Monday, May 30, 2011

Basket Mania

I'm so far behind I think I'm first!  I saw that on a sign and decided it pretty much summed up my life!  My husband and I spent the long weekend trying to get a handle on the knee high grass and planting the last of the flowers that I usually have in on Mother's Day...it's been such a cold wet spring that everything is late!  We don't have the vegetable garden planted yet so even if I cheat and buy corn starts at Home Depot, I'm afraid my corn won't be knee high by the 4th of July!  Tom loves fresh tomatoes and I love fresh picked corn on the cob, and I have to have pumpkins for Halloween!  I keep telling Tom that I've been this late before so I haven't given up yet!  But I did get to plant several containers including this bike basket. 








Bramble Baskets

I must confess I have a fetish for containers: boxes, baskets, I even hauled an old sink home from my mom's that I hope to hang on the chicken coop and plant flowers in.  So is it any wonder that I love basket quilts too?  I love our new Bramble Baskets quilt in Still Crazy...










Gathering Baskets by Primitives by Linday

And I also love both of these Gathering Basket quilts, one by Primitives by Lynda and the other from Needle Love.  Pam just finished the one from Needle Love and even though it's still at the quilter, we've been hearing rave reviews!  The flowers in ours are more pinks, reds, and oranges than the one by Needle Love on the web site so keep watching for an updated photo as soon as we get it back from quilting!







I also love this book that is fabric baskets and containers.  There are so many great things to look at in this book so I thought I'd share a few....We do have it for sale at the barn if anyone's interested.




That's about it for now.  I did have great news from my heart doctor who took me in on Tuesday for a heart cath sure she would be putting in a stint but she she was amazed at my "beautiful" plaque-free arteries so no stint for me!  Evidently my high blood pressure gave her false positive test results so I just need meds to get my blood pressure and heart rate under control.  So now we've got the all clear and Pam & I are off to Lethbridge Alberta on Wednesday to teach at Village Quilts.  Then home again, home again and back to work on the next new book!  Will talk to you all soon





Friday, May 20, 2011

Vingnette in Stitches

We're hooked on another new magazine, "Vingnette" by Leanne Beasley of Leanne's House.  We've done a lot of Leanne's things, including "Butterfly Garden", "Down in the Garden", "Journey of a Quilter", and "Leanne's House".  I guess you can tell that we like her stuff!  The magazine is really very well done and has lots to looks at!  We've decided to participate in the mystery block of the month that is featured in this magazine and have selected this kit for "Vingnette in Stitches" based on the floss she's using. You can get the kit either with or without the handkerchief linen;  just use the drop down box.  Hope you like it!  Enjoy!

Quilt Market Preview


Pam with Carrie, DeeDee, and Jenny form Back Door Quilting in our booth

It's me again....finally!  Pam and I got home from Quilt Market in Salt Lake City on Monday and as is usual for me after the big push to get ready for Market, I've spent most of the week taking care of all the stuff I shoved to the back burner, like blogging!  So I wanted to share a few pictures of Market with you.  It was a little hectic for us since Ron had to go home and farm. It's been so extremely wet that all the farmers were having trouble getting their crops in the ground.  But we did manage although I had to stay in the booth more than I am use to! We were selling our new book, "Still Crazy" which celebrates our 15th year in business. 


Kitty corner across the aisle was one of our favorite designers, Annie Downs.  She just joined Henry Glass and has designed her first line!  We are so excited!  You might know here best from "Boys Story" and "Pockets of Posies".  She also has a new book out called "Some Kind of Wonderful".   We just love Annie!  She's so nice and her designs are awesome!  The quilt on the left side of the picture is made with her new line.  Be sure to watch for it on our web site!





Right across the aisle, was Jill Finley, another fellow Henry Glass designer, and her booth looked like an ice cream parlor and she was even offering mini ice cream cones to her customers!  Naturally, she won the best booth award!  She really made us look bad!   Plus, we had people in our booth eating ice cream all day tempting us but it also made a perfect prop for our "We All Scream"! 







And here are two such customers now!  Actually Sandy and Valerie were kind enough to help us in the booth on Sunday so Pam and I could shop the Market.  They, too, are sisters.  Sandy often helps us with sewing projects and Valerie is that stitcher extraordinaire I've talked about besides being our very good friends!  Would you believe that that's about all the pictures I have?  I know, I'm pathetic!  Maybe you noticed that all the picture taking was in the vicinity of our booth!  I told you we were slaving away and this proves it!  We did have a great time in Salt Lake and bought lots of great things for the Barn. 




We also spent an afternoon in Park City before Market after we got our booth set up.  I purchased a couple new stars to hang in my sewing room window.  Please excuse the dirty windows...did I mention it's done nothing but rain?  Well it's true and if I wash windows, it always rains and I've definitely have enough of that so it's gonna be awhile before I break down and decide it's safe to wash windows!  My tulips have just now decided to bloom and that's no exaggeration!  Here's to sunny days ahead!  Will talk to you all soon!