Happy New Year and new magazine article

Happy New Year to all our quilting and stitching friends. We survived the holidays and are now looking to 2010 for some exciting adventures for Lasting Treasures. We hope you follow along with us and share the fun.

First up is our beloved Valentine Girl appearing in the February/March edition (#108) of Quilts magazine. This delightful valentine from the 1930's is ready to be made into a great pillow for your sweetheart or your own favorite chair. Check her out and enjoy making her-plus there are some other great patterns in this magazine.

Second is our new BOM for our girl Sophie. Mid January we'll be starting out again with another delightful look at live for our best girlfriend. We hope you'll join us then.

Third is the much anticipated year of SPAIN! Jeanne and I are planning a visit to her son, daughter-in-law, and new grandbaby Roco in fall. And, just to round out the fun our Mom has decided she'd like to join us. What a trip that will be! We'll keep you posted on the planning. (Now if our little sister Jo could go too it would be a full house!!)

We wish you and your family and friends have a joyous New Year. Get ready for new stitching adventures!

Christmas Picture

Christmas was wonderful. With visitors from Virginia we had a full house yesterday. See picture of the 3 girls and our Mom-we have had a good week of shopping, visiting, talking, just about did it all. I think everyone enjoyed yesterday. We had Christmas with our Grandkids on Thursday and Christmas Day was my side of the family. I think there were 17 in the house-with great things to eat and lots of laughter.

Tomorrow Jeanne and I meet to look over our plans for January and new designs. I'll post a New Year's Resolution LIst for Lasting Treasures next week....now, what should we start with first???

I hope your holiday was blessed with good health, great family and friends, and hopes for 2010!

The Night before the Night before Christmas!

Well, I'd like to say the presents are wrapped and the stockings are hung, but I have shopping ahead this afternoon. If the shopping gods are with me, it will be a pretty easy afternoon. I am sure that with a Diet Coke in the car with me, and my Santa socks on, it will be ok. There may even be a few minutes for some stitching tonight if all goes well.

The most important thing is that family and friends will be together enjoying the holiday. With all the economic pressures in 2009 on so many people, we are truly blessed.

We'll keep our creative thinking caps on for 2010 and wish you and your loved ones all the best this Holiday Season!

Jan and Jeanne-

Santa arrives!

Today I am going to the airport to pick up our parents for 10 days of holiday fun. They are escaping a once in a lifetime snowstorm that is about to hit the Eastern coast-and Virginia seems to be right in the midde of the mess. I think it's funny that they are coming to Wisconsin to get away from snow in Virginia. I have a Santa hat for each of them waiting in the car so we will get into the spirit of the season immediately.

At home I am decorating with hand stitched items where ever I can. Over the years we have stitched up a delightful collection of Santa Claus designs-everything from Kris Kringle to the Jolly Old Man himself on wall-hangings, pillows and quilts. This year seems to be the year of red at my house-my tree is predominantly red and I have 3 Christmas quilts that have red as a base color laying on the beds. Got to love RED!

I hope this weekend before the Holidays get here is a good one for each of you. Don't forget to slow down and try not to get too crazy with all the lists and "must-do's". Remember that enjoying the journey to Bethlehem is part of the delight of the season.

Blizzard!

This week was full of snow and more snow and more snow. We got a little over 14 inches in a day and a half-qualifying for the 6th heaviest snowstorm in Wisconsin's history of tracking snow since the 1880's! I'm not sure if that is something to be proud of but it's our reality.

Since neither Jeanne nor I was able to get out of our driveways we made a series of phone calls back and forth all day. It was kind of funny since we live a mile a part and couldn't get to each other but I spent the day looking out the window and stitching. She spent the day working on new Sophie block of the month designs for 2010.

Be sure to download the finishing instructions for the 2009 block of the month. And check out our great idea for the perfect gift for a quilting buddy (or yourself?). We've tried to make it as easy as possible. Click here to skip over to our web site.

Finishing Instructions Posted on Site

We posted the final download of block diagrams and the finishing instructions this morning on our web site for Sophie. Please take a couple of minutes to download them and you'll be all set to complete your 2009 Lasting Treasures Block of the Month project. Go to the Free BOM tab at the top of the home page and you'll find the last 3 parts of this fun project. Click here to go to our web site.

I've got my Christmas tree up and it looks great. But the Christmas Village looks like it's going through some redevelopment project! When I turned the lights out last night to go to bed, the Police Station was sitting on the road and it looked like the outskirts of town had been messed up by a tornado! Hopefully order will reign again tonight.

Jeanne has her outside decorations finished and is going to get her tree up this week. She uses the most beautiful collection of vintage ornaments that she has collected over the years. Her tree is usually breath-taking. I'm sure this year will be no different.

There aren't any stockings hanging on the mantle. I have to whip up a quick stocking to add to the family and don't want to hang any until it is done. We don't really celebrate St. Nick at our house so I'm ok for now. But come December 24th and that new stocking had better be done!

We hope all your holidays are joyous. We'll share more ideas for 2010 project in the next couple of weeks.

Now where did I leave that red and green yarn?????

Sophie is finished

Take a quick peek at the photo to the right of this post to see the finished colored version of Sophie! Isn't she cute???? The pattern for assembly will be posted later today or tomorrow. I have one last proof-read to do and we will be ready to post the final chapter in our first official Block of the Month.

We have really enjoyed working on this for you. We're committed to continue Sophie's story into 2010 with a new Block of the Month as well as some other ideas for how to use her blocks. We hope you continue to find her as charming as we do!

Thanksgiving was full of family and friends. We even had a video shoot that will turn into a Christmas carol gift for family living too far to visit for Christmas. And there are STILL 3 1/2 weeks until Christmas so there is time to finish shopping and do some stitching.

Be sure to take a look at our Christmas patterns and our great gift idea for the stitchers in your life. You can browse around our web site by clicking here.

Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for sisters, brothers, family of all ages and sizes and friends. For our U.S. readers and stitching friends, we hope you have a very happy day being thankful for those around you and your lives. We'll be stitching and thinking of new ways to bring you joy!

Weekend again

Time to re-organize my projects and see what needs to be done this weekend vs over the Thanksgiving long 4-days.

1. The Sophie pattern needs to be proofed before Jeanne can post it Dec. 1st.
2. The magazine article about Sophie needs to be finished.
3. The surprise knit project needs to be written so it can be submitted to a magazine.
4. A pair of socks needs to be finished as a Christmas present
5. A Christmas stocking needs to be designed and finished for Jerry for Christmas Eve.
6. The Rooster table runner needs to be laid out.
7. The Kitty pillow needs to be finished.
8 The new tablecloth and dish towels needs to be thought through again and then written.

Hmmm...seems like Jeanne and I will be busy!

Be sure to check out our Perfect Christmas Gift Idea on our site. We think it is the perfect gift for a stitching friend (or maybe Santa should bring it to you??)!

One Week Later!

Well it's been almost a week since the last post. That time was spent getting stuck in NYC at LaGuardia when flights were cancelled, getting up at 3:30 am to get to the airport and try to get a flight home, and then making up for lost time because I had to fly out again today. AND-most important-Jeanne has been laid up with a terrible cold. It sounds like she has been rotating from the bed to the couch since last Thurday and her voice is maybe back at last.

In the mean time-there has been some time for stitching and thinking about new ideas. Jeanne has been working on several small designs that use the Sophie mini-motifs. They are adorable and we'll share them soon....we are hard at work on a magazine article about how we created Sophie and need to get that off to the editor before we show too many surprises here. But Sophie will be ready for you to put together in two weeks when we hit December 1st. I can't wait and I'm putting her together!!!

Travels

I am all tucked into my hotel room in CT after a smooth flight. I stitched Sophie on the plane and met a very nice lady from AL who is kind of into embroidery. It was fun to talk with her and it's always nice when stitching helps you make a new friend. I flew into LaGuardia Airport tonight and have to say that I just love flying in at night. Seeing all the streets of Manhattan lined up so straight, red lights going one way, white lights going the other and the Empire State Building and the Chysler buildings all lit up is so great.

I'm thinking we may need to ponder the idea of Sophie on Vacation for our BOM for 2010. Just think-we could do 4 blocks again with a special vacation spot in each one. And then the little designs could be related to that block....so if we did a cruise block you could have all kinds of sun/fun motifs; if it was a NYC you could have Sophie seeing the sights; hmmmm.... what do you think?????

Jeanne is home finishing up a photo shoot. Can't wait to see what she comes up with for our first knitting project. It's a real cute idea and we've had fun working on it together. Different for us but still fun! Almost time to share it with you all!

Great Christmas Gift idea!

Sometimes you just don't know what to get a stitching friend. Sure-cool stork scissors, cute little tins shaped like sewing machines, and rotary cutters are always appreciated. But how about everything your friend will need to start a new project all in a little gift bag? Skip over to our web site to see the perfect gift-your choice of 3 of our patterns, 2 fat quarters in an assortment of red/white fabrics, ribbons and rickrack-plus tissue paper and a bag to pull it all together into a nice package. Just follow instructions on our home page for ordering and you'll have one more thing to check off your list for the Holidays!

We're excited about how many of our readers have downloaded the final Sophie design. I just finished putting the red/white version together and it's adorable! Now, it's time to assemble the colored version so I am sure the instructions you'll get in December are ready to go. Along the way I'm trying to keep knitting those interesting little round things and that continues to be fun. Stay tuned for more great gift ideas!

