Almost the end of December

The roads are ice-covered and slick and we are expecting 4-6 inches of new snow today! Oh, woe is me...where will we put all the snow? Wisconsin has set nothing but new records for snow falls this month. We've had 10 more inches of snow already than we had all last year. I have a date with the grocery store later to make sure the cupboards are full in case I can't get out tomorrow.

Coffee and cruellers at Jeanne's house this morning. Her house is just so cozy in the morning. She has been working on a pretty big order that needs to be mailed out today. Of course, she had what she needed EXCEPT for one page of a pattern. Since it was the heart of the pattern, I spent a few minutes re-writing it yesterday and she is "good to go" today.

Tomorrow I will be helping to entertain my 2 oldest grandkids for the day and a New Year Eve's sleepover. I think I will convince Bree to help me organize those project bags in the studio and see what I can find for her to work on along the way. Bree has her own little sewing basket and is usually ready to jump into whatever new projects I have on the drawing board. She loves to help organize things and that is just what the sewing room needs.

Is it 2009 yet?

Jeanne and I spent time yesterday morning pulling out all of our notes and tried to focus on what hasn't been done in 2008. The object (I think) was to start to focus our minds on 2009 and what our big projects will be. By the time we had worked our way through 2 cups of coffee and a few Christmas cookies (she makes great cookies!), we each had a couple of pages of scribbles and no clear path from 2008 to 2009.

So we have planned to meet again this coming week and take advantage of a few more days off around New Year's Day and do more planning. In the meantime, I am going to spend an hour or so in the studio looking at all the bags I have with half-finished/maybe not even really started projects. I hope to show all the bags to Jeanne so we can talk about whether there is a true project to finish inside or if the bag should be thrown away or given to someone else to finish or play with. And, maybe I'll actually straighten out some of the fabric down there and see what looks new because I forgot I have it!

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did too. Last night was a family gathering to watch the band my daughter-in-law sings with-it was fun and we laughed a lot. Not a bad way to end Christmas week. Let us know what you are planning for your 2009-we'd love to hear what projects you are planning to start OR what projects you'd like to begin with our help.

Christmas Eve Day

We wish you all the most wonderful Christmas Holiday. Our families will get together tomorrow. It seems a little strange to not be celebrating today-my own kids and grandkids usually open presents on Christmas Eve Day. But work schedules make that impossible this year. So we will begin the festivities tomorrow at 1 and run through the evening with families coming over at various times. We are hopeful that we don't get totally blasted by the 3-5 inches of snow anticipated.

May this Holiday season see you and your loved ones happy and healthy. We'll be back on the weekend-by then we should feel like pulling out the fabric and starting new projects. Right now...there is a Christmas stocking I need to finish before Santa arrives!

It's STill Snowing!

Will whoever is shaking the snow globe with me inside it, please STOP??? Since Friday morning it has been pretty well snowing constantly. I got out to do some Christmas shopping (as did Jeanne-maybe she found something for ME??) and it started up again as soon as I got back on the highway. I was supposed to go to a Holiday Ballroom Dance tonight but the roads are snow-covered so my dear husband decided we were safer on the couch. Not sure if he is right but it is STILL SNOWING and shows no signs of stopping.

Of course, that means that the Christmas tree and all the lights look wonderful and it is very inspiring to be trying to finish a stocking for my newest grandchild. Julia Grace, only 5 months old, won't recognize her name on the stocking this time but she will be able to be told that the stocking was hanging near her little brother's and her cousins from her first Christmas on. That's a good Grandma thing!

I checked out the February 2009 issue of Create and Decorate today. Our 2 designs-a needle punch heart and The Man in the Moon-look great. The photography is wonderful and the whole magazine looks mighty fine. Be sure to check it out!

Snowed in! and Create and Decorate Magazine Out!

Well, it is snowing out so much that I feel like I live inside a snow globe. I drove by Jeanne's house on the way to my office and her driveway is completely plowed in. I don't think she'll dig out all day! The roads were clear but the snow is something fierce with blowing wind. It will be interesting to see how many inches we end up with. Schools are called off which starts Christmas vacation early for my grandkids..I am sure they are thrilled!

Jeanne and I just learned that the February 2009 issue of Create and Decorate magazine is on the shelves and features two of our designs. One is a needle punch Valentine's Day heart decoration and the other is a papier mache Santa and Star. We had lots of fun creating these and hope you enjoy them!

Almost the weekend

It's 2 degrees below zero and we have about 20 inches of snow. Winter is definitely here and so I'm going through the studio trying to find more quilts and stuffs to bring into the rest of the house to stay cozy. Of course, what is cozier than a big fluffy pillow made of flannet with Santa's face on???? Look right to see a great and easy pattern to make up to bring warmth and comfort to those cold winter nights. You'll love making "Naughty or Nice"-found in our Christmas patterns on our web site.

Both Jeanne and I had Christmas programs to go to last night for grandkids. It was Jeanne's first program with kindegartners. Her 6 year old twin grandsons had a great time and it sounds like Jeanne was smiling through the whole thing. I watched my 12 year old grandson play the trumpet in his first Middle School band concert. I have to say that "Nutcracker Suite" was good and all songs were fully recognizable! Next week is my granddaughter's program-I am sure it will be equally as good. What a fun time to be a grandparent.

Keep stitching-only 13 days until Santa arrives. Are you ready????

Busy Weekend plus Stitching!

What a wonderful weekend at my house! We are fully decorated now-it snowed Saturday night at our Christmas Village-a wonderful event where whatever grand kids are around add snow to the roads and houses. Winston, 4 years old, did the honors this year and it was so exciting to watch. I had forgotten that the Village looks very different from the height of a 4 year old-he found places to put snow that I never even knew existed!

On Sunday I went dancing with my favorite dance partner and we got to do the Swing to "Jingle Bell Rock" as well as waltz divinely (in my eyes at least!) to a great waltzy version of "Silver Bells". The evening was capped off by a horse-drawn carriage ride through the town park which is filled with lights and animation for Christmas. When a great pair of friends called with the invitation, we were quick to yell "yes we want to go!" It snowed and was perfect as we huddled under the thick robes in the carriage.

But in spite of all that seasonal busy-ness, there was still time for stitching. I finished putting buttons on a version of our Care Quilt so it will be ready to take new photos and post the pattern. This is the perfect quilt to make up quickly to show someone that you care-it is just the right size to cover someone sitting in a recliner or laying on a couch while recovering from an illness or going through treatments. And, best of all, you can stitch in "care" with each piece of fabric.

Last but not least, I have added a picture of another of our Christmas patterns to peek at. Check out our web site for more!

Christmas Craft Night

I had a wonderful evening with my grand-daughter last night working on Christmas crafts. The local university had a free community night at the Union where students in the elementary education program hosted a night of fun crafts. From decorating cookies to making reindeer ornaments out of bells, pipe cleaners, and candy canes, to ornaments with paper and yarn-it was charming! Everyone got into the act and we had just enough of the decorated cookies to have a pleasant sugar high by the end of the evening.

I am having so much fun decorating the house with our many Christmas designs. Take a peek to the right of this to see what I hung up yesterday! Isn't it charming? Again, the design if from a vintage Christmas card. Jeanne is just so good at adapting what we find at antique stores. After we do the research to date them (so we are sure that is no copyright issue), the fun begins as we decide what they will become. This one turned out perfectly! See the pattern on our web site if you'd like and don't forget to click on the free pattern!

December free pattern ready!

Be sure to go to our web site to download the new December pattern motif. It is a simple "feather tree" to use in your last minute Christmas gifting. We think you will love the flexibility it gives you to be creative-don't forget that you can add beading, little charms, or buttons to give it your special touch! Go to free patterns to see it. Also we have continued our great Yo Yo Maker give away through December. Place any order for a pattern (excludes the freebies!) and we'll include a Clover Yo Yo Maker as our gift to you.

I'm having fun this Christmas using all our whimsical designs to decorate my house. I'll be high-lighting some of the designs here on our blog through out the month. I decided to start with our Kris Kringle. He is adapted from a vintage Christmas card in Jeanne's collection. Isn't he charming? I've made him into both a pillow and a small wall-hanging using tea-dyed fabric and lovely deep green fabric. He hangs in my kitchen this year.

Thankful!

Just about ready to hit the stores with Jeanne. She, supposedly, got up at 4 a.m. to stand in line to get a laptop at Best Buy. We are all to meet for breakfast at 8-I hope she had good luck. Not sure we need to really do this but it's going to be fun for the event!

We hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving Day if you celebrate that totally American Holiday. I spent most of the day trying to get started putting up our family Christmas Village. That requires more cleaning that anything else at this point. My husband will try to get the lights set up for it today and then it's down to laying out the village. What fun!

I decided to really use our Christmas quilts, pillows, and wall-hangings this year. I need to check with Jeanne and see what she wants for her house. I keep most of our finished samples in my sewing studio but this year I feel the need to have them around me. How do you decorate your house with your quilted/embroidered projects? Do tell!

Free Turkey Pattern on Website

Check out the newest Free Pattern on our website! Everyone needs a little hostess gift now and then and, during the Thanksgiving time, what is better than a TURKEY??? You'll love how quickly this guy stitches up. He would look so cute on a towel wrapped around a loaf of freshly made bread or to cushion a pumpkin pie! Be sure to check out our patterns and place an order to receive a Free Clover Yo YO maker during November.

Thanksgiving Pie Mat gift idea

When I think about Thanksgiving I think of pie. Yes, pumpkin pie but that's not MY favorite. My favorite is apple pie with apples that I have picked myself from the apple trees in our back yard. This fall I made my usual dozen pies from fresh-picked pies and put them in the freezer for winter pie nights. It's always great to take a pie to someone's house to share for supper.

