I am just not good with deadlines

Deadlines and me are not friends.  For someone who is generally well organized and for the most part punctual, I often find myself stymied by deadlines.  I know I tend to procrastinate, but I am also often weighing WHICH deadline do I adhere to and which do I let slide.  My calendar for the past two weeks has been jammed including but not limited to. . . .

• work (my day job),
• a trip to Cincinnati and back for a convention and family visit,
• a night of Bunco with the girls,
• a set of swap blocks to complete and mail off
• a tax class at the local community college,
• a guild presentation on EQ6,
• an EQ7 class at my local quilt shop,
• a Late Night sewing evening at my local quilt shop,
• an all-day Retreat for Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler BOM,
• an all-day UFO sewing day with my small group,
• another Guild Presentation on “Setting Odd Blocks,” and
• a 4 day retreat in Houston

This week I have

• a Charm Tote class on Thursday night
• a BOM for my guild
• the next Tulip Tiles BOM
• another 5 sets of swap blocks to complete
• and Bus Trip to the Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, NE on Saturday, and the next week
• a 4-day class in Salt Lake City, UT on how to use my HQ16 mid-arm sewing machine.
• not to mention an Aug 4 deadline for 2 quilts which will be published in a magazine next year, for which I have only had a month’s notice.
• oh. . . and did I mention my day job?

Ok, so maybe the trouble isn’t so much with deadlines but with being over-booked!  I do have a calendar on which I organize my life, but it is pocket size and it may well be that I need a larger one to get my schedule life sized.  What I really need is a wife!  You know, someone to take care of all the details that I am to busy to deal with.  I really think most professional women need a wife, or a secretary, or an assistant, an editor, a driver, a receptionist and a fashion consultant.  I already have a husband and a house keeper, but somehow that doesn’t seem like enough!  LOL!  At least I got one thing done today after I got home form the airport, read all my mail, unpacked, took a nap, walked the dog, gave the cat her pill, made supper and waded through a pile of email.

Let me present . . .without further ado. . . this month’s FREE Tulip Tiles BOM installment  "Block 8 Sashing.”  I know you have been waiting for this because it is the element that ties the whole quilt center together.   If you have all the blocks, setting triangles and corner triangles completed you will be able to assemble the whole quilt center with this month’s block instructions.  Block 8 will be available for FREE for 2 months, and then will be available for purchase on my website after September 20, 2010.  You can download the pattern and instructions for Block 8 on my Block of the Month Page.  Click the Page Tab at the top page.

Reeze

First time vending at a quilt show. . . and so much more!

The weekend before last I had my first gig as a quilt show vender.  WOW, talk about a learning curve.  It was a great experience and I had a blast selling my patterns and EQ products.  I was even able to make some great connections with local quilt shops and guilds for some classes and lectures.  Altogether it was a wonderful time.

Now as to my booth, I have a lot to learn in this department.  The display of patterns and quilts worked ok, but I need a better way to display some of my wall hangings.  There are just so many and I want them to all be visible!  I had a tent and lights inside the tent, and found that to be a little dark.  I don’t think I will use it next time.  Here is a picture of my booth!

My sign left something to be desired, especially since I had to clamp it onto my tent awning with big honking clamps!  LOL

The display of EQ products in the back was nice and several people liked looking at the program on my laptop.  The quilt on the easel in the front left really worked to showcase my signature Morning Glory Pattern, and I sold out of those patterns the first day!  Whooo hooooo!  The second day I put my quilt pattern that was featured in Keepsake Quilting catalog on the easel and that really got a lot of attention (and sales) for that pattern too.

But the real attraction of the booth, you can’t exactly see to well in this photo, is the Make-and-Take table at the far right.  I think it shows up better in this next picture.  I set up a little table with  a bin full of beads and charms and directions for making a key chain or scissor fob. 

