my computer have a bad virus and so did I!  It really wasn't that "milestone" birthday I had in the mean time!  I like to think of it as starting a new decade!  My youngest son, my nephew, and my oldest sister are all starting new decades along with me: 20's, 40's, 50's, and 60's!  I really like it for those few months when my nephew and I are in the same decade:  I feel young and I'm sure he feels ancient and is glad for me to "move along!"  Despite being sick, I did have a great birthday!  Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes!  And I can tell you they were all nicer than that "You aren't old till the Fat Lady sings" card my brother-in-law sent, and yes it was one of those singing cards!  It made me want to fill up my "one drink for every wrinkle" glass I received from my sister!  Not really!  Our mother turned us into a family of jokesters!  Someday I'll tell you about how they all loaded our car in the back of a wheat truck when we got married and we had to drive the truck, with the car in the back, into town to the motel after the reception, and how we were stopped by the police going through Airway Heights because all the cans tied to the back of the car were blowing out behind us and he thought we'd been drinking all that beer!  OK, Tom's reading over my shoulder!  Gotta go!  Have a great weekend!

Where it all began....

This old, primitive picket fence, turned on end, is one of my favorite decorating "finds" and displayed on it are some of my favorite quilts!  As I was thinking of listing them all for you, I realized that most of my favorite designers are also represented! So, starting at the top is "Union Moon" by Cherie Ralston, "Friendship Garden" by Blackbird Designs, one of my own favorites, "Crazy Bears", "Serendipity Sampler" by Kim Diehl, at "Young at Heart" by Brannock & Patek.  On the rocker is "Hugs N Kisses" by Sherrie Saffiote-Payne.  Both "Union Moon" and "Young at Heart" were made back in the day when I was paper piecing.  I've never liked making and cutting out templates, so I usually opted to convert a pattern to paper piecing if I could.  And, for me, since I like to use lots of plaids in my quilts, and didn't always like having the plaids going every which way and bias on the outer edges of my blocks, paper piecing wasn't a perfect piecing method for me but, to my way of thinking, it was better than the alternative of templates!  

Young at Heart



So, after paper piecing all those hexagonal hearts and stars and setting in each and every seam as I stitched the zig-zagging vertical rows together for Young at Heart, I needed to let my mind rest!  I had lots of  left over fabric, which I can't stand to waste. So as Pam likes to to tell you at our trunk shows when asked just how we came up with our "Crazy" technique of piecing, I'd been paper piecing, had a bunch of leftover fabric and decided to sew my way out of my sewing room one Christmas break. 

Which is exactly what I did and "Buggy Barn Crazies" was born!  Recognize those fabrics? And 15 years later we are still going crazy!  I use to worry about what I was going to do next; I didn't think we'd be able to keep coming up with ideas but since I'm in the middle of designing & writing our 20th book, "Still Crazy" (hopefully due out in May), I've tried to let that worry go, since stress makes me stupid and then I can't hold two thoughts together!  However, I do like to ponder and think things over. 

One of the most important things I learned in college I learned from my Fluid Dynamics professor, Dr. Watts.  He always suggested we read through the entire test before starting, and then begin and solve those problems you absolutely knew how to answer, while your mind worked on solving the ones you aren't quite sure how to answer.  And he was right!  It really works!  I'd leave the "holy crap I don't know how to do that one" questions till the end, and lo and behold, by the time I worked my way to that question, the light bulb would turn on!  So whenever Pam gives me a suggestion for a crazy, that I think is going to be impossible to cut up, it usually takes several months of pondering before the light bulb finally turns on!  Last week was a good week: the light bulb finally came on and I was able to finish up this turkey she wanted, added some gourds, and now await the "Pumpkin Pie" fabric so we can get him made up!  Having the design done and instructions written are a major victory for me and "Yes!" I get to put an big old X in the done column!  However, my chart appears to still need quite a few more of those "X's"!!  So best I get back to work!  Happy Quilting!

p.s. my Pumpkin Pie strike offs just arrived!  Don't you think Mr. Tom will look so much better made out of these?



My fingers are itching.....

I brought this kit home, and with the new snow today, my fingers are itching to break it open and get started on my "Snowflakes" quilt.  It's a wonderful combination of gray plaid homespuns (that unfortunately look cream in the photo, sorry!) and wool; it's sitting on my counter calling my name....Unfortunately, so are about a dozen other things!! 

Pam finally  got tired of waiting on me and she took over the "Merry Christmas Quilt" that was also sitting on my counter.  It's so cute!  We are running it as a block of the month; here's our first month, the first row, and the first month's kits are ready to go home with you!  It should be on the site later this week!