And what better way to play with yo yo's than to make up the Pie Mat pattern that Jeanne created. It is easy to put together and looks wonderful as a centerpiece on your table. It would be a great hostess gift for Thanksgiving dinner. Check out our web site to order the pattern-and don't forget that any order placed in November will be sent out with an Extra-Large Clover Yo Yo maker to share the fun.

New month-new patterns!

We will be posting our free design for November early next week. Be sure to peek at it and see if it can be used in your holiday gift-making. And remember that every order placed in November will be sent a free Extra-Large Clover Yo Yo maker-our way of saying "Use those scraps"! Only 55 days until Christmas-are you ready with your hand-made gifts??? No surprise but we aren't!! Time to get to work.

FREE YO YO MAKER WITH ORDER OF PATTERN!

Just because we feel like it (and are working on yo yo's AGAIN!), we are offering to add an extra-large yo yo maker to every order that is placed with us through November. Please take a quick look at our web site for more details. We'll be giving more details here soon about a give-away we are planning of 12 fat quarters. You'll love them all!

We've been thinking a lot about the Stock Market scare that is so all-consuming for all of us. And when we get a little anxious, it's time to start stitching-and what better way to stitch than to spend time making yo yo's???? But, since we don't think all our stitching buddies have a yo yo maker (and may be saving pennies for Christmas gifts!), we decided to share what we have. Just go to our site and place an order for a pattern-we'll toss in the Extra-Large Yo Yo Maker for you to play with while watching the news!

Moving into Fall

We've both been hard at work with our stitchin' and moving our houses into Fall. Jeanne is more into reflecting the change of seasons at The Barn than I am in our little ranch. While our place is nice and cozy amongst the apple and pear trees that cover one side of our property, Jeanne has the perfect place to show the change of the seasons. With a pond that is full of cattails, muskrats, and lots of geese, The Barn usually looks a lot like a nature park! These chickens have come to roost in Jeanne's kitchen until Santa makes his arrival around Thanksgiving.

As for the stitchin', we're trying to make the mental move in to Spring fabrics and Easter ideas even though we aren't yet past Halloween, let alone Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think it's kind of like having a triple split personality-what season are we really in??? But, I guess, one way of thinking about it is that we are able to enjoy ALL seasons at ALL times. What a life!

Pumpkins!

Fall has hit our part of Wisconsin finally and the trees are showing beautiful bursts of color. Jeanne grew this great assortment of pumpkins and shared with us all. There is something about the color orange that just shouts Fall to me.

We've been going back and forth debating what patterns we should send to Houston Market at the end of the month. Of course, there have to be one or two new Wizard of Oz patterns; and there is always a new Christmas pattern from our stash; but the puzzle comes in when we try to decide on Spring patterns. Keep an eye out and see what we come up with-it's almost time to post some more hints!

GARDEN BUNNIES!

Please join me in welcoming our newest pattern to the family! These 4 Garden Bunnies are out in Jeanne's zinnia bed enjoying the last days of our glorious Indian Summer weather. Aren't they sweet? These bunnies can be quickly made from left over fabric and a bit of embroidery floss. The ears are tied with big knots at the head so they flop over and make the perfect "hanging on" point for any toddler. We've made these in several types of fabric-100% cotton, chenille, flannel, and wool. No matter the fabriac-they are sweet. This pattern will be featured on our web site and introduced at the Houston International Quilt Market in late October. We hope you find these bunnies as whimsical as we do.

Scrappy Christmas Tree

Jeanne took a photo today of our newest Christmas pattern. This is the ideal way to use up those scraps from Christmas presents past. You can make this small wall-hanging just as scrappy as you want-or you can focus on 3 basic fabrics and bring a bit more symmetry into the design. Best of all, we made the tree entirely out of yo yo's and buttons for a great country look. This small wall-hanging will make a quick gift to make or you could have it hanging on your front door in no time flat.

Let us know what you think about it...we're pretty excited to have it ready to show you!

Christmas Madness-

The Wisconsin weather is perfect Indian Summer and I am up to my neck in Christmas fabrics! What a problem to have.... It seems like nothing charms me more than a vintage Santa. Check out our website for some great Christmas patterns that are simple enough to still get stitched by the time you need to put them under a tree.

The gift bag pictured here is a quickly stitched piece that is based on a 1920's Christmas card that Jeanne found at an antique store. We love dating old cards and pictures and discovering the story of their first life. But more than that, hard to believe, we love to give this type of charming design a new life through one of our patterns. This bag is so simple to make. When a gift is placed inside and you use raffia or twine to tie it shut, it makes a great presentation under the tree.

Try it out-we guarantee you'll fall in love with this Christmas gift bag.

Pear Harvest Maybe this Week?

Seems like Fall more and more as we have spent time trying to figure out if we should pick the pears. It looks like it is going to be a great year for them-both of our trees are so covered with big pears that the branches are almost touching the ground. We went out yesterday to start the "harvest" but decided to wait just another day or so. While we do usually pick them green and then let them finish ripening, it's still going to be an awful lot of pears just sitting in the garage. So maybe Wednesday???

There has been much happiness in our family as my brother-in-law has just come through an aortic valve replacement with flying colors. He is doing so well that today he will be released from the hospital-just 4 days after surgery. Yeah Terry!

I have been knitting socks lately-they are mindless and good to throw in a bag when going from ICU waiting room to ICU bedside. But I really need to get back to the sittching-Christmas is just around the corner!

Christmas Projects!

Well-it has begun. The mad dash to make sure that we have started the Christmas projects that just HAVE to be finished before Santa arrives. We went through our pile of Christmas designs and old favorites and are starting to throw Christmas fabrics around the studio. In honor of this madness, Jeanne updated our web site with some of our favorite patterns. Be sure to take a look-there is something for everyone.

And, don't forget to get the great FREE pattern design at the same time. It's perfect for a quick Fall or Thanksgiving gift.

Free Pattern up on web site!

Be sure to check out our Free Pattern on our web site today. Jeanne uploaded a great Fall design that you could easily and quickly put on a towel or placemat for Fall. It comes from our Autumn Harvest Wall-hanging pattern and is one of our favorite whimsical designs perfecting hinting at Fall. Enjoy!

Buttons, buttons, whose got the buttons?

We have been going back and forth trying to figure out what buttons to put on our latest Care Quilt. We stitched butterflies and hearts on 9 squares and it was easy to put buttons on the body of the butterflies. But we are not sure what to do on the hearts. Jeanne found some great little bitty white buttons and we think we are going to spread them out in each heart. I started putting the back together last night. We hope to get this to the machine quilter on Saturday. Then on to the next new design!

And school has begun here in Wisconsin. Jeanne's twin 5 year old grandsons are now in all-day kindergarten. So far I haven't heard any bad news about that. And my little 4 year old grandson, Winston, started pre-school yesterday. Where did those years go??? Chase, 12, is now in middle school and Bree, 10, is now in 4th grade. We had a wonderful 3 day weekend with great weather and lots of family and friends relaxing together. What fun!

Long Weekend ahead!

I can't believe the summer is over. With the long Labor Day weekend just about to begin, it's back to school for the kids and summer is gone. Well-maybe! We are supposed to have a series of 80 degree days and with little humidity here is Wisconsin lately, the days have been perfect lately.

The latest version of the Care Quilt has been passed back and forth between Jeanne and I about 4 times this week. Right now she has it and is trying to figure out what color yo yo's should go in the corners. The butterflies and hearts are embroidered and the buttons are in place as accent. The plan is to get it all ready for machine quilting this weekend and drop it off at the Quilt Shop on Tuesday. I think we can make that happen.

We hope you enjoy your weekend and that there is plenty of time for family AND stitching along the way!

flowers and embroidery

Sunday I spent time roaming through the Memorial Park Gardens of Appleton, WI. It was a kind of hot start to the morning even though we started the walk around 9 a.m. Interesting to see were the vegetable gardens that were fenced in for protection against critters and a Petting Zoo Garden where all the plants had animal type names. I'm sharing 2 photos of the wonderful sites so you can enjoy them too!

Jeanne and I are starting to increase the pace of our designing and stitching. We have decided that we will try to get 4 new patterns ready to introduce at the Houston International Quilt Market late in October. With the price of everything going through the roof, we aren't quite sure we can swing a visit to it this year. Airfare has jumped to $800 a ticket and the booth price has increased by $200! But we know we will have new patterns to share so we HAVE to get busy. I am starting to embroider on a 2nd version of our Care Quilt-butterflies and hearts-what is better than that??? And Jeanne is trying to move ahead with a new towel pattern that we love and have selected Rosie's Garden fabric to accent with-from Quilting Treasures. Stay tuned-photos probably by the end of this week!

Back to Care Quilt

I've been working pretty steady on a new version of the Care Quilt. At the same time, I seem to be accummulating miscellaneous 5 1/2" squares that would be perfect made up into a new bag. And then, of course, that measurement also works for large yo yo's...hmmm...do I sense a theme here? Jeanne has been tossing ideas at me left and right for stuffed animals that would be perfect made from fat quarters of flannel.

We are enjoying a week of cool weather-quite different from the usual dog days of August. Our gardens are full of the next crop of flowers-the phlox and zinnias are full of color. But who has time to pick flowers???

Free Pattern up on web site

Check out our web site for the August free pattern. You should really like it-it's a fun one to stitch!

I got home today and found a huge box of fabric by the door! How lucky are we??? It's a bunch of new fabric lines by Quilting Treasures. I will take a photo tomorrow and upload it. Right now I am just slowly taking each piece of fabric out of the box and spreading them all out on the table. Maybe I'll let Jeanne touch them tomorrow!

July Over and Back to Work!