For $3.00 they could sit in my swirly office chair and make their own beaded fob. The project was inspired by the fact that I had three bags of alphabet beads that I purchased for a project and never used.  I thought this would be a great way to get rid of those beads by having kids put their names on beaded key chains.  Also,  I thought it would be a good thing for parents to pay $3.00 for 15 minutes of baby sitting while they looked through my booth!  Little did I know that it would be the parents and grandparents who sat in my chair and made key rings for all their friends, neighbors, and grandkids! It was hysterical.  I sold a ton of these things and it really got people to stop and visit my booth.   Here is picture of a few that I made as samples.  People really went wild over these, and the result is that I was invited to vend at other quilt shows, with the proviso that I “bring those cute bead thingies!”  LOL

This week I have been working on 2 new designs that will be published in QUILT WORLD magazine next year.  I have to get them done by August 4, so I have been totally under the gun and that has kept me at my machine lately.  I can give you a sneak peak of the one I am nearly finished with.  It is a small wall hanging with a wintry background of frosty tumbling blocks and an unexpected red carnation appliqué motif.  There is a picture of the quilt in a different colorway on the left margin of my blog under current projects.   I revised the applique quite a bit for this quilt and offer it as a winter quilt with the January flower of the month.  I think they will be publishing this in the February edition of QUILT WORLD next year.  I have really had fun making it, and used Marti Michell templates for the tumbling blocks.  WOW did that ever make them easy to do!  Special thanks to my friend Barb for teaching me how to use them!!

Now back to stitching down applique!  I promise to try to post more often, but July is a really busy month for me.  Hope you enjoy the show!

Reeze

Tulip Tiles Block of the Month Block 7

Finally had time to get to the computer and get BOM Block 7 directions posted.  Yippeee.  Sorry they are a few days late.  I was catching up housekeeping chores I had neglected for too long. 

This month the BOM corner triangles for the on-point setting are posted, and they are cute, cute, cute.  You will be making 4 of these sweeties and the directions are posted HERE.  These sweet little white on blue tulips remind me so much of the fabulous delft decorative pieces that I so love to collect.  I should take some pictures of my kitchen so you know can see my collection!  I love all things blue and white.

The first two pictures are in my china cabinet.  I have a lot of pieces of the windmill tea pots and sugar bowl sets.  The small pieces of white ironstone are a favorite as well.  The photo on the left with the blue willow teapots (the one in front was my Mother's) are special favorites.

I love cannisters, especially old blue and white ones, but the picture below shows a few green and white paste porcelain cannisters I have collected over the year.  I have a teapot to match the Sugar and Tea cannisters, but ran out of room on the shelf to display it!

The picture below is over my back sliding door in my dining room.  I saw a similar shelf in a home decorating catalog a few years back and asked my husband to build one for me.   I line it with my collection of little blue and white pitchers.

The little dutch houses are on my windowsill in the kitchen.

The cannisters are on my countertop next to my stove in the kitchen.  I did the tile work myself a number of years ago to go with the blue and white theme.  I did great until the dog chewed the cord off the tile saw!

The last picture below is right over my range top.  I found the blue and white large tile in an antique shop and wanted to put it right where I could see it when I cooked.  LOL

Ok, well that is probably more blue and white stuff than you can stand, but I guess now you know why I love the color scheme of this BOM so much.  And to everyone's suprise, this is the first time I have designed a dutch themed quilt!

Now for my collection of dutch themed embroidery designs and iron on transfers. . . ok, I guess I can save that for another time.  :o)

Next month we will build all the sashings for the quilt top and then we will be ready to assemble the whole beastie.  Hope you have been working hard on your blocks!  I will be goint to a retreat in July, and I plan to get my top put together then along with you, and finally. . . post some pictures of the real deal quilt for you all to see.

And The Winnner Is. . .

Today is Friday, and in addition to a big TGIF day, it is also the day I pull a winner to the 75,000 visits Give Away!  Can't you feel the excitement rising!!  So here is how I drew the winner.  I asked one of my colleagues at work to pick a number between 1-41 (the number of comments) and write it down on a sticky note.  So based on this totally random luck of the draw, the winner is. . . .

Rhonda G!

Congratulations and please send me your snail mail address so I can mail your FQ's to you!

Now, because you all had such nice things to say, and some really great suggestions, I decided to give away a second prize.  This is a pile of 1/2 yard cuts of pink and blue 30's Barbara Brackman fabric, all tied up in a blue ribbon,  which came out a few years ago. This will make an adorable baby quilt.  Using the same totally random method, I pulled a second winner.  So the second prize goes to. . .

Scraphappy

Congratulations and please send me your snail mail address so I can mail your stack-o-fabric to you!  It is so much fun to give things away!!

Thanks to all of you who commented on the things you liked and offered suggestions.  It was great to hear from so many of you, and it gave me an opportunity to go out and read your blogs, as many of you also have them.  I love reading your blogs and hearing about your quilty activities.  Thanks, and keep up the great work.

Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler Row F6-F10 Plus Bonus Piecing Tips

This weekend I finished Row 7 of my local quilt shop’s Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler BOM.  These blocks were pretty simple to do and I think they came out remarkably square!  Go figure! :o)

The star block did pose some tricky piecing, so I wanted to share a few hints to help you do this block accurately.  The directions have you strip piece the diamond pieces and this works slick.  But when you go to sew your pairs of diamonds together it is really hard to get the points to match.  When you put them right sides together you have to put a pin in the place where the 2 seams come together.  That can be really tedious, and doesn’t always end up in a match.  So here is what I did:

Line the seam up like the picture below.  Make sure you have pressed the seam allowances in opposite directions so the seam nests together nicely.  The two patches should just meet at the seam line.

Put this unit under the presser foot so that the needle pierces the seam and the presser foot aligns with the edge of the top patch.

Lift the presser foot, but not the needle. Hold onto the top patch and pivot the lower patch counter-clockwise, leaving the needle in place until they are aligned with each other.
     
Now stitch from this center point to the end of the seam.  Then flip the patch over and sew the other half of the patch, overlapping your stitching in the middle (over the seam).
The stitching should begin and end where the two patches intersect on both ends.  Doing it this way insures that the ends match and the center point matches perfectly.
  
Press the seam open on the back and trim up the patch to get rid of the dog ears.  The finished diamond four patch should look like this:
  Then you are ready to add the 2 triangles to complete the unit.
Using this technique I was able to zip through all 8 diamond four patches for the blocks really fast, and everyone of them matched!  Shazam!
  
The block goes together much easier this way, and the centers and seams are easier to match. 
Whoo hooo, I love it when a plan comes together!!

Reeze

75,000 Visit!! Its time for another Give-Away

Wow, I am just amazed that in a little over a year my blog has received  more thatn 75,000 visits!  All I can say is THANKS!  I am tickled that so many of you have come to visit my blog, download my free Block of the Month and look at the quilt eye candy I try to post for you.  In honor of my 75,000 visits milestone I am offering 2 (count em! 2) goodies for my readers!

First I am going to give away a FQ bundle in fabulous fall fabrics.  To enter, leave a comment on this post letting me know what you like best about my blog -- or -- what you would like to see more of on my blog!  As a teacher, I am always looking for suggestions!!

Second, I am adding a new PAGE to my blog.  In addition to my Free BOM, I am adding a FREE EQ DOWNLOADS page.  I design a bazzillion quilts using EQ and thought I would share those files with my EQ buddies.  The files will be in EQ6 format so you can use them with EQ6 or EQ7.  Download the files and enjoy making the quilts!  Just remember, they are copyrighted designs.  Use them, but don't sell them please.

Oh and here are the FQ's for the give away, cuz we all need a little quilty eye candy every day to stay healthy!

I’m so excited!

I have been away camping for the past two week, relaxing in the wilds of the Mohican River Valley of Central Ohio, and various states along the way between Ohio and Kansas.  This was the 34th reunion of my college friends who meet every Memorial Day weekend on the banks of the Mohican River to get re-acquainted, tell each other the same stories and jokes we told last year, and pretend we don’t all look a year older.  It is so much fun to relive our youths one weekend a year as we go tubing down the river, play Frisbee golf, and sing songs around the camp fire.
Ok, so much for travel, the real exciting news is on page 26 of the newest Keepsake Quilting Catalog!! One of my new patterns, the April Charming Botanical Sweet Pea Table Runner pattern is included in the catalog as a pattern as as a kit.  WOW.  This is the first time one of my patterns has appeared in a publication, and I can hardly contain my excitement.  This has been a popular pattern in the quilt shops so I guess that is why they selected it among all my other patterns.  Plus they probably needed a small project that featured 30’s repro fabric.  Whatever their reasons, I am tickled.  :-)
I am also catching up on a few of my sewing and design projects.  I am way behind on my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler Blocks.  So that is at the top of my list this week.  I just finished two sets of Lady of the Lake blocks for a swap, and those will get mailed off today.  I am designing a new BOM for my guild starting in July and wrote up the instructions for that over the weekend.  In the past the BOM’s have been appliqué.  I know there are wonderful appliquérs in our guild, but I wanted to offer a pieced BOM for all of those non-applique people.  Here is sneak peek of the two colorways I am using for this BOM.