November Sophie is Ready to Download!

This month's Sophie block is ready to download. Skip over to our web site and go to the top of our Homepage where it says "Free BOM" at the top. Sophie has finished her shopping extravaganza and is ready to kick back and relax in her favorite tufted chair. We hope you love her as much as we do.

December will be the assembly of the wall-hanging and some ideas for other projects involving this year's Sophie designs.

I think the flu is gone...or at least it's Monday and I'm back at work. Hope you all had a great Halloween and are well!

Easy Knitting!

You know, when you don't feel too good sitting and doing easy knitting can help. I've spent the last few days getting over the flu and I think I'm almost there. In the meantime, I've read a couple of good books, watched the Food Network (love the Barefoot Contessa-why can't she be my neighbor?), and finished some redwork. The next block of our Sophie BOM will be posted for you to download on Monday. Jeanne is going to get the picture of the red version on our web site tomorrow. So stay tuned! We're almost done and ready to put wall-hanging together.

Here is a hint at what I've been knitting. It's easy knitting-straight garter stitch with scraps of yarn that go together so easy it's almost sinful. And the end result can be the perfect Christmas or hostess or birthday gift for your stitching buddies. We'll be showing the finished product again next week but I thought you'd like these colors today!

Thanks to family and friends for checking in often and helping out with grocery runs, flowers, iced coffee, and movies to watch. Between the chicken soup and the love, we're about to turn the corner to full recovery!

Flu Bug!

Well, the flu bug has hit the Cleveland household. Jeanne is going to drop off home-made chicken dumpling soup later today. Talk about good medicine! I think I may feel good enough later this afternoon to do some work on Sophie. Last night I tried knitting and got my rows goofed up so that ended that.

My grandson, Winston, was over for a fabulous sleepover on the weekend and then the bug hit. From there, it came to my house. I don't I've ever had a joint clinic visit with my husband-not in 28 years of marriage! We did make a cute couple in matching face masks as we sat in the waiting room.

Stay healthy and keep stitching! I'll be back soon.

Knitting and magazine efforts

Thanks for the great suggestions for 2010 Sophie! We're hard at work trying to decide what the theme should be and how to layout the new version. In the meantime, I am starting to do the final stitching on November's final design. Then, sigh-it's so SAD, we will put Sophie together and-TA DA-we will have a complete wall-hanging! Of course, there are a couple of other ideas to share along the way-one for a sweet tote bag that I think may just become the Christmas gift du jour!

I'm also still playing with little bits of yarn as we finalize the instructions for a cute, simple to stitch pin cushion made up of all your left over bits and pieces of yarn. I have 4 done now but want at least 6 for the picture. Hmmm...next, how about chartreuse, violet, hot pink, and teal????? Perhaps, soft bubblegum pink, purple, navy blue, and lavendar????? No matter, though, I CAN'T use orange-did you know Jeanne hates orange?? Not sure why, she won't even tell older sister!

And we are sending off the last little information bits about one of our designs that will be appearing in a quilting magazine in February. We're pretty excited about this as it's a magazine that we have enjoyed reading. More to come when the issue is out!

Thanks for the Sophie suggestions-keep them coming. We want 2010 to be the BEST Sophie ever!

Cupcake for Sophie

Don't you absolutely LOVE this little cupcake? Of course, I love cupcakes more than Jeanne does but I am willing to share this one. I was given a cupcake display tower by a dear friend for my birthday last year and I have used it for almost every special event since. Cupcakes are a great way to enjoy cake-you don't have to feel too bad about the treat and they are just so cute!

Of course, Sophie loves them too! It was fun using the colored floss in my assortment of Sophie colors for this little design. I hope you've enjoyed stitching the October designs and are looking forward to November. We're almost finished with our Sophie wall-hanging and are already thinking about 2010. Any thoughts on what type of free Block of the Month you'd like to see us design?

Web special

Reminder that we are offering a special on our web site. See the site for details but it's pretty simple. Order a pattern and we'll include another free. Please be sure to list the pattern you'd like for free in the comments section of your order. It's simple and a great way to beat the economy!

I'm working on a knitting project right now. Yeah-I know I'm supposed to be doing quilting or at least redwork embroidery! But we have a couple of ideas that we want to get finished up before the Holiday rush starts so my knitting needles are going clickety-clack. Back to redwork by the weekend-promise!

Mid week-Buy One/Get One Free!

No real snow since I mentioned it on Monday-maybe my wish kept it away???

I have posted a great Candy Corn picture that Jeanne took. It always makes me think of Halloween even though I can't stand eating the stuff. Now, give me a Kit Kat and I'm in 7th heaven.

I just finished the colored version of this month's Sophie design. I can probably get a picture taken later today so will try to post it tomorrow. Funny how the smallest little motifs look the cutest sometimes. I think this small flower bouquet would look wonderful enlarged for a pillow centerpiece. Let me know how you think you might use it...

We're starting to see some folks taking advantage of our Buy One Pattern/Get one Free. Be sure to skip over to our web site and check things out. We'd love to send along a free pattern for your stitching delight! You can click here to go directly to the web site.

Also, you'll start to hear more about the ability to purchase some of our patterns as downloads rather than paying for shipping and handling. We'll give you the details next week. Stay tuned!

New week

So I'm sitting here waiting for it to snow. That's right-it's October 13th and it could snow today or tomorrow. Glad I know where my mittens and boots are although we'll probably not have anything stick for a while yet.

Jeanne shared a couple of great pictures today and I thought everyone deserved to see them-plus we had a pretty good session yesterday working on finishing up a new set of towel designs. I'll include a small picture to tease you!

Last Sunflower and Fall Harvest

I stopped at Jeanne's this morning and took one last look around her place. Fall has definitely hit the place. But this one sunflower seems to be hanging around-regardless of all the pumpkins, squash and gourds they have gathered. I got 3 sunflowers yesterday at the Farmer's Market to keep in my office. Funny how much light they seem to reflect back at me!

Cleaning the studio didn't succeed in much besides just stirring up the place. Every time I started on a pile of stuff I found something that I needed to stop and look at. Sigh....talk about two steps foward for one step back! I did find both versions of our Fall Harvest wall hanging and dropped one at Jeanne's so we can each have one of these to hang until it's time for the Christmas decorations to go up.

This was a great pattern to create as I got to really indulge my love for all things fall! I used a lot of fabrics from my stash as the largest pieces of fabric needed are for the borders and backing. Each block is a mish-mash (like the technical term?) of small pieces of fabric. Perfect to indulge your whimsy. I think I will try to dream up a Christmas version of this next.

You can find this Fall Harvest pattern for sale under New Patterns on our web site here. And, remember, it's buy one/get one free where patterns are concerned. Just put the name of your free pattern choice in the comments when you place your order!

Pattern Sale

I've been busy trying to get my sewing studio organized. It's time this weekend to start the final push for the year with 3 new designs in the works AND Christmas presents to finalize. This weekend Jeanne decided that she would take me up on my offer to knit a pair of socks for her husband. Now, I love knitting socks, but I'm not sure how to fit that in with everything else. The first thing I have to do, I decided, is clean my worktable and see what is almost done of my other projects. I'm sure I'll be able to take a few small pictures along the way to share.

Don't forget to check out our web site for our Buy One/Get One Free sale. Just tell us in the comments area of your order which pattern you'd like for free and we'll add it to your order. And how about those cute little Sophie designs?

Buy one/Get one Free and new Sophie!

We can't believe it's October 1st and there are just 84 stitching days left until Christmas! (Of course, that assumes that you will be stitching up to the last minute--like I usually am!) Jeanne and I have been busy looking for bargains that will allow us to spread our gift-giving farther and decided that everyone loves a free pattern.

So check out our website for your favorite pattern AND, when you place your order, add a comment telling us the pattern you'd like for free. We hope this will give you a chance to try something a new pattern and save a little for the holidays. We have also pulled to our frontpage one of our classic St. Nick patterns (Kris Kringle) as well as have featured our Pie Mat pattern using yo yo's which is great with Thanksgiving just around the corner. Sometimes it's easy to forget all the different types of patterns that a design company creates. We're usually associated with our redwork designs, but we've been stretching our wings in 2009. Take a look around our site-you might see something you missed before.

And, not to skip our Block of the Month stitchers, get your free download of the next 2 little motifs for the Sophie wall-hanging. Who doesn't love a bouquet of flowers AND a cupcake on a sweet stand? I'll be posting both the redwork version and the colored version mid month.

We hope October brings you sunshine as the leaves turn colors here in Wisconsin. We're excited to be planning for the holidays although we may need a couple more stitching days along the way to get everything done.

Fall...and something special

Fall has definitely hit our corner of Wisconsin. The weather has been cold, rainy, windy and I feel like Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acres Wood when it's a "blustery day". Time to drag out the sweaters, shoes that need socks and look for a heavier jacket. At my house we set up our Halloween Village from Dept. 56. The lights are plugged in yet but the Trick or Treaters are busy in our living room. I also dug out my Halloween and Autumn wall-hangings and plan to switch the house over from lighter colors to the dark shades that make me want to burrow in and knit!

We will be posting our latest designs for the Sophie Block of the Month tomorrow on October 1st. The last design is ready for November and I'm working on some extra treats for our friends to enjoy as they put the whole thing together. Stay tuned for more on that.