It seems so long since I updated this-sorry folks! With company from Spain and a series of wonderful outdoor parties going on, my focus drifted to summer and not work. BUT I'm BACK! Hope you enjoy the zinnia photo Jeanne took. She has a wonderful series of flower beds that I will be sharing with you over the next week or so. We are meeting tomorrow to regroup and decide what the next push in designs will be. While we wait for new fabric deliveries to show up we are still hard at work on new versions of the Care Quilt and our new embellished bag design. Stay tuned for more!

Party Fun

I had fun at the party yesterday and enjoyed the weather and all the friends and family who joined us. I can't resist showing off the table cloths I found right after the 4th of July! Aren't they great????

Party Weekend!

It's 7:30 a.m. and I am baking already for the party this afternoon. Yesterday, the party weekend bagan with an evening of fun at Jeanne's. Games, a cool breeze, good food and great conversation-doesn't get much better than that, does it? The only thing better would be another party today! Aren't we lucky??? Stop by around 2:30 and join in the merriment.

Tomorrow back to reality and working on finishing several designs. I am trying to make the final decisions on the new bag pattern. Jeanne is thinking about what to do with some new fabric that is on the way to us. We are anxiously waiting for the new Wizard of Oz fabric to arrive from Quilting Treasures. It's time to add several new designs to our Wizard collection. This time it's the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. Can't wait! Keep watching-we'll share the process as we work through the new ideas.

New Camera

How about the photo of the pink flowers to the right of this column? Bruce found a new camera (Sony Cybershot) that has a macro-focus feature that allows him to get great close-ups. As you can see from the photo, it's awesome. Jeanne and I have been struggling for some time trying to get really great photos to use for our pattern covers. While we may still have some problems with large quilts, this new camera feature may help with photos of smaller items. Now to convince Bruce that he should be our new photo-taker!!! (Please, please, please Bruce???)

Jeanne is taking a few days of well-deserved vacation while she has company from Spain. She and her family (including her son and DIL from Spain!) are enjoying our wonderful summer weather at a family cottage about an hour away from home. I don't think she took ANY stitching with her-that's a true vacation! I'm watching for the mail every day while she is gone. We expect lots of new fabric to be showing up as we are starting to work on new designs for Fall Market.

Windows of New York

I am attaching a couple of photos that I took while in NYC. The first is the window of Patchwork Soho. I visited there and found some great trims and fabrics. The second is a window model that I just love-I saw her and stopped in my tracks! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Back home and a Winner!

I made it back home last night with only 2 delays. Sometimes I feel like Alice in Wonderland when traveling through O'Hare...what a trial it can be. But I just sat and knit and thought about stitching and the time flew by. I did meet a really nice woman traveling from Dallas so that was a good way to pass some time.

We picked the winner from those commenting on our 100th post. Karen from OK-I emailed you and as soon as you send me your mailing address, I will get the fat quarters into the mail for you. We appreciate all those who check out our blog.

Here is a new picture of the fabrics I found at Patchwork Soho on Tuesday in NYC. I stopped in for a bit and loved looking at the wonderful fabrics. The shop is very small-just like it's sister store, Purl Soho- and to get to the basement where excess inventory is kept, you have to go outside and down what looks like a tunnel! What a trial it must be when deliveries come. I was at Patchwork when the UPS man was unloading a lot of new fabric-I wanted to just sit down on the floor and wait until they opened things up but couldn't find a spot to sit!

Still in NYC

Thanks for the comments yesterday and all the support. When I get home, we will draw the winner and get her fat quarters in the mail right away.

Today I have meetings most of the day and then it's home to Oshkosh. Yesterday I had meetings but had the opportunity to visit Purl Soho and Purl Patchwork-sister shops that feature specialty yarns and fabrics. It was fun and my purchases look great in the suitcase! They have some really nice Japanese fabrics and I fell in love with the linen bias tapes in polka dots. They have a great blog and web site.
Check them out here!

Don't you love the Needle and Button Sculpture in the Fashion District? I had to take a quick picture and share it with you. Time to get ready for the day-later!

100th Post!

It's finally here-our 100th Post. Doesn't seem like too long ago that Jeanne and I decided to start the blog and here we are. I understand that there is a tradition or something that you should do a contest when you get to this point. Well-who are we to buck tradition? So leave a comment on our blog through the end of today and we'll draw one winner. I think we'll send the winner some fat quarters of some new Quilting Treasures we just received to design with. I'll post a photo later tomorrow.

I'm in New York City today and tomorrow for meetings and about to head out for the day. I'm going to explore a couple of yarn, patchwork, bead shops in Manhattan and Soho (sounds exotic, doesn't it?) and will let you know where I find myself later tonight. Hope everyone has a great day-I hope to do the same!

I'm also on the hunt for some embellishments for our Care Bag pattern. As you could see, I hope, from the photo, we used strings of beads on the bag. Jeanne found them in a sale bin at WalMart and we've had some problems finding beading that could simply be sewn into the bag. If you have any ideas of where we should look, let us know. I'm on the hunt...watch out NYC!

New Purse design

We've been up to our noses in pink and green fabrics since we started in with the Care Quilt. Since that was so much fun, we had to continue and have our new purse to show for it! This simple to put together bag is just right for those hot summer days when colors sizzle. The lining uses a fat quarter of fabric, the outside is a mish-mash of simple charm squares cut into pieces and sewn back together with as much trim added as you can find. The bag handles we chose have a simple brown wood handle.

Next up, conversations about how hard it was to find trim in our area and why I DON'T like beading! or what I learned about myself while finishing this purse pattern!

Happy 4th of July!

We hope you all have a wonderful, safe 4th of July. And we hope our International readers take a quick look at the many hand-craft patterns we have on our web site that capture the flavor of a vintage America. Most of our embroidery and quilt ideas have come from vintage items we have found over the years. Several of our more popular patterns in 2007 and 2008 have been the flag patterns we have had fun creating-with both primitive stitching that doesn't require a sewing machine and YO YO's. What fun!

It's been a beautiful, cool, but sunny last couple of days and that seems to be continuing for this long weekend. As everyone here in America thinks for a minute about what makes our country great (our people and our love of freedom-I think!), take a minute to think about making something uniquely American.

Free Pattern up on web site!

Take a quick jump over to our web site to download a great vintage redwork design. We found this kitty with a goldfish bowl on an antique redwork quilt that we bought about 10 years ago. This quilt has been the original source for several of our patterns over the years. We think the work on the quilt is exquisite and this kitty is the perfect design to do if you love redwork.

I've been busy embellishing the fabric we are using for our Care Quilt tote bag. So far I've used the tiniest buttons I've ever seen in tropical colors. Next I have been trying to figure out how to string some beads together in hot pink! It's harder than I thought-perhaps this is a job for Jeanne???

End of June-where did it go??

I can't believe June ends today. What happened to it??? We will be posting our free July redwork pattern on our web site tomorrow. Be sure to check over there and take advantage of it. We are going back and forth between embroidery patterns and variations of our Care Quilt. It's hard to work on a full size quilt during summer-just too hot I think--but we're trying!

It's been great to have my sewing machine back. I stitched up the front of a new bag and am busy working on embellishments now. I was having some real problems with it but over coffee this morning, Jeanne helped me think more clearly! I was thinking too much about the whole front of the bag-she suggested that I just break it down and focus on one block at a time. Just hearing that made me feel more free to let my imagination flow. We'll see what I get done tonight.

Take a peek at the beatiful photo I added of some pink and white lillies I spied at the Paine Art Musuem and Gardens yesterday. It was a gorgeous, slightly overcast day for walking through gardens and snapping pictures. What fun and how inspiring!

It's BACK!

Picked up the sewing machine last night. Thankfully it didn't require new parts or something complicated like that. Just a tension problem apparently.

Time to jump back into projects now that I can count on it again. My old friend is back!! I have a tote to finish today that is made from the same fat quarters of pink/green/white fabrics we used for the Care Quilt. But this will be really embellised with beading, embroidery, and other cool stuff. We wanted to add some embellishments to the Care Quilt but didn't because we wanted it to be able to be curled up with no "sharp" edges intruding on the perfect nap and comfort quilt. But on this bag-anything goes!

Julia Grace (3 weeks old now) is beautiful. We visited her last night and had the fun of seeing her very much wide awake. What a little beauty! More pics to follow.

Sick sewing machine

So my sewing machine (Bernina 140-Patchwork) is sick and at the hospital. There is some kind of a subtle click when I start it and the bobbin is just not holding the correct tension. I tried to do everything I knew to fix it but no such luck. I even cleaned all the parts that I could think to clean. So Jeanne and I drove it to the hospital and checked it in. I hope it's like going to a spa weekend somewhere exotic. I hope it's not painful and scary. But I think it probably is going to be scary for the poor thing. Isn't it funny when you know your machine is gone that everything you look at makes me want to sew with it? Jeanne says I can use hers but it's just not the same. So sad...

ETSY shop to begin

Jeanne and I have decided to post some items on ETSY to sell in order to make room for some more fabric! We will be working on that this weekend and will let you know here when items go up. So far, we know we have some of our great pincushions and Toto pillows ready to go. We always make up several samples of each pattern as we get the measurements correct and those items are usually sitting around in my studio waiting to be needed. Since we have had to clean out so much because of flood anticipation, it's time to look at what we are keeping with a new set of eyes. Keep your eye here for news!

Back to the Care Quilt

Jeanne took the photo here of the Care Quilt when we got it back from Whispering Pines Quilt Shop. We love the textured effect that the meandering quilting added. She hung the quilt a wall of her barn/house and used natural light for the photo. I think it looks great and the colors glow. I did the binding last week and the quilt will head off for Spain this week to bring comfort and Care to a family member as she goes through chemo treatments.

