Look what wandered into my email!!!

OK, I am minding my own business, working on my taxes -- Blaaaa!  I am the world's worst bookkeeper, but that is a story for another post -- and my email "bings" to tell me I have an email.  I open it up since it is from Keepsake Quilting cuz I love love love their catalog!  And here is what I see:

Now this is remarkable because of the quilt pictured in the ad!  Yup, you guessed, that is my April Sweet Pea Table runner.  You can see the ad online here. 

Keepsake Quilting is selling the pattern along with a pack of 30's repro charms as a "Pattern Plus."  You can get the pattern (without the charm pack) from my website.

 

Psssst:  Here is a secret just for my blog readers.  Type in "Spring Sale" when you check out from my web site and get 15% off your pattern purchase.  Sale is good through tax day, April 15!

I wish they would tell me they were going to do that so I don't get so stunned when this sort of thing happens.  It was like being on the cover of Quilter's World this month.  I didn't know till I got magazine and saw it. . . .Blam!!!!  The April issue of Quilter's World is on news stands now!

So now that I have burned off that adrenaline it is back to taxes.  Oh my.  I am learning how to use Quickbooks Pro so that NEXT year at tax time, I am not going through stacks and piles and bags and boxes of paper, reciepts, bills, invoices, and used luncheon napkins to figure up my sales and expenses.  I am THIS close to bagging up the whole mess and sending it to my friend Christi in TX (who does taxes for a living) with a note that says HELP!!!  Christi. . . do you make house calls????  To Kansas??????

Oh well, back to the pile O paper.  I vow to be better organized next year and start on my taxes earlier.  OK, you heard me say it, so now you have to hold me to it!  LOL

Working on Mosaic Quilt

I have really been intrigued with mosaic tiles as inspiration for quilts.  There are several great books out there that develop this theme in amazing designs.  I found an old book on antique Roman-influenced mosaics and wanted to play with several ideas.  I have discussed this before in my blog and shown a few designs I came up with.

My interpretation of this mosaic as interpreted in EQ7 is starting to come together.

These are the sashing blocks that run diagonally across the quilt.  I am using the Stonehenge fabric by Northcott to make the blocks.  They really look like stone.

These are the primary blocks that are in the middle of the quilt.  I left out the bust of Appolausis and replaced her with more primary blocks.

Then I made a few blocks to connect the sashings and border the sashings on the outside edges.

Here is a section of the quilt on the design wall with one primary block, 4 sashing blocks and four connector blocks.  It is starting to come together.

I got the top put together at retreat this past weekend.

This shows the first two borders added and the braided border applied to one side.    I put on another braided border last night and when I have the rest of the borders done I will post another picture.

While on retreat, I also put together a BOB -- Bag of Blocks.  This is a swap I invented after accumulating many many bags of blocks from swaps I had participated in.  Several of us in similar situations (many bags of blocks with out ideas about how to set them) do a BOB swap.  We exchange bags of Blocks (BOBs) and devise a setting and put the top together.  We send it back to the original block owners and they have to quilt and finish it.

I received a set of 12 black and white sampler blocks.  I wanted to add some color, and here is what the finished top looks like.

What do you think?  Several girls at the retreat thought I should pattern it.  Do you think anyone would buy the pattern?  NOTE:  I didn't design the blocks.  I only designed the setting.  If I brought it out as a pattern should I include the pattern for the blocks or as a setting for any set of 12 blocks?  Need some input on this.
Thanks. . . you always give me great advice.

Guild Auction Mini

This week I have been working on a mini quilt for our Guild Mini Quilt Auction.  I belong to the Kaw Valley Quilt Guild and our quilt show is April 30, May 1.

As the chair of the Mini Quilt Auction I wanted to get a couple of minis made.  Here is the first one.

The blocks were made by members of the Yahoo Group "Sew Many Swaps" last year in our Midget Blocks swap.  These little  4.5" sweeties were so fun to make.  As the hostess for this swap I collected a set of "charity blocks" from this swap, and this is the first set that I am putting together to auction at our Quilt Show.  The proceeds from the sale of this quilt will go to Women's Transitional Care in Lawrence, KS.

I still need to quilt this, but I was thinking of binding it in scrappy 30's binding.  I sure have enough scraps left to make plenty of binding.  The quilt measure 18" x 23" so it just comes in within the 24" size limit.

I made this first one out of the applique blocks in the set.  I am going to make several more using the pieced blocks.  They are just so darn cute that I am having a blast designing setting for these tiny titans!

How do you think I should quilt it???  I was thinking of McTavishing inside each block, stitching in the ditch around each border/sashing, and doing a little leafy vine in the outer border.  What do you think?

And the Winner is. . . .

Wow. . . these blocks are just gorgeous.  Thank goodness for the random number generator system of picking a winner because I could never have chosen the winner of the February Block of the Month contest otherwise.  Look at all these amazing entries:

Note.  Not all of these are Feb blocks.

There were 16 blocks submitted for the February contest and they are all amazing.  I just love all the different colors.  It hardly seems like it is the same block!!!

So the old random number generator pulled a winner for me.

And block number 8 is this one:

Made by Betty King.

Congratulations Betty. . . you are the winner of this month's BOM prize pack.  You will receive a FQ pack and a pattern of your choice from http://www.morningglorydesigns.net/

Send me you address and your prize pack will be in the mail soon!!

Thanks to everyone who posted a picture of their block.  You are ALL winners in my book!!!

Several March blocks are already posted!!!  Sew up a March block, post the picture (or send it to me and I will post it for you) to be entered in the March drawing for another great prize pack.

Go here: Jewelbom BOM to see all the great blocks and to post your block to be entered to win next month's drawing. 

OMG I am a Cover Girl!!!

I have to tell you I was stunned today when I opened my email.  The new issue of Quilter's World Magazine was posted on their website today and as soon as I looked at the cover I screamed.  With excitement.  My Romantic Posey Table Mat was on the cover.  I had no idea!!!  I was so delighted I screamed again and immediately printed out a copy of the cover and ran up and down the hall at work screaming "I'm a Cover Girl." 

Let me tell you, a few of my male students stuck their heads out of the door to take a look!!  LOL  I am sure they were disappointed although I am not sure what they were expecting. So I have been bouncing off the walls all afternoon just stunned to see my work on a magazine cover.

Now I have to tell you, that Brenda Weien, from Brenda's Machine Quilting in Ottawa, KS did the quilting on this, and I am convinced it made the cover because of Brenda's quilting which is drop dead gorgeous on this quilt.  They put several good closeup photos of her quilting in the issue so if you get a chance to pick up a copy look closely at her quilting.  Her curved cross hatching will blow you away.

The pattern fills 8 pages in the magazine and all the templates and foundation patterns are on their website to download if you buy an issue or subscribe.

I gotta thank all my buds in Texas: Diane (Quilter's Cabin Retreat), Peggy (Always In Stitches Quilt Shop), Kathi (Hard Candy Quilts), Charm, Mandy, and Deb (Quilters Crossing Quilt Shop) for all their help and support when I made this quilt last summer at Diane's Quilt Retreat in Houston.  They gave me lots of great advice and support (along with Father Christmas) as I worked diligently getting this top put together.

So just excuse me while I happy dance around the room for a few more minutes.  Just talk among yourselves.

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.!!