OOPS! Corrected an error in BOM Block 3

Thanks to a very sharp quilter (Thanks Sue!!!) an error in the cutting list for Block 3 was found and corrected.  If you have already downloaded the Block of the Month Jewels in the Crown block 3, please download the corrected version.  It is the same link so just click HERE, scroll down to Block 3, click on the block and you will be able to get the corrected version.

Phew, I hate when I make a big old hairy typing mistake like this, but I sure appreciate the sharp eyes of all of you quilters who spot my mistakes and send me corrections.  Thanks for participating in my Jewels in the Crown Block of the month.

Oh. . . .and tomorrow I will randomly select the winner of the February block.  So be sure to make Block 2 and post a picture on the Flicker JEWELSBOM site:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/jewelsbom/

I just took a peek at the pictures and they are gorgeous.  I even saw a picture for block 3 up there!!!  Some of you are really speedy!! (and fixed the cutting mistake on your own!!).

Rock on!!

Jewels in the Crown Block 3 Posted

It's March already!  I can't believe it.  And the tulips and daffodils are poking their little leaf tips up through the snow.  I want to go out there and push them back down into the ground and tell them to hold on for just a few more weeks!  Oh well, if they don't have the sense to stay down in the warm dirt till the snow melts than its their own fault if they freeze their little noses off.  Can you tell I am SO ready for spring?

Since I can't rush the season, I can rush the next Block of the Month -- Block 3 Ruby Rings!  Its a beauty too.  How I love these bright jewel tone colors.  They are so cheerful.  I know it is only Feb 25 but I just needed to do something fun.  So, here, a few days early, is Block 3!

Trot on over to the Free BOM Page and download Block 3 and the optional foundation pattern.  Remember, these blocks are only available for 2 months, and then they will be for sale on my website.

Why not go over and take a look at my Daffodil Table Runner. 

It would really brighten up your table and bring a little spring inside! This table runner is really big! And it is mostly pieced with only a few little bits of applique, and some fun ric-rac flowers! 

And to make it easier to get this bright spring time pattern I put it on sale for the month of March only!!

Stay tuned, because I will post the winner of the February BOM prize pack on March 1.

Hey, and look what I just discovered!!!!!  My spinning sunflower pattern is the #1 Download on E-Pattern Central.  Take a LOOK.  And its only $3.95 to download.  What a bargain. 

Wednesday Quilt Show

The Wednesday Quilt Show is a feature of "Forty Two Quilts" a blog by designer and author Jenifer Dick.  She shares some great pictures of wonderful designs on her blog each Wednesday.  Well guess what?  This Wednesday she is featuring my Frosty Carnations Quilt  -- from the February issue of Quilter's World -- on her Wednesday Quilt Show!!!  Check it out along with the other incredible designs she offers.  It is total eye candy.

In the mean time I am working on my next quilt and here is a little preview.

This quilt is call "Bath of Apolausis" and is made to resemble the mosaic stone work in the floor of the classical bath.  I am using Stonehenge fabrics from Northcot to reproduce the  look of stone and marble.  It has been so fun to make!  I am almost done with the blocks and ready to start assembly.  I still have the border to do, and that is a bit over the top and will take a while I am affraid.  I will post more pics once I get the blocks off the design wall and put together.

I have to tell you, this is a very un-Reeze-like quilt.  But it is growing on me!  LOL

Guess what showed up in my Mail Box today!!!

Wow, was this ever a surprise!  I came home from work today to the usual piles of bills and junque mail.  There was a package and I thought it might be some fabric I ordered for a quilt I am working on.  But when I opened it up there was a HUGE surprise.  MONTHS and months ago I made a set of placemats to send in to my magazine publisher, DRG.  They were doing a book on making quilts using precuts and I did a set of placemats with my super simple placemat and napkin pattern.
Well, the placemats came home along with this:

This is the book!!!  Jump Start Your Quilting by House of White Birches.  Can you believe it.  They sent me a copy!!  Click on the book title to buy a copy.  But what was even cooler. . . look at this:

There are the placemats and the pattern!!!  OMG  They actually published them!  I was so excited.  It was so long ago that I sent these in and never heard any more about it.  Then out of the blue, nearly a year later, the book is released!  And they sent me back my placemats!!  WOW

And if you look close you can even see my name on page 82! And they even published the instructions.

Now this is not my first published pattern, and it is not even my first pattern to be published in a book!  And I was paid for this design months ago.  So why am I so excited??!!????   Because I am one publication closer to my dream of being a “real” quilt designer and actually having people “SEE” my work and “BUY” it!  Whooo hooooo! 
You know what this means don’t you?  That my days as a college professor teaching speech to Native American students are numbered.  That my role as acting assessment coordinator will be coming to an end in the foreseeable future. 
Today I had to teach a full day of assessment training to faculty during our Faculty In-Service.  Of course I always include a new quilt as part of the presentation.  But I was so stressed about the day that I forgot to bring a quilt!!!!  So I told them that they would have to listen to quilt story instead of seeing one.  I told them how I will have a pattern in every issue of Quilter’s World this year and they were all impressed.  The point of telling them, I said, was so that they would learn this stuff, because I was retiring in three years to quilt full time and they were going to be SOL if they didn’t pay attention.   PHEW!!!!  I was worried that I might have to stay beyond the 3 years. . . .but this package in the mail renewed my faith that I can do this.  Ok, sorry for the ramble.  I try not to wax philosophical on here, but today was just one of those days.  Don’t get me wrong, I have loved my 30 years as a college professor and I definitely love teaching Native American students.  But I want the next 30 years to be as a professional quilt designer instead of as a professional public speaking and rhetorical criticism teacher.
Ok, since you made it through the rant. here are some more pictures!  LOL


Thanks for hanging in there!!  Hey, I have some Fat Quarters left from this Line of Fabric.  Want to win them????  They will be this month’s prize for the posting a picture of your version of the Jewels BOM for February in the Jewels BOM album on FLICKER.  Now THAT is really cool.