What we love about this quilt is the simplicity of the design but the ability to make it speak to the recipient. Whether you use a charm pack, scraps from your stash, or shop for just the right blend of colored prints, the ease of assembly and simple layout pattern brings it all together. Using all the embellishments you want to add or just leaving it plain, it says "We care and are with you". That's a pretty important thing to say.

Flooding and Rain In Oshkosh, WI

We've had almost 6 inches of rain here in Oshkosh since late yesterday evening. Most of the city streets have been under water. Jeanne and I were high enough out of town that we didn't get flooded although we watched the water run over from the fields and thought it might get close to us at times. I moved most of the items that were close to the floor in my quilting room up higher just in case. Having a studio in the basement means you don't have to fight the hot weather but the possibility of water damage was scary. Luckily, it has finally stopped raining.

I'm not sure if I will be able to get into town to go to work this morning. Hmmm..how about a late start after some quilting time???

Julia!

Did I mention that the baby quilt was finished exactly 3 days before Julia arrived??? I must say that it wasn't as much fun to make as other baby quilts have been. I think it was the combination of too many different fabrics. It wasn't fun to machine sew-the chenille, minkee, and cotton just did NOT get along. I love the look of it (picture to follow when I get it downloaded) and the feel is wonderful for a child. BUT it sure wasn't much fun to stitch. And there was just no way I was going to be able to hand quilt it all over so I just did some big x's in the cotton squares.

Jeanne and I survived the rainstorms that covered our part of Wisconsin all weekend. I can't swear that we aren't a bit moldy around the edges but the beautiful greens that have resultd from the rain are something to see. And both of us have lots of irises blooming-all golden and blue with a few spots of apricot thrown in for good measure. The mounds of dianthus in my favorite flower bed are a wonderful shot of hot pink. Now if it will just stop raining so I can go out and pick some flowers, it would be perfect!

New Grand Daughter!

Whew--what excitement in our family. A new grand-daughter was born yesterday! Mom and Julia Grace are doing well. Weighing in at 7 lbs. 13 oz and measuring 17 1/2 inches-she is a perfect armfull. Lots of black hair and blue eyes (for now!) complete the picture. There is much joy and, of course, a baby quilt made especially for her.

Jeanne's Birthday!

It's Jeanne's birthday today! So everybody say "Happy birthday!" We had a girlfriend party last night-complete with pizza and ice cream cake and flowers. It was fun-especially because her 5 year old twin grandsons 'crashed' the party due to babysitter complications. I think they thought it was pretty cool to go to Grandma's Girlfriend Party.

We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow to lay out our summer design plans. I think we both have pretty good sized lists of what we want to work on next. Coming up with an agreed upon list that satisfies both of our creative and technical spirits usually takes a bit of compromise. But if we have a big enough pot of coffee and a treat or two-we CAN DO IT! We'll share our plans at the end of the week.

Free Pattern up on web site

Seems like May has come and gone so quickly! Our monthly free pattern has been uploaded to our web site and we think you'll love it. Who doesn't like to embroider tea pots???? June is the perfect time of year for tea parties and this quick-to-stitch design will get you in the mood.

Jeanne continues to work on her apron designs and I'm busy with yo-yo's and another version of the Care Quilt. We'll be sharing some new photos in a day or so. Until then--enjoy the first day of June!

Where can you embroidery?

One of the new patterns we are working on is a twist on crazy quilting. Instead of putting together different fabrics, we decided to throw together a bunch of upholstery fabrics and see what we could come up with. Of course, we had to add embroidery-just like the vintage crazy quilts we all love. This is a great way to use different fabrics and get a really rich vintage look easily. We're going to turn this into a pillow for Jeanne's couch. We'll keep you posted on our progress!

Updated Apron Picture

I finally was able to get you a better picture of one of our new apron patterns. I hope you all like it. It almost makes me want to start baking...ok, maybe that's saying too much!!

We spent a wonderful long weekend with grandkids and family enjoying some nice weather here in Wisconsin. I also was able to finish, finally, a baby quilt for the new grand-daughter that is about to join our family. I will show a photo tomorrow-I forgot to upload it from my camera. Jeanne is working on completing patterns after dropping our "Care Quilt" off Saturday at the machine quilter. We are so excited to get it back at the end of this week. The pattern was a charm to put together-no pun intended-and we are sure you'll love the simple look with just a hint of embroidery to personalize it.

Apron Pattern!

Jeanne just sent me a photo of one of our new Shirt aprons. In the true spirit of "re-purposing" this apron is made out of one of her husband's shirts. She took the whole thing apart and was smart enough to figure out how to put it back together as a shirt. We have 2 versions so far-this yellow one and a blue one. The placket becomes the waistband, the back and tailes become the body of the apron, sleeves become ruffles...it's wonderful!

We will be making this apron pattern available for sale on our web site at the end of the month.

Joined pincushion swap!

Since we have spent the last couple of months focused on pincushion patterns, it only seemed logical that I get signed up for a pincushion sway! Linda is doing all the organizing and babysitting and she got 50 signups before you could stick a pin into something! I am excited to be participating. Can't wait to get started on making mine...

The Care Quilt is almost done and ready to got to the machine quilter. Jeanne is working on the small embroidery designs and I have the back ready to be laid out for the basting. I think I may pick out some more fabrics for another one to work on this weekend. It truly only took about 2 1/2 hours to put it together so this long weekend should be perfect to get another one ready to go!

Full of love and hearts!

The "Care" Quilt is coming along nicely. Jeanne is working on the embroidery and we are continuing with our "make it quick and easy" theme! She has added fat hearts scattered across the blocks and little rosebuds that pick up one of the motifs in the fabric. I got a batting for it yesterday and should be at the basting point tonight or tomorrow.

We are also working on finishing up our new apron pattern. With everyone so focused on re-purposing things, we just had to dive in. Jeanne had the brilliant(if I do say so as her older sister!) idea of taking one of her husband's old shirts and cutting it up and turning it into an apron. Watch for a photo tomorrow-we finished the photo shoot yesterday and she is tweaking the pics as we speak. Throw in some rick rack, buttons, and whatever strikes your fancy and you have a great apron that really shows what creative minds can bring together out of your husband's side of the closet!

Care Quilt Design

Jeanne and I have been working hard this weekend on a new quilt design that we love. We are calling it our "Care Quilt". It is a quilt to give to a friend or family member who needs some tender loving care-whether during chemo, a stay in the hospital or just because. The design went together in about 2 1/2 hours-perfect for a weekend project.

Take a peek at the fabrics we chose-this group blend beautifully with the Karen Neuberger Quilt For a Cure fabrics. We love the wonderful hot pinks, vibrant greens and crisp white touches. Jeanne is going to start embroidering butterflies, flowers, and hearts next. I can't wait to see the next additions!

Traveling a bit

I am off to Connecticut this morning on a business trip. The most important question is not how are the planes going through LaGuardia but rather: what stitching project do I take with me in case I have a delay??? I have plenty of books to read (always necessary) but the stitching is vitally important. I think this morning I'll grab a bag of charm squares and focus on yo yo's. That is always good but in my carry on bag I'll also throw my bag of postage stamp 1 1/2" squares as well as an embroidery project to stitch on. Now I just have to pick out the floss quick before I head for the airport.

Jeanne is going to finish up our newest pattern--watch for a sneak peek this weekend!

Working on new pattern

Jeanne has been focused lately on a new pattern. We aren't quite ready yet to reveal what it is all about but I had to write something about it-or, at least, what is inspiring it. I'm sure you've all been seeing the growing trend in the news to report on everyone's "Green" efforts. With Earth Day not too many weeks past, the interest in saving the world hasn't let up a bit.

We've been talking over coffee more about "re-purposing" than recycling. Not that we both don't recycle-there is a stack of cardboard boxes in my driveway today ready for the garbage men. But "re-purposing" has to be more fun and more fun means we'll look for more opportunities to stay engaged. We did a bit of "re-purposing" with our Pincushion Treats pattern. You might remember that the base of the pincushion is the re-purposed lid from a cream cheese container. It's just the perfect size!

Look around you and be on the alert for how you "re-purpose" things in your daily life. We'd love to hear what you're doing as we work though our new pattern. The only hint I'll give you is that the new pattern is for something you wear!

Wool Felt Kit and Socks!

I received an email newsletter Wednesday from one of our favorite web sites showing all the wonderful colors of National Nonwoven's WoolFelt that were available to order. Take a peek here if you would like to see what Colonial Crafts is carrying. They are a great site to do on-line ordering from and have lots to offer all crafters. They have carried our patterns for quite a few years and have been great to work with. If you get hooked on our Pincushion Treats 2 pattern, they would have more colors available for you!

Just to make you giggle, take a peek at the pair of socks I made Jeanne! I love to knit socks and the new yarns out that make all the wonderful stripe patterns are so much fun. When I travel I can make a pair in a weekend. I've made so many my fingers know the pattern by heart.

Wool Felt Pincushion KIt Available

Jeanne worked hard yesterday to mail out several orders BUT also to make our first kit available on the web site. We've decided to offer a kit to make the wool felt version of our Pincushion pattern! We'll supply everything except the lid for the base and the stuffing. Chose either the flower, heart, or star version and we'll get it out to you right away. We think this is a great pattern for anyone to do as it doesn't require any machine work and goes together easily in a very short time. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Go to Kits on our site and make your selection!

Kits, Kits, and more kits!

So you're wondering what we are up to now???? Well, the coffee conversation this morning at Jeanne's was all about kits. We have thrown around this idea before but just haven't ever felt we had a pattern that just cried out to be made up in a kit. BUT now we think we do...we'll keep you guessing for a few days yet. So far, the conversation has been all about which version (hint, hint), where do we keep the supplies (I am afraid my sewing studio may win the vote!), and how many do we stock???

Get ready because we think you'll love this idea!

