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.