We are also going to be announcing a sale on our web site starting with October. I'll post the details tomorrow too and our web site should be updated.

Enjoy the start of the fall weather here in America~

We're BACK!

Vacation is officially over for us. I returned from Orlando this weekend and Jeanne got back from Spain so late Sunday that I think it counts for Monday. She traveled 20 hours all together to return and was missing Roco, her adorable new grandson, every inch of the way. I stopped for coffee this morning and she is starting to dig out from suitcases and pull the threads of regular life back together. (Did you like the stitching analogy there??)

Tomorrow we meet for lunch and will plot out the beginning of the next designs we have been thinking about. And, time for the next Sophie block designs to be posted on October 1st. As for me, I'm also trying to decide what Christmas project to start. I think I'm going to make a big version of our Scrappy Christmas Tree wall-hanging. This is a delightful blend of yo yo's, 5 inch charm squares, and simple construction. I think I'm going to triple the size and use it for a large wall-hanging in my dining area for Christmas. But first, I need to transfer that thought to graph paper and figure out the amount of fabric that I'll need. I have some gorgeous new Christmas fabric that I'll share a picture with you of tomorrow. This pattern is available for sale in its' small version on our web site now. Check it out!

What's in your sewing basket?

Stitching by the Pool

Yes, that's right. I was stitching by the pool. We made it with no problems and have enjoyed the vacation so far. Convention activities begin this afternoon but I don't have any responsibilities to attend until tonight. So it's back to the pool for me!

Please take a look at the colored floss version of Sophie's purses that I posted today. I enjoyed picking out the colors to make these sparkle. I think Jeanne designed some really cute purses-I wish I hade the middle one for a party tonight. It will match my outfit!

Jeanne has one more week in Spain and is holding Roco every minute she can. Her luggage finally arrived and from the few pictures I've seen (hint, hint, I need more pics!) the weather is wonderful in Denia and the beach is gorgeous. But I haven't heard that she is doing any stitching-hmmm.... we'll have to discuss this when she gets back! Let me know what you think about the colored purses. Hope your own work is going well and you're continuing to like our BOM. I'm moving onto stitching the birdies for a new set of towel designs. I may post a bit of a picture mid week. Later stitching friends!

Off to FL-

Jeanne finally has luggage but I haven't heard of any stitching being done in Spain. That's probably because she won't put her little grandson, Roco, down for a single minute.

But I am preparing for my own trip to FL and am trying to figure out what all to take to stitch. Of course, the birdies are a must since they are almost done. Then there is the new Christmas tree design that we are still tweaking...maybe that would be fun to stitch by the pool under a palm tree??? Or, how about some new yo yo's out of bright neon fabrics to put on a pillow?

Next blog will be from Orlando-Micky Mouse here I come!!!

Where's my luggage??

Jeanne made it to Spain on Saturday. Ok-it was a 17 hour trip and she said it wasn't bad--if that makes any sense at all! But NO luggage. The bag holding all the baby gifts for Roco made it, as did her husband's suitcase. BUT not Jeanne's personal luggage. And, as of last night, still nothing. Seems it is stuck in Customs somewhere. She has decided t0 hold off on going shopping until today because the exchange rate is so high. I hope to see her, her son and daughter-in-law and, of course, Roco via Skype this week yet.

But I have posted a new picture of the beautiful Roco-what a sweet grandbaby he is!

While the cat is away...or rather vacationing on the Mediterranean (doesn't that sound romantic?)... I am working on stitching some vintage birdies for dish towels. I should be able to start sharing them today or tomorrow. And my colored version of Sophie's purses is almost ready to share. Stay tuned for more of Jeanne's Spanish adventures and for a sneak peek at Sophie.

Off to Spain!

Jeanne leaves tomorrow morning with her husband for Spain. 17 hours later they will arrive in Valencia where they will get to see their newest grandson, Roco. We are all so excited for them and wish them a safe journey. I went for lunch today with Jeanne and a friend and we made sure to give Jeanne all the essentials for a journey-gossip magazines, Hershey kisses, miniature candy bars, and granola bars. Tonight she was to finish her packing with her selection of stitching projects. I can't wait to hear what she choses to work on.

I'll try to share posts/pics from Spain. Jeanne left me a list of things to work on while she is gone. Isn't she helpful???

New Sophie Ready to Go!

Be sure to check out our latest design for the free Block of the Month on our web site. Click here to jump to our homepage. These sweet purses should delight any shopping queen. I know they are fun to stitch!

Jeanne leaves for Spain in 2 days. There are suitcases all over her living room. It had to be said.

New Sophie Ready to Go!

Colored version of block 3

So what do you think about Sophie in color??? I am so in love with this wall-hanging. I have the September design already stitched in red so it is ready to go up on the 1st. I want to rush ahead and finish the next designs too so I can see it all together. I don't know which version I love the best. I think I may have to vote for the colored version just because the colors are so vibrant.

Jeanne is one week away from her trip to Spain. Time to move ahead with the clothes selection. I understand that it was 116 degrees in Denia last week and the heat is not supposed to ease. That's what you get for going to the Mediterranean in September I guess. I'm looking into Spanish classes to get a jump ahead on my anticipated visit to Spain next year. Just can't figure out what type of class to take-memorization of key travel phrases (where is the bathroom? I need a Diet Coke? How much...?) or a more traditional class where you try to understand the language itself. Need to decide this weekend as registration is just about finished.

Keep stitching as you enjoy the last week of the summer! Are you thinking ahead to Christmas designs? We are!!!

Sophie Block 3

Take a look at our complete red-work Sophie block number 3. This block of the month is 3/4 done-how is yours coming along???? I think the Sophie with the bags is one of my favorites-although I think I say that about all of them. Jeanne is hard at work on the next design which will be posted on September 1st.

Jeanne and her dh, Dan, are getting ready for a 3 week trip to Denia Spain to visit their new little grandson, Roco. Mom and baby are home and all is well. Roco passed his first doctor's exam with flying colors. We are all so excited to have a new little guy in the family. We're enjoying the Skype visits that we've had-what a wonderful time to be alive with the ability to visit via computer!

Jo's birthday!

We had a little gathering for Jo's birthday last night. Our baby sister seemed to have a good time-sounds like lots is going on at her house with her youngest son making the Varsity Soccer team (as a sophomore), her oldest daughter (lives in chicago going to school) continuing an internship as a counselor, and school just around the corner. When there is cake, a martini, and good conversation-it's a party to me! Happy Birthday Jo!

Surprise!

Jeanne and I were delighted to be asked to send one of our favorite patterns, no I won't tell you which one yet, to a great magazine for a photo shoot. The folks at the magazine asked that we make the pillow (that's a hint!) a tad smaller so I just finished a new version of it and am about to go looking for a box for it. The lovely pillow (that's a hint again) is going to make a journey to Virginia for the shoot next week. Then the picture and info about the pattern will be in one of the 2010 magazines.

Ok-we'll share more when we can. I promise!

Tania and baby Roco should be home from the hospital today. We are still walking around with huge smiles on our faces. The entire extended family is so thrilled with his safe arrival. Jeanne is practising saying "Roco" with a Spanish accent so she is ready for her formal introduction to her new grandbaby in 2 weeks!

New Grandbaby in Spain!

Jeanne is the proud grandma (and I am the proud great-auntie) of Roco! He was born yesterday in Valencia, Spain. Roco weighed in at 8 lbs. 11 oz and he and his mom, Tania, are doing well. Jeanne's son, Adam, lives in Spain with his lovely wife Tania. We are all so excited for the new family.

This morning there was a 'virtual' baby shower at Jeanne's house using Skype. It was wonderful to see Adam and share his excitement. Tania and Roco should get to leave the hospital on Tuesday. We were able to visit with family and friends, including Tania's grandmother and sister. We are so lucky to have the technology available to let us share this great event with Adam.

Jeanne and her husband will be traveling to Spain in 2 weeks for a wonderful up close and personnel visit with their new grandson.

Hot August Nights AND Christmas Fabric

Summer has finally definitely hit Wisconsin. All week we have had temperatures in the mid 80's and not a cloud in the sky. I'm stitching only small projects that don't add load up my lap with piles of fabric...probably good that I don't feel like finishing the hand-quilting on a king size BowTie Quilt I've been working on for 3 years!!! I am enjoying doing Sophie's Perfume Bottle in colored floss though. That type of little project is just right for this kind of weather.

But in spite of the August dog days we are experiencing, I just ordered some gorgeous new Christmas Fabric from Pink Chalk Studio. I decided to go with the Sheri Berry Holiday fabric line that is brand new from Northcutt. I love the soft palette and am really excited to design some new Christmas patterns with this line. I think I finally decided on 1/2 yard cuts of 8 fabrics-can't wait to get started!

Summer Picnic and pin cushion kits!

We had a wonderful weekend with a great summer picnic at our house. Jeanne brought baked beans and some other great stuff-there was a lot of laughter and fun as sprinklers and water balloons kept the kids occupied and stories were told under the shade trees.

I understand that we've received quite a few orders today for our Pin Cushion Kits. What fun is that???? We've had loads of fun picking out the fabric for them and putting the kits together. Be sure to check them out on our site if you haven't already. They are the perfect gift for a stitching friend. We're going to spend the rest of the week making up some more so our inventory is full.

Sophie #8 ready to download!

We hope you are enjoying the perfume bottle and earrings that Sophie picked up while shopping. Makes me want to head out for the mall myself. Perhaps I should do my part for the nation's economy and share a few dollars?