Weekend in Iowa

I'm back from my quilt weekend in Ankeny Iowa and it's good to be home. But the visit was great-7 women, 2 boys, and one husband! On top of that we spent Saturday at Tulip Time in Pella-there were supposed to be 80,000 tulips and I think we may have seen every one. We visited a nice quilt shop and, of course, I had to buy some charm backs to make more yo yo's. I spent the time away working on a chenille/minkie fabric baby quilt for my new grand-daughter who is almost here.

I can't say that I really loved working with the fabrics-the chenille left little white fuzzies all over the house and the minkie fabric (while it felt divine) slipped all over while I was stitching it. Amy and Bonnie and Sheila suggested I use a slower foot speed and pin the living daylights out of it and that did help some. BUT in spite of the stress, the quilt top looks so cute in peach and cream.

Everyone had fun with their projects. Barb made a table runner from old napkins and worked on a tulip table decoration; Peggy made a wool felt flag table runner, Sheila knit on her first sock and a baby blanket; Bonnie stitched a wool table decoration; Therese did a great chickdee needle felt decorative wall-hanging; and I can't remember what Amy was doing besides helping everyone else. Good family, good friends, and stitching projects-can't beat that!

Take a look at the birthday party photo I just loaded. I'm in the middle and Jeannie is there to my left along with two of the best friends in the world (Jenny and Jane) and our little sister, Jo, (also a stitcher and weaver) and Mom-who was visiting from Virginia. Jo's daughter, Emily, also joined us and her oldest daughter, Molly, came later for cake! You can tell by the smiles that we were having fun.

Free Pattern and 3 New Patterns!

Check out our web site for the free May pattern of a collection of flowers. They are simple to do but will add some charm to any project. And take a peek at the 3 new patterns that we have on our site! Things-another version of our always popular Wizard of Oz designs is out of the great Quilting Treasures fabrics; Long May She Wave is a patriotic collection with Clover Yo Yo makers-easy to make with a charm pack; and last but not least, a woolfelt version of the Pincushion Treats-so simple but so much fun to make you'll have to make several!

I'm getting ready to take off tomorrow for another Iowa quilting excursion to my friend Amy's house. I'm never sure if I should just move my entire sewing studio there or really chose carefully. But tonight I can't decide what to take. I'll let you know about the selection tomorrow!

Free Pattern coming on web site

Stay tuned for our new May free pattern. It should be posted on our web site either later today or tomorrow. Also we are freshening our site with 3 new patterns-ready for you to order! I'll describe each one tomorrow when the photos are on the web site.

I'm trying to get my mind geared up to do a quilt escape weekend starting Friday. I'll be driving to IA with 4 friends to visit one of my best quilt buddies-Amy. I made the same trek in November and had a wonderful time talking, quilting, talking, stitching, talking...did I say talking??? But I HAVE to get my work done or Jeanne won't let me go. Later!

New Week!

Well, the weekend just flew by. We had a wonderful sleepover with our 4 year grandson, Winston, and Jeanne had her 5 year old twin grandsons, Parker and Tyler, over for the night at her house. We checked in on each other frequently to find out who was having more fun. I think it was a tie!

We are definitely having April showers that started on Friday night. We had tornado warnings all evening-not sure if working on the Wizard of Oz designs inspired them but the sirens went off twice. I did get some organizing done in my quilting studio during that time as we went to the basement for safety! No tornados though and just more rain on and off all weekend and today.

I stopped at Jeanne's this morning for coffee and conversation. I finished knitting a pair of socks for her and had to drop them off. It's that kind of rainy/cold day where a pair of hand knit socks in variegated turquoise/pink/gold yarn really make a Monday go in the right direction! I wish I had put a pair of mine on before I hopped in the car!

Friday at last!

It's been a good week. I had a wonderful birthday and the weather is just gorgeous-Spring flowers are coming up and life is good. Jeanne and I need to meet for coffee tomorrow and go over our lists and see where we are. This week she mailed out several orders to shops carrying our patterns and one of our main distributors. She also mailed a model of our Toto Too pillow and our Things Wall-hanging to Quilting Treasures to display in their booth at Portland's Spring Quilt Market. We are excited about that because it gives us a chance to show how their great Wizard of Oz line can be used in patterns.

But next week we need to move on to starting our marketing cycle on a new pattern and that means another coffee meeting! This new pattern is a blend of yo yo's, embroidery, and patchwork-all of our loves! Add in red/white/and blue and it's just about perfect. We got so caught up in the Wizard fabrics that we skipped over introducing this pattern for almost a month. Time to give it it's day in the limelight!

This weekend I hope to post a series of pictures from the last week-keep an eye out for them please! I hope your weekend is a great one and full of stitching fun!!!

Birthday Surprise!

What a great day I had yesterday. After moaning and being melancholic because of the birthday, I was treated with flowers at my office, great cake AND a wonderful surprise party at sister Jeanne's. Good friends were there as well as my parents, both sisters, and 2 nieces. We had treats, drank toasts, and enjoyed the event. I am truly blessed with both family and friends. Photos will follow later today. Thanks everyone!

Earth Day!

Earth Day was established in 1972 by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. I've always felt attached to it as it is also my birthday. (Shameless comment thrown in to generate birthday greetings!) What Earth Day does for me is always make me think about nature and the renewable resources that are around us. In the days of gas price explosions, the idea of a very disposable society, and the fact that I just read that EVERY plastic bag that was ever made is still on the planet in some form, I think we quilters are true re-cylers.

Every time we cut up a piece of fabric, be it a new piece or something from our stash, we are converting something from one form into another. I have met many nice people who started out as strangers because of my addition to Postage Stamp quilts. These are the people who see me stitching by hand my little 1 1/2" squares into a bigger block. I have had people stop and ask me "What in the world are you doing?" and from there it always moves into a conversation about someone in their life who quilted or wanted to! I've actually had people send me their scraps...how wonderful is that???

So today, in honor of Earth Day, take a minute to re-cycle or "re-purpose" something in your fabric stash. Take something on your work table or desk and decide to re-make it into a new item and then, if you wish, share that item with someone in your life. It's amazing how something as simple as sharing can add a smile to someone's day---what a great "re-purpose" that feeling can be!


The photo next door to this post is Spring time in Wisconsin at it's greatest! Bruce took this photo yesterday while on a walk. Enjoy Nature today and every day!

Winston's 4th Birthday-Airplane Quilt

Even though it doesn't have anything to do with redwork, or even embroidery, I have to share the birthday quilt I made for my grandson Winston. Winston was my birthday present 4 years ago as he was born on MY birthday. What a wonderful present he was! He is a real charm and a blessing to our family. As he has graduated to a "big boy" bed, he decided he needed to ask Grandma for an airplane quilt. Even though paper piecing isn't even close to being a favorite of mine, this pattern was delightful and I fell in love with all the bright fabrics as I picked them out. A dear quilting buddy, Lois Van Dien, did the machine quilting for me and it turned out great-stars and hearts all over the place. The birthday party is this week-don't you think every 54 year old woman needs a party with a "Horton Hears a Who" theme???

Heading out for Quilt shop open house

I am meeting Jeanne at the grand opening of an area quilt shop in about an hour. Whispering Pines of Omro, WI has it's ribbon cutting at 3 p.m. today. We are excited to be a part of the day by doing demos of how to make a YO YO and talking about our patterns. I think Jeanne is bringing a PIE so everyone can have a treat while we talk about our Pie Mat pattern-a wonderful gift to make for anyone who serves pie or just want a nice centerpiece. We are also going to have some of the Clover Yo Yo makers to sell, as well as patterns. We hope to get some good pictures of the shop to post tomorrow.

It was also a busy morning for me as I spent some time talking with Suzanne of Colonial Crafts. They are a great on-line store that carries quite a few of our Redwork patterns, as well as our Yo Yo patterns. Suzanne is so sweet and we had fun talking about what patterns we expect to be coming out with next. Check their site out-it's chock full of great stuff to order!

Winners Announced!

We have 3 winners from our get-acquainted contest. We were thrilled with the responses we received and plan to do this again. So stay tuned!

#1: Khristina is a new friend from Australia who has visited the US on a 10 week trip and can't wait to get back here to select some more great fabric. She loves redwork (don't we all??) and doing smaller projects like table-runners, wall hangings, etc. Be sure to check out her blog and see what she is up to.

#2: Pat lives in Virginia and is retired. She tries to keep busy so she doesn't miss her kids and grandkids too much and visits them as often as she can. She is a beginner quilter but loves redwork (do you sense a theme here???) as well as crocheting. She fills her time with reading, gardening, and stitching and keeps an eye on her husband of 56 years so he doesn't get up to too much mischief.

#3: Nancy hails from Missouri and is also in love with redwork and quilting. She also has a blog and it's full of great photos of her family (check out the grandkids!) and quilting projects. She's been involved in some great quilting days lately and I usually check out her blog almost daily to see what she's up to.

Be sure to check out these ladies' blogs. It's a great way to meet new friends and see what is being stitched/quilted in other parts of the world. We have made some great friends through blogging.

We will be sending fat quarter packages out by the weekend and can't wait to get the reactions to the Quilting Treasures Wizard of Oz fabric. We have added another Wizard design to our new collection-it's redwork with a witchy twist! Watch for more pictures this weekend.

Contest over and Chicago photos

Our first contest is finished and we have drawn the winners-yes multiple winners. We decided we really needed to share the Over The Rainbow fabric and so have drawn 3 winners. We are going to contact the lucky winners today and will post a bit about them tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for playing with us!

I have posted a couple of photos from the Chicago Festival. We had a great chat with Alex Anderson and are looking forward to more time with her at the Portland OR Spring Market. She just keeps looking better and better! What a sweetheart she is. If you haven't checked out her internet based quilt show, please take a minute to do so.