Argyle quilt finished

I got my Diamond Argyle quilt back from the quilter this week and put on the binding and label.  It is ready to send off the Quilter's World first thing Monday morning.  

The binding was slow going, but I put in a book on tape and finished before the book was over!  It is hard to see black binding and black thread against a black quilt.  I had about three ott lamps shining on my work so I could see what I was doing.  I probably absorbed enough radiation from those lamps to glow in the dark! 

Hmmm, or maybe that is why the quilt is so big.  My DH couldn't even hold the whole thing up it was so big.  I never make big quilts!  What was I thinking????

Now I am working on my next pattern called Bath of Apolausis.  It is based on a tile pattern in an anciet Roman Bath.

I played around with the elements in this design and created a quilt design that is a bit more symmetrical without the portrait.  I used the Stonehenge fabrics by Northcott, that look like rock and stone.  It is starting to come together and I will post some pictures when I have a bit more of it put together.

  For now, back to my sewing machine.!!

Fixed the Broken Link to Jewels BOM Block 2

I fixed the link to the BOM. Not sure what was up with it going to the Quilt Designers Web Ring. That was weird. Although now that I think of it, that has happend before on other blogs. . .Hmmmmmmm!??!?!

FebSale

This would be a great time to get those extra Blocks from Last year's BOM: Tulip Tiles that you may have missed.  They are still only $2.00 each.  If you get the whole pattern -- all the blocks and  borders -- it is only $18.00 for the download!  Or Get the the 2009 BOM  Midnight Posies for $10.80. Sale good until March 1, 2011.

I had a December sale on EQ products which was a great success, but now I am offering a sale on all my patterns and all EQ products too!  I needed to do something to lift my spirits during this cold and snowy February.  I know I love a sale.  AND this is just for readers of my blog!!!  Thanks so much for stopping in.

Block of the Month Block 2 Posted

Its February already -- and you won't believe the storm brewing in my yard.  Oh, yea, I bet you would since this is the "killer storm" of 2011 that has dumped snow and ice on about half the country! 

View out of my back door to the screened in porch.  The screens were plastered with snow!



The view out of my front door.  That is hubby's patrol car.  It is parked in our driveway as he had to drive his 4WD truck to work today.  Note to the complacent:  He already dug it out once today and it is re-buried!!  LOL

 Even the critters are enjoying this snow day:





Rockie the Wonder Dog was sacked out in the living room.  He was toast after romping in the snow while I shoveled a now non-existent path to the mailbox.

 

Betty Bat the Black Cat is sacked out on my bed, curled up on my night gown which I forgot to fold and put away.  The rat! 

 

Filippa the Flamingo in my front yard is not quite so happy.  She usually sits among the rose bushes and preens, but today she has got one toe hoisted in the air to avoid standing in the cold snow.  I told her to come in but she just stood there frozen like some kind of metal yard art!!!  What is she thinking????

Sooooo. . . . . .If like me, you are at home because of the snow (can you spell YIPEE??) you are spending some time quilting or cruising the net, reading blogs. . . .or getting ready to work on the

 FEBRUARY BOM!!!

Click HERE to download the Instructions and optional paper foundation pattern for Block 2!!


Jewels in the Crown BOM 2

This one is called Beacon Lights and is totally fun to make.  I just love these colors.  Of course yours can be in whatever colors YOU love. 

Just remember to make your block THIS MONTH and post a picture in the Flicker JEWELSBOM folder to be entered in the monthly drawing for FQs, patterns, magazines, and other quilty goodies!!



Click here to go to JEWELSBOM and post a picture of your February BOM Block

http://www.flickr.com/groups/jewelsbom/




And now for the winner of the the January BOM:  I spun the dial on the old Random Number Generator at the bottom of my blog and here was the result:

So then I trotted back to the Flicker JEWELSBOM page to see who # 16 was and it was this block:




Don't you love the great colors in this block. . . and especially that terrific print which pulls all the colors together.  Wow!

 You can go look and see for yourself.  I counted to # 16 and this was the one.  Thank goodness for Random Number Generators because I could never have picked one by myself!  They are all just too Beautiful!  I love all the wonderful colors you have all chosen.  So creative!!!

So then I had to go back to my computer to identify who's block it was, and it belongs to:

Becky Fiedler down in Sunny Florida

Congratulations Becky. . . the winner of the January BOM drawing.  You will win a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine, a stack of FQ's and a copy of the Frosty Carnations Pattern from the Feb. Quilter's World!!!!  Send me your address at Morning Glory Designs and I will have your goodies in the mail as soon as I can dig out of my driveway and hubby moves his patrol car!  Of course my car is safe in the garage with his car parked outside --------- right behind mine!  LOL

I can't wait to see what your February BOM blocks look like as I put together another fun bunch of goodies to send to the February winner!!!!

Thanks so much for checking into my blog and participating in this years BOM.  You rock!