Oh wait...better save that money for new fabric! While we've been scurrying behind the scenes to get our Sophie Block of the Month finished, we've been looking ahead to Christmas projects AND just any old day of the week projects. Jeanne has taken her first official needle-turn applique lesson from yours truly. She isn't quite sure if she likes doing applique but she wasn't calling me mean names when I left her house this morning!

Be sure to download the Sophie block #8 from our homepage. Just click here and go to the top of the page to download these great trinkets. Enjoy stitching friends!

Sophie is running late!

Sorry for the delay in posting this month's Sophie. Jeanne is suffering from a virus on her computer and hasn't been able to do any scanning of images since mid last week. We hope to have the situation rectified by mid afternoon so hope to upload later today or tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, here is a beautiful sunflower picture to keep you smiling. This beauty sits right outside Jeanne's window along with a wonderful perennial garden keeps getting bigger and bigger. She is harvesting already-zucchini, beans, tomatoes. As ever, she is generous to her older sister!

We hope your weekend was a good one. We both were stitching like mad on new projects. Lots coming up to share with you.

New projects and blog issues

Sorry for the funny blog appearance. I am trying to figure out how to keep our ETSY page near the top and also start twittering about new projects. Sigh...this always takes a while and I NEVER like the middle steps when I'm trying to figure it out. I may just go back to the beginning because I can't stand this look!

Anyway, here is a new pic of one of the projects we are working on. Besides the tote bags for that first library trip, these towel designs are really growing on us.

New Tote Design

Since Jeanne has twin grandsons who are going to be in first grade this Fall, we have been thinking about all the special things that we can make for them to inspire learning. We both love reading so the idea for a tote bag that would be the perfect gift for that first trip to the library was a natural. Jeanne asked her "little guys" what designs they liked best and we'll share them with you as we get them done. This butterfly is one of my personal favorites.

And don't you just love the little holder for that library card? Every kid I know loves little things like this that are perfect for a pocket or, in this case, can attach to the tote because it has velcro on the back or a button to hold it in place.

We are playing with National Nonwoven's great new bamboo felt-it feels great and we think will hold up well to the weight of a book or two. Stay tuned for more designs!

Colored Floss version of Sophie #7

I am soooo in love with this Sophie. I think Jeanne may be rolling her eyes every time I stop over for coffee to show her what I've finished. I'm not sure if it is the hat or the bags of goodies in front of Sophie. Either way, this was a treat to stitch in my floss matching the fabric we are using for the non-Redwork version of our wall-hanging. I hope she inspires you to let your "wild side" out a bit!

Sophie #7 Pillow

I had so much fun making up this pillow with the first version of our Sophie #7. I found this great striped fabric in a fat quarter and HAD to have it. When I was driving home my mind just kept coming back to mitered corners and a red frame for Sophie-perfect, don't you think? Let me know what you're doing with your Sophie's-I know it's hard not to keep thinking about the complete wall-hanging but, honestly, don't you love this pillow all by itself???

The colored floss version of Sophie #7 will be posted this weekend-keep an eye out for her-she's awesome!

Barbie Tree???

What do you think about this great tree that is in Jeanne's front yard???? I have a brown/gold version (called a Smokebush-I think) but leave it to Jeanne to have a "Barbie Tree"!!! I think it's beautiful as it shifts colors to this great pink shade. Very appropriate for a woman who has her very own version of the Barbie Game!!! She really knows how to have fun.

I've been stitching up Sophie and the shopping bags and have a great idea to share next for a simple pillow using mitered corners to show off some great stripes. Stay tuned. The colored floss version of Sophie #7 will go up this weekend to give you some other ideas.

Jeanne is hard at work finishing up a new/original tablecloth idea that we hope to present at the end of July. Keep watching-I think you'll like it!

Happy 4th of July! and new Sophie

Hope you are all celebrating the 4th with us-or are still celebrating Canada Day if you are north of us! Looks like there will be a parade later today and fireworks-but, of course, no matter where I am there will be a little bag of stitching close at hand. Jeanne took a quick picture of our latest Sophie as soon as I passed it to her. Didn't she turn out great?

Don't forget to download Sophie #7 from our web site-she's there waiting for you! I plan to post some new items on our Etsy shop page so check us out there too!

Sophie #7

Take a peek at our July Sophie! Isn't she great??? The home page of our website now has this design available for free download. Let us know how your Sophie is coming along. We'll have a colored floss version of this ready to post mid month.

I was in Door County for the last 2 days-enjoying a short get away with friends. Although it was cool and overcast, I had the chance to get re-charged AND get lots of ideas for new projects. Hmmm....now to share the ideas with Jeanne and see what she thinks. How about some lighthouses???

I can't believe it's July 1st already. We hope you are enjoying your summer and having fun with projects that are portable enough to stick in your bag for those minutes spent watching kids play, at picnics, or just waiting for an appointment. Be sure to keep an eye on our web site-we think we have some great new patterns that are easy/quick to stitch but will make great gift ideas. It's never too early to be thinking about holiday gifts!

New Sophie for July is posted!

Please take a peek at our web site to see the latest Sophie to download for free. I think you have to agree that it looks like Sophie had a great shopping trip. Don't you love her hat??? I'll post a picture of her all done up in RED in a day or so. Until then, click on the Free BOM at the top of our web site home page and get ready to start stitching.

New Felt and Project

We are lucky enough to work with some great people at National Non Wovens-a great company that keeps turning out new products that can be used for anything you ever want to make from felt. We met them at our very first trip to Houston International Quilt Market and they just stay nice and creative! This time they have created a new blend for great felt that is eco-friendly, strong, and in great colors. It's called XoticFelt and is a blend of bamboo and rayon.

Jeanne has fallen in love with their color selection and is hard at work creating something special for kids. The blue fish to your right is just a teaser-you'll see more later this week and we think you'll love what she has been working on!

Also, July 1st will bring the next edition of Sophie-our great block of the month featuring our girlfriend Sophie. This month you see Sophie herself...and what a treat that always is! I hope you liked the coatrack-we're over half way through with this delightful, whimsical wall-hanging. And don't forget that as the year continues, we'll share some ideas for other things to do with our girl!

Garden and Too HOT

Ok-I'm sick of the heat already! Yesterday it was 94 degrees by 3 pm and today is no better. I know that I should be appreciating the early heat but I'm not going out of the air-conditioning any sooner than I have to. This morning I walked at 5:30 am and it was already 73 degrees!

Jeanne and her husband have a huge garden this year-even bigger than last year. The first 'fruits of their labor' are the basket of radishes that Dan picked this morning. Don't you love the thought of just going out to the garden and picking a salad??? They are blessed with enough land to plant whatever they want-not to be confused with the solitary tomato plant I have in a planter by my front door.

I think the July Sophie block of the month is almost ready for posting. Jeanne has been hard at work with her finishing touches-we think you'll love our girl when you see her! We are also working on a pattern using some great new National Non-woven felt. The perfect "back to school" gift for someone special. Keep watching-you'll see the design as we develop it.

Sophie in Color!

Don't you just love this adorable coatrack??? It was really fun stitching this one up in colored floss. I especially liked the necklace and hat. We have just about finished all the other designs for the rest of the year. Just wait--Sophie keeps getting cuter and cuter!

Yesterday we did more running around with our Mom and then I tried to finish the curtains for the living room. I didn't anticipate that the longer length would cover the cool air ducts in the floor. I think I have to re-think how long long is! And I need to get 2 more panels to make them even more full-time for more running around today.

Jo's Flower

Our parents are visiting this week from Virginia. It's been a good visit so far-done some running around, I think all family members have been accounted for, and we are going to a wholesale craft distributor tomorrow. Doesn't get much better than that! (And, Mom may help me with curtains too!)

I wanted to share a new endeavor that our sister Jo is working on. Take a quick peek at the adorable pink paper flower that she made as a delightful party favor! She isn't sure what to do with this yet-perhaps she will start her own store on Etsy. Jeanne and I are super excited about what she shared with us-lots of creative ideas. She is really focused on re-purposing items. She's always been clever-that shows no sign of disappearing!!!

Visiting Door County

It's been a great weekend so far-we are visiting Door County, WI-a peninsula about an hour north of Green Bay, WI enjoying touring the lighthouses that dot both sides of this peninsula. Yesterday it was perfect-mid 60's, cool breeze off Lake Michigan and not a cloud in the sky. We got to climb up 102 steps of the Cana Island Light and look out onto a beach that was made up completely of sand and crushed seashells. This is the Lighthouse Walk Tour-only held once a year and several of the lighthouses are only open this weekend. It's been amazing to hear of the families that lived on these isolated points-sometimes not seeing another person for months on end. Makes me feel lucky I can just call up my friends and meet for coffee whenver I want!

We just wandered around all day-stopping at 4 locations and doing a bit of touristing along the way. We're enjoying the company of our friends the Marx and have 2 more stops to make today before heading for home.

I think Jeanne and I need to think of a design with a nautical theme. Between the lighthouses and the sailboats up here, it's given me lots of ideas. Hope your weekend is going well too!

Pin Cushions shown in Quick Quilts!

We were thrilled to get a call telling us that our favorite Pin Cushion Treats were in Quick Quilts Magazine, #102! This great magazine, published by Harris Publications in on sale now at your local store. Please take a peek at page 61, Hot Products to see our Vintage Pin Cushion in both adorable sewing motif fabric and dark green and blue wool felt. We love this pattern and it has become quite popoular on our web site. We can also send you a kit if you'd prefer!