Also posted is the grand prize winner-a quilt done based on a photo of a Rooster against a barn. Wonderful quilting-just so impressive! Also a smaller quilt that we all loved because of the great colors. More later about the quilts.

Contest ends today!

I'm sure everyone has already sent in their taxes but just in case you haven't, remember that tonight is the deadline to get them mailed. AND, as if that wasn't exciting enough!, tonight is the last chance to enter our contest for 3 fat quarters of the great Wizard of Oz fabric from Quilting Treasures! We will post our winner tomorrow.

Things Pattern at Chicago Festival

One of the best things about an event like the Chicago Festival is the chance to visit with shop owners who carry our patterns. We had lots of laughs when we ran into Kenna from Quilter's Dream in Pasadena, CA. They have loved our Things pattern for a long time and we were thrilled to see it stitched up and on their wall. See their version of it next door! While we think the Quilting Treasures Wizard of Oz fabric is great with Things-this is just so cute that we've fallen in love with it all over again!

Back from Chicago Festival

Well-we sure had fun. The bus ride was great considering it poured all the way to Chicago. We love our bus driver! We made it close to 10 am when things opened and immediately split up and cased the joint. I will post more pictures when my little sister, Jo, downloads them to me.

We had a chance to chat with Alex Anderson and show her our Pincushion Treats. We got a great reaction to it from her, especially when we told her we had sent one to her home! She looks so cute and is so genuinely nice. What a great time we had!

More with the pics-and don't forget that our Contest ends on the 15th. We will be picking 3 winners of the beautiful Quilting Treasures Wizard of Oz fabrics. Be sure to enter!

Pincushion pattern picture

Jeanne took an awesome photo of a group of our pincushions last night and I have to share it. It is so cool-almost looks futuristic! The center pincushion is made from some of Karen Neuberger's Breast Cancer fabric collection and the rest are all from Rosie's Garden. Aren't they sweet?

Finalizing plans for the Quilt Festival tomorrow. We both have long lists of things to look for and people to meet. Can't wait! The bus leaves at 7 a.m. I'm not sure if our Mom knows what she is in for with 74 women going together. And our little sister, Jo, is anxious to get signed up for one of the great workshops sponsored by Craft, Paper, Scissors magazine. Fun for all!

Wicked Witch!

Thought I would share one of the designs from our new Wicked Witch wall hanging but, of course, I am confusing my pdf's with my jpeg's. I feel kind of like a wicked witch today. Had problems traveling on business yesterday. I found out a meeting was cancelled in LA 45 minutes before I was to board the plane for the 4 1/2 hr trip. The good news was that I found out BEFORE I got on the plane-the bad news was the 5 hours it took me to get back home from O'hare. I'll post the photo later this afternoon.

I did get some stitching in and met a nice lady who admired my Dorothy project! It's always so nice to meet people when you are traveling and spending time stitching.

We found out that Quilting Treasures is featuring our Toto Too pattern on their web site! Be sure to check it out. Remember-they are the folks bringing us all the wonderful Wizard of Oz fabrics. We can't wait to see the next collection they are bringing out at the Quilt Market in May!

Getting ready for Quilt Festival

If Saturday would only come!!! We are going to the Quilt Festival in Chicago this Saturday on a day trip. This year it isn't just Jeanne and myself (and 2 bus loads of other rabid quilters!). No-this year our little sister Jo is going as well as our MOM from Virginia and my best friend Jenny. We are hard at work-not thinking about what to bring along for the ride to stitch but rather what to bring to EAT! Hmmm...what snacks would make the 3 1/2 hour ride seem quicker??? Peanut M & M's anyone?

Seriously, we are also trying to get our list together of things to see, people to meet, and fabric to buy. We are having so much fun with the Wizard of Oz fabrics from Quilting Treasures that we want to see what other quilters are doing with the line. I have been working on a wall-hanging featuring sayings about witches from the movie. You'll see a photo soon! Another quick project combining easy quilting and embrodiery.

Visit to quilt shops

We drove to Appleton, WI today and spent some time in 2 quilt/sewing machine shops there. It was fun talking to the ladies about our Wizard of Oz and pincushion patterns. It is always over-whelming to walk into a quilt store and see all the wonderful colors and patterns of fabrics. Jeanne has a real problem with it. I think it is a type of sensory over-load. There is just too much for her to look at.

It was fun to talk a bit about what was happening in the shops. We hope to share some of our designs with both shops in the future.

We spent time today at Julie's and Piece by Piece.

If you know of a shop in the area that we should stop in, don't forget to let us know their name. We love talking about fabric and quilting.

There is no place like home!!

I found out that Jeanne watched the Wizard of Oz movie 3 times this weekend. Ok-stop laughing...We are feverishly working on a quilt/wall-hanging that features lines from the movie and our brains stopped working on Saturday but I didn't think she would watch it 3 times. Yes, I am admitting that we are truly a little bit like the Scarecrow...If we only had a brain!!

Now that we are in April and the last 2 days have been almost Spring-like, we are getting more and more excited about things like the Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago next weekend and are falling more and more in love with bright colors. I will try to take a picture of my work room today so you can see all the colors that are spread out on my cutting table. There is barely enough room for my cutting board.

Speaking of work rooms, I was trying to describe what my favorite music was to quilt to and decided that it's an Oldies station on the radio. How about YOU????? Maybe it's just my age (almost mid-50's! sigh!!) but oldies do it for me.

Don't forget to go to our web site and enter our contest to win 3 fat quarters of the Wizard fabric!!!! The contest goes through next week.

Easier way to get us your answers!

With the help of one of our buddies (thanks Nancy!), we have decided it will be easier and fairer to ask you to simply email us your answers to our three questions. We thought we had a good idea for letting you make a comment and screening out the answers but simply sending us an email will be even easier and much fairer. Sorry for the slight shift but keep looking for those answers! We really want to share this fabric.... our email is: info@lastingtreasure.com

Contest Announcement and Free Pattern on Web!!

It's April and time to be thinking about Spring finally and that means getting excited about everything again. Our contribution to Spring excitement is going to be a simple contest to see what you can learn about US! (Kind of self-serving, but what the heck???) It's simple: over the course of the next 2 weeks-until April 15 to be exact-answer the 3 questions about US through adding a comment to our blog. The winner will be drawn on the 15th and will be sent 3 fat quarters of the great new Over the Rainbow fabric collection based on the Wizard of Oz.

The contest questions are:

1. What state do we live in???
2. What is the name of our newest posted vintage Redwork pattern???
3. What is the name of the fabric line we used for our Pincushion Treats pattern??

You can find the answers on our web site and here in our blog. We think they are pretty easy but want to find out who is checking out our web site. My leaving a comment on our blog, you will be entered in the drawing and will get quick updates about our new patterns and stuff for free in the future.

Also, be sure to download the new FREE pattern that we uploaded to our web site last night. It is a great design that will be perfect to do quickly for Mother's Day in May! Our site will always have a free pattern each month and we will keep 6 months of free patterns available to download. We hope to hear from you soon!

Where did the week go?

No updates this week-shame on me! No real excuse except I was traveling and by the time I got back to my hotel it was later than I had anticipated. But this week Jeanne spent her time working on pincushions and mailing samples out to some of our supporters. I did work on another version of Things-got some more redwork stitching done and have been trying to focus on finishing up 2 patterns. I think I made it. Hope your week was busy and a good one!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Easter. We are blessed with families that support our efforts and enjoy laughing with us at our business trials. If Jeanne's husband, Dan, isn't trying to help figure out the best way to display a new quilt or wall-hanging, my husband, Bruce, is trying to figure out where to find just the right size mailing box. And then there are the women who make up our family and friends-always willing to help make yo yo's, try to stitch up another version of a new pattern, or stuff patterns to get a big order out. We are blessed! and hope you are too with family and friends that share your passion for embroidery and quilting.

Almost Spring here

So today it feels like Spring. I know it's offical tomorrow but today it feels like Spring. The sun is out, the sky is blue and it's 42 degrees. Ah me...almost balmy!

I just found out that my Easter weekend will begin Thursday afternoon at noon. I think I'll plan lunch with Jeanne and my girl friends and then dive into work with my trusty Bernina sewing machine. I have all the pieces laid out for a new quilt/wall-hanging in the new Wizard fabrics. I think if I had the radio tuned to the right Oldies station I could just sit myself down and make it all happen. There is beauty in having everything laid out ready to go. I can plug in the iron, turn up the lights so there are no shadows, and I'm good to go. I'm planning to do some embroidery on this design but won't actually do that until the top is put together. That way it's easier to use a hoop for my hand stitching.

Hmmmm...I plan to sew Friday AND Saturday. I wonder how much I'll be able to get done??? Sounds like a fantastic weekend to me. And then the Easter bunny arrives...can't beat a chocolate feast, can you????

No time for Coffee

No time for coffee this morning. Just time to swing by Jeanne's house, take a picture of the Wizard things we are working on AND check out the Rosie's Garden fabric that Jeanne is using for pincushions. She has gone berserk on pincushions-I think she may have made a dozen this weekend (as a treat to herself for working on our taxes!). They look wonderful and so absolutely cute and cheerful with the vintage feel to the fabric and lots of bias tape.

Did you know it only takes an hour to make the pincushion? Absolutely true.

There's No Place Like Home

We spent the weekend working on taxes (well, that was Jeanne actually!) and playing with the bright Over the Rainbow fabric we received last week from Quilting Treasures. On Friday the mailman brought me the red slipper fabric, the yellow brick road fabric and blue gingham fabric. Time to start designing. We are so many ideas that we have to make lists of our lists!

We hope you like the first of our new Wizard of Oz designs. We think Dorothy and Toto look so wonderful and "There's no place like home".