Meanwhile, I continue to work on new projects for our next book, new fabric lines, and in the evenings I can sit and stitch on my last section of "A Little Porch Time".  But I just might have to set it aside so I can break into that Snowfalke kit!  Will keep you posted! Just FYI, I hope everyone realizes that the words in blue are links to our website; you should be able to click on the words and they will take you where you need to be!  Happy Quilting!

Happy Valentine's Day!



Heart Crazies

 I hope you'll all be spending time with those you love this Valentine's Day!  Our kids want to go to dinner tomorrow, and so, knowing my husband, that's gonna count for Valentine's Day!  So, in case you'll be like me and have a date with your sewing machine, Pam & I decided, at the last minute of course, that it would be nice to offer you all a discount on our heart quilts!  So between now and Feb 14th,Valentine's Day, place an order on line or by phone for any heart pattern, kit, or book with a heart pattern and you will receive a 14% (Feb 14th!) discount on those items.  You'll also receive the discount on these items in the shop on Monday.  Just to help you out, I can think of these two pictured plus
 "Crazy About Hearts and Stars", "Heather", "Hearts", and "Circle of Love".  Oh- and how could I forget "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"?  I"m sure there must be more....but this gives you an idea; we have both traditionally pieced hearts and our crazies to choose from!  Happy Valentine's Day!



Blaze's Heart


This is a quilt I did when my nephew, Blaze, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  He's good now, cancer free, but this is still one of my favorites!  It's a small quilt, traditionally pieced, and would make a great baby blanket.  I'm saving it for my grandchildren, that I don't yet have!  But some day!   Did you also know that it's American Heart Month?  So I guess I better go get on the Nordic Track and be good to my heart!  I can't wait until the weather is nice and I can exercise outside!  But for now, we have great quilting weather so it's off to the Torture Track I go!  Happy Quilting!

Hey! That's my line!



"Convenience" quilt yardage from "Pumkin Pie"

 There's nothing better than taking a moment and sitting down with my favorite quilting magazine, American Patchwork & Quilting.  I didn't have a moment but wanted to find the quilt our friend Eileen Houchin had published (congratulations, Eileen!)  in the April edition.  So as I was flipping through, I noticed they have added "Expert tips" on some of the sidebars and saw a picture of our friend Cherie Ralston so stopped to read what she was recommending.  As I continued down the column, I read "If you can bind, you can applique" and thought, "Hey! That's my line!" and guess what? It was!  I'm such a dork! But really, it's true!   If you can sew on binding, then you can applique. I love to piece, but I also love to applique.  Not only is applique portable, but it's easy to pick up and set down.  It was perfect when I was a young mother of two busy boys!  There's no "Now where was I?" with applique because I was right there where I left my needle!  Even though I'm a one project at a time kind of girl, I still have both a piecing project and an applique project going at the same time. If you've been afraid of applique, click on the YouTube links under the header for more applique tips.  Part 1 is mostly about the tools, Part 2 about preparation, and part 3 is stitching and tips.  For those of you who really don't want to applique, we have a "cheater" fabric in our "Pumpkin Pie" fabric line that's due to hit the stores in May.  We think it'll be great for backings, too!  But speaking of applique.....

Here is Gloria's current applique project, "Evening Bloom", another Block of the Month that she is making for us.  Isn't it tempting?  This one has large pieces which are usually easier to applique: no tiny star points in this one!  It's going to be a beautiful quilt!  The background fabrics are from French General and are just beautiful.

And if you don't like needle turn applique, what about wool applique?  No turning under required!  This is a wool applique project that Donna just finished up- she sure has been a busy bee!  Here she is with "I'll be Home for Christmas".  This is another kit I'll be taking home with me!  She and Lynda picked the wool for this project, and they've been teaming up on several different wool projects, including "Sheep in the Willows" and "Barn Chicks".  Aren't we all lucky to have such talented ladies at the Barn!  Happy Quilting!

This will brighten your day!

We just received another completed  "Down in the Garden" block in the mail from our stitcher extraordinaire, Valerie.  With all those wonderful flowers, working on this project is sure to help you beat the winter time blahs!  She has eight of the nine blocks done, so just one more to go!  Here are a few more of the blocks just so you have a bit better picture; the center block will be the one with the verse.  Doesn't she do nice work? 

Some of you know that my mom use to do our stitching for the barn until she lost her vision.  She use to take such tiny stitches and she always said it was because as she was learning to stitch, she would always take her sample to show her dad and get his opinion.  He always replied that it was pretty good but that the stitches could be smaller.  So off she'd go to take it all out and start over again.  As an adult, she often wondered if he really thought her stitches were too big, or if her folks just didn't have the money during the depression to by her more supplies.  Either way, her stitches remained small and she's left us with some wonderful pieces.  Here's one of my favorites right next to my computer screen!  More flowers!  I must really be wishing for spring!  It's just that season of mud that we have to endure before winter turns to spring!  I think I need to reevaluate and be more selective about what I wish for!