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!

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.

New month-new patterns!

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

Free Pattern up on web site

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

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

Free Pattern coming on web site

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

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