Week of email stuff

I've been spending the last several days sending out emails telling shops about our new patterns. It's always fun to hear back about what is happening at shops across the country. It sure seems like everyone is ready to jump on the GREEN bandwagon. I know we are looking at a lot of things differently these days-including talking about how to "repurpose" everything from dress shirts, shoes, and kitchen utensils.

Jeanne and I are both trying out the funtionality of our fabric grocery bag. Before we post the quick pattern for you, we want to make sure we don't need to tweak it. My brother-in-law has volunteered to try one out too so we should be able to get some actual reactions by the end of this week.

Stay tuned for more information about our Contest! You'll want to win-and it will be easy!!!

2 New Designs

It was a wild weekend for us. I don't know who spent more time on the computer-well, probably it was Jeanne. We have posted pictures of 2 of the new designs that have joined our Pincushion/scissors keeper pattern and the new Toto Too pillow as part of our March madness. Yes, that really means that we have FOUR new patterns coming out this month. I have to think it could be a record for us....

Story Time is a delightful redwork design that is shown as a small wall-hanging with button accents by Just Another Button Company. It can also be made up into a big fluffy pillow for any little girl's bedroom.

Red, White, and Blue is the easiest "non-quilting" pattern we have designed recently. The centerpiece, coaster, candle holder, and table runner are all made with primitive stitches and fabric that is cut any which way to make up quickly into great country accents for your patriotic home. We found some wonderful yellow plaid fabric from Honey and Me for the background. You'll love making these up in a hurry!

All new patterns are available on web site. Check them out!!

Pincushion fun

Jeanne found a wonderful antique pin cushion and took it apart to figure out how it was made. The end result is the adorable pin cushion and matching scissors keeper we designed from the old beauty. And, best of all, both are made from one fat quarter of fabric, a handful of batting and a recycled top to a butter container! We love the size, the practicality of both, and how sweet they look.

We made these up using Quilting Treasures new line of vintage-looking fabric called "Rosie's Garden". The crisp colors are perfect. We added some bias tape for accent. This pattern will be available on our web site in a week. Stay tuned!

Web is working!

Thanks for everyone's patience. Our web site is back on track and you can get your free pattern download quickly again. Thanks to Susan and Janie for giving us the heads up that we were experiencing a problem and to our web mistress, Annie, of In a Pickle Design for her quick action.

Check out our web to see our Toto Too! pillow of the great Wizard of Oz fabric, download the free March pattern, and start to wonder about our contest. Much more information to come. Time for me to put a pot of coffee on and go walk on the treadmill for a while--got to stay in shape so I can stitch all day!!!

http://www.lastingtreasure.com

Problem on our web site today

We are experiencing a problem on our web site today. Seems like there are difficulties downloading the free pattern. Please hang in there. We expect things to be fixed today yet. We switched servers yesterday and there seems to be a disconnect somewhere! Sorry-the little chick and eggs are definitely going to be fun to do so be patient.
Also, note the funky picture next door of the pincushions and scissor keepers. When it rains it seems to pour. I can't tell my pdf's from my jpegs today. All should be better tomorrow!

Pincushion treats!

Since we are really looking forward to SPRING (it's 13 degrees again today and the snow is up to my waist), Jeanne and I are doing everything we can to use bright colors and work on new designs that make us smile. We think the picture Jeanne took of our new pincushion and scissors keeper fits our mood perfectly.

Jeanne found the original of this pincushion at an antique mall 2 summers ago. We have been waiting for the perfect fabric and finally found it. All of these versions are from the new Rosie's Garden fabric line that was introduced at the last Houston International Quilt Market by Quilting Treasures. We just adore the vintage look of the prints and they are a charm to work with. A pin cushion and scissors keeper can be made from a fat quarter of fabric!

This new pattern is being tweaked a bit but will be posted on our web page by March 15th. We just thought you needed to have a peek at it since we think it will make you smile and think of Springtime!

Wizard Fabric and Toto

We spent the weekend up to our ears in Wizard Fabric! Look next door here to see a quick photo of the ToTo Too! design that we have done with some of the great Quilting Treasures fabric from their new Under the Rainbow line of Wizard of Oz fabric. It was so much fun to use this great fabric-the basket fabric has images of Toto from the movie. We just love it. I have also shared a picture of the bright fabric that we will be using to design from Over the Rainbow-the second line of Wizard fabric that was introduced at the October 2007 International Quilt Market. It is so wonderful-we are just full of ideas.

Jeanne is also about finished with a great new pattern for an old-fashioned pin cushion and scissors keeper. By the end of the week we should have more photos to share!

Busy fingers....

Free Pattern up on web site

Our free March pattern is already up on our web site. We were able to have it put up earlier than planned. Please check it out and get started on your quick Easter gift right away!

www.lastingtreasure.com

Starting to think about Spring!

Jeanne and I have held hands and made the commitment--START THINKING ABOUT SPRING! We can't take winter anymore. Here in Oshkosh, WI we have 74 inches of snow-more expected in a day or so-and it is 11 degrees at noon. We are SICK of it.

Ok-now on to SPRING! With Easter so early this year, we have been scratching our heads about what free design to post on March 1st on our web site. Obviously, it had to have an Easter/Spring theme. Take a look to your right and you'll see what we came up with-our little chick and Easter eggs. If these don't get you thinking about Spring, keep your eye on our blog. We'll have some more ideas in a day or so.

When I stopped at Jeanne's this morning for coffee, she had a pale blue lacey, floppy hat on a mannequin head and was trying to figure out what to add for a Spring look. Well, of course, I had to start thinking too and immediately we were off in a conversation about lace gloves, a tea party to celebrate Spring's arrival, and what could we stitch that would fit in that theme??? Well, we're here to tell you SPRING IS COMING SOON!

P. S. download our chick and Easter Eggs throughout the month of March for your start on Spring! The free pattern will be available this weekend on our site.

Wizard of Oz fabric!

Well-we have been muttering about Dorothy, the Wizard, and Toto since last Friday. I got home from the office and there, waiting for me, was a box of fabric from Quilting Treasures. The folks there have kindly shared with us their newest Wizard of Oz fabric and we are hard at work designing with it. I will share a photo of some of it later this week. For now-I am stitching TOTO as fast as my little fingers can stitch! This fabric is wonderful-the quality of fabric and color is marvelous and it just makes you smile-from the pictures from the Judy Garland movie to the simple gingham prints and co-ordinating fabrics. Right now, our TOTO is waiting for an applique basket to be added along with 3 ruffles to the pillow that will grace our web site later this week. What fun!

Jeanne is hard at work completing all the paperwork on several patterns that are going out this week to 2 of our distributors. Plus, she is finishing up a new design using wonderful wool felts from National Non-Wovens-a fun company that makes fantastic wool felts. They also have great "wool whisps" for needle-punching. Such fun people to work with and we LOVE their stuff!

Tracing embroidery designs

I just spent 2 hours organizing and tracing and re-tracing all the embroidery designs for Fall Harvest. Right now my right hand is about to cramp up but I am even more in love with the designs for this Fall quilt. I'm not sure what I like better-the big pumpkin or the beehive with little bees buzzing around. I feel like I have been "up close and personal" with these guys since I helped Jeanne dream them up, stitched them on 2 versions of the quilt wall-hanging and THEN traced and re-traced the final choices for the pattern instructions!

After you've spent so much time with the individual parts of a pattern it is great to look at the completed piece. This wall-hanging was really fun to design. It was a stretch for me to use mostly dark fabrics (remember, I'm the pastel girl!) and the concept of hiding the blocks by designing blocks that kind of drift side to side was interesting. AND THEN to use embroidery to connect the blocks was even more fun.

All in all, one of my favorite designs from 2007!

Home and MORE Snow

Since I got home Friday from my travels it has done nothing but snow. No, really-I'm not kidding. Bruce went to the airport Friday morning and dug out my car so I was able to just drive home with no worries. Saturday evening it began to snow and it snowed ALL SUNDAY. By the time it was finished (we thought) we had 7 inches. Bruce had to go out and blow snow 3 times!

So we spent Sunday snowed in. Jeanne and I went back and forth all day with phone calls and emails talking about what we were working on. I spent time going back and forth to my studio splitting time between paper-pieced airplane blocks for a birthday quilt for my grandson, Winston, and working on completing the instructions for Fall Harvest. Jeanne spent the day working on 2 new patterns and getting computer work done so she could ship an order this week.

Fall Harvest was introduced at Houston in October and was well received. It's a new type of quilt for us in that each block is different. The idea is to scatter your fabrics throughout each block and blend stitchery designs across the block so you really can't see a distinct block. I have fallen in love with this concept after seeing quilts designed by Leanne Beasley-a wonderful Australian quilter. Take a look at it and let me know what you think!

P. S. It snowed all day today!

Yo Yo's Across America!

Ok-not all the way across America but half way! Today I flew from Wisconsin to New York City and spent some time working on more yo yo's. Did you know that you can make 12 small yo yo's in one hour without dropping your spool of thread, stabbing your neighbor with your needle, or sewing a yo yo to your pants leg? Well, that is all true. I proved it myself!

My hotel room has a nice coffee table and it is heaped with stitchery projects and yo yo's as well as fabric. Although the day will be busy tomorrow with "real" work, I should have time to work on finishing another proto-type design when the day is done. Jeanne and I have exchanged a few emails tonight and it sounds like she has had a very productive day too. Ain't life grand???

When I fly home Friday afternoon I will try to break my yo yo record! You'll hear about it here first... Hmmm....could there be a future for yo yo making in the Olympics????

Red, White and Blue

Jeanne just sent me the marketing picture page for our new project-Red, White, and Blue. This is a great project that can be put together as simply as you want. Jeanne had the idea first to NOT use a sewing machine and see what she could make. We loved the candle holder-that came first. From that we just kept talking about more stars and more stripes and NO machine stitching. This would be a great project to get a new stitcher going because it can be done as simply as you want.