We are going to have some finished pin cushions available for sale at our Etsy site this week too!

Jeanne's Birthday!

June 3rd was actually Jeanne's birthday but we celebrated last night with wonderful conversation, appetizers, and drinks of choice. (Of course, I ended up with a Cosmopolitan-hmmm???? Is it the drink I love or the glass it comes in???) It was a great girl's night out with the addition of Jeanne's twin grandsons-they were very well behaved and enjoyed being with Grandma I think.

Take a peek at the cake! Our friend, Jenny, had the cake decorated with our Button Faces characters and a favorite Helen Keller quote that Jeanne loves. This cake is the best! And what a sweet treat to use one of Jeanne's original designs.

Etsy!

I was finally able to start listing some items in our Etsy store. If you aren't familiar with Etsy, you might want to go browsing around. It is kind of like an Ebay selling environment but is supposed to be all items that are handmade...sounds kind of cool, doesn't it???

We will eventually make the Etsy store look a little more fun but for now, I'm just happy to have a couple of posts ALIVE!

Jeanne and I have quite a few things to post-some are truly one-of-a-kind items that we created as potential new pattern ideas--and some are items that we are able to offer to make up easily. Let us know what you're interested in seeing! We will have lots more to post and will share when new items are uploaded. For now, take a quick look at our Jar and Candle Wraps. The pattern is also going to be available. We plan to have some kits available on certain items on Etsy as well as on our web site.

Sophie #6 and Etsy news

Take a peek at our web site and check out the next Sophie design. With 2 full blocks stitched, it's time to move on to the 3rd. We've used the same size blocks but are reversing the placement so this 3rd big block looks great. I'll post the colored floss version later this week as it's ready to go.

We are also working to get some kits and finished items posted on our Etsy site. We decided to take a shot at this and establish a little shop there. We have lots of kits for your ease in stitching some of our newest designs, as well as left over samples from design excercises. Some of these will be one of a kind items that we just don't have room for in our sewing areas. Keep your eyes on this-we'll post the address when we are ready and see what you think!

New studio and June Sophie almost ready!

Last week was a blur ending up with a long drive to IA for a quilt escape with 4 good quilting buddies. When I find my camera-I know it's in one of bags with ALL the fabric I purchased-I'll upload a few pictures of what we did and what we accomplished. It was wonderful to get away with good friends and just quilt!

My husband and I have been working very hard getting a new studio completed at our house. The purpose of the room is to share videos with prospective customers for our event videography business. It's bee a wonderful transition and I had to share the final results. He has worked hard to pull it off-including new paint, lighting, window treatments, and furniture. We are both SO very proud of it.

And today our sixth block will be available to download on our web site! Keep an eye out for the next installation of Sophie!

Almost the weekend

Well, looks like I may not get an outside walk in early this morning. It looks like we might have some rain today so I think I may steal a few minutes of cleaning off my cutting table instead of walking on the treadmill. Just don't feel like a treadmill walk today! I ran to Hobby Lobby last night to get some floss for a new Christmas design I am stitching and tried to figure out which DMC Perle cotton I should get for Jeanne. She wants to try using some of the slightly heavier threads but, of course, since she was home and I was standing in Hobby Lobby looking at the threads, I couldn't remember what she wanted. So I grabbed one of each thickness and dropped them off for her. Oh, what a decision!

We are playing with different background fabrics to see what we want to use for a couple of new designs. Jeanne found some great tan fabric a year ago that she thinks is called "Paperbag" color. We haven't been able to locate it but absolutely love the color and texture. If you've heard of it, please let us know!

Hope you have a great long weekend if you celebrate Memorial Day. I think we may go to one of the area parades. There is just something about all the flags on Memorial Day that tug at my heart.

New design

The weekend went by really fast. Yesterday I went to the Flower/Plant sale I talked about earlier and got some real treasures. Today I was able to get almost all planted with some help from the digger guy that lives with me! I'm not the world's best digger in gardens-especially when the dirt is packed in pretty hard. But Bruce helped and everything but one hosta is in.

Most important is that the concrete statue I fell in love with is also in place. I'll take a picture tomorrow and share it this week.

Jeanne stopped over this morning and we spent some time talking about her new design idea. It's going to be fun to pull it together. I'm going to trace it tonight on some dark brown linen and see how it stitches up. I have a long drive tomorrow to Minneapolis so should be able to get a good start on it. We come back on Tuesday so I could have something to show Jeanne when I get back.

She is going to have a group of friends over Tuesday night so talk about making jewelry and what you can do with beads. Hmmmm....can we make it back by the time the party starts??? Hope so! I hope your week goes well.

Christmas in May

Ok-I know it's not really Christmas but I'm trying to get my arms around a Christmas wall-hanging design. Jeanne and I have laid out all our Christmas folders of ideas and need to pull them together into one cohesive plan. I'd like to be able to start laying out something by the end of May. That would give us about 3 months to get everything ready and several samples made before we start to plot out what to introduce at the Houston International Quilt Market.

Besides that, Jeanne is working on June's Sophie design. We've plotted out the balance of the year but this particular block is giving her a few problems. (Could it be because I've changed my mind 3 times??? Hmmmm...no, that can't be it!)

This weekend there is a plant and flower sale at The Paine Museum that we want to go to. I think it should be great fun if there isn't any rain. I hope to spend some time at a booth featuring orchids. A friend from high school has been raising orchids. I bought one from her in March that is doing so well I think I may need another one! An event like this always gives inspiration and new ideas. Maybe some of the new Japanese prints that are in the market would be perfect for an orchid-inspired design. We'll see!

Ready for the weekend

It's been a good week-we spent time brainstorming new pattern designs, both of us have started work in our gardens (Jeanne's husband has put time into their big vegetable garden-it looks ready for anything), and I organized part of the sewing studio. I'm sharing a picture of the lipsticks that Sophie will be trying out for her day out adventure. Jeanne is hard at work on the June design-I can't believe it will be halfway through the year of our first Block of the Month!

How are you spending your weekend? I hope there is a little time for some sewing or craft magic!

Every Girl Needs Shoes!

I've decided to share the colored version I did of Sophie's shoe selection. Remember that you can download this from our web site! They were fun to stitch and went together pretty fast once I decided on the color arrangement. I have a dear friend (yes, Jane-I am talking about YOU!) who is a true Shoe Diva. I would think that she has each of these styles somewhere in here closet just waiting for the perfect reason to go stepping out.

Yesterday's mail brought me a late birthday present to myself (do you do that???). I ordered 2 jewelry kits from Indygo Junction for sweet bracelets. Now if I can just figure out what a "crimp pliers" actually does, I'll be ready to try to put one together. Jeanne is planning to host a jewelry/bead evening at her place later in the month. Maybe this will give me a head start on the excitement and a try at a new craft.

Also, be sure to check out the news on our friend Shannon's great Australian pattern web site and blog. It looks like she has some great sales going on. She has shared pictures of how she and her helpers put together their booth at Quilt Festival last month-what a lot of work but what a great result.

Spring At last!

I spent a wonderful day working-finally-in my flower beds without sinking into the mud. It was gorgeous-about 63 degrees with blue skies. My main flower bed needed to be raked and some leftovers from last fall pulled out. It felt like seeing some old friends to see what was coming up under the old leaves. I also found a small rose bush that I had completely forgotten planting last fall. Now, if I could just remember what color the roses are I'd be happy!

Jeanne stopped over this afternoon and we got our lists out and made sure they are in synch. Since we are now officially back from Festival for 2 weeks it is time to get back on track with the new patterns. Check out our web site to see the 2 new patterns that were favorites at Festival-A Kind Woman and Button Faces. I'll be talking about them this week, as well as sharing pictures of them and some new friends from Festival. Hope your week starts out well!

New Sophie Ready to Go!

We are almost ready to share the May Sophie design with you. Peek at our web site to see the lovely choice of shoes Sophie has to pick from. The download should be up sometime today so take a look and check it out. I'll be sharing the image later today too but wanted to give you all a heads up.

I hope to be able to finally spend some prime time in my flower beds on Sunday. I am hoping for NO MORE RAIN in the next coupld of days or I will need to wear galoshes. I can see the daffodils and crocuses blooming and it looks like it might be a great hollyhock year based on the growth I have coming up. But I have had to hold off from all my raking and bed preparation because it's just been to darn wet.

What are you working on in your gardens? I'd love to hear. We're working on some ideas of for a new garden inspired quilt...more to come on that!

Back to work!

The car is finally completely empty of boxes from Festival. I have to say my studio is a bit more organized but I have really just transfered everything from the car to the floor in the studio! Today my goal is to get the floor empty but that could take all day.

We will be putting up colored photos of Sophie today and are ready to post the next segment for your May project list. Jeanne is hard at work on the next 3 months' worth of designs-Sophie just gets better and better.

I am sharing photos of Jeanne's Sophie started on peach background fabric. Isn't she sweet with blond hair????

Quilt Festival continued

I was talking with a quilting buddy last night about Festival and could hear myself say "We saw so many nice people and loved all the booths". It was true-everywhere we looked we saw quilt displays that gave us so much to think about. I do think we saw more embroidery combined with quilting than I remember from prior Houston Int'. Quilt Markets. Perhaps that was because this Festival was not for quilt shop owners to order patterns and fabric but for stitchers like you and me.

