A Great Finished Sophie Quilt!

We were so thrilled to see the finished Sophie quilt that Patty gave to her daughter for Christmas this year. Take a quick peek here at Patty's blog and see the other delightful projects that she has been busy with. We're always so excited to see how our friends are making our designs their very own. That's one of the best things about designing and quilts and stitching-you meet so many creative people who share our love of all things cute, whimsical, and FUN!

I've taken the liberty of sharing Patty's picture from her blog. Join me in enjoying this great version of Sophie!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!!

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!