But-the beauty of this project is that it can also be made using your favorite parts of quilting-hand or machine applique, wool pieces on fabric, machine or hand stitching. It is all in this project set.

And, with the election so much on every one's mind, we need as many patriotic themed items in our houses. It's really easy to get caught up in the hype and forget what an election is-a chance to be counted as a citizen and speak up for what you want America to be. Whether it's Democrat or Republican, it's still a great opportunity for each of us to be heard.

What is better than a patriotic project to work on while trying to figure out what all the speeches are really about???? Join us in stitching and thinking during this election year. Check our web site for this pattern. It's fun to make!

Sunday in the Sewing Studio

Time to go downstairs to my sewing studio and get working. The temperature is -10 with wind chills of -30 and I can't think of a better reason to stay tucked into the house today and out of the cold. Jeanne just went to church and will call when she gets back so we can plan the week.

Today I hope to get 2 prototypes of new designs completed or at least ready for the quilting. Lois is anxious to do some quilting for us and I told her that I should have 2 projects for her tomorrow. So now I am committed! Last night I finished the embroidery on our "Long May She Wave" design. I really enjoyed making this project. It combined everything I love right now-simple piecing, embroidery and YO YO's!

My favorite Yo Yo size is the Small Clover Yo Yo maker. I like how quickly they can be made and how consistent the size is. For designing, they are perfect. This design uses the Small Clover size and I think they really make the project! Let me know what you think.

February doldrums and Going Green!

I don't know what the problem is-I'm just in a bad mood. Seems like it could be all this cold and snow but I was just in Florida so that doesn't seem fair. It's not the design work. Jeanne and I are working together really well on some of the new designs. We seem to have a flag theme going. I'm actually pretty excited about the combination of pieced/appliqued designs with the addition of embroidery and yo yo's-everything we have put together in the last 4 weeks really looks great and the projects are going together really well. We should have 3 new pattern sets up on our web site this month-how sweet is that??? But I'm still kind of in a bad mood!!

The other thing we are doing a lot of thinking about is recycling and going GREEN. Since we come from a family of 5 and grew up in the midwest, it should be no surprise that we didn't always have brand new things. We shared a lot and sometimes couldn't agree on who should wear what first-especially with 3 girls in the family. Our mom was an expert at making food stretch to fill us all up and is still great at looking into her cupboard and pulling together a wonderful meal. With world conversations so focused on global warming and going green, it is not surprising that we are thinking about how to take items and re-use them. Right now we are throwing around ideas for making aprons and I'm trying to sketch out how to sew the simplest fabric grocery bag. That apron book has inspired us and who needs another paper or plastic grocery bag in their house???

Keep an eye on our blog and web site-we will be announcing a contest at the end of February. We are sure you will want to be in on the fun!!!

Wind chill -35 degrees!

Well-my goodness is it cold today. I don't think it is fair when last week I was in Orlando enjoying the sun and low 70 degree days. Today the high is supposed to be zero and the wind chill is -35 degrees. All area schools are closed. It would be a great day to stay in the house and stitch!

Jeanne and I are meeting at lunch with our friend Lois who will be doing some machine quilting on some of our prototypes. Lois has developed a real knack for machine quilting and, since it is NOT one of my favorite things to do, we have roped her in to help with finishing some of our new projects. She is wonderful and so full of great ideas!

We have 3 of our new projects just about done. Jeanne sent a photo off to Keepsake Quilting Catalog today and we hope to hear back from them that they love it. Take a look at the Fourth of July Banner/Table runner and we think you'll fall in love too. Using scraps or a charm pack to make the quilted section, you then make some quick yo yo's and you're done. What fun! We love the look of it with the gold stars spread out on our new flag design. Watch for this on our web site and you can purchase the pattern this weekend.

Create and Decorate Magazine

I have been in Orlanda for the last 4 days while attending a conference with my husband. The weather has been great while Jeanne is back home dealing with sub zero wind chills and lots of snow. We fly home tomorrow and I know reality will set in then!

Jeanne has been working on a new design that will be featured in an issue of Create and Decorate magazine in February 2009. We really like this magazine-they feature patterns of different crafts and have great illustrations and instructions. Jeanne is also working on a Christmas desing for them.

I have been working on some of the yo yo desigs. Photos to follow!

Stitch, stitch, stitch

Yesterday Jeanne and I started working at 6 a.m. in her kitchen. Thankfully she had coffee and muffin tops. (Who thought of muffin tops??? Wish it was me!) We worked until 7:30 a.m. and I went to my darn day job. But in that time we really worked through some design issues with 2 of our new projects. See the RED-WHITE-BLUE yo yo photo to see what we are working on. We're planning to have this project finished by next weekend and are super excited about it.

We also spent time in the last 2 weeks studying The Apron Book-a great history of aprons. Check out this book at your nearest bookstore-it has great photos and wonderful, heart-warming stories about what makes an apron special.

Stay tuned for more hints on our new projects! This morning we started up again over coffee and within a few minutes found ourselves talking so loudly that I'm surprised we didn't wake up the neighbors. (Oh, that's right-we both live in the country and there ARE NO neighbors!) Guess that's what happens when we both want to talk at the same time....

Monday-back at work

Well, we survived the Playoffs and the Green Bay Packers are going to play for the NFC championship at home at Lambeau! How great is that??? During the Packer game I couldn't stitch at all but during the Cowboy's/Giants I was able to make yo yo's without stabbing myself or sewing anything to my pants leg. Guess that is a good thing! I'm sure I won't be able to do anything again on Sunday when the Packers play the Giants!

Jeanne and I have spent the last week reading up on all kinds of things-like the history of aprons, how to make a flag wave in a 3-D way, and how many kinds of pre-made ruffles there are in the market. If you read that sentence slowly, you might be able to figure out what some of the projects are that we are working on!

Yo Yo's are my favorite thing lately-and red/white/blue are some of my favorite colors. Ok-that is a really big hint. Look for a close-up photo tomorrow or Wednesday.

Working on something NEW!

Take a quick peek at the photo I added today. This is a sneak peek at one of our new designs. We fell in love last year with this Pink fabric designed by Karen Neuberger to raise awareness of breast cancer and the search for a cure drive. The colors are so fresh and crisp that they just make us think of Spring. And what better season to think of now that the holidays are done and it is snowing in Wisconsin???

We are hard at work on a new series of designs that combine embroidery, yo yo's, quilting, and needle punch. Yes-all of that in one series of designs. We'll share more along the way...can't wait to see what you think we are working on now!!!

Quilting in the Desert Retreat

Jeanne is mailing a big package off today for the Quilting in the Desert event planned later this month in Sedona, AZ. We wish we were going to attend! Our package includes 300 flyers giving information about our patterns and 2 door prizes-a pie mat made by Jeanne using our popular pattern with yo yo's and great fabric and several of our newest patterns. The weekend event sounds wonderful-the perfect opportunity to enjoy good conversation, meet some new quilting buddies, and enjoy Arizona in the winter. What could be better than that???

Thinking about Spring Quilt Festival

Jeanne and I just finished spending time working through the logistics of attending the Spring Quilt Festival April 11-13 in Rosemont, IL. We are excited about the possibility since we haven't had a booth there before. We went to the Festival last April and had a fantastic time. We had a change to talk with Alex Anderson and shared our Yo Yo clown pattern with her. She loved the clown and from there came a partnership with Clover on their Yo Yo makers and the clown being featured on Alex Anderson and Ricky Timm's internet Quilt Show. It's hard to think about all that happened for us in 2007-much of the excitement of our new yo yo patterns really began with that Festival.

So we are doing a lot of brain-storming about what new patterns to feature at Festival and working through all that has to be done before we head to the show. Our mom and little sister, Jo, have agreed to come down for at least one day and help us out. That will be wonderful. Mom has never been to a quilt show like Festival and Jo is into all kinds of mixed media art quilting. Jo missed the Festival last year and was really sad about that. So they should both have a great time and we are looking forward to counting on their help!

Ready for the weekend!

Jeanne and I have been getting ready to send a brochure off to a great quilt shop in Arizona for inclusion in the grab bags that 300 quilters will get at a wonderful retreat. "Quilting in the Desert" sounds wonderful, doesn't it??? The retreat is held in Phoenix-I'd sure love to be there at this time of the year. We have lots of snow and low temps. We are also donating one of our great pie mats made with yo yo's as a door prize.

I am still working on the hand quilting on my batik wall-hanging. I think it should be done this weekend and then on the binding.

Jeanne is designing a new needle punch project involving a primitive red heart and a metal ornament-sounds strange but I will hopefully post a photo this weekend. It's going to be a great little item to do quickly and give to a friend for Valentine's Day.

Pie Winner

Kirsta Meadows of All About Quilting, Jacksonville NC should be going to pick up her pie this week. Kirsta entered our pie raffle at the Houston Market this year. She was one of 3 winners and chose to get her pie from American Dream Cakes-a great bakery in her home town.

We hope Kirsta enjoys her pie this week and serves it on a finished Pie Mat made with her favorite fabrics and loads of yo yo's. We introduced this pattern at Market and it was a real hit. The Pie Mat can be used as a center piece for a pie, candle, or lamp. It is fun to make with stacks of yo yo's circling the quilted center. Check the pattern out on our web site.

New Valentine's Day pattern on site

Jeanne added a new free embroidery pattern to our web site at http://lastingtreasure.com today. The pattern is an interesting heart with a scalloped edge and lines bisecting the inner heart. It could be quickly stitched up to add color to a towel, pillow, or linen piece. Go to the Free Pattern section of our site to purchase the pattern for no cost.

We plan to have a new pattern added to our site at the beginning of each month. We have left up 2 Christmas patterns and will continue to add to this section of our site frequently.