I am sharing 3 pictures of booths that we really fell in love with. Maybe you can see the name on the banners-if not, let me know which you like and I"d be happy to share the names and cities so you can contact these great quilt stores and see what they might have for you.

I've still got 2 big boxes in the car that I haven't unpacked. I need about 4 hours in my studio to get everything put away. That time won't be available until Saturday but Jeanne is way ahead of me.

Downloaded pictures!

Finally-the missing cord for the camera has been found. I have, scary, downloaded the pictures from Chicago and will be sharing some across the next few days. First here is a picture of our booth and then one of Shannon of Treasured Threads-a friend from the Redwork Stitchers group. More to come-

Home at last

After a record fast tear down of our booth, the two of us hopped into our car and started home from Chicago. We had good help from our booth buddies across the way- pictures to come soon! We drove 3 hours in the pouring rain through lots of construction. But we are home safely with lots of great memories and new friends! I'll download the pictures tomorrow and promise to post. Now time for bed in my own sweet bed!

Quilt Festival Report

Well, it's day 2 of Quilt Festival and we are ready for action. Yesterday saw us hand out all of our flyers by 3 pm. That means that we had seen 500 people in 5 hours! We were amazed by that many people on the first day of the Festival. Jeanne ran back to our hotel room-where we had set up a printer!- and started printing more flyers. We met some great people and they all were very excited to hear about Sophie and our block of the month concept. Everyone loved her wild, sassy look. We also got some great ideas for future stories about her.

Our new patterns-Button Faces, A Kind Woman, Jingle Bells Pillow, and all the yo yo patterns-were of interest and we sold quite a few. So far, we'd have to say it has been a great start.

Time for breakfast and then we hope to walk the floor for an hour and see what other folks have before we open again at 10. I'll be back later.

Off!

The car is packed to the point where nothing else can go in because I won't be able to see out the back window. I don't think we have forgotten anything major. Thanks to Jenny for putting together the 500 handouts tied with red Raffia. It was great to have some help at the last minute with those. I put my little stash of "mad" money in the bottom of my purse just in case we see something we just have to have. Wish us luck!

We hope to blog from the hotel. Later friends!

We're off to Quilt Festival!

Starting this afternoon we are officially packing the car for an early morning take off. I hope the GPS can get us there in one piece-the car is going to be SO full of patterns and kits that it may have to drive itself!

Please stop by and say hi if you are going to be at the Festival. Remember-our booth number is 2112. We'd love to chat and share our designs with our buddies. I'll have a camera with us so will plan to post some pictures next week.

Happy Easter!

Just got back from Easter Egg festivities. I hope everyone had a great day. We had a small Egg hunt here for 2 grandchildren then went to my sister-in-law's for lunch and another egg hunt. What fun! 48 eggs at my house and 148 at the next stop. Then on to see the final 2 grandkids and drop off baskets. Chocolat es for everyone!

Jeanne and I are down to the last 4 days before we head south for Chicago. Of course we are now playing the "hindsight is golden" game of having second thoughts about how many patterns and kits we should be bringing. I don't think there is ever a way to make the right decision. At least we are smart enough this time to take a printer and laptop with us so we can print more copies of patterns if we need to!

Kits, Kits, and more kits!

Last night I cut the last of the kit fabric up and turned it over to Jeanne this morning for assembly. We have 6 kits to offer at the Quilt Festival-A Kind Woman (new pattern), Button Faces (new pattern), Jingle Bell Pillow (new pattern), Garden Bunnies, and 2 versions of our Pincushion Treats-one in wool felt and one in 1930's reproduction fabrics. We're pretty excited about these kits and think we've priced them pretty reasonably considering they include the pattern and various items that help with the pattern-like the jingle bells needed for the pillow, buttons for Button Faces, and have even included the base for the Pin Cushion Treats! (Of course, it was no punishment to eat all the ice cream that filled the containers we took tops from to use as the pin cushion base!!!) We're thinking of offering more kits on our web site-what do you think???

I have a 3 day weekend because of Easter so will try to finish up all the stitching that is yet to do. I hope to get our 2nd version of our Care Quilt back from the machine quilter this week yet so I can sit and add the binding while watching tv this weekend.

We hope your Easter is going to be full of sunshine and smiles-

Booth #2112

It's been great to hear that some of our stitching buddies are planning to be in Chicago for the Quilt Festival. We're going to be in booth #2112 and are excited to hear that some of you hope to stop by. All of your positive thoughts are so nice! Sometimes it's hard to envision who is really stitching our designs so it's wonderful to have a chance to hear from some of you.

Tomorrow we plan to try to pack my car and see if there is room for us! You would think we would be pretty good at this packing for market stuff but it's always a challenge. And since we are taking quite a few kits of new patterns that means some of the box shapes aren't necessarily going to fit together smoothly. When we fly to Houston we are SO constricted by what can fit in a suitcase. I would think it would be easier to just throw things in the back seat...but we'll see tomorrow!

I'll be posting pictures of a couple of our newest designs over the next couple of days-just a sneak preview for you before we introduce these new patterns at Festival. For those who aren't able to get to Chicago, I'll include the update when the patterns are available on web site for sale.

Sophie for April

Jeanne just finished posting our April designs for the Sophie block of the month on our homepage. Take a quick look at the picture to your right and you'll see the lovely lipsticks and bracelet that help Sophie get ready for her day. Aren't these sweet? You can download the designs to start stitching by clicking at the top of our home page. I'll share the colored photo in a week or so.

Three weeks until Quilt Festival in Chicago and the work continues. We are planning to have some of the Sophie blocks to show off in our booth so be sure to stop in and say hi. We're also trying to decide if we should prepare a little something special to hand out in the way of a special little design for our stitching friends who attend the Festival. Let us know what you think about that idea. I tried to convince Jeanne that I will have time to make up a bag with Sophie "Getting Pretty" by the time we leave for Chicago-she didn't laugh at me but the look she gave me said it all! Wow-the look a sister can give can be just FULL of words!

New Redwork Pattern!

We are so excited about our newest Redwork Pattern-take a look at our Redwork Angel picking flowers from the clouds. What kind of flowers are in the heavens? Well, the sun, moon and stars! Don't you just love her??? She is an original design (of course!) from Jeanne. Just between you and me, she has a couple of sister angels who are also delightful to stitch. You just might see one or two of the sister angels before the year is done.

Even though we have started to let our fancy flow into lots of new stitchery styles-everything from yo yo's to felt to needle-punch and everything in between-it will always be Redwork and the simplicity of red on white stitchery that holds the favorite place for both of us. We hope you love our newest Redwork pattern-you can purchase it and make up a great pillow on our website.

Mid- week chores

Cut, stack, cut, stack, bag up, print, print, print, put label on, repeat process! That has been the pattern for Jeanne and I for the last 2 weeks. With her list of tasks in front of us, we have been working hard to get all the kits ready for Quilt Festival. Jo (our little sister) came over on Saturday and was given tasks to complete at one table as I cut and stacked at another. Jeanne was the whirling dervish that kept us going with coffee and cranberry nut bread. (A business meeting is only as good as the food -right??)

The funniest thing was that I eventually had to tell Jo-"Stop talking for a few minutes!" because I kept cutting wrong while trying to listen to what she was saying. Jo-who is a talker just like her 2 older sisters-was quite taken aback by my yell. But once I explained her eldest sister (ME) was unable to separate her brain to allow for listening AND figuring out how to cut chenille so the fabric design was best utilized and keep everything on the fold and don't cut your fingers off and don't tip over the cups of coffee.... She finally understood.

Now I am waiting for MOM to send me some yo yo's so I can complete a sample of our Yo Yo Tablerunner in bright fabrics so we have a country-ish sample and a bright sample to show at the Festival. I'm excited to get the yo yo's (thanks MOM) because the fabrics just make me smile. I'll share a photo when it is completed.

And it's almost time for new Sophie Block of the Month designs. Just wait...they're cute!

Working on Kits

I think we have finally decided what patterns we are going to kit up for the Quilt Festival in April. We've agreed to make kits of Garden Bunnies, Pincushion Treats (both fabric and wool felt versions), and 2 new patterns that Jeanne has just developed called Button Faces and A Kind Woman. We'll be showing pictures of all 4 kits probably next week. Right now Jeanne's kitchen table is covered with all the various component pieces that have to go together soon. I've made her PROMISE that she won't dream up any more new ideas until after the Festival. There just isn't enough time to develop any more. (Right JEANNE??)

We've given a box of pattern pieces to our brother-in-law to assemble for us. He does a great job for us and we appreciate all the help. I sent fabric off today to our Mother in Virginia so she can make up 56 extra small and 20 small yo yo's for a great Spring bright version of our Yo Yo Tablerunner to show off at Festival. Now we just have to keep our energy up!!! I think we need coffee and chocolates!

Rip, rip, rip!

I swear-all I have done this week is rip things apart. I tried to put together a Yo Yo Tablerunner QUICK from a delightful bright Moda charm pack and discovered that I was reading the diagram incorreclty. Yeah-I know-I helped create the diagram. But that doesn't seem to matter sometimes. I think that it was a left brain/right brain kind of thing. My left brain went into sleep mode and didn't recognize that I wasn't laying out enough rows and my right brain was just so delighted with the fabrics that it wasn't really paying attention. So last night I ripped the whole darn thing apart. Maybe tonight it will go back together-we'll see. First I have to figure out what OTHER fabrics I should use because now I need to add another entire ROW...okay, breathe-it's going to be ok. Really.