And for those of you who ordered EQ7 from me. . . good news!  I received 3 BOXES!!!! of EQ7 programs and upgrades and have been packaging them and shipping them in batches.  The first group went out on Friday and the next batch will go in the mail Monday morning.  I should have them all packaged and shipped by the end of this week, so keep your eyes peeled for 1) an email from me saying I have shipped yours, and 2) a package in the mail with your copy!!  Please let me know when you receive your program so I know it arrived safely.  Thanks to all of you who ordered EQ7 programs and upgrades.  I know you will love playing with all the new features. 

Hope your weekend was fun too!

Block 6 Tulip Tiles BOM Posted

I have posted the next Free Block of the Month in the Tulip Tiles series.  This block is actually a setting triangle.  You will need to make four of these.  They are large triangles with a tulip motif appliqued on them.  The Instructions and placement guide can be downloaded by going to the 2010 Block of the Month page or by clicking here.

You may be wondering when we will get to the sashing so that you can start to put your blocks together!  I know you are impatient just like me.  You will have to wait a bit however.  This month we do the setting traingles, next month we do the corner triangles, and THEN. . . we will do the sashing and set the top together.   I am having a lot of fun with this quilt, I hope you are too.  I would love to see pictures of your blocks when you get them together.

If you have missed the first four blocks you can purchase them for $2.00 each on my website - http://www.morningglorydesigns.net/.  Blocks 5 and six are still available for free.  Be sure to download them now because they are only available for free for two months.

Happy quilting!

New Quilt Designs with EQ6

As always, I have a quilt design in my head, but several actually found their way onto paper this week.  I have always been intrigued with the designs of ancient mosaic tiles, so I decided to use some of the motifs to design a quilt.  The small tiles are so like patches in patchwork that I couldn't help seeing the similarities.  In the illustration below, from the book Ancient Mosaics by Roger Ling (p 66) I was stunned to see the six-pointed stars made of diamonds and the hexagon between them filled with an amazing six-petaled flowers.  If it weren't for the intricate rope borders around the larger hexagons you would think you were looking at a quilt.  And to think some artist sat there placing each of those tiny tiles into some kind of cement which managed to last all of these thousands of years.  I only hope the quilt that this mosaic inspires is as time-worthy.

Look at these incredible motifs in this tilework.  It just blows me away.  I do a program on the Hexagon shape in quilting, and now I can see I am going to have to add a few more slides to my powerpoint!!  LOL

When I saw the Stonehenge line of fabrics from Northcott being advertised I knew I had found a great combination.  I downloaded all the Stonehenge fabrics from the Northcott website so I could play with the designs and the actual fabrics on EQ6.  Don't you just love EQ??  I played on EQ6 and came up with a lot of different designs.  Here is one of them:

I love how the design looks like marble and stone -- even in the computer generated drawing -- using the Stonehenge fabrics.  Of course I had to go shopping and order a huge pile of the fabrics to play with.

Here is another tile design that intrigued me.  This one was from a book called The Tile Book: Decorating with Fired Earth by Elizabeth Hilliard, page 141.  I loved the colors in this tile and the wild floral motifs in the central four-patch.  Did you ever see a tile design that looked more like a quilt???  I thought this one would be easy to adapt to a quilt design.  It took a bit more ingenuity than I first thought, especially to design the sashing and choose fabrics, but I think I am on the right track.  I need to play a bit more with fabrics, but I am liking the direction it is going in.  And here is the quilt design I have so far in EQ6:

Can't you just see this covering a huge floor in a church baptistry?

This is the sort of thing that is going to keep me jazzed for a long time.  Now I have to get away from the computer and go to my studio and sew!!  As always, thanks for visiting.

EQ7 Now available on my Website for a Special Price

I have received so many requests for EQ7 that I finally put it up on my website!  I am offering the full program for $125.00 plus shipping and the Upgrade for $55.00 plus shipping -- but only through May 31.  After that the program and upgrade will both be available on my website for the full retail price of $189.95 for the program and $89.95 for the upgrade from EQ6.  Check out Electric Quilt's  website for features and prices and you will see that I am offering for less during this pre-release promotion.

The new version includes a great new worktable for working with pictures and an improved custom set worktable with a grid to make creating your own settings even easier.   If you have a licensed copy of EQ6 you can purchase the upgrade.  And no worry about a limited number of activations as in EQ6.  EQ7 will have unlimited activations!

Please note, this is a pre-release price available only until May 31.  Electric Quilt will begin shipping June 7 and I will ship all prepaid orders as soon as I receive the programs from EQ.  This is a great product and a great price.

To order click HERE.