Jeanne and I spent the week going over our lists for Quilt Festival. We are almost at the point where we can start asking friends/family to help us put patterns and kits together. Maybe next week. There are only 4 weeks left until Festival and SO much to do yet.

Easter Basket time!

This weekend we had a full gamut of weather conditions. Everything from sunny weather and no coat when I went grocery shopping on Saturday to a blizzard all Sunday. And, that meant a big pot of creamy chicken wild rice soup and lots of stitching time! Saturday Jeanne and I worked our way through a bunch of patterns that needed to get assembled for Spring Festival. While we were folding, stuffing, getting paper cuts and I was tipping over a cup of coffee on her spreadsheet (I'm sorry!), we were also talking our way through a new design. Funny how that works!

We continue to be excited about our Garden Bunnies pattern (look to your right, please!) as we think about Easter. With a little 9 month old granddaughter full of smiles, I am already looking for Easter basket ideas. Our Garden Bunny is jus thing. Julia Grace (don't you LOVE that name?) will adore a soft pink bunny made of flannel and chenille. I think I need to get cracking on it so it's all ready to put in the basket. Take a look at this pattern on our web site-you'll love how easy it is to put together using 2 fat quarters!

Ain't she cute??

Jeanne sent me a picture of the Sophie combined blocks in color to post. It's a bit wrinkled but I knew you would all want to see her right away. I'm really having a difficult time deciding which version is my favorite. What about you? Later in the month we'll start to reveal how we are adding fabrics around this cluster of designs for the first "BIG" block of the wall-hanging. Stay tuned.

This weekend should be a busy one. We are starting to assemble the patterns we will be taking to the Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago mid-April. Boy-what a lot of planning needs to go into this event. For the first time we are going to be offering kits as well as patterns to buy. Next week starts the kit assembly process. We're going to "ask" (our version of drafting!) for help from some of our buddies to try to get it all done at one time and also keep it kind of fun. Not quite as good as a quilt-escape weekend with quilting buddies but we hope to have good conversation and good treats to nibble on while we do the assembly. Hope your weekend is full of fun and stitching!

Sophie block 3 posted

Take a quick peek at our website to download block 3 of Sophie! We've given you all the designs that go into making up one quarter of this wall-hanging. Isn't the dress form adorable???? Later this week we'll share a colored floss version AND maybe give you a look at the complete block. This arrangement of designs will be flipped for 2 of the remaining blocks to give a symmetrical look so stay tuned. Also, we have a great new photo of one of our favorite pillows and a wonderful example of our Garden Bunnies toy that Jeanne presented at a baby shower. Aren't they cute?? Both patterns are available to purchase on our website.

New week

It was a good weekend. Met with Jeanne on Sunday and spent time putting the Sophie wall-hanging together. It's always amazing how just changing one 2 1/2" X 2 1/2" square from polka dots to stars can make a significant difference in how a block looks. I'm really pleased with the pattern so far. The red and white version looks charming-I can't wait to try the same thing in the brighter colors we have selected. I think the block for March will include an entire block layout so everyone can see where we're going. Fun!



I'm also spending quite a bit of time hand-quilting a project that I've been working on for 6 years now. It's a king-size Bowtie Block quilt made from 1930 reproduction fabrics. I made all the blocks 5-6 years ago. Then had some girlfriends baste the thing and THEN realized how long it would take me to hand quilt it. Oh my....every winter since I drag the thing out and try to do some more. I have to admit that this winter I have made more progress than usual. I think it is because I have finally realized that if I don't just finish it, I may never get it done. So 2009 may be the year of the Bowtie Quilt. I'll keep you posted!



Time to get ready to join a girlfriend for Mexican food for dinner! Later...

Winter returns

We are waiting for a snowstorm to hit tonight. According to the weatherman, we could get 4-6 inches starting with freezing rain. Doesn't that sound lovely??? I was pretty excited to have most of our 2 feet of snow melt during the nice winter thaw we had 2 weeks ago. But the reality is that we probably have 2 more months of winter.

While the design work continues for us, Jeanne and I are hard at it getting ready for Quilt Festival in Chicago mid-April. This weekend we decided what new patterns to bring with us and started to go through some older patterns that we are considering discontinued. We are also trying to figure out what we should prepare as kits to bring along. So far we have definitely decided to kit up Pincushion Treats and several of our Yo Yo patterns.

We hope your Valentine's Day was wonderful!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We love Valentines. Over the years, Jeanne and I have collected quite a few vintage Valentines cards. This collection has been the source of much delight as we researched the designs and decided which ones we could adapt for pillows and quilts. Our Young Love collection of 6 patterns (each featuring a pair of sweet Valentine designs) have been very sucessful over the years. We are now working on a new design that would bring them together in one larger quilt-stay tuned for that this year.

To help get you in the mood for the 14th, check our web site to see the designs we have available. And don't forget to hug your sweetie tomorrow!

Ain't she cute??

I've uploaded a picture of Sophie #2 in living color today. I just love her and had so much fun deciding how to use my colors. I did want to mention that we decided we liked DMC #758 better for her skin tones. We had used #738 for Sophie #1 but think this is a bit more pink and looks better with the colors we are using.

We're having a bit of a Spring thaw here in Wisconsin today. It's almost 50 degrees and the sun is shining. Just the kind of day you'd want to be playing with colors! Jeanne and I met for lunch at a corner pizza parlor and talked some more about what we want to do at Quilt Festival in Chicago mid April. Time to really do some serious planning. We sat facing the outside so we could enjoy the blue skies! I hope you had some nice weather today.

We're also sending prayers and good thoughts toward our friends in Australia who are dealing with those horrendous fires.

Sophie #2 on site as PDF

Jeanne was able to get Sophie #2 uploaded as a PDF file yesterday so it should be easier to download and print her. Be sure to click on our site and look under the Free Block of the Month tab at the top of the home page. And be sure to take a look around to see what else we are up to. We think Garden Bunnies will be a quick and easy Easter present for your favorite little one.

I'm off to the Domes Botanical Gardens in Milwaukee, WI today with Bruce and my brother-in-law. They have every pocket full of camera lenses and I think it will be a photo shoot to end all photo shoots! I'm just excited to think about seeing things growing with great colors. It's SO white outside and, although the temperature is in the upper 20's today, we still have so much winter ahead of us here in Wisconsin.

Thank goodness for Sophie and her plans for Dress Up--she's keeping me smiling. Jeanne will be showing the colored floss version of Sophie #2 early next week and I'll probably post her tomorrow. Have a great day stitching-let the homework wait for a bit and curl up with Sophie!!

To Pdf or not to PDF???

We have inadvertently caused some confusion with Sophie #2 today. Sorry for the confusion ladies-looks like we upload Sophie #2 as a jpeg file instead of as a PDF file. This is making it impossible to easily get Sophie to print. Some folks are not having this problem but others are. Jeanne has emailed our web support and we think it should be re-uploaded tomorrow as a PDF. Sorry-sorry-sorry.

We have now put big signs up in our studio that say-Only post PDF! I don't even know what PDF stands for....pretty dandy floss? pure delightful fun? who knows but a PDF seems to make for easier printing. We appreciate your patience. We thought we had it for February but we think March should be perfect now...wait a minute???? Maybe we should design a wall-hanging that is full of computer/web/printer images???? Oh no-that would be just too frustrating for us.

Sophie Block 2-Getting Pretty!

Take a look at our girlfirend Sophie! I love the mirror and mascara-don't you??? Jeanne started out by having Sophie's mirror say "Diva". But that seemed a bit bold for our girl. Of course, we think she IS a diva but didn't want you to pre-judge her without finding out a bit more about her.



Sophie can be downloaded from our website. We'll be keeping each of the month's blocks on the site all year round in case you mis-place her or find out about her mid-year. Jeanne needs to do some clean up on the web site and will be adding her picture to our home page later today, as well as making sure Sophie's name is spelled correctly (we don't want an identity crisis at this time in our lives!). I will be posting a colored floss version of Sophie #2 later this week with the floss numbers and a view of the fabrics we have selected.



Pink Chalk Studio delivered my new fabrics on Saturday and I'm ready to start playing with them. I'll share the work in progress as it develops. It's only 3 degrees here today so the wonderful bright fabrics I received are making the day feel warmer.

Sohpie Floss Choices

Sorry for delay in the floss selections but I thought Jeanne had the baggie with the floss and she thought I did...typical sisters--kind of like button, button, who has the button??? So, anyway, here are the floss selections we picked out to go with the printed fabric. We use DMC floss and 2 strands- 349, 834, 311,958, 906, 355, 738 or 758 for the flesh tones. We pick floss by laying the fabrics out and kind of just hunting and pecking for what we like. Sometimes we don't agree-that's the trick when there are 2 of us picking!

I am just finishing the final stitches on the 2nd Sophie block. She should be ready to post Monday or Tuesday. We decided to show 2 blocks with Sophie herself and then March will be what will go around one of these blocks. We are working towards a wall-hanging that will have views of Sophie herself and then the things that go into making her the fun Dress-Up Queen that she is! With March we will also give you the layout of the entire wall-hanging so you can start to think about the whole thing. We also think the blocks will work up quickly into a pillow or tote bag design.

I am loving the Crazy Quilt concept-what do you think???

I got the fabric I ordered from Pink Chalk Studio and am in love. I'll snap some pics and post them later--I have to have something to do during the Super Bowl Game!

Sophie in Color!

Here is our favorite girlfriend-Sophie in color. Isn't she something???? We'll be posting our 2nd block sometime next week. We can't wait to share more of Sophie and her Dress Up wall-hanging.

Sophie Fabric and other Stuff!

Jeanne and I went shopping on Saturday to our local quilt store and found some great fabrics for Sophie. Besides the obligatory red and white prints that we must have missed last time, we fell in love with Terry Atkinson's Paisley Party for Red Rooster Fabrics. See the picture next door to get a feel for the lovely colors. I should be ready to post our first Sophie block in living color at the end of the week. AND our second block is about ready to be posted come next week! What a gal that Sophie is.

I also placed an order for some fat quarters from one of my new favorite web quilt stores Pink Chalk Studio. I placed the order yesterday and have already gotten an update that the order is shipped-how's that for quick service??? I've been reading their blog for about 6 months and have enjoyed what is going on at their store. I ordered some Kaffee Fassett, Heather Bailey and Elizabeth House fabrics. None of the quilt shops in my area carry these lines and I just couldn't resist-besides the shipping costs were much less than a tank of gas! They have collections of fat quarters already made up so it's a fun and easy way to try out some new fabric lines.

Friday at last!

It seems like I just try to rush through the week to get to Friday. Oh...I do, don't I? It's been an exciting week at least. I spent Monday and Tuesday in Atlanta for business meetings. Bruce recorded much of the inauguration events for me since he knew I'd miss them while travelling. I found it so amazing that strangers were watching the Inauguration Parade on airport tv's and sharing comments about the day. It felt like we were all connected and sharing what was going on-even if it was remotely.

THEN we finally got our new girlfriend-Sophie-out in public! The response to Sophie has been so heart warming. Both Jeanne and I are thrilled at the comments we have received. We are just jumping all over the design board trying to lay out the next couple of month's worth of designs. I think this time we will have TOO many good ideas. I'm planning to start the colored floss version of Sophie Soaking this weekend so it can go up next week to show you our girl in living color. February's design is ready to share when the time is right. Let us know what you can envision Sophie doing as she plays Dress Up-we'd love to hear what you think.

The sub-zero temperatures are coming back to WI for another frigid weekend. I think I'm all set with stitching to do, a new book to read (I just discovered Barbara Bretton and Robyn Carr), and a pot of white chicken chilli ready to make tomorrow morning. I hope your Friday sets you up for a great weekend!

Sophie is on the web site!

With great help from our technical support, Annie, our first block of the month has finally made it to our web site. Click here to go to our web site and find her. We were able to get Sophie-our first block of the Dress Up Block of the Month posted as a pdf file. You should be able to just click on her and print out the page. More information about this project will follow.



We plan to post a picture of each block in red and white (our first love!) and later each month, in colors. We will also post the details of how to put the blocks together as we go. For now-you will need no more than 1/2 yard of white or a light tone on tone 100% cotton and you will be ready to start. We're having fun getting this going and we hope you love the designs. We'll add each month and won't take them down until the entire project is finished.



Sorry for the delay-I was traveling and we desperately needed the technical expertise neither of us has. But we think you'll love playing Dress Up with us!

Uploads and next month

Our web mistress, Annie, should be able to help us tomorrow get the first block of our BOM on our web site. From there, I have figured out how to link to it so downloading it should be easier. I appreciate everyone's patience-I just wanted the process to be simpler than it had been to download our free patterns. I promise we should be all set soon.

Jeanne is working on the next block already-it's really cute...is that a mean hint or what?? I travel Monday and Tuesday so will have plenty of time to stitch. How do you plan your trips? Is it a matter of having a separate bag for your knitting and stitching? That's usually the case for me. Of course, redwork and other types of stitchery are pretty portable-that helps because I always have to have something to read too. One plane trip last year I had one too many bags and they weren't going to let me take my knitting on the plane-so I had to shove EVERYTHING into my purse and then kind of sneak on board . I want to be save and don't want everyone to lug all those big suitcases on board but still...a small paper bag with knitting in it wasn't going to bother anyone! Well, Monday I think it will be stitchery and no knitting. That way there is no possibility of an issue-everything fits in my purse.

DRESS UP-take a peek!

We're still playing with getting this to load easily but thought you should see Sophie today. Isn't she great???? We are having problems sizing her but think we'll get it figured out later today.

Block of the Month almost ready

I know, I know-you want to see the first block. Well, we're close. We hope to have this ready to show you sometime today. Jeanne is working with our web mistress (who is the best ever helper!) and I am still working on the blog. Please hang in there with us because we think you'll love what/who you see.

While we've been fighting with this techie stuff we've also been thinking about all the fun we can have year round with our Dress Up block of the month. We'd like to share the excitement by putting together a Care Package of things that would help with your Dress Up efforts. We're throwing around ideas but think the concept will be that each month we will put something into a box that pertains to the block we are working on and at the end of the year-someone will get the Care package. What do you think?

Still working on posts

Jeanne is trying to make me understand that I can sometimes make things more complicated than they need to be. Funny-I thought I was perfect???? Two cups of coffee this morning have helped me see the reality that sometimes younger sisters know best. I'm still working on trying to improve the ease of downloading patterns from our blog and web site. I think I may be closer...while I'm stitching up the first block of our "Dress Up" block of the month, I'm also thinking about black and red and white stitchery projects. And Jeanne is working on a new idea for aprons. Stay tuned for more works in process!

And, just to show all is not stitchery, I am contemplating a new knitting project. Every January I start a new sweater. With all the sub-zero wind chill that we are experiencing this week, can you blame me? I am wearing a great purple sweater that I knit 3 years ago of some lovely Lorna Laces hand-dyed yarn with cables and a wonderful fit. I think I may need to make it again since I remember it as going together so easily and love the fit...hmmmm....maybe Jeanne or Jo would love one???

Playing with images

I'm trying to figure out how to make it easier to download patterns from our site today so bear with me. I am trying to get us set up to give quicker access to our Block of the Month patterns by clicking on an image and downloading it or just printing it off rather than going through the purchase process on our web site. So ... I may be coming back and forth today to the blog and web site to see how things look. I'll keep you posted.

Both Jeanne and I are stitching up the first block of the new "Dress Up" BOM to be ready for our start up on Thursday! We are in love with these designs..is that shameless enthusiasm, or what???

December free pattern

Planning for the weekend

Stopped for coffee at Jeanne's. We are hard at work on our 2009 Block of the Month. The trick is to figure out how to not include EVERYTHING we like about being girly! We spent some time talking about what makes us feel good when we get all dressed up-is it the ritual of a bubble bath, is it the fancy dress, is it the makeup and perfume, what about great shoes??? From this came the beginnings of our block of the month. For me, comes the fun of the layout and how to finish the final result of the little designs. I'm having fun now trying to decide on the fabrics to use. It's fun to pull it all together. Equally fun is deciding on the embellishments that will add some glitz!

We are going to show a redwork version of the first month's block first. That's our heritage and we LOVE RED! But I will also be stitching each block in colors and will share that later each month. We'd love to hear what makes YOU feel girly! Come on, you can tell us....

Back at work

Well-I am back at work after the holidays and it feels like I never left. Today I worked on reports all day while thinking (with part of my brain!) about a new pattern. Funny how the brain can be split in two pieces and function well on both levels. Almost like something out of one of the paranormal novels that I love and Jeanne just can't get into...

I stopped at Jeanne's for coffee on the way to the office but forgot to bring my new project to show her. I think she kind of wanted to yell at me for forgetting it but she was good and didn't. So I have to stop tomorrow and NOT forget. I put the prototype by my purse-maybe that will help me remember!

We're pretty excited about the Block of the Month that we will start on January 15th. It seems that many new web sites are starting these but many seem to be kind of country-ish (which we love) and many seem to be starting off with a snowman in some form (which we also love). But OUR Block of the Month is neither country-ish nor has a snowman anywhere near it! How's that for declaring our independence? More to come soon.

New Camera-new BOM

Bruce got a new camera and the results are awesome. Take a look at the top picture to the right. You will love the results because I hope to be able to use this camera for blog pictures because of the detail.

Jeanne is hard at work on a new block of the month that will start on January 15th. You'll be able to click on the design-one per month-and download them as pdf's. We will be taking all of the 2008 free patterns off on the 15th so you can focus on the new BOM. THe BOM will be called "Dress-Up" and will show all the lovely things that women and girls like to play with-we think you will love them and the finished size will be just right to hang in your bedroom or bathroom as a reminder of how much fun it is to be a GIRL!

Happy New Year!

It's 2009 and the start of the year couldn't be better. Bree, my oldest grand-daughter, spent New Year's Eve Day with me in the sewing room. She picked out fabric, used the rotary cutter, and successfully sewed together the front of our great simple purse pattern. (I did the stitching of the beads-but that is all.) We worked on the rest of the purse together and it turned out great. For a 4th grader, I think she did very well. It only took about 1 1/2 hours to do from start to finish. A great new pattern for the new year.

We also started to organize the sewing room-now that is another story!

We hope all of our sewing friends have a great new year. Please be sure to check out our web site for the start of a free pattern each month. It should be available early next week.